Quebec City - Expanding my waist line whilst exploring the neighborhood!
Went out for a stroll around the neighborhood whilst waking up early and noticing a bright blue sky outside.
Eureka! What better surprise to a hungry foodie with a sweet tooth, than discovering one of the city’s best French Patisserie - “Le Crouquembouche” is just a short 5 minutes walk from my Airbnb doorstep!! Waiting in line and staring at the inviting and mouth-watering display, by the time my turn came, I was at a total loss! To me, any pastries crafted with a multitude of dark chocolate components and tarts using fresh, uncommon seasonal fruits on sweet shortbread crust are a ‘must’! With so many creative choices to pick from, this Sino-Welsh-Canadian went bonkers and bought 5…….just for breakfast?!! I was also too pre-occupied with digging into them, I even forgot to take photos!!..a huge no-no for a food-blogger!!
The only Viennoise I bought was a Chocolate and Almond croissant. It was huge and worth every penny. Though not as buttery as my reference yardstick - “DUO”’s version, it was still light, flaky and crisp with a generous amount of filling. The ‘Royal Chocolate’ using 75% cocoa dark chocolate was heavenly! Layers of hazelnut praline, dark chocolate mousse and cream were amazingly flavourful, rich and smooth! However, the seasonal, limited edition, ‘Quebec Prune tartlette’ was out-of-this-world! The sweet and juicy prunes, a perfect companion to the rich but not overly sweet hazelnut cream, chocolate custard and crunchy butter shortbread crust……I went back the next morning and sadly, they were no longer available! Sigh!!
After giving my bulging stomach a few hours of deserving rest, we ventured out again in search of more ‘ French themed ‘ goodies. This time we ended up at “Le Biillig”, a Breton Buckwheat crepe and galette specialist. After learning from past mistakes of over-ordering our lunches, we decided to split a savory and a dessert crepe. Man! Did we make the right choice! Once again the portions were huge and generous, especially the dessert crepe! Delicious, satisfied and full….and to me, the experience brought back some fond Parisian nostalgia.
