I bet you thought I had taken a break from my mission to discover cupcakes in Paris, hmm? Well you’re wrong–I haven’t!
Frog Prince’s big sis clued me in to a potentially dangerous thing: a cupcake shop in my neighborhood. This sounded like trouble, and I needed to investigate. Enter: Daisy Miller American Bakery & Restaurant.
At First Glance: Technically the first glance I had of this place was the website, and I liked what I saw. They have some really great photos of some delicious-looking cupcakes, and I felt both excited and worried about the prospect of having such yummy desserts nearby.
See how yummy these look?
At Second Glance: The shop seemed pretty bare, which I tried to overlook considering that they are newly installed into their little corner of the 12th arrondissement. But as soon as I took a look at their cupcake shelf, my heart dropped and I knew that my initial reaction of disdain for the wannabe-American bakery was an accurate one. We actually called before coming, since it was August and so many shops close for summer holiday, and we wanted to make sure they were open. They told us that they were, in fact, open for business, but asked us to delay our visit by just a bit so they could put out more fresh cupcakes. We obliged, but when we got there, I’d say their selection was extremely limited, and looking far from fresh.
At first bite: I didn’t need to take a bite, actually, to know that these cupcakes wouldn’t measure up to the previous two shops I’ve visited. Each cake looked exactly the same (no differentiation in flavor), and the frosting looked like whipped cream mixed with flavoring and/or food coloring, topped with cheap candy. Nevertheless, the first bite confirmed–these were not what an American would consider a cupcake.
Overall: I can honestly say that we felt bad serving these cupcakes to our dinner guests that night. Fortunately they were up for the experiment, and didn’t hold it against us, but this isn’t a bakery that I plan to return to anytime soon. Obviously, my verdict for this one is DON’T GO to Dasiy Miller.
As a side note, I was particularly put-off by two other things: First–the name indicates that this bakery is aiming to resemble something American, either in look, feel, or food offering. Not only were the cupcakes not at all up to American cupcake standards, but the decor in the shop centered around imagery from… London. Second–the one American thing they did have on their menu that looked appealing was beer. I was especially excited to see Sam Adams Boston Lager on the menu (for obvious reasons), and we tried to order one… at which point we were notified that, uh, they were out (or do they even carry them??). But we could have Heineken! No thanks, Daisy Miller. And maybe you should revisit the American theme you have going on…
Image credit: http://www.daisymiller-cupcakes.com/
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The Perpetual Passenger 