Almondine Bakery
Park Slope Location
442 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 832-4607
Almondine Bakery is a small, cozy bakery in the style of a classic French patisserie. It’s nestled under a row of traditional Brooklyn brownstones, with French doors that open up to busy 9th Street.
The bakery case features an array of ever-changing pastries, cookies, cakes and tortes that can include anything from macaroons to apple tarts to decadent mousses. On a previous visit, I had one of those apple tarts, which was a lightly sweetened four-bite pastry that let the apple flavor shine.
On this visit, I decided to go for something chocolately, and what could be more chock-a-block with chocolate than Chocolate Mousse?
The mousse itself was rich and creamy, its small size belying its impact on the tongue. It was the sort of pure, unadulterated chocolate that makes a person instantly happier. The mousse was, however, hidden under a layer of chocolate shavings that, upon first bite, were delicious and fun to eat, each twig melting as soon as it hit the mouth, but after the third or fourth bite, became tiresome and annoying. I wanted the mousse, but had to make my way through the forest of shavings to get to it. I feel that two bites of chocolate shavings would have gotten the point across, been fun to eat and would have served as a beautiful garnish. Four bites were just too much.
My husband also decided to go the chocolate route and got himself a large chocolate macaroon.
The bite I had was the epitome of French macaroon, the almond flavoring ever so subtly present, but the chocolate flavor taking center stage. My husband proclaimed it to be “delicious and filling”.
Almondine also features fresh baked breads, which seem to be ever popular, as well as Chocolate Chip Cookies which I’ve never seen, but have heard many rumors about. Both times I’ve been to Almondine, the cookies have been long gone, so I hope someday to taste them and see what all the fuss is about!
The Park Slope location is Almondine’s second, the first can be found on Water Street in DUMBO.
