where jess ate

After coming back from my France trip, I’ve had a constant craving for pastries. Having heard great things about the French-inspired pastries at Beaucoup Bakery (@BeaucoupBakery), I had to stop by during my visit to Vancouver.

The bakery opened in the winter of 2012 and is brought to you by Jackie Ellis. She previously owned a design firm before deciding to go a different route. After closing the firm, she went to Paris to learn about pastry and Beaucoup Bakery was the result.

At this bakery, you’ll find a good selection of pastries you’d typically see at French bakeries. They also have your typical café fare including cookies, brownies, tarts and sandwiches for the lunch crowd.

There’s limited seating inside the bakery as the majority of the customers were taking their goods to-go. We came here on a Friday morning and were lucky to enough to snag a table. We noticed an endless number of people coming through the door. It’s definitely a popular spot!

The first thing I tried was the Croissant ($3). It was so crispy and flakey that it shattered upon my first bite.

While I appreciated its flakiness, I found that the interior was quite dry. I’m no expert on making croissants, but perhaps it could’ve used more butter or maybe it was cooked a little too long?

We also had to get one of Mike’s favourite pastries, the Pain au Chocolat ($3.50). Similar to the croissant, it was incredibly flakey. It wasn’t as dry as the croissant and I found it quite enjoyable. Nothing like a pain au chocolat with a cup of coffee!

When we arrived, my mom asked someone who seemed like a regular what to order and the Citrus Scroll ($3.50) came highly recommended. They were similar to the escargot pastries we ate in Paris which came in the shape of a spiral.

The scroll had a slight crunch from the exterior and had a soft centre. It had a mild citrus flavour and wasn’t overly sweet. Delish!

When Mike and I spotted the Mini Kouign Amann’s, we had to try one. We fell in love with kouign amann’s at Dominque Ansel in NYC and since then, we can never resist ’em! While Beaucoup Bakery’s version didn’t have quite as many caramelized layers as I would’ve liked, it was still pretty solid.

We also ordered a Mini Chausson aux Pommes. It had a nice apple filling encased in layers of flakey puff pastry. Good but not particularly memorable.

Overall, we enjoyed our breakfast at Beaucoup Bakery. While some pastries were better than others, they satisfied our craving!

At a glance:
• A French-inspired bakery located on Fir street (between 5th and 6th Ave)
• Limited seating inside; a few tables outside; most purchase their items to-go
• Found the croissant a little dry but enjoyed the rest of the pastries we tried
• Serves 49th Parallel coffee

Ratings (out of 5):
• Food: 3.5 stars
• Service: 3 stars
• Atmosphere: 3 stars