Fabrice le Bourdat's Blé Sucré in Paris's 12e is the bakery David Lebovitz once nominated for the city's best madeleine. The orange-glazed citron version still wins.
Tip: Closed Monday. Buy six madeleines in a paper bag; the orange-glazed ones travel best.
Address: 7 Rue Antoine Vollon, 75012 Paris
Stohrer in Paris is the city's oldest patisserie, founded in 1730 by Nicolas Stohrer who served Marie Leszczyńska at Versailles. The baba au rhum is his original.
Tip: The original puits d'amour and the baba travel well. The whipped-cream cake is best in shop.
Worth the queue: Baba au rhum
La Maison Pichard in Paris's 15e has run a wood-oven boulangerie at the same Cambronne corner since 1933. The pain de campagne sells in 600g rounds, cut to order.
Tip: Sliced to order. Ask for the heel from the morning bake; the crust is the best part.
Worth the queue: Pain de campagne
Boulangerie BO in Paris's 12e is Olivier Haustraete's listed-monument boulangerie by Marché d'Aligre, baking organic baguette tradition and Tokyo-honed viennoiserie.
Tip: The cherry-blossom Mont Blanc in spring is the seasonal pick; the baguette tradition is the everyday order.
Worth the queue: Baguette tradition
Christophe Vasseur's Du Pain et des Idées in Paris's 10e remains the boulangerie every other counter measures itself against. Levain bread, laminated escargots.
Tip: Closed weekends. Arrive before 09:00 for the pain des amis; escargots sell out by 13:00.
Worth the queue: Escargot pistache-chocolat
Poilâne in Paris has baked a signature sourdough miche from a wood-fired oven on Rue du Cherche-Midi since 1932. Apolonia Poilâne now runs three city counters.
Tip: The half-miche feeds two for a week. Ask for the cocktail-size punitions at the till.
Worth the queue: Pain Poilâne miche
Utopie in Paris's 11e is the modern boulangerie Sebastien Bruno and Erwan Blanche built into a black-fronted shop with the city's best black-sesame baguette.
Tip: Cash and card both work. The flan vanille is the second pick after the sesame baguette.
Worth the queue: Sesame baguette
