Pierre Hubert

A seasonal case, changed as the year turns

The display is the argument here: pâtisserie that shifts with the season, chocolate worked in-house, and a frozen range that comes forward in summer. Pierre Hubert opened his Dijon boutique in 2012 under the title of pâtissier créateur, and the house still describes its work in terms of passion et exigence, creations meant to make the eyes shine before the palate gets involved. He started in pastry at fourteen and trained through several French houses before setting up on his own, which is why the classical base is visible under the seasonal work rather than replaced by it. Nothing here is built to sit in a case for long. The shop is a member boutique of Relais Desserts, the French pastry association, which is the clearest external marker of where it sits among Dijon's pastry addresses.

Three addresses, one workshop

What began as a single city-centre boutique became a three-site Dijon operation within three years: a kiosk added in spring 2015, then a production atelier with a third boutique in the north of the city that autumn. The atelier supplies all of them, which is why the range holds together across sites rather than varying counter by counter. The categories are all sweet: pâtisseries, macarons, gourmandises sucrées, ice creams, sorbets and frozen entremets, ballotins and tablets of chocolate, jams and spreads, plus gift boxes and accessories. There is no café side to speak of. This is a shop you choose from and carry out, and the counter team is set up for exactly that.

Where to start

Take the pâtisserie case first, then the macarons and chocolates, because those three together are the clearest statement of what pâtissier créateur means in practice. The chocolate work splits between ballotins for a box and tablets for keeping, and the sweeter shelves run to jams and spreads if you want something that lasts past the afternoon. In warm weather or for a celebration, the frozen entremets and sorbets are the part of the range to ask about, since they change more than anything else on the list. Viennoiserie is a smaller part of the business, but the butter croissant has a following of its own in Dijon and is worth adding to the box. If you are buying to keep rather than to eat that afternoon, the tablets, jams and spreads travel better than anything from the pastry case.