Le Loir dans la Théière

Carb overload. Delicious carb overload which should've happened a long time ago. Le Loir dans la Théière is the perfect lunch/brunch spot is less than a 5 minute walk from me. The name, which is taken from Alice in Wonderland, refers to the doormouse in the teapot during the Mad Hatter's tea party. The inside is warm and cozy, with mismatched chairs (I even noticed an old-style school desk with the little table/armrest).

With a line out the door, we waited 30 minutes on Sunday to sit down to a "Parisian-style" brunch aka a formule (although you could order a la carte which included tartes salees, club sandwich and some pasta). We got lucky and were seated on the super comfortable old leather couch and chairs. Being swayed by the majority, we all ordered the formule (€20) which came with a choice of fresh-squeezed juice (orange, grapefruit or carrot), hot beverage (tea, coffee or hot chocolate), yogurt and applesauce (delicious by the way), toast and viennoiserie (croissant and pain au chocolat), and eggs (scrambled, poached, etc.). 

Usually I order a la carte for brunch because I don't like eggs but I was more than happy with all the carb-y things and let the others eat the eggs I ordered.

But the main attraction here is their home-made pies, cakes, and tarts. And oh my are they delicious. Towering lemon meringue, tarte tatin, latticed fruit jam tarts, cheesecakes...there was a good dozen to pick from and they rotate their selection daily. So even before we sat down to the toasts and the croissants and the pain au chocolat, I made it perfectly clear that everyone was to get dessert. And, happy to say, we all followed through!

Latticed raspberry jam tart where the dough tasted like good-old American pie crust to me, a barely sweet mascarpone and red fruit cheesecake with a crumbly base, chocolate banana pie which had a pleasantly fudgy layer of chocolate on top, and a ridiculously delicious (props EM for picking this one) pear chibouste tart that had that burnt-caramel aftertaste I adore.

It's a disgrace that I have not come here sooner but I will most definitely come again, perhaps after 16h when you can get dessert and a hot beverage for €8. But it will have to be at 16h on the dot - I hear they run out of pie!