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.

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.