Midori Bakery
There are lots of great bakeries in Seattle. I have a lot of personal favorites. Bakery Nouveau, General Porpoise Doughnuts, and Cafe Besalu to name a few. Seattleites are really quite spoiled!
However, there are some struggles when you live in the Greater Seattle Area. For instance, getting between the east and west sides can occasionally be a problem when the floating bridges are down. Sometimes you have to suddenly switch which bakery you are planning to go to.
Have you ever had to call and audible on your plans? Plans where you had your heart set on going somewhere, or eating some dish but then suddenly life throws a wrench in the stratagem of your weekend?
Well that happened this weekend to me. I had planned to go to Bakery Nouveau but as soon as I checked the roads on Waze, my heart sank, the 520 bridge was closed. For those native Seattlites out there, you know if you are on the East side, it can be a pain to get across to Seattle from Redmond. Especially when your map app says it will take 1 hour just to go in one direction. When one bridge closes, it funnels everyone wanting to go anywhere on I-90 or all the way around Lake Washington.
I could have let this ruin my weekend. I could traverse a 2 hour round trip or I could try to find a new place to get my baked goods. Where could I find good bakeries on the East side? (I only ever hear about the west side) Do those even exist? Luckily, my friends had told me of a bakery in Redmond recently that was supposedly pretty good. But I had not yet been there. I do enjoy going to new places, so this seemed like the perfect time.
Midori Bakery is a privately owned bakery in Redmond Town Center. The bakery touts seasonal ingredients and Coava Coffee from Portland Oregon(which for those who really like Coffee, will be very happy with the flavor!). I walked in and was a little dismayed. It was 3 PM and they had already sold out of most of their baked goods. In particular, I had heard of a delicious Nutella and Banana Croissant that I really wanted to try(also a Blueberry Almond Croissant that is supposedly just as good).
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| Add Caramel Chocolate Whisky Pecan Gateau and Pate Choux |
Nevertheless, they still had plenty of their Gateaus lined up. A Gateau is a rich french cake. Typically, it has one layer of thick stabilized cream and a layer of fruit preserve on top of a rich decedent cake. They have several varieties pending on the time of year. This includes a Lemon Blueberry cake with a White Chocolate Creme, a Carmel Chocolate Whisky Pecan Gateau, a White Chocolate Cherry and Pistachio Gateau and…is your mouth watering yet.
They also have Dulce De Leche Brownies, Kouign Amann, Chocolate Kuglhpf and a few other pastries that make my spell check go crazy and throw the dreaded red line underneath. Maybe, the farther away the word is from English, the more delicious it is?
I am a purist. Whenever I go to a bakery I do tend to order their Chocolate Almond Croissant first, although those cakes sounded tempting. The combination of flaky, buttery, pastry, with bitter, toasty coffee is just hard to beat. And on a day a dreary November afternoon, it warms the soul. The picture below does not do the combination justice. It looks as dull as a late night lecture on macro-economics. This was not the case. It was not my favorite chocolate Almond Croissant, it I would say it was a close 4th. I would prefer Bakery Nouveau, or Cafe Besalu. The Croissant I had was still worth writing about. The pastry was light like a cloud, the flavor was chocolate, and the rain was drizzling. A perfect afternoon. In addition, the coffee is really good! Oddly enough, finding good coffee is not as easy as you think in Seattle..It was smooth, nutty and I actually went back for a refill. I usually only limit myself to one cup per location(I have to).
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| Chocolate Almond Crossiant and 8 oz Coffee |
Now I also ordered two Gateaus to go. I ordered the Blueberry and White Chocolate Gateau and the Chocolate Caramel Whisky Gateau. Both were more than delightful! It was crazy, unlike many of the “Gateaus” I have had in the passed, these cakes were not dry, dreary and didn’t taste frozen. Instead, they were pieces of light and fluffy cream , scrumptious cake and sweet glaze. The stabilized creams in both were just right. Neither of them seemed overly stiff. It didn’t really seem like one portion was stuck apologizing for the limitations of another. Also, who doesn’t like whisky and caramel…
They also sell cake by the sheet! So you can buy a few slices, try them, and take a whole cake home with you.
If you are trapped on the east side, this has been the best Bakery experience so far. It does have some cons. For instance, they run out of their best selling items fast! So you better be there before noon. They also have a much smaller selection then some of the other bakeries in downtown Seattle. If these limitations don’t scare you away, then come and have a cup of Coava Coffee on a cold Seattle morning.
Do you have any favorite spots around Seattle, Oregon, maybe farther? Feel free to recommend them. I went to Midori based off of someone’s recommendation! I trust word of mouth way more than magazine top ten lists.
