The French Bastards. The trendy boulangerie opens its third Parisian location

The French Bastards

A curious case of youth entrepreneurship that of The French Bastards. Raised in Paris's 15th arrondissement, the young Julien Abourmad, David Abehsera and Emmanuel Gunther have won the French capital in recent years with their avant-garde boulangerie. Hipster style that suits the new wave of brilliant minds that are changing the international catering industry, attention to quality, provenance, obsessive attention to detail, brilliant communication and a pinch of savoir-faire that never hurts: these are The French Bastards, a contemporary bakery that has already won consumers’ hearts in the 2nd and 11th arrondissements. And, at the end of 2021, they opened a new location in the 17th arrondissement, more precisely in Place Saint-Ferdinand, West Paris, where now there is a corner that smells of good bread.

Products

The third boutique by the three friends and business partners have maintained bakery’s original spirit: industrial style with brick walls, iron and wood elements perfectly integrated with each other. The open-show kitchen allows customers to follow the preparation of the many delicacies. Croissants, naturellement: airy, flaky and light, made with first quality butter, available in many variations, along with the unmissable pain au chocolat. And then the cruffins, one of bakery’s flagship products, cakes and cookies, without forgetting the many bakery products, from focaccia to loaves, all the result of a detailed research on flours. Babka is another house specialty, made according to Julien's grandmother's recipe and Saint-Honoré's seasonal variations: chocolate in fall, caramel and pecans in winter, coffee and hazelnut in spring and raspberry and pistachio in summer. Besides the excellent flours, the other key ingredient is the high-quality beurre d'Isigny, a rather yellow butter that boasts the PDO designation, sweet and perfect for true lovers of the genre.

Brand

The next step? Keep kneading, baking, and then start travelling again more frequently – another shared passion – and maybe one day expanding the business in other countries. In fact, The French Bastards has an enormous potential to grow internationally, easily recognizable, with a strong brand identity and character. After all, its marketing strategies bode well with such a provocative name (the reason, in fact, is linked to the ironic nickname with which Julien was greeted by his boss during his work experience in Australia, "Hey, French bastard!"). Among the short-term goals, there is the presentation in February of Tropézienne’s winter version, a charcoal brioche pastry with charcoal and vanilla praline, and diplomat cream; another novelty available at the new location is the chocolate pavlova.

thefrenchbastards.fr/

by Michela Becchi