Ble Sucre – My Paris No.1 for Croissants, Madeleines and Financiers
If readers are getting bored of the ‘best this and best that’, thats too bad, because so often in Paris, just because IT IS PARISIAN does not make it oh so damn delicious and awesome. The search for this ‘No.1 List of Stuff’ is a personal benchmark as references for my own stuff, and as the adage goes, one man’s tea is another’s poison.
Thats how I came across Ble Sucre, owned by Chef Fabrice Le Bourdat, who took some time out to have a chat and reminisce about the hawker food in Singapore. He spent 3 months at the Oriental Hotel in Singapore and remembers his time there fondly.
Yes, I was in Paris searching for the perfect Croissant, which up till now, had the top spot taken by the croissants we used to make at Pasteleria Totel in Spain. Here at Ble Sucre, they had 3…hmmm no, maybe 4 items that occupy top positions in ‘The List of Best Stuff’. It is all thanks to this man, Chef Fabrice Le Bourdat.
Croissant
On first sight, the glaze and the striations formed by the dough/butter layers were a pleasure to behold. A very talented Aussie baker mate of mine, shared a simple recipe for a perfect glaze. 100% Yolks, 20% Eggs, 20% Cream. This gives the most beautiful golden sheen on brioches. On croissants, its egg wash and icing sugar, which forms a delectably thin crust of sugar that crackles in the mouth.
The croissant was crunchy, airy, flakey, soft and very flavourful, perhaps indicating a slow fermentation? One can argue that every croissant straight from the oven is bound to have those qualities, but on this trip to France which took us from Paris, down to Provence and back up again, I ate a croissant and pain au chocolat every morning, from different bakeries around France. Fresh from the oven doesn’t mean anything if you do not know what you are doing.
This croissant was very very soft and melt in your mouth tender, full of awesome buttery goodness and most importantly, it did not feel greasy at all in the mouth. All too often, you get croissants that are either too doughy or too greasy, but this one had the perfect balance of both. This texture and flavour will be hard to match, but it is definitely the best croissant I’ve ever had.
Pain au Chocolat
The usual Pain au Chocolat is just the same croissant dough, cut into rectangles (Instead of Triangles for Croissants), and rolled up with chocolate sticks inside.
Perfect Pain au Chocolat, with a perfect crunch, flaky, yet soft and yielding inside. This was still slightly warm from the oven, so it was eaten right at its very best. Even though this was most likely the same dough as the one used in the croissant above, the texture of this one was slightly superior. Maybe it was more perfectly proofed than the croissant? Having my ass kicked before in Spain for 10 minutes of under-proofed croissant, its amazing what a world of difference such a short amount of time makes to the finished product.
For this Pain au Chocolat, the chocolate baton is very good, but it seems a waste as the dough is so perfect that it detracts from it. This was one amazing Pain au Chocolat….something so simple, yet so sublime. But….I hadn’t seen (Or rather…eaten) nothing yet.
Madeleine
Crispy and dry looking on the outside, with a very thin sugar crust glaze, this madeleine looked like any other. Now, I have eaten a lot of these things searching for the holy grail, but sadly, most of them are either hard and dry, or moist and tastelessly disgusting.
This is where I turn into a heinous, Smeagol of a weasel with a ‘I want to stage at Ble Sucre to steal their recipes’ mentality. First the croissant….now this…..simple tea cake. With a slight crunch of the beautifully browned crust, its interior was moist and impossibly light, melting instantly in the mouth to release a beautiful flavour of butter, eggs and a hint of honey and vanilla. Having tea along with this madeleine would not be doing it justice. I want this recipe! Oh..and the one that follows too….heck, I want the recipes for everything here!
Financier
Traditionally dense and flavoured with brown butter, this financier was speckled with ground hazelnuts, giving the term ‘Beurre Noisette’ a new meaning. Brown butter has the flavour of well….roast hazelnuts, so goes the French name, and instead of Almond Flour, it just makes sense to use hazelnut flour innit?
Deceptively dense on the first bite, the flavour of hazelnuts and butter fills the mouth, and a tinge of bitter almond wafts past. It is both dense, yet airy and crumbly at the same time, disintegrating in the mouth without effort. This is hands down the best financier I’ve ever had, knocking off Pasteleria Totel’s fluffy and moist financier from its pedestal as my benchmark Financier.
Conclusion
Perfection of the classics, no doubt about that. I’ve had the Ladurees’, Fauchons’, what have you of Parisian patisserie and Ble Sucre takes the cake (Pun intended!). Its a pity that when I was back in Paris last month, they were closed for renovations, but next month, when I attend the Salon du Choclat, this will be the breakfast stop, followed by testing some of their mousse cakes. This has been the best find so far.
You’ve made me hungry for a croissant and a madeleine. Why do they call the third one a financier? Because it looks like a gold ingot?
Nice post, I enjoyed reading it. Good thing I did it on a full stomach.
Next time you are there can air freight some of these beautiful pastries home to Singapore? My mouth waters as I read your blog. LOVE IT!
Hehe, time to visit Paris? I’ll eat it again this month!
I’ll be sure to check that too next month !
I’m on the contrary thankful you’re sharing those best spots, I agree Paris is the place I’ve eaten the worst things in my life ! I don’t understand how people can decide to start making food and make it tastes so awful. I’m just appalled by this kind of non-sense ahah
I LOVED Ble Sucre and only found it late in my stay last Saturday.
I must admit I’m a bit thankful for that..this place could wreck havoc on ones regime (and did). I did not have a single one of your top choices and still lucked out beautifully.
Carolg
I was there too last Saturday! Passed Ble Sucre on the way to the market on Rue Aligre around the corner. I had their croissants 3 times last week, once at 8am in the morning and the others a bit later. I brought a few of my mates along to try it at the 8am slot, and it was disappointing as soon as we held it, the bottom was ‘concaved’, indicating that it had been underproofed and insufficiently baked. However, they were trying to get the croissants out ASAP, as customers were waiting for them, so we can’t really blame them for rushing things a bit. Should not be an excuse really, but these are the realities of a busy bakery/patisserie during service, and the daunting prospect of $ walking out the door. Furthermore, the chef was not there to oversee things, so perhaps the morning baker had a bit of an oversight in having the croissants in place for service. The other time I had it, it was excellent, but the ‘first love’ feeling was already taken!