Sadaharu Aoki
Add: 35 Rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris*
Tel: +33 1 45 44 48 90
Hours: [Tue-Sat] 11am~7pm [Sun] 10am~6pm (closed on Mon)
Website: www.sadaharuaoki.com
Price: €5~6/patisserie
Tasted on: Dec 2014
Sadaharu Aoki, famed for combining Japanese ingredients in French pastries, now has three shops in Paris – the newest one being in the recently renovated Lafayette Gourmet. It was a year and a half ago when I last had an Aoki pastry (see here and here), and I haven’t gone back in so long because I wasn’t too convinced by what I tasted last time. This Saturday morning, however, I was in a green tea state of mind, and decided to pay the shop a visit. Get ready for lots of green.
*Additional locations available, check website for detail.
Tarte Caramel Matcha (€5.30), a recently launched variation on Aoki’s Tarte Caramel Salé, is an eye-catcher and no less intense in taste. The perfectly piped green spiral of matcha mousse has a strong taste (in comparison to the more subtle flavors in Aoki’s other matcha pastries), and underneath it is a salted caramel that’s both very sweet and salty. I quite liked it, but only in small doses – 1/4 of the tart at a time is perfect.
Mille Feuille Matcha (€4.60), puff pastries sandwiching two layers of matcha pastry cream. This was a disappointment, as the puff pastries were already somewhat soggy by the time of tasting (and it was only around noon time), and the green tea pastry cream had a thick and sticky consistency that I personally found unpleasant.
Éclair Genmaicha (€4.60), pâte à choux filled with genmaicha cream. I’m a fan of genmaicha and often drink it at home, but I didn’t like this éclair. The pâte à choux tasted doughy, and the genmaicha cream was…I’m not sure how to describe, it, it just wasn’t very pleasant.
Canelé Matcha (€3), a new item at Aoki. Nice crunchy exterior, but the interior is grainy.
The last thing I tried – and finally this is not tea-related – is Marron-Fruits Rouges (€6), composed of chestnut cream, vanilla chantilly cream, hazelnut crumble, red fruits jam, and shortcrust pastry base. It is the classic chestnut-red fruits pairing, which in itself is nothing too special, but it is well done. I have to say this beats all the matcha pastries I’ve tried on this visit. (P.S. I love the piping of chestnut cream…the cross section looks like neatly cut twigs.)
I don’t think I will be back to Aoki any time soon. Just not my cup of tea.