This is the second review of Beard Papa’s. (You can read my first review here: http://www.foodlovergirl.com/beard-papas/) They are Japanese chain, and said to be one of the BEST cream puffs in the world. There used to be several locations in NYC a few years ago, but now, there is only one locations now.  So, if there is only one place in NYC to get these cream puffs, then why not make them the best one to go to right? Well, not exactly…

So, what’s the issue? Well, few things. First of all, the quality seems to be going down in several areas. They used to have more offering than just cream puffs in the refrigerated window showcase, but when we went back, they only had mochi ice creams, chocolate cake, and more cream puffs. Oh, and bottled water… Kind of sad to see that.

And then, the flavors of the filling. This has been the same from before, they only offer two flavors. The original, and the Flavor of the Day. If you check their website, they have so many flavors, SOOOOOO many! The small shop I visited in Japan (http://www.foodlovergirl.com/beard-papas-shimbashi/), and they had many flavors there as well. But here, they only offer two. I wonder why that is… they seem to have enough food traffic, the seating area is always nearly full, so I don’t think they will have much trouble selling all the flavors each day…

Anyways, we got on the line to order, and the Flavor of the Day was Green Tea, which was awesome. So, how it is done, is that they have baked puffs, empty, at the ordering counter. Once you tell them what you want, they will fill the puffs with the fillings. So they are very fresh!

 

You choose the puff style, from original, chocolate covered, Paris Brest, etc. and what filling you want, which would be, again, either the original or flavor of the day.

 

On this day, we got 4 cream puffs. First one was Cocoa Puff ($2.15) with Green Tea Cream filling. The puff was light and airy, but not very chocolate-y. The green tea cream was very good, velvety and flavorful. They make the puff pastry so nice and thin that they can put lots and lots of filling in there, which is great.

Then, the Original Cream Puff ($2.15) with Green Tea Cream filling. I feel like the size has gotten smaller, and the shape of the puff was more nicely round before. The sign of quality going down is present here. Otherwise, it was still a good cream puff, very tasty.

Next up is Eclair Cream Puff ($2.45), which is an Original Cream Puff coated with chocolate. Just like all others, the size was smaller than before, which was sad…and, even more disappointing, the puff was not completely filled! This was the first time I have seen this type of disappointing result from Beard Papa’s, I really wonder what is going on with them…

 

The last one, we got the Original Cream Puff with Original Vanilla Custard Cream filling. The taste alone was still heavenly, super delicious, creamy, airy…perfection!!!

So, to wrap it up, the good news is that they continue to make great puff pastry and great filling. The sad news is that they are smaller, and not all fully filled. The customer service part, I haven’t expected much since the last visit, so there is not much to say. The conclusion, for me, is that even though they have downsized over the years in NYC, and reduced their location to just one, they still are not the best, or what they could be. I will continue to love their cream puffs, especially when I am in Japan. I really hope that the quality of cream puffs here at NYC location will go back up, and also, maybe start offering more flavors in the future…

Beard Papa’s – 2167 Broadway, New York, NY 10024