NYC Bakery Review - Laduree Madison

Laduree Madison - visited November 19, 2016

I first visited Laduree in its home city of Paris, France. It was there on the Champs Elysee, I was there, there was a line outside before the mecca for macarons had even opened so of course I got in line.

You might remember that I don't really care for macarons (too sweet) and the only one I've actually liked was Laduree's salted caramel macaron. And even then, I wouldn't travel worlds for it. I'm just not a macaron fan.

However, I did become a huge fan of Laduree's plaisir sucre or a hi-falutin' way of calling a tremendous confection of chocolate layered with hazelnut mousse (?) atop a crunchy, airy base. Superb.

I visited a small Laduree when I was in Dublin some months ago but to my disappointment, because the shop was so small, they only sold the famed macarons.

But when I discovered, thanks to another foodie friend, that there was a Laduree in Manhattan, out comes the iphone, I plugged in Laduree and lo and behold, there was one on Madison Avenue. Walking distance from my hotel (again remembering walking distance to me is anywhere in Manhattan, no matter how long the blocks were or what the cross streets are).

And further lo-ing and behold-ing, they were large enough to offer more than just macarons so my beloved plaisir sucre and I were united once more.

Was it as good as I remembered? On the first bite, I wasn't sure. Perhaps my taste buds had gotten spoiled by all the other amazing food I had already consumed from New York's bakeries. Could Paris compete? Then I had to take a second bite to confirm. Okay, yeah, it was still good and worth fondly remembering. The $8.50 price tag might make many people cringe for such a small slice but I'll take quality over quantity and this is definitely quality.