Macaron Parlour - May 7, 2011

Eating is the quintessential sensual experience because it simultaneously engages the five senses: the visual, the gustatory, the olfactory, the tactile and the auditory– and perhaps, even the sixth. The audition is more often than not ignored and forgotten, and yet, it is important, albeit not as crucial, perception in terms of the action called eating. Imagine, if you will, the sonic pleasure of a barbeque, hearing the meat, searing shut its juice, on the hot iron or of a fish being grilled directly on an open fire, dripping and sizzling globulets of fat onto the wood: How the pleasure of anticipation would pale, if it were not accompanied by and accentuated by the sound. Indeed, why do you think movies are filled with music? Sometimes, a sound – i.e. the miniscule shatter of a macaron shell – is so small and private that it is almost secretive, which binds the eater to the food by sharing in this little secret rite of sound.

It is difficult for even one element, which corresponds to one perception, to be perfect; but for all the elements, which as felt by the five senses, to be perfect at the same moment, such sheer perfection seems at most abstract and near impossibility in this imperfect world, although I can just barely conceive such true perfection. At least, the more attainable perfection I can conceive is a small round disk of crumbling delicacy, filled with the sweet nectar of flavor – a macaron.* A macaron is simple: sugar, almond meal and egg whites, sandwiching ganache, butter cream or jam. Thus, for its simplicity, a perfect macaron is comparatively more achievable for us, the fallible humans.

*Emotionally, I would like to believe in the ontological argument, but intellectually, and more empirically, I must join the league of Gaunilo, Kant and Aquinas in opposing this silly argument.

Bottega Falai (Macarons) - April 27, 2011

Mr. Falai is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, when it comes to macarons.

Cannelle Patisserie - April 17, 2011

“Consistent, Affordable and Exquisite” is the tripartite motto of Cannelle Patisserie, and which I whole-heartedly embrace and uphold. In order to live by such a motto, I am willing to sacrifice my personal property – a pair of new shoes – and bleed my own red blood – in the form of blisters – and start a revolution.

Starting with affordability, Cannelle truly cares about the equality of his patrons; compared to the aptly named, blue-blooded Lady M, their cakes are equally and fraternally available to all comers, provided that if one is willing to venture out into the middle of nowhere – a strip mall.

The Best Chocolate Cake in the World - March 20, 2011

Even in a city full of megalomanias and egoists with a united goal of self-promotion, no one has exactly come out and brazenly declared to be the absolute best, until now.

Bittersweet

Castella from Ukeian (烏鶏庵) – February 6, 2011

Castella is a Japanese cake, usually in the shape of a long rectangle with deeply browned top and bottom; and between the “burned” brown skins lies the golden sponge. Its origin traces back to Portugal in the form of pão de ló or alternatively, to Spain, bizcocho (yes, I think biscotti shares the root of this word - "baked twice").  Either way, it was brought to Japan by the zealous missionaries, who battled the ocean to travel half the world to spread the word of god; sweets apparently did not hurt in this endeavor even in this holy pursuit. What is this cake with such a complex lineage, not to mention a very long one? It is a simple cake made of sugar, eggs, flour and starch syrup – mind you, but no oil. The defining characteristics of this cake are the ultra rich egg-ness and the crunchy torbinado sugar crystals at the bottom, intentionally left by incompletely dissolved sugar.

Max Brenner - November 6, 2010

Many things in life are not that complicated, including a hot chocolate. All you need are a bit of patience and a dedicated hand – a tried-and-true formula to overcome many adversities in life – for whisking. Laziness has never fared very well in any success story, and it definitely will not get you the desired cup of hot chocolate. How hard is it to shave some good dark chocolate – by the way, Hershey’s is not considered “good” not matter from which angle you look at it due to the peculiar soured milk taste (except perhaps in conjunction with marshmallow for s’more) – or heating up some water and/or milk?

Spong Cake Redux: New Kam Hing Coffee Shop - January 17, 2011

The euphoria of the first date is, more often than not, misleading; otherwise, we would have gotten married a hundred times over.  Say thanks to our instinctive skepticism. Therefore, when the second date comes around, without the element of surprise and under the broad day light, the former allure usually seems to have toned down a shade or two. However, such will not be the case when the person, or a cake, is made of true ingenuity.

Bee Dessert - January 1, 2011

My friends used to love to come to my house because we always had at least a couple of kinds of potato chips, chocolates, juices and other nibbles that their mothers told them not to eat. Among all the snacks, sweet or savory, sometimes we got a treat: Lotte’s Choco Pie, which, in the far gone days of diet-free oblivion, I used to devour three or four after school. Bee’s honey cake with marshmallow was a more sophisticated and mature take on my childhood favorite.

New Kam Hing Coffee Shop - December 28, 2010

Why do they bother calling themselves a coffee shop? Their coffee is only an afterthought or a preventive forethought – take your pick – provided for customers who cannot wait to swallow a dozen sponge cakes until they get to a safe haven; in either case, it is a mere convenient lubricant to facilitate the transfer of their criminally addictive sponge cakes from their plastic Target containers to people’s extending and expanding holiday girths.

Cocoa V - December 16, 2010

Exuberance makes you blind. Let this be a lesson to you so that I did not wholly suffer in vain.

Kee's Chocolate - October 23, 2010

After the departure of Debauve & Gallais from Manhattan, coincided with the shift in money flow to the greater world out there, namely, China (I thought the pollution in China had finally produced a hallucination when I saw Devauve & Gallais in the form of a Disney-esque pseudo Baroque building in the middle of recycled "old" Shanghai - Do as the Romans, a.k.a Chinese, do), this is the best and only place to go for chocolates in New York City these days.  Yes, yes, Le Maison de Chocolate is decent and, of course, their macarons are abominable, but the more stores it opens, the deeper it is sinking into mediocrity.  As for MarieBelle, for years I have brushed past through the glass cases to the cacao bar at the back for a reason:  Their chocolates are cute, but cute is not a word to describe flavors (it is, or was, already a miracle that the hot chocolate was good and let's not wish for too much).

MarieBelle (Cacao Bar / Tea Salon) - October 22, 2010

Leftt: Spicy; Right: Dark

I remember the first time I had their European-style "hot chocolate," which should have changed its name to "liquid chocolate" for that was what it was - a melted and molten sensation. Lovely. Do not underestimate the power contained in a little demitasse cup:  There is enough stimulant to rouse a hibernating bear. However, what has happened to their liquid bomb?

Bisous Ciao - October 16, 2010

Macarons at Bisous Ciao

My favorite flavor of macarons is, without doubt, the rose.  Imagine your mouth filled with the delicate, intoxicating, and utterly irresistible perfume of rose; when I recall the rose macarons at Pierre Hermé or Chez Matsuo (a frequent dessert item, but not always available unless you tell them that is what you want in advance), even the memory of them transports me to the Neverland of rose macarons that I do not ever want to leave.  I was so excited when I found Pierre Hermé in Tokyo; sadly, however, the made-in-Japan Ispahan was such a disappointment - plain, flavorless; it was just a pink, wet and crumbly mess. I wonder if the recipe is altered to suit the Japanese palette, assuming that the chef in Japan is more than capable.  Or is it simply that rose flavor is difficult to perfect? So far every single rose macaron in New York has turned to be more than bearably disgusting that I had not so far managed to consume more than one-fourth of it; to be honest, had my mouth been smaller, I would have eaten even less. Therefore, I stood with much apprehension in front of the minimalist counter at Bisous Ciao:  To get rose or to not get rose, that is the question.  Ever the hopeful, I ventured to order one rose macaron:  Yes, I have finally learned not to get carried away and order multiple macarons after staring at many forlorn bags of half-bitten and undesirable macarons.  

MacarOn - October 13, 2010

Trying out a new macaron is very similar to a first date: You think about it, you adore it, you dream about it, then you approach it and you finally get to taste it.  And sadly as it is with a first date, it often does not lead to a second date.

Financier (The bigger one downtown) - July 1, 2010

Macarons at Financier, where should I begin? Should I begin by lamenting that they came closer than others or how they missed it at the end?

One day, I will write a treatise on macarons, but for now suffice it to say (and just take my words for it) that Pierre Herme has the best flavor (rose, apricot-saffron or olive-vanilla, who would have thought?) if the texture is a bit on the softer side, Sadaharu Aoki gets the texture right with the golden ratio of crispness, chewiness and meltiness (I am told by Merriam-Webster that this is not a word, but I say it is) with some distinctly Asian flavors (sesame, genmaicha, delicious, but wasabi...it is hard to be perfect), and last but not least, the temple of macarons, Laduree, with sweeter and denser texture, which I would leave it for you to decide.

At Financier, mind you, I only tried the big macarons, but the texture is erratic. Coconut-Passion fruit had decent passion fruit flavor, which got me excited for a moment before the hell broke loose. The texture was close to the crumbling Herme, but that was the problem. Due to its size (bigger is not always better), once it started to crumble, there was no stopping it. Oh, did I mention the flavor was "coconut"-passion fruit? Sorry, I misspoke. The coconut was mere decoration or how can it be so tasteless?

Now the pistachio, one word - tough. These khaki-colored tough soldiers will surely survive very well in the army. I dropped it, by accident (stress, by accident), but it did not make a dent. Maybe I can wear it as a hard hat in case I need one, huh?

OK, enough said. Next please!

Georgia's - June 28, 2010

My raspberry and apricot macarons...aren't they lovely? Don't they make your mouth water and crave for the crunchy and chewy exterior? Can't you feel the burst of intense flavor awaiting you?

Well, looks can be deceiving, and in this case, they are indeed deceiving. As everything else in life, don't trust just the looks. Smell it, hold it, bite it, and taste it. What do we have then? Another failed attempt at macaron. This macaron is chewy for sure. You chew and chew and chew without getting to the reward - which flavors did I get again? (Check the colors - pink and yellow.) Right, raspberry and apricot they were supposed to be, but were not. If I close my eyes, all that was in my mouth was a pile of sugary chewed mass of a mess. Next, please!