CLOSED! dessert: HELLO KITTY PATESSERIE

HELLO KITTY PATISTORY
Eslite Mall (XinYi)
11, SongGao Road, B2
Taipei 110

$$

visit reviewed: 4-23-2006

ED 11/9/2006: Sorry Hello Kitty Fans! It seems like the Hello Kitty Patistory is no longer there. I went by last week while in the Eslite Mall foodcourt, and to my surprise the space was now occupied by a store selling furniture. Boo hoo!! Even though I can understand why- people liked to look, but probably not enough people bought stuff to keep it in business. Although I never really bought anything after my initial review because it didn't taste as good as it looked, I was sad I wouldn't ever get the chance to ever again, even if I wanted to. :( .. So if you are looking for Hello Kitty decorated cakes, I think there is a place in one of the other food courts in Mitsukoshi malls, but it's not as charmingly pink and packaged like this Patistory was.

(ED note 7-3-06: While I spelled "patisserie" wrong in the original review- OOPS- I will leave it in the title for those that are linking to it, however, upon double checking, the name of the shop is actually spelled "patistory".. so either someone else can't spell or it's a play on the words "pastisserie" and "story.")

Wandering around the food courts in Taipei is such an adventure- there is such a wide assortment of foods on just one floor- noodles, curry, steak on hot plates, desserts, drinks, bakeries. So was I surprised to see a bakery full of Hello Kitty decorated pastries and breads and cakes? The adult in me marveled at the marketing/retail genius who decided to extend the brand into food products, but little girl inside me shouted "must try some."

I think every little girl must have some memory of wandering through a Sanrio store and picking out a notebook, pencil, stationary or stickers to take home. The same little girls were wandering through this bakery, as well as the ones like me who used to do so, and now had the pocket money and sweet tooth to buy our own stuff. And the box.. the Hello Kitty box you got to take the pastries home in. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a sucker for packaging.


I'll have to take a picture next time of the brightly lit, pink and glossy area. The refridgerator section that held the rows of tiramisu, fruit tarts and white chocolate Hello Kitty toppings, as well as the area with the varied baked breads and cakes with Hello Kitty image burned into them.


The strawberry tart (NT$99) is like any other strawberrry tart- sweet little strawberries drenched in jelly sugar, with a crust that is too dense and stiff to eat.


The signs in the bakery unfortunately are in Chinese, so I had to ask them what was inside these breads. This one had red bean (NT$40). Though the dough is soft, it wasn't really sweet or particularly tasty. The filling inside was a glob of read bean. I didn't finish it and wouldn't try it again.


The tiramisu (NT$108) was more cream than cake and the Hello Kitty chocolate on top had no flavor at all. I expected it to be a tasty reward at the end, a sweet piece of white chocolate to savor, but instead it was just pretty display. Maybe for the mold and decoration, they couldn't use chocolate that tasted good? I don't know! But I was extremely disappointed. At least I get to keep the glass container that came with it.


This one (NT$108) I gave away, as I thought it was so cute. I'm not sure how it tasted.

Was I suckered into it? After all, picking out the pastries and bringing them home in the giant Hello Kitty box made me really happy, and the desserts cost no more than the desserts I would try at the other bakeries. I sampled the chocolate and cheesecakes that they had available, which were actually pretty tasty. So I would give it another chance. I think they would probably make really cute gifts or party favors, for die-hard Hello Kitty fans, as the presentation is really great.