Patisserie Chantilly

With the influx of Beard Papa popping up almost as fast as Pinkberry franchises all over the Southland, one can easily overlook what many consider to be the best cream puff around. Where is that you might ask? At Patisserie Chantilly in Lomita. Set in a small strip mall, what you see on the outside is a mirage. The center has seen better days, but step inside Patisserie Chantilly and you enter another world. Very sleek and modern, you can tell that you are in a bakery different than any other you have set foot in before.

The cream puffs are made to order and come in two varieties, vanilla and sesame. Unlike many cream puffs, these are split in half and are generously filled with a custard and whipped cream mixture.

The Choux a la Crème shell is baked to a deep golden brown to give it an extra added crunch. It is fairly eggy and tender on the inside. The luscious and delicate filling is very subtle in flavor, but the vanilla still shines through. It is then dusted with powdered sugar to give it a slight sweetness. Like most Asian pastries, these are not overly sweet.

The Choux aux Sesame is a black sesame cream filling drizzled with mesquite honey and dusted with kinako (roasted, ground soy flour). The black sesame seeds give the cream puff a definite nutty flavor and added texture component. The sesame flavor tended to overwhelm the delicate nature of the cream, and this didn’t really appeal to me.

The Goma Blanc Manger, a white sesame flavored cream with a kinako sauce. This is a very attractive dish. The cream comes in a kidney shaped dish and is topped with white and black sesame seeds. Not really a custard, the texture was a little off putting to me. It reminded me off mixing scrambled eggs and yogurt together. The kinako sauce is fairly sweet, which helps accentuate the sesame cream. The contrast of the white sesame cream and the roasted kinako sauce helped to mask some of the blandness of the cream.

The Lavender Macaroon is a very attractive looking cookie. It has a very delicate texture, although there is somewhat of a crunch to it which quickly melts in your mouth. A definite floral quality is present. There is a thing layer separating the halves of the macaroon, but I was unable to distinguish what it was.

The Chocolate Macaroon also has that delicate quality to it. Crunchy on the outside, it quickly becomes soft as a pillow once bitten in to. A whisper of chocolate touches your tongue as you first taste but becomes a little bolder on the palate as you continue to eat it. There is a slight bitterness from the dark chocolate that sneaks up and hits the back of your throat. A thin layer of chocolate glues both halves of the cookie together.

Patisserie Chantilly
2383 Lomita Blvd., #104
Lomita, CA 90717
(310) 257-9454