Christmas Eve - Vancouver's Gourmet Christmas Desserts

The Christmas Eve Post

This is to help people out on a little last minute Christmas shopping. Whether it’s a potluck, Christmas dinner or last minute gift I thought these edible Christmas art pieces might be of interest.

I haven’t tried any of them so I can’t comment on how they taste. I just wanted to show people what's out there and give some edible holiday/gift ideas. Personally I think the Thomas Haas one has more of a ‘wow-factor’. The Sweet Obsession Croquemebouche looks nice, but I’ve also seen it before and it’s not as original. I feel like a “chef at home” could put it together. Each one of those chocolates on the Thomas Haus O’tannenbaum Moderne is handmade and a different flavour.

Both desserts are available in Vancouver, BC only.

Thomas Haas - O’tannenbaum Moderne

2539 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC V6K 2E9, Canada
(604) 736-1844

O’tannenbaum Moderne - Small: $34 Large: $48

A Valrhona chocolate tree with an assortment of homemade Thomas Haas chocolate "ornaments".

I think this macaroom tree was only for display - I'm sure if you really wanted it you could order it.

Sweet Obsession Cakes & Pastries - Croquemebouche

2611 West 16th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6K 3C2, Canada
(604) 739-0555


Croquemebouche - 24 Profiteroles $35 36 Profiteroles $50

Saint Germain Bakery – Napoleon Review

Restaurant: Saint Germain Bakery – Review for Napoleon

Cuisine: Bakery/Chinese/Desserts
Last visited: November 23, 09
Area: Multiple locations - Richmond, BC
Unit 1428, Aberdeen Centre, 4151 Hazelbridge Way

Price Range: $10 or less

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

Napoleon: 3
Service: 3
Ambiance: n/a
Overall: n/a
Additional comments:

• Higher end/gourmet Chinese bakery
• Cakes, breads, cookies, pastries
• Baked daily – on site bakery
• No table service
• Over the counter & self-service
• Specializes in Chinese baked goods & fruit cakes
• Some Western desserts (cheesecakes, tiramisu etc) available
• Chain bakery
• Open Monday to Sunday
• Catering available

**Recommendation: Apple strudel, Apple Caramel Mousse cake, Chestnut cake

Saint Germain’s is the most popular gourmet Chinese bakery around town. They offer a selection of Chinese baked goods and even some American and French pastries. However their versions of American/European desserts still somewhat made with a Chinese style. Basically it’s Asian people trying to make European desserts that are catered to Chinese taste buds. This means that they use less sugar, less chocolate (if it’s in the recipe) and it’s never as rich and decadent. They will usually put some fruit and very lightly sweetened whip cream in it. They love that kind of stuff. I enjoy most of the pastries here, but this review focuses on the Napoleon, just because it was what I ordered that day.

On the table:

• Napoleon 3/6
• A pastry made of several layers of puff pastry and buttercream, pastry cream, or whipped cream. In this case it was buttercream $1.50

• This was the Chinese version of a very authentic French dessert – the Napoleon or Mille-feuille – meaning 1000 sheets.

  

• It was very crumbly, very delicate with lots and lots of layers. The sheets were light and flaky, but they were also a bit hard so it was difficult to bite through all the layers. Half way I just separated the layers…I was actually getting really frustrated eating it. I really really didn't want to separate it, but I had no choice.
  
• 

• Reasons that make it Chinese

• 1) Traditionally there’s supposed to be a glaze of icing or fondant on top, but this one had none, probably because Asian people don’t like that kind of stuff. Instead they used a light dusting of icing sugar. I didn’t mind though.

• 2) The whole thing was quite buttery, but it’s supposed to be. It wasn’t that sweet though. So the buttercream was more buttery than sweet too. I would have preferred a vanilla pastry cream.

• 3) The buttercream had walnuts pieces in it – Chinese love nuts. I actually really liked this addition too though. It added a crunchiness and I love that nutty flavour.
• 4) They used 2 layers of sponge cake and had that alternating with the puff pastry and buttercream…Chinese love their sponge cake. A napoleon is not supposed to have sponge cake - it's only supposed to be alternating layers of cream and puff pastry. So to replace the amount of cream they used half cream and half sponge cake. I wouldn't say they were being cheap though but just catering to the Chinese...that much cream generally isn't appealing to that market.

• The photo only shows one layer of sponge cake becuase at this point I separated the napoleon to make it easier to eat.

• So overall, if you don't mind those changes, it was still good - but just not authentic. It was an Asian style Napoleon. If you're used to the real napoleon this one probably won't cut it for you. They really changed it up to not make it as sweet. If you go in with these knowing this, you won't be disappointed.
  

Empanada Hut

Restaurant: Empanada Hut
Cuisine: Spanish/South American/Latin

Last visited: November 10, 09

Area: Richmond, BC

5300 No 3 Road (In Lansdowne Mall food court)

Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 4

Service: 4

Ambiance: n/a

Overall: 4

Additional comments:

• Family owned and operated
• Authentic
• Specializes in Empanadas
• Homemade pastry/filling
• Very professional
• Baked empanadas
• Limited menu
• Combo Empanda deals
  
• Best eaten hot and upon order
• Could have better ratio of ingredients
• Solid choice for Lansdowne Mall food court

**Recommendation: Chicken Empanda, Beef Empanada (didn't try, but must be comparable to chicken)

Every country has their version of an Empanada or stuffed pastry/bread. There's a Portuguese, Brazilian, Spanish, Mexican, Cuban, and the list goes on, versions of the Empanada. The family that runs Empanada Hut are from South America and their version of the Empanada comes from Chile. They really focus on making the best Empandas because it's basically the only thing they sell. From the pastry to the stuffing everything is homemade and baked daily. Unlike Mexican Empandas, which are perhaps more available in North America, these aren't stuffed with potatoes, peas and carrots etc. It was a nice change and for food court standards it's a great choice.

One of my concerns (this might be a bit picky since it is a food court place) is that the Empanadas do sit under heat lamps throughout the day. Even under heat lamps they still tasted great, and they are definitely best eaten hot. Nothing was burnt, soggy, or dry so in that sense the heat lamp doesn't bother me. I can only imagine how good they are hot and fresh out of the oven.

On the table:

• **Chicken Empanada 4/6
• Baked homemade pastry stuffed with chicken onions, corn and olives.
• I liked this one the best. It was almost like a Latin-style chicken pot pie.
• It was stuffed quite decently and saucy, but not so saucy that it was dripping or making the pastry soggy. The sauce is a house mix of what tastes like taco seasonings. There was tons of sautee onions which they kind of used as a filler and only a few corn kernels.
• There was also one random black olive in each Empanada. I almost thought it was a mistake. I think they should have chopped up the black olives and dispersed it more evenly throughout the filling. You can tell they stuff the Empanada and tuck a single olive in last minute.
• The pastry is really soft, almost like puff pastry, but it's not flaky. It's made with butter, flour and probably shortening. It's the perfect thickness to hold all the filling without breaking. The edges are a little thick, but it's because of the folding which is understandable.

• Seafood Empanada 3.5/6
  
• Baked homemade pastry stuffed with baby clams, baby shrimp, chopped scallop, onions and olives.
  
• Again it was only one olive... that started to get annoying because I liked eating it with the olive. But since there was only one I only got one bite with olive in it with each Empanada.
• This was good, but not as good as the chicken one. I think it could have been much better, but they used a lot of onions as filler to replace the seafood.
  I'm sure when they make it at home it's a 100 times better. All the seafood was kind of minced up to the size of the onions so I lost a lot of the texture.
• Spinach and Feta 2.5/6
• This was definitely the most stuffed Empanada out of the 3.
  
• It was packed with tons and tons of spinach. There was hardly any Feta in it though which was kind of disappointing. I missed that salty creaminess Feta brings to the table. It was actually kind of wet, yet the pastry still wasn't soggy. If they hadn't skimped on the Feta this could have been a 4/6. Even better would be if they mixed in some chopped olives!

Beard Papa's

Original/Vanilla Cream Puff
Matcha/Green Tea Cream Puff

Restaurant: Beard Papa's - Cream Puffs
Cuisine: Desserts/Cream Puffs

Last visited: September 4, 09

Area: Multiple/Franchise
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 5 for a cream puff

Service: n/a

Ambiance: 2

Overall: 3

Additional comments:

• "World's Best Cream Puffs"
• Since 1999
• Natural ingredients
• Fresh, puff pastry made day of / filled with custard upon order
  
• Originated in Japan
• 220 calories per puff
• Light pastry puff
  
• Cream is custard-like, but not as thick or sweet
• Served not "piping hot", but room temp. or cold
  
• $1.75 per puff
  

**Recommendation: Matcha, Original/Vanilla

Almost everyone has tried a Beard Papa cream puff, and if you haven't you need to try it. The reason why it's a 5/6 is because I haven't tried it's competition, and I can certainly imagine someone coming up with a better recipe in the near future. It's only cause Beard Papa's is the first to start the cream puff craze that it's so popular. I can't compare it to other cream puffs, such as European ones, because they're different. These are lighter, almost the "healthy" version of a cream puff. They are really fresh and you can taste that the ingredients are natural, but the pastry shell could be better. I've definitely had better pastry shells before, so I know they could do better, but it's pretty darn good as is. The cream they use is the part that deserves a shout out.

Note: Don't go by the pictures you see on their website, I've never gotten that much filling.

On the table:

• **Original/Vanilla
  
• This is the original. So you have to try this first before you move on to other flavours.
  
• The cream is just so light and airy, and you don't get that greasy feeling in your mouth after you eat it. Not too sweet either, so you can eat more than one :) It is a really good vanilla flavour. They dust the top with confectioner's sugar before they serve it.
  
• **Matcha/Green Tea
  
• I like this better than the original. It's my favourite flavour. It's always sold out at the Aberdeen location (probably because it's popular to the Asian demographic) and it's only available on certain days. It's really good. They use the matcha powder to flavour it, and they put just enough so that it's not bitter, but you can obviously tell it's matcha. They also dust the top with confectioner's sugar mixed with matcha powder, which I like. It's the only cream puff I would actually crave.
  
• Chocolate
  
• This is a light chocolate - I like to call it the "Asian chocolate", where everything "chocolate" is always a subtle chocolate flavour. It's never really THAT chocolatey, so don't expect this chocolate filled cream puff to be any different - although it is made with a blend of 2 different European chocolates. It's still not that rich, decadent chocolate lovers taste though - which is good cause otherwise it would be too much.
  
• Eclair
  
• It's the original cream puff simple dipped in chocolate (just the top)
• The chocolate is just a plain chocolate - not a supreme quality or anything, just regular. It chocolate hardens onto the pastry shell as it dries, it doesn't crack into pieces when you bite into it - which I like. I'd eat it if it was there, but I wouldn't care to order it myself.
  
• Strawberry
  
• It's a fresh strawberry puree they use to flavour it. I'm not really a fan on strawberry flavour, but this is actually not to bad. I couldn't tel it was fresh strawberry puree though, I though it was powder. But they do claim "all natural" so I guess it was real strawberry puree. Just by how it looks and the texture - you wouldn't guess it was real.
  
• Mango
• I like the mango! It's probably flavoured with fresh pureed mango, but you can't tell because it's not like you get real pieces of mango or can see the bits. I like it better than strawberry, you can definitely tell it's mango cream. I'd order this again, but not as first choice.
  
• Pina Colada
• This was unexpected. I think they were just testing it out, cause I haven't seen it on the menu again. It was pretty good actually, a nice pineapple and coconut flavour. A tropical cream, it wasn't citrus tasting or anything, maybe more on the coconut side. I'd order this again too, but not as first choice.
  
• Coffee
  
• I wasn't really a fan of this. It's sweet and still bitter kind of coffee taste. It still isn't that heavy though, everything is light here - yet all the flavours are so obvious when you try them. Most of their flavours taste like what you would expect.