Craque de Creme

Feb 12, 2021

Craque de Creme has a mason jar return policy and I had quite a few jars from last time, so I made a trip to return them (since I couldn't figure out how to use them). While I was there, I was super tempted by all their sweet offerings, but I was particularly intrigued by the bostock (which I've never heard of)

Bostock 

It's a French pastry made with French toast and almond and it also came with a lot of syrup soaked into it. It was REALLY good! Light, airy and flaky like a croissant from the bread, but then it was also heavily laden with syrup and icing sugar on top. Super yummy, but very sweet. 

July 11, 2020

Pistachio, Viet coffee and raspberry caneles

Caneles are small pastries with rum and vanilla and they usually have a soft tender custard center and a dark thick caramelized crust. I haven't tried caneles before, so I thought this would be a great chance to try them with some of my favourite flavours like raspberry and pistachio. 

I really liked the pistachio canele especially the pistachio paste on the top with all the nuts. I wasn't able to immediately eat them (which is when they're supposed to be the best), but I got to try a little bit of the custard-y middle and the crust was pretty thick and kinda crunchy - however, they were a bit chewier than I expected. Once I reheated it a bit in the microwave, the middle was a lot more custard-y and the outside crust was hard. I also really liked the flavour of the raspberry and the viet coffee had a really strong bold coffee flavour which was nice. 

On to the main event here: the Crème Brûlées! I pre-ordered all the flavours I wanted in advance so that they would make the ones I wanted to try in advance (I was also super ambitious ordering so many crème brûlées, but it's not often that I'm in the St. Clair West area). There was a bit of a wait to get into the store since they only allowed one person at a time to go in and get their orders and it took a little while since the owner had to caramelize the sugar on top of the custards for each order.

Ube Crème Brûlée

The ube flavour in the custard really stood out and it was pretty strong (and it was so good!). The crème brûlée had good consistency and flavour. I would definitely get this one again. 

Honey Lavender crème brûlée

A really fragrant crème brûlée with the lavender flavour standing out really well and a nice sweetness to it from the honey. 

Pandan coconut

I loved that they added shredded coconut in the burnt sugar on top - it just really tied the whole dessert together with the pandan and coconut flavours. This was another of my favourites. 

Earl Grey, Baileys and Vegan Mango coconut

The Earl Grey custard had a strong concentrated tea flavour with a nice smooth consistency and the Bailey's had a strong boozy Irish cream flavour. Unfortunately, the vegan mango coconut did not hold up as well the next day when I ate it - the sugar didn't hold as well and the custard had a grainy texture (which I wasn't as big a fan of). 

Website: http://craquedecreme.com/

bloomer's

 

From top: London Fog Creme Donut $4 and Rose Pistachio Donut $3.50

The London fog creme was interesting since it didn't quite taste like earl grey, but it did have a strong bergamot flavour (the flowery flavour from earl grey). There was a lot of cream and it was also a little greasy/oily. I wouldn't really recommend this donut since it felt like it was a rather unexpected flavour. I was expecting more earl grey flavour, but it was more cream.

The rose pistachio tasted like rosewater icing with lots of pistachios on top. It's a pretty good combination, and while the donut was a little dense, it still maintained it's fluffiness despite my picking it up near the end of day. 

Website: https://www.bloomersto.com/locations

Paramount Fine Foods

Feb 2, 2021 @ Shops at Don Mills

BOGO Chicken Shawarma ($11.98 for two) with spicy potatoes and lentil soup (+$2.30 upgrade)

The chicken shawarma had really dry chicken today and just barely enough garlic sauce and pickles. 

The lentil soup was REALLY good with a nice grainy texture from the mashed lentils, very filling and perfect on a cold day. The spicy potatoes were delicious as usual. 

Jan 26, 2021 @ Shops at Don Mills

Gotta take advantage while the BOGO promotion is still happening!

Beef Shawarma and Shish Tawook ($11.49 each x 2) and upgrade to spicy potatoes and fattoush salad (+$2.30 each and so worth it)

Beef shawarma had lots of beef, but unfortunately the beef was way too well done and became tougher. The sandwich also didn't have garlic sauce, but a lighter sauce instead (maybe so that the garlic sauce didn't overpower the beef) and it came with pickles inside. The pita was pretty good too. 

Shish Tawook had really yummy juicy chicken breast kebab style with garlic sauce and pickles. There was also an option to get a spicy version of the shish tawook sandwich (so we got that too) and it was pretty good! 

The sides: the fattoush salad was mixed better from the Don Mills location with a better ratio of dressing to salad and lots of veggies not just romaine lettuce (so it tasted better overall). 

The spicy potatoes were REALLY good! Fried potato cubes tossed with a spicy sauce (and evenly distributed on all the potatoes) - super tasty. Both these sides are worth the extra upgrade (so try it out!)

Jan 21, 2021 @ 2450 Sheppard Ave E

 Super excited to see Paramount on Ubereats' BOGO list and their sandwiches were BOGO (what a great deal!). 

Unfortunately, I didn't have the best experience at this location, the guy who gave me my food was a little rude, he told me I was late and that my order was ready at 12:30, but the Ubereats app told me it was ready at 12:50 so I got there at 12:45 and the food was cold. (I didn't complain, but I kept it in mind for future orders)

Chicken Shawarma with fries ($10.91 for two) and for an additional fattoush salad (an extra $2.30)

The chicken shawarma was good! I love their thick grainy garlic sauce that's oh so tasty! The chicken was done well and wasn't too dry and the sandwich came with lettuce and pickles. 

The fries were okay, but the fattoush salad was worth the extra money since it was so good. I loved the savoury and tangy dressing but it was also super oily and there was way too much dressing in the salad. The crunchy bits were good and paired well with the salad (we added more lettuce afterwards to soak up all the dressing and it was much better - for such a small sized container, it could have used a lighter toss of dressing)

Baklava $7.99 (pre-tax)

Much cheaper to buy in person than online!

This location's baklava didn't have as many varieties, but it somehow tasted better with more rosewater flavour than the Don Mills location (curious...)

Dec 19, 2020 @ Shops at Don Mills

I enjoyed the last box of baklava from Paramount so much that I came back for more two days later. 

10 pieces of Baklava (15% off if you order online)

A different assortment of baklava at the Shops at Don Mills location, 3 each of the round pieces, one small rectangle and 4 bigger squares. However, these pieces didn't have any rosewater flavour. These did seem fresher than the baklava from the Victoria Park and Sheppard location, but I miss the rosewater flavour. 

Dec 17, 2020 @ 2450 Sheppard Ave. E

10 Pieces of Baklava $7.99 (10% off with cash payment)

The pieces got really tiny, but the flavours were great! Lots of pistachio and rosewater flavours and it wasn't super sweet. For those that don't like rosewater, it's not overpowering, but you can definitely taste it. The cashew baklava were pretty good too - I went through this box super fast.

Jan 4, 2018 @ Shops at Don Mills

Puffy bread

Half Mixed Combo Platter $43.99

Chicken and Beef Shawarma, kafta skewer, shish tawook, BBQ beef skewers and falafel with pickled turnips, pickles, lettuce and cucumber accompanied by garlic and tahini sauces

Delicious!

Fattoush Salad

I love the crispy bits in the salad

Fries

This was so much food for two people - but it was so delicious! 

Baklawa selection

Sept 25, 2012 @ 253 Yonge Street

Two years ago, Paramount Fine Foods opened up a new location bringing their popular Middle Eastern cuisine to the heart of downtown Toronto. 

Menu

We were served these huge steaming hot puffy pita pockets right after we ordered (talk about efficient!)

Paramount Special

My friend ordered this drink with mixed fruits: strawberry, kiwi, pineapple, almonds, crushed pistachio, ashta cream and honey in strawberry and mango juice. Really delicious! It was like a drinkable dessert with a full serving of fruits. 

Chicken Shawarma Plate $10.99

Grilled chicken shawarma, garnished with mixed pickles, tomato and lettuce.

A humongous portion! The chicken was yummy - not too dry and crispy on the outside. The sweet and tangy sauce worked well with the chicken and vegetables. I also really liked the fluffy and lightly scented long grained Basmati rice (a nice change from Jasmine rice for me). 

Beef Shawarma Plate $10.99

Grilled beef shawarma with mixed pickles, tomato and lettuce. 

It was interesting that the beef shawarma had a slightly more bitter and more watery sauce, but I thought it was a good complement to the drier beef and the sauce was a good complement to the beef taste-wise. 

Overall: Paramount Fine Foods is definitely doing something right! The food is great, portions are huge and appropriately priced (so you get great value for money). It does get boiling hot in the inside of the restaurant (especially in the summer), so it's a good thing that the service is fast (eat and go!).

Website: http://www.paramountfinefoods.com/

La Rocca Creative Kitchen (Midtown)

 

For such a popular bakery, I was surprised to see they were taking part in the BOGO promotions on Ubereats

Turtle Tarts ($5.95 for 2) and Super Caramel Crunch Mini ($6.50 for 2)

The turtle tart was made with a super decadent dark chocolate ganache and came with roasted pecans, milk chocolate swirl and a chocolate shortbread shell. It was very rich and indulgent, but it didn't really have a nutty flavour though except for the pecans on top to add texture - pretty good overall. 

The super caramel crunch mini was delicious! It came with two layers of pecan merigue (you could taste the nutty flavour) and was a lot denser than the typical fluffy meringue and then it was layered with caramel and whipped cream. It was on the sweet side, but it was so good! It's one of their signature cakes for a good reason. 

Pistachio strawberry pyramid $6.95 

As a pistachio dessert lover, I had to try this out when I saw it behind the counter. 

It had an excellent pistachio mousse with lots of pistachio flavour and strangely enough, it didn't have as strawberry flavour as I would have expected and instead, it was overpowered by pistachio (which is fine because I would much rather the pistachio flavour be the star). Pistachio and strawberry don't really seem like complimentary flavours though, but it was fun!

Website: https://www.laroccatoronto.com/

Chocolada

 Since I was in the Yonge and Steeles area to pick up lunch at Song Cook's, I did a quick search to see if there were any dessert places nearby to satisfy my sweet tooth and found Chocolada (which had quite a selection of European sweets and treats)

Apricot Marizpan Tart ($5), Mango Mousse Cake ($4) and Pistachio Eclair ($4)

Pretty cheap prices! 

The apricot marizpan tart had sweet almond paste with fruits baked into the tart filling (and on the top to make it look prettier). The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the glaze on top of the tart which made it really sweet. 

The mango mousse cake had a good ataulfo mango flavour that was strong and sweet and it was pretty reasonably priced. 

The pistachio eclair had good pistachio flavour in the cream and on top of the eclair, but I found the eclair rather doughy. 

I might be back to try some of their other desserts later, another good bang for the buck dessert place! 

Website: https://chocolada.com/

Patisserie la Cigogne

Nov 5, 2020

Croissant $2.65

This was half the price of the pistachio croissant nearby at Bomou, and I really liked this one since it was super soft, fluffy and a little flaky with a delicious buttery taste! Also would come back for this croissant - Yum!

Bacarra Cake - Pistachio cake and hazelnut mousse $7.50

The overall impression of the cake when I was eating it was that it was sticky. There was a lot of glaze and the mousse inside was on the harder side and the thin layer of apricot jam in the middle was sticky too - I wonder if it's because it's been sitting out all day (or for longer) and everything just hardened. 

Nov 23, 2018

Bacarra cake

Somehow this just didn't have the same impact it had before. The cake was a little dry and stale and the chocolate layers were kind of sticky. The apricot layer was also strange. It seemed like there was more hazelnut cream than any pistachio flavour, I don't think it's the same anymore.

November 2, 2014

I can't help it - I had to go back for the Bacarra

Bacarra, Pear Sabayon Tart and Tiramisu

The Bacarra was just as delicious and heavenly as I remember it. YUMMY!

The pear tart and tiramisu were really good too...but the highlight of the day was the Bacarra for sure. 

October 31, 2014

Wow, I can't believe it's been two years since I've last had one of Patisserie la Cigogne's cakes (I guess this is one of the reasons why I still keep blogging haha). 

It's so weird because every time someone asks me for a cake recommendation - the first place that comes to mind is "Patisserie la Cigogne - it's a little far from the downtown core, but it's worth the trip!". It also helps that there's the Danforth location now - which is where I sent my friend recently for their amazing pistachio cakes. 

Croq-Pistache (x2), Opera, Mikado, Prince Noir and Symphony

The Croq-Pistache was just as good as I remembered it with the crunchy & crispy layers in the cake. However, I was a little sad I couldn't get the Bacarra (which is my new favourite cake). Instead, we got these other cakes to make up for it. 

Opera was a mocha butter cream and chocolate cream layered with Joconde biscuit with a chocolate glaze. I liked the mocha and chocolate cream with the crispy biscuit, but after all the pistachio desserts - this seemed a little too simple for me. It's classic and delicious - but I appreciate innovative desserts and cakes more. 

Mikado was another choice made with lemon madeleine sponge and lemon mousse with strawberry filling. The tart lemon made the white chocolate stand out more and made the cake overwhelmingly sweet. I would have liked if they used something else to balance the sweetness like a dark chocolate instead of white chocolate.

Next, the Prince Noir (I think?) with crispy praline crust, roasted hazelnut coffee butter creme and chocolate mousse finished with a dark glaze. The hazelnut mousse really stood out to me - it was so rich in nutty flavour and the cake had all these great textures. I would definitely order this again.

Last, the Symphony with a combination of dark, white and milk chocolate mousse filled with fresh raspberries with a pink sparkly glaze on top. The flavours seemed like it would work, but I feel like la Cigogne is known for their rich vibrant flavours that stand out (at least that's the case with bacarra and Prince Noir) and I felt the raspberry and chocolate flavours were a little lost in this cake since there was too much going on with all three chocolates.

Up close and personal pictures...

Working those camera shots and angles (LOL)

September 9, 2012

Tarte Flambée $11.49

Alsatian style thin crust pie with bacon, chopped onion and cream cheese baked in stone oven. 

The tarte flambée is also named flammekueche  in the Alsace region of France (Flammekuchen in German). 

Delicious! It was like a thin-crust creamy alternative to pizza. The cheese, chopped onion and bacon combination on the thin bread was scrumptious! Patisserie la Cigogne only serves tarte flambées on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 3pm and it's definitely worth the trip!

And then there are the cakes:

From top (clockwise): Ba-Ba au Rhum Cake, Bacarra, Apricot Almond Pie, Pinacolada, Croq Pistache and Raspberry Cheesecake in the middle.

My top 3 cakes are: Bacarra, the Apricot Almond Tart and the Croq Pistache. (I may be biased towards pistachio cakes)

Apricot almond pie: sweet crust filled with almond cream topped with sliced apricots and finished with apricot glaze and it was absolutely heavenly! This tart could totally give Clafouti tarts a run for their money. I also really liked that they added fresh raspberries to the tart to give it a tangy taste.

Pinacolada: coconut mousse & light pineapple mousse with dark chocolate cake soaked in rum. It was really different and the pastry chef stayed true to the pinacolada taste. Light, tasty and summery. 

Ba-Ba au Rhum Cake - It looked very pretty and light, but it had a heavy rum flavour and it was a little overwhelming.

Raspberry Cheesecake: sweet crust filled with white chocolate, cream cheese and fresh raspberries

Despite being a cheesecake, I found it rather fluffy and light. It was a simple and nice cheesecake, the downside was that the cookie didn't hold up too well.

Croq-Pistache: sweet crust filled with almond cream and crunchy hazelnut, finished with pistachio mousse

Wow - what a combination of flavours and textures with the crunchy hazelnut filling, soft airy pistachio mousse and the slightly chunkier almond cream filling. The flavours of the hazelnut and almond stood out more than the pistachio. It was a really unique cake.

Bacarra: crunchy pistachio, dark chocolate ganache and light caramel cream filled with peaches

This is my favourite dessert here! It just works wonderfully together with the pistachio, dark chocolate, peaches and dried apricot on top. Before this, I had no idea that these ingredients would even work together - but the chef has made a masterpiece with pistachio. Every bite is a delight!

Overall: One of my favourite cake places in Toronto! The service might be a little slow sometimes, but they consistently put out great desserts (especially pistachio ones) and food. On a weekend, the tables fill up with customers enjoying their coffee and patisseries similar to a cafe in France.

October 12, 2011

 For my brother's birthday, instead of buying one cake - we bought a selection of cakes (well it was also because our favourite cake at Patisserie la Cigogne [the Croq Pistache] wasn't available and the selection that night that was available wasn't super appealing to us). So instead, we grabbed the Bacarra, Exotic Flower, the Harmony, St. Eve, Louis XIV and Treasure Island (clockwise from the triangle at the top). We've had the Bacarra before and loved it - the patisserie chef at Patisserie de la Cigogne is amazing with pistachio desserts! We've had the best pistachio desserts here. The rest were really interesting, the Exotic flower was good and we thought the St. Eve was very nutty at first, but it grew on us and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The rest of the desserts were good - but I think once was good enough for us.

Since I love macarons, we also decided to pick up a box. The pink ones were rosewater (which is not a favourite flavour of mine), but we really enjoyed the yellow and orange ones. The brown and green ones weren't as good. It's quite hard finding really good macarons in Toronto. So alas, the search continues...

Website: http://patisserielacigogne.com/