rev:text
| - Wow. Judging only from my visit, I thought that Riviera Bakery was fairly new. But there's already 7 reviews here on Yelp. Given that bit of insight, I will have to start by saying that Riviera Bakery looks unfinished.
Though the selection of beverages, breads, and pastries is plentiful and there's a lovely mini-tiled landscape in the entrance, something seems to be missing in terms of coziness. Yet, I can't quite put my finger on it.
Apart from that, I guess it does make sense to me that the Riviera isn't that new and is well-known. It seemed to be quite popular, especially for dinner time on Saturday evening. That's when I was there with a friend, to do a quick email/work break before dinner across the street. Unexpectedly, people were constantly coming in to pick up homey, bakery style, celebratory cakes.
I had two cappuccinos made with Lavazza espresso. They were served quickly and in a friendly manner. However, if you're a stickler for micro-foam, stick to drinks without steamed milk. For later, I ordered a ricotta-filled pastry the size of a three-year old infant's head. My friend ordered 1/4 of the pastry case as an appetizer. He enjoyed them only moderately.
For lunch the day after, I barely managed to eat the infant-head pastry. From the inside-out: Sweet ricotta-filling that is gently flavoured with citrus and chocolate; rounded out with a pastry that is surprisingly thin to carry the weight of its contents; rolled in (panko?) crumbs and deep-fried. Indeed, it stood up to the test of time and was still tender, crisp, and tasty. Even though I don't usually like the citrus + chocolate combo, it was subtle and the ricotta was just the right sweetness for me.
New or not, Riviera Bakery has a couple of kinks to work out to maximize its overhead. Its current location is convenient, yet close to competition, and possibly costly. As it is, I would probably only go back to pick-up an infant head and leave immediately. There's so many other bakery options.
|