When in France.....you need to stuff yourself with pastries!!! hehehe We certainly did that as much as we could inbetween meals. But being so hot, we didn't get to try as much as we would've liked since we weren't that hungry. (Might have something to do with non-stop 3 course meals!)
This is a local patisserie near our hotel. It was awesome to grab a few things to keep us fuelled during the day.
God I love the look of so much berries!
One morning after stuffing our face with a buffet breakfast, we went "What the hell, we're in Paris!"
Chocolate Eclairs for a post breakfast.....
Ho ho ho! SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!Across the road, about 50m from our local Patisserie, is another Patisserie! Although this one is more dessert oriented and offered less sandwiches.
I'm pretty sure I drooled onto the display case when I saw that Raspberry slice!
Giant and normal Macaroons
We couldn't decide what to get so we bought an assorted box and lasted us a few days! It took a few days because we only ate it when we were in the hotel room. When we weren't in the hotel room, we were buying other pastries! lol
One thing I love about holidays, is the planning. And for our trip to Paris, boy did I plan. I printed out a list of the Top patisseries in Paris. Then I printed out a Google map of each of them, and the route from the closest metro!
Everyone who went to Paris kept saying Laduree, Laduree. So of course, it was the first one to check off the list! I wish I could've taken more photos, but they had a mean security guard standing by the door saying we're not allowed to take photos of the interior, the food, the decorations or anything else besides our faces. I guess it wasn't too much of an issue since once we got in, I got completely distracted by the food!
Shop front window
Our box of goodies!
Wild strawberry tart
Half of a giant macaroon
Half of a chocolate eclairWe also purchased some crossiants etc to snack on later. Surprisingly, Laduree was probably my least favourite out of all the shops we went to. Don't get me wrong, their pastries were divine! Except my mission was to find the best Macaroon, and Laduree's version was the least impressive out of all of them. Plus they only had 4 flavours to chose from, which included the basic Vanilla, Chocolate, Coffee and some other one.
Luckily, Pierre Hermes was just around the corner and they were crammed full of Macaroons!
Pierre Hermes had the biggest variety of Macaroon out of all the ones we visited. Well, they should, they specalise in it! hehe I think PH's Macaroons are probably the best I had. They had that moreish sticky fudgy consistency. And the combination of flavours.....heaven!
A few blocks from our hotel was Lenotre. For some reason, we never realised how close it was to the hotel until we stumbled across it when we went for a wander.
Oh yeahhhhhhhhh baby!
Another chocolate éclairThe lady working at Lenotre was super nice. We had just finished eating a huge meal and couldn't fit anything else in. But I still insisted on getting a few macroons to snack on later. I only bought 3, but hearing I came all the way from Australia, she threw in another 2 for me! Woohoo!
Violet Chocolate
Intense Raspberry
Double Citrus - Lemon Lime
Salted CaramelI would rate Lenotre's Macaroons on par with Pierre Hermes. Mind you, I did eat the PH Macaroons after eating Laduree in 35 degree heat. I don't think I gave PH a fair go. Taking that into consideration, I would think PH's macaroons might be just a bit better under different conditions. Only way to find out? Go back to Paris and try it again! MuAHauaha
Oh, and since this a food blog, random pastry porn for your pleasure.....
