Here, ice cream is created and enjoyed within the space of a day, like ephemeral flowers, handcrafted before visitors' eyes, prepared in small quantities and with ingredients selected with meticulous care. The price of a cone? 7 euros.
Cover photo (ice cream): @Maki Manoukian
The news
On the warm stones of Rue de la Roquette, time seems to melt like sorbet in the sun. A discreet sign, but with a name that is already a guarantee of excellence, welcomes anyone looking for refreshment with the elegance of a curtain opening onto a theater of taste: La Glace Alain Ducasse. This is no ordinary ice cream parlor. It is a workshop of pleasure, a poetic laboratory of cold, where every spoonful becomes a story. Right next to the Manufacture de Chocolat and the biscuit factory of the famous Monegasque chef, this oasis of creaminess and surprises comes to life. A corner where technical rigor meets the freest creativity, created by a chef who has collected as many stars as there are in some constellations. But here, on Rue de la Roquette—which many Parisians now dream of renaming Rue Alain Ducasse—the stars don't shine in the sky: they can be tasted in a cone.
Nothing is industrial, nothing is frozen for weeks. The ice creams are created and enjoyed within a day, like ephemeral flowers, handcrafted before the eyes of visitors, prepared in small quantities with ingredients selected with meticulous care. The walnuts, for example, are roasted directly in the workshop, releasing warm, enveloping aromas that anticipate what the palate is about to discover. While it looks like a classic neighborhood ice cream shop, the sensory experience is anything but ordinary. Traditional flavors are not lacking—chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, strawberry—but it is in the more daring part of the menu that Glace Ducasse unleashes all its creativity. Unusual sorbets and ice creams are the real stars, small acts of rebellion against predictability.
As always, the fresh herb sorbet steals the show, having become the shop's signature flavor over the years. Intense, aromatic, green like a garden bathed in dew, this flavor manages to combine vegetable and refreshing in a single bite. Not to be outdone is the grapefruit and vermouth sorbet, the chef's favorite: bitter, elegant, with that alcoholic note that caresses the tongue without ever overpowering it. And then there are the new additions for summer 2025: bread ice cream, made from lightly toasted round bread, which smells like breakfast in a traditional French boulangerie, and peanut ice cream, rich and generous, with a texture reminiscent of peanut butter but with the elegance of a haute patisserie product. There is also a new arrival, as delicate as it is surprising: almond and vanilla, a combination that melts in the mouth with grace, like silk between your fingers.
The sorbets, needless to say, play on exotic and fascinating combinations: Passion-Yuzu, tart and sunny like a summer afternoon on the French Riviera; Mango-Coriander, where sweet and tangy chase each other like two lovers on vacation. Everything is served, of course, with the luxurious simplicity that distinguishes the Ducasse universe. Crunchy cones, elegant jars, carefully measured portions and prices in line with the experience: $7 for a cone, up to $9 for a cup, $22 for a small takeaway box and $42 for a large one. Yes, happiness can also be taken home, wrapped in an insulated container and stored like a treasure in your freezer.
