Aroa Fine Chocolate

After we hit Flour Bakery in South End Boston, we ventured around the neighborhood. My fiance had read that there was a dessert place called Aroa down the block that sells French macaroons, so we checked that out. It looked pretty cool there...in addition to seatings and a display of their sweets, you get to see what goes on in their kitchen behind a big glass window.

Aroa sells a variety of french baked goods, from chocolate (of course), fruit pate to croissants. The major ingredients that go into their products - chocolate, coffee beans - are organic and fair trade. We left Aroa with almost every single flavor of macaroon - coffee, chocolate, mint, pistachio, lemon and raspberry. We were disappointed when we got home that their crusts were broken (I'll explain more later).

Above, our collection of macarons about to be devoured from Aroa

Overall, their flavors were good, but not like the macaroons we had in Paris. The pros? They were tasty, sized right, had good texture and have the signature "macaroon feet." The cons? They lacked buttery flavor in their ganache and subtle sheen on their crusts, which were also too thick.

First one we tested out - pistachio macaroon. It was very flavorful. This and lemon would be my favorite flavors there. I liked how they sprinkled some ground pistachios on top so that I know what flavor I was about to eat. The missing sheen I mentioned before is alot more apparent on the chocolate flavored macaroon - you can't really tell on the pistachio because of the sprinkled nuts.

Above, the exterior of Aroa's pistachio macaroon

Above, the apparent lack of sheen on Aroa's chocolate macaroon

A bite inside the macacroon revealed what was wrong. The crust was totally separated from the inside of the cookie - the hollow area inside made the crust easy to break. I have had stale macaroons before (about 3-4 days old), but I have never had one like this, so I don't believe staleness was its problem. The crust on macaroons should be thin, but the ones from Aroa were a bit too thick. This may have to do with the crust separation.

Above, the (thick) crust separation in Aroa's pistachio macaroon

Compared to the macaroons we had in NY/NJ, I would say this is a small notch below Bouley Bakery's. But they ain't bad considering the fact that they were produced in Boston, which my fiance calls "the inferior city." If I need a macaroon fix, I won't mind going to Aroa.