Friday, February 27, 2009

richart, rigollot, darcis

I'm bummed, I just heard that the department store that I go to buy the ficelle apertif from is closing in August. It is true that I don't always go, it is sort of out of the way, but whenever I am in the area, I like to pick up something from them. Oh well, at least I have until August and maybe someone will bring them into their department store.

Let's move onto chocolates...

Richart is a pricey chocolate from France. They also have a shop in Tokyo and were at the chocolate fair for Valentine's.

I didn't realize it but these bon-bons are tiny, less than an inch squared, but the flavors they pack are huge...well, most of them anyway. The Petit Richart set was reasonably priced so I got the No.1 set.

Caramel Coulis (top left)--caramel filling covered with dark chocolate.

Raspberry Ganache (top right)--nicely raspberry ganache covered with dark chocolate

Mandarin Orange (bottom left)--nicely flavored orange ganache covered with dark chocolate

Green Tea (bottom right)--no green tea taste...rather disappointing.

Darcis is a Belgian chocolatier. His bon-bons were simple and delicious.

Supreme Noir (left)--a puff pastry mixed with gianduja covered with dark chocolate

Coeur Blanc--white chocolate no filling

Passion--passion fruit ganache covered with milk chocolate, the passion fruit flavor grew as you ate this....nice.

Caraibe (far right)--milk and dark ganache covered with dark chocolate. This was a little smoky, but delicious.

And lastly, there were chocolate macarons....

Rigollot, another MOF, came out with these macarons for Valentine's day.

The top of each macaron had a dark chocolate disc and was marked with the letter of each flavor like an acrostic poem of sorts.

M = mure (blackberry)
A = agrumes (citrus)
C = chocolat
A = abricot (apricot)
R = rose
O = olive
N = noisette (hazelnut)

My favorite was apricot because it had bits of apricot in the butter cream filling. The one that was a disappointment was rose, it was a fake rose flavor, too perfumy.

This ends my chocolate adventures (for now). Hope you enjoyed them, let's get back to the kitchen and other adventures.

UPDATE: I just read that Darcis has opened a boutique in Osaka.

10 comments:

Jenster said...

Those macarons look adorable! Is the rose flavor popular in Japan? The few times I had it the flavor didn't do much for me either. I love roses but I'd rather look and smell than eat them.

dario said...

Whaaat??? It's over? And just when you made my eyeballs pop out when I saw the macs from Rigollot. That is so unique to see the chocolate discs on top.

genkitummy said...

I love reading your posts about all the chocolates you try. They all look too beautiful to eat.

islegrl said...

The chocolates are so pretty! And, the macarons are so colorful! Out of all the chocolates you've tried, have you narrowed down your top three favorites? I'm so curious which ones appeal to you the most. : )

KirkK said...

What great looking confections!

K and S said...

Thanks Jenster, yes the rose flavor is popular, I think because of Pierre Herme (another macaron maker), I think it makes a difference if you use rose water or rose flavoring. (I think rose water would come out lighter and easier to eat).

That is so funny Dario! I cannot stay away from sweets for too long, thanks for stopping by.

Thanks Genki, they do look really beautiful but that usually doesn't stop me :p

I really enjoy the dark chocolates Islegrl, and then the ones with hazelnut fillings or citrus fillings. I don't think I could pinpoint a certain chocolatier because they are all unique.

Thanks Kirkk :)

Take care everyone!
Kat

chimerastone said...

The time I was in Hong Kong. I wanted to buy some macarons but they were very expensive. Thought it would be better if I found a recipe it turned out they can be difficult to wait. Chocolate has to be dark because can't stand milk or white.
You can mistake Green Tea because it has a distinct flavour. Hardly brought any chocolate except for MeltyKiss by Meiji. They more like truffles lightly dusted with cocoa and most of them were eaten before I had the chance.

K and S said...

Yes macarons are expensive but I think they would be worth it, though I would like to try making them someday, Chimerastone.

Take care.
Kat

Deb in Hawaii said...

More beautiful chocolate! And those macarons--yum! I finally got to the chocolate store in Kailua yesterday so I will be posting some chocolate of my own soon. ;-)

K and S said...

ooh I can't wait to see what you tried Deb!

Take care.
Kat