Day 66: Pierre Hermé ピエール・エルメ・パリ

I’ve pretty much tried all desserts from Pierre Hermé (yes I’m a fangirl!) and the #1 absolute top favourite is Dépaysé, a giant intense matcha macaron with azuki compote and citrusy lime. It’s a seasonal special so every time we see this, we don’t even think of sharing. One each, period.

 

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Hong Kong: LE SALON DE THÉ de Joël Robuchon

Pistachio and raspberry croissant on the menu, who wouldn’t want to try that?!

I did, and paid with wasted calories, sigh. Tough and chewy, heating it up did help slightly but barely. I figured any egg tarts off the streets in Hong Kong will have a flakier crust than this one did.

For the record, my favouritest croissant is Pierre Hermé’s ispahan croissant! Nothing else comes close still.

LE SALON DE THÉ de Joël Robuchon
Shop 2045A, Podium Level 2
ifc mall, Hong Kong
(852) 2234 7422

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Paris: Foie Gras Macaron, Anyone?

Yes, you read that right. Pierre Hermé has added two seasonal foie gras macarons to his lovely collection: a festive red Chocolat & Foie Gras, and a pale Eglantine, Figue & Foie Gras dotted with golden specks.

I wasn’t intending to buy either but imagine my surprise when I was offered a whole piece to sample! Such generosity~ The friendly staff must have sensed that I’m a hardcore fan, haha. Anyway, I chose the one with fig in it and slowly savoured it on the spot in the boutique on rue Bonaparte. Hmm, it’s not bad (love the strong fig taste) but the idea of consuming foie gras in any form makes me uneasy so I bypassed the chocolate foie gras and bought Menthe and Métissé instead.

Now, I’m usually not a fan of anything mint (in cakes, ice cream, chocolates) cuz more often than not, it ends up tasting disturbingly like toothpaste. But this minty macaron suits me just fine, very refreshing and no toothpaste aftertaste detected! And pairing carrot, orange and cinnamon in Métissé sounds bizarre, but it’s actually quite a brilliant idea. You get the sweetness from carrot, citrusy tang from orange, and woody fragrance from cinnamon all in one bite. Nice.

With these two macarons, I’ve hereby tried and tested all of Pierre Hermé’s macarons for this season. Looking forward to the launch of other new flavours in the coming months!

I can’t wait.

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Tokyo: Pierre Hermé, Thrice’s (Still) the Charm

I’ve had Pierre Hermé’s macarons in Paris, then in London, and now in Tokyo, and I’m happy to report that they are consistently good! More than good, actually. They are still the best macarons I’ve tried 🙂

Do you know the first boutique of Pierre Hermé was opened not in Paris, but in Tokyo? That’s at the New Otani Hotel, followed by the Salon de Thé Pierre Hermé in Ikspiari. It’s right beside Tokyo Disneyland and we went there after the last wonderful Disney parade to get desserts before dinner 🙂 With so many pastries in sight, choosing was not an easy task!

Easily the dearest of the lot, Marron et Thé Vert Matcha combines two of my all-time favourites, chestnut and green tea; Mogador (milk chocolate and passion fruit) is still as nice as before; Rose is not bundong-or-perfume-like, but light and pleasant with a floral aftertaste; Chloé has a lovely raspberry infused bitter chocolate ganache that’s a classic hit; Montebello hides a raspberry compote within a smooth pistachio ganache; and Réglisse Violette has a tangy-sweet black currant filling with no weird licorice taste, thankfully.

2000 feuilles, a gorgeous creation of thin crispy caramelized puff pastry alternating layers of creamy hazelnut praline custard, yum. I missed this when I was in Paris cuz the person queueing in front of me took the last piece (darn!) so I jumped at the chance when I saw this in the display case, hee.

It’s messy to eat, but who cares when it’s so delicious? That said, I think I still prefer Sadaharu Aoki’s not-as-delicate-but-still-awesome matcha mille-feuille.

Guess what? Less than 24 hours later, I couldn’t resist popping by the boutique counter in Isetan Shinjuku for a look. And I just can’t bear leaving without getting a few more of those beautiful macarons!

I didn’t manage to catch what’s the names of these macarons (the Japanese lady was having a hard time describing what’s what) but here’s what I had from memory: a fantastic yuzu gem, gloriously pistachio on its own, and (I suspect) an apricot-orange-like macaron that’s very refreshing.

By now, I’m a big fan of Pierre Hermé and whenever it comes to macarons, I only go for his and his alone. But since Henri Charpentier also has a counter in Isetan and I’ve read positive comments on his caramel macaron, I bought one for a taste test.

One bite was all it took for Sis and I to shake our heads simultaneously. The shell was not as light and airy, and filling was too sweet.

“No good, Pierre Hermé’s is still the best”.

Enough said.

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