Soon enough I’m going to show you all what Hugo & Victor looks like inside and out. It’s just incredible. The design is more akin to a high-end jewelry or clothing store than to a patisserie. It literally feels like Gucci, Dior and Dolce & Gabbana’s midtown Manhattan shops squished into one. Shiny black and metal surfaces abound. Maybe that’s why I never recognized it as a pastry shop, until a reader asked if I’d ever been there. It’s right on the corner, up the Boulevard Raspail, clearly visible from the Sevres-Babylone metro stop I went to at least once a week. I only wish I’d known about it sooner; I had to cram all my enjoyment of H&V into the two weeks before I left Paris.

I will always remember the first time I went there. Most of the pastries bear little resemblance to ones you’ll see in other shops. They are original, often architectural, and imaginative, though not in the inside-out, super wild La Pâtisserie des Rêves way. Chef patissier and co-owner, Hugues Pouget, I think is more interested in modernization and perfection of the aesthetics and the flavors, taking these facets of the pastry to the point of being “elemental”. His business partner, Sylvain Blanc, even said to me that there is an almost raw quality to the work. They consider sugar more of a spice than a key ingredient. And when you have one of their pieces, incredibly refined as they are, there truly is a quite “essential” feeling you get. There might be no better piece that expresses this than the Hugo Vanille.

My notes from the day say that the crème’s milky flavors were literally so pronounced that, were I a sommelier of milk, intimately familiar with the region’s dairy farms, I literally could have told you which of those it came from – maybe even which cow. To enjoy that length of Tahitian vanilla crème is to be dazzled. In fact, this would have made the “Top 17” list were it not for so many other H&V pieces already being there. And so much of that flavor is really a product of removing most of the sugar. You get a chance to experience flavors head-on. They were not shy about the use of vanilla in it either. And then the base of the piece is “pain de gênes aux graines de tournesol” . . . which is, basically, almond cake with sunflower seeds. My notes refer to it as pleasant, refined, a little nutty and a little fruity. It seemed to be a perfect complement to the crème tube (and, yes, they call it a tube) atop it all. As for the white chocolate beneath the tube and bookending the piece . . . it added a little touch of sweetness. I think it was there more for the aesthetics, but it certainly contributed to the overall effect and echoed the creaminess of the main crème.

I believe this whole approach Messieurs Blanc and Pouget have taken with H&V was both consistent with their existing pastry ideals as well as being necessary for thriving in a patisserie-rich city. Carl Marletti is the only one of the most recent patissiers to open that doesn’t have a pretty “conceptual” approach. H&V, La Pâtisserie des Rêves, and even the small ACIDE are really a new breed. They’re each rethinking pastry in their own way and creating shops as stunningly cool as their work. There are so many classic shops around that it really does set them apart and generate a lot more interest than a more conventional shop ever could, no matter how refined the pedigree of the chefs (and these three shops have chefs with MAJOR credentials).

I’m inclined to think that no one could really top what H&V is doing with their store, but I guess time will tell. It seems as though one or two nouveau-patisseries is popping up every year. Even if there isn’t anything ultra swanky to come along soon, there should be some wild shops. I can’t wait.

But back to the Hugo Vanille . . . I just love the interior. From the outside it looks like it’s going to be fairly firm, but it’s like a frothy crème in suspended animation. Either Monsieur Pouget is supremely skilled or he employs some of the “dark arts” to perform at supernatural levels of excellence. I’d love for the latter to be true, but it’s almost certainly the case that he’s simply a pastry master.

So, yes, obviously go buy a Hugo Vanille. Much as with all their pieces, you’re likely to enjoy it if nuanced flavors, as opposed to sugary blasts thereof, are your thing. I love both, but it’s only at H&V that you have a wide selection of patisseries with a high flavor to sugar ratio.

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