Midtown Lunch

 Macarons seem to be the hot thing in Chinatown right now. Not very long ago, I checked out HITEA in The Gallery. More recently, tea chain Kung Fu Tea debuted also serving the little colorful frech cookies. Audabon Bakeshop is another Chinatown  newcomer. Besides macarons, they shop serves pudding and coffee.

 It was a rough, deciding from either the black sesame or the salted caramel pudding ($5). I don’t know why black sesame has a presence predomintantly in Asian desserts; it works so well with sugar, it should be on every dessert menu. But as it was my first trip, I picked the classic salted caramel and it was marvelous. Fairly similiar to the pudding in the Barbuzo budino, it was both moderately thick and moderately sweet. I feel like $5 is fair for what you receive and will defintely be back for the black sesame.

 Audabon’s macarons change weekly. The creative flavors  are hard to pass up, even if you just had a pudding. They cost $1.50, 50 cents less than HITEA. I grabbed a bacon caramel and it hit the right balance.  I am really not a macaron expert, so it is hard to compare; to me,  they are all pretty, tasty 2 bite sweet cookies that crunch and have soft, fun fillings. Any francophiles know what makes the perfect bite?

Audabon Bakeshop, 145 N. 11th St, 215 625-2806