Far Breton

Bakery: Far Breton
Address: 1127 Rue Bélanger, Montréal QC
Website: facebook
Style: French
Price: $$

One of a couple Breton bakeries in Montreal, this small space has perhaps the widest selection of the three I've gone to, with a wider array of classic French baked goods like croissants, chaussons aux pommes along with artisan breads and a somewhat pathetic selection of cake slices (at least when I was there). Yes, that's right; a Sunday morning heralded very little in terms of variety, especially when it came to those signature Breton goodies. I would have liked to have tried the namesake, but it was nowhere to be seen and the absolutely indifferent service (no hello, not even coming up when I was ready even though I was the only person in the store, and no thank you at the end made me feel like I was invisible) didn't exactly encourage me to ask.

Luckily, I spotted the last slice of kouign amann ($2.35). One last slice, no choice. Now, I love kouign amann and I try it whenever I have the chance, so I was looking forward to it. However, it was only when unpacking it did I realize how small and burnt it was. It was pretty frustrating to have to cut off pieces of blackened dough from an already tiny piece - I was preparing myself for disaster. However, despite the totally negative start, I took one bite and... it was really good. Soft, buttery layers amid a flaky, caramelized sugar outside. Not my all-time favourite, but really close. What a shame it was burnt; it had the potential to be more highly rated than it was!

Rating: ***