I was so intrigued when I first heard about this place so when I was in Rice Village grabbing some things, I made sure to stop by. It's a cute little store on Morningside next to a restaurant called Hamsa, both new, just down the street from Istanbul Grill.
We arrived just after 11 am on a Wednesday. The place itself is small with small tables for 2 and maybe 3 along the wall but they were all occupied. There is more patio seating but it's a sauna outside so they were all empty at the time in July. As you walk further, you see display cases of mousse cakes ($10... we're vegetarian and mousse usually contains gelatin so I passed, but the flavors sounded so good!!) and baked goods including sweet and savory. I even spotted a vegan cookie! I only saw the one though.
I was with my daughter who loves croissants and chocolates, so that helped me with my selection process. The cash register is at the end of the counter space and you order there and head back towards the front door to pick up your drinks. They have a simple drink menu that's visible towards the front of the shop, but not at the back... where you order. They do have paper menus at the cash register which was what I reviewed. I got everything to-go:
CHOCOLATE CROISSANT: for my daughter, who did eat the entire croissant over two eating sessions (she's 6). I did nibble a little and tasted the cream. So the thing is the actual croissant dough is chocolate flavored so it's not just the filling. That was nice! I didn't feel like it was a moist (buttery) or airy/flakey as other croissants I've had, but the filling - WOW. The cream wasn't situated in the center of the croissant so if you're sharing, cut the croissant from one end to the other and not across the equator. But the cream was subtly sweet and you can taste the chocolate, which was borderline semi-sweet. My daughter would like to add that she enjoyed the crisp chocolate balls on top. The croissant would be a favorite if the pastry was more flaky. As it is, not bad at all! A solid 4/5.
PISTACHIO BAKLAVA CROISSANT: the filling in this one was twofold. There's a grainy, sweeter one along most of the length of the croissant, BUT I found out there's an actual pistachio cream.. on only one half. The half I didn't eat. Haha... I shared with my husband and I got to steal a nice sized dollop from his half. That cream is PERFECTION. It's not that sweet (I can eat it with a spoon) and you can taste the pistachio. The croissant itself is a similar texture to the chocolate one but that cream. YUM. I'll rate it a... 4 (4.5??)/5.
The croissants here are stubby little guys. Medium sized and though you can share, one person can finish one easily. Both croissants are $5.50 each so... perhaps not a great deal if you think of serving size but the flavors are delicious. I did note how they're not as buttery and pulled apart in lovely layers, but it's not unheard of with filled croissants. Probably helps to keep it from getting overly wet?
I added a lightly iced MATCHA LATTE which, sadly, tastes similar to a mix I have at home that I wouldn't need to charge myself $4.50 to make. Even so, $4.50 can't really be considered a high a price for drinks these days, so I don't feel cheated. This was only a 3/5.
While I waited for the drink, I spotted BASQUE CHEESECAKE - just $6 a slice, though the total was $.50 more - and I just had to go back and get me one because I've heard of it but haven't gotten to trying to make it yet. THIS IS HANDS DOWN MY FAVORITE THING HERE. Nothing to complain about. It seems small but they're decent sized pieces (I could eat 2 though, not going to lie - they're just that good) and so creamy and beautiful and decadent and the caramelization is *chef's kiss*. I wonder how much the full cheesecake is... I love it so much I will buy the whole thing. LOL. I think you know what my rating is for this so I won't even add it.
Okay. So they have other items and some are so small for the price $3 for something barely 2 or 2.5 inches in diameter?? I've spotted some of the items here at Phoenicia (the market) but those were at least twice as big, which is what I compared with because it's what I know (sorry). But with what I tasted, I might try a little bit of everything over time. Whoever is the pastry chef/baker here has intrigued me (and they're awesome just based on the cream fillings and cheesecake).
Staff is friendly and often equipped with smiles. I didn't ask too many questions so can't comment on that but I felt no judgement when I ordered that cheesecake so that's great! read more