Parisians love their ice cream and they patiently queue sometimes for up to 30 minutes at the more than a dozen shops in the Marais, especially on the weekend.
In case there weren’t enough shops to fill the current ice cream fever around the city, there’s a new kid on the block now making its mark. Of course, I had to do my duty and report about it here. I brought Vincent along for my tasting, so he could at least share the calories, as I have been successfully dieting since February, losing close to 14 pounds (Truth be told I’ve recently been doing tastings at other new food shops and have gained back about a pound or two in the past week.)
A new trend in the past few years has been the proliferation of Lebanese ice cream shops in Paris. The ice cream is dense and rich with flavors such as rosewater, halvah, and orange blossom.
Baltis on the rue Saint Antoine, close to the Bastille, just opened last week and serves artisanal, Lebanese style ice cream. Nadim Kettaneh, who is Lebanese , and his cousin Jean-Michel, shared about the concept of the shop. All the ingredients are organic, and the ice creams and sorbets are all produced on the premises. Part of their plan was hiring Jean-Thomas Schneider, a master ice cream maker, who won numerous awards including World Pastry Champion 2017, Ice Cream World Champion 2018, and Meilleur Ouvrier de France for ice cream in 2019, to create the products.
It was so hard to choose a flavor, I asked Nadim to pick for me, and he chose the apricot sorbet. He personally prepared by cup and added a few toppings, including crushed pistachios, chopped dried apricots, and pine nuts. While Nadim was preparing my ice cream, he told me to hold out my palm, and he proceeded to fill it with halva flavored cotton candy, which was as light as air. The sorbet was divine, and the consistency was a bit gummy, almost like a custard, rather than a sorbet. I commented about that to Nadim, and he said the way they processed the sorbet was different, so it wouldn’t melt so quickly. I also like that it wasn’t so sweet and the same with the toppings, which I savored instead of the usual sugary sprinkles.
For my research, I also had tiny tastings of coffee, which was like a super strong, iced espresso, achta, which tasted like vanilla and is infused with orchid, orange blossom and rose water, and halva, which reminded me of the dry, flaky, halva my mother used to buy in the middle eastern gourmet shop in Brooklyn, when I was growing up.
Other chilled and refreshing offerings include artisanal lemonade with orange, and house made iced tea. Lebanese coffee with cardamom, herbal anise tea, and hot chocolate are on the hot drinks menu. Baltis also sells a line of delicate, Lebanese style biscuits and cookies, in a smartly designed, oblong box.
There are tables and chairs outside to enjoy your treats.
27 rue Saint Antoine, 75004
Metro: Bastille
That sounds sooo good! As I sit here and in 100 degree Denver!! This shop is definitely on my Go-to list
Cheryl
Posted by: Cheryl | June 13, 2022 at 10:02 PM
That looks wonderful! Thanks for posting! Tara
Posted by: Tara | June 20, 2022 at 09:00 AM