The Food Nazi

So, here I was, confronting a spread of gorgeous looking pastries, plagued by my habit of indecision (see previous posts). The Japanese store clerk behind the counter looked anticipatingly in my direction, having just finished helping the customer in front of me. She started to pelt me with an onslaught of French to which I summoned up a feeble "bonjour" (the only phrase in French I learned up until that point). Her face registered some mild confusion at my inability to speak the language. Great, I thought, maybe I'll just point my way through this one. (I've found that there exists a fairly significant Japanese population in France that speaks fluent French and Japanese but understands nary a word of standard English.)

Fortunately for me, the storeclerk was not one of those. Having recovered from her intial shock of having discovered me for the imposter I was (and still am), she started to communicate with me in rather comfortable English. Granted, this only made me feel mildly worse at having now become this woman's linguistic pity project. But, I reminded myself, I'm doing this all for the pastries, putting personal dignity aside. "No eclairs?" I inquired. She shook her head and explained that desserts are on a rotational basis - I would have to come back another day for the black sesame eclairs I had been looking forward to.

I decided on the two pastries I had been eyeing for quite some time now: the Flan Sesame Miel, a substitute for the absence of sesame eclairs, and the Duomo Macha Azuki. "Sur Place," I informed her in my botched French, indicating with my hands that I intended on eating in-house. (I hear that the French are more cordial towards foreigners who are willing to squeeze a few phrases of French into conversation. Though, in my case, I'm not sure if that meant a few good phrases of French or a few botched phrases of unlearned French.)

I was graciously invited to take a seat in one of the two dine-in booths located in the shop. The store clerk, it seemed, had taken a sudden warmness to my being there. I soon discovered why. "Tea?" she asked me, gesturing to a menu she had put in front of me. I shook my head politely no. "Tea?" she asked again, following this question with an explanation of their formal dine-in policy: dine-in customers are required to order a beverage with their desserts. Doing some quick calculations in my head, I realized that this would bring me past the 10 euro mark. Slightly annoyed but realizing that this could substitute for a more adequate lunch, I decided to go ahead and order the house-special Melange Tea, since I had already comfortably colonized the tiny dine-in booth.

I waited another fifteen minutes or so for my pastries to arrive at my table, though I'm not quite sure why it took so long since it was apparent upon their delayed arrival that the clerk had done little if anything as far as presentation was concerned.

While I waited, I indulged in my mandatory cup of melange tea. Despite my initial opposition to the fact, the tea was quite pleasant. Its orange notes were remarkably prominent and blended seamlessly with the underlying herbal notes from the green tea. It was the perfect tea for a dessert house since its flavors were not unbearably thick and dark as with most other herbal teas intended for consumption with more significant main dishes as a counterpoint to meaty and savory flavors.

Having found some state of sweet nirvana in the melange tea, I was happy to find that the pastries had finally arrived, presented simply in tandem upon an elegant glass plate. The flan sesame miel (bottom left) was delightful. Its black sesame flan cradled by the flaky pate choux crust made a beautiful pairing. I am personally of the opinion that the use of black sesame in any dessert should respect the integrity of the fragrant flavors of black sesame. Most Chinese desserts tend to succeed in this regard, while others tend to abuse the flavors of this delicate ingredient by oversaucing or cloying sweetness. I am happy to report that Sadaharu AOKI was of the latter school of thought: the flan sesame carried the natural flavors of the black sesame elegantly and simply, though I wish the flavors were emboldened just a tad bit more. A surprising finish to this dish was the sprinkling of dried nori and white sesame, though I was not sure whether or not any of these flavors lent anything to this dish apart from pure shock value and traditional Japanese flavor that was both quaint and visually stimulating.

The duomo macha azuki was nothing short of remarkable, however. The smooth flavors of the cool azuki filling were ecnased in a light green tea shell, married well with a chocolate paste and a baby green tea macaroon. The dish was a whimsical reinterpretation of the French-style macaroon - its flavors bold and brassy but light and refreshing to taste. It definitely follows the model of most French-Japanese desserts, which is to say that they are stylistically intricate but do not leave you feeling heavy at all. This is one dessert I could eat over and over again. Suffice it to say, this dessert has most certainly won its place on my list of desserts I would willingly walk a mile for in the freezing cold (fortunately for me, with the glorious summer heat, I didn't have to).

Prior to my Monday night departure, I made it a point to revisit Sadaharu for a chance to catch their black sesame eclairs before returning to London. It was my lucky day! Not only did they have their famous black sesame eclairs, they also had their opera cake as well! So, what is a foodie to do except to order them both?

This time around, I definitely fit the role of older but wiser, namely because I had spent an exorbitant amount of money over the week and was reluctant to spend any more than I had to. So, when offered the chance to eat "sur place," I politely declined and asked to have my pastries wrapped to go (ala "sur cheapo," or something to that effect).

With my arsenal of afternoon goodies tucked under my arm in a quaint carrying box, I made my way to the local park near the Pompidou Center to savor my latest purchases, though I found it difficult to keep myself from attacking them head-on while riding on the subway....I proudly managed to restrain myself. Upon arriving at the park and finding myself a seat alongside the main road, I tore open the packaging to gaze admiringly at these two gems, tempting me with their luxurient, calorific goodness:

But looks can be very deceiving. And, in this case, they were disappointingly so. The black sesame eclair I had heard so much about was a disappointment from the very first bite: a soggy pastry shell. The filling had a notable black sesame flavor, but could have definitely used a lot more. Unlike the flan sesame miel I had tried previously, the black sesame filling in the eclair seemed almost timid at best, as if afraid of its own black shadow (and all its sesamey goodness). To further the problem, the eclair also had an unnecessarily cloying iced topping that only served to mask the natural pungency of the black sesame interior. I wonder if the pastry chef resorted to using the iced topping as campy compensation for the otherwise dull flavors of the eclair....or so it would seem.

Even more disastrous was the "much-acclaimed" opera cake, which was in essence a layered mess of melty chocolate ganache and not-so-satisfying hazelnut cream. The flavors of this dish worked against each other, creating a dessert-style warfare for the senses that left me feeling utterly shell shocked. And, to make matters worse, the cake suffered from the same disease that plauged the sesame eclair: cloying sweetness. I'm of the impression that the pastry chef (probably suffering from a hangover as a result of previous night's festivities) hoped to mask the inadequacies of these creations with a cloying sweetness, hoping that the average audience would be too imperceptive to notice the difference. That's giving him the benefit of the doubt.

But, in spite of my negativities, I would remind myself of the more positive experience I had the first time running: the well-married flavors of the duomo macha azuki, the wonderful fragrance of the flan sesame miel, the enchanting melange tea. I would give this place the benefit of the doubt by concluding that even great patisseries are capable of having a bad day or two. Yet, I would also do well to remind myself (and others) that it is important, when sampling flavors of new restaurants or bakeries, that the best thing to do is follow your gut, not popular opinion.

SADDAHARU AOKI

Atmosphere: *** (3/4)

Food: **** (4/4)

Service: ** (2/4)

Value: ** (2/4)

35, rue de Vaugirard 75006 / Tel : 01-45-44-48-90 / Fax : 01-45-44-48-2911: 00 am to 7: 00 pm

56, boulevard Port Royal 75005 / Tel : 01-45-35-36-80 / Fax : 01-45-35-34-138: 00 am to 7: 30 pm-closed on Sundays

Posted by J. Lo on Monday, July 10, 2006 at 12:50 AM | Permalink