I like to check out reviews of local places on Yelp and Chowhound and then pick a place randomly. A few weeks ago I (once again) tried to find a good bakery here in Manchester. I'm not going to name the place I ended up trying because maybe it's not fair to, I'm not sure. Anyway, here's what happened.
The bakery only had a few reviews that I could find but they were positive. I ventured over. It was a pretty small place. It had one small bakery counter that served as the check out, order counter, etc. but it was so cluttered with pamphlets, cookies, etc. that there wasn't much room for transactions. That's ok, I like cozy.
The first thing I noticed that put some doubt in my mind was that more than half of the goods there were already packaged. For me, when I go to a bakery, I like to see things that look fresh--on trays, in bakery cases, looking right-out-of-the-oven fresh. What I found here was bagged bread (only), plastic-wrapped (only) cookies, whoopie pies, and brownies, individual cheesecakes in plastic to-go boxes. This gives me the impression that none of this was probably made that day, as it was still before noon when I arrived. To me, the word "bakery" should imply "fresh" but I did not get that immediate impression.
I also have to mention here that I'm not a terrible baker (I'm nowhere near a pro of course) and also I have some great bakers in my family. When I go to a bakery I like not only something fresh but something that is otherwise labor-intensive; something I wouldn't make for myself. While I was chatting with the very pleasant lady in the shop, someone in the back brought out something that looked fresh--puffed pastry layered with some sort of creme and raspberries. I asked the lady what they were and she responded, "Oh, those are our raspberry napoleons, they are our best sellers!" Fresh? Best-seller? THAT is what I want.
"Do you make the puffed pastry here?" I asked
"Actually, that is the only thing in the whole bakery we do not make here. We have an excellent supplier," she responded.
At this point, my faith in this bakery is completely lost. Their "best seller," it turns out, is something they don't even actually bake. AND it doesn't have any pastry creme in it (which is the definition of a napoleon), it has flavorless whipped cream in between each manufactured layer of puffed pastry, AND....AND....to top it off, the raspberries are terribly unripe and sour. And there were exactly four in each huge layer. The unripe, green flavor of the raspberries with the overly sweet, thick, overwhipped cream was like a war in my mouth.
I'll give them this--they coat the top layer of the pastry with a little butter and cinnamon sugar before they bake it, that was nice.
The bakery only had a few reviews that I could find but they were positive. I ventured over. It was a pretty small place. It had one small bakery counter that served as the check out, order counter, etc. but it was so cluttered with pamphlets, cookies, etc. that there wasn't much room for transactions. That's ok, I like cozy.
The first thing I noticed that put some doubt in my mind was that more than half of the goods there were already packaged. For me, when I go to a bakery, I like to see things that look fresh--on trays, in bakery cases, looking right-out-of-the-oven fresh. What I found here was bagged bread (only), plastic-wrapped (only) cookies, whoopie pies, and brownies, individual cheesecakes in plastic to-go boxes. This gives me the impression that none of this was probably made that day, as it was still before noon when I arrived. To me, the word "bakery" should imply "fresh" but I did not get that immediate impression.
I also have to mention here that I'm not a terrible baker (I'm nowhere near a pro of course) and also I have some great bakers in my family. When I go to a bakery I like not only something fresh but something that is otherwise labor-intensive; something I wouldn't make for myself. While I was chatting with the very pleasant lady in the shop, someone in the back brought out something that looked fresh--puffed pastry layered with some sort of creme and raspberries. I asked the lady what they were and she responded, "Oh, those are our raspberry napoleons, they are our best sellers!" Fresh? Best-seller? THAT is what I want.
"Do you make the puffed pastry here?" I asked
"Actually, that is the only thing in the whole bakery we do not make here. We have an excellent supplier," she responded.
At this point, my faith in this bakery is completely lost. Their "best seller," it turns out, is something they don't even actually bake. AND it doesn't have any pastry creme in it (which is the definition of a napoleon), it has flavorless whipped cream in between each manufactured layer of puffed pastry, AND....AND....to top it off, the raspberries are terribly unripe and sour. And there were exactly four in each huge layer. The unripe, green flavor of the raspberries with the overly sweet, thick, overwhipped cream was like a war in my mouth.
I'll give them this--they coat the top layer of the pastry with a little butter and cinnamon sugar before they bake it, that was nice.
No comments:
Post a Comment