Maison N & A Boulangerie Patisserie — Specialty Store in Clignancourt, Paris

Maison N & A Boulangerie Patisserie is an independent bakery on Rue Damrémont in Clignancourt, and the first thing you meet is the bread: loaves stacked behind the counter, baguettes in their paper, the smell reaching the pavement before you are through the door.

The pain au chocolat is the one to buy first, and it is the pastry that brings people back. The butter croissants are light and flaky, the regular ones a little plainer, and the traditional baguette comes out fresh and crunchy. If you want a loaf for the table rather than a snack, the spelt and rye breads hold their own against anything else on the shelf.

Service runs over a counter; the shop also turns out panini and tacos alongside the viennoiseries, so a lunch stop works as well as a breakfast one. There is no seating to speak of, so plan to eat your croissant walking.

The hours are the quiet advantage here: 6:30 am to 8 pm, seven days a week, which means an early train or a late errand both land inside opening time. A few items come to €5–20, so a baguette and a pastry is small change and a box of pastries for a table is still modest.

Come for the bread and the pain au chocolat, keep the order simple, and this is a shop that suits a morning errand, a picnic assembled on the way to the park, or a cheap breakfast before a day of walking.