Tout Sweet Patisserie

I had a strawberry shortcake type of pastry to go. This cake looked and tasted like sitting in the fridge for a week…

cute place in town & country! apparently, they’ve been around for almost a year, but my first time setting foot inside this shoppe was just last week. i was in awe of the variety and selection of pastries, ranging from macarons to tarts to cakes.
after much deliberation, i picked 2 macarons, exotic banana and olive oil-​lime-​sea salt, just b/​c they were unique macaron flavours that i’d never had before. the flavour was there, but the consistency wasn’t quite what i’d come to expect from an authentic french macaron… the wafer part shouldn’t have been crunchy like a cracker, bit rather, a bit of a chewy consistency, maybe a little like a soft-​baked cookie. the creamy filling was lacking a bit, and could have been a bit creamier. but not bad, for $ 1.90 a piece.
i also felt that the lady helping me out didn’t know that much about the macarons since she had a hard time explaining some of the flavours to me. typical startup/​new store issues, but i definitely look forward to coming back since i frequent town & country and hope to try some of their other offerings.

I came here about 3 – 4 weeks ago to get some macarons. I asked whether they made the macarons everyday. The woman with the nose ring said that the macarons were delivered everyday. I then asked for a burnt caramel and a coffee pistachio praline to go. The same sales woman took the coffee pistachio praline from the display case, but took the burnt caramel one from a hidden stash on the side. I asked if both the macarons were delivered today, and she said yes.
When I got home and tasted the two macarons, the coffee one tasted fine, but the burnt caramel one tasted obviously a few days old — the «wafers» were crunchy and the filling dried out. I am quite upset about this experience, since each of these tiny macarons costs $ 1.90.
I am a big macaron fan. This is my second time visiting Tout Sweet. The first time I came here, the macarons were not bad, but still not at their freshest. Today’s experience has made me decide not to come back again. Chantal Guillon in downtown PA is still my favorite for macarons.

My wife loves just about everything here, though I stick with the chocolate chip cookies as i think they’re the best around. Wish they’d stay open until 8pm (they’re open until 7pm most nights I think) as that’s when a lot of folks (like us) are coming out of the restaurants in the area and would love to be able to come in for dessert.

When I see something I like, I make sure to get it! I’m talking about Tout Sweet’s 5^th Element Cake. It’s a rich little cake that comes in personal size for $ 7 and 7in for $ 50. It’s made with Vanilla Bean Genoise Cake, Raspberry Cream, Fresh Raspberries, Wu Long Tea Infused Guittard White Chocolate Mousse, White Chocolate «Velvet» (totally got this from their website). All I knew was how awesome it looked and how it has a raspberry center with little tiny balls that give it some crunch. Call me a sucker for eye candy. I first heard about Tout Sweet when my coworker brought some Pâté de Fruit to a meeting. They’re these little bite size slices of fruit all dolled up (and quite expensive)! Good to munch on with champagne.
This particular location in Palo Alto is lesser known; but certainly hassle-​free. Parking’s a breeze and there are lots of restaurants and boutique shops in the same plaza. It’s also very close to the Stanford Shopping Center. I can’t forget to mention their unique macaron flavors and gift boxes.
If you’re looking to impress someone (with expensive taste) or just have to treat yourself, Tout Sweet is the answer. So not your basic pastry shop — Chef Yigit Pura is a creative genius!

When a baker is truly passionate about his or her craft, you can taste the dedication and love in every bite. Sounds cheesy, I know, but I was reminded of the truth to this adage after meeting pastry chef Yigit Pura, winner of the inaugural season of Top Chef: Just Desserts. His zest for life (and sugar) is captured in this cute, colorful spot for handcrafted sweet treats in Palo Alto’s Town & Country Village, brimming with equal parts sophistication and whimsy. Rows of colorful macarons in flavors from Peanut Butter & Jelly to Lemon-​Yuzu share space with artfully prepared pastry, brittles, jams and sauces. You’ll likely have a hard time deciding what to try, so indulge in a variety of treats. Don’t miss the simple-​yet-​perfect Nutella-​filled brioche; it’s a little ball of heaven.
Eat This: Toasted Cashew-​Sesame Brittle, Peanut Butter & Jelly Macaron, Nutella Brioche

Presentation, fit, and finish is incredible. They pack your sweets in bags and boxes more akin to jewelry boxes or high end fashion. The interior of the shop is also really pristine and clean. They have a selection of macrons, small cakes, candies, pâté de fruit, brittle, and cookies amongst others.
The macaron are the most beautiful that I’ve ever seen. Some of them are decorated with a metallic sparkle. However, they are so sweet they overshadow the flavor. They might as well label each of their flavors by their color name. If you make me, a piggish slob, want to stop eating a macaron, then it’s too much. I didn’t have too much of a problem with the texture although I’ve had airier/​chewier macaron.
Luckily the selection of small cakes did a good job of making up for the overly sweet macaron. I got the bread pudding, chocolate mousse cake, apple tart, and hazelnut cake (?). I especially enjoyed the bread pudding. Usually if places serve mini bread puddings they’re dry as the day is long. This one was indulgent and moist. Overall the quality was very good. I don’t have a problem with the price because it’s so rich you don’t need a lot to be satisfied.
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Fantastic presentation. I will be avoiding the macaron but I will return for everything else.

Note — I’ve only tried their macarons and small fruit tarts.
Their fruit tarts are perfectly bite sized and the fruit on top is always fresh and yummy! The crème on it isn’t overly sweet or too dense. The tart part is also good — not too soft or too hard. I like that they have mixed, raspberry, or blueberry toppings.
They have so many flavors of macarons! Some of the ones I tried were a little dry and overall, they were a tad too sweet for my likings. I’m just not someone who has a big sweet tooth, but that may be a bit biased.
I’d like to come back and try their other goods soon!

I really wanted to like Tout… really.
I love macarons. Love love love. And the service was really friendly and polite.
But the macarons here were simply… meh.
I purchased about 6 or so and with each one, kept waiting for the flavor that would be better. However they were all overwhemlingly sweet with very little taste differential beyond the coffee flavor.
All in all I probably wouldn’t come back. They just weren’t flavorful or subtle enough for me.

The cake slices are now ridiculously skinny: the slices are cut so narrow that they look like they might fall over.

Cute bakery tucked in comer of the plaza.
It happened one night cake — rather one note (even with passion fruit) sweet and not a very strong hazelnut taste. Cake tastes predominantly of almond flour.
Rose macaron was good — shell wasn’t too airy and not too sweet. However, I wish the Rose flavor was stronger (put more rose water!)

Mille crêpe: 1 star, for tasting not sweet at all and like artificial orange, and being a downer for 3 people who tried it. Sure they torch it, but that doesn’t make it any tastier haha sorry ($ 6.5)
Tout chocolate cake: 5 stars! Lots of textures with a bit of cookie inside, rich dark chocolate but also light fluffy chocolate mousse. ($ 7)
Would come back for the cake, will pass on the weird crêpe though.

I hate to give a bad review as I think Yigit Pura the founder of this place is super sweet, super nice and also very talented. I happened to meet him in person at a Food Festival last year and I thought he was a very genuinely humble famous dessert chef and I also sampled several of the macarons in SF and they were delicious.
I was excited when I found out that he opened a store in Palo Alto and I was on the hunt for St. Honore Cake and their store supposedly carried this cake.
The store was empty (no customer) on a busy Sunday afternoon (the sushi place and sandwich/​meat shop as well as Tava Indian food were jamming with people, parking was scarce) which was surprising. The store looked neat and clean, very fru fru looking, certainly easy to fit in for Palo Alto.
They no longer carry St. Honore cake, the workers said that they don’t make the cake in the Palo Alto store, so they usually get their goods delivered from SF and the St. Honore cakes don’t hold up very well (have to be eaten fresh)…well, that’s too bad!
So, I looked at other dessert items. not sure why, but nothing really jumped out to me but I read reviews about the Millie Crêpe cake so I ordered a slice along with a nutella brioche to go.
The Millie Crêpe was NOT my cup of tea (actually shared with my man and he didn’t like it either). It was very densed, the texture was weird, very lightly sweetened and a bit dry with some not so pleasant flavor of maybe almond? bourbon? whatever it was… just not a good piece of dessert.
The brioche was a bit dry as well, not sure if it was because it wasn’t fresh and been sitting inside the display case for a while. The nutella was yummy though haha! For $ 3.50 a piece, certainly not cheap for a croissant bread!
Perhaps, I should have stick with their macaroons…

this review is only for macarons…
definitely sub-​par compared to chantal guillon although the price is pretty much the same or even more expensive
they dont really have box of 6 anymore so smallest is now box of 10
what i tried
lemon yuzu— pretty good the jam was very nice. sweet and sour
exotic banana — i have never tried banana macaron before but it was great! totally love it
vanilla — too sweet for me …
salted caramel— the shell was toooo dense (maybe just this batch) and the jam wasnt as caramel-​y as i expected… it was just too creamish :(and not salty much

YUM! Tout Sweet really knows how to stay true to the flavors! These are the ones I tried:
Exotic banana– tasted just like banana bread! I wish it had slightly more banana flavoring though because the white chocolate in the ganache came on a little too strong.
Peanut butter and jelly– just how you think it would taste! More peanut butter than jelly, more of a jelly shell with a peanut butter filling.
Cherry bourbon– one of my faves! The filling was almost a jam with equal amounts of cherry and bourbon flavor! I could just eat the filling by itself.
Salted caramel– comparable to Chantal guillons salted caramel, which is my all time favorite. Nice burnt sugar taste to it, but also not too sweet! Just wish the filling was slightly less creamy.
Yuzu lemon– I was afraid this one would be too citrusy and tart, but instead, it was very refreshing and light! Again, equal amounts of both Yuzu and lemon and not too sour.
Raspberry rose– the most typical and least impressive. Wish there was slightly more rose flavor, but still not bad!
Overall, I like the macarons because they aren’t too sweet. They don’t look as perfect as some other macaron places though (though they are still beautifully decorated). The shell is bumpy, almost if the almond flour wasn’t sifted enough? I also got a macaron with a cracked shell. Don’t get me wrong though, the fillings and flavors definitely make up for the lack in the aesthetics department! I can’t wait to go back for more.

I became acquainted with Tout Sweet at SFO of all places. I got a container of the Crunchy Caramel & Chocolate Hazelnut-​Cardamom Nibbles at Napa Farms Market (side note: best airport market ever). They were awesome. That was over a year ago. Wow I’ve been deprived.
Naturally, I was excited to see a new shop open up in Palo Alto. I intended to stop by for a macaron or two. But I was with A, so of course he ordered five macarons, three cookies, and a s’more treat. Ah well, moderation in moderation.
The macarons we tried were: Chocolate, Salted Caramel Buttercream, Lemon Yuzu, Banana White Chocolate, and Sour Cherry Bourbon.
The macarons were not bad, but not as good as Chantal Guillon. The flavors could have been stronger, and the filling was so generous to the point of it being a little too much. I prefer a chewier macaron. Of the five, the salted caramel was probably my favorite.
The cookies though were a different story. I first had the Naughty Peanut Cookie. I was a fan. Then I tried the Mudslide which was packed with fudge, sour cherry, and cacao nibs. Yeah. Just when I thought it couldn’t get better, I had the WTF cookie. They took the Sea Salt Walnut Shortbread and added salted caramel buttercream. WTF!!! This took me to cookie heaven.
At this point, we called it quits and saved the Le S’more for a post dessert nap treat. Marshmallow & dark chocolate ganache. How can you go wrong there?
Next time, I’m trying the cakes and the bread pudding. They have a mille crêpe cake that was calling my name.

I never watched much Top Chef but I caught some of Top Chef Just Desserts and so I was really excited when I heard that Yigit Pura was opening a branch of his patisserie in Palo Alto. The macarons are really good — almost as good as Chantal Guillon, my bay area fave. As you can see from the photos they are very generous with the ganache and the flavors are strong but not overwhelming (I had coffee praline, vanilla, dark chocolate and salted caramel). The cookie was a bit dry/​tough, but that’s the only bad thing I can say about the macarons.
I also tried a Guittard chocolate chunk cookie and a Baker’s Bar. I’m not normally a fan of thin crispy cookies, but this one was good. I liked the soft chocolate chunks and the amount of salt was exactly right (I like salty chocolate things but often there is too much or too little salt). The Baker’s Bar was like a fancy rice krispy with peanut butter and a rich chocolate ganache. It was very good as well.
Prices are on the high side but not crazy — macarons were $ 1.85 and the other two were about $ 6 combined. I will definitely be back.

*I have not actually been in the store*
Although, my lovely husband brought home a few treats for us to share.
The macaroons were beautiful, and I was especially excited to try the salted caramel.
Unfortunately, it was pretty bland. As were the other macaroons we tried. The texture was perfection, but the flavor was lacking so much, we tossed a few after tasting them.
Surprisingly, the cost per macaroon isn’t as high as other places. The macaroons that Whole Foods sells are actually more expensive
We also shared a chocolate chip cookie. That was the winner, and the reason we’d go back.
Baked perfectly, and with a touch of sea salt, which I LOVE.

«I want to make your heart smile from the moment you walk into our pâtisserie…»
Well Mr. Yigit Pura, I’m pretty sure my heart was beaming ear to ear and jumping for joy when I discovered that you opened another pâtisserie in Palo Alto! I’ve been a huge fan since my first visit to the Union Square Macy’s location in SF shortly after it opened in 2012. First I was eager to try the macarons after having fallen in love with the colorful little airy bites of heaven in Paris. Best macarons I’ve ever had outside of France! I’ve yet to try all the other beautiful desserts here because I’m always after the macarons, but I’m sure they taste as decadent as they look!
Tout Sweet is tucked away behind Trader Joe’s next to Tava. It’s much smaller than the Union Square one, but still has the same whimsical décor and gorgeous, drool-​worthy display cases.
My favorite macarons at the moment are the coffee praline and pistachio cinnamon! Très magnifique!

Yigit Pura is a badass. I guess he won Top Chef Desserts for a reason. Tucked next to what is one of my other fave T&C locales, Belcampo, you could make a good meal between the two. It’s a small, spartan but sleek patisserie. Got a Tesla marshmallow, 6 macarons and a mille crêpe which they brulee before packing for you. Ive nit tried the crêpe yet but based on the other two this place is damn tasty. Sounds like there will be inventory changing semi constantly so i guess ill have to keep checking back. 4.5 stars