Laduree: One too many Macarons
It is my lifelong habit to go to tea salons to be arch and ladylike with my girl friends. And let me reassure you that there is no better place than Paris to do so with all those chic Salons de Thé with their overwhelmingly delicate patisserie dotting around the city. One of those I like to patronise is Ladurée- especially the Champs Elysées branch that is intensely decorated by Jacques Garcia (decorator of the fabulous Hotel Costes, the revamped L’Hotel, and many more) in plush Napoléon III style.
The queue is longer than that of the fitting room at Zara during sale especially on weekends but the ambience of the place is worth your while. I always pray to get the feminine salon on the upper floor where I would order the house’s rich Chocolat Chaud with just a suggestion of carafe d’eau, a carafe of water- you will need it after the extreme richness of your hot chocolate. I would also choose a piece of pastry or two from its extensive list of sweets to accompany your drinks- well, you will just love the China they use which I guess is a customized order from Bernadaud. Anyway I usually take macarons- fleur d’oranger flavour is just sublime. Then all you have to do is hushing and whispering and gossiping while nibbling the macarons and sipping your tea.
There are also other branches of Ladurée, one is in the heart of St Germain which is decorated into an exotic jungle style of wall paintings and deep red velvet sofa and another is on rue Royale which is very close to rue Faubourg St Honoré- a perfect place to rest after a long day of shopping.
All their patisserie are just fabulous. Their salades are also simply divine and I just can’t stop eating!
While they were arguing about whether or not they should pass laws on controlling how much a model should weigh or how thin they should or should not be I’m reaching my own potential obesity.
Laduree
www.laduree.fr
16, rue Royale 75001 Paris
75, avenue Champs Elysees 75008 Paris
26, rue Bonaparte 75006 Paris
Also at le Printemps, Galerie Lafayett, and Le Bon Marche
