Fou d'Ici or Fous Desserts?

Fous Desserts is a great cake/chocolate/tea/croissant store near Laurier metro. It sells my favorite croissant on the continent. It carries awesome & decadent cakes and desserts. In the summer I drop by every Saturday to get my fix.

I don't know why I never told you about it before, maybe to keep the secret to myself. They were a participant in our croissant Dishcrawl back in October 2010. They were also chosen by La Presse as the best croissant in Montreal.

The best dessert I had is called "l'ecureuil" or "the squirrel". It's a tart with salty caramel filling and covered with nuts. You cannot eat more than one slice at a time but it's out of this world.

Another favorite is the King Kong and Belle Helene viennoiseries. The first is a mix of banana and dark chocolate while the second is poached pear and dark chocolate.

Fou d'Ici is a new gourmet grocery store in the Louis Boheme condominium complex at Place des Arts metro. They have basic staples as well as fresh producce, dairy section, cheese section and a butcher. The prices aren't outrageously expensive when you compare them to the nearby Provigo or Metro supermarkets.

I explored the bakery & pastry department first of course and was delighted to see they carry desserts from Rhubarbe, a really great cake maker (they are located near Fous Desserts and also a Dishcrawl spot). I tried a basic croissant and found it better than average with a crust that is buttery like at Fous Desserts.

I was also happy they have Chef Daren Bergeron from Decca77 participating as the kitchen chef as I enjoy many of his food already.

They carry other Montreal businesses items such as the corn chips from Maya (best tortilla chips).

Answer to the question: both Fous Desserts and Fou d'Ici deserve your attention and stomach space.

@foudici
@FousDesserts
@rhubarbe_mtl

Store review: Cerise sur le Gateau

This new pastry store on Fairmount is the latest addition to a wave of new businesses around Fairmount Bagels.

Last fall we saw the opening of Lawrence then Boulangerie Guillaume. This year we saw the arrival of my favorite ice cream spot Kem CoBa.

With my personal discovery of Barros Luco and their wonderful sandwiches I am ready to move into the neighborhood!

Cerise sur le Gateau is a small and simple bakery offering croissants, pastries and cakes. I tasted the croissant which was better than average but I am not a fan of the sweet egg wash. Other good offerings include the lemon tart and the eclair (au chocolat or au caramel).

My favorite item however is the madeleines. They are of the small and compact kind rather than the larger and airy type found at 3M Patisserie. There is a light lemon flavor and they received the seal of approval from two French coworkers.

Drop by to sample their pastries and cakes, it's worth it.

Web site: www.cerisesurlegateau.ca