About us

Our story

GM Petit Cafe is a small French bakery run by Mathieu and Giselle, a French-American couple who settled in the Austin area after years of moving between Europe and the United States. Mathieu grew up in Bordeaux, the home of the canelé, and learned the pastries we sell the way most French bakers do: by making them again and again until they were right.

We started the bakery to share the flavours we grew up with. The recipes are the classics you would find in a neighbourhood pâtisserie in France, made in small batches with good butter and patience. Nothing is rushed, and nothing is pretending to be something it is not: a kouign amann is layers of butter and sugar caramelised until the outside shatters, a canelé is a custard baked slowly in a copper-style mould until the crust turns almost black, a madeleine is a shell-shaped sponge that is best the day it is baked.

You will find us at farmers markets rather than behind a shop counter. We like it that way. We get to hand you the pastry ourselves, tell you what is in it, and hear what you thought of last week’s tarte au citron. If you are planning a birthday, a dinner or a table for an office, write to us and we will bake for it.

We keep the menu short so that everything on the table is something we are proud of. Some pastries come and go with the seasons; the kouign amann, the lemon tart and the canelés are always there, because they are what people come back for.

Merci for visiting, and see you at the market.