Category: paris

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As part of the Intensive Program in Professional Pastry at Ferrandi, all students are required to complete a 3~6-month internship. The school has contacts to some of the top pastry boutiques, hotels, and restaurants in Paris, and students have a certain degree of liberty in choosing the venue for his or her internship. I had set my mind on working at an independent boutique as opposed to a 5-star hotel or a 3 Michelin-star restaurants, and the place I eventually stumbled upon was Un Dimanche à Paris, a pastry shop tucked away in this cute passage in the stylish Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighborhood.

Actually,  let me rephrase. Un Dimanche à Paris is a lot more than just a pastry shop. On the first floor there is a spacious boutique for pastries and chocolates, an exhibition kitchen, a restaurant that also functions as a tea salon in the afternoon, and up on the second floor there is a sleek teaching kitchen and lounge area. You can find out more  through its official website (French only).

So why did I choose Un Dimanche à Paris? Well, I didn’t, really. The situation was like this: despite Un Dimanche à Paris being one of the top pastry shops in Paris, no one from my session wanted to go there because UDAP only signs 2-month unpaid internships (which is actually not an uncommon practice among pastry shops in Paris). This means that not only do students not get paid, they also need to find another internship at the end of 2 months in order to fulfill the minimum of 3 months required by Ferrandi. Despite this, I visited the shop and had a good feeling about it…so I went ahead and signed – and thank god I did. I ended up loving the work and the people I worked with, and (fortunately) my team appreciated me as well and kept me for an extended internship of 5 months. It all worked out perfectly.