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Friday, January 27, 2012

HK Trip: Desserts @ Paul Lafayet, Tsim Sha Tsui

On day 3, we enjoyed a scrumptious dim sim meal at Tim Ho Wan which I blogged before here.  Soon after, we decided to check out the Tsim Sha Tsui district which is well-known for its high end fashion and hotels where Bentleys and high powered German limousines are ‘normal’.  Of course I did not pick up anything for myself but I would have loved too if I could afford it :P!  But we did not leave empty handed as we picked up a little gift for the darling’s little brother sponsored by her sister xD! 

 

At night a light setup is used to showcase the beauty of the Central district from the Avenue of Stars.  I would not say that the show is mind blowing but it was worth the experience considering it is free to watch anyways!

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The view of Central from Tsim Sha Tsui!

 

After visiting all the touristy stuff in the area, it was time to get serious! Fooooooooooooooood!  And since we already had our dinner, we were looking for some dessert in the area.  There we searched for a Paul Lafayet branch which is a French dessert shop with various outlets around HK. Seeing how lovely the desserts looked when we reached, we could hardly contain ourselves!

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Crème Brulee is something so good that it has consistently topped my charts for favourite dessert year after year.  With the perfect consistency and crust, this dessert can easily make anyone crave for seconds.  And believe it or not, the one at Paul Lafayet delivers superbly.  The creaminess and sweetness was just spot on.  It does not leave that creamy taste and neither is it so sweet that it becomes cloying.  The texture was just right, silky smooth and extremely light.  Air bubbles were non-existent. To finish it all, the burnt crust was delicious despite being done by the waitresses at the store which seemed rather inexperienced at first.  I have to say, darling and I was really impressed.   What more could you ask for?

 

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Macaron tart with wild berries.  A pastry filled with custard and decorated with berries before being finish by a Vanilla macaron.  While this dessert was good, I found that it tended to be something that was rather difficult to enjoy politely.  Its a dessert where one needs to take a bit of macaron and a little bit of berry along with the custard to get the right chemistry of sweetness and freshness.  When the berries were eaten alone with the custard, it tended to carry too much acidity making the whole dessert too sour and if you go with the custard and macaron alone, you’d probably complain of its sweetness.  Either way its a tough call.  But when messy fingers come in, nom nom nom! :)!

 

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Classic Blueberry Cheesecake.  A simple cheesecake with the right amount of cheese in the mixture always leads to an orgasmic sensation.  Too much too brittle, too little too soft.  Its really an art which I have to say many have perfected and flopped.  I have eaten many good cheesecakes and despite having a large variation in prices, the quality of good or bad depends solely on the shop itself.  At Paul Lafayet, I would rate it somewhere between ok and good.  Probably nothing above but definitely nothing below.  But after having so many decadent desserts halfway through the trip, it was a hard call especially after having the awesome Crème Brulee!

 

Once we were done ordering, a friendly men approached us and started talking about the restaurant.  He was actually the owner of the franchise in HK and he was really friendly.  He told us about how the restaurant came by and its key effort to increase customer satisfaction lies in the core ingredients which are fresh with absolutely no preservatives or flavouring.  I think he mentioned imported from France too?  I guess that explains the fairly pricey price tag of the desserts there!  When we finished our little chatter he offered us free macarons! Nom nom nom! But to be honest, I never quite understood macarons.  They are always too sweet for my liking with the exception of flavours like Jasmine and Lavender.  Those are really special!

 

Having stuffed our face, darling and I were all smiles.  I guess having good desserts to reward ourselves after a long day of walking is well earned!   Would I recommend Paul Lafayet to my friends? Heck yes! Despite being labelled as factory food by some, it taste nothing like it.  In fact, I was actually surprised with the quality of the desserts despite them being made in large quantities.  Kudos!

 

WenY