The First Annual Macaron Day in Toronto! A Whirlwind Day of Patisseries, and Rainbow Colours & Flavours, Part I

Happy first day of spring and Macaron Day, everyone!  What a whirlwind of a day it has been.  I have never popped in and out of so many patisseries and macaron shops in one day in my entire life and I have never seen so many instant photos of macarons flying through my Twitter feed since I started my account.  Macaron day had everyone in a tizzy today and it proved to be one of the most fun, memorable food days ever and I am so happy and proud to have been a part of it in my own tiny way.  I promised you all macaron goodies and I’m here to deliver with the goods!  

Since the day I found out about Macaron Day back in February, I cleared my schedule and started mentally planning out how I was going to incorporate all the macaron goodness into my day alongside anniversary plans (3 years!) with my boyfriend.  Nothing was going to interfere with either of these special occasions.  I figured out the perfect solution and executed a plan of attack.  One that required me to get up at the crack of dawn before there was even a glimmer of daylight, but a plan of attack nevertheless.

The plan: 1) choose a neighbourhood and/or area of the city and stick with it, and 2) GET.THERE.EARLY.  As much as I wanted to visit certain locations, I knew it would do me no good setting my sights on shops that were nowhere near each other.  I had to think “cluster” and I had to figure out a logical flow that would fit into my day and my plans.  I so badly wanted to visit the shops on Bayview as I had been wanting to explore the neighbourhood for so long, but it just didn’t jive with what I had in mind for the day, so I sadly had to let those options go (along with a few in the west end) and focus on others. 

While some might have hit the west end or the east end, I chose uptown and midtown Yonge Street as my main destination and one in Cabbagetown because it fit perfectly into the plans my boyfriend and I had.  I hit 4 – count ’em, FOUR! – shops in one easy swoop.  I suppose I could have hit six or seven, but the fact that I even got four in was a feat considering I was aiming for two when I was mulling over my options on Sunday night.  I had so much fun and my boyfriend ended up even more excited about our adventures than me!  The fun and excitement was just contagious.  I ended up visiting La Bamboche, Petit Thuet, Patachou, and Daniel & Daniel.  I felt like I was trick-or-treating for macarons!  At each and every location, I picked up my free macaron and purchased one more.  Knowing a portion of the money was going toward Red Door Family Shelter and enjoying every moment of the whirlwind macaron chase was worth every penny.

Each patisserie had a different way of doing Macaron Day.  Some shops selected one particular flavour to act as “spokesperson” for the special day while others had an assortment to choose from.  All the macarons my boyfriend and I chose were delicious and of the utmost quality and the whole experience made me more excited for future macaron trips.  Visiting all these shops allowed me to see the breadth of flavours available, to talk to staff, and to really embrace the day as a fun and inspiring one.  I was introduced to new and exciting flavours I never knew existed and it made me appreciate the patisseries more just by seeing how they executed Macaron Day in their own unique ways.  I’ll be breaking down my day into a series of posts over the next little while, so in the meantime, enjoy the photos and flavours I managed to snag!  Violet buttercream, strawberry champagne, yuzu chocolate, coconut chocolate, chocolate cherry, peach, lemon, and pistachio!

Today was wonderfully perfect in so many ways.  I was artistically inspired (you can bet I’ll be working on new scrapbook pages with some of the photos I took today, that’s for sure!), I got to contribute to a worthy cause, and I ate some of yummiest macarons the city has to offer.  And my boyfriend and I celebrated our 3-year anniversary on one of the funnest food days of the year on one of the most glorious days of spring.  It couldn’t have worked out better.

*****

For more information on Macaron Day and Macaron Day TO, check out their official website here and for more information the Red Door Family Shelter here in Toronto, click here.