Although we were only in London for a week and France for a week, we packed in plenty of markets, eateries and most importantly- patisseries!

A firm London favourite of ours is the Borough Market. A food and produce mecca, we made sure we went hungry! There we visitedBread Ahead Bakery, they make amazing doughnuts- not unlike our own! We stopped at the Harrods food hall, with its jaw dropping range and eye watering prices, it is an absolute must for food lovers. Next to Harrods is the famous French luxury pastry house,Ladurée, known for their macarons. We couldn’t resist.

Across the ditch and in France, we made a quick trip West to Nantes to our see our friends Brice and Emmanuelle at their new restaurant Le Rouge Ardoise. Fantastique ! They introduced us to their traditional Breton pastry the Kouign-Amann. Many of you will have tried them, as they are now a regular on the table at our stall at the Wanaka Farmers Market.

Last destination on our whistle-stop tour was Paris. In France there are patisseries and boulangeries on nearly every corner, but we wanted to sample the best of the best, where the creations are treated with such reverence they are housed in shops which more resemble art galleries than bakeries so we selected only a few specialty places to try. L’éclair de Genie specialise in éclairs of every colour and flavour. Their perfectly formed and uniform oblong choux are so highly decorated, they are simply exquisite. We visited the fantastic Le Pâtisserie des Rêves (the patisserie of dreams) say no more! Amazing! We also stopped at the famous Pierre Hermépatisserie, where the queue was so long it extended down the street, (and being 5 ½ months pregnant, not prepared to wait that long for a macaron- no matter how delicious), but definitely worth a window shop if nothing else.

Check out the photos in the gallery, it’s such a pleasure to share them with you, so you can see where our inspiration comes from!

Bon appétit!