Flóra Tóth’s love of French culture first manifested itself at Café Flore Matin et Soir, opened in 2016 on the corner where Hattyú utca meets Batthyány. And now, as Café Flore is closed for renovation, a new confectionery, Les Cadeaux de Flore, has popped up just a few doors away, offering specially designed gift boxes full of sweets.
In France, sweet parlours can be divided into confiseries or pâtisseries – or both in one. The latter offers creamy cakes and pastries, while confiseries like Les Cadeaux de Flore stock other confections such as chocolate dragées, bonbons, caramels, biscuits and other treats.
Flóra hides her sweets in beautifully designed gift boxes. The current main theme is The Nutcracker, but this will change seasonally. The one constant is the Marie Antoinette collection, evoking the hedonistic world of the former Queen of France.
The store is done out in Baroque-Rococo style, quite unique for Budapest. Gilded stucco, intarsia wood inlays on the floor, a Baroque fresco on the ceiling, touches of turquoise and a chandelier all feature – it all feels like stumbling into a hidden room at the Palace of Versailles, which also appears in a picture. They don’t lack for an ornate Christmas tree either, and the whole atmosphere matches the milieu of current theme, The Nutcracker, perfectly.
The gift boxes are beautiful, all adorned with a hand-drawn Nutcracker graphic, a red ribbon and a touch of gold. There are four kinds altogether and they can be filled with gingerbread, coated walnuts, chocolate dragées and all kinds of sweets from the store. All but one comes with a 12-centimetre-large Nutcracker figurine, too. Prices for each box range between 6,500 and 15,000 forints.
Les Cadeaux de Flore
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