Our Macaroons in Paris

Here's a quick pic of the macaroons we got from Laduree, a little bit of a snobby yet gorgeous patisserie/cafe on the Champs Elysees. I believe we tried Lemon, Cassis, Strawberry, Rose Petal, Pistachio and Chocolate. We haven't had a chance to try making different flavored macaroons, since making our chocolate ones last year. Hopefully soon...

Little Oven

One of our favorite places, possibly in this world, is Little Oven, on King Street map. We've been visiting Joyce Harada and enjoying her homey, yummy and beautiful desserts for a couple of years now. Truly, as others have written, Little Oven IS little, and very easy to miss. Look for the shop with the warm orange glow and funky modern light fixture, just past the old Fro-yo bar and parking is in the back, turn right on Kaheka and right again. The hours are W-Sat 7pm-midnight, but you may want to go a little bit later, around 7:30 or 8, as they don't always open right on time. I've been meaning to do a post on Little Oven for so long, but never had the opportunity to take good pictures. We finally brought our camera the other night, expecting the usual casual and relaxed atmosphere probably seeing the same ol' people, but we were greeted by what seemed like a barage of patrons, most of whom we'd never seen before! Little Oven was recently featured in Metromix, a local entertainment guide, and so now the secret's out!

We had the Irish Apple Cake and Irish Tipsy Cake, both $6.50. The Apple cake was like an apple pie but with a biscuit-like crust. Joyce makes some of the most satisfying pastry, from tarts to cobblers to pies. Anything she does with fresh fruit is also lovely. The Tipsy cake was a strawberry layer cake with some sort of liquor between the cake, strawberries and cream, very light and tasty.

Irish Apple Cake, $6.50














Irish Tipsy Cake, $6.50













We can also attest to mostly all of Little Oven's homemade sorbets and ice milks. Strawberry sorbet and ice milk, and the banana ice milk are particularly good, bursting with fresh fruit flavor. In addition to the frozen desserts, we are also huge fans of the lilikoi pavlova, calamansi tart and the mixed berry and peach cobblers.

What is most compelling about Joyce's desserts is that she makes everything herself, you can almost taste the love that goes into it. Some of her desserts have become comfort food for us, they have a simplicity to them that just grows on you. On holidays and at different times of year, she creates special desserts and prix fixe menus. You really can't visit just once.

Little Oven had become such a special place for us that we asked Joyce to make our wedding cake. She created a beautiful cake for us, an amazing lilikoi cake! She is truly talented, and has a whole host of cakes at her website.

Our wedding cake:

Croissant Tour of Honolulu #1

Croissants never meant much to me, one way or another. They were a banal staple at conferences where refreshments were served. Here in Hawaii we are used to the Costco variety, soft, somewhat flaky, somewhat buttery croissants, similar to the bun stand-ins in a croissant-wich. I actually love the occasional croissant sandwich, especially how the sandwich is never dry because of the buttery, flaky exterior. What I'm getting to is, croissants now mean a great deal to me. On a non-descript 'rue' in Paris, we visited a VERY small bakery named Poilane. World-famous, this bakery was not crowded or glitzy. It paled in comparison to any of the other large boulangeries with famous culinary namesakes. The croissant I was lucky enough to eat was life-changing, unlike any croissant that had crossed my path!

Flaky is an understatement when talking about this croissant. I have actually tried making croissants, in Hawaii sans a marble slab or air conditioning. On a positive note, I ended up with some homely crescent shaped biscuits. The Poilane creations looked like any other in France, but it was so crisp in its top layers, incredibly flaky, tender and beautifully layered on the inside, butter hardening the flat bottom into a crust. I was sure I would never be content with any other croissant after this, and so far it has been true.
















Sometimes I visit Poilane via Google Earth, that's how powerful a memory it was for me! I always dream of visiting France again, recreating meals and sifting through our photos. I was lucky enough to have a wonderful croissant this weekend that had Han and I trekking to a few more bakeries to give some Hawaii bakeries a real look. The croissant that has given me hope was from Town, in Kaimuki. What a wonderful croissant, ultra crisp and flaky, soft and gorgeous on the inside! My hope was being restored. We bought a croissant and pain au chocolat at Bakery Boulangerie on King Street. We headed to Manoa to try Fendu Boulangerie and Bakery Manoa's offerings.

These are our findings:













Town croissant - wow! Ultra-flaky, crisp, most like the Poilane croissant! Very satisfying weekend breakfast moment.













Bakery Boulangerie - really good, tasty croissant. Not quite as crisp as I like, but it was tender and flaky. We loved the apricot/peach glaze and sliced almonds. The pain au chocolat, also very good! Nice dark chocolate interior!













Bakery Manoa's (shown left) was a disapointment. It was "alright" having a somewhat flaky exterior but a more dense, bready interior. It also had a slighty chemical taste to the croissant.

Fendu was out of croissants, so we got their chocolate croissant (shown right). The pastry was quite nice, somewhat crisp, quite flaky and buttery! We were not very happy with the chocolate, the chocolate tasted of low quality and there was too much chocolate for our tastes.

We definitely want to do more croissant taste-testing! Pass along any noteworthy suggestions.