Finally, I made it to Ladurée‘s Soho location. Well, I did drop in opening weekend but walked right out after seeing the crowds queued up for a table for lunch. The lines have been like that every weekend and my patience was rewarded when I saw one could make reservations via OpenTable.
In the span of a week, I’ve made or accepted bookings to Ladurée with different people. This is the first eat-in visit so there will likely be a follow-up post next month. This past Sunday’s visit was with a former coworker who’s now a good friend. We met at 10:30am and were seated in the front dining room. Both of us arrived prepared to devour a fancy French breakfast (though I will admit to having a small roast pork bun at home earlier in the day). From the many choices in the menu, she settled on a pot of tea, the French Toast and an order of scrambled eggs with truffles. I chose the Champs-Elysées breakfast set which came with a basket of baked goods (walnut croissant, pain au raisin, and a brioche—all of which I ate), a choice of eggs (I went with scrambled), a fruit salad, fresh juice (orange or grapefruit) and a hot beverage (a pot of the Thé de Othello for me).
The food was excellent, the servers were nice and polite but the service was a bit low. The restaurant’s only been open for about a month or so, so they still have some kinks to work out. Hopefully, things will improve by my next visit. I only realized later that I never did get my fruit salad… neither did the woman that sat at the next table who ordered the same set. It was a very good thing that the food that did arrive was filling, so I didn’t miss the fruit much though it would have been nice to have received it.
On our way out, we stopped at the retail counter. My friend loved the tea she ordered with her meal (the Thé de Vanille) and wanted to buy it. I browsed the desserts on display and did not walk away empty-handed: a few seasonal macarons, one pastry and some canelés. I think I bought enough sweets to last me for the week.
