La Pompadour — Specialty Store in Passy, Paris

La Pompadour is an independent bakery and pastry shop on Rue de la Tour, in Passy, a few steps from the daily round of the 16th arrondissement. You walk in to a long pastry case and a bread shelf behind it, with a handful of tables if you want to eat in rather than carry everything home.

The éclairs are what to buy first, in coffee, vanilla and chocolate, and the vanilla flan is the other standing order here, a set custard that holds its shape on the spoon. Croissants are a safe morning buy, and the Paris-Brest is worth the trip on its own if you like praline cream. For something savoury, the quiche and the prepared salads, including a Caesar and a quinoa salad with egg and feta, make a light lunch, and the baguette tradition is the loaf to leave with.

The shop runs as a counter service: you order at the case, the staff box your pastries, and there is seating for eating in. Salads and quiches are pre-cut and plated in the window, and the baking happens on site rather than the pastries arriving ready-made.

Prices are moderate for the 16th. A quinoa salad with egg and feta runs €9.50, and a Valentine's cake with a balloon was priced at €19.50, so a pastry and a coffee is the cheaper way to try the place. Come before the lunch rush on weekdays, when the shop gets crowded and noisy, and note that it is closed on Sundays.

It suits anyone staying nearby who wants a good éclair or flan without crossing the city, and anyone putting together a picnic from the pastry case and the salad counter.