Eating my way through French pastries: Les Millefeuilles

When you're in the city where delectable desserts abound, where streets are dotted with boulangeries and pâtisseries at almost every turn, resisting to stop, look, admire and then covet for those delightful treats is almost a futile attempt. The reason why I simply don't even try. Bad for my blood sugar? Yes. Equally bad for my waistline? For sure. Will it totally reverse the 15+ pounds I've worked so hard to lose since late last year? Definitely. But one just can't be in Paris and not go all out to sample, then discover which pâtisserie has the best croissants, or the best millefeuilles, or the best èclairs or offers the most exquisite L'Opera.

They say that life's too short to drink crappy wine and for me, time's too precious to be wasted on mediocre pastries. Not all French pastries are created alike. That only the greatest croissant - with its crisp, flaky layers and soft, chewy insides - can be derived from dough that has been kneaded, handled and caressed by only the hands of the skillful few should not be revolutionary news.  Besides, the boulangerie that has the greatest croissants may not offer the greatest cakes or entremets. I'm in Paris only for a short time - at least, that's what I know now - and I must, simply must, seek out the best of the best French pastries. The thing about my taste bud is that it has a weak memory; I may absolutely fall in love with a dessert that I tasted one day, then taste another less tantalizing dessert of the same kind, say, the next day but in that moment, the second dessert may seem superior to the one I tasted the day before simply due to the weakened registry of my reference point, i.e that fabulously delicious dessert I had just the day before! You see, my taste buds and olfactory senses tend to just gravitate to the current. So, armed with sheer determination and my ever-ready sweet tooth (I should say, teeth - a whole mouthful of them!), I set out to do some pâtisserie-boulangerie-hopping, hitting six popular stores  - Pierre Herme's, Lenôtre, Dallayou, Laduree, Sadaharu Aoki and Poilane (for the yeasted treats) to sample some of my favorites: the millefeuille, the croissant and L'Opera. I had wanted to visit Gerard Mulot and Patisserie des Rêves as well but we ran out of time. The idea was to get the same type of pastries from each store and sample them in one sitting. Pastry tasting. I believe it's a new and upcoming in the culinary field, or I could've just invented it but this method works well for me! Call it an occupational hazard, but someone just has to do it.

Each time I ask a French what's his/her favorite dessert, which dessert epitomizes the best of French pastries, the unanimous answer I've received is "les millefeuilles, bien sûr!". We sampled millefeuilles from Lenôtre, Sadaharu Aoki, Pierre Hermé and Dallayou. In terms of  size, PH's was the largest (it was also the most expensive at a little over six Euros a piece) whereas the others were pretty similar in size. To me, Dallayou's millefeuille had the most elegant form: slim rectangle and very chic-looking. All the millefeuilles sampled had traditional three layers of puffed pastries, with alternating layers of pastry cream although the layerings were not as visible in Sadaharu's compared to the rest.

Both PH's and Lenôtre had dark caramelized glaze, and little dusting of powdered sugar made for a pretty looking Lenôtre millefeuille.

Despite the fact that we had to walk around with the pastries in their boxes - unrefrigerated but it was a cool day - I could still hear the crispy crunch from the layers as I cut into Lenôtre's millefeuille. The créme patissiere was not cloyingly sweet and provided a nice melangé of silky smooth texture with the still crispy puffed pastry layers.
Sadaharu's millefeuille seemed even crunchier to the bite, most likely due to the caramel sugary bits. However, the pastry layers weren't as flaky as Lenotre's and the burnt sugar flavor came through strong. The pastry cream was rather subtle so the finishing taste that registered in my tastebuds were coming more from the caramel.  Hubby also felt that the slightly bitter aftertaste of the burnt sugar taste was somewhat over-powering.
Pierre Herme's millefeuille showcased the most layerings; you can actually see the individual layerings from the side profile, small detail perhaps, but I like to see the layers in my millefeuilles. After all, they are called millefeuilles (thousand-layer leaves), aren't they? The noise of crispy crunch as you cut into a millefeuille is always a good sign to me. PH's puffed pastry layers were flaky,  rich, and buttery with so much more depths in flavor (read: very, very rich) compared to the other two. There were nuts (hazelnuts, I believe) embedded in the bottom layer which also lended to its crispiness. The creme patisserie was also sweeter than the rest but overall, this combo have a more pronounced, slightly more sophisticated blend flavors than the other two.
Finally, Dalloyau's millefeuille, which was the most elegant looking, including a nice finishing touch -the icing on the cake, if you will -  a tiny piece of thin chocolate with their store name. A clever product branding. Unlike Lenôtre's or PH's millefeuilles, the pastry layers lacked the crunch as I cut into it and they didn't hold together as well as the others. The sweet, creamy smooth crème patissière was the highlight and was, to me, what made Dalloyau's millefeuille. A word on crème pâtissière - whilst it seems one of the easier things to make and probably the first thing they teach in Pastry 101, getting it to a smooth and silky texture is not exactly a straightforward feat; an understanding of coagulation process, the interplay of ingredients vs. temperature and sequence by which the ingredients are added make a difference in the end product.
So the final verdict?

PH's was the best millefeuille in this taste-test. I loved it for its textural qualities: crisp flaky pastry and creamy, almost comforting, silky smooth créme pâtissière and its flavors: buttery pastry, sweet caramely notes and hints of nuttiness blend together to render a rich, rich flavor.
My second favorite was Lenôtre's millefeuille, and then followed by a tie between Sadaharu's and Dalloyau's.
Although not in the same sitting, I also tasted Laduree's millefeuille on the same day during lunch. It was just so-so for my taste. There was a lot going on in their millefeuille; I felt their pâte was overdone and had a slightly bitter aftertaste; the praline was the saving grace although when it comes to bitter pastries, I don't think any amount of sweets and nuts could swing my vote.

Pastry route we took that day:

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