I came to Passion de France as a request from a family member (always appreciated!) and I actually had no idea that Edmonton had a brand new Bakery lurking in a little hole off 118 ave. I almost missed the place as I turned onto 86 street, but then alas there it was, a teeny place with a huge walkway leading up to it. Kind of Cool.
As I walked in with my husband there was people walking in and out of the little shop. Two workers were busy filling orders and one lady was helping a customer. We waited patiently and had a chance to look around at all the baskets and showcases. Now, most of the shelves and showcases were empty which was disappointing, but also exciting for the owners of this new, two month old bakery. I was happy for them and pleased that this might be a place to rave about.
Along the first showcase were fancy pastries, most of which I could not pronounce. Most of these ranged in price from $4 to $6 a piece. The second showcase was very bare, except for a few sandwiches and quiches. I smelled some soup and sure enough they had a home made lentil soup on special that day. There was baskets on top of these counters as well as on some shelving units against the wall. Impressively, this place had a lot of selection which made me wonder if they made a little bit of everything right now to see what was a big seller and then down size their selection in the coming months.
The seating in this place is nice and simple as they also serve hot beverages. It would be a good place to stop and get a soup and sandwich for lunch or just a coffee and croissant.
As for the food I sampled, I am going to be completely honest. I was really, really disappointed. Maybe I put too much pressure on this place, maybe the cuteness of it clouded my irresistibility to purchase too many items, Im not sure. Out of the 15 or so things I bought I was only happy with 3 of them. Both the dark and white chocolate truffles were very good, although I was a little bit confused with the coating on both of them. The coconut on the white and the bitter cocoa powder on the dark truffles at first bite was not balanced, but the rich centers were delicious. I am also a sucker for almond squares and theirs were delicious and very inexpensive. Everything else in my box went to the garbage after a couple of bites: the madeleine was dry and tasteless; the chocolate bomb although filled with mousse was gross, not to mention there was a hard cookie in the middle (this should be a delicately eaten pastry); the croissant lacked flavour as did the rest of the goodies.
I was most satisfied with their soup. I love home made soups as I make them all the time too and being out and about running errands I will definantly come back here and grab a bowl of it. Maybe I'll even buy a pastry to nibble on here and there, this place may just need some time. They are after all very new and I am willing to give them another chance.
Passion de France
Monday to Wednesday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Thursday and Friday 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
11812 86 Street
780 257 2092
Hong Kong Bakery is found in Edmonton's China town, conveniently located near Pho restaurants and many Asian grocery stores. Like most Asian bakeries, the selection of buns found here is staggering: bbq pork, beef curry, red bean, pineapple, custard, cream, and Mexico to name a few.
They have a good selection of sponge rolls that are priced at $6, an average price for a sponge cake roll filled with different flavours of buttercream. Their pastry selection was small, there were mostly cake slices with your run of the mill flavours: mocha, chocolate, vanilla, lemon...
