Mariage Frères Paris, Restaurant & Salon de Thé: It’s Time to Spill the Tea!

Whenever I searched for the perfect gift to bring to a Sunday brunch with friends, the chocolate-colored tin with gold lettering from Mariage Frères never disappoints.  Elegant, refined, and steeped in history, the iconic tea is a hallowed French brand, blending exotic flavors since 1854. Recently, I was surprised to learn that it’s also a culinary destination for gourmet delights with two restaurants in Paris. I recently stopped by Mariage Frères Paris, Restaurant and Salon de Thé, Marais location for a bougie experience reminiscent of a Versailles tea party.

Mariage Frères, Paris

Entering the establishment, I was confronted by a wall adorned with Mariage Frères paraphernalia. There were a multitude of metal tins that look more like works of art than containers of tea. Here, tea isn’t just a warm, watery brew to soothe the throat or quiet the 4PM hunger pains. It’s celebrated as a sophisticated lifestyle. There were no basic bags of Earl Grey and English Breakfast on display here. Instead there were various cannisters of tea leaf creations with unusual names like Eros, Opera, Marco Polo, and Milky Blue Absolu. Their melodious monikers were not only teasing my taste buds to sip a freshly brewed cuppa. They were explicitly inviting me to experience something transcendent. A perfect marriage of food and drink.

Once seated in the salon, I was presented with a leather-bound portfolio listing exotic tea selections. The names sounded like they were concocted by a wizard in a fantasy novel. I chose a spicy Christmas blend, “Esprit de Noel” served in the salon’s iconic 1930s steel and black enamel teapot.

The Food

Next, the waiter handed me the food menu offering a dizzying array of dishes. They seemed to be the result of fusing culinary science with a chef’s overactive imagination.

I ordered a dish called Birthday in Love, a tea-infused cuisine that took the concept of High Tea to another dimension. When my plate arrived, the delicate creations were so stunning they could have been featured in the Louvre Museum. There was a miniature tart that I’m convinced must have required a degree in architecture to construct. Should I eat it or frame it?  Notable were the fresh-from-the-oven salt and pepper scones with yuzu and turmeric fromage frais. They came with a tiny pot of bluish colored clotted cream and miniature squares of fresh butter.

Although the included savory baby sandwiches were delectable, it was the pastries that were quietly seducing me, but I was determined to leave the desserts for last.

Then, a properly named salad arrived that epitomized freshness. The “Snob Salad” included duck foie gras, artisan cured smoked salmon tartare seasoned with gold sesame, shrimps, poivrade artichoke, crunchy green beans, bulghur wheat seasoned with ‘Marco Polo’ tea vinaigrette, courgette tahini with a hint of bergamot, red almond, cranberries served with turmeric toasts. Simply exquisite.

Saving the best for last, the desserts were next. When I finally took a bite of one of the sweet treats, I suddenly realized why these desserts were so tiny; they were packed with more flavor per square millimeter than anything I’ve tasted before. My soul momentarily left my body, did a pirouette, and re-entered leaving me to wonder if I just experienced transcendence through sugar. There was a rich ‘Marco Polo’ tea-infused crème brûlée with a hint of vanilla, a decadent ‘Fruit Tea’ cream cake with gold-flaked raspberry, tea-infused marshmallow, chantilly whipped cream delight, dark chocolate and caramel infused in ‘Black Magic Tea’ and red currant pulp, and finally a delectable edible daydream made from a Mariage Freres matcha

Mariage Frères Paris – Tea museum and Boutique