Hi Dolls!
Thank you all for being so wonderfully patient with me! It has been quite overwhelming with finals at UBC, but I promise there will be lots and lots of new posts coming out soon!
Ladurée has finally opened its doors on Robson St. and us Vancouverites can now indulge ourselves in their famous double decker macarons! The official opening was last Thursday, March 24th at 10 AM. I was sitting in a nutrition lecture at that time and I honestly did not want to wait five hours in a line. Even though it has been a week since the official opening, there was still a line out the door! Took me around 20 minutes to reach front of the line. The staff are very quick and sweet; however, it is hard to make a decision of what flavours you want and what box you want your little treats to be nestled in. Too many options! But it was well worth the wait because I am not a macaron kind of gal, but the macrons from Ladurée are AMAZING! In fact, I need more! They are absolutely delicious and are not overtly sweet. I also really appreciated how there were little bits of almond in the cookies because it added a great texture.
The shop is adorably cute. I loved the wooden window panes and the displays filled with towers of macarons and Laduree's gorgeous packaging. The shelves were lined with Ladurée products including jams, teas, candles and bags. I definitely want to pick up some of their jams in the future because they looked delicious! There are so many different flavours to choose from, I might just get a couple different jams.
And of course, the main case was filled with rows of their delicious macarons. If you are wondering what on earth is a macaron, it is two delicate almond cookies with ganache or some sort of cream sandwiched between them. When you take a bite, initially it is crisp, but the texture soon becomes chewy and nutty. Also, the macaron cookies are made using almond flour, so it is a treat even gluten free friends can enjoy.
The macarons at the Vancouver Ladurée are all flown in from the Ladurée bakeries in France. Kind of weird considering Vancouver has so many talented pastry chefs that are more then capable of making a good macaron. Because they are flown in from France, the shelf life of the macarons is shortened as well the price per macaron is increased. When I asked about the other baked goods served in the tea salon, the staff told me they are baked in-house using local ingredients, so I was happy to hear that. Perhaps in the future Ladurée may consider baking the macarons in Vancouver versus flying them in from France.
They had a huge a selection of flavours and it was tough picking out just six. Eventually I settled on the six flavours I wanted to try this time around. The staff is so sweet and gave me their opinions on which flavours they liked the most and gave me a quick break down of what the flavour profile was of the uniquely named ones, like the Marie Antoinette - a baby blue coloured macaron that is tea flavoured.
• Coffee
• Lemon
• Pistachio
• Raspberry
• Citron
• Maple Syrup (A Vancouver exclusive!)
The first four are part of their permanent flavours and the latter two are seasonal with Maple Syrup being a Vancouver exclusive! Haha kind of funny, but eh, Canada is the land of real Maple Syrup! They were packaged in an ornate green cardboard box in Ladurée's signature pastel green. Super cute and really pretty!
As I had said, these macarons from Ladurée are divine! I have never been much of a macaron person, you will often see me choosing a slice of cake over a macaron any day! But Ladurée definitely knows how to make a good macaron. The flavour was perfect and I really appreciated that the macarons were not very sweet. That has always been a reason why I have never liked these cookies before.
Out of the 6, Raspberry and Maple Syrup were my favourite. The Maple Syrup was unique and you could really taste that real maple syrup used! It is kind of cute that they did the Maple Syrup flavour for Vancouver. The Citron did not have much flavour to it and the pistachio was nothing special. Lemon and Coffee had great flavour and I loved how tart the lemon really was.
Unfortunately, I was a little shocked when I got to the register to pay. The sign stated $3 per macaron. For a box of six, it should be $18; however, I paid $26 because the box was an extra $8. That is steep! I have never ever had to pay for packaging at a patissierie or bakery before! Also, similar patisserie's across Vancouver, a box of 6 or 12 macarons are generally a little discounted, but not at Ladurée. I really wish they had made it clear that the gorgeous boxes are not included, and are in fact an extra $8... YIKES! Just saying, for the price of that cardboard box, I could have had a delicious sandwich at Faubourg for lunch.
Ladurée is quite expensive and in my opinion, a little overpriced. The small jams are $15 (plus $2 for a box) and I suspect that they are imported from France. I was taken aback also by the key rings, $65! Also note, the macarons are flown in from Paris, France and are not made in house at the Vancouver location.
Ladurée is a great addition to Vancouver's pastry scene. I am curious to see if the lines will remain once the fresh new allure has worn off. I am also hoping that Ladurée considers baking the macarons in Vancouver and not import them France. And if it is about the ingredients, why not just import the ingredients from France?
However, Ladurée's macarons are going to be tough to beat! I probably will be heading back there soon because the macarons were just that good! But I will probably ask for a plain box or something because I do not see the point of spending $8 on a small box that is also hard to re-use because of the size.
Let me know in the comments below what you think of the Ladurée store in Vancouver and if you have fallen in love with their macarons just as I have!
BYES
Alos, sorry that the pictures are not so great, lighting was a little meh inside.
No comments:
Post a Comment