Pâtisserie Saint Martin

Bakery: Pâtisserie St Martin
Address: 268 Rue Jean Talon E, Montreal QC 
Website: http://www.patisseriestmartin.com/
Style: European
Price: $$ 

As those familiar with the Montreal bakery scene may have remarked, all locations of Patisserie de Gascogne quietly shut their doors, including their newest Jean Talon market location. This was - thankfully - taken over by another bakery: St Martin.

With their original location in Laval, this is St Martin's second location and, despite the title, is more a hodgepodge business  that's only part patisserie. It serves lunch and ready-made foods like pizza. They have cold cuts and gourmet products. Along one wall at the back of the store, however, they still have a classic, albeit smaller array of Franco-Italian baked goods, cakes, and cookies. Perhaps not as fancy and elegant as its precursor and more of a deli than I anticipated, Patisserie St Martin nonetheless has good prices and fairly generous portion sizes.

Baked goods in particular are relegated to several baskets next to the cash; there are about half a dozen varieties ranging from croissants to date squares. I tried the almond croissant ($2.99). The worker dove right into the basket and picked out the biggest croissant for me; putting it on a (dinner) plate was what it really took to get an idea of its magnitude. This has to be home to the world's largest almond croissants. They were massive! For the price, it was phenomenal value. Biting into it, it had the right chewy texture: the croissant shell was flaky with a slight crunch, though the baked almond top could have been more widespread. The cream filling was very generous. A bit too rich and generous, in my opinion. What it really needed, however, was more of a buttery taste.

Rating: ***