Paul Bakery and Patisserie

Before I start my post, let me wish you a Happy New Year 2014.. May the success and happiness be with you always ;)

now, let's get into business to the first post in 2014.. yes, it's the Paul that everyone has been talking about.. the famous French bakery with the best French breads.. then how can I resist not to come? all my life, I have believed in drinking coffee with croissants.. before we went further, a little background of Paul.. the history of Paul has been started long ago back from 1889, in Croix, Northern France.. and today, Paul has brought French breads to more than 450 stores across the globe.. quite impressive for a bakery, eh?

so, long story short, I dragged a friend to this famous patisserie on a Friday afternoon.. we were supposed to have our lunch at Paul.. the French eatery was not too crowded, but we were still in the waiting list.. luckily, not more than 15 minutes, we got our table ready.. it was a nice table for two in the corner of the busy patisserie.. we decided to have some time to go through the menu and ended up deciding to have a shared main with two desserts.. ladies preferred to have lovely desserts than savory mains.. 

for the lunch company, I picked 4 Fruit Rouges from Dammann 40k.. it's a delightful blend of four red fruits (cherry, strawberry, raspberry and red currant) combined with unsmoked black teas from Ceylon and China, bringing a fruity flavor.. it was a hearty cup of tea, I really love the smell, fruity flavor and thank God, the black tea was not bitter.. my friend picked the lemon ice tea 35k (not pictured) and commented it was just like other ordinary lemon ice tea.. 

Paul offers quite various savory selections, but we set our heart in the croque monsieur 90k, turkey ham, Emmental cheese, cream and pain de mie.. this was too delicious! I love the bread crunchy crust, combined with the melted Emmental cheese.. this was just perfect! the side salad added freshness to the whole dish.. I just love the fresh greens with balsamic vinegar dressing.. yes, a bit pricey, but I guessed it was still worth the money for once in a-while-meal..

now, the best time of the day.. it was dessert time.. for your information, other than the eatery, Paul also has a bakery at the back side of the restaurant, serving selections of beautiful French pastries and cakes.. we took a peek before ordering our desserts and basically, we wanted everything.. I mean, how can you resist ordering those pretty little cakes.. but our stomachs have limits, that we decided only to have tartelette framboises 55k and millefeuille chocolat 50k.. 

let's start with tartelette framboises.. it was sweet pie topped with creme pâtissière and fresh raspberries.. looked very beautiful that I almost have no heart to eat it.. but we just have to do what we got to do, right? the pie crust was a bit hard to be cut, so we have to break the pie.. on her first bite, my friend complained on how sour the raspberries were.. I did notice the same, but in my opinion, the sour raspberries were completing the sweet creme and pie crust, bringing a balanced, not-too-sweet bite..

next, millefeuille chocolat.. millefeuille actually means 'thousand leaves' in French.. it was Paul's famous Napoleon with chocolate creme pâtissière filling.. let me tell you, it was just PERFECT! I have never tasted anything like this before.. layers of flaky puff pastry with the most delicious chocolate custard I have ever tasted, then topped with the sweet chocolate glazing.. it's love at first bite.. I would recommend this dish to everyone, and it worth every Rupiah spent.. I was really impressed..

and here's how the plate looked after a few minutes..

as I have mentioned above, Paul has a bakery, which displayed all the good stuffs you can buy for your loved ones, or eat right away on the spot.. the pastries and cakes were just beautiful and really pleasing the eyes.. this is definitely what heaven looks like for pastries lover.. 

overall, I had a great meal there.. unfortunately, the service was poor, especially when they charged you 5%.. I got no smile or any warm greetings during our meal and if we asked for anything, they seemed really reluctant to help.. such a shame that one of the best bakery recognized in the world failed to bring the best dining experience.. but, I fell in love with their breads and pastries, that I would definitely return.. let's just hope their service improve immediately..

Paul Bakery and Patisserie
Pacific Place Mall
South Lobby Gallery Lafayette
Jl. Jend Sudirman Kav. 52-53
South Jakarta
Ph. +6221 57973464