Macaroon Frenzy Part Deux - Laduree

Pierre Herme surpasses many in his funky flavours and fusion creations. But when it comes to the safe classics, I would have to say that Laduree, another one of the jewels on Paris' pastry crown, takes the cake.

Good thing they had an outlet on the Champs-Elysees within walking distance from where we were putting up. The charming tea room captivates any tired legs and roving eyes for dessert.

I most certainly did my homework in this area and Laduree was next on my list with Pierre Herme as a must-visit. I almost made it to Poilane as well, but rain is my ever formidable nemesis.

Since we were there for tea/dinner, we ordered some lobster mayo sandwiches and mushroom and tomato omelette. The food, was expectantly disappointing. We weren't really expecting much after the bad experience we had at breakfast. The lobster sandwiches were rather salty and the mushroom omelette was nothing out of the ordinary but at 15 Euros should at least get up on the plate and do a dance for us or something.

With much anticipation left to be satisfied, I couldn't wait for dessert to be served. We ordered an assortment of mini macaroons served with ice-cream. And, I will definitely have to say, this on its own, was enough to make the meal entirely worthwhile.
We were told that we were not allowed to select our choice of macaroons, so totally based on our taste buds, the macaroons from the top left, clockwise should be strawberry, cafe, caramel and pistachio. All classic flavours, straight up as it is... but how heavenly they were!

Served on a creamy bed of caramel ice-cream, each of the macaroons remained crisp in its outer shell and chewy-soft-moist on the inside. The flavours were very distinct and impressively good. The cafe macaroon oozed with espresso strength and aroma, the pistachio was fragrant and studded generously with very tiny bits of pistachio. But the part that blew us both away, was that each macaroon also had some complimenting ice-cream in them too!
The strawberry with raspberry sorbet, cafe with mocha ice-cream and the pistachio with its own. So each little macaroon bursts with flavour with the cream and ice-cream in them.

Unfortunately I had absolutely no room left for the dozens of other decadent sounding desserts listed in the menu and appealing on their dessert counter. They also had a good selection of french pastries and chocolates which I can only hope will still be around if I do come back to Paris.
So we left, many Euros poorer, but 20 macaroons ('tapao-ed') richer.

From top to bottom: Pistachio, Cafe, Black Sesame (so yummy), Rose, Mixed Berries

Laduree
Various locations - see website http://www.laduree.fr/