There has been a flurry of activity around the Macaron in Bangalore. Suddenly home bakers have taken to trying their hand at churning these pretty treats out, Taj Vivanta has a Macaron festival, patisseries are selling them hot off the mint and there has even been serious discussions on a popular food group around their spelling! Adding to this is Masterchef Australia – I don’t think there’s been one season where the contestants have not tried their hand at impressing the judges with a fancy macaron. I guess we’ve reached critical mass for the Macaron in Bangalore and Amande Patisserie has come in at the right moment!
Before you read any further, I have a few things to profess. When I first came across Amande, I was just a happy customer. Being a click crazy person, of course I had to take pretty pictures of the Macarons and cry out to all and sundry on Facebook on how much I loved them. Owing to this evangelist behavior Amande’s customer list included people from my friend list as well! Amande’s owner was tickled pink that a few pictures could get him a larger fan following. (They don’t have a retail outlet yet..only home delivery by ordering online.) So he asked me to click a couple of more pictures for his website – to showcase new flavors. I happily obliged (which food photography obsessed geek wouldn’t?). So now that Amande is a photography client, (P.S. As of now, none of my pics are updated on the website yet. Will let you’ll know when they are) Would it be wrong of me to write about them? I did think of this for a long time and finally decided – I love their macarons irrespective of shooting for them and it would be a great disservice to you guys if I didn’t talk about it here. Besides, if I’m telling you upfront about the circumstances, so I’m sure you guys would understand. (P.S. I got paid in kind in Macarons and wine, so that lessens the promotional angle :P)
So let’s start at the beginning. (And God said ……) Ok, just the beginning of the Macaron then? The Macaron is a cookie made of almond powder, sugar and egg whites. It was actually born in Italy, but the current version with two macarons sandwiched together with jam, butter cream or ganache was the brain child of the famed Laduree Sweets and Gourmandises in Paris. They even have a story of ‘le Macaron’ on their website J They apparently sell 15,000 macarons a day and are one of the best macaron makers in the world. Since we can’t fly down our quota of the little pieces of heaven (yes, it’s true), we can contend ourselves with the next best alternative – order them in Bangalore! Now the Macaron (French) is not to be confused with the Macaroon (American/ English/ Indian). The ‘macaroons’ most popular variety is the coconut macaroon and the cashew macaroon – easily available in our Iyengar bakeries and not all that delicate! So unless you want to end up wondering what the big deal was – be sure to get the name right!
Amande means Almond in French. The owners thought that would be an apt name for their patisserie since the main ingredient of a macaron is almonds! They have nine regular flavors that are available every day and they intend to introduce new flavors on a weekly basis. Of the nine, my favorite happens to be the Belgium Dark chocolate and the Raspberry. (There were more flavors on trial when I visited the patisserie and let’s just say something with ‘fig’ in it will be my future favourite J).
Since they don’t retail out of a store as yet, you would need to order online. You have two options – you can visit their bakery and pick up the macarons yourself – no minimum order required for the same. Or they will deliver the macarons at your doorstep (minimum order is set at a different level for different areas in Bangalore + delivery charges). The delivery charges to my side of town (the farthest) is Rs.300, so it makes sense to order in, only on a large quantity.
The macarons itself come in a cute little carry box (of eights and fours) and that adds to the charm of giving it as a gift to someone. I generally order the assorted flavors because I love to be surprised, but they do boxes of single flavors as well. The owners said the macarons last for six hours outside the fridge and upto five days if refrigerated. However, I prefer to eat them the same day because I feel it tastes fridge-y after it gets cold. (Just thinking about them is making me crave some!!). They even do a Macaron tower on order. I saw a dad take one for his little girl’s birthday. (Hint hint: My birthday’s next year but Diwali is close by 😉
I have eaten the macarons at Café Noir (too sugary), Nitash Patisserie (love the salted caramel) and at Taj Vivaanta (expensive) and The Chancery (standard flavors). So in comparison, like Goldilocks’ story of the Baby Bears bed being just perfect – Amande works for me! Enjoy Le Macaron!
AMANDE PATISERRIE
115, 4th Main, 4th Stage, T.R. Nagar,
Bangalore – 560028
Ph: +91 80 2676 1080, +91 90360 61734
Website: www.amande.co.in
Parking: On the Street
Order Online and Home Delivery Available
Price Point: Rs.200 + taxes for a box of 6. (does not include delivery)
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