Épices Roellinger, A Spice Merchant’s Dream in Paris
We first learned about Chef Olivier Roellinger in 2016, while watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Mind of a Chef filmed in Brittany. The programme explored how the old spice routes of Saint-Malo shaped Roellinger’s culinary imagination, showing how winds, voyages and 18th-century maritime trade found their way into the flavours of his region. Years later, standing in his Paris boutique for the first time, it all made sense.
Now, a visit to Épices Roellinger has become a fixed part of every trip to Paris. The shop is situated between the Louvre and Opéra, not far from rue Sainte-Anne’s Tokyo Town; once you arrive, it feels like stepping into another world. Created by Roellinger, the three-Michelin-star chef behind Maisons de Bricourt in Cancale, the boutique reflects his reputation as a magician of spices, someone who composes blends with the care of a musician arranging notes.
The space itself is deliberately dim; the darkness creates intimacy, drawing your attention away from the visual and towards scent. It is a little like stepping into the hull of an old trading ship, with warm dark wood, soft shadows, and shelves lined with jars that seem to hold faraway places. The low light also protects the essential oils in the spices, slowing their degradation- a very Roellinger detail: practical and poetic.
The selection is astonishing. An entire wall is devoted to pepper alone, delicate, fruity, fiery, smoky, gathered from every imaginable corner of the world. There are blends for fish, meat, vegetables, baking, travel, curiosity, and nostalgia. Some contain seven spices, others twenty-four, all remarkably clear and purposeful. The chilli section, closer to the cashier and easy to miss, ranges from Mexican to Malagasy to Indian and Mediterranean varieties, arranged almost like a small atlas of heat. The selection of herbs is equally serious. Then comes the sweet-spice section: four kinds of cinnamon, multiple cardamoms, every sort of vanilla, seven varieties of saffron, and quite possibly the best anchovy mustard we have ever tasted.
The staff guide you expertly and without pretension, and the shelves hold a few of Roellinger’s books for those wishing to delve deeper. Everything is high quality, often organic, and always traceable. Yes, they ship worldwide. But the real pleasure is being there in person: opening jars, smelling each spice like a tiny story, and standing in that soft darkness with the faint sense of uncovering treasures from another world.
Épices Roellinger
+33 14 260 4688
51 bis Rue Sainte-Anne, 75002 Paris, France
www.roellinger-bricourt.com