Paul: A window to Paris

As soon as school was out, which was usually just before 5 p.m., on late spring days the sun would still be shining and soft and I would take my usual walk home. Climb up towards the Pantheon on Rue Soufflot and walk down the narrow Rue Mouffetard until I hit the neighborhood baker. I would purchase two baguettes because experience has taught me that one almost never lasts the trip. The hot, toasty bundle in paper carried under my arm, the temptation is often too strong. You reach in the bag and break off the top end. A delicious crustiness yields into a lovely, chewy center. You tell yourself you’ll have just one bite. But it’s too good. Before you know it you’ve eaten most of your freshly baked baguette before reaching your front door. Perhaps even better than that walk home is the morning stroll, when there’s a slight chill and the only thing that motivates is the promise of a spectacularly flaky, freshly made croissant. This is Paris. If one could capture the essence of the city in a perfume bottle it would be the intoxicating scent of freshly baked breads and pastries that infuse the streets as you walk through it. The smells of butter and flour, sugar, chocolate and coffee that rise with a gentle heat from the vents of the various neighborhood boulangeries… It’s the alluring sense of comfort and indulgence; a moment of pleasure on the go.

Wednesdays I would finish class at noon and have to be at the office for my internship by one o’clock. A leisurely lunch was out of the question. My savior was always the trusty boulangerie. It became a ritual. I would head out and make a stop for a sandwich Parisien of jambon, fromage et beurre sometimes with some lettuce and always with a nice sharp Dijonnaise, hop on my bus, find a window seat and enjoy my lunch while watching the city of lights go by. A sandwich made with a good baguette should always leave the top part of your mouth a little scratchy and your jaw a little sore. That meant the bread was nice and crusty and the mie, or white part, was good and chewy. It has always been a frustration of mine that, well, it was so difficult in Manila to get something so good, that fast and conveniently.

In comes Paul, a brand that most French are familiar with. A name often associated with tradition and quality. Founded in 1889, in Croix near the city of Lille, Paul has flourished under the principles of traditional baking and using only the best ingredients available. This family-owned business has spanned five generations and now has over 350 stores and stalls in France and around 150 in the world. Paul was more often than not the only place to get a real good sandwich at any train station or airport. Their stunning store in the heart of St. Germain in Paris is always abuzz with people enjoying coffee, having a light meal, sharing pastries and gossip. Lucky for us, it’s soon to open here in the Philippines.

Although present already in Asia for the past 19 years, Paul is committed to carefully planning and preparing each new venture. Unlike many other boulangeries that either import frozen dough or have industrial-scale fabrication, Paul meticulously trains their local partners to handcraft everything in-store. Local bakers and pastry chefs were sent to train with their maitres boulangers, or master bakers. They do, however, import the raw ingredients from France using only those that pass their rigorous standards. “We use a special French type of flour called T65; we have been working closely with the same farmers and millers for years,” explains Jean-Pierre Erba, managing director for Paul Asia-Pacific. “And a certain number of key ingredients come from France such as the butter … but the baguette, the ficelle and the pain de champagne will be entirely made by Filipino bakers.” There are no commissaries and everything is made in each store and clients can witness the process. When asked about the difficulty of creating such breads in a tropical climate, Erba responds, “The only way to have bread of that certain quality that is nice and crusty is to have a production that is ongoing the whole day. We will be baking baguettes the entire day, in small batches. Which means when you go home at 6 p.m. after work, you will not be eating a baguette that was made in the morning, but one that was just made 30 or 40 minutes ago.” This promises clients a similar olfactory and gustatory experience of Paris every day.

Brought to us by the master retailer himself, Ben Chan, who has recently been taking small steps into the food business, such as snack foods for Bench and investing in restaurants, this full-time venture into the food world was inevitable. And the choice of Paul to begin with was an easy decision.

“I love Paris and its café culture,” explains Chan. “Whenever I’m in the city, I always find myself attracted to Paul’s cozy interiors as well as the scent of freshly baked pastries that the French are known for. It’s difficult not to give in to a bite of pain au chocolat or les amandes or the myriad of tempting desserts, or all of the above. It’s how I imagine the words ‘good morning’ in café form, except you can have it almost any time of the day. It’s one of my Paris favorites, and it feels good that we can all enjoy Paul now in Manila.”

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Paul is opening soon on the Ground Floor, SM Aura, Bonifacio Global City; and Ground Floor, Bench Tower, 30th Street corner Rizal Drive, Bonifacio Global City.