| rev:text
| - What can you get for $1.50? Barely bottled water, my favorite yardstick of comparing cost of living across cities, comes that cheap. Yet, for less than 2 CAD you can buy here a slice/wedge of the pillowy Kouign Amann (Breton) pastry after which the bakery is named.
I'd heard so many good things about Patisserie Au Kouign Amman that my heart actually sank when I reached the storefront for the first time in early August and saw a sign in French saying it was closed (vacation). And, so disproportionate is the importance of quality baked goods in my life that I actually extended my trip by 3 days just to try Patisserie Au Kouign Amann a few times. After all, who's on top of their game the first day after a vacation? ;)
I completely understand why the bakery is so incredibly popular: the price points are unbelievable, the owner is friendly, kind and soft-spoken, and the baked goods are top notch.
I've really liked the Kouign-Amman, executed simply and with no contrived artifice - just the flavors of buttery goodness and caramel and the textural contrast of layers of buttery bread with a crispy exterior. The butter croissant was perhaps the best I had on my entire stay in Montreal, and I make that assertion after trying at least 10 top notch bakeries in the city. Layers of dough, and flaky - just as a croissant should be.
Purity and simplicity. That's the underlying philosophy here. You find no exaggerated flourishes or additional ingredients, just a single minded focus on execution. That simplicity is also evident in the breadth of product offering: I believe I could only see a dozen odd items available for sale, including pain au chocolat, tartlettes, chausson aux pommes, a few different kinds of quiches, a few soups... and, bread (with espresso, of course).
But, I honestly can't say that I fell in love with everything in the bakery: the Pain Au Chocolat disappointed me on both occasions, not simply for the lack of warmth, but mainly for the lack of flakiness (even at 7:30 am!). Similarly, I just didn't get the Pain Au lait Chocolat. It's one of those simple baked goods that lose their charm completely when not served at the right temperature. Further, while the service was polite and smiling, but in packing my order the chocolate cookies and brioche were smooshed together, and I barely salvaged the chocolatey gooeyness of one of the cookies.
So, I can understand the argument made by countless reviewers here that the bakery merits a solid 5 stars, but given my own disappointments my personal rating for the baked goods can only reach 4.5 stars. Rounding down for clumsy (even if well intentioned) service.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)