Ladurée :: Saint-Honoré Rose
By Paris Pâtisseries in Laduree, Pastry Reviews
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Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Ever since I took these photos, I’ve been saving this most Valentine-looking pastry for the most sacred of Hallmark holidays. What could possibly top these billowy mounds of pink crème Chantilly and their rose petal flourish as the ultimate expression of love? Ok, maybe if it were garnished in diamonds, that would be a step up, but short of that happening, wouldn’t you just love your special someone to surprise you with one of these? And then wouldn’t you want them to leave you alone with it for 5 minutes so that you could eat it like a pig without feeling self-conscious?
Ladurée actually has a pretty wide assortment of Valentine-ready merchandise. Between the macaron and pastry cases, there are easily a half-dozen pink and/or rose-centric items at any given time. If you’re the type of girl or boy who enjoys all-things-pink and frilly, it’s heaven. Personally, I always felt marginally self-conscious ordering something like the Saint-Honoré Rose – mostly cause I had a crush on one of the salesgirls at Ladurée, so I always wanted to go, “Bonjour! Could I have that giant pink pastry there? And, just to clarify . . . I would still totally go out with you.” The perils of pastry, my friends! But I digress. Let me introduce the Saint-Honoré Rose . . .
Not to be a “Debbie Downer” on Valentine’s Day, but this is less a Saint-Honoré than it is a Saint Honorable Mention. Particularly troublesome was the pâte feuilletée base, which was just tough in the texture department. Not pleasant. Another major downer was the flavorless mounds of pink crème Chantilly. If it doesn’t taste even vaguely of roses or raspberries, why is it pink? Yawn. Ditching those two pieces, we’re essentially left with a rose religieuse. As reviewed before, that’s one of my favorite pastries at Ladurée. Delightful choux covered in rose fondant, then filled with rose crème patissiere and whole raspberries . . . yum. What’s not to love about that?
Ridiculous as the pâte feuilletée and crème Chantilly are here, it’s still one of the most decadent looking pastries in any of Paris’ finest pastry cases. So let’s just bask in the puffs . . .
Let’s also savor the beauty of this pastry vista . . .
And let’s imagine that we lived at the intersection of these three . . .
Better yet, let’s imagine this were life-sized, we were stuck in the middle, and forced to eat our way out through the crème patissiere and raspberry compote – like Chilean coal miners of pastry.
So, no, lovely as the Saint-Honoré rose is, I’d rather see you purchase a Religieuse Rose. It’s more deliciousness, minus the frivolity. And without that extraneous crème Chantilly, you might save enough room for a couple extra macarons. It’s all about bingeing strategically!
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