Nadege Patisserie

With half an hour to kill before Girl Friday, my favorite clothing store in Toronto, opened on a Sunday, I decided to check out Nadege Patisserie, which had opened a few days ago on Queen West. The lady at the counter was incredibly nice and offered me a canele, which was not too bad for a custard-type dessert. She was also patient enough to describe each pastry for me because none of them had any signs or descriptions of what lay beneath the surface.

Unfortunately, I don't remember the names of the two pastries I ordered. So I will call them the fuzzy pink pear and the dark chocolate pyramid (since childhood, I have always believed in naming things pursuant to their description, e.g. Bluey and Yellowy). I also couldn't resist the sparkling water drinks on offer so I had a fizzy pomegranate and elderflower spritzer. Mmmm... Garden party, anyone?

I find myself growing more interested in the texture of pastries so the fuzzy pink pear was particularly intriguing. The thin white chocolate shell was covered by gritty, rough pink fuzz (unknown) and at the opposite end, i.e. the bottom of the pastry, was a soft spongy bottom. Great contrast. In between was a fluffy, mousse-like, champagne-flavoured filling, with mango and strawberry slivers. So light and airy, I felt like I was inhaling the pastry rather than biting into it. That was a sensation I don't often have when eating pastries. My only complaint was that the mangoes were too hairy, but that's probably a function of the kind of mangoes we have to endure in North America. Had she sourced mangoes from Cebu, it would have been sublime.

Since the first pastry was so light and it was nearing noon and I had biked around the city, I was hungry for more. The second pastry had to be chocolate...for so many reasons that do not need elaboration. By the way, dark chocolate, pomegranate, and elderflower are a dynamite combination! The fizz of the spritzer took the edge off the chocolate's bitterness. The dark chocolate cover surprised me because it was soft enough to score; not at all the hard shell I had been anticipating. It reminded me of the filling of my French Silk pie (which I haven't made since before law school, I think), but more bitter - which is a good thing for me. The bottom was solid, chewy chocolate - great flavor, but the texture was too chewy and hard. I don't like feeling like I have to work at chewing parts of my pastry. While I really liked the flavor of the chocolate that was used, I thought it was odd that the chocolate taste didn't linger. Good, solid dessert, but not one that I would return for over and over again.

Overall, this is a good patisserie and I hope they stick around - I heard the owner/manager saying that they planned to expand to a patio overlooking Trinity Bellwoods next summer. My only negative experience was that while I was taking my pictures and notes, the owner (I think) came up to me and demanded to know why I was taking pictures and wanted me to stop. I assured her that I was not a member of the press and that this was merely my hobby and offered to stop. She then had a weird explanation about not wanting too much fuss with pictures being taken. Very weird and it didn't feel very nice to be treated like a criminal after buying two pastries and spending almost $20 at her store.