Swiss Bakery

Trends...  I'd like to think I keep up with the latest stuff, but alas, there are certain things I have fallen greatly behind.  Take the Frissant for instance, Swiss Bakery has been serving these up for nearly a year in Vancouver.  I was able to sample them on 2 occasions, but I felt a post on one item was pretty much useless.  Hence, I returned to Swiss Bakery and picked up more items.  Well, life got busy and I totally forgot to blog about it.  Fast forward to the present and I went back once again.  This time, I got right down to it.

Before we get to the new stuff, let me talk about the infamous Frissant first.  Both times I tried it, there were 2 flavours available including the Earl Grey and Double Chocolate.  For those unaware, these are filled "donuts" made from the same pastry that goes into croissants.  Hence, the texture is flaky, crispy and almost Napoleon-like.  I found these just sweet enough with a creamy interior that did emanate the named flavours.  But Swiss Bakery is much more than a bunch of frissants.  I've had their Croissants before and this time around, they were pretty much the same.  Not to be confused with something found at Beaucoup or Faubourg, the one found at SB was crispy on the outside, while dense and bread-like on the inside.  The Double Baked Almond Croissant was predictably and appreciably crunchier with a drier interior.  The conservative amount of sweet almond filling meant the whole thing was not overbearingly sugary.

Onto something different, I also picked up a Jelly Donut.  Yah, not sure why I chose it.  In the end, it was alright.  I found the dough to be a touch dense and dry.  However, the ample amount of jelly inside seemed to alleviate the problem.  It was sweet, but once again, it wasn't overboard with the sugar. For my daughter, I had to get a few of their Macarons.  I didn't have any high expectations since SB isn't known for these.  However, we were pleasantly surprised as they were decent.  No, they won't strike fear into Soirette, yet the texture of the shell was crisp which revealed a slightly chewy inside.  The cream in the middle was also just sweet enough.  For myself, I had to get the New York Cheesecake.  With only a modest crumb crust, the cheesecake was appealingly rich, creamy and only lightly dense.  It had a nice balance of sweetness offset by an equal amount of tang.  With the Tiramisu sitting right next to the cheesecake in the display, I decided to get it as well.  Another good decision as it was creamy and light with hits of espresso and rum.  I felt that that there was a purposeful amount of liquor that really brought impact.

For some strange reason, the Eclair was calling out to me (and not in the way like in Van Wilder either...).  One bite and I figured out why - it was really good.  The choux pastry had a nice crispiness on the outside and since it was rather thin, the inside was not doughy. As for the filling, the pastry cream was light, purposefully sweet and creamy.  If I didn't have to share with Viv and my daughter, I would've happily finished it off. So really, Swiss Bakery is much more than Frissants.  In fact, I need to probably go back to try even more items.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Efficiently quick service
- Most things are either decent or good

The Bad:
- Lacks the refinement of such places like Faubourg and Beaucoup, but is less expensive too