Ladurée - an international macaron delight - special Hong Kong edition!

Ladurée, a french bakery originally from Paris had opened up a location on the Upper East Side back in the summer of 2011, and it's been on my list ever since.  I've either been lazy or just not on the UES all that often, and when I am up there I either forget or it's 2am and the shop's been closed for hours.  But here I am, wandering around one of the most amazing cities I've ever visited, Hong Kong, thinking how I could really go for a nice sweet treat since Asia is mostly lacking in chocolate and bakeries and I hadn't had anything chocolately other than a Twix bar in weeks!  

All of a sudden, as I'm strolling through one of the many shopping centers near the water, up rises before me a pyramid of pastel-colored macarons.  It looked vaguely familiar; I'd seen this windowfront before.... and sure enough, as I get closer, I saw the name etched in gold on the window - Ladurée. Famous for being one of the most renowned bakeries in Paris, with a double-decker flagship shop and 4 locations throughout Paris, I was thrilled to see they were now expanding not only to New York, but to Hong Kong as well (but only because I was there and in dire need of sweets).  From reading their Wikipedia page, since the main site is in French, I learned this was Blair Waldorf of Gossip Girls' sweet of choice.  All the more reason to give it a try.

There were a rainbow-full of colors worth of flavors to try, but at 23 Hong Kong dollars apiece (around $3 USD), and being on a bit of a budget since leaving my job, I could only justify buying one $3 cookie; a price equivalent to half of my hostels in Thailand and Laos.  (Sidenote - the condition of the cookie was way better than the hostels.)  I had read a review from an expat living in Hong Kong describing the salted caramel macaron as one of her top 5 sweets in the city, so I went with that one.  Now I should probably take a step back and explain what exactly a macaron is.

A macarOn, not to be confused with a macarOOn, is a meringue-based confection made up of two almond meringue discs filled with a layer of buttercream, ganache or jam.  Ladurée is credited with creating these sweets interestingly enough, so what better for me to write my review on. A macaroon, on the other hand, is originally a small cake made up of mostly almonds, although throughout time the macaroon has transformed to include more of a cake-like substance, made with egg whites, and affiliated with coconut and often covered with chocolate.

Ladurée also sells chocolates, chocolate cream, pastries and merchandise including scarves, mugs and key rings.  You can create your own assortment of macarons and have them gift wrapped in a fancy pastel box.  Sadly, my povery-stricken self went up to the counter to request my sole macaron, which I ate immediately upon leaving the shop and running out with humiliation at not being able to afford all of the pretty colored-cookies.  Since there's no specific chocolate involved I wasn't sure how much of a fan I'd be.  I've tried macarons in the past and thought they were just OK.  However, Laduree products no ordinary macaron.  This was a sugary sensation!  The cookie crumbled in my mouth; the sweetness of the salted caramel filling blended perfectly with the soft meringue of the cookie casing.  I couldn't believe how good a macaron could be!  And then I wished I could try more. And more.  Luckily, when I got back to New York I made a trip up to the UES with my co-blogger Cjap and we got to try a few more flavors.  The iced mint, one of the seasonal flavors, tasted exactly like mint chocolate chip ice cream!

Some of the flavors can be seen here
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But in case you can't see, since I can't really make out the writing in this photo either, I will list some of the classics for you:

Vanilla
Orange Blossom
Rose Petal
Pistachio
Chocolate
Raspberry
Lemon
Licorice


And some of the seasonal flavors in NY right now are iced mint, gingerbread, Venezuelan chocolate, and coconut.  There's a separate section listed as the Incroyables, including a chocolate coconut macaron, which I tried and was also delicious, however I am clueless as to what the word Incroyable means.  If anyone goes to Paris anytime soon, please investigate and get back to me.

They are expanding to more locations internationally; currently besides Paris, NY and Hong Kong you can find Ladurée in Singapore, Dubai, South Korea, Morocco, Sydney, Japan, Brazil and many locations throughout Europe including Switzerland, Germany, England and Italy.

The New York location can be found at 864 Madison Avenue.
Open Monday - Saturday 9AM - 7PM; Sundays 10AM-6PM.
(646) 558-3157
Laudree main site

Two Red Hens with way more than two cupcakes

While on my way to visit a friend on the Upper East Side last week, I decided it would be nice to bring a little something over, and also to have a something to use for my monthly blog entry.  Unfortunately the last few weeks I've been living on Starbucks cake pops and while I absolutely love them, I can't blog about anything that comes from a Seattle-based chain restaurant!  There are a few places that have opened up on the UES in the past few months that have made it to 'the list' - including Pips the gluten free bakery and the place that has all the candy from London.  But I had heard about the cupcakes at Two Little Red Hens and decided this was the way to go.

Now I'm usually a little bit anti-buying things that say Brooklyn when they're not from Brooklyn (I will never, ever shop at any Brooklyn Industries if it's across the Brooklyn Bridge).  But the most popular cupcake at TLRH is the Brooklyn Blackout, so I had to make an exception just this once.  There is a limited but good variety of cupcakes available, and most come in both mini and large versions.  The regular cupcake flavors include red velvet, carrots, banana, ginger, pumpkin spice and marble.  Then you have the specialty filled cupcakes - peanut butter fudge swirl, boston cream, key lime, coconut creme, and the Brooklyn Blackout, our flavor of the day.

The Brooklyn Blackout consists of a dark chocolate cake with chocolate pudding filling, topped with chocolate icing.  I got the miniature version to try and it was perfection, but I think the large version would probably be a little overwhelming.  All of the small versions cost $1.75, and the larger versions are $3 for the regular and $4 for the filled; on par with NYC cupcake prices.  There was only one mini Bk Blackout when I got there, so I'm glad I made it in time!  The marble and red velvet were just okay, to be honest.  I wasn't a fan of the cream cheese frosting on the red velvet and the marble was a little bit boring.  They wrapped my three mini cupcakes in a heart shape which was super cute.  I listened in on what others were ordering and it seems like cheesecake and the red velvet cupcake are high on the list.  Maybe I was having an off day with the red velvet, but I would recommend trying the Brooklyn Blackout if you make it uptown and can find the shop behind the scaffolding (will the 2nd Avenue subway line ever be finished?!)

Two Little Red Hens is located at 1652 2nd Avenue between East 85th and 86th streets.  Hours of operation are Monday-Friday 7:30am-9pm, Saturday 8am-9pm and Sunday 8am-7pm.

http://www.twolittleredhens.com/