Cheetos Macarons? The Macaron Parlour – NYC

In the world of globalisation and social media, food trends sweep the world rapidly. Cupcake parlours, copies of Cronuts and more pulled pork than you’d think there were actual pigs on earth. Let’s not forget macarons. One minute they were small dainties in the elegant salons of Paris, the next minute they were available at Mc Donald’s. It seemed inevitable then that the current trends of ‘sweet savoury’ and ‘non traditional pairings’ would make their way off the tricksy menus of molecular gastronomists and onto the menu boards of local cafes and shops.

The Macaron Parlour isn’t backwards in coming forwards in jumping on the bandwagon. From its small shopfront in St Mark’s Place in the East Village, it sells an array of attractive pastel coloured, floral scented macarons. It also sells a bright orange Cheetos macaron and a Sour Cream & Onion flavour.

It Ain’t Easy, Bein’ Cheesy
The Cheetos macaron is infused with the flavour of Cheetos cheese puffs, filled with a white chocolate ganache and topped with Cheetos dust. The Sour Cream & Onion takes a similar approach using sour cream and onion flavourings in the meringue and filling but is topped with a sprinkling of dehydrated onion. They sound challenging don’t they?

Given the bright hue of the Cheetos flavour, I expected an intense cheddar cheese flavour but the taste was mild. The Sour Cream & Onion macaron had a more balanced ‘sweet savoury’ taste profile, helped along by the dehydrated onion. The sour cream flavour was evident, which was surprising given its fairly neutral taste. Neither had robust or overwhelming flavours and in truth, these two macarons were little more than puffs of sweet air with a little bit of shock value. Still fun to eat though.

Macaron Parlour Patisserie
111 St Marks Place
Between 1st & Ave A
Manhattan  NYC
macaronparlour.com