Towards the end of last summer, I met up with my French pal Coralie of Tea Time in Wonderland for an indulgent afternoon treat at Ladurée Covent Garden.
The latest London outpost of the iconic Paris pâtisserie and tea salon, Ladurée Covent Garden occupies an enviable position on the edge of the piazza. The space may be small, but it manages to include a chic terrace, upstairs tea salons with outdoor balcony seating, a marble-covered pâtisserie counter and petite boutique.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been working my way through the macaron counter and my favourite new discoveries have been Salted Caramel and Violet Blackcurrant.
We ordered pots of thé violette and thé rose, which came served in large silver teapots with monogrammed paper handle covers and Ladurée’s exquisite signature pastel-coloured, gilt-edged china.
Coralie ordered a Raspberry Rose Saint-Honoré – an impressive dessert including a choux pastry base filled with rose-flavoured crème patisserie and rose icing with mini iced choux buns, whipped creme Chantilly and fresh raspberries.
My usual favourite is a Rose Religieuse, but this time I tried the chocolate flavour – a double choux pastry dessert filled with chocolate crème patissiere and covered in dark chocolate icing. Both were deliciously fresh and typically perfect – an indulgent Ladurée delight.
The two tea salons are small and cute, in a colour palette of Ladurée’s signature colours, with illustrations of birds and trees on the walls and comfy red velvet seating. The outside terrace and upstair balcony are perfect in the summer for people watching and basking in the sun over a macaron ice cream coupe.
Ladurée Covent Garden may not have the exquisite, palatial interiors of the Champs-Elysées salon or the gloss of the Harrods store, but it’s perfect for a relaxing break, or a hard-to-resist macaron-fix.