Filou's Pattisserie - Corner of Fenwick and Lygon St, Carlton North

Finally, a beautiful day forecasted…and most importantly, a nice breakfast to look forward to. We got to Filou’s early in the morning and was greeted by the sweet smell of pastry (butter :D). The staffs were busy bringing out fresh pastries and other goodies from the kitchen and I couldn’t help but feel myself being drawn to the display cabinet full of tempting offerings.


For savoury, we settled for the spinach slice and mushroom pie and for sweets, an almond croissant, or should I say, croissants aux amandes…to wash it down, it was my usual long black.

The mushroom pie had a slight sourness to it that I personally thought overpowered the taste of the mushrooms. We were trying to work out where or what was added to it and I think it’s either sour cream or lemon…the pastry, however, was divine. Flaky without tasting oily, the crunchiness of it going ooh so well with the creamy mushroom filling.

The spinach slice was a very generous serve of vegetables. One could be forgiven for thinking it’s healthy but there was no masking the melt-in-your-mouth pastry that encased it.

It was just after 8am but yes, we just had to have something sweet to finish this deliciously sinful meal off and for me, the crux of French patisseries is the croissant. Being indecisive (and having not seen the vanilla slice), I decided on the almond croissant. The flakiness of the croissant was evident even from the outlook and we were not disappointed. The almond filling gave it a slightly cake-like/moist texture on a croissant that would otherwise be flaky but perhaps, a bit dry or over baked. Personally, I love my croissants to be flaky on the outside with a slight chewiness inside, so with the almond filling, it ticked the right box though without it (the edges), it was slightly on the dry side for me.

There’s nothing much to say about my coffee as I thought it was slightly burnt and didn’t quite enjoy it that much. So, I guess I’m off to Green Refectory for my second cup today…

Parisian Patisserie Boulangerie - 19 Keilor Road, Essendon

Okay, so I’ve heard really good things about this place…and the photos I’ve seen so far from other bloggers as well as their comments convinced me to travel from home (all the way in the east) at a blasphemous hour, through morning peak hour traffic, to Essendon, for some butter, egg, flour and lots of sugar…was it worth it?

I know it doesn’t start with F but it is French and that’s and F-word…

First impression of the place reminds me of cafes in Paris, clean, neat and sterile? The place is small and when we got there, was full, so we were directed down the hall to a small inner dining room that had a lone, larg-ish table.

 

We ordered from the counter and Mr F got the famed croissant d’amande and escargot to go with his usual Chai Latte whilst Miss J got a mixed berry brioche and a chocolate milkshake. I knew what I wanted…a Mille Feuille and the Egg brioche, having seen a divine photo of it on omnomnomnom, http://bright-copper-kettle.blogspot.com/2010/08/parisian-patisserie-moonee-valley.html

 Service was decent, professional and attentive, though I wouldn’t exactly call it friendly. Perhaps they were quite busy at the time…? Food and drinks came quickly enough and away we went.

 The star of the morning I would definitely say is the famed almond croissant. True to its reputation, it came with a nice crunch on the outside, soft and fluffy with a slight cakey texture on the inside. I thoroughly expected it to be too sweet but found it quite nice. Also expected it to taste buttery but was pleasantly surprised by the lightness of it and the slight vanilla taste it carried. Definitely a big plus for the almond croissant!!

 The egg brioche which I had high hopes for was alas, overcooked. The egg was hard and the yolk fully fried. The brioche as with all the pastries was nice and light and would have been excellent were it not for the much overcooked EGG! To me, that’s how eggs are killed, by overcooking the yolk…honestly, I don’t care about the white. I’m happy to have it fully cooked or par cooked but the yolk…the life of the egg…it needs, I repeat, needs to be given the right respect!

 The mixed berry brioche saved the failed egg brioche by having a nice, light, not too sweet, custard filling that complemented the berries and the brioche very well.

The escargot was nothing too special, perhaps a bit on the sweet side for me especially with all the of sultanas in it.

 The Mille Feuille, which I ended up having to takeaway, was excellently done. I was trying to compare it to the excellent one I had at French Lettuce and the pretty decent one from French Quarters and would probably rate it between the two with French Lettuce still ticking all the right boxes for me. The pastry was nice and crunchy and went extremely well with the not too sweet custard filling.

 

  So, was it worth the 1 hour 15 min drive? Definitely for the almond croissants but perhaps, I should consider walking next time…calories in vs calories out….