Twelve Centimeter

=**(was my reaction when I saw they were closed. This would be a sad, sad world without their ice cookies. Luckily my friend contacted them and they are ramping up for a NEW LOCATION hopefully by the end of this year!
Keeping my eyes wide open for their new location!

Would’ve never found this place had I not turned to Unilocal to fulfill my macaron craving. It’s in a tiny, crammed little square where most of the signage is Korean and its doors do not face Western. Look for the number 12, not the word.
I went an hour and 15 before closing and a lot of the flavors had already sold out. No biggie – their selection is huge. Girl behind the counter just oozed sweetness. You almost want to buy one of every flavor, damn the price, because she’s so adorable.
Parking tip: I found a free space in the neighborhood on the eastern side of Western, that’s the same side as KFC. The other side of Western, also residential, is a parking nightmare.
Ordered a dozen: green tea, black cherry, chocolate, blackberry, caramel, royal milk, raspberry, ice mint, mango, pistachio, lavender, passionfruit. Each flavor was intense and tasted like what it was supposed to be. Fruits were bright and fruity and the chocolate, caramel, and milk were creamy and rich. The meringue cookie was perfectly smooth and crispy – I enjoyed biting into one and breaking the ‘shell’ with my teeth.
I am sorry to say I did not like the green tea variety. I’m a fan of green tea in ice cream and other desserts, but this particular macaron I got was very bitter, with the vegetable/​leafy flavor dominating. Maybe they steeped it too long used too many leaves to water ratio? Anyway I need to get a boyfriend to regularly «surprise» me with a box of these.

I don’t have a sweet tooth, but my husband got me a valentines day dark chocolate cake and it was very good and not too sweet. The macaroons on top of the cake was good too :)

Twelve Centimeter is hands down my favorite macaron store in L.A. I absolutely love macarons and would do a lot to get my hands on them. Some include sitting traffic, walking 2 miles, burning a hole in my wallet, YOU NAME IT. I was thoroughly impressed with this place. I appreciate the cleanliness of the store and the bright colors. The décor just made my experience so much more pleasant.
As for the macarons, the texture is fantastic. The shells were crispy but chewy at the same time, and the fillings were not so sweet that you couldn’t distinguish between the flavors. It seems like they really got the temperature right for all of their batches. Also, I love how creative they are with their flavors. Some of my favorites were royal milk tea, hazelnut mocha, tiramisu, lavender lemonade, and passion fruit. The ice cookies, on the other hand, were not memorable. They were just OKAY, and I honestly don’t have much to say about them.
At $ 1.8 a piece, Twelve Centimeter is definitely worth coming back for! I can’t wait to try all of their flavors :)

Totally THE place in LA for macarons.
When you step into the place you already know they are legit. It’s clean and colorful and the menu best of all is so small that you know they focus on what they know best — dessert!
We ordered tons of macarons but the chef was awesome and even let us sample a few, showing he was proud of his work. It was pretty daring but it was good. The perfect texture and amount of flavor. I adored the mocha one. Come early though cause we came around noon on a weekday and a lot of flavors were sold out. Price was typical.
The almond cookies were a bit dry though.
The ice cookies were my favorites! They aren’t too sweet and the filling is light. I prefer this over the macarons. My favorites were Earl Grey and Green Tea.
Only issue is his English is lacking a little but he was super patient in helping us out. They also had other pies and teas there that looked yum.

I’m not a fan of Café Concerto, so when my friend recommended this place I was thrilled to find another macaron pitstop in ktown!
It’s located in a small strip mall next to Doma Noodle and Hwang Hae Do, so it’s a convenient stop after eating there. I got a ten pack for a friend, and she absolutely loved them.
I tried to Royal Milk Tea and Chocolate Banana ones and they were really good. I love how there’s a small parking lot (unlike difficult parking for Bottega Louie). Check this place out for your macaron cravings!

I went on a hot day and got macarons and ice box cookies.
By the time the macarons reached home, the filling was melting. The ice box cookies were disintegrating.
The macarons with the runny filling were not tasty. I stuck them in the fridge and when I ate one right out of the fridge, the macaron shell just crumbled. The filling was rock hard. I left them out for about 20 minutes prior to eating them and they were perfect. I had trouble remembering which flavors I picked, but my favorite has to be the royal milk tea. The macarons aren’t the best I’ve had but they aren’t half bad. Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, only at the right temperature. I would go back if I was in the area. Wasabi was interesting to try, but would not get again.
The ice box cookies are only good cold. I had a bite after the long warm transport and it wasn’t that good. When I had it straight from the fridge, they were better.
Overall, I would go back if I was in the area and get more of the royal milk tea.

3.5!
I tried the ice cookies which look so awesome in the pictures. I think it’s because I have no idea what it would taste like and I just really wanted to try. It’s alright — It tastes like chilled shortbread with cream in the middle. Didn’t get a chance to try earl grey.
Didn’t try anything else. Girl working was super excited and friendly.

I found out about this place about two weeks ago and I’ve been here 6 times…
I love this place. EVERYTHING IS GOOD HERE.
The macarons are amazing of course but so are the cheesecakes, ice cookies and cakes. I liked the macarons better than the ones from that famous place in downtown, Bottega Louie. This place offers more flavors, is much closer to my house, and is cheaper (but still pretty expensive). Success!
Royal milk tea, jasmine, green tea, lavender lemonade, coconut, passionfruit, pistachio, rose, tiramisu… they have ALL of these flavors and more. They have like 30… holy shit.
Everything tastes like what it’s supposed to taste like. The ones I had as a gift from Bottega all tasted the same… I couldn’t tell what I was eating. But these are spot on. I’m so confused about the reviews that say that all they taste is sugar… are your taste buds dead? Wtf bruh… even the tiramisu one tastes like you’re eating legit tiramisu. Unreal.
Speaking of tiramisu… their cheesecakes are amazing. The regular cheesecake and the tiramisu… best tiramisu I’ve ever had. Ever. And the cheesecake isn’t gross and dense and overpowering like creepy American cheesecake… it’s light and fluffy. Asians make better desserts than white people~
I stopped in for mother’s day and got my mom a «twelve centimeter cake»… like a blueberry chiffon cake with whipped cream. They’re by order only but since they make the cake in multiples of two, they had an extra one because someone had an odd order. I got it and my mom LOVED it… she’s old and Filipino so she doesn’t like things that are super sweet… she ate so much of that cake. I’ve never seen my mom eat that much cake. lolll so light and flufffffy
plus the owners are so cute!!! and sometimes their cute pretty daughter is there. so nice people!
tl;dr pros and cons
PROS — NICE PEOPLE WITH AMAZING STUFF! TRY EVERYTHING!
CONS — expensive lol :(but oh well treat yoself

These are the best Macarons I have ever, ever had. I can’t even begin to explain how delicious and perfectly perfect they are but they are DAMN expensive, hence the 3 stars.
5 macarons and 1 slice of Pecan pie cost me $ 15.
It’s unfortunate they are so overpriced because I really wanted to order 2 dozen for my daughter’s birthday party.
Definitely a treat yourself or friend kind of thing. If you can afford, get a few dozen for your soirée.
Parking sucks in a major way, you might have to wait for awhile to find a spot or park down the street.

Twelve Centimeter is located in koreatown and is a little hard to find. I’m still not sure why it’s called Twelve Centimeter since I forgot to ask. Despite the odd name, I honestly think this is one of the better stores for macarons in LA.
They have a large variety of flavors. We went in right before closing time so they were out of pistaschio and rose. I may come back soon to try those flavors since they are usually my favorites.
I really enjoyed their macarons. They have deep flavors and the cookies are almost perfect in texture. The outside of the cookies are nice and crispy while the inside is not too chewy. My favorite flavor had to be the sea salt. It was the right balance of sweet and salty.
The macarons are pretty reasonably priced. Most are $ 1.50 and some are $ 1.80 depending on the flavor.
They also have these cookies called Iced Cookies. They are really unique in both texture and flavor. I didn’t quite care for them but both friends I was with really liked it.

I came here based on some reviews of Unilocalers, and I’m disappointed to report that it didn’t live up to my expectations.
Décor:
Very small location and very easy to miss since it’s sandwiched between two very noticeable businesses. It has a clean, bright atmosphere that resemble many dessert/​yogurt shops.
Macarons: 2 stars**
Most of the flavors of the macarons were good, but I’m giving this place 2 stars because the texture was off. I could tell that the macarons have been out for awhile because when i bit into quite a few of them, they just broke apart as if I was biting into a bunch of tortilla chips. Had they been fresh, I have no doubt it would’ve been good. If you only care about flavor and not texture, then these type of macarons are for you.
Ice Cookies: 3 stars***
The cream filling in these «ice» cookies needs to be refrigerated. It definitely has a more mild flavor than the macarons and less sweet, so if you’re more sensitive to sweets, these are probably a better option. I can’t really call it soft. Rather, the best word to describe these cookies would be delicate because they break apart sooo easily.
Parking:
very tiny lot. There is some neighborhood parking if you can locate some spots.

This place is decent, I actually expected it to be WAY better. They have a special ice cookie which i tried and thought it was a bit weird. The flavor is light and the cookie sorta just crumbles in your mouth.
Macaron’s aren’t bad, sorta too sweet but I did like the shinan sea salt, and tiramisu. I had a total of 6 flavors, the rest were decent. not good enough for me to eat the whole thing. I do love how they have so many interesting flavors, just wished it tasted better so i would come back! I might just come back to try the flavors I didn’t get.
It’s located in a small plaza and it has valet too.

Magnifique ! Mazette! for the Macarons at Twelve Centimeter. And the stars of the evening from top to bottom left to right.
Vanilla, Rasberry, Strawberry, Bailey’s Carmel, Lemon, Tiramisu, Chocolate Banana.
All were velvety smooth, little pillows of goodness with just the right amount of
filling with great flavor, not too sweet or syrupy either. Parisians would approve.
Oh yea and if that was not enough, then check out all of these other flavors, just like Jelly Bellies! — LEMONGRASS– PISTACHIO-​ROSE-​KAHLUA MILK-​ROYAL MILK TEA
–LAVENDER-​LAVENDER LEMONADE-​BLACKBERRY-​SHINAN SEASALT-​JASMIN-​HAZELNUT MOCHA-​ICE MINT-​OLIVE OIL-​CHESTNUT-​NOUGAT-​CAFE MOCHA
–PINA COLADA-​BLACK CHERRY –COCONUT-​CHOCOLATE.
Let’s not forget the Ice cookies, only Mango and Chocolate remained when we got there and we snapped up the last of them. Decadent and a bit rich but what a treat.
O.k. the only downside it the parking, fug get about it, horrible to say the least. Plan on circling the neighborhood or squeezing in one of the few spots in an overly packed strip mall parking lot. C’est la vie !

The macarons were pretty good and chewy.
They also had a variety of flavors and were packaged in a cute box.
However when I went in the evening a lot of the flavors were sold out.
I tried the ice cookies and didnt think they were that great.

I got a box of 10 macarons from 12 cm as a sweet surprise and I devoured them all within a day. The shell was a little bit too crispy and the berry-​flavored ones too sweet for my taste, however. All the other flavors were great, though. My favorites were the Salted Caramel, Pina Colada, Jasmine and Hazelnut.
I want to go back to try their ice cookies!

The Great SoCal Macaron Throwdown made a quick stop… of all places, KTown!
In case you missed this:
An impromptu visit to Twelve Centimeter Cake almost didn’t happen. Parking is really scarce at this strip mall and bonehead me forgot to replenish my coin reserves! What to do? I camped out on the street in a metered stall and waited for someone to pull out of the lot. Patience paid off as after nearly 10 minutes, someone pulled out and I quickly rolled into the vacant stall.
As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by a lady sporting a red chef jacket. Her friendliness and hospitality made my visit extremely pleasant. I informed her that I was hoping to try some of their macarons and she replied that all their flavors were available except for Hazelnut Mocha. Oh, what a quandary!
I only wanted to buy six, but there were soooooo many flavors I wanted to try! I didn’t want another tongue lashing from Mel L. about eating too many macarons and diabetes, so I had
Flavors I settled upon were: Raspberry, Pistachio, Rose, Lavender, Shinan Seasalt, & Bailey’s Caramel. Trust me, it was a difficult decision!
Soon after I made my final choice, the owner, donning a white chef jacket emerged from the back area baking area. In one hand was a white napkin topped by a half inch thick slice of their Original Cheesecake. The other hand, a fork. Handing me the sample, he eagerly awaited my response. Wow! Impressive! Their cheesecake had a smooth creamy texture and fantastic taste. The crust was not exactly firm, but I think I better assessment can be made with a larger slice. Next time! Back to the throwdown!
Dang it! I ended up sharing my macarons grudgingly with Thomas N. He tried Lavender, Shinan Seasalt, & Pistachio. Now, Thomas N. has tagged along with me on the throwdown journey many and various times, being the benefactor of my excessive macaron purchases. His discernible palate I can trust (he has a very refined palate and not once have I influenced his opinion on food).
First, some observations about Twelve Centimeter’s macarons:
1. Consistent shell — Each macaron had a crisp shell. Not as hard as DoLy’s Delectables (which I found to be too crisp), but fairly close to ‘Lette Macarons.
2. Consistent cookie — Each macaron was perfectly moist and possessed an ideal chew, arguably close to ‘Lette.
3. Fillings with distinct flavor — Ganache flavors that are not too sweet and taste wonderful.
4. Not too sweet — For whatever reason, Asian bakeries make their macarons too, too sweet… not the case here folks!
Pistachio: 4.5÷5
Like a good friend, I let him have first dibs. He chose Pistachio first, although I really wanted that one! Oh well! He said it was pretty close to ‘Lette Macarons, but better than the one he had from XT Patisserie.
Shinan Seasalt: 4.5÷5
«What does Shinan Seasalt taste like», I asked Thomas. He said this macaron tasted like eating Cracker Jacks!
Lavender: ⁴⁄₅
According to Thomas, the lavender flavor was very distinguishable. Not everyone likes the flavor of lavender, but since I do, I’m sure I’ll like it the next go around.
Bailey’s Caramel: ⁵⁄₅
Whoa! If you’re into caramel, then get this one. Undertones of Bailey’s Irish Cream gently emerge through a tolerably sweet caramel filling! I actually like this one better than ‘Lette’s Salted Caramel. Do get this one!
Rose: 4.5÷5
Fragrant yet not overwhelming. If you don’t like floral flavors, stay away… but if you have a fondness for florals, don’t miss out on this!
Raspberry: 4.5÷5
Pretty close to ‘Lette…no, seriously! Tasted like eating the actual fruit! This is an essential one… don’t miss out on this!
Closing out this review, the question remains: «Where does Twelve Centimeter Cake’s macarons rank in The Great SoCal Macaron Throwdown?» Based upon consistent texture, moist cookie chew, distinct flavor, and finally sweetness level, I bring you the top 3:
1. ‘Lette Macarons
2. Twelve Centimeter Cake
3. DoLy’s Delectables
HUGE SHOUT OUT to Jessica Y. & Fia R.

For a Korean owned French making macaron establishment, I was very impressed on the finished product. They have 30 different macarons, and on my visit here, I managed to get all 30. The macarons cost $ 1.60 or $ 1.85 depending on the special ingredients used so getting 30 different macarons for $ 49.20 was a pretty good deal at an average of $ 1.63 per macaron.
Their establishment was nice and clean. The macarons were organized neatly and labeled so anyone can know what they are ordering.
Here is my hitlist:
Champagne — cream colored shell with some shiny gold-​like coloring. Very soft in the inside, shell is pretty cohesive, taste a hint of vanilla with a sweet after-​taste of champagne.
Caramel — brown colored shell with soft brown colored cookie filling. Caramel middle wasn’t oozing or anything, pretty thick and cremey actually. Tasted like a combination of chocolate and caramel.
Lavendar — light purple colored shell with purple cookie middle and a thick white cream filling. It’s like eating SOAP. Skip this!!! Oh gosh; such a weird aftertaste; rinse your mouth with Scope and scrub it with Clorox if you can.
Royal Milk Tea — light purple shell with purple colored cookie and a yellow paste filling. Couldn’t really taste the milk tea, more sugar based.
Vanilla Bean — cream colored shell and cookie with white paste filling, with a strong vanilla aftertaste feeling.
Chocolate Banana — turquoise colored cookie and shell with chocolate paste filling. Nice hint of bananas too.
Mango — orange colored cookie and shell with yellow colored cream filling. Reminded me of mango ice cream you get at the Asian markets. Nice!
Strawberry — light red coating, with red soft cookie middle and a dark red cream filling. One of my faves. Nice and fluffy in a way. Rich strawberry flavor.
Pistachio — light green coating and soft cookie with a dark brown sticky filling. Has a pretty good kick. If you like pistachios; there’s plenty of flavor in this one; all concentrated into this one macaron.
Kahlua milk — probably one of the better ones. Nice consistency, with brown cookie and a cream colored filling. One of my faves.
Rose — pink colored shell with a white jelly feeling. Whats up with these «rose» flavors? It taste like soap.
Apple — light green/​yellow cookie coating with a slightly sour apple jelly filling.
Raspberry — nice red cookie shell with a dark brown jelly filling. Slight fruity taste to it. Not bad actually.
Nougat — nice creamy chocolate filling with a soft yellow cookie shell. So creamy, so sweet; probably in my top 5 from 12 cm.
Blackberry — rich berry flavor; too rich for me though. From the purple soft cookie to the dark purple jelly, both provide a strong berry output.
Pina Colada — nice yellow coating with a white jelly filling. You can definitely taste the coconut; hint of pineapple.
Café et Praline — dark brown coating with bits of praline all over. Dark, thick rich chocolate/​café cookie with black filling. Pretty strong… will wake you up!!!
Chocolate — chocolate with more chocolate… enough said.
Lemongrass — light green/​yellowish macaron with a white cream filling. Has a couple of taste actually. You get that initial lemon taste on your first bite but as you slowly chew and digest it… it becomes more vegetable like. I’m not sure what a real lemongrass taste like, but with this macaron its like Lemon + Grass.
Gren Tea — light green macaron with a cream colored jelly filling. Surprisingly pretty good, since I’m not a tea person, but still taste the green tea in every bite.
Jasmine– nice green bluish macaron with a white jelly filling. It was ok. No real flavor except the sugar.
Ice Mint — light blue macaron with white cream filling. Strong mint flavor.
Café Mocha — light brown macaron and dark brown paste filling. Pretty strong coffee mocha flavor. If you don’t like coffee; this could be a pretty good substitute.
Lemon — yellow soft macaron cookie with white jelly filling. Very airy, yet citrusry taste. Definitely will cheer up your day!!!
Tiramisu — light brown macaron and a rich white cream middle. Definitely tastes like tiramisu. Just close your eyes and enjoy this miniature version. Hey at least you’re not getting the calories from the real version.
Black Cherry — purple coating with a dark purple jelly filling. Nice sour cherry flavor too.
Coconut — cream colored shell with white soft cookie middle, white cream filling, with bits of coconut.
Olive Oil — initial sweet taste, but then came the olive oil. Not a fan.
Violet — white macaron with purple paste. Just like the other purple macarons, it taste like soap.
Bailey’s Caramel — light brown cookie with brown paste. You can definitely can taste Bailey’s Irish Cream.
Overall, pretty good, they have the quantity and the quality was above par with a few exceptions. If I’m in the Koreatown area, I’ll definitely hit this place up again. Kinda hidden in a mini-​mall area, but you’ll find it.

In search of a small thank you gift for my auntie and debating on what to get her, I remembered Unilocalers raving about Twelve Centimeters, so I swung by here after work!
I asked what was the most popular cheesecake, and the suh-​weeet man behind the counter suggested the original cheesecake. He instantly read my face of hesitation and knew that I wanted something more than the plain original. He suggested that the banana mascarpone cheesecake matches «the taste of the traditional Korean elderly» (regarding my aunt, haha!). Whoa… Nice observation, sold!
Got that, and he caught me eyeing the macarons. He gave me a yummy, super rich vanilla macaron on the house, so naturally, I bought an 8-​piece box. He apologetically told me that all «the bestsellers» were sold out and handed me a delicious «chilled» vanilla cookie sandwich. So sweet! –pun intended
Macarons:
Samples! (beware: demolished food):
The cheesecake was very creamy and rich. Instead of the traditional graham cracker crust, it was substituted by soft sponge cake on the bottom and had a sliced banana mixture in the center.
The macarons: rose, vanilla and maybe raspberry were the ones that stood out, and the rest were just OK. Figures, I missed out on the bestsellers?
The vanilla sandwich cookie: surprisingly VERY good chilled and not too sweet. Perfecto
I will definitely rely on this place for a quick cake gift to-​go. Cheesecakes are $ 24. Macarons $ 1.50 each.
Is the cheesecake 12 centimeters? I will bring a ruler to measure next time!

Frederick G was the one who informed me about their wonderful cheesecake, so I decided to swing by to check out this Korean dessert shop with fellow Unilocalers Jenny B, Lucy Y, and Anthony N. As they waited in the car, I had the chance to marvel at their fresh cranberry and lime-​colored décor that overlapped with an exquisite collection of pastries, macarons, cookies and cakes adorned at every turn. The store was largely empty but I was immediately greeted by their friendly staff with the pastry chef working in the back.
I was being indecisive between the two cheesecakes that were available, so the pastry chef came to the counter to offer my friends a sample to try. After getting a quick nod and approval in a car full of eager Unilocalers, I ordered their Rare Cheesecake that came with fluffy custard-​like texture with refined graham cracker resting upon a layer of chocolate at the bottom. We brought the cake to a dinner party that also included Elle P, Vince V, Mei Mei S, David V, and Sheley L, and the dessert was one of the defining moments of the night. We were able to split the cake into 8 small pieces and the flavor was light, semi-​sweet, but rich enough with a refined balance between all the flavors involved. I’m not a huge cheesecake fan but in this particular case it was delicious and well put together.
As I was settling the bill the pastry chef thanked us by offering a Lavender, Salted Caramel, and Mocha Macaron on the house. I didn’t get to try them but my friends in the car really enjoyed hitting their desserts on our way to dinner. In addition to the cheesecake, they also have an assortment of cookies that I’m hoping to try. The cheesecake itself was 4 solid stars, but considering the unexpected freebies and warm, personalized service I believe my visit justifies a final 4.5 star rating.