Amandier

There are lots of bakeries in Korea. I was surprised when I first got here, because I was expecting a world that was devoid of ovens, yeast and all things good and wonderful. Ok. Maybe I wasn't expecting something quite that bad, but I also wasn't expecting to see an adorable bakery on every street corner. I was quite excited at the prospect of this, because when I looked in the window, the baked goods looked amazing. 

Then the day came when I went into a bakery and purchased some things. Some of it was pretty good. Some of it was just plain weird. It was unsettling to have something that looked familiar taste so utterly foreign. Croissants had been glazed with a sticky, sweet syrup. Cheesecake had no cream cheese in it, and it had a light, spongy texture that was... well.... cake-like. The flavors didn't seem to be as intense, the textures were much frothier, and a lot of the bread just didn't have a strong yeast flavor. 

Now that I'm 16 months into this thing, I've developed an appreciation for some of the Korean baked goods. But still, they just aren't the same and don't always satisfy that baked good itch. I had resigned myself to this state of affairs, and continued to seek out ways to improvise with ingredients and oven settings to make things in my own kitchen. This was until Thursday. Because on Thursday, I discovered that I'm a mere 20 minute bus ride away from Amandier. 

Just like it says, Amandier is a cafe, boulangerie and patisserie. Yes, those are all French words, and normally, they have connotations of flaky, yeasty wonderfulness. But I see those words on a lot of bakeries. The only thing that made me notice this cafe was I have a friend who has told me it was pretty good. So after our tour of the palace on Thursday, we decided to go check it out. Oh. My. Word. 

These were the first thing I saw when I walked in the door. See how the tops are cracked like that? It means that they are dense and fudgy, with a little crust on top. Just like they're supposed to be. I started to get excited. 

This is chocolate sandwich bread. I didn't bring any home with me, but I'm intrigued by the idea. What kind of sandwich would you make with chocolate bread? A nutella banana sandwich? Thoughts?

They had these American cookies that weren't really American style at all. 

Real pastries with an egg glaze to bring out the buttery flavor. 

They had a lot of chocolates and candies as well as the baked goods. 

The cakes looked like they were actually cakes. Again, Korean cake is something that will grow on you... But it isn't what I would consider cake. It doesn't have any body to it, and it is covered in mounds of sweet whipping cream frosting. This cake though, it had ganache. 

I love the rows and rows of colorful macaroons! You can actually find these at a lot of bakeries, and most of the time they are pretty good. 

You could get little pizzas heated up to eat in the cafe. 

I got one of these to take home with me, and it was amazing. There were real apples, the crust was flaky, and it generally tasted like you expect something like this to taste. 

I ordered a cup of tea and sat down to eat the best pain au chocolat I've had since I was in France. It was everything that it should have been, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable, if somewhat dangerous, discovery. All in all, it was a good end to a day of sightseeing.