Late last week, I just happened to have two work meetings in the same neighborhood as the new Manhattan outpost of Laduree, the French bakery known for inventing the macaron sandwich cookie. Obviously I seized the opportunity to treat myself to a visit and try some.
I tried a few flavors: blackberry violet, salted caramel, and rosewater. All were good (and worlds away from these), but the latter two were my favorites. Not only were the flavors unique, but the fillings were different from other macarons that I've had. The rosewater had a traditional creamy filling, but the blackberry violet was filled with a tart jam and the salted caramel was filled with a rich, chewy caramel.
The packaging was just as prettily ornate as the store itself.
While waiting to place my order, I was amused to overhear two girls in front of me (who, as far as I could tell, didn't know each other) strike up a conversation about which flavors they were planning to try that eventually ended up a little something like this:Girl #1: "But you've been to their store in Paris, right?"
Girl #2: "Oh, yeah."
Only on the tony Upper East Side could two strangers be correct in assuming that a visit to a Parisian bakery was a shared experience.
OMG! i'm silently screaming with delight. love the packaging. love the mini size. and love the macarons. the only real ones i've ever tried were at a "high tea" with my mom at the Ritz in boston. the flavors sound amazing!
ReplyDeleteHow FUN! I sometimes dream of visiting this shop and coming home with a box of treats, just like you did:) HIL-arious about the upper-crusty strangers, too:-P
ReplyDeleteOhmiiigod. I'm seriously jealous right now. One of my best friends came back from Paris once with a two boxes FULL of Ladurée macaroons and I ate 15 of them in one sitting (no joke). But that was two years ago. I still fantasize about them.
ReplyDeleteAs if I didn't want to go back to nyc bad enough...
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