I like to explore coffee shops often. Living in the Bay Area there are tons to choose from and I pick a handful or so to visit per month, drive to ’em and scope them out. This time I went to San Jose’s new Paris Baguette location on Hostetter Road. I used to blog about visiting the coffee shops on a weekly/bi-weekly basis, and I think I should start up again. Especially if you’re new to the area and love going to them as much as I do.
Back in April I was invited to attend their grand opening, but unfortunately it fell on the day after Alfie was attacked by another dog. I cancelled on them, and ended up going in to check it out for myself a little while later. You might’ve seen the army of photos I posted on my Instagram in May.
The one-bites was my favourite. They’re a circular shaped pastry with different berries as the toppings, and inside was a creamy donut-like filling. Almost like a boston cream donut from Tim Hortons. Heh! Ohhh delicious city. Brings back great memories looking at these pics. Can you tell we love our sweets?
This isn’t your traditional coffee shop (although I like to title the post that, because their lattes here at Paris Baguette are amazing and have designs in them), it’s more of a French-inspired cafe with delicious pastries, cakes, donuts, sandwiches and the like. It’s a serve-yourself style cafe which is great because you can take as long as  you want picking out your goodies.
I met with the franchise owner, Joshua Kim for about an hour, discussing everything from his business, to our families, and even chatting about both of us immigrating to the USA. He and his wife is the first franchisee since Paris Baguette in the USA and recently opened the Paris Baguette cafe located on Hofstetter Road in San Jose. But what I didn’t realize from my previous visits to Paris Baguette (before I knew Mr. Kim) was that Paris Baguette originated from South Korea, and is more popular over there than Starbucks is! Unreal.
The newest Paris Baguette is my favourite one of the few that I’ve visited, mainly for the gorgeous aesthetics — and the friendly staff (not to say I haven’t had good customer service elsewhere). I love the wooden accent wall, and the huge dining tables where you could perhaps meet a new friend over coffee. Since I usually go to coffee shops on my own, I like to sit in an area where it’s open and I can present myself in a way that I’m friendly, and eager to chat. Perhaps that’s just the Canadian in me, but that’s what I liked to do.
You should try it out if you’re in the area, and definitely pick up one of their vanilla lattes — they taste amazing plus you can’t beat the cute designs in the drink. I got a swan!
Paris Baguette
1698 Hostetter Road
San Jose CA 95131
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