La Boulangerie de Papa: Baguettes and Crepes on a Paris Patio

La Boulangerie de Papa

1 Rue de la Harpe, 75005 Paris, France

Just downstairs from the Albe Hotel in the Latin Quarter in Paris, France is a crepe and baguette sandwich shop called La Boulangerie de Papa. We were only stopping in for a quick bite to eat before visiting the Eiffel Tower. I still haven’t figured out whether or not La Boulangerie de Papa is part of a chain. I had a feeling since, the place had a sort of Bread Garden vibe to it. It’s still cozy and charming inside with baskets spilling full of bread and hard wood floors and counters. But something about the decor was a little bit contrived, as if they were pandering to tourists. Then again, this was the Latin Quarter and a prime tourist destination.

We ordered a couple of baguette sandwiches and a ham and cheese crepe to share.

The fresh baguette bread flattened on panini presses sported sexy grill marks with ooey, gooey cheese melted in the centre. We ordered a chicken and vegetable sandwich and a cheese, egg and herb sandwich. Both were delicious. The bread was so soft on the inside and nice and crusty on the grilled sides.

The chicken sandwich was also filled with sweet and juicy tomatoes along with some very creamy and rich brie, melding perfectly with the tender chicken chucks and the mild herbs.

There was so much cheese in the cheese and egg sandwich that we could barely pry it open to take the below picture. Naturally, I liked this sandwich better than the chicken sandwich. Cheese is one of my biggest vices.

The crepe, which was made before our eyes on an open grill on the patio kitchen, was delicious. It was soft and fluffy, moist in the centre but also crispy on the edges and it tasted both of eggs and butter. It tasted exactly like what I thought a crepe in Paris would taste like. Our French cousins totally knocked this crepe off our Paris pastry pedestal by informing us that the French consider savory ingredients filled in fluffy cake batter crepes as “fakes.” Apparently, in France, if you order a crepe with savory ingredients, it should traditionally be filled in a stiff, buckwheat crepe. These are the ones with bubbly holes in them and folded into a square on a plate. I wouldn’t have ever guessed this. After all, all the crepes I eat in Vancouver are made of a pancake batter and folded into a triangle. And admittedly, I prefer fluffy crepes over stiff buckwheat.

Nonetheless, eating crepes (fake or not) on a patio in Paris is a pretty unbeatable experience.