Pâtisserie Marquet

The canelé, and what surrounds it

The canelé de Bordeaux is the house specialty at Pâtisserie Marquet, and it sets the terms for everything else in the case: a dark caramelised shell that should crack under the first bite, a soft interior scented with rum, and a batch that empties fast at weekends. Around it sit the creations that tie the shop to its stretch of coast, among them Les Dunettes, La Pinasse glacée and La Dune du Pyla, named for the great dune south of the bay and for the flat-bottomed boats that work the Bassin d'Arcachon. This La Teste-de-Buch address is the second boutique of a family pastry house founded in 1981, the original standing in Arcachon; the founder's son now runs both. The shop is a member boutique of Relais Desserts, the French pastry association.

What fills the case

Pastry, confectionery and regional sweets carry the counter between them. Macarons, calissons, nougat, dragées and petits fours sit alongside the canelés, ice cream arrives with the summer, and the celebration side of the business runs to pièces montées and boxed chocolates at Christmas and Easter. A short savoury line of tarts and salted petits fours exists, but it plays a supporting part and nobody is coming here for lunch. Four generations of the same family have been involved in the business, which shows less in the decoration than in the fact that the range has barely needed to change. The rhythm is the rhythm of a local institution: quiet midweek, crowded on Saturday and Sunday morning, when regulars arrive for the weekend box.

How to order

Begin with a canelé, because it is the piece the house is judged on and the one that shows whether the bake is right, shell crisp enough to resist, centre still custardy. From there the coastal creations are the most particular things on the shelf and worth choosing over a generic entremets. For a gift, the boxed work makes more sense than single pieces, whether that means macarons, dragées, chocolates or an assortment of petits fours. For a celebration, the pièce montée is the thing the house builds rather than sells off the shelf. This is a counter operation rather than a room to sit in, so the decisions get made standing at the case, and everything leaves in a box.