Restaurant: Bouchon Bakery
Location: 6528 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599, United States
Price Range: $$
[wp-review]
After having a late lunch at Tra Vigne, my family drove to Bouchon Bakery by the famous Thomas Keller to have some desserts! The bakery itself is conveniently located next to Bouchon restaurant and near the French Laundry, so you will definitely have a lot of choices along this street! If you have the money to spend, definitely try to make a reservation at the French Laundry (apparently there is a waitlist up to 2-3 months), or dine at Bouchon and have dessert next door! The line can get quite long, but just brace yourself and think of all the delicious dessert you will be having soon.
From the outside the store looks huge, but the kitchen itself actually cover more than half of the bakery. It’s quite amazing to see the entire baking process, and you know for sure that the pastries are freshly made in-house :).
The pastries looked amazingly delicious and perfectly made. If only my stomach wasn’t filled to the brim with delicious Italian food at Tra Vigne, I would have bought every single pastry available in Bouchon that day :(.
Other than the basic pastries, Bouchon also offers fancier desserts and they are all made with a meticulous attention to details. The bakery also sell the miniature Macaron sizes if you want a small bite sample of all the flavors, however it was really hot that day so I wasn’t sure how the macarons will held together during the drive home :(.
For $3.50 the macaron was huge! It’s definitely not the normal 1 or 2 bites sizes I often found in Toronto. My brother in law got the espresso macaron whereas I got the strawberry lemonade, however he pretty much let me have half of his macaron anyways ;).
What I can say, these macarons were delish! The texture was just perfect!! The shells were light, delicate, and crisp on the surface while the interior was moist and slightly chewy. The espresso macaron had a nice balance of sweetness and bitterness, it tasted just like drinking a cup of espresso!
The strawberry lemonade macaron was another favourite! I believe the ganache was lemon flavored, hence the sour lemon was more noticeable than strawberry, which I don’t mind :).
Look at that dainty and cute fruit tart! There was a good ratio of crust to the custard filling, and I must mention the crust was buttery with just the right amount of firmness. The custard filling was creamy and not overly sweetened with a nice tartness to it. With the natural sweetness of the season fruits (berries and peaches), it was a wonderful contrast in taste and texture to the crust.
A very well-crafted Mocha latte, however I should have asked for less ice as they melted so quickly that day, after 10 minutes my drink was too watery :(.
Although the price can be on the pricier side – especially if you are Canadian and of course you know the nasty exchange rate – Bouchon bakery is worth it to try out when you are in the area. With a wide varieties of pastries and some basics that you would expect from from a French bakery, there is definitely something for everyone in Bouchon Bakery.
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