Thursday 20 March 2014

Pierre Herme, Excellent Macarons ~ Galeries Lafayette, Paris

This post was first posted at 


Hey! I just found out that today is World Macaron Day! (20th of March). The perfect time to bring you a macaron review.


I'm typing this as I'm travelling across Europe on tour, currently in Switzerland.
I started off at Paris which all macaron lovers would know is the country of origin of macarons. Since I'm on tour, I don't get to go to places that I really want to go to which in this case are the macaron shops on my very long list.

I was close to banging on the tour bus' window every time I saw a Laduree bag or passed a patisserie that had macarons. I was however fortunate to end up in the ever popular shopping centre, Galeries Lafayette.

Lafayette has 2 Pierre Herme outlets, one on the 1st floor, the other on the -1 floor (yes, they have weird floor classifications). Just when I thought luck was on my side, the tour guide announced that we had only 45 minutes of free time.


45 minutes?! You have to be freaking crazy to restrict a group of ladies in a shopping complex for 45 minutes! And indeed, this tour guide was crazy.

So I had to rush from one store to another with mum; most shops like LV and Burberry had long lines so we ended up skipping them. By the time I got to Pierre Herme, I was down to the last nerve-wrecking 10 minutes and there were 3 customers ahead of me.

To make matters worse, some of them were so indecisive and there was one cashier, one macaron picker and another missing shop assistant. Down to my last 2 minutes, I asked the mat salleh to pick up 4 of their best sellers, paid 8.20€ and rushed off.


So that ends the Paris macaron adventure and starts the review of Pierre Herme's top 4 macarons.

Paris was our first stop on our Europe Tour and with the awful Chinese dinner to start the trip and all that rushing, I needed to have one (or two) of these beauties to myself. After all, I've come a long way to actually getting my hands on them.


Look at those perfect little feet and adequate filling! We always have less-than-enough filled macarons in KL that I was literally doing a little jig on the inside seeing how perfect they were.

 

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A little booklet is included with the macarons to guide you on what is which.

It turns out that the mat salleh picked out:

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Infiniment Rose

I'm not fond of flower smelling food, especially roses because they tend to smell fake like artifical food flavoring.

 

But oh dear was I wrong. The macaron was a burst of light, fluffy cream and sweet notes of rose. The shell crumbled upon impact but held intact even after my first bite. Crisp on the outside but moist and chewy on the inside. I was in macaron heaven!


Infiniment caramel
Caramel macaron biscuit with fleur de sel, cream with caramel made from salted butter.The satisfying taste of buttery caramel, heightened by fleur de sel… a classic of the Maison Pierre Hermé Paris, a perfect harmony of taste and pleasure.
The description came from Pierre Herme's website and being one of the most popular flavors, this macaron was simply the best. Even the smeared cream didn't affect me (I would have usually gasped in horror).


The caramel--oh-my-god the caramel. It had the perfect balance of sweet and salty (and burn!). The caramel was strong and hits your sense of smell even before you bite into the macaron.


Mogador
Mogador is a harmonious combo: the chocolate serves to bring out the flavour of the passion fruit.The Macaron Mogador, a house classic, is on offer all year round.
Passion fruit and chocolate is a rather odd combination if you think about it. Passion fruit is sour and fragrant and chocolate is sweet and rich. But when you bite into this macaron, it's as though an odd but good accident happens. The thick chocolate (not cream) balances out the sour passion fruit flavor and together, it was a very good combo. I like that the passion fruit taste was still strong and not overpowered by the chocolate.


Infiniment Chocolat Porcelana
"Chocolate macaron biscuit, Porcelana dark chocolate ganache and small pieces of Pure Origin Porcelana chocolate with fleur de sel.The ganache of this macaron is made from finest quality dark chocolate : Porcelana issued from a specific territory of Venezuela. Its lingering aftertaste and intensity, made more intense from the fleur de sel, make this macaron unlike any other.
The chocolate was every bit as intense as the description. It had strong, rich flavors while it melted in your mouth. It's everything that you look for in a chocolate macaron. The filling was thick, strong tasting chocolate that leaves a coating on your tongue. The dusting of cocoa powder gave the usually sweet macaron a slight bitterness that created a perfect balance.


The 4 macarons really surpassed all expectations and made me regret that I didn't buy more (who cares if they're about 2.00 € a piece right?). Perhaps one day, I would be able to make a trip back to get my hands on more.

Le sigh.

Happy World Macaron Day!

For other reviews on:
Infiniment Rose, Infiniment Caramel and Mogador: The Pleasure Monger
Infiniment Rose & Infiniment Caramel: Kitchen Operas
Mogador & Infiniment Chocolat: Mostly About Chocolate
Infiniment Chocolat: Boastful Baker
A review of all 4: The Hampery
A review of all 4 but imported Pierre Herme macarons to Japan: