Paris Baguette — Restaurant in Toronto

I had high expectations for this place and bought 6 pastries to try since there was no tax for 6 or more. Here is my review on each pastry with photos:

1. King Cream Donut- 5/5. Wow. The donut was light, fluffy, and the filling was creamy and smooth with great vanilla flavour. The amount of filling was also appreciated. A wonderful treat that wasn't sickly sweet.

2. Strawberry Mochi donut - 4/5. The donut itself was soft with a great chew. However the strawberry frosting on top was extremely artificial tasting and threw me off. I thought they would use some better strawberry topping. I'd recommend trying another flavor if possible.

3. Pastel de Nata - 3/5. I didn't enjoy the texture and taste of the tart. The filling was very dense, much denser than other Portuguese custard tarts I've had. The texture was unusual. The actual pastry shell was great though.

4. Almond Croissant 3/5. The croissant itself was very crunchy on the outside, and darker than usual. I found it slightly overbaked. The inside had some delicious almond paste but it was hardly enough. As seen in my photo, it barely takes up any space in the mid- cross section of the croissant...and the rest of the croissant didn't have any paste. Almond Croissants are one of my favourite pastries and I was really let down on this one. Maybe it was a bad batch?

5. Jumbo Twisted Donut 4/5. The twist had a good crunch and lots of sugar cinnamon all over. However it was dry on the inside. Overall the flavour and texture was enjoyable. I would buy it again to try it on another day.

6. Blueberry cheese danish 2/5. Wow this one was bad. First, as seen in my cross section photos, there was only a smidge of filling of both the cream cheese and the blueberry. I was extremely disappointed as there was only the taste of pastry and barely any fruit/cheese. I did not finish it as it wasn't worth the calories.

Overall, it was a busy cafe and the employees were kind. Since it's a soft opening, I understand there are probably inconsistencies in their baking and quality. I hope they will take customers' issues seriously and improve based on feedback. I will return after a grand opening and hope to give a better...

Palm Oil in bread

On my first visit, I bought multigrain bread, milk bread, and some other breads. In the multigrain bread, I could only see black sesame seeds, and no other grains stood out. This made me curious about the ingredients, so I checked the list and found that margarine containing palm oil was used.

Additionally, there were too many additives in the bread. Nowadays, modified palm oil or vegetable oil is often used as a substitute, but I wasn’t satisfied with the ingredients.

Service

On my second visit today, I placed a few pieces of bread on a tray and picked up a fresh cream bread with one hand. Since the bread wasn’t properly tied, it started spilling out of the bag. While trying to prevent it from falling, one of the unpackaged breads on the tray slipped and fell to the floor.

I took it to the cashier and explained the situation, mentioning that the bread had fallen. The cashier threw the bread into the trash and told me, quite bluntly, that I still had to pay for it. They insisted it was my fault because their policy required customers to pay in such cases.

The fresh cream bread had opened unexpectedly, and the parchment paper on the tray was too slippery, which caused the bread to fall. Despite it being an accident, they showed no understanding and were extremely rude, making it clear I was at fault and should just pay.

While I could pay $5 for the bread that had to be thrown away—and I DID. With such poor customer service, I don’t think I’ll be returning.

On top of that, I checked the ingredients of the cream bread and confirmed that palm oil was also included, which further solidified my decision...

Been to several of these in Korea and loved them, but after reading the mixed reviews here, I was unsure. Here is my experience:

Went on a holiday Monday at around 10:00 am and there was no lineup to get in. Inside was quite busy, but not absurd. It's a different setup and atmosphere than in Korea and feels a bit cramped. There aren't very many tables. There is also a long table/stool seating area, but the cooling racks and rushing staff are right behind you. The cashiers were friendly and efficient. There were plenty of sandwich and pastry options available and in stock. My wife and I got the Harvest Chicken Salad Sandwich, Coffee Danish, Very Berry Pastry, Whole Red Bean Bread, Chocolate filled bread, medium Iced Carmel Latte and medium Cafe Latte. All of the food and drinks tasted quite good. The sandwich bread was fresh and the chicken and veggies were tasty. The pastries were fresh, fairly light and not too sweet. The fruit was fresh also. The iced coffee had good flavour and wasn't overfilled with ice. The Cafe Latte was frothy. Unlike in Korea, we got disposable cups and cutlery, despite staying in the restaurant. Would have preferred mugs. As many have mentioned here, the prices are quite outrageous. The sandwich, 4 pastries and 2 drinks mentioned above totalled $40. That's basically the price we could have paid for 2 large breakfasts at a full-service restaurant, and would have been far more filling.

Overall, my experience was fairly positive. A couple of knocks on price and tight space. Hopefully they can do well here, allowing them to open more restaurants, with more space, and maybe bring the...