Tag Archives: French

Macaron Maddness – Ladurée VS Pierre Hermé

Other, Paris, Reviews, Travel Adventures March 15, 2013 Comments: 35

I think it would be a crime if I went to Paris and didn’t try the macarons from Ladurée and Pierre Hermé :D I have heard so much about these two patisseries and even though I have tried macarons from Laduree quite a few times as they recently opened in Sydney and Hong Kong. It’s the first time I tried macarons from Pierre Hermé so excited! Just wanted to do a little comparison between the two macarons masters :)

Laduree in Paris

Laduree in Paris

Starting with Ladurée, I’ve had their macarons from their store in New York, Sydney and also Hong Kong. Even though their macarons are quite delicious, I found there to be inconsistencies with the texture of their macarons.

Laduree macarons from NYC

Laduree macarons from NYC

Laduree from NYC

Laduree from NYC

Like the macarons, I had in New York to be more on the softer side, with a softer shell and the ganache in the middle was also creamier. I really enjoyed these macarons from the Laduree in NYC, I think they’re the best ones I’ve had even better than Paris :(

Laduree from NYC

Laduree macarons from NYC

I was very excited when Laduree opened in Sydney and when I found the chance to visit I was over the moon :) But then I realised the macarons were very expensive $3.2 take away and $4 dine in wow…

Laduree prices in Sydney

Laduree prices in Sydney

But then I found these macarons in Sydney to have a much tougher texture and very very chewy. I have heard that this may be because, they freeze the macarons and import them from Switzerland. I’m not sure if this will change the consistency, but I wasn’t too impressed with them. Even though flavours were fantastic especially their salted caramel and pistachio macaron.

Laduree in Sydney

Laduree in Sydney

I’m not sure if this will change the consistency, but I wasn’t too impressed with them. Even though flavours were still good especially their salted caramel and pistachio macaron. They are my all time favourite!

Laduree in Sydney

Laduree macarons from Sydney

I have heard from HK Epicurus that only the macarons in the Paris Laduree is actually made there, the rest are made from a factory in Switzerland and both HK Epicurus and Tina both agreed that their macarons are best in Paris. So I was quite excited to finally get to try the ‘real’ deal :P I actually didn’t get to try that many Laduree macarons this time, as I was going around too many patisseries hahaha but I did get to try a few when I visited their Laduree restaurant on Champs-Élysées.

Laduree in Paris

Laduree macarons from Paris

My sisters and I tried these macarons as part of the Brunch set we had there, which I will blog about another time :) We could choose 3 macarons of our liking, so we got the salted caramel, chocolate and dark chocolate flavour. I immediately found a difference once again in the texture in the macarons, they were definitely softer and more delicate than the ones I got in both Sydney and HK. But they were slightly firmer than the ones in New York. In terms of flavours they were slightly sweeter and probably the best, I really liked their salted caramel it was sweet, salty and just heavenly! I suspect its the use of the French butter :P There wasn’t a vast difference between the chocolate and dark chocolate macaron, except one tasted slightly more bitter.

Pierre Herme in Paris

Pierre Herme in Paris

Now moving onto Pierre Hermé macarons, there are quite a few Pierre Hermé stores around Paris, but I failed and only got to their store in the Galaries Lafayette deparment store on our second last day. I was slightly disappointed as it was a rather small store with only macarons and other dry packaged goods such as chocolates.

Pierre Herme macarons

Pierre Herme macarons

From memory I think Pierre Hermé had a more diverse range of flavours for their macarons and ones that I found most interesting was the chocolate and foie gras :P Yup I tried it and I’m not sure whether I like it or not lol it had a rich chocolate ganahe but then the foie gras flavour. The rest of the macarons I chose more traditional flavors such as dark chocolate, salted caramel, rose water and of course pistachio :)

Pierre Herme Macaron

I found flavours of the ganache simply too hard to resist, once again just like the macaron shell they had the perfect consistency and also balance of flavours. I think it is safe to declare ‘Pierre Hermé’ makes the best macarons I have tasted! Now I just wish I could take a whole cargo ship full of them back with me…and I really wished that they would last longer so Mr Bao could try :( Oh wells… I guess that’s just a good excuse and reason to go back to Paris don’t you like?

Pierre Herme Macarons

Pierre Herme Macarons

Clearly in this battle ‘Pierre Hermé’ has won just everything about them size, texture and flavour was all spot on! While Laduree had some good flavours, overall, I was quite disappointed by the ones I have had in Sydney and Paris and surprisingly found the ones in New York to be better. Now my lovely Readers I would like to ask have you tried Laduree and Pierre Hermé before? Which one do you like more? :)

Laduree 
75 Champs-Élysées 75008 Paris, France
PH: +33 1 40 75 08 75

Galeries Lafayette
40 boulevard Haussmann 75009 Paris
PH: +33 (0)1 43 54 47 77

Salted Caramel Profiterole – Le Petite Gateau

Australia, Melbourne, Reviews August 2, 2012 Comments: 63

Social Media is a powerful tool :) It connects people and shares information instantaneously ~ Any I know many of us are addicted to the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and many more :) I definitely know I am addicted hahaha

Last week Thanh (I Eat Therefore I Am)  Instagrammed a photo of the limited Salted Caramel Profiterole for Le Petite Gateau’s 5th anniversary and through popular demand and lots of requests, Pierrick Boyer Executive Pastry Chef finally agreed to make it as a special ~ so we can all go buy it YAY!

For those not in Melbourne, to give you some background information,Le Petite Gateau  is one of Melbourne’s leading patisseries and is well loved by its fans ~ I’m definitely one of them hehe but one small annoying thing about Le Petite Gateau is…they only open Monday – Friday, 7am to 5pm. Meaning we can’t go on the weekends or for me who don’t work in that side of town I would have to rush over during my lunch break :)

Cake heaven!

I’ve been planning this ‘mad rush’ for a few days now, as I was turning poison ivy green with envy whenever someone posted the Salted Caramel Profiterole hehe so yesterday, I called Kirk just before lunch time and literally ‘ordered’ him very nicely lol to meet me there ASAP and to see if there was parking hehe :P I was so lucky found a car spot basically in front of Cafe Vue and we saw Shannon Bennett! If you live in Melbourne or Australia you will know Shannon Bennett who is executive chef of the 3 hated restaurant Vue De Monde. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to talk to him or anything but still hehe ~

Pumpkin, Beetroot, Feta Salad

Thanks gosh, Kirk had already ordered my lunch for me ~ YAY!  I ordered a salad for lunch because I knew if I didn’t I’d just end up getting more cakes :P The pumpkin, beetroot and feta salad was lovely and refreshing hehe this is actually one of my favourite types of salad as I’m a bit obsessed with pumpkins ~ Sorry guys Kirk paid for these things and neither of us remember the price.

Quiche Lorraine

Kirk ordered the Quiche Lorraine which was presented as a little savoury tart and not as slice cut from a large Quiche Lorraine. I tried a little bit and liked how creamy and wonderfully eggy the filling was, however, the bottom of the pastry case was a little hard and slightly chewy,  however, still tasted wonderful.

Now to desserts, I’m so glad I rushed out just before noon, because there were more to choose from and I didn’t have to worry about them selling out :P

Salted Caramel Profiterole $8.50 AUD

I scoffed the salad down within minutes and finally GOT to eat the SALTED CARAMEL PROFITEROLE :) Had to type this out in capitals hehe

Pretty self-explantory hehe a profiterole filled to the brim with salted caramel custard, that wasn’t too sweet or think, just the right consistency, then the profiterole was then dipped in caramel icing. I swear I could eat unlimited numbers of these! SO delicious! Damn I only had half! Now I wished I bought another two for myself…bought another one for Mr Bao…which he ate without saving any for me >_< I also know Win Win would love this SO much as she loves eclairs hehe but not sure if she likes Salted Caramel as much as I do :P

Mister Green Tea $8.50AUD

This dessert immediately made me think of Cat (The Catty Life) because I know she is nuts about green tea as much as I am, and this dessert would have made her SO happy ~ it had the right amount of matcha flavour which wasn’t too overpowering and paired with the white chocolate DIVINE!

Black Beauty $8.50 AUD

This cake was definitely given the perfect name ~ It was pretty that I didn’t really want to cut it in half, take a photo of it and eat it :P but… eating is still the best part of it hehe it was a chocolate mousse cake with a chestnut puree. It had a dark chocolate aroma and was so amazingly soft and smooth :D

Once again with the power of social media, I Instagrammed a photo of the cakes at Le Petite Gateau and Pierrick Boyer was so kind and immediately replied and said he’ll come out and meet us! WOW a little star struck! Pierrick was overwhelmingly friendly and explained all the cakes we had in front of us, the different layers and components ~

Nice to meet you! :)

I even asked if I could take a photo with him hehe :) Pierrick kindly agreed and we posed with cakes in both our hands YAY!

The pastry chefs meet ~

Kirk took a picture with Pierrick too ~ He didn’t want me to tell Pierrick that he was a pastry chef himself, and certainly didn’t want me to put this photo up…but too bad :P

I don’t think I need to do anymore convincing :D
If you work in the city, you have to go to Le Petite Gateau
If you don’t work in the city, you have to to get someone to go to Le Petite Gateau for you.
If you don’t live or work in Melbourne :( I wish I could buy it and share with you instead!

Le Petit Gateau on Urbanspoon

Sweet French Toast – Hub StK

Australia, Melbourne, Reviews June 13, 2012 Comments: 24

Thank you everyone who voted in my last post :) I have clearly WON the challenge! *Takes a Bow* I officially do NOT have to do the laundry for the next 2 weeks SUPER HAPPY :D

I am so amazed and impressed at how efficient food bloggers are :D They work full-time, blog practically full-time and most are also full-time mothers. On the other hand, I only work full-time, blog part-time, yet I find it hard to keep up with my posts ~ so many just end up in my ‘backlog’ and some unfortunate ones…stay there for a very long time, before it becomes obsolete. Sighhh I’m also feel quite guilty because I eat out a lot more yet my blogging is quite slow lately >_<

Hotel Urban

It’s easy to walk past ~ so look for the ‘Hub’ sign hehe

That’s why I wanted to make the effort to write this blog post up as soon as I can so it doesn’t get lost in my backlog hehe , over the weekend, I saw on Instagram quite a few bloggers were at a new café ‘HubStK’ in St Kilda. They were all making my mouth water with their perfect Egg Benedict but what really got me interested was their ‘French Toast’! It looked so SINFULLY delicious :P I then can had a bit of a chat with Thanh Do  from The I Eat Therefore I am Blog on Instagram and he was telling me how ‘deathly’ sweet it was and that I should ask them to give me the syrup on the side, because it’s ‘too sweet’. So then and there I was challenged to live up to my blog name ‘Never Too Sweet For Me’ hahaha I got so excited lol I love these challenges because I really do have this incredibly HUGE sweet tooth :P

Nice and roomy inside~

YAY free mags :) I had fun reading the Gourmet Traveller ~

So glad Hub StK was open on Monday given that it was Queen’s Birthday ~ for those who haven’t heard of this cafe before, it’s the brand new cafe located at the Hotel Urban on Fitzroy St in St Kilda ~ the main strip hehe which connects to Acland Street.

YAY! Fireplaceeee soooooo cold!

We got there at around 11am, and it was relatively busy, with only one waitress for the whole floor. So it did take her a few minutes to get to us and give the menu ~ she was lovely though getting our coffees first then giving us a few more minutes to decide on what food we wanted. It was funny though, the manager which I have forgotten his name (sorry) walked over to our table and asked ‘are you Daisy?’ lol I guess it was really obvious…because I was the only on with a camera and constantly tweeting them :P I was really impressed when he said he worked for Stephanie Alexander 25 years ago!

Skinny Mocha $3.5AUD

I’m so boring lol I always get a Skinny Mocha because that’s what I love drinking hehe ~ the nice mixture of half chocolate and half coffee it’s actually quite hard to make hehe anyhow this was a nice cup of mocha, but I found the coffee a little weak and I couldn’t really taste the chocolate in it, more milk and creamy. Mr Bao had a single origin latte ~ he’s really into the Single Origins lately!

Single Origin Latte $3.5AUD

Before going, I already knew I was going to get the French brioche toast…but then their Eggs Benedict looked so good too! So I was trying to persuade Mr Bao to get the eggs benny…but he felt like something more hearty lol so he got the Chorizo, potato and red capsicum omelet. So we ended up getting 2 savoury and 1 dessert perfect really :)

Chorizo, Potato and Red Capsicum Omelet $16AUD

Starting off with Mr Bao’s omelet, we both really liked the combination, very filling and comforting, however, we found the egg to be slightly overcooked and it wasn’t as smooth and soft as we would have liked it to be. That was the only disappointment, if they had taken the omelet off a few moments earlier that probably would’ve helped.

My Eggs Benny on the other hand was gorgeous! It wasn’t on a plain English muffin it was on a brioche muffin :D I’ve never had it served on that hehe the hollandaise  sauce was so thick and buttery and because it had such a strong yellow colour lol I thought it was melted cheese hahaha Mr Bao just rolled his eyes and said ‘You are embarassing…’

Eggs Benedict $17AUD

Oh how I wish I could poach eggs like this so effortless :) I’ve tried many times and gave been given and also bought many ‘egg poaching’ tools but still my poach eggs, just never seem to ‘look’ nor ‘taste’ as good as the ones at good cafes ~ some cafes can overcook or undercook them too! But I’ll save those for another post ~Back to this dish….it was just so wonderful with a generous amount of bacon. We’re such meat lovers lol we don’t like it when cafes only give us one very thin slice of bacon.

Runny ooey gooey YUMMY!

I thought the brioche muffin was so soft and fluffy, but Mr Bao thought it the brioche muffin was a little too sweet and when paired with the saltiness of the ham and the hollandaise sauce he just thought it was a little mismatched. I didn’t seem to mind it :) But you know me and my sweet tooth lol sugar is simply my best friend!

Brioche French Toast with Caramelised Apples $16AUD

Now finally to the STAR of the brunch :D the Brioche French Toast with caramelized apples and mascarpone cream that was whipped with vanilla beans because I could see the vanilla seeds hehe :D I think Hub StK must have taken the suggestions from other patrons and have now put the syrup on the side, because when the other bloggers went it was drizzled over the French toast and was too sweet for them ~ Shellie from Iron Chef Shellie even suggested I add bacon to it and make sure I ate it without the syrup :P I was too full after eating the Eggs Benny that I couldn’t stomach anymore bacon.

I used most if not all of the syrup :P

Mr Bao thought the mascarpone cream was ice-cream and was ‘complaining’ it wasn’t ‘cold’ hahaha now who’s embarrassing? Actually a scoop of ice-cream would have been lovely too ~ LOL but either way I have lived UP to my blog name :) ‘Never Too Sweet For Me’ because I thought the French Toast was just right, and if we’re talking about deathly sweet French Toast, the winner would still be The Good Loaf Sourdough cafe ~

All in all a great new cafe to visit when you’re in St Kilda~  it’s been a while since I’ve gone, so it was nice to go explore that area again and I have a feeling I’m gonna drag Mr Bao back soon so we can explore Acland Streeet :D

Hub Cafe on Urbanspoon

Patisserie in Taipei – Paul

Reviews, Taiwan, Travel Adventures March 3, 2012 Comments: 30

I am dessert lover and an even more avid pastry lover…but I only just recently learnt of the internationally renown patisserie Paul. I’m sure my lovely readers from the US or UK and those who have travelled to France will have heard or visited a Paul around them ;)

But for those like me, Paul Maison de Qualite is a family owned and run patisserie with their first store opening in 1889 in the north of France. It has now been passed down to the fourth generation and also expanded internationally with many stores in the UK, US, Japan but the closest to me would be their stores in Taiwan ;) Hope they come to Melbourne soon!

Time to eat ~

There are two Paul patisseries in Taipei, their flagship store and the more recent one located on the 2nd floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store. Chi Yao said it’s basically impossible to get a table without booking at the flagship store, and even at this Paul, the waitress immediately asked if we had a booking and that they had a 2 hour dining time limit. That kind of put me off a little…just because, I think patisseries and cafes should be a place for people to relax with a cup of coffee and spend time chatting with friends :( but I guess they are too famous and have other guests to serve~

Nice and spacious :)

Once we told the waitress, we understood and were happy to leave within 2 hours, she led us to a nice table in the middle of the patisserie, and surprisingly spacious, they definitely wanted to create a Parisian feel :) It was also Cindy’s first time going to Paul, so we were both busy studying the menu and deciding what we should have ~ I was really impressed with the variety of pastries they had. Ranging from loaves of bread, to croissants, to tarte tartin and how could I forget macarons ~

It was hard to choose, I was being greedy and wanted everything :P in the end we decided, to get a savoury dish and an afternoon tea set to share.

Quiche Saumon epinards $395TWD($12.5AUD) part of a set

For the savoury we ordered a Salmon Quiche, which came as a lunch set – including a salad on the side, soup of the day and a drink of your choice. The pastry of the quiche was so puffy and delicious lol I could imagine all the butter used to make it :P but that’s why it tasted so good! The filling was a rich combination of salmon, spinach, eggs and cream :) thank gosh we were sharing ~

Minestrone Soup

Soup of the day was minestrone, it had a piece of cheesy bread floating on top, it was nice but it wasn’t very hot when it got to our table. It was like luke warm which I don’t really soups like that. Overall, I think the savoury dishes at Paul are good, but not really spectacular compared to their sweets :D

The afternoon tea set for two, it an absolute bargain for $720TWD($23AUD) ! We got a savoury dish, 2 drinks of our choice from the menu (not all drinks were included, some drinks incurred an additional fee), 2 desserts of our choice, 2 macarons, a chocolate croissant and an escargot raisin.

They called it 4 canapes lol

They called it canapes but its basically four little pieces of baguette with a piece of ham and tiny piece of pickle. I know Paul is well known for their bread, but I didn’t really like this…the bread was too chewy :(

Our afternoon tea set ~ $720TWD ($23AUD)

Chi Yao had visited before and said we had to try the mille feuille, while Cindy and I both agreed on the blackberry tart ~

Mille Feuille $225TWD($7.1AUD) A La Carte

The mille feuille at Paul’s was more like our vanilla slice in Australia, where there’s vanilla custard between two pieces of puff pastry, while other mille feuille’s I’ve had in French patisseries tend to have more layers ~ I totally agree with Chi Yao though, this is an AMAZING piece of mille feuille! The puff pastry wasn’t too hard, it basically melts in your mouth, and it’s not just vanilla custard, they’ve put fresh strawberries in it, to cut some of the sweetness ~ perfect for those who think custards too sweet ;) Highly recommend it to everyone who has a Paul near them!

Blackberry Tart $155TWD($5AUD) A La Carte

This blackberry tart is designed for those who don’t like ‘sweet’ pastries, because it had a more tangy and refreshing taste ~ The pastry case was so thin it was like it wasn’t even there hehe :)

Swarvoski cystals used to make macarons ~

There were two macarons included in our set, a lemon and coffee macaron. Although they are advertised that they are made with Swarovski elements (not sure how), they were a little disappointing…the shells were too soft and I couldn’t really tell it was a coffee flavoured macaron until the waitress told me ~

Now to drinks :)

Cappuccino Noisette $150TWD($4.7AUD) A La Carte

Cindy ordered a hot cappuccino :) which she said she liked, but still missed the coffee in Melbourne ~

Iced Hazelnut Cappuccino $150TWD($4.7AUD) A La Carte

Chi Yao’s Iced Hazelnut Cappuccino ~ She seemed to enjoy it and said there was a strong hazelnut tone throughout the drink ~ Unfortunately, I was too busy taking photos of their drinks and forgot to take a photo of my Iced Mocha :( doesn’t matter, it basically looks the same but it was more like a really strong cup of iced chocolate, than a mocha ~ Please bare in mind, we paid an extra $40TWD ($1.3AUD) each t0 change our drinks to these ones :)

There’s still so much more I’d like to try! Just look ~

Eclairs and Lemon tart ~ My favourite!

Assortment of Choux pastries ~

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Paul’s and will definitely come back for their mille feuilles and other pastries~ But it’s still a little sad how the bill is automatically sent to your table when your two hours is up and the waitress tells you nicely to leave…

Has this happened to you before? Do you mind if there’s a time limit? Would love to hear your thoughts :)

PAUL
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, A9
No. 9, Song Shou Road, 2FL
新光三越A9‧信義新天地
台北市松壽路9號2F 
PH:(02) 2722-0700

French Import – L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon

Reviews December 10, 2011 Comments: 20

Hello everyone!

Are you all ready for Christmas?!? Can you believe it! It’s going to be Christmas in 15 days! Barely 2 weeks left! I’m SO excited! Christmas is one of my favourite times in the year :) I love the whole atmosphere, the red, green and white decorations and most importantly I LOVE XMAS food hehe my parents don’t really celebrate Christmas so not a lot of celebrations with them…but definitely going out for a good feast with Mr Bao and other friends. What do you all have planned for Christmas?

Alright better get on with today’s post, for those who have been following me on Twitter (thanks for everyone who’s following me :) you may have noticed that I’ve been stuffing my face with so much food hahaha and yesterday I found the BEST, let me repeat that the BEST lemon tart in the WHOLE of Hong Kong! I am dead serious! And it was from a French import – L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon Le Salon de The  in Central.For those who aren’t familiar of Hong Kong, there’s basically the Kowloon Island and the Hong Kong island (Sorry I know it can get a little confusing) and Central would have to be the CBD of the Hong Kong Island with heavy influences from Western countries.

Back to Robuchon (for short), my sister suggested that I try it in the Landmark hotel, so yesterday coincidentally Mr Bao and I were running some errands in the Central area and decided to check this ‘Robuchun’ out :) and it was the BEST decision I’ve made in HK so far!

I’m really sorry about the quality of the photos! I didn’t do a very good job yesterday :(

Once we walked in it felt like we were transported back to Melbourne with so many Caucasians walking around and enjoying their morning tea :) many of which are expats from various countries ~ I swear I heard a guy speaking with a thick Aussie accent or maybe that was just my imagination again hehe we liked the nice and sleek environment of the patisserie with the bright red chairs and black marble tables.

Mr Bao ordered a ginger latte and a pear danish – he liked Robuchon so much he said he’s willing to take a ferry or the metropolitan train just to get to Central and get their pastries hahaha

Pear Danish

The puff pastry of the pear danish was simply divine! It was just perfect so light and flaky! And the custard underneath the pears was SO delicious! It was a shame they didn’t have a vanilla slice or something like that which has more custard

I ordered the lemon tart :)

Best Lemon Tart in Hong Kong

I don’t know where to start with this lemon tart it was so good Mr Bao and I were fighting over it (of course I won!) for starters the tart case was so thin and crispy with a chocolate coated based. While the lemon filling was so yummy wasn’t too sweet, wasn’t too tangy nor too rich it was just right! This is a MUST have if you go to Robuchon!

I’m a little embarrassed to tell you this but it wasn’t until I did some Googling and researching when I got home, that I found out Joel Robuchon the creator and owner was such a famous chef! He has been named the Chef of the Century and his restaurants have received 3 Michelin stars :) no wonder his pastries were so good! I’m definitely coming back and gonna try the tea set next time!

Address
Shop  315 and 401
The Landmark
Central
Hong Kong
+852 2166 9000

If you’re not in Hong Kong and still want to try the pastries or food from Robuchon he has other tea salons and restaurants around the world for more information please go to http://www.joel-robuchon.net/

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