I had a bad feeling when I approached this one. Except for the two registers, the shop was empty. Everyone knows that where there is good food, there are people. Maybe because Belle Pastry is a bit hidden: not really on the waterfront, but not really in the center of downtown. I entered the place and was immediately charmed by the presence of palmiers
in the vitrine. They’re my favourite biscuits. The music also was ravissante. Classical music. And even if French people listen to classical music less than they used to, it was enchanting to hear this delicate remembrance of the time when we ruled the world with our European music and you had not yet perverted our ears with Justin Bieber.
I ordered a croissant and a baguette and noticed on my receipt that the address mentioned was not Seattle but Bellevue. The register explained me that there are two shops, one in Bellevue and this one, on Spring Street, which opened in July. The baguettes are all prepared in the Bellevue shop, and then delivered here. En revanche, the croissants are baked here.
And it was good. Absolutely good and delicious. A true croissant, with the same taste as those I’m used to eating in Paris. If Le Fournil is too far for you, go straight ahead to Belle Pastry because you will enjoy it. And the same goes for the baguette. So far, it is the best baguette I’ve ever tasted in an American bakery. At lunch, I made myself a sandwich jambon-beurre and it was so good.
After this delightful moment of enjoying the food, I went to the counter to congratulate the owner of this place. She has Vietnamese origins but she is French. And the chef is French, too. This is the evidence that only French people can make proper pastries. You can try to copy, but you will never be our equals when it comes to good food.
This place rocks. It earns a A-.
Good points:
• The taste
• The kindness of the owner. It’s so rare in France!
• The fresh water with menthol leaves
Bad points:
• The fact that I was the only one inside. I don’t like when it’s overcrowded like in Le Panier, but I need other people because I love laughing at them.
• The croissants were very good but not as big as Le Fournil’s ones.
Bieber is Canadian.
You are French.
I am so very tired of these vapid reviews.
Please try your froggy hand at something else.
Prove to all us hateful sloggers that you’re not the insipid, one- trick pony you have made yourself out to be.
Maybe Yanks made Bieber who he is, but France has Johnny Hallyday to account for.
I don’t mind these reviews as much as others, but I wonder if sending the French intern out to review our local boulangeries is not unlike sending an American in Paris to go review their Burger Kings.
@2
You know, it’s entirely likely the French intern’s assignment isn’t entirely up to him. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. He is an INTERN after all. So, perhaps some of that vitriol should be directed at The Stranger itself, non?
Vraiment hostile, ce type…
what’s funny is that belle pastry has been open all of 2 months, in the space that chez dominique occupied for eons, until it didn’t.
they don’t even make their own sandwiches there.
the bakers at le panier are french and you hated that place. makes you wonder, eh?
I wonder how long a French alt rag would suffer an American critic with bad grammar and pedestrian tastes?
At least the croissants were good.
Nine comments in almost four hours. Keep this up and you’ll make Jen Graves look good. Fuckwit.
Are you wearing a beret and stripped shirt when you visit these cafes and writing these reviews? Because it matters. I can’t take these reviews seriously if you aren’t dressing like half a mime.
This series of condescending reviews from a French child became tiresome halfway through the first one. Can this please be over now, Stranger staff?
Hey trolls! Skip past ’em if you don’t like ’em. Some of us love these. Thanks Julien!
God what junior high nightmare did I walk into? It’s been 2 months and these sloggers are still bitching about the new guy? I for one did not know this bakery existed and wouldn’t had Julien not faithfully dedicated his time in going down to Belle and reviewing the damn bakery.
Thank you Julien & keep writing bakery reviews!!!
It is not uncommon to find Vietnamese bakeries with French baked goods. Since Vietnam at one time was under French occupation and the french had a big influence there. There are many bakeries like this in Vancouver Canada. And the best French restaurant here (Les Faux Bourgeois) is in an area that many Vietnamese immigrants settled in Vancouver. They do it well and they are not French.
Also just to clarify “Once again “Justing Bieber” is Canadian and he also speaks fluent French!
Why would you come to Seattle to eat French food? And then complain about it. Seriously. This whole series makes no sense.
@14,
Two weeks, more like.
I love these reviews because you are NEVER happy. There is a growing trend of people that are never happy, yet happily skip through life.
Continue pointing out the terrible things!
It’s good stuff. I love their apricot danish, and the ham n cheese croissant is great, so long as you get there early enough that they’re still warm.
I find the reviews have the potential to be interesting but continuously revert to putting down Americans and as in this last review and another I read awhile back keep referencing Justin Bieber for some odd reason. I am Brit/Canadian and I can’t understand why this bitchy attitude towards Americans in these reviews. Just give a review on a restaurant or bakery with some humor and be done with it. You don’t have to be French to make good food or even good French food.
Watch this series for some good encouraging food making. The Australians now how cook french too.
Junior Master Chef Australia
http://www.watchseries-online.com/catego…
The adult Master Chef Australia is fantastic too.
Do not be discouraged by association to the Chef Ramsey version of Master Chef that show it is quite bad. But this Australian version is Optimistic and entertaining.
Fact check;
The owner is not a French/Vietnamese lady, he is a Frenchman.
And they do make their own sandwiches.
Surprise.