Paris (France): Pierre Herme

It was a tough choice choosing between Pierre Herme and La Nouvelle Eve. On one hand, Pierre Herme was one of the reasons that got me excited to come to Paris but on the other hand, missing the French cabaret show seems like a taboo. Well, the fact that you see this post means I have forgo the latter. Question is, is it worth it?


Definitely, desserts lovers should not give this Pierre Herme a miss. My only complain was this is only a take-away outlet, thus explaining why we took a cab back to our hotel to enjoy them. Anyway, the location of Pierre Herme is slightly off the city centre and it seems to be a heartland and less crowded from Champs-Élysées.


In terms of shop space, it is distinctively smaller than Laduree at Champs-Élysées but the cakes displayed is simply mouthwatering. Since we had 3 pastries previously at Laduree, we have decided to get 3 from Pierre Herme as well. However, since they all looked so good, we just seeked for Pierre Herme's bestsellers and signatures.


As expected, Ispahan (6.90 EUR, SGD$12.25) is one of our orders for this is the signature of Pierre Herme. Having ate Laduree's version on the same day, this was fabulous. Although it is just the same old combination of rose macaron biscuit, rose petal cream, whole raspberries and litchis. This was simply outstanding from the rest for most ispahan has slices or chunks of litchis, while this one has its rose cream flavoured with litchi and the cream is so smooth that is spreads like molten butter. Simply divine!!!


Tarte Infiniment Vanille 6.90 EUR, SGD$12.25) was another amazing creation of Pierre Herme. Described on Pierre Herme's website to be a sweet tart crust with a very rich, dense filling of white chocolate flavoured with vanilla ganache and vanilla-flavoured mascarpone cream and a biscuit moistened with a vanilla juice. One can expect a contrast in textures yet great lightness from the vanilla-flavoured mascarpone cream. In addition, Pierre Herme defines an ideal vanilla to be a combination of vanilla from several different provenances (Mexico, Tahiti and Madagascar), thereby creating his version of "house vanilla".


So in layman terms, what is our degree of likeness towards this one? If 10 is our max, this hits a 11. We have never come across something that gives such beautiful surprises. Don't underestimate its simplicity, this tart will tell you how real vanilla is supposed to be like. The overall is very soft and light; despite being kept in shape for an 1 hour at room temperature, the vanilla mousse and marzipan-like layers (seems to have a almond-icing sugar effect, not sure if that is the effect of a vanilla juice-moistened biscuit) just melt in the mouth, releasing the fragrance of Pierre Herme's house vanilla. There is no word nor photo to describe it, the moment you put that in your mouth, the omph factor will magically comes. But having eaten this after the Ispahan, this is sweeter than the former.


Carrement Chocolat (6.50 EUR, SGD$11.50) was another memorable pastry we had for the entire trip and coming from Pierre Herme, this is no disappointment. Although this is humbly described to offer tender, creamy and crisp textures of intense bitter chocolate, this is made of delicate layers of chocolate cake, chocolate cream, chocolate mousse, chocolate crisp and thin wafers of crisp chocolate.


Surprisingly, the chocolate does not melt instantly and has a distinctive woody aftertaste. With a slightly sweeter converture layer, the entire combination, including the cake, releases the goodness of the chocolate slowly and this is followed by crunch derived from crushed hazelnuts and cocoa beans to have a slight bitter aftertaste.

Although our comments towards Laduree isn't that positive, these two pastry makers are definitely a legend for we wiped clean our plates clean for all 6 cakes without feeling the slightest cloyingness but in fact, craving for more.

Macarons' entries is coming soon, stay tune.

Pierre Herme
72, rue Bonaparte
75006 Paris
Tel : +33 (1) 43 54 47 77

Operating hours:
10am to 7pm (Mon to Sun)
10am to 7:30pm (Sat)
Website