Dropped by Richmond centre for some shopping, brought a Swiss roll for afternoon tea. Noticed the price increased as most bakery items but remember the taste was good before; however, not the case this time. The roll tastes very powdery and cream in the middle...is very hard. I will not waste my money here anymore.More

NOTE: For a detailed account of Saint Germain Bakery and its history, please see my earlier report for their Burnaby (Metrotown) location. This current review, rather than delve into the history and accolades of Saint Germain, will focus more on individual baked snack treats sampled...at the Aberdeen Centre location. Mere days after patronizing Saint Germain’s Metrotown location, my partner and I found ourselves in Richmond’s Aberdeen Centre. We’d come to this mall primarily for OOMOMO (Japan Living); however, upon entering the Centre, we spied Saint Germain Bakery. Having been impressed with our Rose Cake a few days prior, we took this opportunity to sample other baked treats – this time by the slice. After browsing the selection, we procured a slice of Tiramisu, Japanese Cheesecake and a Pure Butter Croissant. If we had more space, I’m sure we would’ve snagged a few more items! In any event . . . JAPANESE CHEESECAKE: One of the things I love about Japanese Cheesecake is the stark contrast it presents when compared to its American counterpart. The Japanese cheesecake is often light and airy with a fairly pronounced eggy flavour. In the past, I’ve described this cake as being like a “cloud” if clouds could be eaten. The American NY-style cheesecake, on the other hand, is typically heavy and dense – almost like eating a block of cream cheese. Of course, don’t get me wrong – I love both versions but I just love the Japanese soufflé cheesecake slightly more. How did the Saint Germain Bakery version hold up? Well, it’s no Uncle Tetsu, but it is a good representation of the type. The slice, while miniscule, hits all the right notes: It was light, airy and had that “eggy” flavour I’ve come to expect. The actual cream cheese flavour was also a bit more pronounced – probably because the slice had been chilled – but I liked that. Based on this, I suspect their whole Japanese Cheesecake would be a delight to eat. TIRAMISU: Having sampled many a tiramisu in my day, I’d say the version offered up by Saint Germain is actually very nice. The presentation is easily 5 out of 5, and the taste I’d probably rank at about a 4. You could easily discern the individual components of this classic – the mascarpone cream, Kahlua and Amaretto. The Lady Fingers, which make up most of this cake, were soft and moist. I also appreciated the hard chocolate atop the tiramisu as it added a nice contrast in textures. PURE BUTTER CROISSANT: This item was easily a favourite. It was buttery (surprise!) and flaky while maintaining a good level of moistness. I think, as far as croissants go, this version at Saint Germain is on the higher end of fattening goodness. FOOD: 5/5 SERVICE: 4/5 VALUE: 5/5 RECOMMENDATION: Overall, we enjoyed our visit to the Aberdeen Centre location and would gladly recommend it. It was nice to sample more of Saint Germain’s baked treats; however, I did observe that the selection seemed to be smaller than what can be had at Metrotown. PS: If you found this review helpful in any way please consider hitting the "helpful" button!More

I love the food here; there are a myriad of choices from sweet to savory. I had just a taste; the beef curry was tasty and the pastry surrounding the filling was light and flaky. The puffed egg tart was also quite delicious; the custard...had a nice light egg flavor and the the crust, with it's many layers, was also light and flaky. They were busy but the wait to pay was short and we were soon on our way enjoying our snacks.More