It’s been a while since Polly and I had a real cake meet. I meant cake and dessert. We had been exploring other options lately like ramen lunch at Ramen Sanpachi on Broadway and English breakfast at The Diner at West Point Grey.
For this cake meet, we decided to go to Faubourg, a French bistro. We attempted to visit Faubourg some time ago without the proper address and ended up at Simply French. This time we make sure we have the address. Faubourg is located on West 41st, west of West Bvld. Meter parking is available along W 41st.
The front of Faubourg has a display of some of their cakes, pastries and Viennoiserie. Viennoiserie is sweet pastries like croisssant, pain au chocolat, brioche, small roll, etc. The name Viennoiserie evolved from the long-held myth that they originated in Vienna rather than France. I had an eye on the chocolate cake but unfortunately, it’s not available at the time we were there.
Faubourg is divided into 2 sections, the coffee shop and the bistro. We sat at the coffee shop area. From where I sat, I had a direct view of the bistro area. The bistro is a segregated area with high-ceilinged space, bedecked in hardwood floors, marble-topped tables and fanciful chairs imported from France. I guess if we were seated at the bistro area, we’ll have to pay for the table service with a big tip. I’m very impressed at the way they prep the bistro area because I saw them actually wiping down the legs of chairs and tables.
The coffee shop area is self service i.e. you order your drink and pastries and pay at the counter and bring your food to a table. The coffee shop area seats about 25.
When we were to place our orders at the counter, the waiter asked us if we want … each of everything. How I wish I can try all the them. No, we did not order one of everything.
Polly and I had a petite Cafe Latte ($3.25) and Cafe Mocha ($3.65) respectively. I did not have latte for a while as I would like to cut down on fats.
We ordered 3 items to share. The one above is the Chocolate Twist for $2.90. It has lightly crusty on the outside and top with pearl sugar. A nice start.
The Almond Croissant is also $2.90. The almond slices give it a lot of crunch and the croissant is light and flaky. You have to keep wiping your mouth after each bite because the powder sugar will be sticking to your lips.
Our last indulgence is the Chocolate and Raspberry Tart which is $5. A butter-rich shortbread pastry shell filled with a smooth, creamy dark chocolate ganache on top of raspberry filling. The nuts on the rim of the tart gives it a crunchy texture.
Faubourg also has baguettes and loaf bread which are baked five times daily at 8:00,10:00,11:00, 14:00 and 17:00 to ensure freshness through out the day.
The bill came to $20 and Faubourg accepts credit cards.
BUSINESS HOUR
Coffee Shop: 7 days a week: 7:00AM – 7:00PM
Bistro – Breakfast: Monday – Friday: 8:00AM – 11:00AM
Bistro – Lunch: Monday – Friday: 12:00PM – 2:00PM
Bistro – Afternoon Tea: Monday – Sunday: 12:00PM – 5:00PM
Bistro – Brunch: Saturday & Sunday: 9:00AM – 3:00PM
Thanks. I was looking for baked goods like this in vancouver and I always see Asian pastries (not that it’s bad).
I really like their pastries and baguettes. my favorite is the chocolate croissant!
*yum* This place has been on my dessert list for a while now, so this was a great sneak peek ^^ … and a horrible temptation… LOL~
Ask for lo-fat milk in your latte…tastes great and fewer calories. The desserts look fantastic!!
Did the almond croissant have a “marzipan” taste, or a natural almond taste. Not a big fan of marzipan….
Hi Sandi, I cant remember now the flavour of the almond croissant whether it tasted like marzipan or natural almond taste. Perhaps, Grayelf can help me out here.
Tried some items from Faubourg last weekend (the twist, the almond croissant, a lemon croissant, a raspberry pastry and an apple pastry) plus a plain croissant — and before you think I am being a bigger oinker than usual, these were shared among four people :-). The best of the lot was probably the plain croissant, as it had a very crisp exterior which I like (the SO not so much) but unfortunately the four we bought were all way overcooked. I noticed they were a bit brown on top and asked for the lightest ones but they we still verging on black in spots. Not too impressed. The sweets were all fine but lacking a bit in filling on the fruit ones. And they all tasted a little stale by the time we ate them at around 4 pm (purchased at 9:30 am, to be fair). I liked the twist the best, though again the filling was scanty with some bites having none at all. Would I rush back? Probably not. But I would like to try the plain croissants when they are cooked properly. Good croissants are hard to find in this here city.
I live in the area~ so just want to give people pointers for parking 🙂
there are a few parking spots in the back, but if those are full~ the parkade right behind the store is kerrisdale parkade and it’s free 2 hour parking 🙂
I was on a croissant crusade a couple of months back and went to about a dozen places over a couple of weekends and at the end of it I thought that the plain Croissant at Fouberg was the best I found. The french bread was excellent – also the best I have had in Vancouver. Is it cheap – no but it is quality. I have been back a few time since and not had anything burnt but it might have been a bad batch. For the croissants both plain and almond the were nice and crispy on the outside but soft and tender in the middle just as they should be.
I think by now I have had pretty much everything on the menu. I really liked the lemon tart and the chocolate raspberry tart but at $5 it is quite expensive.
I’m glad it is far away from where I live as I would go too often. I put it there with Thomas Haas – I just wish Thomas had a plain croissant to compare with.
Hi Sedap Makan: Hehehe … I remember once I posted that I like the croissant (or rather “croissant” in quotes!) from Costco I get a lot of tsk tsk tsk from a lot of people! I still like them — very much. LOL! I think I need to pick up the finer points of croissant. I remember that Joe wrote a bit about this on vancouverslop some time ago. Did you see that? Ben
Another place to try one day. Thomas Haas & Ganache (in Yaletown) also provide wonderfully crafted pastries in the true pastry quality style also. Their German and French (latter has an Asian descent pastry chef who trained in France)
If some folks here would like to know how to distinguish fine well executed European pastries from mediocre, I did my blog post here
http://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/tour-de-gateau-torte-and-kugelhopf/
My only authority is the reality that my partner comes from a family of pastry chefs from the Black Forest region in southern Germany close to the French border. Before his mother I benefited from tasting her my fine baking techniques and desserts for aoubt 10 yrs. …of which some recipes are very difficult to locate in English. (Now, one REALLY knows how good this stuff is when one can’t even locate the cookbooks that document such techniques.)
Another good European pastry place in Vancouver, is the standalone French bakery at Granville market where the buskers hang out.
Their almond croissants have no almond paste in them- just a few almonds sprinkled on top which is disappointing! When they first opened they were not making almond croissants and when I asked they told me that almond croissants are not made in France which is a lie as I have been there and eaten many. No one in the city comes any where near the almond croissants from Thomas Haas- they are utterly amazing!!!! Twice baked with crunchy sugary almonds on top and yummy almond paste filling in the middle- to die for.