There's a new french bakery that B read about in a blog. It's reportedly authentic, being owned by a French guy with recipes by his family. To pass the time before my dinner appointment with college friends, we decided to have a chic merienda.
It wasn't easy to find this small patisserie in Global City, and it didn't help that B forgot the name. We located it near the Grand Hamptons condo and triumphantly found a parking space (albeit paid) across.
The look of the place, even from outside, has "expensive" plastered all over it. We guessed that the foreigner who was the lone customer for the night busily working on his laptop was the owner.
View from inside
We chose to occupy the big couch near the entrance to get as far away from the staff as possible. It was very cosy and the lighting was romantic. Because the glass reflects the restaurant interior, you feel secluded even though the truth is everyone can see you from outside.
Posh interior
At the counter, we couldn't decide what to order. The server kept insisting on trying their pizza. She kept selling it even though we told her twice we're looking for something light as we still have a dinner to go to.
After a while, the owner (Alexandre) finally intervened and introduced to us the various items on the menu. He was very proud of the loaves of bread which were brought out on a wooden tray for our benefit, and he too tried to convince us to order a pizza. He said they just developed the recipe the day before. When I heard they have rye bread, I decided to buy a loaf as dark rye was what I lived on back in Sydney.
We decided to sample the pastries. What could be more French than croissants? We were surprised at the prices for such small croissants, however, and when we were told those on display were the grande size, we could not help but wonder how the petit ones look like.
Butter croissant (Php50) with brewed coffee
Never having been to France, I can't say I'm a good judge of what an "authentic" croissant should taste like. But according to my research, it should be flaky on the outside while being airy soft inside. It should be buttery but not greasy.
Alexandre's butter croissant was buttery and dense inside, which made up for the small size. Maybe because we went at dusk, but the pastries were no longer fresh and so the croissants were not as soft as they should be. The crust wasn't fall-apart-at-the-touch-of-your-fork flaky, but not greasy either as commercial croissant usually is. In fact, I didn't make as much mess as I always do when eating croissant.
The chocolate croissant had just the right amount of chocolate filling so that it didn't taste like dessert. They use real chocolate that's rich but not too sweet.
Our big disappointment was the coffee. At first we found the coffee reasonably priced at Php95 for regular size, but it turns out it's because it tastes like barako coffee which means it was coarse and there were dregs at the bottom of the cup. Having had mine black, I was not able to finish my mug.
Never having been to France, I can't say I'm a good judge of what an "authentic" croissant should taste like. But according to my research, it should be flaky on the outside while being airy soft inside. It should be buttery but not greasy.
Alexandre's butter croissant was buttery and dense inside, which made up for the small size. Maybe because we went at dusk, but the pastries were no longer fresh and so the croissants were not as soft as they should be. The crust wasn't fall-apart-at-the-touch-of-your-fork flaky, but not greasy either as commercial croissant usually is. In fact, I didn't make as much mess as I always do when eating croissant.
Pain au Chocolat (Php60)
The chocolate croissant had just the right amount of chocolate filling so that it didn't taste like dessert. They use real chocolate that's rich but not too sweet.
Our big disappointment was the coffee. At first we found the coffee reasonably priced at Php95 for regular size, but it turns out it's because it tastes like barako coffee which means it was coarse and there were dregs at the bottom of the cup. Having had mine black, I was not able to finish my mug.
We noticed that the coffee table is decorated with coffee beans underneath the glass.
We stayed in the restaurant long after the unfinished coffee had gone cold. The place became more romantic as the night wore on. Nobody bothered us and the few customers that came in only bought bread loaves to take away.
Overall, we felt we got our money's worth with the ambiance, excellent service and good food. I am actually excited to come back in the morning for the Breakfast Bonjour Php250, made up of a basket of assorted fancy breads, a plate of petit croissants (butter, chocolate & almond), accompanied by honey, strawberry & mango marmalade with a choice of any regular size of hot beverage. Surprisingly a good deal, considering it's a breakfast at the Hamptons! :D
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