Bread, Sweets and Pastries, Bordeaux

7/1/14

Pavé Bordelais w. Almond and Orange

Pavé Bordelais w. Almond and Orange

Crunchy Thing w. Hazelnuts, Pavé Bordelais w. Almond and Orange

Crunchy Thing w. Hazelnuts, Pavé Bordelais w. Almond and Orange

At Eric Sabouret on rue Michel Montaigne, we bought two specialties of Bordeaux: croquette with hazelnuts (€2.20. The other variant was with almonds) and a Pavé Bordelais with almond and orange (€2.70). This place might be the same one where we bought canelés during our previous trip to Bordeaux. We walked into the Carrefour Market building nearby (Marche et Galerie Grands Hommes) to find somewhere to sit and eat. The croquette noisettes was quite hard and crunchy – too hard for my liking. The Pavé Bordelais reminded me of mooncake because there was a chewy outer layer of pastry. The inside was like a moist cake. I saw a store that specialised in canelés, though they also had macarons.

Canele

Canele

Canele

Canele

I bought the most famous Bordelais specialty: a canelé. I got a medium-sized canelé from Baillardran for €1.40; small ones were €0.80. This was the only canelé that I actually really enjoyed eating. Although not warmed, the outside was crunchy and the inside had a moist, even, spongy texture without tasting soggy. The caramel/custard flavor was also stronger than what I’ve had in the past. As we were going out of the shopping centre, mum and I ate samples of chocolate, orange and white chocolate canelé-shaped  chocolates with a milk chocolate centre, and crispy biscuit-like rolls filled with either almond or another type of sweet paste. Later I saw Paul selling slightly bigger canelés than Baillardran for €1.90, but I don’t think they’d be as good as the ones from Baillardran. The price/weight is probably similar anyway.

8/1/14

Canele

Canele

On the way out of Bordeaux we made a quick stop at Antoine, the patisserie. Apparently the patisserie is now in liquidation, but is allowed to keep trading until the final decisions are made. We’re lucky to try it since its fate is in limbo at the moment. It was a very upmarket, modern and sleek store. The sole staff member on the floor was quite professional and wouldn’t serve the lady that came in after us, even though we told her to because we were deciding on what to buy. All the cakes were behind glass displays and after telling her our order she went to the back to pick them for us. The viennoiseries were on the open floor, but they were picked by her also.

Croissant, Pain Aux Chocolat, Raspberry Jam Scroll

Croissant, Pain Aux Chocolat, Raspberry Jam Scroll

Almond Cake

Almond Cake

Almond Cake

Almond Cake

Canele

Canele

We bought a croissant (I’m not sure if it was aux beurre or natural, €1), a pain aux chocolat (€1), a raspberry jam scroll (€1.20), an almond cake (€3+). I think I saw bigger versions of these at Stohrer), a small canelé (€0.80) as well as two cakes –

Opéra and Pablo

Opéra and Pablo

Opéra – Walnut biscuit, coffee jelly, Muscovado and coffee gel, coffee ganache, butter cream

Opéra – Walnut biscuit, coffee jelly, Muscovado and coffee gel, coffee ganache, butter cream

Opéra – Walnut biscuit, coffee jelly, Muscovado and coffee gel, coffee ganache, butter cream

Opéra – Walnut biscuit, coffee jelly, Muscovado and coffee gel, coffee ganache, butter cream

Opéra – Walnut biscuit, coffee jelly, Muscovado…something, coffee ganache, onctuese, butter cream

Pablo – Moelleux biscuit with almonds, passionfruit cream, raspberry mousseline and nougatine with pignons

Pablo – Moelleux biscuit with almonds, passionfruit cream, raspberry mousseline and nougatine with pignons

Pablo – Moelleux biscuit with almonds, passionfruit cream, raspberry mousseline and nougatine with pignons

Pablo – Moelleux biscuit with almonds, passionfruit cream, raspberry mousseline and nougatine with pignons

Pablo – Moelleux biscuit with almonds, passionfruit cream, raspberry mousseline and nougatine with pignons

Pablo – Moelleux biscuit with almonds, passionfruit cream, raspberry mousseline and nougatine with pignons

 

All the viennoiseries were nice and the canelé was pretty good too. I still liked the one from Baillardran better, maybe because it was less sweet, but mum liked Antoine’s version more. We thought we’d split the cakes when baba went to pump petrol, but when we got there he thought it was too expensive so I had to unceremoniously cut them on the freeway. It was also difficult to take a clear photo of them. Pablo was sort of like a cake with a raspberry jam coating. The passionfruit cream was in between two layers of cake. I liked the Opéra best, though it was hard to cut because of the chocolate pieces on the sides.

 

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