Louise Boulangerie

Bakery: Louise 
Address: 6835 St Laurent Blvd, Montreal QC
Website: facebook 
Style: French, Canadian 
Price: $$ 

Louise is one of those rare bakeries that you know you're getting closer to, even when you have no idea where it is. First there's the people walking past with loaves of bread in tow. Then comes the phenomenal aroma of freshly baked bread literally wafting down the block. Nowadays, you hardly encounter a bakery that smells good on the inside, much less on the outside. Suffice to say, I was looking forward to Louise before I even saw it.

Of course, if you've noticed the common theme throughout the first paragraph, Louise is a "boulangerie": a bread bakery. Their focus is without a doubt on bread and even their sweet goods are very bread-based, such as their brioches and chocolate or raisin breads. That aside, they do have plenty of sweet options: the fairly standard selection of French pastries along with a more unusual selection of more North American treats: cookies, pies, loaf cakes, muffins and brownies.

I wanted something unique. I also happened to want the one thing that didn't have a label, so I don't know the actual name. I called it a bread pudding apple cake (around $3), though now that I look back on it, I don't think there were actually any apples in it. This was a classic bread pudding with hints of cinnamon and a bit too many raisins. ;) I would have liked it to be more chunky and... maybe have less raisins, but the bread pudding was moist, slightly chewy and flavourful. The smell doesn't lie!

Rating: ***