Adventure to Maman

Yesterday I checked out a cute little bakery cafe called Maman – and I will definitely be back! While I’ve been trying to be reasonably frugal while in New York, I also want to take advantage of the numerous gourmet options while I’m here. I particularly love coffee shops and bakeries, and could squander a lot of money there quite easily. However, I’m also quite productive in such places – I love the ambience, and the light chatter that provides (most of the time) just the right amount of noise to get things done. Thus, I decided that I can probably afford to treat myself once each week; to explore one cute new coffee shop while working on various research/MCAT studying/other items of my to-do list – or simply while reading a book for fun. As it turns out, Maman may ruin my plan of visiting a new place each week, because I’ve already decided I have to return!

I found Maman through an online search of the best bakeries/coffee shops in NYC near me, and had seen online that they had an intriguing assortment of filled croissants. When I arrived, my eye was immediately drawn to a set of large croissants with almond-and-something filling oozing out of the sides. There was also a set of pretty green-sprinkled croissants beside it, but they weren’t quite as large nor quite as beautiful as the almond-something ones. The bakery case wasn’t labeled, so when I got to the counter I asked what the different kinds of croissants were. The almond-something was a chocolate almond croissant, and the green-sprinkled one was a pistachio-chocolate croissant.

Now I was really torn.

I’ve had a chocolate almond croissant before – I actually tried it a week or so ago at Breads Bakery in NYC (just before starting this blog) – and I generally like to try the whole spread of options before trying the same thing for a second time. This logic would lead me to choose the pistachio croissant. However, the chocolate-almond croissant I had at Breads Bakery was delicious, and the chocolate almond croissants here – especially the big one in front – were just so delectable-looking I felt my choice was made.

I asked for the chocolate almond croissant (specifically I asked if I could please have the big one in front – the lady cheerfully complied) and decided I’ll just have to come back.

I settled down with my croissant (no regrets!), gave myself a few minutes of reading time with Schindler’s List, and then went to work on some MCAT studying. A little while later, I looked at the drinks/espresso bar menu (I hadn’t seen it earlier because I’d been so focused on the croissants), and saw that they
had lavender hot chocolate!!!

I may have mentioned that I like lavender before, but to give a brief background, a cute coffee shop called Magpie’s in my college town of Decorah, Iowa introduced a lavender syrup this fall. I tried in a white chocolate mocha, and quickly became obsessed. Over winter break, I had tried making lavender hot chocolate myself, but the chocolate I used was a little old, it didn’t turn out great, and I hadn’t tried again. Most definitely, however, I have never seen lavender hot chocolate advertised as a normal/permanent menu item anywhere. Thus, the fact that Maman did advertise it as such seemed like a sign – I needed to try it.

Against my better judgement and the health of my insulin receptors, after an hour and a half of studying and savoring my croissant, I ordered a lavender hot chocolate. It was, indeed, incredible! I’ll have to work on recreating this, myself. I may have felt slightly ill afterwards from the sugar overload so early in the day, but still have no regrets.

In any case, I certainly plan to return to Maman, and most definitely recommend that you check it out as well!