Iconic French pâtisserie, Laduree, debuts in India: Check details here

 With a master franchisee deal with Noida-based CK Israni Group, Ladurée is kickstarting its foray into India with its first salon de thé in Delhi's upscale Khan Market

In the famous scene in the 2006 film, Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, where the queen, played by Kirsten Dunst, sat surrounded by macarons while her subjects starved outside the Palace of Versailles, the luxe almond confections were supplied by Ladurée, the historic French pâtisserie. Since then, Ladurée has gone from being the single iconic bakery in Paris’s Rue Royale to a chain with a presence in 21 countries, including the US, UK, Japan, and the UAE. (Of course, in real life, the pâtisserie was born only some 70 years after Marie Antoinette’s death in 1793.)

Now, with a master franchisee deal with Noida-based CK Israni Group, Ladurée is kickstarting its foray into India with its first salon de thé in Delhi’s upscale Khan Market.

“I remember the first time I walked into Ladurée in Paris,” says Chandni Nath Israni, co-founder of the CK Israni Group. “It was magical. That’s why this is a passion project for me.”

Through the pandemic, they developed a four-storeyed kitchen (they call it a lab) in Noida, imported their raw materials, worked on creating interiors, which marry the brand aesthetic with some unique Indian elements, and most importantly, developed a menu. “The very first thing I asked our lab to perfect was the French toast,” Israni says, “for that was what made me fall in love with Ladurée the first time I went there.”

Wicker ceilings, Indian marble tabletops, and enormous green marble planters add local touches to the restaurant, otherwise resplendent in peachy pastels that the brand worldwide is known for. On the menu are signature Ladurée staples like Croque-monsieurs, vol-au-vents, and, of course, pillowy double-decker macarons. The story goes that in the middle of the 19th century, a chef at Ladurée decided to sandwich a ganache filling between two macaron shells. The resultant macaron was an instant success and their recipe has not changed since.