Guide · Paris
Breton pastries in Paris: where to find what
Kouign-amann, far breton, gâteau breton, palets, sourdough bread: three different trades share Breton pastry, and they are not in the same places. A guide from a Breton restaurant that is not a bakery.
- Not a bakery
- 7 pastries, 7 places to look
- Biscuits from the Trégor
Ty Louis, a Breton restaurant at 240 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, between Bastille and Nation, is not a bakery: it makes its own far breton with prunes, to eat in or to order for takeaway, serves kouign-amann warm as a dessert with a scoop of Jampi ice cream, and sells Breton biscuits, palets and gâteau breton to take away in its grocery. For a kouign-amann to take away, go to a bakery; for crêpes, go to a crêperie.
Let us be clear from the start: Ty Louis is neither a bakery nor a pastry shop. It is a Breton restaurant in the 12th arrondissement, with a grocery attached. We do not sell viennoiserie over the counter, so if a kouign-amann to take away is what you are looking for, better to know now.
That said, “Breton pastry” covers very different things, and in Paris they are not sold in the same places. Kouign-amann is a bakery product. Palets and gâteau breton belong to the biscuit makers. Far breton and the Breton galette des rois are restaurant desserts you almost never come across in a shop. Here is the map of the subject, pastry by pastry, with what we have and what we do not.
Updated: October 2026
The map of the subject
Which Breton pastry, and where to find it
7 pastries, 7 different places to look. The last column says plainly what we have here, and what we do not.
| Pastry | What it is | Where to find it in Paris | At Ty Louis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kouign-amann“kween-ah-mann” | Bread dough, salted butter and sugar, folded in layers and caramelised in the oven. | Mostly in bakeries (boulangerie-pâtisserie). A handful of Paris addresses take it seriously. | Served warm as a dessert, with a scoop of artisan Jampi ice cream. Not sold to take away. |
| Far breton“far bre-ton” | A thick baked custard of eggs and milk, studded with prunes. | Very rare in Paris bakeries. It is a Breton restaurant dessert more than a shop item. | Made in our kitchen. On the dessert menu, and to take away on order, by the slice (4,80 €) or as a whole far of 14 slices (60,20 €). |
| Gâteau breton“ga-toe bre-ton” | A thick shortbread-style cake, very rich in salted butter and egg yolks. Dense, and it keeps for a week. | In biscuit shops and Breton groceries rather than pastry shops. It is a cake that travels. | On the grocery shelf, including the Sarrabreizh from Le Goûter Bigouden, made with buckwheat (blé noir) and no wheat flour. |
| Palets and sablés | Small salted-butter biscuits: thick for the palet, thinner for the galette bretonne (a biscuit, not the buckwheat pancake). | In Breton groceries and in the shops of Breton brands. | On the shelf, including buckwheat versions: buckwheat biscuits and sablés made with buckwheat flour. |
| Sourdough country bread | Pain de campagne au levain: the table bread, the real base of a Breton meal. | In bakeries. Few restaurants make a point of it. | From Thierry Breton, a Breton chef and Meilleur Apprenti de France (the French national title for the best apprentice in a trade), delivered by cargo bike. Served at the table. |
| Breton galette des rois | The Epiphany cake (the French king cake), Breton style: whoever finds the charm wins a bigoudène coiffe, the tall lace headdress of southern Finistère, instead of a paper crown. | In January only, and practically impossible to find in a Breton version. | To order in January, made in-house. |
| Crêpes and galettes | What most people mean when they search for “Breton pastry”. | In a crêperie. The Breton quarter of Paris is Montparnasse. | No, never. That is the whole point of the place. |
Our biscuit maker
Chez Ty Kouign, Minihy-Tréguier, Côtes-d’Armor
Our biscuits come from a family firm in the Trégor, on the north coast of Brittany, based in Minihy-Tréguier, right next to Tréguier. They cover the whole Breton biscuit repertoire: palets, galettes bretonnes, craquelins, gâteau breton. What we take from them goes straight onto the grocery shelf. The buckwheat range next to it, Sarrabreizh, comes from a second house, Le Goûter Bigouden in Plonéour-Lanvern, Finistère.
What comes out of our kitchen
What we make ourselves, and what we don’t
We would rather be precise, because a lot of restaurants stay vague on this. The far breton with prunes is made in our kitchen. It is our pastry, and the only one on the year-round menu that we claim as our own. You can order it to take away, by the slice or as a whole far.
The kouign-amann, on the other hand, we do not make. We serve it, and that is a craft of its own: warm, as an end-of-meal dessert, with a scoop of artisan ice cream from Maison Jampi. Few Paris restaurants are willing to bring it back to temperature for the plate, and that is where it parts ways with a kouign-amann bought cold in the morning. Everything about the cake itself is in our kouign-amann guide, and the addresses we rate are on the best kouign-amann in Paris.
The bread comes from Thierry Breton, a Breton chef and Meilleur Apprenti de France, delivered by cargo bike. The biscuits come from Breton biscuit makers, in the Trégor and in Finistère. The Breton galette des rois in January, with its bigoudène coiffe in place of the crown, really is made in our kitchen.
Good to know
Breton pastries: your questions
Where can I find Breton pastries in Paris?
It depends on what you are after, because three different trades share the subject. Kouign-amann and bread belong to the bakeries. Palets, sablés and gâteau breton belong to the biscuit makers and are sold in Breton groceries. Far breton and the Breton galette des rois are restaurant desserts you almost never see in a shop. At Ty Louis, in the 12th arrondissement, you will find the biscuits on the grocery shelf, and the far breton and the kouign-amann on the dessert menu.
Is Ty Louis a bakery or a pastry shop?
Neither. Ty Louis is a Breton restaurant with a fine food grocery, at 240 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Paris 12. We do not sell bread or viennoiserie over the counter. The far breton, however, is made in our kitchen and can be ordered to take away, and the grocery stocks Breton biscuits and cakes.
Where can I buy a Breton cake in Paris?
“Breton cake” can mean two things. If you mean gâteau breton, the dense salted-butter cake, it is sold at the grocery inside Ty Louis, including the Sarrabreizh buckwheat version from Le Goûter Bigouden, made with no wheat flour. It keeps for about a week, so it is the Breton cake to bring home in a suitcase. If you mean kouign-amann, buy it from a bakery and eat it within a day or two; at Ty Louis it is served warm at the table, not sold to take away.
Where can I buy Breton biscuits in Paris?
At the grocery of Ty Louis, in the 12th arrondissement. Our Breton biscuits and cakes come from Chez Ty Kouign, a family firm in Minihy-Tréguier, in the Trégor, and from Le Goûter Bigouden in Finistère for the buckwheat range. On the shelf you will also find buckwheat biscuits and sablés made with buckwheat flour, which are harder to come by than classic palets.
Which Breton pastries can I take away from Ty Louis?
The far breton, made in our kitchen, by the slice (4,80 €) or as a whole far of 14 slices (60,20 €). It is baked to order, so call 06 73 08 54 13 or email contact@tylouis.fr ahead of time, and collect it at the restaurant during opening hours (Tuesday to Saturday, 12 pm to 11 pm). The Breton biscuits and gâteau breton from the grocery are on the shelf, no order needed. The kouign-amann and the bread are served at the table only.
What is the difference between gâteau breton and kouign-amann?
They share salted butter and little else. Gâteau breton is a thick shortbread-style dough, rich in egg yolks, dense and dry, that keeps for a week and travels very well. Kouign-amann is flaky, moist inside and caramelised on top, and it does not keep beyond two days.
What are the classic Breton desserts?
Kouign-amann (the caramelised butter cake), far breton (a baked custard with prunes), gâteau breton (a thick salted-butter cake), palets and sablés (salted-butter biscuits), and, in January, the Breton galette des rois. Sweet crêpes are the best known abroad, but they are a crêperie dish. Ty Louis is not a crêperie: on our dessert menu you will find the far breton, made in our kitchen, and the kouign-amann, served warm.
Do you sell salted butter caramel?
Not on the grocery shelf at the moment. The grocery is built around Breton ciders and drinks, tinned fish, charcuterie and cheese, buckwheat, condiments and seaweed, plus the biscuits. At the table, salted butter caramel comes with one of our desserts: the brioche French toast.
Where can I find Breton bread in Paris?
The bread we serve at the table comes from Thierry Breton, a Breton chef, Meilleur Apprenti de France and owner of La Pointe du Grouin in the 10th arrondissement, and it reaches us by cargo bike. We do not sell it over the counter, but you eat it with every meal here, and his own place is open to anyone who wants to buy some.
Reservations
A Breton table in Paris 12
Tuesday to Saturday, lunch and dinner, non-stop service.
240 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, between Bastille and Nation.