Popelini

Bored of macaroons? Totally over cupcakes? Looking for another sweet and cutesy way to over-indulge? Popelini, a recent addition to the hippidy-hip Northern Marais neighbourhood, might just have the answer.

Selling nothing but bite-size choux à la crème (which sounds far more elegant than its English translation of cream puff), Popelini provides Paris with an alternative way to eat cake, and features flavours ranging from traditional vanilla and cafe, to mouthgasmic salted caramel, to romantic rose and raspberry. 

But before you start to think this all sounds a bit gimmicky, be aware that choux à la crème are a traditional part of French pastry making. Invented in Italy in 1540 by pastry chef Popelini (hence the name of the shop), these cream filled morsels make up the traditional French wedding cake and are also essentially the same as the good old eclair - just rounder, smaller and cuter. Here, however, cream puffs are brought up to date, lined up like little calorific jewels in the counter of the minimal boutique, all perfectly formed and topped with a colourful slick of icing, tempting you to indulge in the wide range of flavours. And it's not form over substance here either, as the little jems - made freshly on-site daily from high-quality ingredients, and with no artificial flavourings or additives - are top-notch and really rather delicious. And since they're only small, there's no reason to resist...

For more on new and inventive ways to indulge in Paris, read The Innovative Patisseries of Paris

Popelini

29 rue Debelleyme, 75003, Paris

www.popelini.com

Open Tues-Sat, 11am-7.30pm; Sun 10am-3pm

Update 05/04/12: a new second branch has opened
44 rue des Martyrs, 75009, Paris

All photos copyright Kim Laidlaw Adrey