Bakery: Fleur du Jour
Address: 603 St Clair Ave W, Toronto, ON
Style: French
Price: $$$$
This bakery has quite the rave reviews, so I was curious about checking it out - especially since I heard something about kouign amann. And you know my opinion on kouign amann... Nonetheless, Fleur du Jour is a sparsely filled patisserie selling a handful of flaky baked goods and pretty pastries. It felt and looked a little barren when I was there. I mean, perhaps it gets super busy in the morning and people snatch everything up, but being there before noon, it seemed more dismal than anything else.
The reason for coming, the kouign amann, has to take the prize for the most expensive individual baked good of all time. At $8.95 (!?!), I was assuming there was a mistake, but it was not a misprint. Had it been anything else, I just wouldn't have taken it. The higher you charge, the higher my expectations... This mini loaf-shaped was browned and crusty on top while the bottom was soft and somewhat wet, thus lacking the caramelized sugar crust that, in my opinion, is what makes the kouign amann so great. In addition to this, it didn't have that multi-tiered, buttery dough I love; you could see there was some folding going on on top, but it seemed a shame, since you didn't have that taste and texture inside. Honestly, it didn't taste buttery and (especially with that extra crusty outside) felt like a cinnamon bread - I was almost tempted to slice it up, stick it in the toaster and serve with butter. For the price, it was a huge let-down!
The raspberry pistachio pastry was more reasonably priced; it was also softer and less browned on top, which was appreciated. That being said, I wasn't the biggest fan of the all-over glaze, which ruined that initial crunch and layered softness underneath you get when biting into a French pastry - isn't that the best part?
Was the opera cake the best? Probably. I'm not the biggest chocolate fan and the opera cake in general is a little too rich, too creamy for my palette, but I thought it better executed than the two flaky pastries. The cream swirl on top had a bit of a crust on it from sitting for too long, but I enjoyed the different layers of chocolate and coffee cream. However, for all the effort I spent in coming here and all the money I spent, I can't say I was satisfied with what I got in return.
Rating: **
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