Padoca

Bakery: Padoca
Address: 1440 Rue Amherst, Montréal QC
Website: https://padocapatisserie.com/
Style: Brazilian 
Price: $$-$$$ 

It's been mentioned a few times, but I'm such a sucker for more obscure ethnic baking, so you can imagine my excitement and impatience at getting to try a bite at Padoca. However, despite its self-appointed attribution of "Brazilian patisserie", I really can't dispel the impression that they're more cafe than patisserie: the kind of cafe that also happens to have a decent, not large selection of homemade sweets (slices of cake, chocolate treats and other bite-size snacks) that go great with a coffee or hot chocolate or as a dessert after a meat sandwich/platter. Yes, they even have savoury, meat-stuffed croquettes and fried turnovers so it is indeed quite the meaty place for a patisserie. ;)

Going back to that small counter of sweets, it seemed to revolve around three main ingredients: banana, chocolate, dulce de leche or a combination of the three. The "pastries" are, with a few exceptions, fairly simple and resemble pound cakes. Not being an especial fan of banana bread or anything baked with bananas, I have to admit I felt like my options were very limited.

One of the more elaborate items they have for sale was this nut cake with dulce de leche ($3.80), a downright decadent spice cake with a layer of caramel in the middle and oozing on top with big chunks of nuts. The two paired together as well as the taste was so good. I didn't expect to enjoy that dulce de leche as much I did; however, there was just too much of it and the cake - literally - collapsed under the pressure of all that caramel. Was it because of that middle layer? Personally, the dough was really good. I really would have liked to enjoy more of it.

Rating: ***