Le Gouter Bernardaud
One evening after work I walked to IFC mall to pick up a surprise for C. She talked about macarons a few days ago and the last copy of Time Out recommended those from Le Gouter Bernardaud.
I picked up an assorted box of eight for HK$110. That cost a pretty penny for sugar sandwiches, but they’re nice for an occasional treat. And they looked gorgeous in the box, C couldn’t help drawing parallels to Tiffany boxes. Hmm, perhaps that’s a hint.
Our favorite was rose, hands down. I wasn’t expecting to like it, but one bite and I was sold. I loved the fragrance and the subtlety of the rose cream. It wasn’t overpowering even with the rose flavored shell. I’m still savoring it in my head, a full day after popping it into my mouth. That’s saying a lot from someone who can’t stand flower flavors at all.
So if I’m this enthusiastic, you can imagine C’s face. She literally glowed. She liked the lemony and grapefruit flavors as well because the sour taste helped take away the cloying sweetness of other flavors. We thought we would keep the chocolate for the last but surprisingly it was the most disappointing. I thought the flavor was one-dimensional: chocolate shell and chocolate ganache, just too much. The coco-chocolate we had just before that was nicer, with grated bits of coconut to add texture. But still too sweet, I thought.
I made a booboo and didn’t actually go to the bigger outlet on the second floor, so I didn’t actually get to choose my flavors. They actually have 12 to choose from, so we missed out on olive, earl grey and salted caramel.
Their other pastries looked great too, I wonder how it compares to the pastries I’ve had at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon’s cafe. Next time, I’ll be back.
