Restaurants

A blast from the past, Macaron recreates the atmosphere of a 1930s-style tea room with flowery crockery and a glass showcase crammed with cream-laden cakes, pastries and tarts. Winner of the Best Pâtisserie gong in the 2006 Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards, it’s big on French pâtisserie, fancy teas and great breads. Besides the stalwarts – eclairs, pretty lemon tarts, dainty macaroons – there’s also a nod to tropical flavours. Le lingot has to be our all-time favourite: a perfectly proportioned apricot mousse cake, punctuated with hints of toasted coconut and almond, and topped with a scrumptious slick of glossy apricot glaze. Not everything is as good: the custardy chocolate filling in an eclair was too sweet for our liking, and the lemon tarts were let down by a virtually impenetrable sweet pastry shell. A sizeable communal table is tailor-made for friendly exchanges, and there’s also a window into the kitchen where chefs can be seen whipping up meringues and piping out rosettes of cream. Service was a trifle dour on our visit, but that didn’t detract from the sweet seduction of the cakes and frothy coffees.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008