La Tradition de Boulainvilliers — Specialty Store in Passy, Paris

This is a bakery and pastry shop on Rue de Boulainvilliers, in Passy, and the first thing you meet inside is the bread: long tradi loaves on the shelf, an olive version beside them, and a buckwheat loaf for anyone who wants something darker. It is also a Point de Relais, so neighbours come in for a parcel and leave with a baguette under one arm.

The loaf to buy is the tradition baguette, well made and the one you come back for. The chocolate éclair holds its chocolate mild rather than sweet-heavy, and a framboisier carries well to a dinner party. Sandwiches run from a salmon version to vegetable and goat cheese; treat them as a snack rather than a meal.

There is no seating inside, so everything is to take away: bread and cakes handed over the counter, sandwiches wrapped, pastries boxed. The counter service is friendly and welcoming, and the shop keeps going through the afternoon when much of the neighbourhood has shut.

Prices are inexpensive for bread and cakes, which is what most of the spend here comes to: a baguette, an éclair, a sandwich.

Sunday is the day this shop earns its place: open from 6:30 am, it is where you pick up a fresh salmon sandwich and a pastry before a concert at Studio 104 next door. Come in the morning for the bread at its best.