Payday can be a good thing AND a bad thing. The good thing is, I have money to spend on food and go out to eat; the bad thing is, I usually spend most of it almost too quickly. But enough said, I've always walked by this store (
Brioche by philip) on Commercial Road but never had the opportunity to pop in and peruse their selection. The man (Philip Chiang) who owns it used to have a store right in Daimaru when it was still in Melbourne. Taking the chance that I've just got paid, I walked in and took note of the buns & breads they had on offer. An impressive range of buns, breads & pastries, all well-presented and definitely looked gourmet-y. Most of them generously portioned. A funny looking bread "Big Brioche" stood out, as it looked like a huge round bun with a pox growing on top of it (pardon my really bad metaphor). Other delights includes a smaller version brioche, almond croissant (i heard this is really good), read bean an pan, raisin loaf, orange loaf, blue cheese brioche, chocolate sourdough with hazelnuts and sour cherries, etc. Opting for a pick-me-up having had lunch just awhile before, I picked the red bean an pan ($1.50). The bun had freckles of grey sesame seeds, nicely scattered over its smooth shiny top. The top, though slightly toasted which gave it a brown tinge, was soft, while the bottom was stark white with a doughy texture. I don't know if that's how it meant to be, but it made me question the outcome. After getting home I decided to pop it into the oven to toast it a little. 5 minutes in, took it out and took a bite. It did taste better after being toasted - the top was crusty and the whole bun was warm. However, there were a few things about the bun that I couldn't decide whether it faulted. The bun was a bit salty and gave out a little bit of a 'meaty' smell (maybe it could've just been me?). The dough was thick which made the red bean filling scarce. And the red bean filling was also not very sweet. All in all, the presentation was well-done, but the overall taste is very disappointing. I would
probably buy it if it was a meat bun. But I would never get myself to buy the bun again.
Red Bean An Pan
While waiting for the tram, I also spotted another cake shop/bakery (
Eugenie's French Cake Shop) and popped in to grab something (anything!) Made a bold decision and went for something I wouldn't normally get - orange cake. Honestly, I was kind of attracted by the way it looked. When asking how much it was, was surprised to know that it was rather pricey ($5.50) since the cake was pretty small (palm-size). But I paid for it anyway, because when it comes to food, you can't really put a value to it, unless you know for sure that it's not worth paying for. But then again, that's subjective on each person's opinion. I felt it was sorta worth it because the cakes they sell are authentically French, though I have yet to have a taste of it (will do tonight!) Hopefully, this cake shop will leave me with more to desire from. And just to tantalise ur tastebuds ...
Orange Cake
Brioche by philip208 Commercial Road,Prahran (opposite Prahran market)Tel: (03) 9525 1966.
Eugenie French Cake Shop
192 Commercial Rd,
Prahran
Tel: (03) 9510 2415
11 comments:
Sorry they didn't live up to your expectations but gorgeous photos and great post! I hate disappointing bakery goods! Sometimes it can be really hard to find a good bakery but perhaps that's kinder to my wallet and hips :)
glad u got to know eugenie cake shop..not too pricey for a gluten free, ground almond, flourless orange cake! should take the opportunity to sample all, been to famous patisseries in france and this little cake shop excels by far..
not sure if you realise this but i've been to both Brioche by Philip and Eugenie's French Cake Shop and can honestly say that Brioche definately trumps Eugenie's in both taste and value for money. The TRADITIONAL red bean an bun is a Japanese style bread roll. The doughy bread is made from milk and is supposed to be "thick" in contrast to the paste. The paste itself is not supposed to be very sweet, as it is made from real natural red bean and personally I find it authentic and delicious!
I completely understand that many people may not be used to it but I can guarantee the rest of the selection is absolutely amazing. I've sampled nearly every product and after speaking to many locals of prahran can say that Brioche by Philip is one of the best French Bakeries in Melbourne.
Please do try the Chocolate Brioche, anything from their croissant range and of course you can't go without sampling their famous sour dough! i guarantee you you'll end up hapily buying many things every pay day!
sorry dont agree...u cant compare bread dough with french pastry moron!!!!havent been back since shop ownership changed but eugenie french cake shop was definitely the best cake shop around..need to train your taste buds to tell the difference...
I think what he/she meant was that the red bean an bun was an authentic japanese recipe. It would be wrong to change it by incorporating french pastry wouldn't it?
And i didn't read the comment to mean he/she thought the dough was "better" then french pastry, but simply that they were different. I find you both rude and ignorant in your comments. Clearly Brioche by Philip were not marketing their red bean an bun as a french product, just look at the name! any good food critic would know it was a japanese product!
I tried searching for more information about Brioche after buying some of their products (new sour dough pizza and my favourite cherry danish) to find this post and I have got to say that Brioche by Philip can not be more authentic! Do some research and you'll see that the head baker managed and operated Paul Bocuse Bakery, uses traditional french recipes and has not changed in quality for over 15 years!
Two thumbs up for me!
Hello,
We bumped into your blog and we really liked it - great recipes YUM YUM.
We would like to add it to the Petitchef.com.
We would be delighted if you could add your blog to Petitchef so that our users can, as us,
enjoy your recipes.
Petitchef is a french based Cooking recipes Portal. Several hundred Blogs are already members
and benefit from their exposure on Petitchef.com.
To add your site to the Petitchef family you can use http://en.petitchef.com/?obj=front&action=site_ajout_form or just go to Petitchef.com and click on "Add your site"
Best regards,
Vincent
petitchef.com
What do you think ? Do I look hot ?
You can see me here
[url=http://sexscreener.org/p/random/1992]My Profile[/url]
Unfortunately, Eugenie was sold and there went the best plain croissants in Melbourne *sigh* (Luckily, artisan baker Alison opened up in the Prahran Market itself and hers are even better than the old Eugenie ones!)
As for Brioche by Philip, I've never tried the red bean bun but I've had many of his other items and they're fantastic: the chocolate (chip) brioche is amazing, and his banana bread muffins and palmiers are really good too. I encourage you to go back and try some of his other range of products.
I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing
Great post! I wish you could follow up to this topic??
Why there are so many comments in this blog?
Post a Comment