Restaurant: Roselle
Location: 362 King Street East, Toronto, ON M5A 1K9
Price Range: $$
[wp-review id=”5743″]
This bakery is an absolute gem of a place. I’m not a big dessert person but I can honestly say Roselle is one of my favorite bakery in Toronto! I like the decor in this place, which is very clean and simple and bright. They have a small selection of cakes and pastries here, but in my opinion that means the pastry chefs are able to put more love and finesse in their creations.
Roselle tend to sell out of their more popular items so do get here early. There are probably around 10 seats here and the staff are really friendly and attentive. The pastries and desserts are simply lovely, not too sweet but enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Sadly the rose flavored soft serve was only available for Valentine’s Day, but Roselle have brought back their famous Earl Grey soft serve – only on the weekends for now!
Initially I was quite skeptical to try this as I thought the rose flavor would be too artificial and overpower the strawberry. The strawberry was actually more prominent while the rose was subtle, coming through just at the end and added a depth and complexity to this beautiful soft serve. The heart cookies were just regular butter cookies but it was a nice romantic touch for Valentine’s Day :).
I thought the eclair at Nugateau (approx. $5/each) was already pricy but damn, the one at Roselle is even more expensive! The strange thing about the eclair here is that it had a crispier crust than the eclair that I’m used to – where the crust is a bit softer, not as “hard-looking” as the one you see on the picture.
My friend assumed that the pastry chef here probably used another dough to coat the eclair so that once it bakes, the shell will crisp up! I love how with every bite, you are getting a combination of different textures here, from a slight crunch of the shell to a delicate and creamy ganache. The banana pieces are caramelized, de-glazed with rum and set on fire. The eclair was layered with so many flavors and it was not too sweet at all.
I have to say, I must have eaten a month’s worth of chocolate after this cake! Since the owner used dark chocolate, the cake was quite rich and heavy but if you are a dark chocolate lover (like myself) – this is the cake for you! I loved the different layers in this cake: from the mousse to cake with dark chocolate pieces at the end – finish off with some crispy pearls in between for some crunch!