Bakery:
Magie du Levain (樂凡手感烘焙)
Address:
No. 21, Huaining Street, Zhongzheng District, Taipei
Website:
facebook
Style:
Chinese
Price:
$$
I have to admit that I was first reluctant to go to Magie du Levain, because it seems to scream big chain with its beverage counter worthy of Starbucks and selection of rustic breads and mostly savoury baked goods - though they do have some sweet and individual, pricier cake slices and tarts by the cash - but they're smaller than they look and actually have just one or two other locations in the city. Nonetheless, I felt like that selection mentioned above looked bigger than it was; examining the awkward arrangement of shelves and tables (especially when it gets crowded), I was a little disappointed that there wasn't really all that much worthy of the Cake Tour besides multiple sizes of pineapple buns and a few other classic baked goods. Only 10-20% of their labels have English.
Wanting to go with something different, I made the mistake of going with the green tea bun ($42), which looked interesting. To my utter frustration, "red bean" wasn't mentioned anywhere on the label and yet with the first bite, I was greeted with big chunks of semi-sweet beans. Further inside, there was the added surprise of sticky and gooey mochi (or at least glutinous rice paste). I'll confess that I'm not a big fan of rice cakes in any form, sweet or savoury. The texture has never appealed to me, so I was far from pleased, especially in this partially solid state resembling white taffy. The bun itself had no distinctive flavour whatsoever, much less green tea, and I was hoping that the "crust" would have added some crunch similar to a pineapple or melon bun. It wasn't sweet and neither was the filling, resulting in a curiously bland mess of a baked good. Definitely a case of me making the wrong choice.
Rating: **
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