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)