Paul [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Pekařství Paul
Address: Pasáž Broadway, Na Příkopě 988/31, Prague
Website: http://www.paul-cz.com/
Style: French
Price: $$

Is this...? Yes, it is indeed the same Patisserie Paul I spotted in Paris (my international correspondent might get upset at the news). In fact, Paul is in all senses an enterprise more than a bakery, with locations in almost 30 countries; hearing news like that always disappoints. Bakeries shouldn't be Starbucks or McDonalds! Even encountering a Ladurée (ironically, I learned they are part of the same company as Paul) in Vancouver made my esteem for them drop. I don't like it. One should make cake for the love of cake, not for the love of money -- Mimi's fortune cookie message that doesn't apply in this day and age. 

Paul is a real French bakery in Old Town Prague. It's trying to be a little fancier than other bakeries in the area, especially the more home-style ones, but they had products at cheaper and more expensive price points. I would say expect the kind of things you would find at a patisserie: croissants, macarons, fancier cakes and pastries, tarts, etc.

One item from the cheaper series was this raspberry lemon bun (33kč or something); I'm not really sure how French it really was, since it could have also passed for something Eastern European too.   The dough was tough, but the topping was good. I don't really know what it was, kind of like a crystallized glaze that wasn't hard. On top of that there were raspberries. Overall: not bad. The dough could have been better, but maybe that's what you get for getting the cheapest things?

Rating: **1/2