Bengali Sweet Shops in Paris!

 Welcome and bienvenue to my very first blog! How could I not let it be about something sweet and enticing? :)

Every Indian is familiar with Bengali sweets, they have a well-deserved excellent reputation in India. If you are looking on where to buy Bengali sweets in Paris, look no further, all of the information is right here! 

My very first discovery of Bengali sweets (in 2021) was at the Bengali shop 'Adda Ghar' (terrific name choice! It means 'House of Discussion'). They had the familiar delicious Bengali sweets. A Bengali friend confirmed to me that their sweets were really as good as the ones you get back home in Kolkata. By the way, I must add that Adda Ghar sells homemade ghee (and not commercial ghee), something that sets it apart from the other Bengali sweet shops (or maybe by the time you read this blog, the other shops would have picked up on the trend!)

An additional interesting feature is that the seating space within Adda Ghar is more than the other shops I have listed below. Once, about 20-25 Bengalis (including me) had met here for a really fun adda moment. Though space was tough, we had a grand time and the owner too had been very nice and accommodating to all of us!

Have the French discovered the wonder that is Bengali sweet shops? I am afraid not yet! Such shops mostly cater to Bengali clientèle. Slowly and surely I am sure word of Bengali sweets will spread like wildfire to all of the other cultures in Paris.

I just love the Bengali shingara (samosa) with its filling of potatoes and groundnuts and this is something I couldn't resist! Along with a chomchom!

Adda Ghar address in Paris:

140 rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis

75010 Paris

Until a few years ago, there was no exclusive Bengali sweet shop, only generic Indian sweet shops that were owned and managed by South-Indians where you could find a mix of North Indian and South Indian specialties. But with the massive arrival of Bangladeshis lately (I think since the Covid times), slowly Paris is seeing many Bengali sweet shops springing out in many corners. Currently, there are a few of them concentrated near the Gare du Nord neighborhood of Paris, where you can even find upto 3 sweet shops, all of them located just next to each other! (all are within walking distance from Adda Ghar) Talk about stiff competition!

I like both Fulkoli and Panshi sweets, they have a wonderful variety each!

Surprisingly, their sweets are not from the same supplier. I had asked them specifically if they received their sweets from a common supplier. But Ruposhi and Fulkoli told me no, they have their own separate teams who make sweets specifically for each shop. I noticed their variety actually did not match each other so I had no choice but to believe them! I usually hop into Fulkoli more often than Panshi only because Panshi is a hot favourite hence, super crowded. Near-impossible to find an empty seat (mind you they have very limited space for a sit-down in both shops!)

Here is their address:

Fulkoli and Ruposhi:

10, Rue des Deux Gares,

75010 Paris

By the way, these sweets are sold in French prices, so don't expect to see small prices as you are used to from back home. In fact personally I find them expensive, sometimes pricier than the French boulangerie!

But anyway just to visially encounter all of these sweets is paradise. I see different sandesh, chomchom, mishti doi, mihidana, rasmalai, pantua .... en bref, all of the Bengali favourites! A little like my drawing:

In Fulkoli I even found patishapta!

These are fait-maison patishapta, but if you were to go to the popular big Indian supermarket VT Cash and Carry (11, Rue Cail, 75010 Paris), you would find the frozen versions sitting there. These ones look divine!

Google reviews for each of the shops Fulkoli and Panshi show many 5 star ratings with long adoring reviews from those who have tried the sweets there.

Opposite Panshi and Fulkoli is lonesome Ruposhi. I have personally not been here but checking by their Google ratings, they seem of the same sterling quality as their competitors just opposite. 

Ruposhi address:

7 rue des Deux Gares

75010 Paris

There is yet ONE more Bengali sweet shop up ahead the same road called 'Bhai Bhai Sweets'. I have never been there because seeing the massive fans crowding the shop from afar has been a turn-off for me. Their Google reviews shows more than 500 reviews which is a huge and crazy number given that Fulkoli, Panshi and Ruposhi each have just about 20-25 ratings! Please don't be a bore like me and do walk over and try it and later comment if you liked it better than the others! :)

My love for the Bengali sweets prompted me to take make an art using my iPad Procreate:

If you have enjoyed this blog and I have turned you into a Bengali sweet fan overnight, then do consider buying my art print HERE  for both the English and Bengali version:

After all of the Kolkata sweets nostalgia, one just has to take out their copies of favourite childhood comics and give it a re-read! Hope you enjoyed this drool-worthy post! Please leave me a comment on your very favourite Bengali sweet! (Very hard for me to zero down to one particular dish but my childhood favourite was aangti-mishti (ring shaped sweet) and now it would be mishti-doi. See you in my next post! A bientôt!