Many things might spring to mind when thinking about Paris; beautiful art, picturesque streets and delicious food. What might be incongruous with your image of the city of love, and patisserie, is a quiet tucked-away bookshop filled with influencers attending a cupcake-decorating workshop.

Yet, that is the Paris in which foodie, influencer, broadcaster and cookery writer Rachel Khoo made her home. In her latest jaunty offering, Rachel recounts her journey to opening the three-seater restaurant of the book’s title.

Rachel moved to Paris, disillusioned by London and wanting to complete an advanced patisserie course at Le Cordon Bleu. Starting as an au pair for a French family, the Clunes, she enrolled in a language course at the Sorbonne to brush up her minimal French abilities, although it sounds as if she learnt several more useful phrases from her charges.

The Clunes were typically charming and typically French; the two girls, Beatrice and Claudine, were both under 14 but already chic and somewhat perturbed by Rachel’s inability to discern immediately which baguette was best from the boulangerie.

However, having made herself at home in the tiny studio apartment that came with the job, Rachel begins to thrive. As her French improves – and her Cordon Bleu patisserie teachers open her palate to the delights that can be found only when sugar, butter and eggs meld in perfect harmony – Rachel shines.

Unsurprisingly, as life unfolds across the cobbled streets of the Bastille, Rachel is crossed in love by handsome Frenchmen, ping-pongs between shoebox apartments and stays afloat by teaching English, working in a gallery and a department store, babysitting, and finally working in the cupcake-decorating bookshop (actually a very cool and very serious, industry-recognised establishment). By Rachel’s side throughout every misadventure are the Clunes, their friends, and Rachel’s pals Felicity, with her fiance-to-be Phillipe, and Siobhan, with her ex-to-be Bianca.

Rachel’s style brings Paris to life, and you root for the schemes she puts together for cooking classes, photoshoots and recipe development.

Rachel’s recipes, provided at the end of each chapter, all sound mouth-wateringly good. I can attest that her rhubarb macarons with their perfect domes are truly delicious. The only disappointment of this whimsical little book is that the titular smallest restaurant (situated in her flat and seating only two diners, plus Rachel) doesn’t feature until the penultimate chapter. Given the title, every new chapter brings the promise of Rachel’s tiny restaurant, but at the end of each you’re still left yearning for it.

Yet it is a perfectly packaged and pristinely presented bundle of culinary delights – just like Rachel herself.