The French pastry chain opens its doors in Israel,
Maison Kayser, the long-established and well-known French pastry chain, opened its first branch in the port of Tel Aviv and we were able to taste the croissants, brioches, French cakes, admire the huge branch, and of course the incredible baguette, with imported sourdough.
Judging by the queue at the entrance, people are starving.
While the real Paris is moving away from us, a light Parisian wind is blowing from the port of Tel Aviv with the opening of the French bakery and pastry chain Maison Kayser.
Sourdough breads and baguettes which also won the title of best in Paris (and since then also in New York).
This chain has shops in Paris, New York, Tokyo and more, and now in Israel. The opening promises a long queue, under eighty percent humidity and above thirty degrees, just for the pleasure of tasting a baguette or croissant and smelling Paris.
We came to visit the backstage area and came across a most impressive panorama. It is
true that there is no shortage of good sourdough breads and high quality pastries in the country, but it is hard not to admire the well-oiled French machine (literally).
Kayser brought to the Israeli branch the specific bread, pastry and dessert making techniques of the French chain, as well as the equipment used to make all the products here, such as a huge stone oven.
And not only the material comes from France, also the leaven that forms the basis of the breads, the butter used all over the world in the chain’s branches (and in our opinion is the key flavour of the pastries) comes from France and the flour used in the breads comes from France (the pastries and desserts use local flours).
The first branch of the chain in Israel is located in the mythical Tel Aviv harbour, in the sheds where the legendary Mol Yam restaurant and the renowned Gilliz restaurant used to operate.
It is a place with a spectacular view of the sea, in a place that is important to the Israelis.
The huge branch covers 600 square metres and you can see baked breads and baguettes throughout the day (hot breads continue to come out here in the afternoon too), as well as biscuits, brioches, medallions, desserts and more.
Later, from the main kitchen of the Tel Aviv port we can see the goods that will be sent to other branches, which will open in the coming months in the building of the French Institute on Rothschild Boulevard at the corner of Herzl Street in Tel Aviv.
In addition to the bakery on the Boulevard Rothschild, the brand’s classic French bistro will also open its doors.
The official opening of Maison Kayser will take place on 9 September, but more than 1500 people have already visited the premises last Friday, and a similar number arrived on Saturday. That’s 5 times more than what we have planned here, and it doesn’t seem that the situation will change in the coming days.
We’re excited, but it’s impossible to ignore the fact that most foreign food chains that come to Israel fail to thrive here, and sometimes even survive (Frenchman Fuchs came in with a loud bang and left with his tail between his legs) Sinbon has disappeared from the streets, as have Starbucks and Duncan Donuts.
These figures, in addition to the delays caused by the epidemic and the closures looming on the horizon, put some pressure on the CEO of Kayser Israel, Yuan Samadja, who tries to remain optimistic despite everything: “There are obviously some concerns, but we are vigilant and I believe we will not fall into these traps.
We chose symbolic places in Tel Aviv to open our doors, we made adjustments with the local market, there are Hallahs here, there are pastries with halva, there are now cakes we made for Rosh Hashanah.
There is not a single French sandwich here, they are all made from local market produce, also in the kitchen: we serve toast or granola here – with our own touch, but these are things that Israelis love and know“, he says.
I bougt last week a lemoncake of 20 cm diam. The lemon filling and especially the white topping were much to sweet. We had to remove part of the topping because it was disturbing the taste of the whole cake with its exagerated sweetness.
When we are in Paris we eat regularly French pastries and enjoy their delicate taste and sweetness.
Mr Smadja said in an other article he adapted to the local tastes. I don’t think there is a local taste since we don’t have in Israel any high level pastries like in Paris or Viena. Please bring us the original tastes, not adapted ove-sweetened pastries.