Faubourg

Restaurant: Faubourg
Cuisine: French/Bakery/Desserts/Cafe
Last visited: October 19, 2011
Location: Vancouver, BC (Kerrisdale)
Address: 2156 W 41st Ave
Price Range: $10 or less, $16 afternoon tea

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3.5
Service: n/a
Ambiance: n/a
Overall: n/a
Additional comments:

• Authentic Parisian pastries
• Some modern style pastries
• Gourmet baked goods
• Freshly baked bread
• Sweet & savoury items
• Afternoon tea
• Local favourite
• Modern atmosphere

Opening hours

• Coffee Shop All days 7:00 – 19:00
• Bistro – Breakfast Monday – Friday 8:00 – 11:00
• Bistro – Lunch Monday – Friday 11:30 – 14:00
• Bistro – Afternoon Tea Monday – Sunday 12:00 – 17:00
• Bistro – Brunch Saturday & Sunday 9:00 – 15:00

**Recommendations: Lemon Tart

I’ve been wanting to try Faubourg for so long now! I’m rarely in the area and it’s not that dessert doesn’t always call my name, but a lot of food calls my name. However this time, it heard me calling its name and it came to me! Well that is with the generosity of my lovely friend. She brought them over so we could eat them while watching the sweet pudding and pies episode of Recipe to Riches. I didn’t win in my category, but these sure made the night more enjoyable.

Faubourg specializes in authentic Parisian baked goods and desserts and it’s supposed to be on the same caliber as Vancouver’s beloved Thomas Haas. Thomas Haas is one of my favourites, so I was really looking forward to this. Faubourg is more of a restaurant though and they do offer a cafe and bistro serving savoury foods as well as a popular afternoon tea. It’s not a specialty cake or chocolate shop and it’s more about the baked good and pastries, which I probably prefer anyways.

I think visiting the actual location would have made a difference because the atmosphere is supposed to be part of the experience here. However being taken out of the context, it kind of helps me really focus on the food, which is essentially what you’re buying anyways.

Our dessert and pastry scene in Vancouver kind of struggles, so I’m always waiting for the next best thing. This isn’t the newest thing, but it does belong in the same caliber as places like Thomas Haas, Giovane Cafe, and the most recently opened Thierry.

Generally I did enjoy the things I tried, but my expectations were set higher. My biggest bias is that I had it on the same pedestal as Thomas Haas before even trying it. Most of it was executed and presented professionally, but I did find it hit or miss. If I knew nothing about the name, I wouldn’t really have guessed it was from what was supposed to be one of the best pastry shops in town.

On the table:

**Lemon Tart – 6/6 (FMF Must Try!)

• Our best seller! Rich, smooth and tangy lemon curd atop vanilla milk foam in our flaky buttery tart shell and finished with pearl sugar for an unexpected crunch $5.50
• The item with the stamp of “Faubourg” approval is usually the hit! And it was!
• This possibly was the best in town! This lemon tart is the signature dessert and must try item!
• This isn’t just any lemon tart, this is a very unique lemon tart.
• It was almost like eating a lemon tart with an airy light marshmallow (but better) and there were great textures and unique components.
• I’m not even a lemon tart obsessed person, but this made me into a huge fan of them and it’s not something most people could do at home.

• It wasn’t even a fluid creamy lemon curd. The curd was almost gelatin like and it cut clean without the usual creaminess of a lemon curd.
• It was a light curd, that wasn’t too sweet and it had the brightness and zing of fresh lemon.
• It wasn’t sour and it still melted in my mouth despite being a stiffer curd.
• The texture of the curd was light and it didn’t seem rich at all like the description suggested.
• It’s not a flaky tart shell like the description said either.
• It’s a very thin, crisp, and even shortbread tart that was lightly sweetened and even flavoured with real vanilla beans. I loved that detail and it was enjoyable alone.
• My favourite part was the vanilla milk foam, which was such a surprise since I wasn’t expecting it!
• I didn’t have the description, and I thought it was a very light and moist marshmallow-meringue like layer.
• It’s not starchy, sugary or heavy at all, but it’s stiffer than a liquid foam and it is lightly sweetened.
• The foam was airy light like egg whites, but you could cut through it. It’s very spongy and very moist and I haven’t had anything like it.
• I couldn’t tell it was flavoured with vanilla though and it would have been great to see some vanilla bean seeds in it.
• The pearl sugar edge almost added a pop rock like texture and this lemon tart was definitely worth remembering.
• I would no doubt come back for this and highly recommend it. They sell out early sometimes too, so call ahead to secure your order!

Chocolate Raspberry Tart – 4/6 (Very good)

Spiced Hazelnut Apple Cake – 3.5/6 (Good-Very good)

Almond Croissant – 2.5/6 (Okay-Good)

• Consisting of our famous Croissant, we fill them with frangipane and once baked, we decorate them with sliced almonds and icing sugar $2.95
• Almond croissants are one of my all time favourite pastries so I have high expectations for them, and I was really let down by this one.
• The croissant could have been more baked and more caramelized and it didn’t have that crunch when you bite down on it.
• It’s natural to immediately compare it to the famous Thomas Haas almond croissants where the top is crusted with an overwhelming amount of almonds and it has that desired crunch.

• The croissant dough looked good, but it delivered only half way.
• It wasn’t that oily or greasy, which is good, but it wasn’t that buttery in flavour, even though that’s the main ingredient.
• The exterior was very flaky and the middle was airy light, but it wasn’t that moist and almost bordering on a bit dry. It wasn’t stretchy, soft of chewy, but it looked good.
• I think I was most sad with the lack of almond filling, or frangipane, in the middle.
• Usually there’s a good amount of frangipane made from ground almonds and sugar in the middle and this one barely had any.
• The frangipane was brown which is rare because it is usually yellow.
• Regardless, the frangipane didn’t carry nutty or sweet flavour again and I wanted much more of it.
• The croissant is definitely not as sweet as most, but when you have an almond croissant you do want it to be sweeter and caramelized.

Dark Chocolate and Pear Turnover – 2/6 (Okay)

• This is Faubourg’s newest Viennoiserie item –  a puff pastry turnover that is filled with dark chocolate pastry cream and sweetened slices of Bartlett pear. About $3
• This is the only one I actually really didn’t care for.
• It kind of seemed like one of those “made with remaining ingredients” pastries, which is fine (no waste), but it just showcased more than it should here.
• The croissant dough looked great again, but the flavour was quite subtle. It was light, crispy and flaky with many layers, but it was a bit dry and not really sweet or buttery in flavour. Maybe it just needed more salt?
• It was filled with what I thought was a milk chocolate pudding. Well I said that it was lighter than a pudding, but stiffer than a mousse, but I didn’t guess it was a chocolate pastry cream.
• I probably would have liked the chocolate a bit darker and almost more fluid.
• The pears were just regular, cooked, semi-crunchy pears and I thought there could have been more done with this.
• Something like this Chocolate Danish from The Loaf would have been excellent! It’s not in Vancouver, but it isn’t something that couldn’t be done here.

Dark Chocolate & Banana Croissant Pudding – 4/6 (Very good)

• Chef selection of fruit and complementary ingredients with our homemade vanilla custard are used in creating a twist to this classic warm dessert $4.50
• I really like bread pudding and I like these ingredients, so I liked this.
• It was better when it was warmed up a bit though… and even better when I had it with ice cream.
• This was a bread pudding made with croissant dough and that’s exactly what I called it without knowing what it was supposed to be.
• It was quite dense and the top was a bit dry but the rest was very moist.
• I couldn’t taste any vanilla custard and I just thought it was a solidified bread pudding since there was no creaminess.
• There were however creamy chunks of banana and pieces of semi-melted soft dark chocolate chunks throughout which was great.
• I did enjoy this, but knowing that there was supposed to be vanilla custard in it, I could have used more of that. I think that part just baked into the croissant.
• There was a white chocolate drizzle on top, and this one actually felt like a dessert because it was sweeter than the other croissant based pastries I had.

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