Patisserie de Baere
Almond Croissant
Sfogliatelle
Caramelized Raisin Pastry
Raspbery Hazelnut Tart
Coffee Éclair
Cherry Financier
Cassis Financier
Bostock
Told by some that Patisserie de Baere was “worth the traffic,” an early morning drive from the hotel moving at a snail’s pace to the tune of just under three-kilometers covered in about an hour, it was with a steady rain falling that entry was made to the corner location at Heydenberglaan 20 in Woluwe-St-Lambert, the rumors not only proving to be true but possibly extrapolated to phrases including “best pastries in Belgium, if not amongst the best in Europe.”
Owned by Rik de Baere, a multiple award winning Pastry Chef who was on site helping his Staff on Thursday morning at 09h15, a visit to Patisserie de Baere is somewhat akin to the Children with a Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka’s Factory, the number of options larger than any other bakery with even twice the floor-space and the sort of place where all but the most disciplined are likely to not only be tempted, but to over-order substantially.
Truly a vast array, many cakes and tarts glimmering behind glass while cookies, viennoiserie and bread decorate wood shelves or racks, it was with Chef de Baere himself procuring the order that item after item was requested in English flecked with French, the three bags and a box eventually holding eight items for a total of under €20 an unbelievable deal given the overall quality.
Finding several of the items still warm-to-touch, the Almond Croissant starting the tasting with shards of pastry plus powdered sugar slowly floating to the ground as a wispy interior delivered the flavor of nothing but pure almonds, butter and the results of time, the caramelized raisin pastry previously unfamiliar matching the croissant in terms of interior while upping the ante further by way of a crisp layer of caramelization coiled around dried fruit.
With each of the Financiers smooth and buttery as almond flour dazzled around pockets of fruit, it was actually the Raspbery Hazelnut Tart that proved to be the spotlight-stealing selection of the morning as the traditional Frangipane Tart found an added dimension of flavor that had it eating something like a Clafoutis at the base with a toothsome buttercake and nuts on top.
Stunned to see Sfogliatelle, the Italian Cream pastry textbook with coils of dough breaking like glass around the light citrus center, more traditional French items were further exemplified by Brioche topped in Frangipane lightly toasted, the Éclair another sliced version with picture perfect choux surrounding silky Cream infused with Coffee.
www.debaerepatisserie.be