L'Alliance is a wonderful neighborhood bakery in the 14th, one I frequented often for breakfast thanks to its proximity to my study abroad dorm. Opened by a baker who trained at Ladurée and his Japanese wife, the pastries have some interesting Japanese influences. And seeing as Monsieur Pabois apprenticed at Ladurée, the pâtisseries are expectedly excellent, definitely focus on the pastries over the bread.
The pain de charron, a whole-grain bread with seeds, is light, fluffy, and tasty. Croissants are the soft, not crispy variety and are well above average, though not among the best I've had in Paris. I was disappointed by the baguette tradition: the crust wasn't firm (even when I asked for one bien cuite) and the inside was too dense and pasty, without much flavor. As for pastries, I had:
Religieuse passion framboise (3.70€): passion fruit vanilla crème inside a passion fruit-flavored chou (cream puff) with a raspberry confit center, raspberry macaron on top. Terrific, I picked one up whenever they were available. The pâte à choux was always flavorful and never soggy, nice crunch on top. The cream tastes more of vanilla than passion fruit, but was still excellent, and the raspberry center added a nice hit of tartness. The raspberry macaron on top was great in texture but a bit too sweet for me.
Dôme yuzu (4.50€): as the name suggests, it's a dome of yuzu "crème" (the light, gelatinous kind, I don't know the proper word for it) atop a streusel-type hazelnut biscuit. You can see the Japanese influence here - yuzu is a citrus that tastes like a cross of grapefruit and lemon, but sweeter. Anyway, this dome is delicious, light and refreshing and the yuzu flavor is pretty strong. The streusel adds the much-needed textural component and the presentation is terrific, the mini-meringue on top was a nice touch.
Tarte pomme (3.00€): classic tarte pommes fines, thinly sliced caramelized apple tart. The crust was very flaky and buttery and the apples were fragrant, flavorful, and nicely tart. Very good, definitely several notches above average, though not to the level of, say, Du Pain et Des Idées.
Éclair au chocolat (2.90€): I am not a fan of éclairs but there was barely anything else left one weekday evening, so I gave it a shot. Surprisingly excellent - firm pâte à choux, pleasantly thick and bittersweet chocolate cream filling. I later noticed a little plaque noting their chocolate eclair was rated the 4th or 5th best in Paris or something like that, so definitely pick one up if you're an eclair fan.
I haven't tried the individual macarons, but as far as the pâtisseries go, they're restrained in sugar (definitely a good thing), inventive, delicious, and extremely well priced for the quality. Service is unusually kind, some pastries are only available on weekends, and there tends to be a long line out the door at peak hours. If you find yourself around Alésia, forget Dominique Saibron and walk a few minutes down to L'Alliance for your bread and pastry needs! read more