Austin Y.
Yelp
The Beige is possibly my favorite pastry in Paris - I'd eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner in a heartbeat! In my opinion, Mori Yoshida is one of Paris's most underrated pâtisseries, and this review is really 4.5 stars. The décor is open and airy, with lots of light-colored wood and glass, and the pastries are uniformly elegant and beautiful. As opposed to Sadaharu Aoki, Mori Yoshida's pastries don't have much of a Japanese influence: neither a dusting of matcha nor a red bean anywhere to be seen. Although his work is on par with that of Paris's top pâtissiers, prices are extremely reasonable, and none of the pastries exceed 6 euros.
Beige (5.30€): definitely among my favorite pastries in Paris, and definitely my favorite flavor combination - reminiscent of milk tea in tart form. It's a tart with chocolate shortcrust, chocolate croustillant, orange-dark chocolate ganache, topped with a light lime and Darjeeling tea crème. Shortcrust and croustillant were crunchy with lots of dark chocolate flavor. Loved the orange-chocolate ganache, which had strong orange flavors. The lime-Darjeeling crème is absolutely incredible, light and airy but with a very pronounced tea flavor. Top-notch flavors, balance, texture, and presentation with very restrained use of sugar. Love it, 10/10.
Saint-Honoré (5.30€): 9.5/10: Three vanilla cream puffs with caramel shells on a feuille base with a swirl of vanilla Chantilly. Stunning presentation, so beautiful I didn't even want to eat it! The chantilly cream was the best I've ever had, head and shoulders above any other, with the perfect airy but substantial consistency and extremely strong vanilla flavor (look at all those vanilla bean flecks!) Cream puffs were perfect, the pâte à choux was nicely cooked with a nice bite and the caramel shells were perfectly golden. Feuille base was the slightly doughier kind, which was actually better here for scooping up all that amazing chantilly without making a huge mess. If they make this in other flavors, I want. 9.5/10
Paris-Brest (5.50€): classic round cream puff pastry and hazelnut mousseline sandwich. Mori Yoshida's is slightly unusual, with a lemon-hazelnut mousseline praliné instead of straight hazelnut, which added a nice subtle touch of sourness and tanginess - great way of solving the issue that some Paris-Brest have with being too heavy. The hazelnut mousseline was extremely flavorful with crushed hazelnut and almond bits, nice texture, perhaps just a tiny bit 'greasy.' loved the crushed almonds in the center and on the puff pastry, great roasty flavor and texture, puff pastry itself was cooked more than usual but i think it works here. This was the least sweet Paris-Brest I've had, which was definitely a good thing. Not at all overwhelming, excellent overall, 8/10.
Polonaise cassis (5.30€): Italian meringue with toasted almonds surrounding two layers of soaked brioche, cassis core, vanilla crème. The Italian meringue had a perfectly roasted marshmallowy texture, but it was way too sweet for me! The brioche layers were nice and soft, unsure what they were soaked in but it was infused with tea and I wasn't a huge fan of the combination. The inside was mushy and there was definitely more lemon flavor than cassis. Beautiful construction and presentation, but too sweet, too wet, and too many components that didn't work together. I may just not be a fan of polonaise in general, but 4.5/10.
Situated on the long park along Avenue de Breteuil, the location is remote enough that I almost didn't bother coming to Mori Yoshida during my two-month pastry adventure. That would have been a mistake, because this hidden gem is doing fantastic work. Mori Yoshida is probably the shop I'm most looking forward to revisiting next time I'm in Paris, I can't wait to see what else they have in store. Get the Beige!