Best Pastry/Cake shops in London?

[Jon Tseng]

hmm. hardly what you'd call a blind tasting, given who's on the panel! some

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Good point

Judging panel member: Kate Johns, Nudge pr.

William Curley's PR: Nudge pr.

Hmmm.....

J

ps although WC chocolates ARE awfully nice though...

[origamicrane]

tonka bean tastes great shame it's toxic!

[confiseur]

hmm. hardly what you'd call a blind tasting, given who's on the panel! some

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Good point

Judging panel member: Kate Johns, Nudge pr.

William Curley's PR: Nudge pr.

Hmmm.....

J

ps although WC chocolates ARE awfully nice though...

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........good points...doesnt quite add up though...Kate Johns is also Paul Youngs PR and by all accounts he bombed and Melt are not even members of the chocolate academy.....could L'artisan have gone downhill since they stopped producing in London and moved to a factory in Kent?...Factory...Artisan.. ...maybe something has got lost in the translation?

[adt]

Kate Johns is also Paul Youngs PR and by all accounts he bombed and Melt are not even members of the chocolate academy.....

Never the less, it's far from a blind tasting. I wasn't particularly commenting on the specific ratio of awards between the leaders (Curley / Young / Melt / Rococo etc.), and I'm not necessarily implying they weren't trying to be good -- influence can be entirely uncynical/unmeditated and even quite subconscious.

Also, what various artisans are trying to do artistically is bound to take their definition of "good [chocolate ]" in particular, rarefied directions...

re. Melt, although they're not members, Damian Allsop is (and he was on the panel) and it sounds like Melt are still producing the same sort of chocolates.

could L'artisan have gone downhill since they stopped producing in London and moved to a factory in Kent?...Factory...Artisan.. ...maybe something has got lost in the translation?

The new "atelier" is such a recent thing, could judging samples have actually come from there?

[Janice]

My 2p...

In such a small world it's never going to be possible to have an entirely blind tasting, but recent experience suggests that William Curley does indeed have the edge on Paul Young at least.

Janice

[confiseur]

Kate Johns is also Paul Youngs PR and by all accounts he bombed and Melt are not even members of the chocolate academy.....

Never the less, it's far from a blind tasting. I wasn't particularly commenting on the specific ratio of awards between the leaders (Curley / Young / Melt / Rococo etc.), and I'm not necessarily implying they weren't trying to be good -- influence can be entirely uncynical/unmeditated and even quite subconscious.

Also, what various artisans are trying to do artistically is bound to take their definition of "good [chocolate ]" in particular, rarefied directions...

re. Melt, although they're not members, Damian Allsop is (and he was on the panel) and it sounds like Melt are still producing the same sort of chocolates.

could L'artisan have gone downhill since they stopped producing in London and moved to a factory in Kent?...Factory...Artisan.. ...maybe something has got lost in the translation?

The new "atelier" is such a recent thing, could judging samples have actually come from there?

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...regarding Melt...true, Damian was on the panel but as he fell out with the owner of Melt big time before leaving I seriously doubt if that helped them....having also seen the shop when he was working there and having recently visited I can confirm the chocolate style has since changed considerably....

Artisan did send samples from their new 'atelier/usine'...

I agree, William Curley trumps Paul Young ....who is in turn trumped by Pierre Herme...who is trumped by Wittamar in Brussels...who is trumped by Confiserie Sprungli ....etc

[Ylee]

I'd just like to add, now that I'm back from my London trip, that I found Macaron to be a bit disappointing. Perhaps it was because it was a Sunday and perhaps they had run out of most things from their range, but considering we had to go specially to Clapham to check it out, they didn't seem to have much sweet stuff on offer. There were only two types of macaroons (the mint-green one was pretty, but the mintyness was not to my taste, and a red fruit one which was okay) - both of which were not a patch on La Maison's chocolate macaroon or Laduree's salted caramel one.

[Jon Tseng]

I'd just like to add, now that I'm back from my London trip, that I found Macaron to be a bit disappointing. Perhaps it was because it was a Sunday and perhaps they had run out of most things from their range, but considering we had to go specially to Clapham to check it out, they didn't seem to have much sweet stuff on offer. There were only two types of macaroons (the mint-green one was pretty, but the mintyness was not to my taste, and a red fruit one which was okay) - both of which were not a patch on La Maison's chocolate macaroon or Laduree's salted caramel one.

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Ye, as I said Macaron is more than decent as a local caff, but as far as being a serious patisserie its definitely a case of Could Do Better If They Tried.

Which makes the Time Out award for best patisserie look a bit silly, I'm sorry to say.

J