Top Gun J&C Restaurant – Dessert Review

Restaurant: Top Gun J&C Restaurant – Dessert Review

Cuisine: Chinese/Asian/Dim Sum

Last visited: February 11, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

Unit 2020 Excel Centre, 8766 McKim Way (2^nd floor)
Range: $20-30

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

Food: 4.5

Service: 4

Ambiance: 5

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Part of Top Gun Group
• Considered a high end dim sum restaurant
• Traditional and creative dim sum dishes (mostly traditional)
• Japanese sushi and sashimi available
• Cantonese cuisine
• Discount if you arrive before 11am
• Ordering form service
• Busy, but plenty of seating
• Fancy set up
• Private room available
• Breakfast/Lunch 9:30am-3pm
• Dinner 5:30pm-10pm
• Closed Wednesday
• Reservations recommended
• Some parking available

**Recommendation: Steamed Diced Pork & Shrimp Dumpling, Baked BBQ Pork Bun, Deep Fried Fish Ball w/Clam Sauce, Steamed Beef Ball, Fried Vermicelli in Homemade Style, Pan-fried Stuffed Tofu

This is the dessert portion of my Chinese New Year’s brunch at Top Gun J&C Restaurant – to see my dim sum review click here.

I know what you’re thinking (well the majority of you)…Chinese desserts?…ew! I know, I don’t like them either. There are some that I do like but for the most part it’s the only cuisine where I pass on dessert. That and Indian – I’m not a fan of Indian desserts either unless it’s Kulfi, or rice pudding can be okay too.

To my surprise the desserts here are not too bad, but we ordered their specialty desserts so they were unique to the restaurant. They also serve the traditional Chinese stuff, but that didn’t interest me for obvious reasons. I liked the specialty desserts partly because they’re not traditional and don’t taste like Chinese desserts. It was basically western/American desserts but made by Chinese people so they’re not as good as the real thing, they’re not as sweet, and they also had an Asian twist to them. I actually enjoyed them for the most part!

On the table:

**Red Bean Almond Tofu with Amaretto 4.5/6

• $3.75
• This was actually really good, minus the red bean topping they put on top. I really dislike red bean – if you like it then you’ll really like this dessert.
• It wasn’t too sweet and the tofu doesn’t taste like tofu. It was denser, very smooth and creamy and more like an almond pudding. It’s actually quite light and the almond flavour was really strong. There’s no strong alcohol flavour, but you could tell they used Amaretto for flavour.
• The red bean just makes it sweeter but I could do without it, however if you like red bean then this still matches really well.
• When using tofu in dessert, I still like the cheese tofu dessert/appetizer from Toratatsu.

**Coffee Jelly with Kahlua 2/6

• $4.50
• This wasn’t really sweet at all. The other desserts we had were better and sweeter than this.
• The coffee taste was a bit strong and it wasn’t a good quality espresso or anything. It was a little bitter and too simple.
• The only thing that made this jello sweet was the red bean and evaporated milk they topped it with.
• There are no surprises here and I think they could have done a better job with the coffee jello…perhaps heavier on the Kahlua? Which I couldn’t really taste and they didn’t use it to its full potential.
• The evaporated milk could have been mixed with a little Kahlua but it still wasn’t apparent enough.

**Mandarin Cream Pie 4/6

• $3.75
• This was the most Westernized one of the 3. It looks like an American dessert.
• It tasted like a Panna Cotta with canned mandarin slices.
• The pie crust was a graham cracker crust, but it was very soggy and tasted like digestive cookies dipped in milk. It was good, but just too soggy.
• I actually liked the citrus mandarins with the cream because the mandarins are sweeter than they are tangy.
• This is definitely very rich and creamy and again it wasn’t too sweet, but probably sweetest of the 3.

Bakery Nouveau – Review 2

Restaurant: Bakery Nouveau – Review 2

Cuisine: Bakery/Desserts
Last visited: January 31, 2010
Area: Seattle, WA (West Seattle)
4737 California Ave SW
Price Range: $10-20

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

Food: 6
Service: n/a (I wasn’t actually there)

Ambiance: n/a

Overall: n/a

Additional comments:

• Pastry chef William Leaman
• Pastries baked several times daily
• Famous bakery in Seattle
• Gourmet bakery
• Traditional desserts with a gourmet/West Coast twist
• Breads/Desserts/Pastries/Chocolates/Jam/Lunch
• Award winning desserts
• Natural ingredients
• Seasonal ingredients
• Gift baskets available
• Daily/Weekly/Holiday specials
• Dine in/Take-out
• Mon-Thurs 6am-7pm
• Fri 6am-9pm
• Sat 7am-9pm
• Sun 7am-7pm

**Recommendation: Blueberry Pistachio Cake, Double Baked Almond Croissant

I am so lucky to have friends that love me! To get desserts from Bakery Nouveau twice in one month is seriously something to brag about! My friends went down to Seattle and recalled my post about Bakery Nouveau and with my “must go there” push they decided to stop there for lunch. They were happy, I was happy and I still am happy.

My 1^st review for Bakery Nouveau.

On the table:

Pumpkin Bread 4.5/6

• Super moist like a moist banana bread would be. It’s more like a cake than it is bread.
• Very buttery and a bit oily so you can see it on your hands. But it’s good!
• Very strong cinnamon taste, lots of canned pumpkin. I think there is lots of clove in there and maybe a little nutmeg too. It almost seems like all canned pumpkin in taste and texture because it’s so moist.
• It marbled with a brown sugar walnut crumb streusel. It’s almost paste like.
• It’s quite sweet, and even a bit salty. They definitely added that pinch of salt to bring out the flavours, but I could actually taste it a bit more than I wanted to.

  

Snowball Cake 5/6

• I don’t have the exact description but it had a custard bottom, cake layer, milk chocolate caramel Rum like layer, another custard layer, another cake layer and it was all covered with freshly dried coconut shavings. Probably around $5.50USD. It's quite expensive here.
• I love the coconut shavings! This cake was very custardy with a Rum taste. I think they use a very potent Vanilla Rum extract so it almost taste like there’s actually Rum in it.
• It’s creamy and very sweet, but good!
• It’s like a coconut vanilla custard trifle in taste and in texture it was like a tiramisu (without the cheese taste). It had egg nog like flavours, especially in the cust ard and there are real vanilla bean seeds in it.

  

• You can hear the moistness when you cut through it with your fork…sounds gross, but it’s really good. The cake layer is quite wet and soaked/
• The whole cake is spread with vanilla custard or a cream that’s a bit thinner than pastry cream before it’s covered with coconut.
• The chocolate layer is a bit too sweet. I think it’s a very low % of cocoa powder and it tastes like melted milk chocolate spread.
• It’s a bit too sweet and I wouldn’t want a whole piece. I needed to eat it with a glass of milk. It was still excellent though.

Twice Baked Almond Croissant 6/6

• My friend meant to order the Twice Baked Chocolate Croissant but by mistake called out Twice Baked Almond Croissant – which I tried last time.
• I actually started writing about it and how disappointed I was that there was no chocolate…until I realized…lol
• No changes, still delicious. Except I didn't like how oddly shaped it was, the one I had last time was better looking.

Bakery Nouveau

Restaurant: Bakery Nouveau

Cuisine: Bakery/Desserts
Last visited: January 15, 2010
Area: Seattle, WA (West Seattle)
4737 California Ave SW
Price Range: $10 or less (USD)

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

Food: 6
Service: n/a (I wasn’t actually there)

Ambiance: n/a

Overall: n/a

Additional comments:

• Pastry chef William Leaman
• Pastries baked several times daily
• Famous bakery in Seattle
• Gourmet bakery
• Traditional desserts with a gourmet/West Coast twist
• Breads/Desserts/Pastries/Chocolates/Jam/Lunch
• Award winning desserts
• Natural ingredients
• Seasonal ingredients
• Gift baskets available
• Daily/Weekly/Holiday specials
• Dine in/Take-out
• Mon-Thurs 6am-7pm
• Fri 6am-9pm
• Sat 7am-9pm
• Sun 7am-7pm

**Recommendation: Geez...almost everything. The blueberry pistachio cake, double baked almond croissant, German chocolate cake with coconut, passion fruit macaroon.That's basically everything I tried and I recommend it all. When I go back I'm definitely trying the Phoenix and Praline Dream.

Have you ever liked something so much you were literally using your licked fingers to squeegee down the plate? This was definitely one of those times, and I had no shame doing it. I don’t know – maybe part of it was me knowing that I couldn’t easily get these amazing desserts again.

Nouveau Bakery is a Parisian bakery in Seattle – again Kim was kind enough to bring back some goodies for me to try…and thank god he did. This bakery is known as one of the best bakeries in Seattle. Winner of numerous awards the pastry chef William Leaman is also the 2005 World Cup of Baking Gold Medal Winner.

Holy crap I don’t know what I did to deserve Christmas all over again. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but I think could be the 1^st time I’ve given a restaurant 6/6. I did only try 4 things, which to me is a decent sample, and everything was equally amazing…I don’t know how many times I “OMGGGGGGGG” – seriously food orgasm coming up!

I looked at the online menu because since I wasn’t actually there to do the ordering I didn’t know exactly what I tried. It markets itself as an authentic Parisian bakery, and the majority of their items are very French – however there definitely are some global influences in there. I don’t know many, if at all any authentic French bakery that serves up pizzas, carrot cakes and Pistachio blueberry cakes! The last one is definitely a West Coast fusion thing that I would expect to see at Kreation Artisan Cake, a bakery in Vancouver.

Authenticity is a big deal to me, but did it bother me this time? No. Authentic or not, Nouveau Bakery has amazing cakes and pastries and I almost want to make the 2 hour drive to Seattle right now to try more things. If you’re not going to like something, I think it’ll be partly because you think you’ve paid too much for it…they’re quite pricey…but it is a quality dessert, so I think it’s worth it! They're very well thought out, well executed and presented.

On the table:

Double Baked Almond Croissant 6/6

• Our classic croissant soaked in simple syrup and filled with delicious almond cream. It is topped with sliced almonds and additional almond cream $3.85 USD

• It’s double baked to make a very chewy nougat like croissant. It’s very tightly packed layers of crisp flaky pastry.

  

• It’s sweet, but not too sweet and it's wonderfully nutty and dense. It’s almost like a giant almond nougat or almond caramel because the almond cream isn’t really a cream but almost like a paste – I think it’s made with marzipan and ground almonds.
• The middle is very moist and really not greasy at all. I’m surprised!
• The bottom is really browned because it’s double baked so all the sugars are very caramelized to give it a richer deeper flavour.

• I was literally licking the crumbs off my plate and off Kim’s plate. I actually want to lick the screen right now.
  

  

Blueberry and Pistachio Cake 6/6

• $5.50 USD
• If I’m going to die after eating something…it could be after this cake. If heaven tastes this good how to I get there sooner?! It’s so good I could almost give it a 7/6. Seriously I almost hate myself for being lucky enough to try it. Mind you I do love pistachio and blueberries…so the two together were a delicious concoction.
• I don’t have the exact description but I would say it’s alternate layers of Pistachio cake with blueberry mousse. It’s almost like a twist on a French style napoleon because it has a puff pastry like layer on top too.

• Unlike local bakery Boulangerie Cho-Pain their top layer of puff pastry is perfect! I could cut myself the tiniest slice with the fork without the mousse squishing out the sides or having to remove the top layer. It was nice and soft, and it's not even a puff pastry, but it's the easiest way to describe it.
• The pistachio cake is awesome with real crumbs of pistachio. The blueberry mousse was nice and light and made with real blueberries too. It’s nutty, creamy and rich in flavour.
• The bottom 1/3 of this cake tastes like a Pistachio Kit Kat bar! There’s a brown wafer like layer and it tastes like it’s made of ground up very crispy wafers, ground up hazelnuts and maybe even a little bit of chocolate although the chocolate is very subtle if it’s in there

• It's the texture of ground up Chinese egg rolls and gave the cake a crispy crunch. They weren't hard, but delicate and I’m so surprised they weren’t soggy either. It’s seriously AMAZING and pleasantly unexpected.
• No part of this cake needs adjusting.

  

German Chocolate Cake 2/6

• $5.50 USD
• I don’t have the exact description but it’s layers of rich dense chocolate cake with layers of coconut walnut caramel filling.
• This chocolate cake is an extremely moist chocolate cake and it was perfectly sweet for me. It looks much more sweet than it actually is. It’s not very bitter so was probably a 68% cocoa or so. It wasn’t a milk chocolate nor was it a dark chocolate cake batter. It’s a rather light cake with a rich chocolate taste that lingers.
• The layer of caramel coconut cream is amazing! They use loads of fresh coconut and tons of chopped walnuts in it. It’s almost like a thick chewy coconut caramel nougat with walnuts. It’s amazing.
• Eaten together nothing is overpowering and I tasted every single ingredient from the crunchy walnuts to the juicy coconut shreds. It made the cake extra moist.

Parisian Macaroons 4/6

• These traditional Parisian cookies are light and airy. They are rumored to be the best outside of Paris! Flavor choices vary by day and feature: Café, Passion fruit, Chocolate, Raspberry, Pistachio, Coconut, Caramel, Salt Caramel, Blood Orange and Cassis $1.50 USD (The description is from the website...it’s a pretty expensive macaroon and they’re pretty small though)
• Coconut 4/6
• The coconut macaroon tastes like almond macaroon to me. That’s probably because there is almond in it. I wouldn't have guessed coconut until I saw the listed flavours though.
  
• I think they could have used real ground up dried coconut in this macaroon. It's obvious once you know the flavour is coconut, otherwise it's hard to put your finger on it.
  
• It’s very sweet. For me a bit too sweet to the point of hurting your teeth. It’s the almond coconut cream in the middle that was very sweet for me. I like the macaroons from Say See Bon better although they are almost exactly the same. They’re just as chewy and they even look the same.
• The meringue isn’t as thin or delicate as Say See Bon because the crispiness is more like a cookie than it was a meringue.
• Passion Fruit 5/6
• Wow! This really tastes like passion fruit! Seriously when you take a bite and start chewing it starts melting away and it tastes like passion fruit juice! I loved this one and it was so unique I’ve never seen it before.
• Again it was a bit too sweet for me (but the coconut sweeter), but the flavour was so strong and so unique I would still recommend for people to try it.

CinCin Ristorante & Bar – Dessert Review

Restaurant: CinCin Ristorante & Bar – Review on dessert only

Cuisine: Italian/Mediterranean/Fine dining
Last visited: November 24, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC (Robson Street/West End/Downtown)
1154 Robson Street

Price Range: $50+

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

Dessert: 5.5
Service: n/a
Ambiance: 6
Overall: n/a (just came for desserts)
Additional comments:

• Fine dining in Vancouver
• Restaurant + Bar: 5pm-midnight
• Late menu: 11pm-midnight
• Extensive wine bar
• Gourmet dessert menu: Chef Thierry Busset from France
• Beautiful Mediterranean/Italian décor and feel
• Brightly lit, great lighting
• View of Robson Street
• Coat check service
• Open kitchen
• Will soon open bakery near Coast on Alberni & Burrard

**Recommendation: n/a – didn’t try enough of the menu

CinCin Ristorante & Bar is one of Vancouver’s fine dining Italian restaurants. It attracts locals and celebrities and often hosts parties for high profile events like Vancouver International Film Festival.

I only came for the dessert and it was under special circumstances, so I don’t feel it would be fair to rate the service and overall experience I received. As usual I will focus on the food, specifically the dessert. I will mention that I did get to talk to the pastry chef, so that’s why I can give an even more detailed review that I usually do…and you thought it was impossible! ;)

The pastry chef Thierry Busset is from France and his experience and training comes from working in places such as France and London. His desserts were made with care, and a few of the ingredients were imported to guarantee a gourmet experience. The execution and style of the desserts is very European - but also much more French than it was Italian. From ingredients to presentation it is well worth it to come again...for dessert at least.

Now I'll let you in on a secret - CinCin is actually planning to open a bakery near Alberni & Burrard where the new COAST Restaurant is located. I can't wait until that happens.

On the table:

• Caramelized Apple Tart 5.5/6
• Tahitian Vanilla Gelato and Caramel Sauce $14.50
• Dessert wine pairing: Chateau Dereszla Tokaji Aszu 2000 $18.00

• I had it with the wine pairing (for those who ‘know’ me I rarely drink), but in this case I’m glad I had the pairing because it really made a difference. It really brought out the caramel taste in the tart. It was amazing.
• This tart reminded me exactly of the ones I had in Paris from gourmet/best bakeries (such as Poilane) or even the apple strudels I had in Vienna. It was light, flaky and very delicate. It was a pretty big tart, which I wasn’t expecting especially for a fine dining restaurant. The presentation was clean and simple and it was served warm or even a bit room temperature. The caramel was warm though.

• The apples were baked until they were so soft and tender. I was wondering how they got so soft, but the secret was in the apple used (Elstar apple), the paper thin slices he used (hand cut), and the way it was layered (one even layer). Everything was baked really evenly.
• The apples are sliced into very thin wedges and he actually hand slices the apples, which blew me away…because I was almost 98% sure it was done with a mandolin. Talk about handle with care.The apple slice was almost as thin as the phyllo pastry.
• The caramel sauce was the freshest caramel I think I’ll ever try. It was warm and actually not thick. It was more syrupy and tasted like melted soft caramel chew candies. It had a real roasted sugar texture and flavour and it’s quite sweet. You used it to pour over the tart. I’m not even a big fan of caramel, but this one went hand in hand with the tart.
• The vanilla gelato is the best vanilla gelato I’ve had to date. It’s unlike any gelato you’ve ever tried before. It was really ice and very intense with vanilla flavour.
• In American apple desserts we’re always used to the Granny Smith apple because it’s tart. However the apple the chef used was an Elstar apple from the Okanagan. It actually originates in The Netherlands though. It’s in the same family as the Golden Delicious apple, which totally makes sense because it has a similar flavour. The chef actually brought one out for me to see. It actually tastes like an old apple, it’s a bit soft and powdery in texture. It's crunchy on the outside and soft inside, it' not crunchy-crispy and refreshing though. I was really caught off guard. It’s not that juicy or tart, but more sweet and honey-like. I think he uses it more for the texture it brings rather than the flavour…because for me it definitely made a difference in the texture of the tart.
• The reason why I didn’t give this a 6/6 is because I wanted a bit more contrast in this dish. The phyllo pastry was light, flaky and crispy, but it was so light and the apples were so soft I couldn’t really taste the difference between them. It tasted like layers of melt in your mouth ingredients and I think I just wanted a little bit more of a difference in texture. I felt as though the phyllo and apples blended together a little too well. I wanted another component, even if it was something crunchy on the side.
  
• 

• Amarena Cherry Creme Brulee 5.5/6
• Chocolate Gelato $12
• Dessert wine pairing: Chateau Partarrieu, Sauternes 2006 $16.00

• I had this one with the dessert wine as well and again it made everything taste like caramel. It was a great match.

• 

• This is probably going to make some readers/foodies mad, but I’m actually not a big fan of crème brulee either. I wouldn’t go as far to order it, but I’ll always try it and still eat it if it’s there. It’s slowly growing on me. Even for me not liking crème brulee that much, this one still ranked a 5/6.
• He used about 4 Amarena cherries, a couple whole and a couple cut in half. (They’re quite expensive)
• The custard was actually more jelly like than expected. It was still creamy, but the custard was firmer than I though it would be. It had a jelly like start and then turned creamy in your mouth. It’s served cold, but not out of the fridge cold.
• The toasted brown sugar topping was great, and I think this is the party I usually don’t like about cream brulee. This one was great though. It was a light layer and toasted until it was caramelized and not burnt.
• I loved the Amarena cherries they used in it. The cherries are imported from Italy – they’re not fresh but come in a syrup. I was lucky enough to sample these alone as well. They’re very sour and yet very sweet at the same time. Definitely a cherry made for desserts...actually it could make a good reduction for a thick steak or lamb as well. When you bite into these plump cherries the juice stimulates your saliva glands immediately. It was the texture of an olive or a rehydrated prune.
• It came with a tiny donut which I can best describe as an Amarena cherry and marzipan fritter. (Marzipan is almond paste). It’s an Amarena cherry rolled in a layer of marzipan and then crusted with an almond donut batter. This was a 6/6!
• It was crunchy from the almonds and then chewy from the marzipan and juicy from the cherry. It was rich, decadent, sweet and tart. I started off with the dry donut texture and then you got the juicy bite of cherry. Great textures.
• It was served with a rich chocolate gelato that wasn’t as amazing as the vanilla gelato, but it was still really good. After the vanilla gelato though, no other gelato can compete.

Tuttimelon - Premium Frozen Yogurt - Review 2

Original Tart: Small $2.98 Medium $3.98 Large $4.98
Other flavours: Small $3.28 Medium $4.48 Large $5.48
Toppings: One $0.98 Two $1.48 Three $1.88 Extra $0.38
Parfait $5.98

Restaurant: Tuttimelon - Premium Frozen Yogurt
Cuisine: Frozen Yogurt/Gelato/Desserts
Last visited: November 10, 09

Area: Multiple
#2110 - 8391 Alexandra Road, Richmond
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 4.5
Service: 4
Ambiance: 4
Overall: 4
Additional comments:

• Frozen yogurt franchise originating from San Francisco
• Healthy frozen yogurt, with a tang
• Non-fat (0% fat) yogurt
• Gluten free
• Yogurt cultures exceeds 8X's the National Yogurt Association requirement
• "Tutti" means "all together" in Italian and "Melon" resembles "freshness from fruits."
• Also serves crepes, gelato & smoothies
• Sampling available
• Amazing gelato!

**Recommendation: Green Tea, Taro, the gelato is great as well

The 2 constant flavours are original and green tea. This month they're featuring Rose and Taro! Very unique flavours - they change flavours quite often so you might want to call in first if you're desperate to try a certain flavour. If you can't decide, like me, they allow you to do a combination of flavours - I love that and didn't know they had that option until my recent visit there.

I increased the food rating to a 4.5, whereas the 1st review I wrote I gave it a 3. The reason is because I'm a regular there now and see how often they change their flavours. The have unique flavours that other places don't offer, so I think they deserve a 4.5. They still don't recognize me or anything, so the review is still as neutral as I can make it.

To see my review #1

On the table:

• Rose 3/6
• It really depends on what you like. The rose doesn't necessarily taste better than the other flavours, but it's something different.
  
• It's very aromatic and tastes like rose flavoured tea, without the bitterness tea naturally has. It's a very floral flavour.
• **Green Tea &Taro 4.5/6
  
• Toppings: Coconut
• I did save taro as my last bite, which could mean it tastes better than the green tea. It's sweeter than the green tea so maybe that's why. It tastes like taro ice cream or a taro bubble tea - so it's not real taro - which is fine with me, I like the powdered taro in bubble teas better than real taro anyways.
  
• I wish their coconut flakes were softer, I feel like they've been exposed to air for a while and they're a bit crunchy or just harder.
• Rose & Taro 4/6
• Toppings: Coffee Crisp & Almonds
• Yummy! This was good too. Very girly I admit.
  
• The taro is sweet than the rose so it almost overpowers any flavour it's matched with.
  
• The chocolate was actually good with the taro, but a little off putting (not necessarily in a bad way) with the rose. The coffee and rose flavour did have some sort of match though.
  
• 
• The almonds went great with both flavours. I like it with the rose better. So actually I wish she had put the Coffee Crisp on the taro side and the almonds on the rose side. I'll ask them to do that next time.
  

Boulangerie la Parisienne

Restaurant: Boulangerie la Parisienne

Cuisine: Bakery/Desserts/Sandwiches
Last visited: October 15, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC
1076 Mainland St
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 2 (Based on the few items I had)
Service: 3
Ambiance: 2

Overall: 2
Additional comments:

• Parisian bakery - not that authentic
• Located in Yaletown
• Items are baked at off-site bakery, few seem to be baked daily
  
• Few selections of pre-made sandwiches/baguettes and salads
• Homemade soups
• Large selection of pastries/cakes
• Low quality and standard
• Stale items
• Casual, eat in/take out

** Recommendation: n/a

Yikes, for a bakery with a French name in translation "The Parisian Bakery" - the French would be embarrassed. If you're going to take this title, I will have high expectations and you should be able to represent...and they didn't. I want to try and be fair...my review is based on only a few items so maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance. But based on those few items I was not impressed. All the items that can keep for a few days (eg: croissants, biscotti, cookies, banana bread etc.) really looks like it's been sitting there. It even looks stale, maybe becuase everything is imported from their off-site bakery. Everything sits in a display case for who knows how many days. It feels and tastes mass produced.

The pastries are not authentic and don't speak anything of real French bakeries. A selection of the baked goods look bought and the size of everything is Americanized. They're more like American pastries and they don't taste homemade. There's nothing French about it except for the name. The closest thing I've found thus far to an authentic French bakery is Boulangerie Cho Pain on Davie Street. This place blows Boulangerie la Parisienne out of the water.

On the table:

• Almond Croissant 2/6
• This is one of my favourite French pastries. I ate one every single day in Paris so I am very familiar with them. I was very disappointed in this one. It was definitely stale. The croissant wasn't flaky at all and when the croissant itself isn't good - then there's no way the pastry will be good. Nothing will be able to help it.
• There are no layers in the croissant pastry dough and it's almost bread-like. Really dense and a bit hard and dry because it was stale. You can tell just by the picture.
• You had to chew it rather than have it melt in your mouth. There was no flavour to it either. It wasn't sweet, buttery or anything. The ones at the grocery store taste better.
• The inside is filled with an almond paste filling, which was ok, it was kind of jam like though. The ratio of filling to croissant was off too - not enough filling, all you could taste was croissant. It wasn't spread evenly either.
• The only thing that was good was that there are a ton of almonds on top. Also the way the almonds stay on is becuase they use the almond paste as "glue" so you can a nice layer of almond paste underneath. The almonds aren't toasted though (they should be) so they're not as flavourful. I as ked her to warm it up in the oven and that didn't help either. It was $2.75 and not worth it.
  
• When you know what the real thing is - this one doesn't even compare. Try the one at Boulangerie Cho-Pain that's the closest I've gotten to the real thing.
• Homemade Tomato Soup 2/6
  
• It's homemade but they use a lot of canned tomatoes in it. There no cream but it has a creamy texture. There's probably a combination of canned crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. It's kind of bland and the only flavour is that tart tomato flavour. There's some dried herbs, but all in all it's nothing special. I do appreciate it being homemade though because I wouldn't think they would care enough to do it.
• The bread that they served it with wasn't even homemade...and I thought I was in a bakery! It was store bought - that's really sad...they should have just included a small slice of their baguette...which I don't even thi nk they make in house.

  

• Cous Cous 1/6
  
• Cous cous with chick peas, raisins, red bell pepper, celery and parsley.
  
• This was sitting in the display case and it looked pretty decent, but it wasn't.
  
• It was really bland, it tasted like plain cous cous. It looks flavourful, but I think they just used some turmeric powder to dye it and give it a yellow colour.
• It was heavy on the parsley and there were no other flavours - no salt, no pepper - nothing. They should have put more raisins and maybe even some toasted nuts pine nuts in it. Keeping it simple is fine, but it still needs to taste good.
• I actually ended up pouring half my cous cous into the tomato soup. Bother were so plain and bland on their own I decided to mix it up. It was better this way.
  
• Overpriced for $5.25 too.