La Mercerie Pâtisserie

The madeleine is the whole argument

Madeleines are the signature here, and the variations do most of the work: glazed and jam-filled with yuzu or raspberry, chocolate-dipped and infused with rose or violet, and a traditional version sweetened with honey and baked in a scallop shell. Around them the case runs through classic French forms. There is a precisely proportioned croissant, strawberry-and-cream tarts, Paris-Brest and St. Honoré for the choux work, and a laminated sweet brioche made with extra layers of butter. The flan has a custardy centre held in shattering scalloped sheets of feuilletage. Seasonal tarts bring blackberries over a light lemon crème diplomat, with a large-format fruit tart for takeaway.

A pâtisserie inside a Brutalist landmark

La Mercerie Pâtisserie is the uptown extension of La Mercerie, the French restaurant Roman and Williams opened in SoHo in 2017. It sits within Marcel, the firm's restaurant in the Breuer Building, now Sotheby's headquarters, and exists through a partnership between the two. That setting is the difference: French pastry served inside Marcel Breuer's landmarked Brutalist block, in a Roman and Williams-designed dining room. The concept is pitched between the everyday pleasures of a small-town French boulangerie and the ambition of a Parisian pâtisserie, with a contemporary New York sensibility over the top of both.

The details are chosen to match. Coffee comes from Intelligentsia and tea from Henrietta Lovell's London-based Rare Tea Company. Baguettes were developed for the project by Brooklyn Granary & Mill using locally grown, freshly milled wheat, which is why the sandwiches work as well as they do. Pastries and cakes leave in ribbon-bound boxes and bags accented in dusty blue, pale peach and soft lavender.

Order the madeleine first, then decide by texture

Start with the madeleine, because it is the house signature rather than a side item: honey for the traditional scallop-shell version, yuzu or raspberry for the glazed and jam-filled ones, rose or violet for the chocolate-dipped. Then choose by structure. Croissant for lamination, sweet brioche for the extra butter layers, flan for custard and feuilletage, Paris-Brest or St. Honoré for choux. For fruit, the strawberry-and-cream tart is the direct classic, while the blackberry tart with lemon crème diplomat shows the seasonal side. Gâteau de Savoie is the lighter cake, feather-light and close to angel food. The full pâtisserie menu runs at breakfast in Marcel and for takeaway through the day and evening, which suits a morning pastry, a boxed cake, or a composed selection of French classics to carry out.