Hendrickx Belgian Bread Crafter — Restaurant in Chicago

I would rate this place as a 3.5.

I pre-ordered a small Extreme Chocolate cake, which had great presentation, and had everybody in my office ooh-ing and ahh-ing over it. Once we cut into the cake and ate it though, I was disappointed. I thought that the cake was somewhat dry and I didn't like the spongy texture that much (although I usually do like sponge cakes), and I didn't care for the chocolate buttercream. I guess other people didn't think it was that bad though... I would give this cake a 2. Maybe I should have gone for the Belgian dark chocolate cake instead.

I tried the Speculoos macaron here, and it was delicious! Maybe the best macaron that I've had here in Chicago-- and you don't really hear that many people talking about the macarons from Hendrickx. I also ordered the goat cheese, honey, pistachio sandwich from here and it was also phenomenal. I was so hungry I wanted to eat the sandwich in the Uber on the way to my next stop, but the Uber driver wouldn't let me. I was so determined to eat my sandwich, that I asked the cab driver on my next ride if I could eat in my car, and he obliged! My plans of eating carefully and not spilling were dashed when I looked down and discovered I had bread in my hair and crumbs all over my coat, because I was scarfing this sandwich down so quickly. There wasn't much crust, but somehow I still made a mess. HUGE ass pieces of THICK bread were slathering with the goat cheese, EVOO and thyme.... so delicious. I was full for the rest of the day though.... I have to go back and try their croissants!

Oh, and I had the chocolate eclair too--- delicious! I love seeing specks of vanilla bean in the filling......

I was excited to try Hendrickx which came highly recommended by a friend. I arrived around 9:30am on a Sunday and there was already a line of around 10 people.

I got a chocolate croissant and a gruyere croissant -- two items I can never resist. They were $4.50 each which felt pretty reasonable by Boston standards. I thought the croissants were pretty good, though different than what I'm used to. Instead of being flaky, crisp, and rich, they were more soft and chewy. Perhaps this is just the style. I thought the chocolate croissant could have used more chocolate. For the gruyere croissant, it seemed like all of the cheese had seeped out, leaving very little inside of the croissant, so it made it hard to balance the flavors. I personally prefer layered crispy croissants but these were pretty good. I can imagine that these croissants would make pretty great sandwiches.

The lemonade was very pure lemonade -- it seems like it was just lemon and water. They gave me a lot of simple syrup to go with it, but even after adding all of it, it wasn't particularly sweet.

I also got two of the truffles to go, and I should've known to eat them immediately -- by the time I took them out of my bag, they were completely melted. I put them in the freezer and ate them in their new, flat shape. Even in this form, the truffles were very tasty and I would get them again (and eat them right away)

Overall I did enjoy my experience at this bakery. It was quaint and they have a wide variety of croissants. My platonic ideal of a croissant is the frozen chocolate croissant from Trader Joe's so maybe I shouldn't be judging...

Is this heaven? No, it's the Hendrix Belgian Bakery! I thought I had died and went to pastry heaven! I had just finished my first Deep Pan Chicago Pizza at Lou Malnatis, (read my review on that) and wanted something sweet. I didn't want some dried out stuff, I wanted the real deal, I was hoping to find a real bakery that would put their heart in soul into their products. Well, did I ever find the spot! If I had blinked, I would have missed this wonderful little slice of heaven! Without the orange entrance door, I would have for sure missed it! The minute I opened the door I knew I was in the right place, the smells and smiles were overwhelming! There were so many things to choose, it was really hard to pick. I asked if they had carrot cake, my favorite, but she said, no, but you should try the Blood Orange Cake. Boy did I ever try it! It was so moist and so delicious words fall short of describing the experience of eating this delight. I did not know it until half way through, they told me it was vegan! Holy mother of all that is holy! Wow, how could you make something that good and not any dairy, (which I'm allergic). The next day I came back for Belgian Waffles! To be honest, I did not like the waffles as much as the cake, but I'm not saying it wasn't good, because it was wonderful. If you are thinking of visiting this bakery, go early! Otherwise, it will be sold out! I enjoyed talking to the locals that love this place and said it was Chicago's best kept secret! I believe them! I'd sing for you anytime, any day, any song of mine you want to hear! For the bakery, I'll sing,...