With temperatures reaching 28°C this week in Paris, you must be rummaging the streets for a cool and sweet delight. Sweat no more! Make your ice cream break a truly special, truly Parisian event by visiting the best ice cream parlours this city has to offer.
The traditional one: Berthillon
Berthillon is all about tradition, creation and … passion. Situated on the charming Ile Saint-Louis, Berthillon has been hailed the best ice-cream parlour in the world. Founded in 1954, the fabrication process remains unchanged, under the caring surveillance of the founder’s granddaughter. The artisanal ice creams are created on the shop’s first floor, and this institution remains the go-to place for a traditional ice cream. The flavours are also on the traditional side, and the best sellers remain vanilla, chocolate, cafe or salted caramel. Somewhat oddly, the shop is closed in August, but you will easily find places around that sell these ice creams during this month. Keep your eyes open!
Address (closed in August): 29-31 rue Saint-Louis en l’Ile, IVe.
The hip one: Une Glace À Paris
Head to the charming neighbourhood of Le Marais to taste the creations of Olivier Ménard, who previously worked for Pierre Hermé and Harrods (London), and Emmanuel Ryon, who has been elected Meilleur Ouvrier de France as well as World Champion of Patisserie. At Une Glace À Paris, the pair offers twenty-four flavours of artisanal ice creams and sorbets « à la française », made in the shop’s basement. What makes this place special is the mix of different perfumes you can find in a single spoon. If you are an ice-cream fan, try their different flavours in a single scoop such as buckwheat-nougatine or smoked vanilla-baba au rhum. If you are more of a sorbet fan, you can safely go for their best seller: orange, carrot and ginger. The menu extends to other types of patisseries glacées. To share with your family and friends, I suggest their vacherin cake, re-imagined with mango for a modern, fresh twist.
Address: 15 rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie, IVe.
The rock and roll one: Glaces Glazed
This time, prepare to be surprised by the striking modernity and boldness of the ice-creams and sorbets you can find at Glaces Glazed. Every ice-cream title is associated with a film or song, and here are a few examples of what you might expect. The Black Sugar Sex Magic is a surprising sorbet of chocolate, wasabi and ginger. The Mojito de Tokyo has a wonderful cocktail of rum, mint and organic lemon in it. Pump up the Volume contains mango and Espelette spice. If you like ice-pops, they have a nice selection as well, including their own Smell Like Teen Spirit, which contains absinthe and apple liquor. This year, you can go even bolder and try their range of wild plant flavours ice-pops. Oh, and they’re really pretty too.
Address: 54 rue des Martyrs, IXe.
The one with a twist: À la Mère de Famille
Now that we are on the subject of ice-pops, À la Mère de Famille has also decided to take the plunge this year and make their own version. The shop is already a Parisian institution for sweets and chocolates, and a must-go for those with a sweet tooth who want to taste French sucreries. They do not disappoint with their ice creams and pops! The twist to their ice-pops is the addition of their own fruit paste, cut in chunk within the juice ice-pop. Un délice! Their ice-cream selection will be a fierce rival in your decision process against the ice-pops, with comforting choices such as my all-time favourite: chocolate-caramel coated with dark chocolate with caramelized almonds.
Address: 35 rue du Faubourg Montmartre IXe.
Bon appétit!