Le Petit Artisan

Location: Greenbelt 5, Makati City

Isn't our little V-day picnic basket purdy? :)

That's raisin bread from a newly-opened French pastry shop in Greenbelt 5, Le Petit Artisan. The experience with Alexandre still fresh on my mind, I wasn't keen on being cuckolded again into buying overpriced bread just because some French guy is in the shop. But when we passed it on Friday night before our breakfast picnic, B couldn't resist checking it out. I must admit, I was also drawn by the rows of bread baskets lining the walls.

We were only supposed to look. But B succumbed to the croissants silently beckoning from the glass display shelf on the counter.

He bought a chocolate croissant, as butter croissant weren't available at the time. Although he's not big on chocolate, he thoroughly enjoyed his pastry which we noted was bigger and had more chocolate than that of Alexandre's.

Speaking of Alexandre's, the French guy running the bakery also chatted us up. We were wondering about the variety of bread loaves, and when he said that all breads are whole-wheat, sugar-free and yeast-free, I was sold. However, appealing as all the breads were, I'd just seen a Paris episode of Giada's Weekend Getaway the previous Sunday, so I knew raisin bread was the perfect choice for a French breakfast al fresco.

We had our raisin bread loaf sliced, and while waiting for it we voiced our observation that the bakery's croissants seem larger than those of Alexandre's. At the mention of the rival French bakery, all hell broke lose.

Mr. James shared with us his outrage towards a popular Filipino food blogger (his website begins with the letter O) who wrote about Le Petit Artisan. He confirmed our suspicion that this blogger is a major free-loader who writes biased reviews based on the freebies he gets. Apparently, at Le Petit Artisan, he didn't get the recognition nor courtesy he usually receives in other restaurants (good ol' Frenchies), although Alexandre did so. The result is raving reviews on Alexandre, while a mere pfft on the Mr. James' croissants. Poor little artist! Joke's on the blogger though, as you can see from one reader's comment after his bashing:

I wouldn't bother repeating the other things Mr. James said. After all, B and I could judge for ourselves which of the two made better bread and pastry. It made sense too, as Mr. James, the French head baker, has been baking privately for elite clients for a long time since coming to the Philippines. It was only recently that the group behind Max Brenner's Philippines convinced him to fully commercialize his breads.

How to tell a good croissant according to Mr. James: when you pull the croissant horizontally, it should ribbon apart and not crumble or split into two. Because Alexandre's croissant was dense and a bit moist, I can imagine it ribboning a little but mostly splitting.

Before leaving the store, I asked for tips on how to best enjoy our raisin bread. Mr. James said to toast it and add just a little honey or jam. The next day, though we didn't bother toasting the bread since we were going on a long drive, it was still soft and fragrant with the smell of california raisins and walnuts.

We had it with honey (myself) and strawberry jam (B), although we would've been equally satisfied having it plain with 3-in-1 Nescafe coffee mix care of Sierra Madre Hotel and Convention Center.

It was truly a perfect way to say, Bonjour, mon ami! :)