Tuesday, June 08, 2010

dessert: i strongly recommend LAETITIA



LAETITIA
No. 11, Lane 49, Anhe Road, Sec. 1
(02)8771-7720

MRT: Zhongxiao/Dunhua

website: laetitia.com.tw mostly Chinese

hours: 11 AM - 8 PM

$

Kid friendliness: shop is strictly to go, but kids will definitely love the cream puffs

Visit reviewed: 5/28/2010



I have a serious sweet tooth. Give me red velvet cupcakes with clouds of cream cheese frosting, a slice of lemon meringue pie, or warm chocolate chip cookies out of the oven and I'm an extremely happy camper. But actually, it's hard to find a lot of perfect desserts here in Taipei unless it's a bowl of shaved ice.

But if you're a fan of cream puffs, you're in luck. You might have heard of Beard Papa which makes a cream puff so popular it's found its way to the US and of course has shops all across Taipei.

But who would have expected the perfect cream puff to come out of this tiny little shop called Laetitia that will have you back for more. Step inside the shop and you'll be hit with the smell of deliciousness. Opened by a Japanese chef trained in France, Laetitia imports a lot of their ingredients from Japan, France and



At the counter, you can see their menu- besides cream puffs, they also sell (tiny) fruit tarts and pudding. The cream puffs come with custard cream (NT$45), bitter chocolate cream (made with Valrhona chocolate NT$50) or the changing flavor of the month, banana mango cream (NT$55).



Once you figure out how many cream puffs you have to bring back and share with everyone, they'll take the puff, pump in the cream and dust it with the right flavor so you can tell which is which.




On my second visit, I can't even wait to get home to eat my cream puff. The puff itself is light and crispy on the outside without being too dry and moistened with the cream on the inside, which my friend likened to tapioca pudding. If you're looking for vanilla flavor, then Beard Papa's has a stronger vanilla bean flavor. This one tastes like custard that oozes out of an eclair. Every bite I took, I asked, how do they make it so freaking good?!



The chocolate is worth trying too- it's not totally bitter like the name, but it's got a deeper dark chocolate flavor than you'd expect, courtesy of the Valrhona. I thought it would be a grown up's cream puff flavor, but my friend's kid devoured his faster than we ate ours.

If you purchase some to take home, definitely try to eat them the same day, as they soften and are definitely not the same experience the next day.

That is, if you don't eat them all before you get home.


View Larger Map

OTHER LOCATIONS

at KMall
No. 50, ZhongXiao W. Road, Sec. 1
(02)2370-6796

Banciao Train Station
No. 7, Xian Min Da Dao, Sec. 2, B1
(02)8969-3469

10 comments:

jar of buttons said...

There's a Beard Papa in Melbourne, Australia, too. Awesome puffs!

http://www.beardpapasweets.com.au/

JoB x

Nicholas said...

Not to detract from Laetitia's cream puffs, but what happened to the mango cream ones that Beard Papas used to offer?!

Baby Madison said...

**drools** reading ur blog is dangerous, it's so yumm-ilicious!

dennis said...

mmm i love cream puffs yumm~~
jar of buttons: melbourne!? ooo i must check it out! thx for the info

Jeff Huang said...

i just had the mango ones at Bear Papas in TW since mangoes are in season now

kirbie said...

These look yummy. The set up and the puffs looks a lot like Beard Papa's. Love the custard that comes out of eclairs..

Kathy said...

I tried their cream puff earlier this week too!

Sera said...

whats the temperature of the cream inside? is it room temp like chouxcream or does it taste best cool like custard?

Unknown said...

Just reading about cream puffs makes me hungry. I'm drooling all over my keyboard! Aside from tiramisu, cream puffs are my favorite desserts. I'm just happy there's a Beard Papas in Seattle.

joanh said...

jar of buttons: wow, beard papa everywhere!

nicholas: haha, it's probably seasonal and only in the summer?

baby madison: thanks! :)

dennis: me too!

jeff huang: haha, there's your answer nicholas!

kirbie: yes, definitely similar. i think they are both japanese/french.

kathy: did you like it? thanks for commenting!

sera: room temperature.. but i'm sure if you popped it in the fridge, it could be good too

kathy: haha. thanks for reading from seattle!

:)