Park Avenue Desserts Part 1: Macarons de Paris and Molten Brownie Bites

Browsing through an online buying site (I have developed a very bad habit of checking their deals on a regular basis), I chanced upon an offer for Park Avenue Desserts. Now I have a really sweet tooth, so anything that says dessert is sure to get my attention. However, I was hesitant to buy the whole dozen of assorted mini cakes in the deal as I felt that 12 cakes ware just too many for our family of three. Also, I checked Park Avenue Desserts' FB page and found out that they have French Macarons, so I decided to try those first. BUT, I did buy the deal for the mini cakes, too, though that would be the subject of another post.

Anyway, I managed to convince hubby to drop by Park Avenue Desserts in Paseo de Magallanes on our next trip to Manila. The place was not hard to find although it was at the very end of the row of buildings facing SLEX. The store was a bit small, with about four or five small tables inside and a few more outside. Though it was a bit cramped inside, the size actually made the store feel cozy and homey. There were chalk boards on the wall with the menu written on it, apparently the place also offers a selection of snacks and meals. But as I was there for the dessert, I went straight to their display cases and zeroed in on the French macarons.

PAD's display cases

Hard to resist those goodies inside the chiller case.

They have cronuts! Will try this some other time, though.

I don't remember what these are, sorry!

Little pastry chef

PAD has a lot of macaron flavors to choose from, and at the time of our visit, there were eight flavors available: Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Red Velvet, Tiramisu, Pistachio, Lemon, Mint Chocolate and Bubblegum. One box contains eight macarons in a plastic, shatterproof box, and I got one of each flavor except for Bubblegum, substituting it with another chocolate piece. Each piece had a generous filling of buttercream, while the shells were were light and crispy with a chewiness near the center, just the way macarons should be.

PAD's pretty packaging

The macarons in a plastic, shatterproof box. Nice!
A box of eight costs Php360, or Php45 per macaron.

Our box of sweeties before the little boss and I attacked them, haha!

I was expecting the Chocolate macaron to be my favorite, but surprisingly, I liked the Salted Caramel and Red Velvet better. The chocolate was good, but it didn't really stand out, at least for me. I guess I was expecting it to have a richer, more intense chocolate flavor.

Chocolate macaron. See that how thick the filling was? Yum!

The Salted Caramel was bursting with creamy caramel flavor that contrasted nicely with the hint of saltiness. It looked like it had the usual buttercream filling, but when you bite into it, you'd be surprised by the caramel hidden inside. Yummy!

Salted Caramel Macaron, my favorite of the bunch.
There's the yummy salted caramel in the center!

The Red Velvet, meanwhile, was very rich with its thick cream cheese filling, and oddly enough, tasted more chocolatey than the chocolate one. I was actually surprised that I liked it so much, given that I am not too fond of cream cheese on pastries. (I normally scrape the cream cheese frosting on cinnamon rolls if the frosting is too thick.) Unfortunately, I was not able to get a photo of it as the little boss claimed the Red Velvet macaron for his own and would not let go of it, only allowing me to have a bite because I begged.

The Lemon one tasted really tart and lemon-y, prompting hubby to comment that PAD was not kidding around with their lemon flavor. Lemon lovers would not be disappointed with this one, though I was not quite taken by it. I didn't get to taste the rest of the flavors, either because the flavor didn't interest me, or it was eaten by someone else, haha! The whole lot was gone by next morning.

Aside from the macarons, I also got a small container of their Molten Brownie Bites. 

Molten Brownie Bites, Php150 for a box of 8. Not bad!

 At first I couldn't understand why it was called such, until I bit into one:

There's the generous chocolate filling inside the brownie.
Nice and rich, though a tad too sweet for my liking.

Each round brownie had a chocolate center, much like truffles. The brownie itself tasted more like dense chocolate cake, soft and heavy, while the chocolate inside though soft was not quite molten. Perhaps next time I should pop them for a few seconds in the microwave to truly experience that molten chocolate bite. Hubby and I liked it, though after you've had a couple you'll feel like it's a bit too sweet due to the chocolate center.

It took our little family just a couple of days or so to finish those macarons and brownies, so naturally I had to get on the online buying site to purchase Buddy's Dozen, an assortment of 12 of Park Avenue's best-selling mini cakes. As we are only about halfway into finishing our dozen, I will post a separate blog on them. Now, back to those cakes...

Photos by Mike and Shella Esguerra

Note: This is not a sponsored post.