Eating LaDurée Macarons in Paris

As you may all know, France is most obviously the place to stuff your face full of delicious pastries, and that’s exactly what I did. [ I cried in the plane on my way back thinking about how much exercise I’d have to do to make up for it. ] One of the French pastries that I especially wanted to taste was macarons. Since there is more than one top macaron shop in Paris and I was very busy, I decided to go with the one that was on my way. It so happened to be the famous LaDurée house (Pierre Hermé will have to be for next time). 

Before even tasting the macarons, I have to say that I liked the service. The boxes are super cute (I know I know, who gives a shit it’s just a box) and as you open it there’s a certificate of authenticity with the date of boxing stamped on it...   ~f a n c y~  . They also put a small flyer in your bag that contains info on the LaDurée house and the different flavours they offer. You know, in case you forgot what it is you were eating.

So once you’ve sat down, opened your little box of 6 macarons (that’s how many I bought) and picked the macaron you’re gonna bite into, here’s what happens :

CHOCOLATE  HAZELNUT

It has a rich and thick center. At first bite it seems disappointing because it only tastes like chocolate, but not too long after the taste of hazelnut kicks in and it’s very good. It’s really interesting how to the two flavours are separated and how at every bite the same process happens. #foodscience

CARAMEL FLEUR DE SEL

[ A.K.A Salted Caramel. Sorry the name in French just sounds way fancier.]

The best part is the gooey caramel center. The macaroon as a whole tastes like if I were dipping my finger in a jar of salted caramel and licking it straight off my finger. It’s a flavour that isn’t hard to make in my opinion, because caramel is in itself pretty tasty and salt is an ingredient that heightens taste. Still, they got the flavour on point.

PISTACHIO

If you have in mind the same taste as pistachio ice cream, forget about that. This tastes like you’re eating the real thing, especially if you dip right into the creamy whipped center.

LIME  BASIL

Now, I could’ve picked Lemon, but I thought “what the heck, let me try something out of the ordinary, I can get lemon anywhere but maybe not lime basil ”. Honestly, this is the one I enjoyed the least, but it isn’t because it was badly executed. My sales person had informed me that it would taste more like basil than lime, and it did, except that the basil tasted less fresh/minty than if you were actually eating a leaf of it. The basil flavour is definitely in the foreground, with lime in the background. The two flavours marry very well, but I guess that it just wasn't my thing.

ROSE

Wow. This one seriously surprised me. Honestly, picking Rose was how I put LaDurée to the test. Almost every time I eat anything that is rose flavoured, it has a bland taste. It’s like no one can manage to make anything actually taste like rose whatsoever. But seriously, what is even the taste of rose? It’s a scent more than anything else. The LaDurée rose macaroon however is divine. I surprised myself when I realized it was my favourite (I’m a chocolate hazelnut crackhead, the biggest fan of praline). This macaroon seriously tastes like what rose essence smells like. And I know what rose essence smells like, I got a bottle at home. Let me tell you, they didn’t just put 2~3 drops of essence to make it taste a bit, they freaking poured it (okay maybe not, that shit is concentrated, but you know what I mean). And I love it. You don’t need to be attentive and scrounge to find the taste. LaDurée won me over with that one.

ORANGE  BLOSSOM

Another surprising flavour, just like Rose. Again, they didn’t go light with the essence, which is perfect. It tasted just like how orange blossom smells like, which is not the super citrus-y orange taste you’d think of. After all, it is the flower of the orange tree, not the orange itself. The internet says it's an aphrodisiac, but so am I so...

FINAL  THOUGHTS

To round it all up, I enjoyed the LaDurée macarons. My favourites were Rose and Orange Blossom, because of their surprisingly strong taste. I remember telling myself that if LaDurée really was good, their Rose macaron would actually have some taste, and oh my it did. The one I enjoyed the less was Lime Basil, but only because it was a flavour palette that attracted me less, and not because it tasted bad. Lastly, I remarked that their macarons have a pretty thick centre, which I really liked. The next time I'm in France, I'll be buying some more.

The last thing my food sees before being stuffed down to my stomach :

(I was gonna write"throat" , but then I remembered you're all pervs)

It's like a mix of desire, love, anger and sadness, cause once it's eaten I'll have to wait to get hungry again... *cries*