pain au chocolate – Michael Eats

Location: 108 Dovercourt Road, Toronto
Website: https://castleandcoal.ca/

I have a hard time saying no to an almond croissant. There’s something about the combo of a crispy, fluffy, buttery croissant with the creamy, sweet almond paste that’s kind of magical.

The version of Castle and Coal also has chocolate in it (it’s basically a cross between a traditional almond croissant and a pain au chocolate), and sure, why not? Add chocolate to every dessert. I have a hard time thinking of a dessert that wouldn’t be enhanced by adding chocolate.

The croissant itself doesn’t quite have the level of exterior crispiness that you’re hoping for, but it’s otherwise right where you want it to be. The very generous amount of almond paste almost borders on too sweet, but never crosses that line (and the addition of dark chocolate, aside from complementing it quite well, does a good job of balancing out the sweetness of the filling).

Location: 31 Main Street North, Markham
Website: https://chokwoklat.com/

There are a whole bunch of really good bakeries doing fancy French desserts in the GTA, so if you want to stand out, you’d better be really good.

Cho-Kwok-Lat stands out.

They have two display counters; one with tasty looking croissants, and the other with fancy cakes. I wanted to eat everything in both displays immediately. The woman behind the counter said that the chocolate rum almond croissant is their most popular, so I figured that was probably a good choice.

It’s immediately clear why it’s so popular. It’s basically like an almond croissant and a pain au chocolate had a baby, and it’s just the absolute best. The combination of the tasty almond paste and the great quality chocolate is so good, and the croissant itself is buttery, flaky, and perfect. I was worried that it might taste overly boozy, but if “rum” weren’t in its name, I don’t think I would have known it was there.

The woman behind the counter heated it up for me, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen with a croissant like this before, but which is clearly the way to go. The croissant was just barely warm, but it had been heated up enough to really emphasize the pasty’s exterior crisp-factor, and to make the chocolate nice and gooey. Good stuff.

Tag: pain au chocolate

A Delicious Almond Croissant at Castle and Coal

Amazing Pastries at Cho-Kwok-Lat