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Patisserie La Palme Dor, a closer look
Aloha!
9/6/09 - Like Satura Cakes, Patisserie la Palme D'or is another Japanese-originated designer bakery that grew discontented with the quality of American bakeries in general, and wanted to change the situation directly. Though the over-all situation is slowly changing here on the island (and the Mainland, too!) with the opening of new designer bakeries like Hokulani, Cake Couture, and more, these upscale spots are still very much in the minority and generally known only by a more discriminating bunch. The crux of the quality-disconnect between the best designer bakeries like these and normal, traditional bakeries stems from the latters' widespread use of cheaper, easy-to-use, ready-made cake mixes that can be shipped en-masse, instead of using fresh ingredients from scratch. Here, they even import butters, creams, sugars, and more straight from select districts of Japan! But that's not all. As you know, baking is an art form all to its own, and creme-of-the-crop Bakery Chefs undergo just as extensive a training as Executive Chefs at any restaurant, and so, quite naturally, you'll have places like Patisserie La Palme D'or making everyone else nervous by raising the bar to world-class levels - and that's a good thing, right?
This posh, but casual-little spot on the third-floor of the Ala Moana Shopping Center began with the noteriety of Chef Masashi Goto, who was invited to challenge Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai on the popular television series. He eventually lost in a prawn cook-off, but like runner-up contestants on American Idol, you don't reach those levels without acquiring a great deal of respect and admonition. A quick look their website, however, and there's no mention of Chef Goto anymore, so I'm not sure if he's still with the company or not. No worries, though, as this place still has a slew of talented, well-trained, experienced Chefs to carry the torch.
One look inside the store, and you'll know you're not in Napolean's or Liliha Bakery anymore:
Ok, that's four looks, but a place like this deserves a little more recognition, anyway...
The display cases reveal a bit less, as far as variety goes, than I've seen in the past - no doubt, because of the tough economy. In fact, as you can see in the second picture from the top, the entire right-hand case had been shut down! No worries, though, as there was still lots to go around on tables, shelves, and display cases throughout the store.
Here's a few of 'em:
On this particularly fabulous day, we were headed-out to Trace and Renee's house, and this beautiful berry cake had no place at a backyard bbq with a bunch of guys on Longboard lager's and Bud Light's. Besides, at almost $40, I think the boyz' would have been much happier with a pound of fresh ahi poke, a pound of tako poke, a half-pound of topshell, and maybe some spicy edamame, taegu, and boiled peanuts, as well - all of which would have been about the same price!
Nevertheless, there's still always no shortage of lovely ladies around, so we picked-up several foo-foo desserts, albeit of the much cheaper kind! To start-off, there was a whole vanilla roll cake for under $20 that looked great:
And it tasted great, too! Light, moist, fluffy, delicate - and with a vanilla cream that didn't give you a sugar rush nor a bloated, sick feeling in the stomach afterwards, even after eating several slices! Mmm - perfect with beer!
Next-up was a panna cotta, which is normally a blend of cream, milk, sugar, and gelatin, but here they use condensed milk, so no need for any extra sugar. Once again, this choice was extremely light. Felt great on the tongue, though - super-silky and delicate, and nothing like the flan, burnt cream, or custard you'll have at most places.
Wifey seems to enjoy that new health rage - acai. And those bowls you find everywhere - I wonder how potent they are, as far as health benefits go? I mean, how much of the actual vitamins, anti-oxidants, and phyto-chemicals are actually preserved from the actual berries and transported into these mixed bowls? If I had to take a guess, I'd say very little...
But there are fresh fruits here, as you can see. There's bananas, blueberries, a little strawberry - I guess it's all good, as I'm sure most folks get these things primarily for the sweet-tooth preferences, anyway, and only secondarily for its health-related qualities.
The last cup we brought-over was a beautiful mango cup. This layered creation came with three levels of mango - a mousse down-below, a jello in the middle, and fresh mangoes on-top, along with a bit of cream and garnish for color:
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It was only a few days after our backyard bbq when I stopped-by yet again to pick-up a few treats. Actually, it was wifey's birthday, and I wanted to do something special - only problem was, money's reeeeal tight these days! After dropping so much for the book (self-publisher's pay all costs up-front), work being slow for the past few weeks, and saving for Japan late next month, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel, for sure! Forget Mavro's, forget Alan Wong's, forget Morton's or Wolfgang's and a play afterwards! I had to go the sentimental, heart-felt-route - strictly. Bohemian, all the way. Hmmmm....
First, the poem. Gotta have the poem. They always love that stuff, for some reason. Then, how 'bout a dinner right at home, with a table draped in linen, in the center of the living room? Lot cheaper than going out, that's for sure.
Flowers? Aaaah, maybe not this time.
Chocolates? Already taken care of, from Patisserie La Palme D'or!
Soft music? ...Crater 96 is just fine (gosh, I haven't listened to them in years!)
Candle-light? You bet!
Scented candle-light? Automatic!
In fact, you'll see from the shots that there was some funky lighting happening on this night of celebration, starting with a palme chocolate, which is a kind of flourless chocolate cake:
My check-list didn't end there, however, as our dinner before dessert had to be special, as well. Sounds expensive, but it was all under $50 for the both of us (not including drinks!):
First course - masago/konbu ika (smelt or capelin roe/seaweed with raw squid), mentaiko (pollack or codfish roe), and myoga (a type of onion-like ginger).
Second course - pan-fried U-12 gigantic shrimp, cooked in small amounts of rendered bacon fat, a touch of butter, and olive oil, and sprinkled with a tiny sprinkles of flour, fresh-ground Hawaiian salt, and fresh-ground black pepper.
Third Course - pan-fried Prime Ribeye steak, cooked in the same oil, sliced thin, pupu-style, then spooned-over lightly with the oils. I actually wanted tenderloin, but they didn't have any Prime, only Choice.
Fourth Course - Whole, plus-sized spiny lobster tails (way better than Maine's!), again, slowly prepared in the same pan, repeatedly drenching in the oils as it cooked.
Last course - three different desserts, the first of which you already saw, and the second, right here:
Forgot what this creation was called, but it was definitely some type of chestnut cake, and one wifey was particularly fond of.
Sorry, no pic's of the first four courses, as I didn't wanna bother the occasion too much on her special night. By the time dessert rolled around, however, we were already deep into our bottle of top-shelf sake, about two hours into the leisurely meal itself, and more than satisfied enough for a little intrusion.
The last piece of dessert was a strawberry sponge cake, laced with bits of strawberry and topped with vanilla cream, fresh strawberries, and fresh blackberries.
Like eating a macrobiotic meal at Well Bento or Hale, you know it's the good stuff when you're not left with that bloated feeling afterwards. And having a few desserts at Patisserie La Palme D'or is no different - well, not quite in the same healthy way, but in the sense that the ingredients are pure, not manufactured or laboritized with artificial ehancements and then overly sweetened. If you don't notice the difference after the first bite, you will notice the difference after a whole slice or two!
All three desserts were outstanding, and a perfect way to end our meal, even though I'm not really a dessert kind-of-guy. With wifey in such a good mood, I was hoping our night was just beginning! But alas, it was so fun it all went by in such a blur, so... who knows...???
Hope you're all having a wonderful Labor Day weekend, especially those lucky enough to have Holiday's off!
Take care and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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