One of our favourite openings of 2018, Circus Bakery brings great coffee and beautiful baked treats to the Latin Quarter, just a stone's throw from Notre Dame and Shakespeare & Co. Just across the river in the northern Marais, Circus's big sister, Fragments, is already celebrated for its carefully crafted coffees and homemade treats - now, the Left Bank has its own go-to coffee spot.
©FragmentsCafé Circus Bakery's big sister café is already a big hit in the Marais.
Behind a lovely wooden façade on a little cobbled street, Circus Bakery keeps things simple in all the best ways. The walls are a rough-and-ready landscape of original brick, stone and chipped plaster, while the wooden counter-top casually flaunts fresh breads, apple tarts and knotted cinnamon buns still warm from the oven, not to mention homemade butter and jams to take away with you.
The simple life also extends to the coffee offering, which, refreshingly, does not seek to overwhelm patrons with a catalogue of complex decisions worthy of the control room at NASA. Not for Circus the endless litany of half-fat-no-foam-double-shot-vanilla-syrup-whip-extra-fairy-dust that leave us all dizzy, no sir, at Circus there is only one decision to make - espresso or cappuccino? That's it. And since the coffee beans themselves are provided by Hexagone - the expert coffee roasters based in the 14th arrondissement - you better believe it's going to be a solid espresso. Or cappuccino.
For a little sneak preview of everything that awaits you, check out Fragments mouthwatering Instagram page here.
In the Neighbourhood
Once caffeinated, take a wander to the Abbey Bookshop with its towers of English books piled to the ceiling, or work your way over to the Musée de Cluny - a world of mediaeval history that includes the world-famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestry series, considered to be one of the great masterpieces of the Middle Ages.
À Mon Seul Désir, one of the six tapestries in the series, which were created from drawings made in Paris in around 1500 and woven in Flanders
Circus Bakery - 63 rue Galande, Paris, 75005
Fragments - 76 rue des Tournelles, Paris, 75003
Abbey Bookshop - 29 Rue de la Parcheminerie, 75005 Paris
Musée de Cluny - 28 Rue du Sommerard, 75005 Paris
