Boulangerie du Palais
Praline Brioche
Butter Croissant
Almond Croissant
Chocolate Snail
Nutella Turnover
Surprisingly unmapped by food writers or online search engines, day two in Lyon began a rather substantial exploration of the city’s boulangeries as well as patisseries, and always willing to arrive early in order to experience items hot from the ovens it was after a nearly 12 mile run that I approached Boulangerie du Palais to find the doors just opening, a few folks already lined up and waiting to gather their baked goods en route to the week’s first day of work.
Potentially the most ‘famous’ bakery in the city, at least in part as a result of its location just steps away from much of the main tourist corridor, Boulangerie du Palais features both tartes and viennoiserie focused on Vieux Lyon’s famous pralines de noix, yet attempting to sample a rather wide swath of what the small space had to offer only one of the rosy tinged items was selected, the rest of a five part order featuring more traditional pastries to the tune of just 7.70€ from a young woman whose English was just good enough to compliment my rudimentary grasp of conversational French.
Entirely devoid of indoor space for indulgence, and not yet set up for al fresco seating that a later pass would show to be quite popular for sandwiches and pizzas sold during lunch, it was with warm bags in hand that I proceeded to the banks of the nearby Saone to partake in breakfast and beginning first with a simple butter croissant the wispy center proved a pleasant contrast to the lightly bronzed shell, yet when compared to the double baked almond iteration the flavors simply fell flat as the latter was not only untainted by frangipane, but also far more crisp on the exterior with an even better arc to the supple caverns within.
Progressing onward to richer items, a first experience with the candied pink confection found at almost every eatery within the city limits was offered in the form of an eggy roll densely packed with the sugar-coated nuts, and although admittedly quite sweet both the texture and the flavor were well matched to the soft bread, a similar complement applicable to both the exceedingly messy pocket of molten Nutella dotted with bits of chopped hazelnuts and a springy curl of golden pastry chockablock full of dark chocolate chips.
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