Sadaharu Aoki

I came here on a Thursday afternoon before going to Luxembourg Gardens since it's nearby. This place is takeout only but the park is nearby where you can sit and enjoy the desserts. My friend and I ordered the matcha azuki (chocolate biscuit, biscuit dacquoise, crispy praline, matcha mousse, red bean) cake and the caramel chocolate tart (sweet tart crust, salted caramel, milk chocolate). They packaged them very well and also provided utensils. I liked the matcha azuki cake the most. The matcha was high quality so it had a strong matcha flavor. The praline and dacquoise were crispy. The caramel chocolate tart was good as well but I'm not really a fan of milk chocolate. I would definitely go to other locations and try their other items! There weren't any crème puffs or eclairs at this location so will definitely check out their other locations.

Sadaharu Aoki is a sweet disposition of where Japanese meets French. Japanese desserts are normally cutesy, so it was nice to see an Asian spin on the poshness of French pastries and desserts.

I'm not sure if the pastries are premade at a facility and are the same at the other Sadaharu Aoki locations, but I'm hoping not. I got the Zen Cake--layers of black sesame cream, Matcha sponge cake, white chocolate, spiked with Cognac brandy (which I did not taste), and topped with a green tea macaron. It looked and sounded delicious--although very pricey--but I trusted that it would be worth the 6€ price tag. It was not.

I was probably overly anticipating too much on getting a pastry here, that it turned out to not be what I expected. I wanted to love it because Matcha and black sesame are two of my beloved flavors when it comes to dessert, but the overall was just utterly disappointing. It felt like layers were falling apart as I bit into it and the black sesame on the bottom was just a solid layer of flavoring that was unpleasant to eat at the end of every bite--I honestly couldn't distinguish the flavors. It was a sweet mess.

I was also very disappointed that there was no seating at all. I would expect a place like this to have some sort of seating or even somewhere to stand, but nope.

This place was delicious!

The storefront is super tiny; we walked right by it without even noticing it was there at first!

The green tea macaron and the earl grey macaron were so flavorful! You can actually taste what the flavor us supposed to be, unlike at some bakeries where the flavor is overpowered by sugar. The buttercream was a little too thick and rich for our taste though, but overall 4.5/5!!

I love French macarons and though I'm not an expert, I've tried my fair share and even attempted making my own. Almost every patisserie in Paris also offers macarons and I couldn't possibly try it every time I saw them (or at least it wouldn't be a good idea for my health or wallet in the long run) so I looked up some places to try. I heard of this place and decided that it would be great to try macarons in more unique flavors.

Thankfully, the place was open in August (one of the other places I had planned to try was closed for the month for vacation and I was getting a bit despondent) and I walked in. The place looked pristine but it doesn't seem to be a sit-down place. They also serve beautiful looking patisseries and we ultimately decided upon the Black Sesame, Houjicha, and Wasabi. I got their matcha and red bean dessert (sorry, I forget the actual name and no photo because we took everything to-go and when we finally got a chance to eat it, it had fallen over and looked a little sad). There is a minimum €10 purchase for credit card; we were slightly short on cash so that's why we had an odd number of macarons (one was added last minute).

We immediately tried the macarons as soon as we left the shop. I felt like a naughty kid savoring every morsel. I strangely liked wasabi a lot more than I thought I would; it wasn't overpowering at all. The Houjicha was a close second (or did it come first?) - the flavor was perfect and very much apparent. The black sesame was good too, but out of the three, it came in last - something about the texture? However, I did love all the macarons as a whole. Nothing was too sweet and the texture was good.

We got to the pastry over an hour later, after strolling through Paris and found a Starbucks where we could enjoy food from other places while sitting down. As I said, it had fallen over and the cream wasn't as firm as before, though the cellophane held it together well enough. However, it was still very delicious. We had gotten it on the recommendation of the lady helping us (I was also considering "Bamboo") and I'm glad we did! The matcha flavor was beautiful and though I'm not too fond of beans in desserts, it was smooth and I actually liked it.

I wish I could visit again to try more of their pastries and perhaps even macarons. They're not cheap (though the macarons are still cheaper than how much they run in the States), but worth it! The employees don't seem to know much English and I was trying to remember my Japanese (who knew I would need to know Japanese in France?), but it was still good and went smoothly. I just wish they had some seats so I could have enjoyed everything fresh!

Japanese-inspired French desserts, now that's a win-win anytime in my book. Of course, I can't get enough of anything matcha or green tea flavored so naturally I had to try out this patisserie.

Sadaharu Aoki is a Japanese chef patissier who formerly worked for Jean Millet and at Frédy Girardet, a three Michelin star restaurant in Switzerland. He is a pastry legend, so it was a delight to be able to visit one of these shops.

The selection of pastries is overwhelming, but I ultimately selected one matcha croissant. You can expect many other desserts though, such as yuzu tarts, matcha rolls, genmaicha and matcha and black sesame eclairs, matcha millefeuilles, and matcha Paris Brest.

My matcha croissant was amazing. The matcha is distinct and pairs wonderfully with the soft and flaky croissant. I devoured my croissant and immediately wanted another. I hope to stop by in the future on another visit to Paris for more dessert offerings.

Strangely enough, Sadaharu Aoki reminds me of Goldman Sachs!

Before anyone visualizes a place where people are angrily picketing outside (for being the poster child of what's wrong with the global economy), let me explain what I mean by that. Sadaharu Aoki has a fabulous brand name and reputation in the industry. Everyone who has dealt with it is in awe of its abilities and track record. But, what few people know is that it's not a fountain of ingenuity and creativity - instead, it has mastered the art of replicating a successful product. It's strength really is execution, as opposed to innovation.

For seven years, my profile has had under 'My Last Meal On Earth': "Macarons & Pastries by Pierre Herme and Sadaharu Aoki" - That's been edited after my last trip to Paris, to include just one name...

Is the patisserie still making efforts to innovate? Have I missed any developments with Aoki's life? Why have the bakery's Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts (in English) not been updated since October 2016? (Even the today's catalogue on the English website is as of December 2016). I hope, and pray, that all's well with him. But, even if he's doing well, I still worry that the silence on the social media accounts is part of a bigger picture: of the patisseries now being on auto-pilot...

You're always safe in ordering anything at Sadaharu Aoki that features black sesame or Matcha (his sesame éclair and tarte caramel are masterpieces!). I ordered four macarons here in my last visit: Sesame, Hojaicha, Citron, and Rose. Rose was clearly the one I liked most - for the aromatics, not just the texture and taste. In the sables, I got the Diamants, which were competent, but lagged a superior version I'd had in Montreal (Maison Christian Faure). I also tried three different pastries, including the popular Bamboo.

Cheese cake Citronne: Pate sucree, cream cheese, lemon cream, hazelnut crumble.
Bamboo: light almond sponge cake, green tea cream, dark chocolate ganache, green tea punch.
Ginza: almond biscuit, hibiscus cream, coulis of strawberry, raspberry, and currant.

It's clear that in terms of design, chef Aoki prefers the spiral. It's there in his Ispahan equivalent: Symphonie (with earl grey crème brulee)... and, as one of the biggest fans of the movie Vertigo, I can understand why. But, as he says about his motto on everyday life after hearing someone say "Delicious!": "Good, but I can do even better!"

Yes, you can! Master Patissier, Aoki. (4.5 stars)

My favorite, favorite macaron maker. I wouldn't call myself a macaron expert, but I wouldn't call myself a macaron noob either. I've been to pretty much every big name macaron place in France and I'd eat about 5-10 macarons a day for 15 days ... so I'm experienced. Can you tell they're my favorite dessert?? And with that experience, I will have to say that above Laudree (which is too sweet and kind of crumbly), above Pierre Herme (which is EXCELLENT as well but specializes more in unique flavors), above Gerard Mulot (which is average), above Pain de Sucre (which has flavors that I didn't really care for), above Carette (filling is too thick), above Angelina (stick with the hot chocolate), etc. etc. ... I would go for Sadaharu Aoki every day.

I guess my macaron taste profile leans more towards light, chewy, flavorful. Sadaharu Aoki is airy, with just the right amount of crunch, and delicate flavors. I really don't care for macarons with fillings that are thick and overly sweet like jam. The shell also needs to be a bit crunchy but ultimately have that chew for me.

Hope this helps my fellow macaron addicts out there!!

This place was super quaint! If you're on the way to the Eiffel Tower, drop by for some sweet treats. First of all, I am a matcha fanatic and their matcha cream puffs were on point! The matcha cream was delicious, not too sweet and just had the perfect amount of matcha mixed in. Their macaron flavors were unique, such as yuzu hojicha, and black sesame. Oh of course, they had matcha macaron as well. Highly recommend a little visit! I enjoyed my matcha cream puff while soaking in the sunshine in front of the Eiffel Tower, sort of melted and all after a million selfies.

This place is really hit or miss.
First of all, the treats are expensive for how small they are. I live really close to this place and have tried all of their staple pastries.

The treats aren't consistent. Sometimes the Yuzu is too sour, sometimes the matcha is so strong it's nauseating. I'm not the biggest fan of their Eclairs because they taste strange with a Barley & green tea eclair and then the black sesame eclair. Their chocolate fondant is good but you could get it anywhere. Their matcha and caramel tarte is the best thing on this planet.

They have limited quantities so go early if you want dibs on the good stuff. They have a glass case wth pastures and a wall of packaged breads, jams, and cookies. They also sell a jar of macarons without the filling which is interesting.

Quality here is much higher than Aki Boulanger in the Opera area. They don't allow photographs inside the bakery which is heinous considering we are in Paris where almost everyone has a camera on them.

But what is nice is that they tape down your treats to the box so there is very little damage done on the transport home. They also taste quite good the next day which I can't say for most pastry shops!!!

Came here for the interesting macaron flavor combinations that they had.

Not sure if it's like this in all of the locations, but you can only buy the macarons in packs of multiples. There was a 6-pack and a 16-pack, and one in between which I can't seem to remember.

My wife and I ended up with the 16 (22€), because I really wanted to try the wasabi flavored macaron and that was the only pack that had it. The macarons were good overall. The shells were a little hit or miss. Some of them seemed fresher than others. Their filling to shell ratio was a little more than I would prefer. The fillings were really interesting though, which is what we really came for the unique flavors. My favorites were probably the wasabi and the matcha flavored ones.