My weakness is desserts, and if it is Japanese or French, then that is it, I am done! I once heard a chef on a TV said that the best dessert he has ever had was a French dessert done Japanese way in Japan. I can totally understand that… However, while in America, I can be completely happy and satisfied with French cuisine and desserts in NYC! This is one of those place, with mouthwatering sweets and baked goods.
They had an outdoor seating, somewhat inconvenienced by scaffolding. But still, it is always a nice option to have an outdoor seating. It had a pastel blue colored sunbrellas to provide some shades, but since it was still a bit too hot outside, we decided to sit inside, with nice air conditioning.
When we entered, we were greeted by a lovely window casing with baked goods, such as palmier cookies, danishes, and meringues. They all looked so good…
It also had a rather interesting candy holder, by Pierrot Gormand. They are said to be the original manufacturer of lollipops in 1924, and still produces gummy sweets, liquorice, and lollipops. After saying hello to the Pierrot, we proceeded to the hostess section through narrow walkway. They had one small 2-persons table (this was a bit strange), and counter seating on the left side, and more window showcasing their dessert creations.
Speaking of dessert creations… They were all so beautiful and looked all so delicious!!! I wanted to have them all…only if I had a stomach of a cow and lots of money…
They also had some truffles and macarons that they sell individually, and in gift boxes.
After looking through all the pretty desserts, we finally arrived at the hostess station, which did not have a host/hostess. The wait staffs also acted as host/hostess, one of them took us to our table. We were seated right next to their large mural, titled “Livraison de la Premiére Bergamote de Calabre. Quite interesting and artistically done.
The walls surrounding the mural was all light wood, creating a cozy, cottage-like feeling inside that nook. The interior consisted of light wood or white colored wall, with dark blue-grey walls for a nice, clean contrast. The dining space was not very large, but for a place that is more of a “Restaurant and Patisserie” than a heavy duty restaurant, I think space should suffice.
We started our brunch with large Café au lait ($3.10 each). It was a nice size mug, with good cup of coffee. I was silky and comforting.
For food, we ordered Baked Eggs ($15) and Croque Madame ($15). They came hot and steamy to our table, and smelled so good. And they were both nice size as well.
The Baked Eggs comes with Brie, bacon, roasted tomatoes, two eggs, and side of toast. We chose whole wheat toast, and they came nicely toasted, and were great for dipping. The eggs were perfectly cooked, giving us that beautifully woozy center. The tomatoes and its sauce was very flavorful, went great with the eggs. The bacon and Brie were the icing on the cake, they added great texture and distinctive flavor that all worked well together. Mix them just a bit, dip a toast in, and you got a wonderful brunch that is tasty and filling!
The Croque Madame comes with Brioche, Gruyere, Blk Forest Ham, Béchamel, and side of greens. The sliced bread was a nice size, large enough to be a fluffy bed for the egg. It had good amount of cheese and ham in the middle, making it a bigger than I expected it to be, which was great. Again, they did wonderful job with the egg, providing with a delicious egg porn… The Béchamel sauce was really great too, it was once tasty Croque Madame!
As a dessert, we ordered one Chocolate Almond Croissant ($3.75) since we heard it was popular. It certainly was great, airy and fluffy, with great almond flavor. It had chocolate pieces in the croissant, instead of having one strip of going through the croissant. Even thought it was light, it still had that nice moist center, and was a good enough size to share after the brunch.
They brought out our bill on this cute little aluminum tray, I thought it was a nice touch. They have one bathroom, located almost in the middle of the dining area, which was a bit odd, but it was clean and spacious enough. Our waiter was nice and friendly, and kept himself busy with all of his customers. We had a pleasant brunch here, and comfortably full. That also meant that we could not eat any more desserts. We have to go back there just for the desserts next time…
La Bergamote – 515 W 52nd St, New York, NY 10019