Weekend in Paris #5

Champagne problems, an Indonesian feast, and entering my gilded age.

Weekend in Paris is a bonus series for paid subscribers—it’s one part recap of my off-duty fun as a baking school student, one part dishing about (temporary) expat life. This post is now unlocked for all readers to enjoy. Bienvenue!

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My weekend started in the chilly darkness at 6:45 on Friday morning, when all three of Ferrandi Paris’s international programs boarded a coach bus bound for the countryside. As a balm for the early-morning start, we got to experience a French highway rest stop on the way out of town—and I can assure you that it was far classier than its American cousins. (No surprise there!)

The three-day weekend means this letter is particularly packed with fun. Today, you’ll read about:

• 🍾 Our champagne-fueled road trip,

• 🎼 My opulent morning at the opera, and

• 🤤 A little slice of babka heaven!

Before anything else, I have to drop this photo here. Aren’t we a photogenic bunch?!

We’d been prepped ahead of time for our arrival at Nicolas Feuillatte: the day would begin with a PowerPoint, and yes, there would be a quiz at the end.

A few details made this prospect more intriguing than it seemed at first blush:

• The quiz was interactive,

• The leaderboard would be displayed and refreshed between questions, and

• This was all widely considered to be a competition between the cuisine, pastry, and boulangerie programs.

Most importantly, the winner would be rewarded with a bottle of champagne (and bragging rights). Game on!

It took me a few questions to get the hang of things—turns out, there was an accuracy and time component to the quiz—but when I saw my name appear at the bottom of the top five, I became determined to climb in the rankings. By the second-to-last question, I had successfully unseated the woman who’d been clinging to first place, boosted by the cheers of my classmates and chef.

Given my victory, I eased up when the second quiz began; after all, I’d already won. To the boulangerie program’s surprise, only the second quiz winner was awarded a bottle of champagne—a detail that we collectively deemed deeply unfair.

Fortunately, all frustrations were put to bed by the time we headed into the tasting room for passed hors d’oeuvres paired with each of the four champagnes on offer.

The day ended with a tour (the production line wasn’t running “because it’s a Friday,” another über-French detail) and each one of us falling asleep on the bus ride back home after passing around a bottle from the gift shop and a stack of paper cups.

Clearly, after a long day of learning and sipping, we needed to refuel.

So we accepted our classmate Janice’s invitation to Makan Makan, her favorite Indonesian restaurant in town.

Joining an international program with this level of diversity means getting to learn about new cultures directly from the source. We let Janice order every dish for the group, diligently following her instructions on which sauce to pair with each bite, and we were not disappointed.

10/10, would eat again. (And when I’m back stateside—and in the greater Los Angeles area—I’m excited to try this Indonesian badminton café!)

I began the next morning with a trip to the Palais Garnier—though not to attend a performance, alas. Fortunately, gawking at the building itself is more than worth the price of admission.

Here’s a bit of context, courtesy of the Musée d’Orsay:

In 1860, then a 35-year-old unknown young man, Charles Garnier won the competition to design the new Opera house. Building the Opera provided its architect with immediate fame. The construction took fifteen years, through a variety of troubles, including the 1870 war, the fall of the Second Empire and the Commune.

I walked up to the building via the grand Avenue de l'Opéra, which stretches from the Louvre to the steps of the Palais Garnier, created as part of the massive public works program spearheaded by Georges-Eugène Haussmann in the mid-nineteenth century.

I’d visited more than a decade before with my opera-aficionado father, but every detail felt fresh and new: the colorful marble, the gilded ceilings, and the grand central staircase that was designed as a place to see and be seen. It’s no wonder that the Phantom of the Opera lives in these halls!

It was only as I left that I was treated to a musical performance—a busker doing an excellent John Denver cover. (And let me tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard someone belt “Almost heaven, West Virginia” in French.)

Speaking of “almost heaven”…!

Having baked babka once myself—and in anticipation of our eventual babka unit in class—I couldn’t wait to visit Babka Zana, a spot dedicated to this Jewish treat.

I picked the location closest to the Palais Garnier, and was initially disappointed to realize that it wasn’t one of the brand’s standalone shops, but rather a kiosk in the Galeries Lafayette Le Gourmet (a food hall within the iconic department store).

Of course, any disappointment faded once I actually stepped inside.

I’ve seen some impressive food halls before, but this one took the proverbial cake: it was a pastry lover’s dream, with dozens of the city’s best boulangeries and pâtisseries under one roof. I adored Jolene Handy’s recent tribute to the glory days of American department store noshes, and apparently this tradition is still alive and well in Paris!

I bought two babka rolls (pistachio orange flower and almond praliné), a pecan-maple rugelach, a superb Algerian-style sourdough brioche roll, and a Moroccan chickpea flour cookie that was equal parts toasty and cinnamony. My only regret is that I didn’t arrive with a second stomach.

And with that, it’s back to the (fabulous) grind. I’ll be back with another baking school recap on Friday!

Warmly,
Maddie

Breakfast Club is a newsletter about pastries with a side of personal growth, from an ex-financial planner turned baker. If you savored this edition, click the ❤️ (or share with a friend!) to help new readers discover it—and subscribe to get each letter fresh from the oven.