Dainty. Delicate. Delicious!
What better way to describe the lovely little almond meringue cookies made into perfect sandwiches with your favorite flavor of filling? We here at Cake Katha decided to indulge in our mid-week sweet tooth, by scavenging through Colombo’s finest bakeries and restaurants for a well-known, yet seldom found French delicacy – the Macaroon.
Macaroons are finely baked French almond meringue cookies, that are later sandwiched in pairs of two – with a flavorsome filling piped in the middle (that greatly adds to their texture and flavor). After a thorough search through a number of bakeries and restaurants, we were fortunate enough to locate quite a few places, here in Colombo, that offer up some truly sensational servings of macaroons that’ll really give your sweet-tooth a run for its money!
Baguette: The French Bakery
The very first set of macaroons we had the benefit of tasting came from Colombo’s first French Bakery, the Baguette. This charming little bakery found on no.62 Havelock Road, Colombo is truly a great place for some well-played out one-on-one conversation (best paired with a steamy cup of their heavenly hot chocolate of course!)
Being true to its heritage, Baguette was able to serve up quite an array of scrumptious French macaroons that, safe to say, did not fail to live up to their expectations! Each macaroon was priced at a rather reasonable LKR.150/-, and the very first flavor that graced our taste buds was the somewhat raspberry flavored French delight that came in an ever so soft pinkish hue. It seemed to be cooked to perfection and was of great consistency. The exterior was smooth and quite crunchy, and the berry like filling could be tasted with every bite. The chocolate flavored too was baked to a similar consistency, with a rather sweet chocolate fudge filling paired with a mildly crunchy exterior. Overall the bakery sure did deliver what they had promised, and the macaroons were quite a wonderful delight!
Gerard Mendis Chocolatier
Our next stop in our search for Colombo’s finest macaroons was the infamous king of assorted chocolate and cakes, the Gerard Mendis Chocolatier (located on 58A Horton Place, Colombo). They served up an elegantly packed 6 macaroon package (priced at LKR.900/-) that was just as well a treat for our eyes as well as our taste-buds! These mini French almond sandwiches came in a number of different flavors, with fillings that varied from strawberry and blueberry to orange and even butterscotch. With its delectable filling and crusty outer structure, our favorite would definitely be the strawberry flavored one.
Although the macaroons seemed comparatively hollow with a slightly harder exterior, the flavors brought to life with each bite was quite commendable indeed! Hat’s off to Gerard Mendis Chocolatier for a truly exemplary job well done.
The Coffee Stop: Cinnamon Grand
This might not be a contest, but if it was, undoubtedly the winner of our little escapade would be the finely baked, colorful, quintessential macaroons we had the luxury of experiencing at “The Coffee Stop” by Cinnamon Grand Hotels Colombo. These too came in quite a range of different flavors, but the one that stuck with us the most was undoubtedly the raspberry. The exterior of the French cookie was baked to utter perfection, with a lightly crunchy yet smooth outer finish. The interior was slightly chewy, and the filling itself was rich, flavorsome, jam like and lacked the excessive sweetness usually experienced when tasting other macaroons. Not to mention each macaroon was priced at only LKR.100/- and was much larger in size than we had hoped for!
If you happen to stop by The Coffee Stop, we highly recommend you try out not just their coffee, but macaroons as well – for they truly are a must-try for every macaroon-lover out there!
mde
Any other fancy confectioneries you’d want us to go on adventures for? Let us know in the comments below!