Le Croquembouche

Ahhhhhhhh, «Bonjour Monsieur» Bonjour Mademoiselle S’il vous plaît puis-​je avoir deux cafés au lait?” Sounded so beautiful that I swore I was in France!
If you can’t make it to France, Quebec City is a great alternative!
Me Croquembouche is a great bakery and café here outside the old town of Quebec City. Their pastries and café au lait are solid, not the best, but very nicely done. There are 3 exceptional coffee places in Quebec City in my opinion and they are all located on this little street of Rue Saint Joseph.

Large selection of cakes and pastries, along with sandwiches and chocolates. There’s also a section of the store where you can buy packaged sweets to go. The prices were reasonable for a bakery styled café (reminded me of Premium Moisson in Montréal but better).
We came to Le Croquembouche for breakfast since it was located very close to our hotel (and who doesn’t love cakes for breakfast). We ordered the raspberry chocolate mousse and prosciutto sandwich. The cake was of course my influence and I dont regret it one bit. The cake was excellent, creamy yet not overly sweet. I could probably have 10 of these in one sitting.
I didn’t get to try any of the pastries, but I’m sure they’re excellent as well ! Definitely coming back to try one of their pastries next time.

Omg! Amazing eye candy. Something for everyone’s taste. We took some to go but also had a lovely sampling while there. My favorite was the mango cheese cake topped with a lime macaroon.

Went this morning for the first time. The kindness of the lady whom I bought bread from, was delightful. And the bread… oh man, so good! Baguette, croissants, all delicious… Also the freshness was very important for me, and this is as good as it gets :)
I’ll definitely go back in the morning!

We looked for some bread and Croissants for our morning breakfast and Le Croquembouche was around the corner from the airbnb we were staying at. The place was very nice and had lots of fresh breads and sweets. Our french is minimal but the staff there was super nice to us and even taught us how to ask for it for our next visit! We cannot wait to go tomorrow to do exactly that! :)

This place was amazing!!! Not too expensive and well worth every single calorie. They were kind; but maybe not quite as overly friendly as some of the other coffee shops we visited but they still were pleasant and helpful. They did not really love us taking pictures but the stuff was all so incredible that I could not help but want to show pictures to encourage others to give them a visit. If I could ONLY go one place in Quebec (as a foodie), this is where it would be!

Les prix sont abordables et la bouffe fabuleuse ! Les quantités suffisantes pour les plus tardifs aussi :)

Really good bakery provides various kinds of patisseries. My friend and I came there to have our breakfast. My friend ordered one Napoleon cake and berry danish, my choice cocoa éclair tasted very delicious, creamy and full of cocoa flavor. But to our disappointment, the pastry was not crispy enough and canele was a little bit too sweet. Coffee was good-​quality and spinach tart was puffy and yummy. The staff was friendly and the bakery was clean and spacious which make customers feel relaxed to enjoy the sweet time. Much better than those little shops inside Old Quebec town.

Time of Visit: Early evening on August 19^th
Order: Lots of desert and pastries
Pros: Chocolate, pastry, balance of fruits and chocolate
Cons: Seating, a little out of the way with the local construction making things a bit confusing
Thoughts: Holy chocolate heaven! Walking in the door was akin to a «kid in a candy shop» feeling. They had display cases full of the most amazing looking chocolate deserts I have ever seen. They had most options then I could possibly mention here but needles to say they had something for everyone; from cake based deserts to chocolate mousse, or chocolate with fruit, and even little chocolates and truffles. We each (there were 5 of us) ordered 2 deserts and while I don’t remember all of them there were a few items that really stood out. My sister had an orange chocolate mousse and if you like oranges this was the best desert I’ve ever eaten. Often the orange in deserts tastes «fake», not here, the layer of orange between the two layers of chocolate mouse still has a pulpy texture to it. The chocolate had orange infused in it and the was a drizzle of orange on top of the desert itself. We also had a chocolate coffee cream puff (they called it an éclair but it was more an an éclair shaped cream puff), while the coffee flavor wasn’t my favorite, holy lord the chocolate mousse. All their chocolate mousses were incredible, and their pastry was some of the best I have ever had, so naturally a combination of the two was absolutely indescribably. Seriously I’m not even going to try, just image the best pastry, and the best chocolate mousse and thats pretty much what you got.
We also got several pastries to go, notably the chocolate and almond croissant and the pear and chocolate croissant. My god these are arguably the best pastries I’ve ever had, the pastry was perfectly light and flaky, without the heavy oily texture that comes from too much butter. The filling was the perfect amount, there was enough that you got some with every bit but now so much that it weighed it down or detracted from the pastry itself. I really think this may have been the best pastry and desert shop I have ever had the privilege of eating at.

It is the BEST Bakery I have ever been to in North America! The owner is from France and they really make some very French bakery food. It is generally less sweet than most north american bakery food which is good for me. All the food inside does not rely on using sugar too much to grab clients. They are really tasty.

The mini cakes, tartes and macarons are absolutely fabulous! They have a wide variety of eclairs which I found pretty mediocre. I liked the lemon white chocolate one best. Stay away from their matcha flavored stuff, it has a weird aftertaste (and I love matcha so I was disappointed). On the bright side the Napoleon was absolutely divine!

This has got to be the best and most authentic French pastry store. The owner is from France with real training, so everything you get is a work of art. They make their own breads and have great sandwiches. Reasonably priced and you leave smiling. I always stop there for lunch, if it’s popular with the locals, it’s good enough for me!

The raspberry brioche is phenomenal. I also had a pistachio and strawberry fancier thing (in the cases to the right) it was good but not great. Should have gone with my first instinct and gone for the brioche in the first place! Sooo good. Get two!!! Bring it to the barbererie brewery if you’re smart! Do not pass go.

Found this bakery on google since it was near our hotel and I am so glad I did. We tried the plain meringue ($ 2), gelato ($ 2.50), dark chocolate coffee cake ($ 4.50), éclair ($ 3.95) and strawberry crème tart ($ 4.50). All of which were super delicious. The cake was decadent, smooth and so wonderfully creamy. It was all so enjoyable that we had to go back the next day before leaving the city and bought things to eat during our 9 hour drive home. One of which was the chocolate raspberry cake and my god, it was heaven. Sincerely wish I could visit more often just to devour everything this bakery has to offer. Highly recommend!

Wow the next time I’m in Quebec City I’m heading right over to Le Croquemouche.
I’ve visited lots of patisseries in Paris and this place could easily hold its own against many of them. Of course I didn’t try everything but from what I saw and what I did try, I was really impressed by this place. The pastries look almost too beautiful to eat. And their taste matches their looks. The éclair I purchased was one of the best éclair’s I’ve ever eaten in my life.
What’s terrific is that they have an area with tables and chairs for customers to sit down. Let’s face it, it’s no fun eating pastries in a car. And God bless you if you can carry them to your car and they can survive the car ride home. These goodies are just too tempting and too good not to eat immediately on the spot.
By the way I can’t believe some people are rating this place based on its coffee. Are you serious? Don’t be a cheap ass and purchase some pastries for crying out loud. Go to Starbucks for your coffee.
Le Croquembouche is not open very late. They close at 6:30 PM on most days and 5:00 PM on Sundays.

Great patisserie: fresh, delicious, huge variability. Absolutely a must if u r in Quebec.

Originally written and posted on a duplicate profile on 7÷28÷2011:
We enjoyed a sesame baguette to compliment the soft cheese and sausage we had for lunch. The chocolate brioche and canele were very good too.

Great place to catch a bite and a fantastic selection of baked goods and pastries. As others have said, st joseph seems to be a really happening street in town. Think Brooklyn in ny or Somerville in Boston.

First of all, the street this place is on (St Joseph) is the coolest street we found while in Quebec City. We wanted a morning baked good and many people were going to this bakery, so we decided to give it a go. To be honest, the food was just decent. I ordered the «chocki» and instantly regretted it (It’s a pastry with chocolate chips and custard in it– yuck!). My friends were not impressed with their baked goods either.
Although I recommend skipping this place, stay on St Joseph Rue and head to the coffee shop Le Nektar for great coffee and atmosphere!

Really good croissant. Not so hot canela. Sandwiches were super fresh, great bread, lettuce that tasted like it was just picked. I approve.
There were 100 other things I wanted to try. The items in their pastry case looked like they belonged in a fine art museum. Perfection. Beautiful. Not enough time to eat everything I would have liked. I shall return.

Une des meilleures boulangerie de la ville. Il y a beaucoup de variété et comme le roulement de clientèle est élevé, c’est frais. Le seul hic c’est le service: on attend souvent même quand c’est tranquille. Sinon super!

Spectacular almond croissant and café au lait. Sandwiches are good but you can find better a few doors down.

Before leaving Quebec on our way to visit Montréal, we needed to pick up caffeine and something for breakfast since we left earlier than our B&B served anything. Luckily, I had already mentally bookmarked Le Croquembouche when I saw it around the corner from where we were staying. The name is what really caught my eye — we were on our honeymoon, and instead of a wedding cake we served a croquembouche, so I HAD to go there ;)
We both got coffee to go and chose to share a butter croissant and an almond croissant. The coffee was good (we had to admit that we could get better coffee at any café in Canada versus at home), but it was the croissants that made us stop in our tracks and regret not buying more of their baked goods! They were flaky and buttery, and the almond one was also sweet and almost custard-​y in the center, with slivered almonds scattered on top. The best croissant in Quebec? Very, very likely. God I want another one right now just thinking about them!

Sûr, cette pâtisserie fait les meilleures… pâtisseries du coin. Ses sortes de pains sont à se rouler par terre et ses viennoiseries feraient pleurer le petit Jésus (ma grand-​mère, 2007). Mais j’aimerai souligner mon expérience, car évidemment que j’ai goûté aux macarons, mais je né veux pas parler de ça. Je veux parler de ma pizza. Fraîchement sortie du four, cuite à la perfection ça a été l’une des meilleures pizzas que j’ai mangées de tout l’été (et j’en ai fait des restos italiens dans le coin!). La croûte est fine, comme on peut se l’imaginer, mais le pizzaiolo né lésine pas sur la garniture, si bien que lorsqu’on finit la pizza, on n’a pas fini de manger: pas mal d’oignons, olives, bouts de jambon se sont évadés jusque dans notre assiette! On continue gaiement de dévorer chaque morceau, et on s’en lèche les doigts par la suite! Concluez le tout d’un petit café corsé et vous serez un homme (ou une femme) comblé (e).

Le Croquembouche a été mon quartier général pendant un automne complet, lorsque j’ai écrit ma première pièce de théâtre. En fait, c’est là que ma metteure en scèné et moi-​même nous nous réunissions pour discuter de mon texte chaque semaine durant deux mois. Ainsi, j’ai pu goûter à plusieurs des produits de la maison et jamais je n’ai été déçu. Qu’il s’agisse de pain au chocolat, muffins, sandwichs ou macarons, tout y est excellent.

Je peux affirmer sans hésiter que le Croquembouche est l’une de mes pâtisseries-​boulangeries préférées, et ce, à l’échelle provinciale… J’ai goûté ici à une viennoiserie exceptionnelle: la patte d’ours, une chocolatine au caramel. Ça paraît banal, n’est-ce pas? Faites-​la chauffer, vous m’en redonnerez des nouvelles. C’est SUBLIME! Cinq faits sont ici indéniables: l’on né lésine pas sur le beurre, tout est frais du jour (donc fait aux petites heures du matin), la qualité des ingrédients est supérieure, les créations sont uniques et j’ai le même prénom que le maître pâtissier (information pertinente). N’empêche qu’entre les mousses, bûches, gâteaux aux fruits, macarons, et pains biologiques, le choix n’est pas aisé. Je ramènerais tout chez moi volontiers, point final.