Macaron Cafe - Part II

After my disappointing experience first time around yesterday morning, I made a pit stop on my way back home. The owner (I think) happened to be at the café when I stopped by and I explained my unpleasant experience with the macarons from the morning. He ended up being such a sweet man who gave me an education on the creation of macarons along with a tasting of all the available flavors! For fruit-flavored macarons, most often, the essence and the aroma are used to make them rather than the actual fruit itself because of the amount of water that the fruit produces, which in turn affects the texture of the macaron. For non-fruit flavors such as pistachio, chocolate, vanilla, and alike, actual ingredients are used which makes the taste of the macaron more authentic and flavorful. Also, macarons are made fresh daily, however, it tastes the best around 3-4 days later because of the humidity that the macarons absorb, says the sweet man. I tried the following macarons yesterday with the sweet man:

• Pistachio – nutty, sweet, and “goh so hae” (I don’t know the translation in English)
• Lemon – tangy and not too sweet
• Chestnut Matcha Tea – my favorite! You get both the sweet and warm flavor of both the chestnut and the matcha tea
• Chocolate Caramel (with sea salt) – it’s the perfect combination of sea salt and sweetness from the chocolate and the caramel
• Cassis Lavender – beautifully colored macaron with a touch of the cassis flavor

Food is not solely about the taste; it’s an experience. Had the sweet man not have been as generous and helpful, maybe the macarons would’ve tasted good even on my second time around and if I had chosen different flavors than my first time visiting. However, because of him going out of his way to explain the baking steps and the tasting that he offered to me at his own cost, it made the experience that much better. I still say Madeleine Patisserie was far better but because of the sweet man, I will definitely make more regular visits to try out their other flavors.