Rose’s Meat Market & Sweet Shop
Bourbon Pecan Macaron
Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcake
Chewy Double Chocolate Cookie
Chocolate Sea Salt Tart
Rustic Apple Almond Galette
Exiting the Nasher Museum, where an unexpected Miro exhibit had just left me as enthralled as ever by the surrealists work, it was onward to Rose’s that our tour of Durham progressed and although the Restaurant within a Meat Market was unfortunately sold out of their clever shirts while sausages, charcuterie, and afternoon ramen were not particularly what I desired the “Sweet Shop” portion was very well stocked, a duo of young ladies preparing even more pastries while hipster butchers chopped meats, scooped noodles, and called out orders over the din of diners and the stereo above.
Small in size, limited in parking, and mostly stripped down in décor with a few seats located along racks lined with dry goods for purchase it was immediately on entry that a young man greeted me and taking a few minutes to peruse the goods before chatting with the pastry team about what was best it was a few minutes more before a small order was crafted, each item boxed individually and taken outside for enjoyment later – the bourbon pecan macaron with a crackling shell sublimating to light boozy notes a lone exception in that it never even made it to the car.
Waiting until later that afternoon, a post-lunch/pre-dinner snack, it was with coffee at a local shop that the rest of the goods from Rose’s were unboxed and beginning with a galette whose quality far outperformed the tart at Guglhupf in filling, texture, and flaky golden crust the tasting quickly progressed to the ‘chewy’ Double Chocolate Cookie which seemed almost entirely flourless yet surprisingly ‘light,’ a sentiment not at all appropriate for the sea salt speckled tart whose every bite packed a smooth wallop of cocoa just barely held in check by the buttery crust containing a dish that is definitely best shared…with beverage of choice in hand.
Certainly not getting any less intense with progressive bites it was after a small respite, as snow again began to fall, that the heavily recommended cupcake was unwrapped and with texture something like a just-set pudding rife with buttermilk beneath a substantial layer of chocolate ganache it can only be said that this must-order item is not for the slight of heart, a few bites more than enough to satiate most appetites while even the most steadfast chocoholic would have difficulty finishing a whole one in a single sitting, coffee or milk or not.
http://rosesmeatandsweets.com/
