Couple weeks ago on November 16th, Leonidas at Waterfront was having their 2nd anniversary party and I was invited to go and indulge in Belgian chocolate!
Food Spotting: Thierry Chocolaterie Patisserie Cafe
There was a time when I went to Thierry Chocolaterie Patisserie Cafe in downtown Vancouver for couple weeks in a row and gorged on a lot of delicious treats. Enjoy the pictures of some of my desserts! 🙂
A mini tiramisu. The picture looks big, but it’s about the size of my palm. SO DELICIOUS! It had dark chocolate pieces on the side, perfect for dipping into the extra mascarpone.
Macarons! Admittedly, not the best in the city. They’re a bit too big, and they have a bit too much cream.
My friend’s mini blueberry tart.
A very chocolately cake.
My friend’s savoury croissant. It had ham swirled around inside.
Hope everyone had some delicious desserts! 🙂
Macaron Adventures Part XI: Stuart’s Bakery (with sad face)
This post is wayyyyyyy delayed.
So I was at Oakridge Mall with some time to spare, so I was chilling at the food court. I came across these macarons, (though the bakery called them macaroons.) I thought I’d give them a try, and I deeply regret taking out my wallet out for this.
It may be called a macaron, but by experience, this is not a genuine Parisian macaron! I wish I spent my $4 on macarons on something else. *insert sad face.*
I chose the Coffee & Praline Macaron and Cinnamon Macaron. PS- I don’t know why all the other macarons are spelt “macaron,” but the Raspberry is called “French Macaroon.” Huh?
Okay- I don’t get why some macarons have to be so frozen. Maybe kept in cooler temperature? Yes. But I don’t want a tiny ice cream sandwich for $2.
The flavour itself isn’t bad, as I liked the taste of the cinnamon one. The coffee was okay. But they were very condensed, frozen, and not light and dainty. They weren’t very creamy either. They were quite flat as well, and the texture is not comparable to other macarons as well. I felt like whoever made these just made them for the sake of it since Vancouver is jumping on the macaron bandwagon.
Final words: There are other places with better macarons for $2 or cheaper!
Macarons (Part XI), Sweets, and Tea at Leonidas
I’ve been dying to check out Leonidas forever, and I dragged two of my friends to the Vancouver Convention Centre one sunny, windy Friday to find out this place. We wandered around for 20 minutes trying to find it, and we were glad we did! It was a very small place, but the customers were many. I’m lucky to have friends to aimlessly wander around with me!
Leonidas is a chocolate store, but they also sell ice cream and other baked treats (including macarons!)
Look at all the chocolate! I don’t know why I never buy chocolates from a chocolate store though. *shrugs*
My friend bought a cup of cookie dough ice cream with white chocolate base. My friend said tt was creamy, sweet, and perfect for the day, but more cookie dough flavour could’ve been added. She let me taste test, but I do not like white chocolate at all, so I wasn’t a fan. (Still love Bella Gelateria for gelato!)
I, myself, opted for macarons and a cup of tea! Leonidas serves Mighty Leaf tea, my favourite tea, but they’re so expensive! I got a cup of Organic Mint Melange, I love how the flavours of different mints are combined. Love mint tea!! I always feel so refreshed and detoxed after a nice cup of hot minty tea.
Of course, I also had to have some macarons! Because I went later in the day, there weren’t many flavours left. I bought three macarons at $2 each – black sesame, lemon and lavender, and espresso.
All three macarons were absolutely delicious and I liked the texture and its appearance. The macarons weren’t overly sweet, and true to their flavour. Especially loved black sesame. I’m on a total black sesame food crave lately, and this macaron hit the spot! They were chewy and creamy, I want some more! I wish I got the Cherry flavour, because you don’t see that flavour everywhere, stupid me! I will definitely come back to spoil myself with those macarons!
Macaron Adventures Part IX: French Made Baking from Ladner Village Market
My mom went to Ladner Village Market on Sunday and brought me home a mini treat… a 6 pack of macarons from French Made Baking! I never been to French Made Baking; there store is located on Kingsway and it is rather far for me. So I was so excited when my mom was like DUM DE DUM guess what I got you! And she pulled macarons out of a bag like magic! My mom usually disapproves of my sweet confectionary eating habit, especially macarons. Hooray for mom being kind!
So, I didn’t technically make a journey there and call it an adventure, but it’s another macaron spot under my belt.
A 6-pack costs $10. I wasn’t sure what flavours were in the box, so I tweeted to the company and they told me all the flavours in order! +1 for fast, responsive reply from French Made Baking!
As you can see, there is a bit of size dis-proportionality going on. However, don’t judge a book (or macaron) by its cover.
The flavour of macarons from left to right:
Raspberry and Dark Chocolate, Passionfruit and Milk Chocolate, Lime Curd, Blackcurrant, Yuzu and Dark Chocolate, Pistachio
I love the assorted flavours! Never seen lime curd and blackcurrant macarons before! And they didn’t disappoint! The shells were so smooth! They were also delicate; too much pressure while holding it cracks the shell! The size was fairly reasonable- the price for this is fairly decent- for the number of macarons you get and the size of them!
My favourite of the six was yuzu and dark chocolate– I love dark chocolate and it tasted well with yuzu fruit. Light ans sweet, not too tart, plus throw in the sharp taste of dark chocolate- delicious! I also really liked pistachio, tasted authentic and not sweet! Probably one of the best pistachio macarons I’ve had…
The only macaron that fell short was the passionfruit and milk chocolate. This is due to my tastebuds geared toward the passionfruit flavour I had in bubble teas, and not this kind of passionfruit. I’m not a milk chocolate lover so this macaron was a bit off for me.
None of these macarons were very sweet. I think this place has the least-sweetest macarons; which is a good thing! Hope I can visit the actual shop one day!
The Ladner Village Market next opening days are August 26th and September 9, from 10am-4pm!
