La Belle Miette

30 Hardware Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000
Date visited: 17th May 2012

La Belle Miette means the "beautiful crumb."  It is a small French patisserie in Hardware Lane specialising in macarons.

To be perfectly honest, I never quite understood the craze about these little gems.  To me, macarons are, well... macarons.  However, I wanted something different from cake to satisfy my sweet-tooth and after reading such great reviews about La Belle Miette online, I decided it was high time I haul my ass there and try some of those macarons.

We almost missed the tiny shop.  It was full of people - we were fifth in the queue.

Love the look of fallen leaves on the ground

Delicate window display

Warm yellow lighting and dainty tables inside

It was crowded, so I didn't have much room to get a good photo of the display.

It if looks like there aren't macarons left in the flavour you desire, never fear - just ask - they have more hidden under the counter =D

We decided to get a box of six, each macaron for $2.50.  They came beautifully packaged in the complimentary soft box - it was adorable, with the hand drawn logo and hanging charms.

 It smelt so good when I opened it up at home even my cat couldn't resist a good sniff.

Macarons!

I didn't think about it at the time, but our selection wasn't particularly colour-coordinated.  LOL.

From left: Caramel a la Fleur de Sel, Pimm's & Pomegranate, Raspberry Chocolate, Violet & Blueberry, Mother's Day Orange Blossom and Cherry Blossom & Sake

Look how beautifully identical and symmetrical each macaron was.  They were so gorgeous I couldn't resist 'playing' with my food.

And two of the macarons cut in cross-section:

Vivid blue, look at the blueberry jam in the centre

So pretty in pink =)

The macarons were a delight - crumble in your mouth goodness, with sweet, chewy centre filling.  YUM.  My favourite was the Caramel, which was like a gorgeous macaron with an explosion of melted toffee inside, and the Violet & Blueberry with its rich, jammy blueberry centre.

Definitely go try them for yourself.  You won't regret it.

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