Karamel Paris (Paris, FRANCE) ★★★★★

After spending 10 years at Ladurée with the most recent five as their International head pastry chef, Nicolas Haelewyn was ready for a new adventure when he opened his own store dedicated to caramel near the Invalides in the 7th arrondissement.



Karamel is a tea salon, pâtisserie and chocolatier all under the same roof. The charming little place is tastefully decorated with wood, gold, copper and shades of charcoal. There are even vintage furniture, and an old record player at the entrance making it look more like an old furniture shop than a dessert café.




At Karamel, everything is more or less about caramel. That includes their pastries, viennoiseries, biscuits and chocolates. It's every caramel lover's dream.



The tea salon overlooking Rue Saint Dominique takes a minimalist approach.



Most of their popular pastries and viennoiseries won't last after noon hour so we considered ourselves very lucky today.



Kara Rolls, Le Mont Blanc and Oro Verde.



Oro Verde (€6.90) - Pistachio dacquoise, crispy feuilletine with praline and creamy caramel topped with some intensely grilled pistachio and dabs of light cream made with pistachio praline.



A very delicate and elegant dessert with interesting flavors and textures coming out of each layer.



Le Mont Blanc (€6.50) - Chef Haelewyn's imaginative interpretation of the classic Mont Blanc came on a crunchy sweet dough with chestnut cream, whipped cream, Bourbon Vanilla caramel and toppings of lip-shaped French meringue and candied chestnuts from Ardèche.



Kara Rolls (€3.50) - a brioche feuilletée with Karamel's signature runny “karamel”.



Some said the Kara Rolls have changed how we look at a croissant forever and that was quite an accurate assessment. It was very buttery and has just the right amount of flakiness. Very addictive (especially with that runny caramel sauce).



Karamélisée bars (Free!) - We were offered some free dark chocolate bars stuffed with runny caramel from the good guys (and gals) here. So yummy!



Unfortunately, their Le Kara-Brest (Paris-Brest with caramel sauce), which is another one of their social media darlings, was already sold out. That makes a return trip to this sweet haven for caramel lovers imminent.





Food Rating: 7.7/10
Price: €€€
Address: 67 Rue Saint-Dominique, 75007 Paris, France
Closest Metro Station: La Tour-Maubourg
Tel: +33 (0)1 7193-0294
Website: www.karamelparis.com