Café Pouchkine :: Roulé Pavot
By Paris Pâtisseries in Café Pouchkine, Pastry Reviews
Get the latest entries instantly with Paris Patisseries on Facebook
I’ve started visiting Café Pouchkine quite often . . . again. It’s only when it’s fairly cool outside, as it is these days, that I feel comfortable carrying the pastries home – without fear that summer heat will damage them in transport. I even managed to get one of their most beautiful pieces, the Feijoa, back to my place last week without incident. With a total of 14 of their masterworks on my hard drive, I’ll have plenty to show off in the months ahead. But I can always use more!
Not only is my visit frequency to Pouchkine up due to favorable weather, but I have to say the staff is getting to know me and are really quite charming. When I only had 22 euros in my pocket, during my last visit, and wasn’t quite sure if the pieces I’d chosen would fit that limit, the woman behind the counter did a quick tally on the register to see if I was ok; I was. But then we joked about how another pastry would have pushed me over the edge, before we got into a discussion of what the best pieces in the case are these days. You’ll see more of those greats in future reviews, but for today let’s focus on the Roulé Pavot . . .
Yum. The brash and musky red fruit gelée is the first element to strike you, but it’s quickly complemented by those sublime little poppy seeds. Their unmistakable texture and flavor delights your tongue, while their aroma rises gloriously to your olfactory bulb and says, “привет.” Thin slices of strawberry. a delicately Bourbon vanilla-perfumed biscuit moelleux and light folds of tvorog cheese round out the experience into what can only be described as unrepentantly delicious.
Given that it’s not particularly sweet, as well as that it makes liberal use of poppy, the Roulé Pavot would be most suitable for a mature palate. Pouchkine carryies a number of other less challenging and more overtly sweetened pieces, but I think this one is among the finer expressions of Monsieur Ryon’s vision and the overall thrust of the Café Pouchkine experience.
I like the un-shy use of gold here, too. Granted, I don’t eat the gold leaf on pastries anymore, as I fear that my extreme pastry consumption probably includes a level of gold leaf that could cause kidney damage (a very real side effect of too much gold in the diet), but it’s still pretty . . .
I think the innermost swirl pattern here look like a bird. Wouldn’t you agree?
Mmmmm, look at all these gooey delicious layers of deliciosity . . .
So, yes, on your next visit to Café Pouchkine, make sure to grab a Roulé Pavot. Since it’s rather delicate, what with the strawberry slices on the side, I’d recommend getting one early in the day and eating it right away . . . along with the several other pastries you should be purchasing there and consuming at the height of freshness.
Want me to deliver fresh pastries straight to you? Then get regular email updates or follow Paris Patisseries on Facebook. You deserve the best of Paris.
