Ottawa Foodies

i really wanted to like this place.

i try to support preston st. businesses as often as i can during the perpetual construction, but sometimes it just gets too difficult. for example,
(we) had an americano + espresso con panna, while i had to instruct the barista what "con panna" means; this was after a 20min wait between the orders because she got immersed in someone else's ticket before finishing mine.

i think that particular lady might not be around anymore, as i felt from others around me the place really suffered that day.

the breakfasts (they serve food!) are rather overpriced for what they are (greasy diner-style eggs, bacon, toast, potato). the arancini was a sad texture (microwaved?).

the desserts i haven't had yet, perhaps they are better (or not, judging from below). but there's alot of better places in the area to spend my money at.

I tried their mini pastries twice. When I first tried their cakes (mini ones), I found them too sweet. The second time, my son's friend brought half dozen of mini pastries for me to try out. I like the chocolate ones (very rich) and the fruit tarts. The cheese cakes are too sweet for my taste.

Tried a slice of white layer cake and a hazelnut macaroon at this very busy coffee/pastry shop. The cake was just sweet and quite tasteless. My wife's lemon layer cake was also too sweet and had overpowering artificial lemon taste. The pastries on display looked like the kind that appear amazing but don't taste all that great. It seems that to really enjoy the food here you would need to know the subset of options that tastes very good.

The hazelnut macaroon was really delicious, and at $0.85 per, I was very tempted to get a half dozen to go on the way out! ;-)

It being the first time I've tried macaroons, I can't comment on how authentic they are. I sampled the white chocolate, pistachio, caramel, chocolate, and pumpkin spice flavors.

Incredibly tasty (although the caramel was not to my liking, the filling was almost as thick as the batter) with rich creamy filling and crispy exterior. A bit stale, but we got there later in the day and there were only a few remaining. I can only imagine how they'd taste fresh!

We also picked up a fruit tart and a mini cake, which will be sampled after supper. If they are half as tasty as they look, they'll be incredible.

Edit: I've gone back a few times, and I have to say, their pumpkin spice macaroons are definitely their best!

I liked the macarons here. They had an airy texture and perfect tender ganache inside.

I ordered white chocolate, pistachio, banana, orange, strawberry, blueberry and mocha. My favourites were the white chocolate and strawberry.

i'm sadly disappointed!

i had the chocolate and pistachio;
the ratio of biscuit to filling was rather low, the batter was lumpy, and the texture was -very- chewy.

the pistachio had slightly more crisp, but i think only because of an air pocket. less chewy.

i don't mean to be a macaron snob, but it's just all wrong.

1.45$ + tax, each