During the Easter long weekend, I decided to check out the brand new Ladurée (Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram) which opened its doors March 24th and Rach was dragged came along with me. The maison (house) that started it all on 16 Rue Royale is said to be the birthplace of the “double decker macaron” with ganache filling. Not to be confused with the coconut based cookie macaroon. Note the single “o” in the word for the word nerds out there (one “o”). Ladurée brought their brand across the ocean and set up shop on Robson Street here in Vancouver.
Ladurée Recon
The night before we went, I decided to do some recon and check out the shop to make sure they were going to be open. Turns out they are up and running 7 days a week from 10am-9pm, including holidays! Ladurée takes their macaron-making very seriously.
Operation Macaron
Rach and I (after what seemed like forever to find free Downtown parking – it is possible) parked the car and took our place at the end of a decent line (on a scale of 1 to Comic Con, I gave the line a 2.5, Rach gave it a 4). After patiently waiting for a little over an hour and chatting with the lovely hostess/door-woman who handed out pamphlets so that we could see what kind of macarons were available for purchase, we were let inside the shop!

The store front and macaron menu. Photo credits: Jen & Rach.

The tea room and store decor. Photo credits: Jen.
The Goods
We decided on Cassis Violette (Blackcurrant), Citron (Lemon), Cédrat (Japanese Citrus), Thé Marie-Antoinette (Marie Antoinette Tea: black tea, rose, citrus, and honey), Caramel Fleur de Sel (Salted Caramel), Framboise (Raspberry), and Praliné (Praline). With the help of our super awesome (Rach can personally vouch for this) server, Jessica (seriously, she looked adorable in her uniform and up-do) helped us prepare our order! We ended up with a box of 8 🙂

The lovely Jessica . Photo credits: Jen.
Aside from tasty macarons, the bakeshop also sells cakes and truffles. And along the opposite wall, an assortment of jams, honeys, teas, scented candles, perfumes, macaron keychains, and adorable Harrod’s-esque Ladurée bags are for sale! Again, the items are a bit pricey, but boy did the place smell good!

The selection of items available for purchase. Photo credits: Jen & Rach.
Our Review
If you missed our Periscope review/unboxing, here is our review. Rach and I both agreed that the blackcurrant (seasonal flavour) was the one that wowed us the most. The right balance between sweet and tart! The delicate airy, melt-in-your-mouth, not overly sweet, macaron shell is the mac of all macs! I only wish I knew how to replicate this at home. Sadly, I’m not at jedi-level macaron skills. At least not yet. I was informed by a co-worker that the Marie Antoinette macaron was to die for. So obviously I had to try one myself. It didn’t impress me as much as the blackcurrant. The flavours were nicely balanced, not too floral with the rose flavour, but I could barely taste the black tea and citrus and the honey came in as a bit of an after thought. It left my tastebuds feeling a bit confused. The structure of the macaron shell was what blew me away though (aside from the blackcurrant flavour). Something to aspire to as a baker!

Yum! Photo credits: Rach.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Ladurée on Robson is a lovely little shop (I definitely want to come back and try their tea service because the tea room is adorable), even if it is a once-in-a-while kind of treat. They are a tad spendy ($3 CAD / macaron is a bit steep) and they also don’t have their Robson location phone number/store hours/social media info available online as of yet. Otherwise I’d give Ladurée a full 5/5 Nerdie Foodie spatulas! All that being said, if you are looking for a slice of Paris in downtown Vancouver, this is definitely the place to be.
Til next time,
Stay nerdalicious!
-Jen