Bâtard

Bakery: Bâtard 
Address: 3958 Fraser St, Vancouver BC
Website: http://batardbakery.com/
Style: European, French
Price: $$$ 

What went from trying to figure out on which road to go on turned into finding a bakery when I wasn't expecting one; at least, I wasn't actively looking for one, so stumbling across Bâtard was a pleasant surprise. This pretty bakery with its muted colours and golden accents reminds me a little of Ladurée; at least in terms of the decor. Stepping up to the counter, this vision of French patisserie grandeur lessened somewhat with most of the space being devoted to a sort of deli with both locally made and imported products along with a focus on sandwiches and other lunch/sit-down food. Over in one corner, there's a counter with their selection of (fairly pricey) baked goods and tarts; in my opinion, there should be more of a difference between baked goods and fancier tarts, even lunch items.

While there, I don't recall seeing that many traditional French baked goods, and yet online photos reveal a counter full of almond croissants, pains au chocolat, and is that kouign amann!? In fact, I had a hard time selecting something, simply because there was so little left and nothing, including muffins, biscotti and cookies, looked very French to me. *pouts* That's not fair! I was there right after lunch, too!

In the end, I felt a little obliged to go with the cinnamon orange morning bun ($4). Now, I'm not quite sure what exactly is a morning bun. Why is it not simply a cinnamon bun? From the outside, it looked like a flaky, buttery baked good that you just want to rip apart, but when I did rip a piece, it was drier and denser, certainly a lot less flaky than I had imagined it to be. Truth be told, it looked so tasty; I was expecting a little more. 

Rating: **1/2