Saint Germain Bakery

Bakery: Saint Germain Bakery
Address: Aberdeen Centre, 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond BC
Website: http://www.saintgermainbakery.com/
Style: Chinese 
Price: $$

This Saint Germain location is in a mall in Richmond; there are other locations throughout Metro Vancouver. I was told that the baker competed for Canada in some cake contest, so of course a cake and this bakery had to be tried. However, I was a little disappointed upon arrival that Saint Germain is what you could call your typical Chinese bakery: sweet and savoury buns, cream rolls, and some cakes. I have to admit that their website made it seem fancier than it actually was. Yes, they did have pre-packed macarons and better-looking cakes than what you would expect at a Chinese bakery, but -- as I also found elsewhere in Vancouver -- their selection wasn't that impressive: there was a lack of traditional Chinese pastries or various cookies, even if both were featured in lovely photo spreads on their website. I was personally expecting more than plastic-bagged BBQ pork buns. But maybe selection and atmosphere varies by location?

I took an individual lychee berry mousse cake (around $4). The usual Chinese, mousse-based cake with little dough, this was pretty good and the combination of a denser, custard-like lychee base with a fluffier berry mousse and glaze on top was a good flavour and texture pairing, though I wouldn't call it the best cake in Vancouver. Probably the best Chinese bakery I tried in Vancouver, but that's not saying much -- the other two were really disappointing.

 I'm not sure whether to even include the second item: spotted this item labelled as "butter potato" and thought it was something special or unique, given I had never seen it before in Chinese bakeries -- it was also pretty much the only "new" item there, since I didn't want a pineapple or coconut bun. Seeing they don't serve food, I didn't think it would be just a potato... but it was. A baked potato, to be exact, just exceptionally sweet. I wasn't really sure what to think. :/

Rating: **1/2