Patisserie Gilg (Colmar, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

Founded in 1981, Relais Desserts International is an exclusive, elite professional association that brings together some of the world’s top pastry chefs and chocolatiers to promote and elevate the art of French haute pâtisserie. Their members, mostly scattered across European countries (with a few in Asia and other continents as well), include some of the market’s heavyweights such as Pierre Hermé, Sébastien Bouillet, and Arnaud Larher. Whenever I step onto European soil, this is one thing that I always look for — Relais Desserts members. I always make sure to check out some of these pastry masters within the area. Today, I knew that chance would come up for me.

As a small town in the Alsace region, Colmar is not only rich in French heritage, but also home to some of the most amazing French pastries in the region. A member of Relais Desserts since 1996, Pâtisserie Gilg joined the prestigious association under second-generation master pastry chef Jean-Paul Gilg. 

Today, the family-run Alsatian pâtisserie is led by his son, Thierry Gilg, who took over in 2000 and continues to run the day-to-day operations.

Pâtisserie Gilg offers a fine selection of chocolate, viennoiseries and ice-cream, alongside their variety of Alsatian regional specialties and classic fruit-based French pastries.

Black Forest Cake 2.0 (€5.1) — For a French patisserie near the German border specializing in Alsatian delicacies, it wasn’t surprising at all to see a German Black Forest cake.

It came with Kirsch mousse, chocolate ganache, chocolate biscuit, and, of course, kirsch-kissed cherries 🍒. This was a very light “cake” because there was no cake hidden inside (such as a chocolate sponge) — only mousse, ganache, and compote. Not surprisingly, the kirsch flavor was front and centre. Not bad.

I got my five minutes of me time. Now, time to meet up with the team again as we finish our journey in Colmar.

Food Rating: 6.3/10

Price: €€€

Address: 60 Grand Rue, 68000 Colmar, France

Tel: +33 (0)3 8923-9684

Website: http://www.gilg.fr/?utm_source=gmb

Opening Hours: 9:00am - 6:45pm (Tue - Fri), 9:00am - 6:00pm (Sat), 9:00am - 12:30pm (Sun)

Bord’eau Restaurant by Jean-Yves Schillinger (Colmar, FRANCE) ★★★★☆

I didn’t quite remember why we chose to visit Riquewihr instead of Colmar back in 2012 but let’s just say it was one of my less favorite decisions for a long time. It ended up taking me 14 years to finally make it right.

I can really see why tourists keep coming back to Colmar — it’s a perfectly preserved medieval, fairytale-like setting. That charm comes from centuries of architectural preservation, a unique regional blending of French and German influences, and a deliberate effort to keep the historic centre looking like a living storybook.

We had a lot planned for our day in Colmar, but first, it was time for a highly anticipated lunch at Bord’eau Restaurant which kicked off the visit in style.

Bord’eau is a hugely popular, chic bistronomic restaurant in the heart of the romantic Little Venice (La Petite Venise) district in Colmar. Tucked right along the scenic banks of the Lauch River, it’s known for a casual yet innovative menu that blends local terroir flavors with contemporary, global influences.

The restaurant is owned by renowned Alsatian chef Jean-Yves Schillinger, who is also behind flagship restaurant JY’s, an acclaimed two-Michelin-star fine-dining temple specializing in creative, cosmopolitan cuisine made with local Alsatian ingredients.

I asked for the best seat in the house — a table at the corner of the terrace, right at the point where the Lauch River meets the picturesque backdrop of traditional timber houses. From where we sat, it felt almost like a postcard.

After wasting a ton of time taking photos, we finally got down to business. A small nibble to start things off…

…and brioche.

At this point, everybody realized just how hungry we really were.

Sea bream, tiger’s milk, pink radish, mango — The tiger’s milk added a nice, velvety texture to the sea bream. The thin strips of pink radish and ruby corn delivered a lovely crunch, along with a mango gel that brought a touch of acidity to the dish. This wasn’t bad, but they could have leaned in a bit more on the acidity to bring out the sea bream’s sweetness even further.

Duck foie gras, figs, raspberry caramel — Some of us enjoyed a slice of duck foie gras with roasted figs and a raspberry caramel gel instead.

Muscovy duck, Chinese cabbage, peanuts, turnips, lemon — As a fan of meaty French duck, this was a no-brainer. I thought the duck breast could have been a little more charred on the edges, but overall they did a more-than-fine job. The lemon-infused duck jus was spot on, meshing beautifully with the Chinese cabbage and honey-glazed turnips.

A duck shepherd’s pie was served as a side to the duck breast.

Seared octopus, vegetables, saffron — The other main dish was seared octopus, paired with Thai vegetables with basil, saffron rouille, and finished with a relatively light shellfish broth infused with miso.

Then our new friends were back with us — wasps and bees 🐝🐝🐝 — and that killed the mood almost instantly. While we knew we’d miss the amazing river view on the terrace, we couldn’t bear the risk of being bitten again. So, we ended up moving inside.

White peach, verbena, diplomat, peach tuile, Fior di latte ice cream — The starter and main dishes were pretty good (good, though not exactly great), but the dessert turned out to be an outstanding exclamation point — perhaps even a knockout punch for the nasty heat this afternoon. 

From the first bite, I could tell verbena was in play, and it always seems to form a great bond with white peach. Not surprisingly, the verbena flavors were front and centre, from the verbena soup to the verbena diplomat cream. It effortlessly elevated the juicy white peach with its floral, grassy, and lightly mint-like undertones. And finally, the layer of Fior di latte ice cream underneath the peach tuile tied everything together beautifully.

The result? Refreshing, bright, and absolutely perfect summer dessert.

As expected, our lunch was a retreat for both our eyes and our palates. It also burned a little more time than we first thought. I think we’ll really need to manage our remaining time in Colmar now.

Food Rating: 6.9/10

Price: €€€

Address: 17 Rue de la Poissonnerie, 68000 Colmar, France

Tel: +33 (0)3 8921-5365

Website: https://www.jean-yves-schillinger.com/bord-eau-restaurant/

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 1:30pm (Wed - Sat), 7:00pm - 10:00pm (Tue - Sat)

Fortwenger Strasbourg Cathédrale (Strasbourg, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

We wanted to check Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg off our list as soon as possible, so right after we dropped off our car at the hotel, we immediately started walking toward the monumental structure in the heart of Strasbourg’s old town. That’s when we stumbled upon Fortwenger Strasbourg Cathédrale.

Fortwenger is a brand that has been around for about 250 years, and they specialize in traditional Alsatian gingerbread and other confectionery. They have a few branches across France, and this one next to the famous cathedral also doubles as a gelateria.

There were some interesting flavors available but little nugget was only looking for something simple.

His favorite — vanilla gelato.

I always had a nice laugh at him whenever he had vanilla ice cream, calling him simple-minded, but I had to admit this was pretty tasty. Good choice, son!

It’s my second time visiting Strasbourg, and likewise for the Strasbourg Cathedral. There’s this magical feeling whenever I stand underneath this magnificent architecture, which was once the tallest structure built entirely in the Middle Ages.

It’s not the first time I’ve said this during our trip, but tonight it felt like we’d taken a time machine and traveled back to an era where Harry Potter was still a student. I was actually hiding from the rain at a corner near Place de la Cathédrale (Cathedral Square) when I was taking this photo, but I couldn’t stop admiring the scene there.

I know it’s going to be hard walking in the heavy rain, but it’s time for us to run, as we have our first fine-dining experience for this trip coming up in just a few minutes.

Food Rating: 6.1/10

Price: €€

Address: 31 Place de la Cathédrale, 67000 Strasbourg, France

Tel: +33 (0)3 8851-3404

Website: https://www.fortwenger.fr/

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 6:30pm (Mon - Sat), 10:00am - 6:00pm (Sun)