Lady M Confections: Dreams of Green Tea Crepe Cakes

Sometimes, you just want a quick, fantastic piece of cake.  No meal, no fuss, just a fabulous dessert - and not necessarily for your birthday.

Lady M doesn't always deliver on 'quick', but they definitely satisfy the need for 'fantastic' when it comes to their crepe cakes.

Known for their 'Mille Crêpes' cakes: the wondrous creations with twenty or more crêpes, layered with the lightest pastry cream, the international dessert house has its LA outpost mid-City, on the same block as AOC.

The storefront / pseudo-cafe is tiny, essentially a cake counter plus a handful of tables inside and out on the sidewalk. There is almost always two giant lines, one for to go / pick up orders and one to get seated - unless you manage to arrive early, right at opening.

One look at the case of beautiful cakes / pastries, and any stress of the day or from the wait will melt away.

Over several rare days when I was able to get up early to go, I was able to check out different flavors of their Mille Crêpes: signature, green tea and seasonal flavors like chocolate or chestnut (yes, unbelievably, chocolate is considered seasonal).

The Signature Mille Crepes ($7.50) cakes are the best elements of crepes, creme brulee and cake all in one.  The handmade crêpes are paper-thin, soft yet structured, and in between each of the 20+ layers are unbelievably delicate, light airy pastry cream.  To take the whole thing to eyes-rolled-way-back, audible-moaning good, they caramelize the top of the cake ever so slightly so that it has that crisp, intensified sweetness with just a trace of smokiness that you get from a torched top of a creme brulee dessert.

Of all the flavors though, Green Tea Mille Crepes ($8) stands out as my favorite - instead of caramelization, the top of this cake is adorned with a green tea powder.  The distinctive taste of fresh green tea is pleasantly expressed throughout the piece, in perfect balance with the sweetness of the crepes and pastry cream.

I've tried a few of their other cakes, like Strawberry Mille Feuilles ($8) and Banana Mille Feuilles ($8), but none are as mind-blowingly great as the Mille Crepes.

If you dine-in at the cafe, don't miss the Lady M teas - my favorite is Royal Wedding ($6) - hate the name, love the fragrance and flavors: it's a white tea blended with almond, coconut, vanilla and pink rosebuds.  Perfect paired with any of the Mille Crepes cakes. 

My only wish for Lady M is that they would build out a bigger, better space that can provide an experience to match the high quality of their desserts and tea - a place that allows for a more relaxed and refined environment to enjoy it all.  The current space is cramped, noisy, and stressful as there's always other guests hovering just a few feet away, hangrily waiting for you to finish so that they can take your table.  And with the current design, it looks like open seating, so newbies are always diving in to try to snag tables even before they had been cleared - and it's almost a groundhog day situation on fast forward, where every 10 minutes or so the poor servers have to bat people back to clear space and/or restore order / appease angry guests who had been waiting.

If you want to avoid the chaos, get in the other line - for to go / pickup.  Mille crêpes are available single slice, as well as full sized cakes - and has become my new go-to for VIP birthdays.  Prices range from $40 for a 6-incher, to $75-$80 for a 9-inch.

On a 7 point scale:
Flavor - 6 bites
Presentation - 5 bites
Originality - 5 bites
Ambience - 4.5 stars
Service - 5.5 stars
Overall experience - 5 bites
Price - $ (1 bite mark)
Probability of return visit - 100% 
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Lady M Confections
8718 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Ph: 424.279.9495
(Locations also in NYC, Singapore, and Korea - see website for details)

Website: ladym.com

Parking:  valet is free for first 15 minutes (for people just picking up orders), $4 for first two hours thereafter

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Freds at Barneys New York - Sunset Sips & Bites Over Beverly Hills

It's been more than 10 years since I'd visited the restaurant (formerly Barney Greengrass) inside Barneys New York in Beverly Hills.  The place has been completely replaced by Freds last October, a modern, sleek, open space with outdoor balcony seating, overlooking some of the most expensive real estate in the city, yet with an unexpectedly laid back vibe.

Today they launched a Sunset Menu, consisting of late afternoon snacks to pair with California inspired cocktails

I love that as a part of this menu they also offer fresh, house made juices including the Orange is the New Black (orange, carrot, ginger, turmeric) ($9) or Green Jeans (apple, spinach, kale, cucumber, celery, romaine, ginger), and some can even be spiked with your choice of spirit, the better to enable you to justify your liquor intake as being 'better for you' (could this become our new favorite way to 'juice')?

We were able to also sample some of their food offerings at a preview, including classic staples like tuna tartare, and dishes inspired by LA's fantastic farmers markets (one of their many flatbread options will be a special based on finds from Santa Monica Farmers Market).

But the unanimous favorite at our table was the steaming Robiola with Truffle Oil Pizza.  I'm not normally a fan of truffle oil, but it works with this delicious cheese bread 'pizza' that's fresh from the oven - it will take willpower stronger than mine to resist snacking on basket after basket of these (yes, we did shamelessly ask for second rounds, actually). Another standout was one of the three dipping sauces that accompany the Pommes Frites: Calypso sauce made with cognac and orange juice.

Prices are also pretty reasonable considering the location on the 5th floor of a luxury goods store in the middle of Beverly Hills: flatbreads are $16-$21, and the fairly generously portioned tuna tartare is $19.

The Sunset Menu is served 3pm-7pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 3pm-6pm

 Mondays-Wednesdays and Sundays.  

At the fairly affordable prices (for Beverly Hills), and lesser known (for now) location - this could be a great option for a late afternoon / early evening escape from LA rush hour - a place to unwind with coworkers, retreat to a quiet corner to discuss that all-important deal, or micro-analyze the latest episode of the Real Housewives over some sips, bites above the fray of Wilshire / Santa Monica / Beverly.
Regular menu also served lunch daily and brunch on weekends.

*Disclaimer: this meal was hosted.
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Freds
Barneys New York
9570 Wilshire Blvd, 5th Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Ph: 310.777.5877

Website: barneys.com

Look for reservations (and rewards points!) at OpenTable.

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Hakkasan: Happy Year of the Ram, 90210 Style

I'd always been curious about the global juggernaut restaurant/lounge/nightlife brand that is Hakkasan.  Originating in London, with Singaporean Executive Chef Tong Chee Hwee at the helm, Hakkasan had earned a Michelin-star within a year of opening.

A Chinese New Year menu tasting at Hakkasan's Beverly Hills location gave me the occasion to finally check the place out.

The ultra-lounge ambience has a Chinese flare, with ornate, airy screens inspired by traditional interior design helping to section off tables so that you get a sense of the expansiveness of the place while enjoying a degree of privacy with your dining companions. As a fan and supporter of Chinese 'experience' restaurants - gastronomic temples balancing fine dining traditional / inventive Chinese with modern, chic decor is de rigeur in Hong Kong - the ambiance really does add to your enjoyment of the meal.

Elevated Asian food in experience restaurants is often met with skepticism in the US, and while I had my reservations as well, I tried to keep an open mind.  

From the CNY menu (see full listings at bottom), there was one huge standout for me: the Golden fried sea prawns dish, with red chili and curry leaf. The prawns were the perfect size, with a fragrant spicy-salty crispy crunch yielding to plump and juicy with a pleasant spring: best of all they were heaped with a giant mound of fried egg YOLK wisps, also with just the right amount of heat and umami to make them something you won't be able to stop eating.  I was surprised at how much I loved this dish - If they sold a giant gallon tub of even just those egg yolk wisps, I would happily squirrel and devour them by fistfuls.

Right now this dish is only being offered as part of the CNY menu, but I'm hoping they will decide to add it to the regular a la carte menu - it drew unanimous raves from everyone at our tasting, and is definitely a dish I would come back for.

Here is what the rest of the menu, offered for the next week or so, looks like:

Small Eats

• Dim sum platter *har gau, scallop shumai, Chinese chive dumpling and black pepper duck dumpling
• Spicy lamb lupin wrap
• Golden fried sea prawns with red chili and curry leaf

Main

• Spicy prawn with lily bulb and almond
• Stir-fry black pepper rib eye beef with merlot *
• Grilled Chilean seabass in honey
• Stir-fry lily bulb and French bean with preserved olive and dry chili
• Abalone and dry scallop fried rice *

Dessert

• Kumquat wishing tree

Cost: $138.88, minimum of two people to participate in the menu.

To complete the dining experience, the Kumquat wishing tree dessert consists of two parts: a chocolate kumquat dish with dramatic plating: a tree silhouette is painted in chocolate on the plate, with bright orange bursts of kumquat sorbet accompanying chocolate cake on top.

The second part is a futuristic looking plastic tree hung with edible candied kumquats.  This second tree comes with a red 'wishing slip' that you can write your wish on - a global community element then comes in the form of encouraging guests to share their written wish with others via social media.

Most dishes were tasty, but I did particularly wish for the fried rice to have more 'wok air'.  Even if the dish is meant to be served 'wet' style, the rice should have had more 'fragrance release'.  We did not get to try the dim sum nor the spicy prawn, and I hope to go back soon to check them out and get a more complete picture of Hakkasan's offerings.

In the meantime, here's to wishing everyone a happy Chinese New Year!

*Disclaimer:  This meal was hosted.

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Hakkasan Beverly Hills

233 N Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Ph: 310.888.8661

Website: hakkasan.com

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