Choux French Bakery

As you know from reading this blog, I have a thing for desserts and baked goods, but ... choux pastry is not a favorite of mine.  And yet, I sought out a French bakery called Choux.

"CHOUX is a French bakery specializes in French Cream Puffs and other specialty like Meringues, Financiers, Brioches, Cannelés and more."

The lineup at Choux is VERY french, all the classics, and, generally fairly difficult to make items.  They even have a curated box of goodies called the "So French Box", so, clearly I am not alone in thinking their offerings are "so french".  The cannelés in particular look great, and I wish I'd been able to try one!

Anyway, Choux is located in SF, in the lower Haight, and was started by a French pastry chef, the "Cream Puff Queen".  She's been successful, in business since 2013.

Packaging: Raspberry Choux.

Choux does deliver on the visual appeal of the packaging.

I was impressed the moment I saw the both pretty, AND functional boxes.  So many pastry boxes I had in Paris were beautiful, but, totally annoying to actually interact with (e.g.  the box with no structural integrity from Pierre Hermé!). This one slide open easily.  They get a point for that.

And the cream puff was delightful looking, perfectly iced, sprinkle of red dust on top. 

Choux

"A Choux, pronounced ''shoo'' is a french of cream puff, a sweet French dessert, carefully crafted with flaky pastry dough, filled with a unique custard and adorned with delicate icing."

The main offering at Choux, as you might guess, is the choux buns.  Available in 6 flavors every week, usually hazelnut, lemon, raspberry, chocolate, salted caramel, and vanilla, along with a seasonal flavor, like pumpkin chai in the fall.

Raspberry Choux: Side View.

For my goodie, I went for the raspberry, since no other flavor really called out.

It was filled with a thick raspberry custard, not a light and fluffy mousse or cream.  The filling was fine, fruity, but I really prefer something lighter.

The choux pastry was very eggy, light, airy, exactly the style I don't like, but I think is actually what it is supposed to be like.

On top was a sweet raspberry icing.

I think this really was a well made item, it just wasn't the thing for me, which I expected, but, hey, I figured if I was going to like a choux pastry, it would be one from the Cream Puff Queen!

***.