Ladurée Soho: A Little Piece of French Heaven in NYC

I love France and I love French culture. One of the things I miss the most about my time there is the absolutely delicious food. I’m always looking for places in NYC that will feed my love of French culinary excellence. So when I heard that Ladurée promised the best croissant in NYC I knew I had to check it out. I was ready to test delicious treats but in all honesty I was blown away by the taste and quality of products. If you can’t make it to Paris, you can stop by West Broadway and have brunch at Ladurée, you will feel like you’re in a little piece of French heaven on Manhattan.

You may have heard of Ladurée macarons (there’s a store on Madison Avenue) but you may not have known that Ladurée Soho is not only a macaron store, it is also a restaurant that serves delicious French food and drinks. Their products are the freshest and best ingredients (and organic!)  and their portions are perfect.

We headed to Ladurée for brunch with my husband and son, aka the croissant connoisseur. I’ve given him that title because he knows the different between a a good quality croissant and a bad one. He will not eat the bad quality croissants. Ladurée has mini viennoiseries just like in France, its specialty being the walnut croissant. The pain au chocolat (commonly called “chocolate croissant” in English–though a misnomer because it is not croissant-shaped) was delicious and so were the financiers.  

Honestly, we didn’t taste anything that was not 100 percent delicious. I had this delicious croque monsieur, and my husband opted for the mini salmon burgers (which you do not see here because I was too busy eating this to take another photo!) 

Enzo had “oeuf a la coque” which is very popular in France. You cook the egg so the yolk is creamy and then you dip little strips of fresh bread into the yolk. When you’re done with the yolk, you scoop out the egg whites and eat those. It’s fun to eat and nutritious!

We didn’t have enough room for dessert but took some macaron goodness to go, I definitely plan on heading back for dessert. I can’t wait to try their tarte tatin (my favorite French dessert) and their homemade ice cream.

Laduree has definitely made my “top places to brunch in NYC” list.  It’s also great for tea, dessert, lunch and even drinks with friends. They have really great drinks too, like Mojito Framboise (raspberry) and Mojito Lychee and other delicious concoctions like the Royale Ladurée (champagne with rose and strawberries, so good!)

I will definitely be heading back to Ladurée. Brunch was a big hit, the croissant connoisseur gave it two thumbs up, said it was the best one he’s had. My husband said it might just be the best brunch he’s ever had in NYC. As for me, I want to go back and try more French deliciousness and have some more cocktails! (It’s also the perfect place for a date-day or date-night!)