Martin H.
Yelp
From the space, to the pastries, everything here is aesthetic and pleasing to the eyes. Unfortunately that's where it kinda ends.
Le Marais most recently became very trendy for their giant croissants. In fact I couldn't believe anyone would be able to make a croissant bigger than your head. The croissant itself was quite affordable at $12 a pop, but despite coming early enough and wanting to pay for a second one, we were told "you wouldn't need it" from the staff, who basically refused to sell us another one. Even if we might not "need" it, we were willing to "pay" because we "wanted" it. It was strange to be told this with no signs or information anywhere telling us there was a 1 per party limit.
As for the giant croissant itself, it was exactly what you would expect. More of the novelty and fun than the taste. Split between four people, we each basically had a serving of a normal sized croissant. Our fingers and lips were shiny from just the first bite. It was a lot of butter, but you definitely wouldn't be able to make a croissant of that size without it. Would definitely recommend bringing some tums.
Understanding that the giant croissant was an anomaly I wanted to give their other pastries another try. I ordered a Pain Suisse and a Kouign Amann. Let's start with the Kouign Amann.
Their Kouign Amann basically looked and tasted like the traditional fried chinese pastry dough, glazed with sugar. It felt like no thought went into making it, and no thought went into flavoring it. I would recommend skipping this.
As for their Pain Suisse, I actually really enjoyed it. The caramelized crust on the outside gave it an amazing crunch and there was just the right amount of chocolate to cream fillings. It could come off as a bit sweet alone, but if paired with a nice cup of coffee, this would be a perfect meal.
My overall thought is if Le Marais is in your neighborhood, then absolutely make it your go to spot. I would personally if I lived close enough. But traveling 50 minutes to experience what I did, Im not too sure Id recommend it otherwise.