InterContinental Paris' Signature Mille-Feuille

Welcome to our "signature" series where we focus on a hotel's signature dish and/or cocktail. In the same way that cities and towns have local specialties to try, hotels develop signature items that guests shouldn't miss — whether it's a popular room service dish they've perfected, a cocktail named after the hotel's longtime bartender, or a seasonal specialty that repeat guests always look forward to. These are the things that they love to serve, and that you'll really consider going back for.

Café de la Paix is a Paris institution. It has been a hangout for the who's who ofParis society, from philosophers and artists to socialites including regular diner Oscar Wilde, since it opened in May of 1862. It has always been tied to a hotel —first the Grand Hotel de la Paix, which then became the Grand Hotel, and is now the InterContinental Paris Le Grand. The décor reflects the café's incredibly rich cultural history, with opulent, frescoed walls and gilded ceilings, and the old adage is that if you sit at the bar at Café de la Paix, you are sure to run into someone you know.  

On top of all this, Café de la Paix is known for something else —its mille-feuille. It is, to this day, the café's most ordered item, trumping all of the other colorful sweets on parade during weekend brunch and lunch services. This iconic, delicate French pastry is a three-layered puff pastry with layers of sweetened buttercream and is topped with a light glaze. If you can snag a table or a seat at the bar, this is inarguably the place to order a mille-feuille.