Desserts from 'Sex and the City' now available in Seoul

Tag : Dessert Rose

For most people, Payard may not ring a bell. But for fans of ``Sexand the City,'' Payard is the place where Carrie, Miranda, Samanthaand Charlotte always meet up, chat about their love lives andindulge in what Carrie called the ``best desserts in New York.''

Fans don't need to fly all the way to New York City to visit PayardBistro and Patisserie and taste its renowned desserts. Payardrecently opened its first branch here at the sixth floor of theShinsegae Main Store in downtown Seoul.

In New York, Payard is considered a ``must-stop for anyone whowants an elegant dining experience,'' whether its for coffee,brunch or dinner.

With such high expectations, we trooped off to Payard to see if theSeoul branch lives up to the reputation of the New York original.

Payard's menu in Seoul features hot and cold sandwiches, panini,soups, souffles, salads and pizza. It looks tempting enough, untilyou glance at the prices (which exclude the 10 percent value-addedtax). Sandwiches start at 9,000 won, while soups and salads startat 12,000 won. An entree like the sea bass Provencal is 32,000 won,while a cup of cafe Americano is 7,000 won.

We ordered the brie and grilled eggplant sandwich (12,000 won),baked cheese souffle (12,000 won) and linguine pasta (18,000 won).

When the dishes arrived, we were surprised at how small thesandwich was. Taste-wise, the sandwich was good. The brie meltedperfectly with the eggplant, while the sun-dried tomatoes andbasil-garlic mayonnaise added flavor.

The baked cheese souffle was the highlight of the meal. The richand creamy souffle was floating in a pool of Parmesan cream sauceand white truffle oil. No wonder the souffle is considered one ofthe house specialties.

The linguine pasta has a rich flavor, with the tomatoes, basil,zucchini and tuna cubes, although it was somewhat oily.

Since Payard is renowned for its exquisite pastries and cakes (asseen in many episodes of ``Sex and the City''), you can't leavewithout trying one of the tempting treats.

Basing our decision on which pastries looked the most delectable atthe glass counter, we chose the Napoleon, Sweet Relief and Louvre.