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| - After mentally bookmarking Lucullus time and again whenever I read a review or passed by this gorgeous Downtown Markham location, I had yet to ever enter their hallowed doors. It's a good thing too because the entire front of their cafe is made of doors (all locked by the way) so in the brutal cold of winter, I (and many others), played the age-old game of entrance Russian roulette...
Attempt #1 - *pull*, strain, FAIL.
Attempt #2 - *pull*, strain, FAIL. "OK SERIOUSLY WTF I'M FREEZING HERE"
Attempt #3 - *pull*, strain, FAIL. "WHY GOD? WHY DO YOU HATE ME"
Attempt # 4 *pull*, door opens, immediately falls inside and thanks god above on high #blessings
Once I made it past the door level, dried my frozen tears from my cheeks, and let my glasses defog, it was only then that I could take in the quaint French Cafe vibe of Lucullus AND I understood why all the doors, cuz in the summertime... it's open to the outside Parisian cafe style... (ohhhhhhhhhhh).
Cruising around inside I was thoroughly impressed with their selection of both traditional French and Chinese pastries and bread. To fairly review them I had to pick something familiar as a basis for comparison and picked up a Pain au Chocolate (Chocolate croissant) and paired it with a black coffee.
The Croissant was massive, light, airy and fluffy. However, the dough was lacking in the distinct buttery texture and flavour that melts in your mouth when tearing into a fresh croissant. Instead, I found it slightly sweet but a little more on the bland side. Still tasty and visually stunning (you know from the Yelp.. and the gram). The coffee was nice and paired nicely, however, the teeny tiny diner-style cups were sad and spilt easily and honestly didn't do much to match the classy French aesthetic going here.
So why a three? A Three-star average means A-OK. Nothing was bad, but nothing knocked my socks off either. The x-factor which faltered a bit here, which is kinda become typical for certain businesses in Markham, was the standoffish, seemingly disengaged staff. Again, a place putting all this effort into an exceptional product should encourage staff to be part of that product - I honestly get more personality from the folks at Tim Hortons and their croissants are ONLY made with butter.
I'll come back to re-test them based on their Chinese dessert offerings. Look forward to it
Eatcrest Out
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