Carton [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Carton
Address: 22 rue de Buci, Paris
Website: n/a
Style: French
Price: $

On one of my last days in Paris, I went back north towards Notre-Dame, remembering that there was a more upscale pastry shop I could visit there, because I'd failed everywhere else (August = summer vacation for most small businesses). Naturally, I got lost and confused on the way there and chanced upon this place (I didn't know the name, but with some memory exercises and Google Maps navigation, I got the name; I'm pretty impressed with my Parisian geography, man!!). I had the opportunity to take a pic of the counter from the outside of the store (with two Australians looking on -- sorry guys!). I then went and bought myself a mixed berry tart and, lured in by the excellent price and the fact that I had yet to try one, I caved and bought an Opera torte.

 Sadly, they wrapped it horribly, so by the time I brought it back, my tart had half turned to jam. :( What's more, it really wasn't good. The glaze on this was too much and quite icky, as well as the tart itself was really thin and coated in dark chocolate -- there are many people who love chocolate and fruit together, but this was such a bad combination: the oddly too sour fruit, sticky glaze, melting chocolate and falling apart tart shell just turned out being a NO! from me.

The Opera torte... I had a super-fake interpretation from a Korean bakery here (with vanilla cream, chocolate cake and decorated with coffee beans) and it was so good. This... I don't think I'm having this again. This took me six sittings during three days to finish; it wasn't even a big slice, it was just too much. You take two forkfuls and you feel like you ate a tub of butter. I finished it on my very last day and even then, I was wondering if it would last in my carry-on until I came back, so I could give it to my brothers. I didn't want to risk it, but at the same time, I didn't enjoy this thing. The worst part was that after buying these two things, I turned the corner and there was the pastry shop I had been looking for. :(

Rating: **