Thursday, March 4, 2010

Diplomat Bakery

Restaurant: Diplomat Bakery

Cuisine: Desserts/Bakery/Coffee

Last visited: February 23, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

6111 London Road (Steveston)
Range: $10 or less


1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!


Food: 4.5 (based on the 3 items I tried)

Service: 4

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

  • Location in the middle of nowhere (industrial)
  • Near Steveston Village
  • Popular to locals
  • European bakery
  • Popular for cakes
  • Whole cakes available
  • Wedding cakes available
  • Very reasonably priced
  • Quality ingredients
  • Some savoury café foods available
  • Great for quick lunch/coffee/dessert
  • Spacious, clean, contemporary
  • Self-serve/pay at cashier
  • Seats 20
  • Eat in/Take-out

**Recommendation: Napoleon, Spinach and Feta Cheese Brioche


I’ve only tried a few things here and based on those I gave it a 4.5/6. However I think it could easily movie up to a 5 if I tried more things – I still need to try more of their cakes.


It’s basically the True Confections (cake café) of Richmond. The style, look, and choices at Diplomat Bakery are similar to those offered at True Confections, but not quite as refined. I can’t say 100% because I haven’t tried enough, but True Confections I think is better. On the other hand Diplomat bakery is half the price of True Confections. All Diplomat Bakery cakes are $3.50 a slice so it’s very affordable compared to the $7-8 you would pay in downtown.


Overall I enjoyed everything I had and would go back to try more. However it is a little out of the way and not so convenient so I would really have to make it a plan to go again. I don’t think they’re an open late kind of place, but they were very busy in the late afternoon with lots of locals stopping for coffee and dessert. They also serve a small selection of savoury foods like muffins, quiche etc.


On the table:

**Napoleon 4.5/6

  • $2.75
  • Every bakery has their interpretation of the Napoleon.
  • It was layers of flakey crisp pastry and butter cream sprinkled with icing sugar.
  • It was sweet, but not overly sweet. It’s sweeter than the Saint Germain’s Napoleon though.
  • It was very fresh and you could taste the quality of ingredients. I loved the layers of flakey pastry and the ratio of cream to pastry was great.
  • However the layers of butter cream were really buttery and I could taste it – it didn’t melt as well as I would have liked. It was a denser butter cream, not the fluffy whipped kind. It was almost like pastry custard, but it tasted buttery. I prefer pastry cream or custard in Napoleons.

White Chocolate Baileys 3.5/6

  • $3.50 for a slice $40 for 9 inch cake
  • This was a pretty cake. It was white chocolate cake with a layer of white chocolate Bailey’s cake and a layer of dark chocolate cake in the middle.

  • This was a dense cake and although the middle layers look moussey, it’s not. It’s an actual cake, but it does have a slightly creamy texture…almost like cheesecake does, but it’s not cheesecake. It was thickend with butter instead of cheese but it was still a cake. I liked the texture of cake and the denser middle layers of cake though.

  • It had white chocolate shavings all around the edges, which was a nice touch.
  • It actually wasn’t that sweet and I thought it would be since it was white chocolate.
  • I could taste the Bailey’s and it’s not overwhelming or too heavy on the liquor but carries a light coffee taste. It’s mixed into the middle white layers.
  • I think they the dark chocolate layer could have overpowered the white chocolate layers a little bit. The white chocolate cake layers came off as regular white cake and it was a tad dry. Luckily it had the middle layers to keep it more moist.


**Spinach and Feta Cheese Brioche 4.5/6

  • $3.25
  • This was huge and a really good price.
  • I enjoyed mine with a fried egg for breakfast and my friend enjoyed hers with tuna. It was very enjoyable with these extras although it tastes good on its own too.
  • It’s not soft and fluffy, but the crumbs are tight like brioche should be. It’s egg and butter based bread, so it’s rich in texture and flavour. It’s a bit dry, drier than brioche should be though, but it was ok because the filling kept in moist.
  • It’s stuffed with spinach and Feta cheese mixture and the Feta was actually quite strong and stood out. There are some ‘fillers’ in the mixture, but it just made it even better so it didn’t bother me one bit.
  • They add some mashed potato and onions into the mixture so it’s almost creamy and hold lots of flavour. You can bite into small pieces of minced potato so the texture is great.
  • I kind of wanted a bit more egg wash on the top though – I like my brioche to have that slightly sweetened and baked egg wash.

Diplomat Bakery on Urbanspoon

11 comments:

  1. this makes me wish i went to Richmond more often.

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  2. Tried this place before, but have to say bakery Nouveau still wins out!

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  3. Yeah I'd say this place is worth a trip out..but with a larger group so you can try more stuff in one sitting...:)

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  4. Omg! Bakery Nouveau pretty much wins all!!!!

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  5. Have you tried Michelles cake shop in Richmond (on buswell street)? Chinese bakery. Their cakes and breads are not overly sweet and you can tell they use quality ingredients. My favorite there is their chestnut buns(actually anything chestnut they do great). They put a lot of stuffing inside and not just all bread.

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  6. Yup! I just went to Michelle's last week! But I prefer the mango cake an Janice Bakery! They load it with the most mangoes ever!

    True their cakes aren't too sweet and they do a unique crepe layer which isn't too common. I'll be sure to try the chestnut cake next time. I had their strawberry one last time, but though it was ok.

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  7. you should try their tiramisu... it's DELICIOUS!!
    slightly moist, and has a strong rum flavour... and of course creamy

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  8. thank you for the tip!! Will do so soon I hope!

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  9. The brioche is delicious.

    I think it's better than True Confections. The flavours are more delicate here than the hefty sweetness of True Confections. My favourites are always the cheesecake (especially the European Cheesecake and the Chocolate Lemon Cheesecake).

    It's definitely not in an industrial area. If this is an industrial area, then Thomas Haas is located well... in a more industrial area (for lack of better words). By the way, Thomas Haas will blow True Confections out of the water.

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  10. Hmm interesting...I haven't tried enough cakes here to actually "judge" so I'm not sure of Diplomat or True Confections is better. Mind you I have tried 20 cakes from True Confections...at one time too! To be fair I would have to try at least 4-5 more cakes from Diplomat.

    Thomas Haas is located on West Broadway which I don't think is an industrial area at all. Diplomat is on the outskirts of Steveston (not even the touristy part) and if you google map it there's nothing around it but a few big factory like buildings. It may not be "industrial" persay but it's definitely remote.

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