[Paris pastry shop / 巴黎甜點店] Cedric Grolet（中文請按「繼續閱讀」）
Since I've finally got some time, I'd like to share with you some other pastry shops that I've visited during the past months. Yes, I finally paid a visit to Cédric's pastry shop after months it has opened.
It's a little space adjacent to Hotel Le Meurice on rue Castiglione. People started to line up in front of the door when it was just opened in the noon. With a young pastry chef in action, Cédric's signature pastries in the vitrine, and professional staff catering for customers, you'd immediately feel the difference as you approach the shop. It's like visiting a palace, not an ordinary pastry shop in your neighbourhood.
Since I've interned at Le Meurice before, I've got the chance to taste most of Cédric's creations during the internship (and that's probably why I didn't have that trigger to visit the shop right away). In general I'm not so curious about how they taste, but we still picked up ONE OF EACH individual pastry in the shop that day, excluding the viennoiseries and flan: the Tarte Noisette, the Tarte Mont-Blanc, the Paris-Brest, the Mandarine, and the Pomme Jaune. They were unsurprisingly made with absolute perfection, just as how maniac Cédric is. I guess slacking off at work would never be considered an option in his life. Having said so, I still feel that it's a pity that he spends less time in the labo at the hotel. Although revising and perfecting an existing creation is very important, take the Noisette 2.0 for example, I would actually love to see more of his creations and new ideas. His fruit sculptures are evolutionary for no doubt, but it's definitely not a limit. I'm so looking forward to see something more than that and other than that, while he's absolutely capable for it.
What do you think?
這陣子開始比較有空，所以把過去幾個月的照片整理了一下，和大家分享之前去過的甜點店。今年年初我終於去拜訪了Cédric Grolet主廚的店，雖然它已開幕了好久，現在再也不是新聞了。之所以拖了這麼久卻一直沒有動力，是因為我之前在Le Meurice實習，Cédric主廚的甜點我大部分都已經品嚐過，有點不太知道去了之後該點什麼...
我們是週日中午剛開店的時候到的，小小的店門口（就在Le Meurice飯店轉角的路上）已經開始排起人龍，許多經過的遊客雖然不知道Cédric是誰，但看到櫥窗裡精緻的甜點、詢問了當地的顧客，結果也跟著排起隊來。Cédric的店雖小，但從店的裝潢、服務人員的態度與呈現甜點的方式，都透露著超高級飯店的血統。這點在我們點了甜點外帶之後，看到包裝方式與設計更是印象深刻。像珠寶盒一般的外帶紙盒，外頭有大理石紋，裡面則是耀眼的金色內裝，極簡裡透出的華麗，真的不是一般甜點店可以負擔得起的。
雖然我大部分甜點都吃過了，但是為了做紀錄、也為了分享給大家，我和朋友仍然非常豪邁地把當日提供的五樣甜點全部都各帶了一份走（可惜錢包已經無法再支撐得起viennoiserie和flan了），包括榛果塔（Tarte Noisette）、蒙布朗塔（Tarte Mont-Blanc）、巴黎布列斯特泡芙（Paris-Brest）、橘子（Mandarine）、黃蘋果（Pomme Jaune）。當天雖然是個冷得不得了的陰天，但柔和的光線剛好能如實地呈現Cédric甜點令人歎為觀止的細節處理（請點單張照片觀賞，特別是橘子與黃蘋果，可以特別欣賞水果果皮的質感）。
除了外型始終如一地完美外，味道也沒有令人失望，和我記憶中一樣，每個元素都處理得很用心。不過我其實一直對Cédric近年來變成大明星、全球跑透透開課這件事感到有點可惜，因為這樣一來，他真正能待在Le Meurice甜點廚房裡發展新創作的時間就越來越少了。而我相信以他的才華，怎麼可能僅限於水果雕塑與魔術方塊？最近他有限的時間，似乎投入在將水果雕塑範圍擴大、更新原有的創作（例如他的榛果2.0），以及放手讓團隊、特別是副主廚發揮上。很希望如果他接下來有多一點時間給自己，我們能有機會看到更多令人耳目一新的創作。
👉🏻 延伸閱讀：
全球最知名的甜點主廚Cédric Grolet - http://www.biosmonthly.com/columnist_topic/9482
#yingspastryguide #paris #cedricgrolet #cgfruits
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