The centre of Grenoble is full of exciting looking eateries, yet not many offer this very American…read moreway of eating. Bagelstein is clean and starbucks like, with a short but interesting menu behind the counter and a sophisticated fast-food cafe feel. It feels like a chain, and after a little research I found out that it is an up and coming chain in France.
Bagelstein, unsurprisingly, offers bagels. There are a few flavours to choose from, including poppy seed, multigrain, olive and cinnamon and raisin. They are pretty classic flavours, and the bread is very fresh. There are 5 flavours, 4 of which contain fish/meat so I won't be talking about them. I went for the isidore: Cream cheese, mozzarella, pesto, sundried tomatoes, marinated yellow peppers and salad. I got it served with a lipton iced tea, and paid something in the vicinity of 6 euros. A little pricy for a bagel lunch but I guess in France it's still a novelty.
The cream cheese was very fresh, probably local. The mozzarella wasn't really what I was expecting it to be, though I can imagine it being good if melted. The bread was, as already mentioned, very fresh and really rather perfect.
I'd like to come back to sample the sweet bagels, which were considerably cheaper (flavours included nutella, speculoos, white chocolate) and some of the puddings. The white chocolate macadamia cookie looked particularly enticing.
The staff were friendly and relaxed, I didn't feel under any pressure to order or eat. I was in fact waiting for 10 minutes for my friend, taking advantage of the free wifi, and no one looked at me badly.
The ambiance was pretty casual, with comfortable high chairs, making it a good place to grab a bite to eat between class or during lunch break. My only slight criticism would be that there was a lot of smoke, though I don't know whether this was just yesterday or the general situation.
