85°C Café

On my way home from a hospital in Gardena, I all of as sudden saw this bakery I have heard about but haven't checked out since it was out of the way. It was 4:00 p.m. and though there were people inside, I did not see a line. I was overwhelmed by the fresh breads, cakes and pastries.

I started out with a large tray and thongs. In no time, my tray was full. I wanted to try as much as I could so my next trip would be only the cream of the crop. My son was not going to be home so I had to figure out how to try everything and wondered who I could call to help me with my experiment. I called Sandi and told her to come over right after her dance lesson so we could have a light dinner.

For dinner I reheated the Italian Tomato Danish; Danish bread with cheddar cheese, fresh sliced tomatoes and a garlic spread on top. We each had one which I served with a nice salad and lots of champagne. It was delicious; crispy and light and lots of flavor.

We then proceeded on trying pieces of the multiple breads and desserts. Our favorites were the Cheese bread; cream cheese filled bread with melted shredded cheese on top. We didn't even bother to heat it. The bread reminded me of a very light brioche. The other favorite was the Premium Milk; a big piece of soft bread with a fresh milk taste with white chocolate filling and sweet powdered sugar on top. These are best eaten fresh!

The Coffee Raisin Bread; Taiwanese coffee bread with milk, butter filling and raisins inside was quite good. We also liked the Pork Sung Bun with a blend of mayo and topped with dry shredded pork.

The Mocha Bread (striped) was a coffee and chocolate flavored bread but this only looked good but lacked flavor in spite of the walnuts inside.

The Walnut Tart was just a bunch of walnuts stuck together on a crust. It needed something sweet
like maybe some maple syrup. The big half-moon bread with white dusting was blueberry bread with tiny shreds of coconut. It looked like powdered sugar when I got it but as I took it out of the wrapper, I realized it was coconut (yuk!). I took a bite; didn't take another bite.

The Coffee Creme Brulee had caramel, milk custard and topped with a coffee glaze. It was not bad.  The Chocolate Pearl was a chocolate chiffon cake surrounded by chocolate mousse then glazed with more chocolate. That was light and sure to please chocolate mousse lovers. My husband would have loved this one.

The mini apple pie was disappointing. It was way to bready. I should not have even bought one. You can't beat the mini apple pie of L'Amande Bakery.

They have a lot of beautiful cakes but judging by what we tried, most of them look much better than they taste.

The bakery has multiple locations. You can google it to find one nearest you. If you seek quality bread and pastries, my money is still on L'Amande Bakery in Torrance.