All our noses were pressed against the shop’s window display. Our eyes darted from one goodie to the other with mumbles “I want that…and that… and that” in between heavy sighs. Little did we know this is where we will be enjoying our mid-morning tea!
Meert was established in 1761 by Delecourt and historically it has been frequented by royalty and Lille’s high society. In 1839 the venue’s interior got transformed into what it is today with the help of architect Benvignat, painter Stalars and sculptor Huidiez. Don’t you think it looks fantastic?
Camille explained to me that they had two specialities: Merveilleux (a tower of meringue and chocolate mousse covered with crispy chocolate) and La Gaufre Meert (speciality waffles). I had a problem; I wanted both! Luckily she was gracious enough to accept my suggestion that we order both desserts and split them two ways.
Merveilleux – Meringue noisette a l’ancienne, croustillant noisette et mousse chocolat intense - € 5.50. Between the two of us we couldn’t finish it. It simply was too much! It was incredibly morish and the contrasting textures and flavours made the decadent dessert fun and interesting.
La Gaufre Meert – Pâté a brioche fourrée beurre, sucre et vanilla de Madagascar - € 2.80. The waffle is not quite what I expected (thinking of standard and Belgian waffle) but it was something new and different. What makes this one interesting is that it has a butter, sugar and vanilla filling which is ultra-sweet and will definitely hit the spot if you suffer from any sweet cravings.
If you wondered what the Pâtés de Fruits tasted like, think along the lines of gumdrops that are fresh and soft, fruity and sweet but mellow.
What I love about the French shops is that there has been much thought put into what they sell, from the actual content to the presentation. Just impeccable.
For all lovers of chocolate...
These little pots of jams reminded me of Tiptree which I’m a great fan of.
Perfect cookies, perfectly packaged.
Have you guys seen enough chocolate yet? Never!
We could have stayed in the shop all day “oooh” and “aaah”-ing but we had to go to the cooking school for lunch. Am I the only one who finds it funny that I’m considered a food expert yet I was about to experience my first cooking class?!
Next up, the two recipes we prepared. Stay tuned…
Kitchen Butterfly
Its so not fair...........I've always wanted to go to Lille (mind you, its not like I can't afford to but). Lovely photos