(More from Dr HH on his solo trip to Paris last year.)

On my first full day I was up bright and early to get breakfast at Land and Monkeys – Les Halles before I went to Notre Dame. Land and Monkeys has about 10 branches in Paris now and they are famed for serving delicious sweet treats. Pastries were one of the main reasons I took this trip to Paris. I came here for breakfast twice.

On my first trip I got a cinnamon roll that was more like a cinnamon knot. It was lovely and soft inside, with a good crust on the outside. Some of the edges were gloriously crispy. The flavour was great too, well balanced without being too sweet or too strongly spiced.

I also got the azahar which just looked too good to turn down. There was a buttery pastry case that crumbled perfectly as you put a spoon through it. There was a pistachio frangipane type thing in the base and a layer of meringue. There was a pistachio cream in the middle on the top. It tasted good and the textures were great, but the flavours didn’t really wow me. I’d have liked a bit more of a pistachio hit. I got a cafe latte to drink that was nice and a decent sized cup.

I went back another day and got the citrus and meringue tart and a babka roll. The tart had the same great pastry as the azahar and the filling had a good consistency and was good and sharp. There was also sweetness from the lemon filling and the meringue to make a well balanced treat.

The babka roll was a lot like a classic cinnamon roll but with lots of hazelnuts in there. It was perfectly baked and had a great light texture with a nice bit of crust on the outside.

I got a couple of the peanut caramel chocolate cookies to take away as a treat for Ms. HH on my return to Prague. They were quite decadent. The cookie was very soft and the sticky nutty filling on top made for a good treat. I enjoyed all the food and would love to go back and try some more things. Everything on display looked great.

Notre Dame was a relatively short walk from the bakery and I took a nice scenic walk along the river with a little detour past the glass pyramid of the Louvre. I’d managed to book a slot relatively easily online about a week before my visit. It was absolutely heaving and not a particularly relaxing activity. It’s an impressive building and I was glad to see it rebuilt and open. As usual with cathedrals, my favourite things are always the fun stained glass windows. There was also what appeared to be some sort of baguette baking competition going on outside. Could there be anything more quintessentially French than a famous landmark and a competition for baking baguettes all in the same scene?