Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Bouchon Bakery & Cafe - A French Boulangerie in NYC

I ate at the Bouchon Bakery and Cafe about three times, once for lunch and twice for merienda. You'll find this at the Time-Warner Building in front of the Columbus Circle in NYC. It’s basically a boulangerie that specializes in pastries but also serves soups, sandwiches and salads at the cafe area. Located at the leftmost area of the third floor, you can order pastries and sandwiches to go at the bakery. Meanwhile, the cafe area is in the middle, right across the 150 ft. curtain glass wall. Although the bakery has a seating section, it's basically self-service. If you want to be waited upon, try sitting in the cafe (not sure though if the prices at the bakery are the same). You also get a great view of the historical Columbus Circle as passers by and cars go round and round the monument. Named after Christopher Columbus, this is the point at which distances to and from New York City are officially measured.

Anyway, the cafe is always full of people unless you go at an odd hour in the afternoon. The moment you sit down they will serve you some bread and butter which is just perfect for someone tired and looking to chow real food. It keeps you pre-occupied while waiting for your order. My friend and I split the wagyu beef sandwich and the tomato soup which came with a grilled cheese sandwich. The wagyu beef wasn't as tender as I expected it to be. However, I did enjoy the tomato soup. For dessert, I ordered a chocolate chip cookie and vanilla ice cream. Now the vanilla ice cream was the best I've ever tasted. So creamy. Not too sweet. A close inspection of the ice cream will show you the vanilla speckles. Believe me when I tell you it was a great way to end a late lunch. The chocolate chip cookie was not too chewy and not too crunchy. How can you go wrong with that combination?

What I failed to try were the macaroons. I found it to be too expensive as they were selling it at $2 each if I'm not mistaken. Well maybe next time. So far the best macaroons I've tasted was at the Sofitel in Hanoi for .90c each. And they were really heavenly.

Another reason why I frequented Bouchon was that it was only two blocks away from where I was staying. The "ate" of my friend so kindly took me in for five days. Isn't she just wonderful?

Try it if you're around the area and let me know what you think.

Bouchon Bakery New York
Ten Columbus Circle,
Third Floor, Time Warner Building
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212.823.9366
Fax: 212.823.9399


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