Sweet Eats :: Busted...but oh-so worth it!!

Hee hee hee.....so here's the only shot I took of the legendary Millefeuille 2000 at Pierre Herme's Chocolate Bar in Aoyama before I got busted by the oh-so-polite French waiter! Oh well...I was just another foodie tourist! More importantly, the millefeuille was just how I remembered it in Paris nearly a year ago! Super crispy, super creamy with flecks of praline...although I can't believe I'm saying this, it was almost too much of a good thing...I was completely stuffed for hours after this it was so rich! Maybe that's cos I also had a decadently rich iced chocolate to go with it! Tiff indulged in something different....a Plaisir Sucre. Translation: Sweet Pleasure. Indeed! Tiff said it was delicious. I couldn't take a pic, but I do have the recipe in my PH book. Let's just say the recipe goes for just over 5 pages (!?)...a hazelnut dacquoise on the bottom, then layers of praline, chocolate ganache, whipped chocolate cream & chocolate sheets!

Come to think of it, this wasn't the first time we got reprimanded. A couple of days earlier, we were standing outside another French patisserie, Dalloyau in Jiyugaoka...admiring the amazing confections in the window when a young lass came running out the store motioning for us not to take a photo! Hmmm...these patisseries are quite protective of their artistic creations! Anyway, after losing track of time shopping in zakka stores, we returned later for a 3 o'clock lunch with the ladies-who-lunch upstairs. Our salmon & cream cheese sandwiches (no crusts of course!), lemon squash & 2 desserts turned out to be the most expensive meal of our whole trip!

Well, here's a shot I didn't get busted for...cos I took it in the comfort of our hotel room! Some lovely patisseries from Sadaharu Aoki. I can't remember what they were called...the one in the foreground is my choice...a cakey layer on the bottom with crispy praline, layered with blackcurrant mousse & chocolate. Very interesting textures in the mouth. Tiff chose a strawberry moussey cake which she liked much more than mine!

We purchased these in the basement of the Isetan department store in Shinjuku. It has the most amazing food hall, packed with counters & counters of take-home Japanese food. But not just that, down here were mini French patisserie shops like Pierre Herme, Sadaharu Aoki, Jean-Paul Hevin...and to my astoundment, even Le Roux was here...famous for its salted butter caramels I fell in love with in France! But drats, they'd sold out!

I haven't been to Japan since I was 9, so it was very different seeing Tokyo with adult eyes! What a consumer culture...I keep saying to everyone - you can buy EVERYTHING in Tokyo! EVERYTHING!! Every brand name you've ever heard of is here! And so finally, here are some of the "brand name" biccies I bought: Pierre Herme florentines & currant biccies, Peltier mini palmiers and some very crispy coconut tuiles from L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (the hubbie's current fav):

Mmmm...there's nothing like bringing back food from your travels! But the use-by dates are calling me on these biccies....we are eating our way through them now! N