Almond joy: Places for macarons in Vancouver
Macarons, dainty almond pastries from France, jewel-toned and almost too precious to eat, are taking Vancouver pastry shops by storm. Connoisseurs are seeking out the most authentic as well as the most adventurously flavoured and consensus shows these shops are your macaron destinations. Pair with tea or coffee for the ultimate French experience. [Photo courtesy of Bel Cafe]
Bel Café
801 Georgia St W, Vancouver, BC V6C 1P7Housed in the Rosewood Hotel Georgia and run by the team behind five-star restaurant Hawksworth, you can expect the food at Bel Café to be exquisite. Their gorgeous little macarons are no exception. Sold individually or in sweetly wrapped packages of eight, standbys include black sesame and yuzu and more traditional vanilla and pistachio. But come back often to see their latest flavours — candy cane at Christmas and apple pie in the fall.
Kitchening & Co
205-20701 Langley Bypass, Langley, BC V3A 5E8Priding herself on using only the best of natural ingredients, colours and flavours, Carly Wintschel, the pastry chef behind wholesaler Kitchening & Co., sells her macarons at a wide variety of specialty shops and grocery stores in the Lower Mainland. Because of that commitment to natural ingredients, you can expect a more subtle colour on her enticing flavours — Mandarin strawberry and white chocolate, lemon ginger, salted caramel — and a pleasing organic shape betraying the handmade care she puts into them.
Thomas Haas Patisserie
128-998 Harbourside Dr, North Vancouver, BC V7P 3T2Frequently cited as producing the best in the city, Thomas Haas’s Parisian creations combine all the elements of a perfect macaron: a smooth, crisp outer shell that keeps its shape when you bite into it, a true taste of almond not overpowered by sugar, the right ratio of creamy filling to cookie and true flavour in all the different offerings. The bite-sized delicacies come in coffee, chocolate, caramel and vanilla as well as a range of tropical fruit flavours.
Aquilini Thierry Ltd
1059 Alberni St, Vancouver, BC V6E 1A1Just try to resist the electric-coloured discs beckoning from behind the glass case at Thierry’s café on Alberni. It might be difficult to bypass the other gorgeous cakes and pastries you’ll see before the display of macarons, but save your sweet tooth for these. Cassis, lychee, coconut-lime, Earl Grey and more — all the cookies deliver on a crisp exterior and pleasingly chewing interior, and while typically a two-bite treat, these generous macarons can be split into quarters (all the better for sharing and taste-testing).
Faubourg Bakery
2156 W 41st, Vancouver, BC V6M 1Z6The impressive display of macarons — row upon chromatic row — in this favourite Kerrisdale patisserie challenges you to taste just one. With signature sprinklings of ingredients on select flavors — black sesame seeds on pistachio, hazelnut crunch on praline, cracked pepper on strawberry — you’ll want to opt for their package of nine. And while these make lovely hostess or mother’s day gifts you may find yourself digging in before you even reach the party.
Soirette
1433 Pender St W, Vancouver, BC V6G 2S3The sheer beauty of these edible works of art will make it difficult to shatter the cookie’s crisp shell with your teeth. But we’re sure you’ll find a way to overcome. Intriguing flavours like savoury white truffle, goat cheese and walnut and matcha stand beautifully alongside classics like cassis, raspberry and passion fruit. These are definitely on the small and dainty side, but for $2 each, they’re a worthwhile, not to mention totally delectable, investment.
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