Comments on: Wonderful Macarons from The Tuileries Confections, Manila

By: anneventures

anneventures — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 13:03:20 +0000

It so happened that we spent the holidays in Paris and I can only echo you, the best place to have a macaron is in Paris! We had a grand time taste testing macarons all over Paris and it is love! Pierre Herme’s the best so far!:-)

By: sylvia

sylvia — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 04:09:55 +0000

Marketman, there is a Filipina in LA who is making waves with her ensaymadas. She makes them the old-fashioned way, as she learned from her mom. She has different varieties and she’ll ship anywhere in the US. They are so good and they remind me of the ensaymadas my mom used to make.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 16:24:08 +0000

Not much lines around the block anymore but the shop can be cramped :-) The staff are quick to respond though. Unfortunately for carbon footprint, these heavenly and delicate perfection in my mouth are still flown in from Paris. How they arrive still intact and perfect is beyond me.

By: Boopsie

Boopsie — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 09:28:19 +0000

Natie, I would recommend you first to try “The Tuileries Confections” macaroons as recommended by Marketman. Based on the pictures, they look well crafted. I probably would be trying them too.

My patisserie chef/wife isn’t making macarons in the next few months due to her present medical condition where she isn’t allowed to be in hot places. So only her regular desserts are in the stores and buffets. In case the situation changes I would let you know asap. My favorite macaron variant she offers has a Pistacio praline filling. Marketman would probably be interested in the Ube variant.

Not to get your hopes up with my wife’s macarons. I still think Pierre Herme macarons are the best overall. But I have price issues with them. In my last trip to HongKong 1.5weeks ago. HK Pierre Herme was selling them them for HKD 45 each with a minimum purchase of 3. ( Php 261 for 1 macaron ) Compared to Eric Kaiser at HK$18 each and Maison du Chocolat at HK$ 25 each.

By: rosedmd

rosedmd — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 06:35:40 +0000

Sayang!!! i never thought those lovely macaroons are a text away from me in Manila. I have been dreaming of going to UK to try Laduree.
moving to Vancouver is exciting searching for good food……one of them macaroons

By: Marketman

Marketman — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 23:04:35 +0000

Teresa, that Laduree is a few blocks from Sister’s apartment! They used to have lines halfway down the block the first few months after opening. I understand they used to fly in their macarons from France, rather than make them in NY, but I am not sure if that is the case still. Boopsie, congratulations, always a good thing to marry someone with fabulous kitchen skills… :) I haven’t had an opportunity to try a Kitchen’s Best Buffet, so haven’t had your wife’s macarons… but I can see why she prefers to offer them fresh at a buffet rather than in a store.

I appreciate pastry and breads are different specialties, but anyone with the skills to do great pastry should have the ability to bake decently as well… I simply think we have a tendency to get too enamored with foreign food trends while letting our own cuisine fall to the wayside… Notice the current rush to high end bread, the recent rush to macarons and the like, the cupcake craze… I know, Pinoys have an incredibly sweet tooth and this is probably the place for anything with lots of sugar, I just wish it wasn’t at the expense of properly made local delicacies…

By: TeresaT

TeresaT — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 21:52:55 +0000

I am reading this post as I enjoy a cup of tea and macaroons from Laduree Upper East side, particularly rose petal and blackcurrant flavors. To die for! Perfection in my mouth. A treat to beat the artic blast. I haven’t tried the latest patisserie offerings in Manila so I have no comparison. These ones MM looks so yum. Wish I can taste them.

Boopsie, nice one! Congratulations! I enjoyed reading your exchange with MM.

Thank you for making my day on this post MM. My first time to read a post while enjoying the subject item lol

By: natie

natie — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 19:25:34 +0000

Hahahah!! Boopsie!! Twice or many times-blessed!! Oh gee.. Laughter keeps one warm. Thank you! Can one order, and if affirmative, how many days advance notice?

By: Boopsie

Boopsie — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 16:37:11 +0000

Marketman, She presently offers macarons as part of her Kitchen’s Best dessert buffet catering packages. She has 2 standalone patisserie shops in Makati and Fort but does not offer them there. Macarons are tedious to make and its hard to train staff to make them to a certain quality. Dessert buffets are the best way for her to produce them in volume and be consumed immediately while they are at its best.

As far as your pandesal and ensaimada idea is concerned. The answer would be patisserie chefs have a different skill set from the bread making artisans in boulangerie shops. New skills can be learned but the next hurdle would be limitations of the quality of the local flour, local baking equipment and the price limit they could charge for a “local” product, market preferences for soft bread vs crispy bread and production volume concerns because of the fact that the local markets carbohydrate staple is rice and not bread. Its quite a challenge to change the mindsets of the consuming public.

At this point, I probably have to also inform Marketman, I may be a bit biased since I recently married this said chef a few months ago.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 10:21:24 +0000

Boopsie, where does she sell her macarons? I believe several young chefs have studied now in France, it’s a question of how they translate those studies to a Philippine setting. Lenotre, on the other hand, was the only major patisserie we DID NOT try when in Paris on our macaron adventure… In general, several of the macaron purveyors I have tried in Manila have fallen far short of expectations… though I suspect there will be more and more good ones. I wish such chefs would first focus on doing say an ensaimada or pan de sal “right” and sell those to the public before say macarons or eclairs… too few top quality local delicacies remain available to the buying public. I like cupcakes too, including all the snazzy new outlets of Sonja’s Cupcakes in malls recently, but I lament the lack of great pinoy style places… :( Consumers should SEEK out places with artisan ally made local favorites, just as they might be enamored with foreign brands and goodies.