Ladurée

I can’t believe how much time I spent just to get to Laduree for a taste of the popular macarons. I’ve been able to try them before, but never have I actually set foot in one of their stores. This location of Laduree is quite far, located in a fancy mall in Tsim Sha Tsui. You seriously have to walk quite far from the MTR before reaching Harbor City.
In all honesty, yes, it’s definitely worth a visit if you’re a huge fan of macarons. However, I don’t know if it was because I was quite tired from the walk or because the mall was so big and we couldn’t find Laduree for a good 30 minutes, but by the time I actually got into the store and saw the very dull and lackluster colors of the macarons (compared to Bottega Louie), I was feeling pretty underwhelmed. Throw in being admonished by the store clerk for sitting (when we weren’t even sitting) on the window display shelf and being snubbed by the same clerk as I went to pick out my macarons, I had really little patience left.
In this mall, there are two or three other macaron shops with bold colors that look super inviting. The dim yellow lights of Laduree made the shop feel ancient, and the tacky looking boxes didn’t look welcoming either. But … we were already here, and I really wanted to try a few of their macarons while I could taste them fresh. Each one is $ 26 HKD which is about $ 3.35 USD — way pricier than Bottega! They have season flavors that rotate out as well as standard flavors. If you want to buy a box of macarons, you have to pay extra depending on WHICH box you want. A 18 piece was $ 800 HKD or $ 103 USD. I’m definitely not that crazy about macarons, so a standard square box of 8 macarons was enough for me. I think the total was around $ 30 USD.
I tried the following 8 flavors within 1 – 3 days:
Salted Caramel, Lemon, Vanilla, Rose Petal, Marie-​Antoinette, Marshmallow Strawberry Candy, Pistachio, Raspberry
The macarons definitely do live up to the hype, especially if you consume them the night you buy them; however, eating them a day or two later, they were still really good. I have to say that each one had that perfect bite to it — crispy and brittle shell that is delicate and fragile, but upon biting down, you get a nice chewy bite. My favorite flavors were the salted caramel, rose, and the Marie-​Antoinette (which tasted like Earl Grey). But the other five were also tasty, although I didn’t like the filling of the marshmallow strawberry candy one — just marshmallow inside, which was a letdown for me. Each flavor is distinct, and even biting into one without knowing the flavor, you’re able to tell what you’re eating.
Overall, the macarons were really good. I’m glad I can say I’ve finally experienced Laduree macarons. This store had a ton of other little baubles and items for sale, but the macarons were the most prominently displayed. I think due to their namesake and the fact that Laduree is so popular, they’re able to justify charging more than $ 3 per macaron. I wouldn’t say these were the BEST macarons ever, but they definitely are among the top macaron places I have tried.
Make sure you don’t tire yourself out when coming to the mall. We couldn’t find anywhere to sit so we sat against the wall while admiring our macarons and we were yelled at by the security guard that our sitting there made the mall look bad. Which is pretty common in HK because this happened to us several times before.
tl;dr — Pricey macarons, but worth a visit.

Macarons are my weakness! Do you know why? They are little pockets of cookie sunshine all snuggled in between two meringue cookies and they hold a super powerful burst of flavor. I am a sucker for pretty looking things and these macarons are no exception. I think we ended up buying an 8 pack box and it came to around $ 400 or so, I don’t remember, but the macarons here were far better than the other places that I have ventured too. They had a lot of seasonal flavors that weren’t in stock so we weren’t able to try them, but the Marie Antoinette was my favorite.
When you first walk into the store, theres two sections, one side where there are gifts and a bunch of laduree teas that you can buy. The other side is the macarons so yeps. That is basically alll that she wrote! Enjoy and treat yourself some time!

Absolutely delicious. Laduree is famous for it’s macarons, and although these weren’t made in Paris, I still believe that they are the best macarons I’ve ever had.
Macarons are expensive, and I think Laduree’s macarons were a fair price considering the shop’s rent in Hong Kong as well as the quality of the macarons.
The boutique had a unique design, custom to Laduree. Outside was a standing macaron tower fit for a royal wedding. When I came here (weekday afternoon), the line was short and I didn’t have to wait very long to purchase my macarons. The customer service was good and worked at a very quick pace.
If you purchased 6 macarons, you were able to choose from one of their complimentary boxes as shown in the picture below. There were a selection of 4 I was able to choose from, but I thought this one looked the nicest. Round boxes were available as well as square boxes if you purchase more.
Now to the macarons. I really appreciate the time and perfection of the pastry makers to accomplish such a skill with macarons. It’s not hard to make macarons, but to make it well is extremely hard. The shell was cooked perfectly, it wasn’t broken, wasn’t too chewy, wasn’t overly soft. When you bit into it, there was a slight crack as you break the shell. The inside cream was made extremely well as well to compliment the taste of the overall macaron shell.

I’ve tried the macarons from Paul Lafayette on my last trip to Hong Kong, but my cousin told me that this is far better. I gave it a try, and most certainly it is! A crunchy shell, soft chewy inside, and a generous filling. The coconut one even have some real shreds in it. Very delicious. I can’t call myself a big fan of macaroons but this place is as good as it gets. The macaroons are made in the original store in Paris. Glad to know they have Laduree in Miami Beach too.
The shop is beautifully decorated, a girl’s dream of pastel and laces. Their flavors seem to be more traditional, and while do have flavors like Gingerbread and rose, they do not the more exotic (or local, I guess, depending on your view) flavors like oolong, sesame, matcha, like other places.
The shop is near City Super and Uniclo, and there are several macaron places nearby. Don’t go to the wrong one!