Touring “The macarons of Europe”

I love the title of this blog entry!

Once upon a time, a macaron was a novelty and you had to get your fill while in Paris. Now, what appears to be an impossible to make confection is found all over. They are still impossibly expensive so perhaps still special, like a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Grande Dame, but still easily accessible.

Again the Patisserie AOKI below our apartment gets the highest marks:

Patisserie Sadaharu AOKI
35 rue de Vaugirard
75006 PARIS.
€16 for 12 macarons
approx AUD$2.60 each.

By far the prettiest and best packaged macarons. All were a standard shape and size (small) with beautiful strong packaging designed to product the little darlings. The flavours were very restrained and subtle, with the wasabi and the licorice being favourites. They were a bit too crispy on the day we bought them, but by the time they travelled home to Australia – they were pretty perfect texture-wise. Second Favourite. I tried 3 times to buy from Aoki’s shop. It’s around the corner from Pierre Hermé so we went there at about 10:30, but all I got was a photo of the outside of the shop. We went and had a coffee down the street, and went back, still not open! Oh well, off we went to Le Grand Epicerie, giving up on the Japanese wunderkid! Luckily, we ended up back in the 6th later on in the day and I was able to pop in for my fix. I was told off for trying to take photographs in the shop though so you’ll have to trust me when I say that it was full of beautiful chocolates and dainties.

[From essjayeats » Blog Archive » Travel: The macarons of Europe]