Latest update: 30/06/2008 

- gastronomy - Russia


Moscow seduced by French bakeries
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French bakeries enjoy success in the Russian capital as croissants, macaroons and other French delicacies seduce the taste buds of Muscovites. (Report: R.Goguelin)

 

His employees call him Bonaparte, but unlike Napoleon, Laurent Boursier has no intention of leaving Moscow.

 
The pastry cook from Northern France began his march on the Russian capital four years ago, attacking Muscovites not with weapons but with tuile and cat tongue cookies, and other delicacies to dip into their tea.
 
And the Russians love them. “In terms of volume, there's nothing like this in Paris. Only in Moscow can you make as much. We make 20 times more than a French baker, 20 times more small pastries,” says Boursier, who sells his wares at the Volkonsky pastry shop. At one euro 60 cents for a croissant and 2 euros for a baguette, prices are twice as expensive as in France. But Boursier says he sells twice as much bread and pastries as any bakery in Paris
 

“It's really tasty and just like in France”, says a regular who can't resist the baker's macaroons.

 

His recipe is simple: his is an old-fashioned bakery and confectioner's, just like you'd find anywhere in France and just like there were in Russia before the 1917 revolution.

 
“They know what bread is here, but the traditional way of making it by hand, that's something quite different,” says Boursier.
 

A hot oven making fresh bread all day long: it's a successful formula which has given others the same idea. Ian Zilberkweit has followed Boursier's example and opened several branches of the Belgium-based Pain Quotidien café-bakery chain in Moscow.

 

“The baking business in Russia was nationalised or collectivised between the wars, and that led to a massive increase in production but also to a decrease in the quality of bread,” says Zilberkweit.

 

The return of leavened bread to Moscow has been a success: Zilberkweit already has four shops and hopes to open 40 more over the next four years.

 
Seeing the huge lines at his bakery, Boursier also has ambitions to conquer not only Moscow but also the former Soviet republics where fresh croissants are unknown.

 

“This is a good croissant. It's made in the traditional way with French butter and french flour. The customers love them,” he says.

 

And the pastry chef from France dreams that the smell and taste of his croissants will live on in the memories of Muscovites young and old.

 

 

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