I am going to throw out a bit of a disclaimer before all my Asian friends out there lose it a little on me for this review. There's traditional baking (French inclusive) with emphasis on using old world techniques to produce a rustic loath of goodness and then there's Asian baking; refine ingredients with emphasis on silkiness and creative flavour combinations. I am much more of a fan of the former despite growing up with the latter. There's something undeniably seductive about simple, rustic, buttery bread where it's the grains that are showcased with just enough transformation of the grains to bring out the best in aromatics and texture while not changing it too much.
This place was bustling despite our visit in an odd time in the afternoon. I really like the idea of having samples of almost everything they serve if only those samples were something to rave about. I liken the flavours; creative, interesting, alluring. That is about as far as it goes as piece after piece of chewy pieces of dough was quite a turn off (for me personally). The flavours are hit and miss, some overly pretentious (faux) and some just faux enough that the average person wouldn't be able to tell. However, the theme remains faux, faux in flavour and chew chew in texture. Not all is untrue though, there are elements of sincerity here like the raisins, chocolate and matcha powder for example.
We ordered some unmemorable cream cake of sort. I couldn't remember it because it was just that... not memorable. It was some special cream cake but wasn't quite special enough to be remembered. It was silky smooth and creamy but I can get that fix for a lot less than $7 or so. We just had to go for the matcha crepe cake now that it's so popular thanks for some place out in Kensington. It was a little chewier than I like it to be but still adequate. There wasn't a whole lot of matcha with the exception of the generous dusting on top. It was adequate to say the least.
There you have it. Mediocre bread with so-so cakes at some next level prices. If you are feeling fancy then enjoy! If you still want fancy but don't want to pay the price then T&T(supermarket) has essentially the same quality.