Toronto Doughnuts: Cheating with the Brioche Royale at Bonjour Brioche

Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!

- O -

The Brioche Royale is not a doughnut. Rather, like any other brioche, it’s closer to the bread and cake family, rich in butter and eggs with the addition of milk as a moistening agent.  According to Le Goût du pain/The Taste of Bread by Raymond Calvel, the ‘royale’ is just a brioche with candied fruits. Though it can come in a few variations, Bonjour Brioche’s version differs greatly from what I’ve seen on the internet. Their brioche royale has the appearance of a flattened sphere with a caved top and a fine dusting of icing sugar.  They have two options for fillings: blueberry custard, which has a creamy mouthfeel, or lemon raspberry, more tart than sweet.

You get the same satisfaction of eating a doughnut, but with the added bonus of the extra buttery goodness of a light and airy pastry steeped in tradition and history, a pastry forever linked to one of the most despised and misunderstood monarch of France.  You get to keep your head at the end though.

$1.85 for one.

Bonjour Brioche
812 Queen Street East | Website | Yelp

More Toronto Doughnuts: Bake Lab, Caldense Bakery, Nova Era Bakery

Brunch at Bonjour Brioche

What better way to celebrate the early arrival of spring weather than lunch at the ever busy and bustling Bonjour Brioche? It’s a classic Leslieville brunch spot and bakery serving fresh baguettes and pastries, and as their namesake indicates, some very good brioche. Unlike last time, I arrived there with Leo at 11 am and there was still a wait. It’s downright torturous when you’re standing next to their pastries and watching heaps of food coming out from their kitchen, but the wait isn’t any worse than other brunch establishments.

Brunch for two with drinks and pastries was $33 plus tip.

Eaten:
Brioche Royales – One raspberry and the other blueberry – but more on that in an upcoming doughnut post!

Quiche Lorraine – rich and creamy as a quiche should be with a flaky and buttery crust. It has a misleading lightness and airiness as you eat it, but don’t be fooled, it’s definitely filling and substantial. I had nothing else until dinner.

Croque Madame – Not to be missed! If your philosophy in life is that everything tastes better topped with an egg, then I say monsieur, meet madame. The combination of the hot, thick cut ham that verges on being as crispy as bacon and the gruyere…and the bread!

Each plate came with a side of salad and crunchy baguette with big slabs of butter. Perfect.

Bonjour Brioche
812 Queen Street East | Website | Yelp

Happy Friday! In which I wish for a life coach

I finally get more than a day off this week. Huzzah! Too bad I will be spending it catching up on side job I should have finished a while back. If all goes well, I may also be renting a lens out for the upcoming week! (Hopefully I will get it for Nuit Blanche….fingers crossed.) And if all goes realllly well, I’ll have my life plan figured out before the end of the year. ANYWAY…

These photos were taken a while back in August on a brunch date with my friend Melanie (seen below busily texting on her crackberry) at Bonjour Brioche. I went early to get coffee at Voulez-Vous Cafe ($2 for french press, a great deal!) and stopped by the Leslieville’s Farmers’ Market to get these before heading on over to line up for some really delicious French fares. Amy’s (Amy’s Food Adventures) review is pretty spot on and says most of the things I’ve thought of saying. The baked french toast was fantastic and the croque madame looked pretty divine. I’ll definitely be returning again to try out more of their menu.

First set of photos were taken with my DSLR and the second with the Canon AE-1 with Kodak UltraMax 400 film. What a difference, huh!?

This has been a rather disjointed post…