La Pâtisserie des Rêves :: Grand Cru
By Paris Pâtisseries in La Patisserie des Rêves, Pastry Reviews
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There are a few Parisian pastries that are so exquisite an expression of their core flavor that they will forever ruin your future experiences of it. Pierre Hermé’s Tarte Infiniment Vanille, for instance, is such an obscenely perfect celebration of vanilla, in every conceivable way, that no other vanilla anything might ever approach its majesty. The same might be said for Ladurée’s fleur d’oranger macarons; to eat them is literally to eat springtime in pastry form. It’s like nibbling on magic. And La Patisserie des Reves’ Grand Cru? It’s 5 preparations of pure chocolate that have come together to form a singular work of unbridled magnificence.
There’s an excellent reason this piece was #7 on my list of Paris’ Best Pastries. Much like Reves other entry on the list, the Alliance at #5, their brilliance comes not as much from their textures, which are intentionally more subtle than some of the other greats, but from their flavors and the sensations they elicit. So let us indulge in the Grand Cru . . .
There’s an effect a few chocolate bars have that I also enjoy here in this Grand Cru pastry. I always say it’s like the cacao’s, “plugging right into my brain.” Snag a tabelette of Michel Cluizel’s Grand Lait, and you might see what I mean, or just lick away a bit of the glacage from the surface of the Grand Cru. A line of coke is the closest comparison I can draw. Within 10-20 seconds of it hitting your tongue, it physically feels as though your mind lights up, and everything in the universe is . . . perfect. I have no idea what causes it, and it’s a very rare experience for me with chocolates, but it’s totally replicable every single time with the pieces I just mentioned.
After becoming intoxicated by the outer layer, you dive a bit deeper into the luscious 62% Dominican chocolate mousse. Gooey, dense but yielding, it unapologetically floods your mouth with its slightly amer creaminess, before surrendering center stage to the chocolate ganache. “Hello,” it says, “bask in my full-throttled cacao resplendence – and that of my biscuit friend here.” And that biscuit! That biscuit! So tender and so perfectly weighted vs. the mousse and ganache that it feels more as though it’s a part of them than the piece of gateau it knows it is.
Underlying it all is a veritable whisper of praliné croustillant. So delicate a touch – I only wish more patisseries could be so sparing. The French overuse hazelnuts like Americans abuse peanuts. When restraint is employed, it’s a lovely thing.
The chocolate garnish, above, is also a delight for the palate. And the lovely strata within could actually serve as the tri-toned flag of a chocolate nation-state.
Just look at that . . .
So, yes, obviously purchase a Grand Cru. If you love chocolate, it and Hugo & Victor’s Hugo Chocolat will blow your mind. I’d even suggest making a lazy Saturday afternoon’s mission out of enjoying both. The shops are only a 5 minute walk from one another, and they might well be the two finest chocolate works from all of Paris’ patisseries.
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