Gilles Marchal patisserie in Montmartre, the madeleine mecca

If you were in France a few weeks ago, you may have heard about Gilles Marchal. This Montmartre-based pastry chef was invited for a special edition of an amateur baking contest. By the way he provides “Douceur Framboise” the winning pastry in his store.

Originally coming from Lorraine, Gilles Marchal is the madeleine specialist. In his store set on the butte Montmartre, the day we came, he provided 9 different recipes (plain, lemon zests, orange zests, chocolate and vanilla marbled, stuffed with dark chocolate, stuffed with raspberry, stuffed with pistachio paste, stuffed with salted butter caramel…). But he has between 35 and 40 different recipes of madeleine changing according to seasons and events.

At Gilles Marchal’s, the madeleine is everywhere, from the door handle to the tapestry patterns.
Gilles Marchal’s madeleine, “this comforting cake” according to the pastry chef himself, comes from a family recipe and cooked in a metal mold, a very important detail. It’s sold €1.60 the piece.

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Not really into media coverage, Gilles Marchal’s patisserie is yet featured in every quality tourist and gourmet guide books, especially in Asian guide books.
For several years, the chef has multiplied the collaborations with major houses. He created a savory madeleine flavored with black truffle for Maison de la Truffe. He also has a corner at Galeries Lafayette where he offers entremets, madeleines and cookies.

In his store, also doubling up as a showroom, Gilles Marchal doesn’t only provide madeleines.
He also has very tasty viennoiseries (croissants, brioches, almond croissants, kouign amman, donuts, pistachio croissants, chouquettes…), all kinds of biscuits (cookies, shortbreads, cakes, cannelés… including some shaped like the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré-Coeur), chocolate slabs, jams and many cakes.
Eclairs, tartlets, rum babas, Saint-Honoré, Dômes… generously fill the window display.

The whole is obviously made on the spot, in small batches, with quality ingredients thoroughly selected by the chef, in the laboratory you can see from a small window from the store.

Gilles Marchal’s patisserie is to discover asap, if you don’t know him yet for his madeleines first, but also for all the sweet and gourmet treats the chef bakes.