Tag: bread pudding

Quick Bites: Barbershop Patisserie, Bloom Cafe, Bang Bang

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Raspberry almond bread budding from Barbershop Patisserie
Raspberry almond bread budding from Barbershop Patisserie

I’m a big fan of Barbershop Patisserie; I’m also a big fan of bread pudding, but alas, the bread pudding at Barbershop isn’t quite as amazing as you’d hope.  It’s perfectly tasty (I don’t think Barbershop is capable of making something that’s outright bad), but it has basically no custard flavour, and the level of sweetness is so restrained that it borders on bland.  Still, the combo of the almonds and the tart raspberry is a big winner, and it certainly wasn’t unpleasant to eat.

Vanilla Cream Puff from Bloom Cafe
Vanilla Cream Puff from Bloom Cafe

I recently mentioned that the delightful Choux Lab actually reminded me quite a bit of Beard Papa, a Japanese cream puff chain that left the GTA a few years ago, taking a little piece of my heart with it.  Well Bloom Cafe is even more Beard Papa-esque; they specialize in the exact type of Japanese cream puffs they used to sell at Beard Papa.  Alas, I’ll have to stick with Choux Lab to fill the Beard-Papa-sized hole in my heart (and stomach) — the cream puff here could have been tasty, but it was obviously filled way too far in advance, and was pretty soggy.  It didn’t help that it was filled with what tasted like plain sweetened whipped cream instead of delicious custardy cream like BP.

Pumpkin / Cookie Butter at Bang Bang
Pumpkin / Cookie Butter from Bang Bang

Let’s end things on a more positive note.  I’ve written about Bang Bang many, many times on this blog, so I’ll keep this brief.  Bang Bang: still great!  The flavour I recently had, which combines pumpkin and Biscoff cookie butter, is legitimately among the best scoops of ice cream that I’ve ever had.  The two flavours work so well together, and the ice cream itself is amazingly rich and creamy.

Delicious Bread Pudding and Pie at Bobbette and Belle

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Bobbette and BelleLocation: 1121 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: http://bobbetteandbelle.com/

It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that Bobbette and Belle is one of the best bakeries in the GTA.  Maybe the best?  It’s right up there, that’s for sure.

I tried the apple bread pudding on a recent visit, which they heat up and serve with a very tasty custard sauce.  I mean, look at it.  Do I even need to mention that it’s delicious?  Of course it’s delicious.

Bobbette and Belle

It’s crispy on its exterior and creamy inside, with a great custardy flavour.  The apples give it a nice zing, and the melty chocolate (yes, there’s melty chocolate in there, in case it didn’t already seem amazing enough) compliments it so well.  My only real complaint is that the apples are a bit crisp.  I know some people like their apples firm in pies and baked goods, but those people are wrong.  Tender apples 4 eva.

Still, the whole thing is so tasty that it just barely matters.

On another visit (yeah, I’ve been there a bunch, so what, wanna fight about it?) I tried the coconut banana cream pie, which was even better.

Bobbette and Belle

I love both banana cream pies and coconut cream pies, so I have no idea why it never occurred to me that you could combine the two, but you can and it’s amazing.  There’s also a layer of dulce de leche at the bottom of the pie, which gives the whole thing a rich, caramely flavour — and yet it’s not too sweet.  It’s perfect.

The crust is great too — crispy but not overly crunchy, with a nice buttery flavour and a mild sweetness that works amazingly well with the rest of the pie.  The whole thing is ridiculously good.