Apr 24, 2012

the day i got a bag of laduree

one of the perks of having globetrotting friends is getting stuff from abroad. and it pays when they're foodies too who can accommodate your weird requests. in june, h will be going to paris so it was already a given that she'll get me laduree which is the most famous macaron and pierre herme which is deemed to be the best macaron.

a week ago though, she went to a conference in zurich and managed to squeeze in some leisure time in milan. there were no street signs in milan so it was serendipitous that the deli they went to is right across laduree. yes, laduree has several branches all over the world and one is in milan. the box says eat the macarons within 3 days and she knew it can arrive here in kl on time .


the lovely paperbag...it looks like a tiffany and co. paperbag but with an aged effect looks really nice...expected from a french brand right?



one of the 150 years boxes they have right now.






inside....8 lovely macarons.






because of the "expiry" my greedy self took a bite on all of them hehe. (blurry ugly photo because i used my handphone on this one, was embarrased to take a picture using my camera. and yeah i should have first aligned them as such and then took a decent photo before biting into them. i guess i don't have a high EQ ;). so here's my take on the flavors.




i'll just be giving reviews on the fillings. since all the "macarons"/ meringue base have this thin crisp crust with a chewy pillowy inside that i have never experienced in all the macarons i have tried before. and now i know why people love them, there's a huge difference between the actual french macarons and the ones i've tried in this side of the world.

top row:
black currant - i like the tartness of the filling, provides a nice contrast to the relatively sweet meringue. the filling has a jam/gum like consistency.
salted caramel - i knew this will be my favorite. i am a caramel lover. the salted caramel filling was just love. the flavor was spot on...has the nice caramel flavor nearly burnt but not quite. the texture is not the stringy caramel but more like a paste of some sort.
raspberry - there's really not much to say about this flavor. i actually couldn't figure out what it was. i knew it wasn't strawberry and i knew it was a berry i had to check the website. the filling has a similar consistency with the black currant but lacked any distinct characteristic to make me want more.

middle row:
chocolate - i don't like chocolate. but this one is also good. it was filled with an almost dark chocolate ganache (it wasn't bitter but it wasn't sweet as well). again, a perfect combination with the sweet meringue. i was a convert on this one.
citron - oooh i love lemon. this one was perfect. it wasn't too tart heck it didn't have any tartness if i recall but has the right amount of lemon essence. the filling was buttercream and it was just perfect for the crisp chewy meringue.
pistacchio - i don't like pistacchio...i love the nut but surprisingly don't like anything flavored with pistacchio. i thought i'll have a change of heart with this one but it still failed to convert me.

bottom row:
pear - i thought the specks were incidental, apparently they weren't. another flavor which i couldn't figure out. i thought it was chestnut or something but it was one of the seasonal flavors. it's has a buttercream type of filling with chunks of pears in it. it was also nice.
salted caramel - whether it was intentional or not, love the fact i got two caramel flavored macarons :D.


laduree
http://www.laduree.fr/
several branches all over the world