You’ve got a problem in Paris if you’re culturally Anglo-Saxon, which is that locals eat their lunch quite early and their dinner rather late. That’s a dietary rhythm you’ll have to get used to if you want the best food in this city, as most good restaurants stop serving lunch as early as 2 p.m. and won’t open for dinner until 7-7:30 p.m.—and even that is mostly to accommodate foreigners, since most French won’t show up before 8 p.m.
What in the world, then, are you supposed to do about those mid-afternoon pangs of hunger? The first step is to remain calm. If this were—I don’t know—Des Moines, Iowa, I’d understand your panic, but in Paname this is a very good problem to have.
Enter le goûter, a little treat—often sweet—eaten at around 4 p.m.
For those who grow up in France, le goûter is a cherished ritual that means the school day is finally over, and it’s time to flood the body and brain with sugar. Traditionally that would have meant a chocolate bar on fresh bread, or a tasty confection from the boulangerie, but over the years industrial cakes and candies have snuck their way into the mix.
As adults in the pastry capital of the world, we can—and definitely should—treat ourselves to an elevated version of this afternoon delight.
Here are three addresses for a goûter that have my heart.
TRAM café: A revelation
Left: view of Pantheon from TRAM—center: moelleux à la châtaigne at TRAM—right: exterior of TRAM
It took me twenty-seven years to finally listen to The Dark Side of the Moon and the same amount of time to discover the fondant à la châtaigne at TRAM café. Both left me wondering, “how the hell am I only just experiencing this?” Needless to say I can never look at cake the same way.
As if that wasn’t enough, TRAM’s coordinates mark one of the most beautiful points in all of Paris. One is seated in the heart of the 5th arrondissement, with the Pantheon and the Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont to the left (looking out) and the Placette Jacqueline-de-Romilly down the cobblestone hill to the right.
Inside, soft light and delicious aromas fill the room, while stacks of picture books (TRAM doubles as a bookstore) cover the sleek marble and wood finishes. We will be back very soon to try their tarte au citron vert and more of their inventive hot beverages.
Constant: The new digs of a culinary scion
Chef Christian Constant dominated the 7th arrondissement from the Rue St Dominique for decades with his flagship Le Violon d’Ingres, and later additions Les Cocottes and Le Café Constant.
The former two still exist, but under new ownership. Christian Constant the chef has sailed off into the sunset, while Christian Constant the father now gets to observe his son, Benjamin, make his mark on the same neighborhood.
La tarte choco at Constant
Benjamin opened his coffee roaster, Constant in July of 2024 just around the corner from his father’s old kitchen, and he has done the impossible: he has made me love a coffee shop.
This is not your soulless, nationally ambiguous coffee shop—the kind that’s in every major city and, in Paris, populates the hellscape known as Le Marais—but rather a distinctly Parisian café packaged for the new generation.
At Constant, we find family recipes perfected over decades. I asked for the secret to the heavenly tarte choco and was told, “no secret other than a lifetime in the restaurant business.”
The classic madeleine maintains the perfect texture—a delicate crust around a fluffy interior—even after having cooled down. I was delighted by the balanced sweetness and the brown butter nuttiness.
Finally, I delved into the luscious layers of the croissant perdu, a cake of leftover croissant and pain au chocolat.
If savory is more your pleasure, Constant also serves café classics like the jambon beurre, the croque monsieur, and delicious omelettes.
Plaq: The chocolate lover’s dream
Le moelleux at Plaq
The founders of Plaq, Sandra and Nicolas, have one basic obsession: the cocoa bean—how to source the very best, and how to get the best out of it. No superfluous elements, like excess sugar, should be stealing the show.
At their boutique on the Rue du Nil, you can experience the cocoa complexities for yourself in the form of silky hot chocolate, unctuous mousse, or a melty moelleux.
The only seating is some benches out front. I personally suggest taking your chocolate on a stroll so you can observe all the delicious food available on the rest of the street, mainly from the shops of Terroirs d’Avenir.
In Memoriam
It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the discontinuation of the fusion bao buns at Boutique yam’Tcha, 4 Rue Sauval, Paris 1.
I went to the boutique to have a tea—maybe a café lai’tcha, maybe a smoked lapsang souchong, who knows—but mostly to enjoy their famous bao buns, stilton and cherry, dark chocolate, black sesame—oh God, I can taste them now—so that I could share them with you in this newsletter. Well that opportunity was sadly stripped from me.
I scoured the menu in front of me, confused by their glaring absence, before looking up at the owner, Chi Wah Chan. “The bao buns, are you only doing them later in the afternoon now?”
He looked back at me with the eyes of a parent struggling to tell a child their dog has died. “Actually, we’re not making the baos anymore, not since summer break.”
I don’t care if he said it with all the tender sympathy in the world, the guy may as well have punched a hole in my chest and torn out my beating heart.
In my sorrow, I am reminded of a line shared among New Englanders at the dawn of David Ortiz’s career, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” In that spirit, I will find the strength within me to carry on. I hope you can do the same. It’s what the baos would have wanted.
I wish Boutique yam’Tcha the best of luck with their new menu of savory dishes, all of which look delicious. I will be back very soon to try them.
Feel free to reply—even just “yum”—if you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, and share it with your foodie friends.
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See you in a couple weeks,
Max