La Bamboche

La Bamboche has two locations in Toronto, and I visited the one on Manor Road, just south of Yonge and Eglinton. I biked uphill on Yonge (which is not nearly as bad as biking up Avenue Road), and was rewarded at the end of my trip with this pastry shop!

I've ordered so many macarons that I think I can finally stop and declare that they are just not my thing (which is just as well given the prohibitive price). This macaron was caramel sea salt. I have no idea why it was colored pink, but it was a pretty color. The meringue itself was blah. But the butter cream and caramel inside was a revelation. As, you can see in the close up, it was as if the caramel had been injected into the butter cream. I have been known to eat butter on its own, which some people think is weird. When you add some cream and sugar to the butter and call it butter cream, somehow that makes eating it all right. I'm easy and won't quibble over this. Final verdict...silvanas, which I think are the Filipino equivalent of macarons (also meringue outside, but softer, and a butter cream interior) are superior to macarons, but the interior of this caramel sea salt macaron totally made the pastry!

By the time I arrived at La Bamboche, there was only one chocolate pastry left and it didn't seem very exciting. Rather, since I had read that the patissier was known for combining interesting flavours, I had this layered mango yuzu cake. Of note, obviously, are the two layers of mango mousse (sweet, but not cloyingly so) and the gelatinous layer of yuzu. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit. The last time I had it was as part of a sake cocktail. Yuzu is deliciously tart (the kind where you get nice chills just thinking about the tartness) and the combination of sweet mango and the citric acid of the yuzu makes this dessert pop with complementary flavors. Bonus points on the gelatinous texture of the yuzu, which I sometimes ate on its own to isolate and savour the flavour. Additional bonus points for attention to detail on the tops of the blueberries which were filled with some sort of gelatin to make the tops sparkle rather than being empty black holes.

I will return to La Bamboche earlier in the day when I can select from a greater variety of pastries and, hopefully, will score a chocolate pastry.

Given my penchant for a chocolate cranberry combination, I wonder how a chocolate yuzu combination would turn out?