Sugared & Spiced

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Pâtisserie Sadaharu Aoki Paris 青木定治

Address: B2 Bella Vita, 28 Song Ren Rd., Taipei 台北市信義區松仁路28號B2樓
Tel: (02) 8729 2867
Hours: 11:00am~10:00pm
Website: http://www.sadaharuaoki.com
Price: [Cakes] 180~200 NTD, [Macarons] 80 NTD

If a pastry chef is ranked up there with such great figures as Pierre Herme, Jean Millet and Gaston Lenotre, you know for sure that he’s got something. Sadaharu Aoki is known for beautifully infusing Japanese ingredients and sensibilities into French confections, creating pastries, breads, and desserts that are a feast for both the eyes and the taste buds. But as I sat myself down and dug into these impeccably exquisite cakes and macarons at his new outpost in Taipei, I was disappointed.

Sadaharu Aoki

To start, the food court setting (albeit a very nice one) isn’t exactly befitting. 

Seats

But still, the gorgeous display of macarons had me staring and drooling for quite a while.

Macaron rainbow

Cakes

Chocolates

Chocolates

I first tried bamboo, Aoki’s green tea rendition of the classic opéra. The biscuit and buttercream are infused with matcha powder so that the opéra becomes a stack of alternating green tea cake, chocolate ganache, and matcha buttercream. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all, but clearly not as stellar as what I would expect from a masterpiece that has garnered much fervent acclaim from food lovers in Paris and Tokyo. Surely it was a matter of quality consistency at the Taipei branch…?

Bamboo (Opéra au thé vert) 綠竹蛋糕, 190 NTD

Bamboo (Opéra au thé vert) 綠竹蛋糕

I then tried Valencia. A dramatic crown of candied kumquat sealed in a crystalized sugar web is immediately eye-catching. Beneath it is a citrus mousse with orange zest, a layer of chocolate cake, a milk chocolate mousse, a caramel-hazelnut praline, all on top of a crunchy almond crust. It’s a nice contrast of flavors and textures and is admittedly very beautiful. Still, I was not blown away.

Valencia 瓦倫西亞, 200 NTD

The previous two desserts, though not breathtaking, were at least satisfying. Cassis was, on the other hand, was such a total bore that I don’t even want to waste time trying to describe it.

Cassis 黑醋栗蛋糕, 190 NTD

Cassis 黑醋栗蛋糕

Even the macarons at Aoki weren’t as good as the ones from Salon de The de Joël Robuchon.

Front: raspberry macaron, back: genmai tea macaron

Macarons

Am I about to equate Sadaharu Aoki with mediocrity? Not just yet. I’m quite convinced that his stores in Paris and Tokyo are excellent, and am even willing to give the Taipei outpost another try. It’s worth noting that Aoki is about to open his second branch in the city, meaning that business is going very well. Either the Taiwanese people are a mindless herd in pursuit of anything and everything famous, or the patisserie really has some irresistible qualities. I’d like to believe in the latter.