While Adam and I don't love sweets, it wouldn't be a trip to Paris without a taste of macarons and, as luck would have it, we had a branch of the highly-regarded Pierre Hermé right around the corner from our hotel in the 8th arrondissement.
The debate rages on between Pierre Hermé and Laudurée as to who has the best macaron. Though we've had Laudurée in both New York and London, we were too short on time this trip to visit one of their stores in Paris. So, while not entirely a clean comparison, I will compare Pierre Hermé's Paris macarons to the Ladurée macarons I've had outside of Paris.
Pierre Hermé has 10 locations in Paris alone, and while they have not come to the US yet, they do have two stores in London. We haven't had a chance to visit either yet, but after our experience in Paris, we will definitely be stopping by soon!
The Pierre Hermé around the corner from our hotel was located near the Arc de Triomphe, right on the Champs-Elysées. It is definitely tourist central, but the Pierre Hermé is hidden within a building filled with restaurants and small shops. The store was more of a counter than a stand alone shop, but I would guess that the quality control across all of their shops ensures a high degree of consistency.
We had a look at the very colorful display of beautiful macarons and got down to making the big decision...and at €2.10/macaron ($2.75), this wasn't a decision to take lightly!
Since we had never had their macarons, we opted to just pick out three for our first time. We reasoned that if they were good then we would have the opportunity to come back before we had to catch our train back to London the following day.
We both love pistachio and so we ordered one of the Infiniment Pistachio, which was the easiest choice to make. From the other flavors, I decided to order the Velouté Satine (yoghurt & orange, passionfruit) and the Velouté Infiniment Pamplemousse (yoghurt & grapefruit). The Infiniment Pistachio, with its intense pistachio flavor, was by far our favorite. The Velouté Infiniment Pamplemousse was probably our next favorite, as there was a great grapefruit essence to the macaron, but I didn't love the addition of the yoghurt. Unfortunately, I found the same issue with the Velouté Satine; it was a bit muddled with too many flavors going on. Note: Nicer packaging carries an additional cost, and as these were for immediate consumption, we went with the free packaging of a plastic bag.
In terms of the texture of the macarons, these were incredible. I think whether you find Ladurée or Pierre Hermé as your favorite would really be based on personal preference. While I have not had Ladurée in Paris, I know that the ones in New York and London are flown in from Paris. Pierre Hermé's macarons were extremely light and basically melted in your mouth. The creamy filling had the consistency of a light jam. We both agreed that Ladurée's macarons weren't as delicate, though the filling didn't feel as heavy as Pierre Hermé's.
Since we had enjoyed the macarons from Pierre Hermé on our first day in Paris, we stopped by for a couple more on our way to catching the Eurostar home . This time we ordered two of the Infiniment Pistachio (no sharing!) as well as one of the Infiniment Caramel (salted-butter caramel) and one of the Infiniment Rose (rose & rose petals). The texture of these were again melt-in-your-mouth perfect and we much preferred these flavors to the ones we had the previous day. Maybe we are purists :) but we just enjoyed the singular, pronounced flavor of each macaron instead of a mix of many different flavors in one bite.
While we didn't have a chance to go to Ladurée in Paris, I don't feel that they would taste so drastically different from what I've had in London and New York. Thus, I found Pierre Hermé really incredible and loved their single flavor macarons. The flavors were intense and the macarons just melted in your mouth. I preferred the consistency of the filling at Pierre Hermé as well. Pierre Hermé was fantastic and a definite must go when in Paris. read more