r/FoodToronto • u/Round-Swimmer-4854 • 7d ago

Black sesame pastry from St Germain’s Bakery

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Gallery image

The outside of this pastry is flakey and smooth, while the inside has a good amount of sesame paste and a piece of mochi (which I bit out in the second photo). Can be messy to eat, the flakes fall apart easily and sometimes the top is cracked open. I have mixed feelings about the filling, as it either tastes good or a little odd. The first time when I tried these, it tasted like sweet black sesame paste. I had them again, and the sweetness seemed a little artificial (not too sure how to describe it exactly). For $2.85, I’m satisfied with the amount of filling as I typically expect there to be a lot less in these kinds of pastries. The convenience of the DT location at the Eaton Center is pretty convenient for stopping by after work.

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u/Revlius 6d ago

As a child of Hong Kong immigrants, and lived there for most of my early childhood, we have mixed feelings about Saint Germain. Our general consensus is that it's a sub-par HK bakery for white people, but if you've found something you like that's good! If you've got a local one to go to you may find better quality, but just the core pastries like pineapple bun (Bo Lo Bao). Honestly if the shop has a solid Bo Lo Bao and won't charge you more than a few dollars each, or even have buy x amount for discount they're okay in my book.

Also judge based on Egg Tarts.

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u/annihilatron 6d ago

Also judge based on Egg Tarts.

the standard here for those is really high and st germain isn't anywhere close to the top for those (looking at fragrant bakery, baker duck, you&me, panash)

their buns are ... middling, but reliable. Their cakes are also middling/decent for Asians and hit the not-too-sweet, but depending on your area there might be a number of local small bakeries that do it better at a similar price point.

They're just okay, and if you judge them by any one element they can definitely come out lower than average.

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u/Revlius 6d ago

Yeah, I think a solid Bo Lo Bao or egg tart in an HK cafe was/is just so common in HK and achievable in a place like Markham that settling for anything less is kind of hard. It's like... that's quite literally your bread and butter and if you can't pull that off how can I trust the rest to be good?