Chez Karine

Askiaydin

4.0

Aside from macarons, Chez Karine patisserie offers high quality, specialty coffee and tea and other pastries like cakes, royal pudding, panna cotta, cookies and honey toast all inspired by Asian and American flavors with fresh and natural ingredients.The space is limited with less than 10 chairs available for the long table across the counter. Everything on display was appetizing, particularly if you have a sweet tooth. Interior design was minimalistic and there were no frills on the backsplash other than the list of prices and items on the menu. Outside, three tables with four chairs each can be occupied by guests who want to chill out and stay longer. But most of Chez Karine’s customers choose to leave after getting boxes of orders here.Staff were quick on their feet, so long lines are manageable by three of them.Chez Karine’s macarons come in many flavors, each at PHp 50. Since we couldn’t try every one, we chose six we thought were sufficient to represent:1. Salted Caramel – When asked, the staff said that salted caramel is one of their best-sellers. So without question, we added it to our order and were not disappointed. There’s a tiny hint of salt mixed with caramel resulting to a bittersweet divine taste.2. Mint Chocolate – With back-to-back fillings of mint and chocolate, this was the one I enjoyed most! Mint and chocolate must be in my blood, so naturally when I put these together I thought they were amazing. :D3. Earl Grey – Filled with earl grey milk chocolate ganache, this macaron was among the best we had. It was so good that it should be able to get anyone to come out of hiding.4. Speculoos – Speculoos was a name that’s quite hard to remember but the taste was really unforgettable. It was buttery and tasted like a vanilla-based gingerbread cookie.5. Matcha Green Tea – This can be the ultimate macaron that would ruin my diet. I can eat ‘em all day! This green tea flavored macaron tasted somewhat like Starbucks’ green tea latte. ♡6. Maple Bacon – Though it was okay, this was the flavor we all least liked. It tasted like a breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup and bacon.All in all, the cookie surface was smooth, without bumps and bubbles (as you can see in the picture below). There were no large air bubbles or irregular empty pockets either. Although the shell of the macaron was thin, it did not easily shatter. The macarons were not as super chewy as expected but just fine. One bite gave way to a tender and moist (not soggy or wet) interior. Eating was clean; the filling did not squish out and didn’t leave any residue on the teeth (yes, I’m concerned and conscious of this because of my braces).In terms of flavor, Chez Karine’s macarons were sweet but not to the point where the original flavor is already masked; they didn’t coy sweetness forming a lump in the back of your throat. They were true to whatever the name of the flavor literally spell.The reason why these are costly may be that they are notoriously difficult to make and to perfect. I understand that there’s a lot of patience required, as well as planning and precision. Almost, the presentation must be as good as the flavor.Even so, paying PHp 50 for one macaron is, I think, too much. To read more, please visit: http://rochkirstin.com/review-of-chez-karine-bakery-serendra-bgc-taguig-city/

Sam Calzado

4.0

Disclaimer: I am not a dessert lover.What I said above, I mean it. And this place, Chez Karine, just blew me away.After having dinner in a restaurant inside UP Diliman, my friends and I decided to have some desserts. And since it was a weekend, we drove all the way from Quezon City to Bonifacio in the middle of the night just to try these "yummy macarons", having it heard from a friend of ours. That friend of ours keep on saying that we should try the macarons for they are the best in the Metro area. Okay. So we drove and got a nice parking spot (hard part is over!). The place was just clean and simple. We stood there outside Chez Karine for quite some time because it's quite packed. I thought that what we're about to taste should be very good or the long line of people must have gone crazy waiting for hell to come. And guess what. Hell didn't come, instead heaven 's gates opened! We got inside and ordered two beautiful boxes of 14, assorted and perfect as gifts.The long wait (and the long line) was worth it. After the first bite of the Mint Chocolate macaron, I think I had a moment slash hallucination where only after tasting a bread in Yakitate Japan can give. It's just insane!The macarons were so good and I will say it again and again. Every bite is a perfect harmony of crispy yet chewy and gooey cookie sandwich with delicate cream fillings. Very firm yet very subtle combination of tastes and textures I experienced them. It was a really different experience with their macarons compared to the ones I've tasted in other patisseries. Their cookies have a very unique texture that before biting it, it gives a tactile feedback to your senses that it is firm. Yet, after biting it, it gives a feeling of crunchiness and softness of a cake bread at the same time. And it doesn't crumble down. The fillings were like ice cream. Enough said! My favorite flavors were Pistachio, Earl Grey, and Salted Caramel. And I won't describe them anymore or I'll drool over my desktop!

Selin Develioğlu

4.0

Salted Caramel Macarons and Muscovado latte! Perfect combination :)

Indra Ramadhan

4.0

Who wouldn't wanna know why this place got the #1 slot for Spot.Ph's Best Macarons in Manila?! For the love of macarons we happily went to Chez Karine (French for Karen's Place) in Serendra. Apparently got attracted to their macaron display which was almost perfection due to the playful mix of colors from their vast selection of flavors:Classics: Dark Chocolate, Lemon, Strawberry, Pistachio, Earl Grey, Coffee, Salted CaramelSeasonal: Matcha Red Bean, Mint Chocolate, Black Sesame, Maple Bacon, SpeculoosJust bought a box of 7 for this quick visit! Cute box by the way but was not able to take a pic of it! So the verdict.... Just one bite of it, I felt the gooeyness of the shell not just totally crunchy compared to others. The filling was really really flavorful - the first flavor I tasted was Lemon and it really tasted like lemon, and didn't taste like I was eating sugar in a shell. You'll see there's this balance of it being sweet, bit crispy but chewy at the same time. And all macarons are perfectly shaped, it doesn't crack right away! My favorite is Chocolate Mint, Dark Chocolate and Pistachio since I love dark choc and mint haha and pistachio is kinda close to minty hahaI totally why it got the #1 spot, cant wait to buy again! :) And just a quick trivia, did you know that the owner of Chez Karine, Karen Yang was actually trained by the Picasso of Pastry itself Pierre Hermé! If you don't know who Pierre Hermé is or what Pierre Hermé macarons are...just google it ;)

Nini Lido

4.0

So far, the only dessert that I've tried here are macaroons since I love them so much. I am surprised that their macaroons are so good! They are soft and you can actually taste their real flavors. Unlike other macaroons, they all taste the same.

France Almira Cristobal

3.0

I like the smooth texture of the pudding specially the Muscovado and Vanilla Royal Pudding because of sweet-familiar taste. I love the unique packaging but I do think that is is expensive. The quantity of the pudding if you remove in the bottle is small, not enough to justify the 100 pesos price tag.

Hachi

4.0

This macaron is flavorful meringue cookies that are sandwiched together with a variety of ice creams you can choose from. It has a smooth, crisp shell and a moist, chewy interior. I tried red velvet and dark chocolate macaron ice cream sandwich. Among the two, I prefer dark chocolate due to it's pronounced bitter sweet flavor.

Erni Rahmawati

3.0

Tried their macarons and it taste sweet but not super sweet which is a good thing. And the size is super small and so cute. It's chewy and soft when you bite it.

Brian Cyc

5.0

Love the Macarons and the staffs are very approachable! ?? And I also tried their Macaron Ice Cream, yes it is expensive but the taste is really worth it!! ????

Francis Sales

2.0

After having lunch at Balducci's, it was definitely time for some dessert, so we went to chez karine which was just in front of Balducci's. We especially visited for the macaron ice creams so we each had an order of it. Mine was vanilla bean and my friend's was salted caramel as I can remember. Both were pretty good but the macaron shell was too crunchy for me, so I decided not to try their macarons. After such, we had their blueberry cheesecake pudding which disappointed.The place is tiny but I love how they strategized with what they have. Kind of regret not sampling their macarons to be honest!