Christmas shopping often revolves around fine food and good products, whether for gourmet gifts or to find the ingredients you need to prepare your festive meals.
Paris is full of fine food stores, caterers, chocolatiers and other confectioners! In the run up to the festive season, you can do your shopping at the Lafayette Maison & Gourmet fine food store for a meal with a great local flavour, all accompanied by a wine picked out during a visit to the Caves du Louvre.
Other major stores in Paris, like the Bon Marché and itsGrande Épicerie or Printemps du Goût, also offer ranges of delicious products for your Christmas menus or to put under the tree for your loved ones. Original spices, exceptional oils and vinegars, assorted preserves … There's plenty to choose from! Don't forget to explore the well-stocked aisles of shops like La Maison Plisson, Causses, the Italian deli RAP or Asian foodstore Tang Frères to give your guests a taste of adventure.
To enjoy delicious prepared dishes, you can always order from certain restaurants, reserve seafood platters at your fishmonger's, or order from the home delivery website Poiscaille or from other renowned addresses like La Coupole or Le Dôme. Big names like Lenôtre, Dalloyau and Fauchon are still top favourites for the festive season.
For drinks, wine shops have the best vintages to complement your dishes. For beer lovers, the breweries BapBap and Gallia, among others, have an array of made-in-Paris beers to suit all tastes. Serve as an aperitif or offer as a gift. As for spirits, you’ll always find what you are looking for at wine merchants or why not go to a specialist shop? The Maison du Whisky, Maison du Saké, Maison du Rhum, L’Extrabrut (a champagne specialist) or La Cidrerie are sure to meet all your expectations. And if you are more of a tea and coffee connoisseur, go along to Dammann, Mariage Frères, La Maison des Trois Thés or Betjeman & Barton for tea and Caron, L’Arbre à Café, Coutume or the Caféothèque for coffee.
When it comes to sweet gourmet gifts, there's plenty to choose from!
And, of course, that begins with chocolates! Chocolate is especially popular during the festive season, either as a gift or with coffee at the end of a meal (if you have any room left!). Some of the world's top chocolatiers offer attractive gift boxes or make-your-own assortments for the festive season. Among the top names in Paris?
The Maison Alain Ducasse, Patrick Roger, À la Mère de Famille (one of the city's oldest chocolate shops, well worth a visit), Jean Paul Hévin, la Maison du Chocolat, Pierre Marcolini, or the extremely talented Edwart, Manufacture Cluizel, Jacques Genin, Alleno & Rivoir… One thing is sure, you won’t be able to resist them!
Paris, a patisserie capital. So, don't hesitate to pick up a few sweet delights from some of the best patisseries in Paris. On the morning of December 25, opt for the Praluline, the delicious praline brioche from master chocolatier Pralus or for mouthwatering babkas from Babka Zana. For desserts, take a look at the creations of cake and pastry chefs such as Pierre Hermé, Jeffrey Cagnes, Philippe Conticini, Yann Couvreur, Benoît Castel, Stohrer, Sébastien Gaudart … You're certain to find something special to enjoy, apart from the seasonal Yule logs!
A star of the festive season, Yule logs are ever more original! Head pastry chefs in Parisian palaces including the Hôtel de Crillon, Le Meurice, or the Peninsula, renowned establishments like Lenôtre and Ladurée and the Café de la Paix create their own signature mouthwatering and artistic logs. Trueworks of art inspired by nature, childhood memories and by traditions and customs from near and afar.
Many regional gastronomic products and gifts can be tasted and purchased at Christmas markets, where a festive atmosphere is guaranteed. More traditional, the Parisian markets offer seasonal products, wonderful places to shop for the basics for your Christmas and New Year meals.
If you're looking for gourmet gifts while shopping in Paris, the boxed gourmet sets from eminent Parisian establishments are an ideal choice.
Fauchon, a leading fine food store, offers refined gourmet gift boxes containing foie gras, terrines, chocolates and other sweet and savoury delights.
For an even more varied selection, the Grande Épicerie de Paris is a must. Here, you'll find luxurious assortments of local products, from rare teas to artisanal jams, as well as olive oils and spices from all over the world. Chocolate fans will love the creations of Parisian master chocolatiers. Jean-Paul Hévin or Pierre Marcolini boxes of chocolates are perfect for offering assortments of upscale pralines, ganaches, and bars of chocolate with a variety of delicious flavours. The result of world-famous expertise, these chocolates are a wonderful, sophisticated treat. For a more original gift, Maison Plisson has aperitif boxes filled with artisanal French products, such as savoury biscuits, terrines, flavoured oils and carefully selected wines. A great way to delight foodies with an authentic and generous assortment.
For gourmet gifts, small Parisian producers offer an abundance of authentic and scrumptious products. Among them, Parisian jam, jams made in an artisanal way. These small producers offer a wide range of gift ideas for all occasions. All highly personalized, they are well worth a look!
Ancrée offers you a unique taste experience with gourmet marine condiments. An original, gourmet gift that's in line with our commitment to changing the way we eat. Ideal for preparing your aperitifs for the festive season!
For cookie fans, Sunday Routine will delight your taste buds with yummy recipes, all hand-crafted in Paris.
If you're looking for a gourmet Parisian gift that will delight a loved one, there are plenty of iconic culinary delights to be found in Paris. Here is a selection of the best sweet treats to gift - a combination of tradition and creativity, to surprise and delight the taste buds.
A Parisian gourmet gift is much more than just a present, it's a taste experience. For the festive season, a gourmet gift is a sign of special attention. Paris is a city with a worldwide reputation for culinary expertise and giving someone a Parisian product means offering a little of this tradition and luxury to those you love.
Giving a Parisian gastronomic gift is much more than just a present: it's a taste experience.
Here are our top 3 producers offering gift baskets for the festive season:
