How to Order at a French Patisserie: Phrases & Etiquette

Start with “Bonjour”

Before choosing your pastry, there is one very French rule worth remembering.

Say:

Bonjour.

In a small shop in France, the greeting is part of the interaction.

So rather than walking up to the counter and announcing:

“Deux macarons.”

try:

“Bonjour, je voudrais deux macarons, s’il vous plaît.”

Much better.

You might hear:

“Je vous écoute.”
What can I get you?

or:

“Qu’est-ce que vous désirez?”
What would you like?

That is your cue.

Time for the difficult part: choosing.

The easiest way to order

The safest phrase is:

Je voudrais…
I would like…

For example:

“Je voudrais un éclair au chocolat, s’il vous plaît.”

You can also say:

Je vais prendre…
I’ll have…

So:

“Je vais prendre deux macarons à la pistache, s’il vous plaît.”

Both sound natural.

And once you have already said bonjour, French people will often keep things even simpler:

“Un Paris-Brest, s’il vous plaît.”

No complicated grammar required.

Just pastry.

What if you don’t know what something is?

This is very likely.

A good French pâtisserie has a habit of displaying things you desperately want to eat without providing any clue as to what they actually are.

Ask:

“C’est quoi?”
What is it?

Or:

“Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dedans?”
What’s inside?

If choosing has become impossible:

“Qu’est-ce que vous me conseillez?”
What do you recommend?

Useful French.

Potentially dangerous for your wallet.

And if you do not know the pastry’s name at all, simply point:

“Celui-ci, s’il vous plaît.”
This one, please.

For a feminine noun:

“Celle-ci, s’il vous plaît.”

Or forget the grammar entirely and say:

“Je vais prendre ça, s’il vous plaît.”

That works too.

What does “Et avec ceci?” mean?

You have ordered successfully.

Then the person behind the counter asks:

“Et avec ceci?”

This catches a surprising number of French learners.

It simply means:

Anything else?

If you want more:

“Oui, et deux macarons, s’il vous plaît.”

If you are finished:

“Ce sera tout, merci.”
That’ll be all, thank you.

You will hear variations of this phrase in boulangeries, pâtisseries, markets and other food shops across France.

Basically anywhere where somebody suspects you could be persuaded to buy one more thing.

A real pâtisserie conversation

Pâtissier: Bonjour!

You: Bonjour. Je voudrais un éclair au chocolat et deux macarons, s’il vous plaît.

Pâtissier: Et avec ceci?

You: Ce sera tout, merci.

Pâtissier: Sur place ou à emporter?

You: À emporter, s’il vous plaît.

Pâtissier: Ça fait 9,50€.

You: Par carte, s’il vous plaît.

Pâtissier: Merci, bonne journée!

You: Merci, au revoir!

That is essentially it.

No advanced French.

No ten-minute conversation.

You went in without cake.

You came out with cake.

Communication successful.

Sur place or à emporter?

If the pâtisserie has seating, you may hear:

“Sur place ou à emporter?”

That means:

For here or takeaway?

Answer:

“Sur place, s’il vous plaît.”
For here.

or:

“À emporter, s’il vous plaît.”
To take away.

If you are taking delicate pastries away, do not be surprised if they are placed inside an impressively elaborate little box.

French pastry occasionally travels with more dignity than the person carrying it.

Pâtisserie, boulangerie, viennoiserie: what is the difference?

These words are closely related, but they do not mean exactly the same thing.

A boulangerie is primarily associated with bread.

A pâtisserie is about cakes, tarts and desserts.

And viennoiseries include things such as:

• croissants
• pains au chocolat
• pains aux raisins
• brioches

Which means a croissant is technically a viennoiserie, not a pâtisserie.

And if French nouns and genders are becoming difficult to remember, there is always the internet’s extremely serious educational method:

La baguette.

Le croissant.

Leclerrrrc.

If you know, you know.

Will this explain the entire French grammatical gender system?

Absolutely not.

Will you remember la baguette and le croissant?

Probably.

What should you try?

You do not need to memorize the entire display case before entering.

But a few classics are worth recognizing:

Éclair: choux pastry filled with cream, often chocolate or coffee.

Mille-feuille: layers of puff pastry and cream. Delicious. Not especially interested in being eaten neatly.

Paris-Brest: choux pastry filled with praline cream.

Macaron: almond-based shells with fillings such as chocolate, raspberry, lemon or pistachio.

Tarte au citron: lemon tart, sometimes topped with meringue.

And if you are on the Côte d’Azur:

Tarte Tropézienne: a brioche-style cake filled with cream, created in Saint-Tropez.

Definitely worth remembering.

Or pointing at.

What if they answer too quickly?

This is often the real challenge.

You prepare your sentence.

You say:

“Bonjour, je voudrais un Paris-Brest, s’il vous plaît.”

Perfect.

Then the person behind the counter responds with twelve words at approximately 200 kilometres per hour.

Welcome to using French in real life.

You can simply say:

“Pardon?”

Or:

“Vous pouvez répéter, s’il vous plaît?”
Could you repeat, please?

And if necessary:

“Désolé(e), j’apprends le français.”
Sorry, I’m learning French.

You do not need to understand every word.

Often you only need to recognize:

Avec ceci?

Sur place?

À emporter?

Carte?

Context does quite a lot of the work.

Your French does not need to be perfect

Ordering a pastry is a small interaction.

But these small interactions matter.

You learn “je voudrais” in class.

Then one afternoon you use it because you genuinely want something.

Someone answers.

You understand enough.

You answer back.

That is when French begins to feel less like something you are studying and more like something you actually use.

At the Centre International d’Antibes, that is one of the advantages of learning French in France. Class gives you the language. Antibes gives you somewhere to use it.

So next time you pass a pâtisserie, go in.

Worst-case scenario: you practise your French.

Best-case scenario: you also leave with cake.

FAQ