2012 March Limited -- Cherry Blossom Macaron and Tsumori Chisato Gift Box from Ladurée (plus a little bit of Panya in the end)

Please see the store information and my very first Ladurée visit here. If I didn't write it down, I don't think I'll remember what I've tried. This post should really be written sometime in March, and I am already late. But well, it's just April now. After my first visit to Ladurée , I kept going back since I really love those little colorful babies. What makes me want to write about it was the special gift box for 2012 March amd the featured flavor, the 2012 special flavor, INCROYABLE AMANDE (almond), and the 2012 March special flavor, Cherry Blossom. The special box was designed by the Japanese artist, Tsumori Chisato. It was too cute to not make one of them mine!


Here are the 8 flavors I got:

(left -- top to bottom)  Blackcurrent Violet, INCROYABLE AMANDE, Cherry Blossom, pistachio; (right -- top to bottom) Rose Buttercream, Vanilla, Coffee, Cherry Blossom

The new flavors here that I haven't talked about are Blackcurrent Violet,  INCROYABLE AMANDE, Cherry Blossom and Vanilla. Oh man, this box was a success! (I only didn't like the blackcurrent violet one that much.) Let's start from the best:

Cherry Blossom -- It was Haven!!! Fresh and flower-y. Slightly more subtle than the rose buttercream one due to the nature of rose and cherry blossom. It was really good! Ladurée is really famous for their flowery macarons, so make sure you check them out! Delicious!

Vanilla -- It was rich and creamy. I kinda of had a little vanilla explosion moment in my mouth. It was really good. Although not such an exotic flavor, but they definitely make this classic and simple ingredient shine.

INCROYABLE AMANDE -- I also like this one a lot! It's got a really obvious almond flavor and filled with marshmallow!!! YEAH~ I just love marshmallow. I like this one a lot. (but not RCSIII...he is not a marshmallow fan.)

Blackcurrent Violet -- Hummm....the texture was fine, but I'm just not a big fan of it. It was too sweet in a fruity (jam-Y) way for me. Don't think I'll go back for another one of this kind.

Oh! A little more info, I also went to east village the same day and visited "Panya", a Japanese bakery since I just read about them online that they started to also sell Macarons, so I decided to check it out. If you want to know more about this place or simply want too look at some more delicious pictures please click here! It was written in Chinese ( I am proud to be a Taiwanese!) and I just read that post again...haha...I can't stop laughing. I think I should dig some of my older food post out and import into this site. I was so young and you can definitely tell through my wordings in Chinese.

Anyway, I bought 3 of them, Japanese Green Tea filled with Chocolate Ganache, Wasabi and White Chocolate filled with chocolate ganache and Raspberry (I gave it to KC). Each of them cost only $1.50 and they are much bigger!!!

Here I only put up one of them (the green tea one). You can see that each layer is pretty thick. When I bite in, it was too crunchy for the shell although the flavor wasn't bad. I am totally okay with spending $1.50 for a more delicate cookie with some exotic Japanese flavors. (But it was really not a French Macaron, but certainly look like one!)  But no matter what I still like this place and my favorite item is "green tea custard bun". So buttery and delicious! I am now craving one for my breakfast tomorrow.