Est. 2024 · Lake Windcrest
A small French bakery in The Woodlands, Texas, run by a Paris-trained pâtissier quietly obsessed with the perfect madeleine.
Baked by Ali Al Ghoul · École Ducasse graduate
Northwest Houston · serving The Woodlands · Magnolia · Conroe · Tomball
As Trained · Mentored · Recognized
How many people?
Have a date?
We ask because the calendar is built five to nine months out — the date decides what we can promise.
Real fraisier. Real croquembouche. École Ducasse technique — not a copy of a photo.
A private sit-down with Ali — a tasting, a design session, a written proposal for your day. The $750 consultation deposit is credited in full against your booking, so it costs nothing extra to start properly.
Intimate tables of four or fewer carry the reduced $250 deposit — full events are $750.
Four to five private events a month. The calendar fills five to nine months out. Event work typically begins in the four figures.
Our Story
Ali Al Ghoul grew up in a kitchen that smelled, almost without exception, of warm butter and orange blossom. His grandmother kept a tin madeleine pan that had baked through three generations — dented, blackened, beloved. He still uses it.
Years later, he earned his French Pastry Arts diploma at École Ducasse in Paris (the school founded by Alain Ducasse), trained alongside Meilleur Ouvrier de France instructors, and worked inside the windows of Gilles Marchal, the Montmartre patissier whose madeleines set the standard the rest of the city is still chasing.
Then he came to Texas — for the same reason a lot of Frenchmen quietly have. France and Texas have always known how to find each other. La Salle planted a French flag in Matagorda Bay in 1685. France was the first foreign nation to recognize the Republic of Texas, in 1839 — the original Legation building still stands in Austin. Henri Castro brought a wave of Alsatian bakers to Castroville in 1844; they're still kneading dough out there. Ali fell hard for what he found here: big land, generous people, the way Texans show up.
Pastries de Paris is small, on purpose. We make a short list of things, every morning, by hand, on the edge of Lake Windcrest. The madeleines are the soul of the case. The éclairs and tartelettes are very good too. But we are honest about what we are: a tiny piece of Paris dropped into the most generous Republic on Earth — with a few other things to keep the windows interesting.
Come for a half-dozen still warm from the pan. Stay for a coffee. Walk back out into the Texas sun with crumbs on your shirt — the way it should be.
Where the hands learned
Six years in Paris kitchens, alongside the people whose names French pâtissiers say with reverence — Chef Luc Debouve, Meilleur Ouvrier de France · Chef Maxime Frédéric of Louis Vuitton, nominated World's Best Pastry Chef 2025 · Chef Eddie Benghanem of the Waldorf Astoria Versailles · Chef Vincent Salur · Chef Jeffrey Cagnes · and a long apprenticeship under Gilles Marchal himself. The training shows up in every batch.
École Ducasse · Paris
French Pastry Arts Diploma at the school founded by Alain Ducasse — handed to Ali by Chef Luc Debouve, Meilleur Ouvrier de France. The MOF is the highest recognition in French craft, awarded by the President of the Republic.
Gilles Marchal · Montmartre
Time spent inside the windows of Gilles Marchal — the patissier whose madeleines set the standard the rest of Paris is still chasing.
Waldorf Astoria · Versailles
Executive Pastry Chef at the Waldorf Astoria Versailles — Trianon Palace, under the Alain Ducasse umbrella. One of the most respected pastry chefs in France.
Pâtisserie Vincent Salur · Paris
One of the rising names in modern Paris pâtisserie — a contemporary stylist whose work pushes the classic vocabulary forward without breaking it.
Signature du Chef · Paris
Author of "Rustique — Les desserts de maison" and a defining voice in modern French home pastry. Ali keeps a signed copy on the shelf above the mixer.
Louis Vuitton · Cheval Blanc Paris
Pastry Chef at Louis Vuitton (Le Chocolat Maxime Frédéric) and at Cheval Blanc Paris — nominated for World's Best Pastry Chef 2025. One of the most recognised pâtissiers working in France today.
La Spécialité de la Maison
Mixed by hand, rested overnight in the cold, baked the morning you eat them — never before. Pre-order online for pickup in The Woodlands or local delivery.
Bestseller
$24· box of 12
N°1 — La Traditionnelle
Beurre d'Isigny AOP, farm eggs, blossom honey, a quiet kiss of orange zest. Crisp shell, cloud-soft inside, scallop ridges golden enough to photograph but somebody always eats them first.
The Other Six
Ali's working variations on the classic.
Bright lime zest, fresh thyme leaves baked right in. A garden afternoon in cookie form.
Candied orange zest folded through the batter, a thin amber glaze on the shell.
A whisper of Menton lemon, a clean white glaze, fine zest sprinkled on top.
Pink raspberry glaze, a hidden raspberry centre. A pastry version of a postcard.
Sicilian pistachio paste folded through, a rough chop of green pistachios on the back.
Salted-caramel centre, a pinch of fleur de sel on the shell.
La Vitrine
We don't believe in 40-item menus. These are the things we make every morning, slowly, well — the cousins to our madeleines.
Allergen key — GL gluten · DA dairy · EG eggs · NU tree nuts · FI fish. Everything is made in a kitchen that handles wheat, dairy, eggs, and nuts — please tell us if you have a serious allergy.
Tartelettes
Tartelettes
Tartelettes
Tartelettes
Tartelettes
Salé
Three rotating varieties — Tomate Cerise & Basilic · Forestière (4 fromages) · Saumon
Gâteaux & Entremets
7-inch · serves 8–10 · 48-hour notice · letterable
Gâteaux & Entremets
7-inch · serves 8–10 · 48-hour notice
Gâteaux & Entremets
7-inch · serves 8–10 · 48-hour notice
Le Chef
Every batch goes through the same four pairs of hands: Ali's, Camille's, Yasmine's, and the Friday-Saturday apprentice who's still being taught the difference between a soft peak and a regrettable one.
We weigh by gram, not by cup. We rest the batter cold overnight — that's where the famous bosse (the little hump on top of a real madeleine) comes from. No factory mixers. No frozen anything. No shortcuts that the customer would taste.
200+
Madeleines / day
4
Pairs of hands
0
Day-old pastries
Word of Mouth
We'd rather you hear from people who've had the pastries on a real table, at a real moment.
If we've baked for your event, we'd love a sentence about it on Google — it's the single thing that brings the next neighbour through the door.
By Application
We bake for the storefront every morning. We also keep a separate, quieter calendar for private events, weddings, family occasions, and ongoing private accounts.
It fills early. It doesn't take walk-ins.
Who We've Cooked For
Some of the people we've baked for would prefer their names not appear on a website. Heads of state. Names you'd recognise. Families whose calendars don't sit on the open internet.
We list our institutions — never our individuals. If that arrangement suits you, you're already speaking our language.
How It Works
Submit an inquiry.
A short note about the occasion, the headcount, the date window, and the venue. Referrals are read first.
Consultation.
A non-refundable $750 consultation deposit books a sit-down with Ali — in person at Lake Windcrest, or by video for out-of-state clients. The deposit is credited in full against any confirmed booking.
Tasting and proposal.
A custom menu, a written proposal, a private tasting of the two or three pieces we'd like you to consider. Bring your planner. Bring a photographer if it helps.
On the calendar.
A 50% deposit reserves your date. The kitchen builds your event into a schedule that's already protected from anyone who didn't go through this door.
For
Weddings
Croquembouche, dessert tables, plated desserts for 30 to 300.
For
Private Households
Standing weekly orders, private dinners, holiday programs, family occasions.
For
Corporate & Client Gifting
Executive gifting programs, holiday boxes, signed-and-sealed thank-yous.
For
Country Clubs & Venues
Member events, ongoing programs, fixed-menu collaborations.
We do four to five private events a month. The calendar is built five to nine months out. There is, often, a wait.
Apply to Ali's calendarReferrals from current clients, planners we've worked with, or venues we know skip the queue.
Know your date and ready to sit down with Ali? Place your consultation deposit and skip straight to step two.
Come See Us
Northwest of Houston, baking for the neighbours up and down 1488 and the I-45 corridor.
Northwest Houston · The Woodlands Country Club area · Easy access from I-45, FM-1488 and the Hardy Toll Road.
Where We Serve
Northwest Houston, Texas
Pickup at the bakery; local delivery and event drop-off across The Woodlands · Magnolia · Conroe · Tomball.
Country Club & Neighbourhood Events
We cater country club events, HOA gatherings, and weddings — including Lake Windcrest, High Meadow Estates, and The Woodlands Country Club. Pastry trays, dessert stations, custom orders.
Hours
Un Mot
Custom orders, big-batch corporate trays, or just a hello — Ali reads every message himself, in between batches.
Weddings, private events, and household accounts go through The Private Calendar application.
Your note's in our hands. We'll write back within a working day.
