Dahlia Bakery @ Seattle

"What's for dessert, hon?", asked A. We were driving around Belltown, after lunching at Seven Stars Pepper Schezuan, when we spotted this tiny, cozy gourmet bakery. A immediately turned the indicator on, and swung across three lanes to get to the curb (thank God there was no one behind us!).

Freshly baked bread, coconut cream pie, sandwiches, soups, salads and tons of other European desserts are a speciality here. They bake the said goods in small batches everyday. So, it is always fresh. And all of it was 50% off!!

We splurged on the European delicacies. We got one each of the Pain au chocolate, Fig Bar, Sticky Pecan Bun and the Monkey bread with Caramel Sauce. We got them to go. As we walked out of this sweet heaven, I told A that we should stop by here everytime we are Downtown.

So far, we have just tried the Monkey Bread. Awesome! The crust was crunchy and it had a cinnamony flavor.The rest of them have been sealed in air tight containers and will be consumed over the next one week. And yes, we have to add an hour more to our gym schedules.....sigh....the temptation!

Pain au Chocolate

Monkey Bread

Fig Bar & Sticky Pecan Bun

All these yummy goodies just came to $6.29 ! A sweet deal, I punned.

Update (4/19) - The fig bar was fantastic. The crust was buttery and the fig filling was not too sweet. This one definitely gets a thumbs up!

Belle Pastry @ Bellevue

The quaint yet upscale neighborhood of Bellevue, along Main St, is where we sometimes engage in a mindless traipse, from one end to the other, stopping briefly for coffee and cake at some interesting patisserie that we stumble upon.
This Saturday afternoon during one such saunter, we found Belle Pastry. Bright and shiny, with a few casual tables by the windows and a huge array of interesting looking pastries and dolce, it came upon as a perfect spot for shooting the breeze. We controlled our urge for an uncalled-for indulgence and ordered their Latte and a Paris Brest. It is a ring-shaped pâte à choux with praline butter cream, garnished with slivered toasted almonds. It seems this delightful French pastry was created by a pastry chef in honor of a bicycle race between Paris and Brest. And, hence it is patterned after a bicycle tyre. Interesting,eh?

The Latte was delicious by itself. The ratio of coffee to milk was perfect, and complemented the dessert.

A little on the expensive side, I would say. The desserts were between $3.75 and $5.00 a piece, but then, they are one of a kind. So, once in a while, when you have a sweet tooth, splurging is not too bad, huh?