Marius et Fanny

Bakery: Marius et Fanny
Address: 4439 St-Denis, Montreal QC
Website: http://www.mariusetfanny.com/
Style: French
Price: $$ 

It just so happened that I was in Montreal for my birthday and I thought that was the perfect excuse to go treat myself to something special, as long as it was something new and undiscovered -- so I could make a review of it, naturally. ;) This proved to be more difficult than I thought; I wanted it to be a fancy patisserie, maybe even one that I would qualms stepping into because one item will end up in the $10 range with taxes. My research came out fruitless: I had either been there already or it just wasn't up to the fanciful visions in my head.

 Then I remembered Marius et Fanny. I had been wandering around the Plateau and walked past this patisserie after I had already done three bakeries. Checking their website, they seemed to qualify as "something special", and so I was off~ ^^ Granted, their website made it look fancier than it actually was. In its rather small space (there are two other locations in Lachine and Laval), their array of individual and larger pastries, macarons, and baked goods greet you pretty much upon entering. Next to the cash, there is also a display case featuring countless varieties of homemade chocolate. Seating is more or less fit in between the shelves of gourmet items and the initial display case; not the most picturesque or ambient place to linger,  but it'll do. The pastries are labelled and very reasonably priced at under $5 for a single serving, but the names don't give any clue as to what each dessert contains. I'm a bit saddened by the fact that their online photos look better than the real deal; some, I noted, like the Marguerite which I was going to take, gave off the impression that they'd been sitting there for some time.

Instead, I went for the "Coquelicot" ($4.50) a tear-shaped cake with sponge cake, pistachio and raspberry mousses and a jelly-like (there must be a name for this; I will know it one day...) film wrapped around the entire cake and then decorated with tiny bits of dark chocolate along the bottom, chopped pistachio, and a piece of their own chocolate. Very pretty. :) And very tasty as well. I would have only liked that the coating was a little less gooey and impossible to cut through. Other than that, nice balance of flavour and delicious mousse. I had that with a nice big mug of chai latte and... the birthday treat worked out after all. ^^;

Rating: ***1/2