Christophe Roussel

Sculpted chocolate sardines, a Tulameen raspberry macaron and a case of jewel-finished pastries: the Montmartre shop of Christophe Roussel sells the work of a La Baule kitchen at the foot of the Butte.

A La Baule house with a Montmartre address

Christophe Roussel opened his first shop in La Baule in 2004 and still keeps the workshop there, with boutiques in Pornichet, Guérande and Paris carrying the same pastries, chocolates and macarons. The Paris branch stands close to the funicular and the steps up to Sacré-Cœur, which makes it a sweet boutique on a walking route rather than a neighbourhood boulangerie.

The style is unmistakable in the case: classic French sweets reworked with precisely dosed flavour and a colourful, graphic finish, closer to jewellery than to rustic bakery work. Because production stays in La Baule and travels to Montmartre, the Paris room is about presentation and collection rather than visible baking. The standing behind it is real. The house has been counted among France's leading chocolatiers since 2012, and its chocolates took a Tablette d'Or in 2024 from the Club des Croqueurs de Chocolat.

A small boutique on the way up the hill

Expect a polished retail room rather than a seated café. There is no dining format and no coffee list; the exchange is choosing finished pâtisserie and chocolate at the counter, with staff who talk people through the range. The welcome tends to be warm, and the pleasure of the visit is as much in the looking as in the eating.

One habit is worth knowing. The Paris branch joins the house anti-waste scheme, Sauvez les gâteaux!, under which the previous day's remaining pastries can be reserved and collected at the end of the day. For bigger occasions the house also makes bespoke pastry and chocolate, including personalised chocolates and coffrets.

What to order

Three categories define the place: seasonal pastries, macarons and chocolates. The pastries are the showpiece, elegant and deliberately restrained in sweetness. The macaron programme is the specialty, sold in coffrets of several sizes, and the Macaron Tulameen, named for the raspberry variety, is the one to look for.

Chocolate is equally central, and it is where the house has its fun. Ballotins sit beside moulded pieces such as Les sardines de la côte, Petits Crabes and the Écrin Coquillages et crustacés, seafood shapes made entirely in chocolate rather than anything savoury. Among Montmartre's other sweet addresses, Arnaud Larher, Mamiche and Pâtisserie Rayonnance included, this is the design-led, La Baule-made option.