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Now that we had visited the famed Cafe du Monde, it was time to do a comparison test. The "other" spot for some delicious beignets is Morning Call located in City Park. You might wonder what the difference could be for fried dough topped with powdered sugar right? Well, with any form of cooking, including baking and frying, there are many subtleties. In fact, if not done right, the differences are not subtle at all! So we headed over to Morning Call the day after right in the morning to try the same 3 things we had at Cafe du Monde.
Let's start with the Beignets first. These were presented without the powdered sugar. Rather, we were supplied with a shaker and were able to control the amount. This was a good idea not only for taste purposes, but also it allowed us to not waste any of it. When I said subtleties, this would be the case here as the beignets were different, but not in a huge way. I would say the same applied as Cafe du Monde whereby the beignets were doughy in some spots and airy in others. Overall, I thought the ones at Morning Call were denser. Since we could control the sugar, it was less sweet.
As for the Cafe au Lait, there was a considerable difference in my opinion. I felt that the coffee wasn't as strong nor as impactful. Hence there was less aromatics going on. Rather, it was more milky (no problem with that as it was a cafe au lait) going down smooth and silky. Viv went for the Frozen Coffee which was totally different from Cafe du Monde since it was more like a frapp being icy and sweet. She liked it, but thought that it was hard to finish due to the sugar content. In terms of the beignets, it is hard to say if they were better than Cafe du Monde. This would be purely subjective. Personally, I liked them more, but not the coffee.
The Good:
- Can control the sugar yourself
- Lovely park setting
The Bad:
- Coffee is so so
Generally, when some things start off small and gain a following, it will inevitably become popular and go mainstream. Sometimes it completely takes off due to social media, TV and the sort. I'm not sure if Cafe du Monde fits into this category completely, but it certainly hasn't hurt that it has been in all forms of media including the movie Chef. It is almost placed on a pedestal being the holy grail of beignets in New Orleans. For myself, it has been on my bucket list since I can remember and it was quite exciting to finally visit the famed coffee shop that serves fried dough doused with enough powdered sugar to make Tony Montana proud.
Viv and I decided to work off our calories by walking from out hotel to the French Quarter (I'm sure that didn't burn off much). Our first stop was Cafe du Monde for some breakfast (yes a real healthy one). We went for 2 orders of the Beignets and waited in large outdoor seating area. These arrived with mounds of powdered sugar that wasn't as sweet as it looked. In fact, we had to mop up the sugar from the plate with the beignet as we ate. About that beignet, it was a bit dense in some spots but also light with little airy pockets strewn here and there. Was it amazing? No, but it was good nonetheless and we finally fulfilled another bucket-list item.
For myself, the real draw was the Cafe au Lait as it was aromatic and went down smooth. The half and half of hot milk and coffee was a nice balance where the strong coffee was present without being too bitter nor was the drink too milky. It was the perfect compliment to the beignet as the sweetness of the sugar was counteracted by the slight bitterness. The addition of roasted chicory added another layer of flavour that was subtle yet chocolatey. Viv had the Iced Coffee since it was already hot in the morning and it was fine for what it was. I felt that the hot coffee activated the aromatics while the cold coffee was just a beverage. So did Cafe du Monde live up to the astronomical expectations? Probably not, but was still fun to visit anyways.
The Good:
- Iconic
- Great coffee
- Open 24 hours
The Bad:
- Beignets were "okay"
Posts
Now that we had visited the famed Cafe du Monde, it was time to do a comparison test. The "other" spot for some delicious beignets is Morning Call located in City Park. You might wonder what the difference could be for fried dough topped with powdered sugar right? Well, with any form of cooking, including baking and frying, there are many subtleties. In fact, if not done right, the differences are not subtle at all! So we headed over to Morning Call the day after right in the morning to try the same 3 things we had at Cafe du Monde.
Let's start with the Beignets first. These were presented without the powdered sugar. Rather, we were supplied with a shaker and were able to control the amount. This was a good idea not only for taste purposes, but also it allowed us to not waste any of it. When I said subtleties, this would be the case here as the beignets were different, but not in a huge way. I would say the same applied as Cafe du Monde whereby the beignets were doughy in some spots and airy in others. Overall, I thought the ones at Morning Call were denser. Since we could control the sugar, it was less sweet.
As for the Cafe au Lait, there was a considerable difference in my opinion. I felt that the coffee wasn't as strong nor as impactful. Hence there was less aromatics going on. Rather, it was more milky (no problem with that as it was a cafe au lait) going down smooth and silky. Viv went for the Frozen Coffee which was totally different from Cafe du Monde since it was more like a frapp being icy and sweet. She liked it, but thought that it was hard to finish due to the sugar content. In terms of the beignets, it is hard to say if they were better than Cafe du Monde. This would be purely subjective. Personally, I liked them more, but not the coffee.
