Pierre Herme - Paris - France - Review

Name: Pierre Herme

Address: 
72, rue Bonaparte,  
75006 Paris, France 

01 43 54 47 77

Food: French, Sweets
Average price: $1.50 - $85Euro

Complimentary: Nothing - boxes cost more.

We ordered:

Eden  - cream in yellow peach and saffron, chunks of sweet apricots - $1.50Euro

Very subtle and quite sweet. Didn't appeal to me that much. What must be said for all following macarons is that the texture and biscuit-to-cream ratio is perfect, they couldn't be executed better, the technique and form is faultless.

Mogador - passionfruit and milk chocolate

In its banana-speckled pyjamas this was the cutest macaron in the cabinet and what a macaron it turned out to be! Even my husband who has never liked macarons, LOVED this. The texture was perfect with a crisp shell (although they aren't super crisp as many of these began to crush within 2mins walking from the shop) and soft interior - that perfect amount of 'toothness'. The passion fruit was tart and bursting with freshness whilst the soft, creamy milk chocolate tempered its acidity beautiful. Well balanced and delicious.

Rose

I love florals, and rose is perhaps my favourite floral. But I was a little let down. It was too sweetly creamy for me. The rose was there but it was overpowered by the sweetness of the cream.

Mosaic - pistachio, cinnamon, vanilla and cherry

The cherry really is what made this flavour combination. Without the deep tartness of the cherry in the middle the pistachio and vanilla are too subtle.

Jasmin

More like sugary vanilla. Only a hint of that Jasmine floral depth with a ton of sweetness.

Infiniment Caramel

I am a sucker for salted caramel - I love the salty sweet combination. This, however, was burnt. The macaroon only tasted bitter and hardly salty. Very disappointed as this was the macaron that I came for.

Isaphan - lychee rose and raspberry - $6.60EURO

There was lots of rose, perhaps a touch too much to allow the other flavours to shine. The fresh raspberries would offer bursts of tang to cut through the heady rose but the lychee was lost completely in the floral overthrow. I was hoping for a balance of three great flavours but all I got was a rose tyranny with raspberries as its second in command - perhaps my hopes were set a little too high. (And in case you are like my husband, do not try to eat the small label, it is not made out of rice paper, it is made out of cardboard...)

plasirs sucres - dacquoise biscuit with croquant nuts, praline feuillete, fine chocolate leaves, chocolate chantilly cream - $6.20EURO

The chocolate snapped beautifully and melted instantly on the tongue. The Chantilly cream was of similar greatness, the weak link was the dacquoise which was a touch tasteless and stale. Otherwise, on a whole, it was a lovely slice of delectable chocolate .

Cost: $25.13Euro approx for 8 macarons and two desserts.

Service: Super professional and curt. The staff were all dressed impeccably in black and white. They were sharp and to the point, not inclined to wait for lengthy decisions, so try to have everything you want to order ready to go when they ask. A little French helps also as some of the servers don't speak much English. They also don't like photographs to be taken inside the store.

Atmosphere: Jewellery-store chic rabbit hole. The way to spot this shop is by the line going halfway down the street. The windows showcasing the goods on street level reminded me of Cartier and Bvlgari. The interior is dark with polished wood -the glass cabinet takes up most of the space with everyone peering in as if picking out a diamond. There is also a bookshelf on the back wall stocked with products. This is a takeaway only shop - luckily there's a beautiful fountain with benches a few metres away to taste your bounty.

Parking: Forget about it. Parking in France is a nightmare (and sometimes laughable at how ridiculous it is, we saw an instance where are car was so pinned in, both cars next to it were touching its bumpers). Do yourself a favour and take the Metro (trains every 3mins) or a bus.

Website:  http://www.pierreherme.com/

Hours: Monday to Sunday 10am to 7pm
Saturday, open to 7:30 PM

Would I return: Maybe - but only for the Mogador.