La Bête à Pain

Bakery: La Bête à Pain 
Address: 195 rue Young, Montréal QC
Website: http://www.labeteapain.com/
Style: French 
Price: $$ 

Needing to do something in the neighbourhood, I decided to brave the frigid temperatures and explore the bakery offerings in hip, industrial-chic Griffintown, because yes, there are bakery offerings amid brand-new condo developments and high-end furniture stores. *shrugs* Hey, I'm not complaining! :P

The first of the two, La Bête à Pain, has their original headquarters in Ahuntsic. This location feels new and is modern and airy, with an open-concept kitchen area and items presented along the counter, though perhaps the whole layout is needlessly complicated/big for the amount of products for sale. Still, bread is in the name of the store and is the name of the game; upon entering, that's what you see and it's only upon turning the corner that you find maybe half a dozen baked goods including classic croissants, chocolatines along with some more unique items and was it, two? other fancier desserts.

I was actually debating between some sort of apple one and what I ended up taking, but in the end I went with the brioche cannelle ($3.25). I was in a bit of a cinnamon bun mood and this one looked lovely with a light, translucent glaze on top and a simple, classic rolled-up bun. Many of their baked goods were, in fact, more bready than flaky and this was no exception. A denser dough that you could pull apart layer by layer, I found the dough minus glaze lacking in flavour. Maybe it just needed a little more sugar in the cinnamon mass? As it was, it had a great taste, but it was a bit dry in texture, though fresh.

Rating: **1/2