ah, you know me so well, chocolate suze: of course macarons were procured. i picked the yoghurt and chilli first, and then the mango and jasmin, and then when the counterboy said that he’d also throw in a green apple one because he thought it was really worth trying, i didn’t argue.

and it was pretty good — an intense burst of fresh appley flavour, with chunks of fruit besides. much more appley, in fact, than the mango one was mangoey (or jasminy, for that matter). the yoghurt one was just plain weird; the yoghurt came across as a general sourness rather than a flavour, but the dried chilli flakes were fun (and left quite an afterburn).

i enjoyed the pistachio tart much more. the crisp pastry shell held a creamy-smooth pistachio paste with a very mysterious accent. cardamon, perhaps? it was offset by a thin layer of raspberry jam, tart and sticky on the biscuity base. the pistachio brittle was made for nibbling on in much greater quantities, and i was sorry when — despite my best efforts at rationing — it ran out.

i’d like to run out now and get me another, but i think that a rice pudding eclair must be next on my plate.