Toss an ice cream cone and you could reach Bastille from here, where city slickers looking for a cool treat melt for the frosty Lebanese flavors of Jean-Michel de Tarrazi and Nadim Kettaneh, two cousins who are homesick for their Levantine childhood. At Bältis, a small, minimalist shop (an immaculate facade, walls punctuated with terra cotta arches, a plant-covered metal structure), the ice cream makers offer up 16 flavors made with either a cream or water base, all of which are organic and dreamt up by MOF pastry chef Jean-Thomas Schneider: intense chocolate, tender pistachio, delightful halva (sesame and pistachio paste), comforting orange blossom… not to mention the unbeatable achta flavor (cream, orange blossom, pistachio sap and orchid root) sprinkled with crushed pistachios and wrapped up in home-spun ghazl el banate (cotton candy), or topped with dried fruits. Permission to melt, granted! // Louise Delange
The hidden gem: An apricot sorbet pimped out with pine nuts, raisins, almonds and khchef – candied quince (€4-6, depending on the size).
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