A Visit to Laduree, Harrods in London

 

Laduree is a French patisserie that has a few shops in London. They are known for their macaroons, which are very good, but also apparently their hot chocolate. Since I had never had their hot chocolate before, and wanted to have a nice treat, I decided to stop by the Laduree in Harrods because it's very convenient to get to and if you have to wait in line, which you will, you can wait inside. In convent garden, for example, you have to wait outside to be seated and most of their seating is also outside which is not great for February.

When I got to Laduree I had to wait around 20-30 minutes to  get inside. Apparently this is more than normal because they had a lot of booking that day; it was also a Saturday. I got in around 3 pm and was sat in the lower café area near the cases with the pastries. I order the hot chocolate or “Laduree chocolate” for £4.20 and a selection of three mini Viennoiseries; the walnut croissant, pain au chocolate, and sugar brioche. These were £3 together as a set but individually they would be around £1.30. Once my order was taken, I received my food quite quickly. The chocolate came in a little metal pourer, so you poured it yourself into your cup. It had enough for a little over one cup. To not make a mess, I only filled mine up a little over half way each time. It was very good, thick but not overly sweet and tasting strongly of chocolate not cocoa powder. It wasn't life changing, I happen to have a great French style hot chocolate recipe, but is better than the standard hot chocolate and Starbucks hot chocolate. The pastries were wonderful though. The walnut one was my favorite; it had a walnut filling and a pastry icing on the outside. The Pain au Chocolate was buttery and flaky with super rich chocolate inside. The brioche was not super exciting, just a sweet buttery breast with pearl sugar topping, but I prefer having one pastry of a different texture, the other option I could have chosen was a plain croissant. They also were a good size, they were around the size of my palm so three was a satisfying snack. Next time I can see myself buying the slightly cheaper pot of tea (~£3.50) and the pastry election or one of the more expensive selection (~£5) or the large walnut croissant ~£3. There was an unfortunate mandatory 12% service fee that brought my total to £8.11. I think this is pretty stupid especially considering I ended up having to wait over ten minutes to get my check since they were busy and the one who got my check went even my waiter but another server. In the end, I spent about 45 minutes inside and over an hour there in total.

Overall, I enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. It wasn't anything ground breaking and it's not like I got the best seat in the house. The normal meals looked great, but way too expensive for me. So, if I go back again, I will just be getting a little treat again. But, all in all, a great place to stop by for a visit or a special occasion.