Pâte à Choux

I have a particular fondness for baked goods, which you likely realized from reading my blog by now.  So I'm always happy to hear about a new bakery, particularly one that has unique items.  And Pâte à Choux definitely has eye catching items.

Pâte à Choux has 4 product lines, most, as you may expect given the name, are choux pastries: original choux, chocolate choux, specialty choux, and ... mochi tarts.  The original choux are what you think of when you think of cream puffs, available with a variety of custard fillings.  Chocolate are the same idea, but, with a chocolate puff rather than plain.  The specialty choux incorporate both custard and whipped cream and bring in elaborate additional fillings, like fresh fruit, pretzels, and Oreos.  And the mochi tarts ... well, they are just a thing of their own.  More on that soon.

The shop is located in a mall in San Bruno, not exactly where I frequent often, but, amazingly, they are available for free delivery on DoorDash (with DashPass), remarkable given the distance.  I placed my order online the moment they opened, and it was delivered within the hour, no problems.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Original Choux

"100% handcrafted cream puff, freshly baked every 2 hours."

The most basic items at Pâte à Choux are the original choux, basically, cream puffs.  Original choux come in 5 filling flavors: vanilla, chocolate, matcha, hojicha, and black sesame.  All are $4.99 and are filled to order, the choux themselves baked fresh every 2 hours.    All use a custard based filling, just, different flavors of custard.

The same 5 fillings are also available inside a chocolate choux.

Black Sesame. $4.99.

I opted for the black sesame, being on a bit of a black sesame dessert binge (its a thing!), after having a black sesame mont blanc a week before at Waraku Ramen Dining and basically suddenly deciding I needed all the black sesame things.   I wasn't there to see it filled to order since I got it delivered, but, they fill them to order, and it was clear when I got it that it hadn't been sitting around filled for a while.  Not at all soggy.

Now, if you've been reading my blog a while you may recall that I don't generally care for cream puffs, eclairs, and the like, as I don't really like choux pastry that much.  So, yes, I got this knowing I might not like the bun itself all that much.  It was, however, by far the best choux I've ever had.  Light and airy, but, yes, a bit eggy (the element I don't like).  The craquelin on the outside though - unreal.  Crispy, crunchy, sweet, much like a Chinese pineapple bun but even more amazing.  I've never had a choux with craquelin that good.  The bun was actually remarkably thin, and it was amazingly generously stuffed, which you wouldn't know from just looking at the exterior.

So, even if I don't like choux that much, wowzer, this was so fresh, so thin, so crispy, so light and airy, just, wow.  ****, even for a girl who doesn't like choux.

Black Sesame Inside.

And inside, the filling.  It was stuffed to the brim.  I knew to expect this from Instagram photos, but, yes, it really was as full as it could possibly get.

The filling was only lightly sweet, the black sesame nutty and savory.  It was not a super rich, thick custard, but clearly thicker and richer than a whipped cream.  

Overall, this was actually a fairly light treat, with the airy pastry and the not too heavy filling, and neither element, besides the craquelin itself, very sweet.  It satisfied my black sesame cravings, but, did remind me that choux buns just aren't really what I want.  Still, this was as perfect as one can be, ****.

Handcrafted Mochi Tart

The other item offered at Pâte à Choux is not choux based at all.  Mochi tarts.  If you don't know what that is, neither did I.  I believe these are a custom creation from Pâte à Choux.  I suspect many people just overlook these on the menu.  I'll admit, I nearly did too, but, since I was ordering delivery, I didn't want to just get one thing, and threw on one to just round out my order.   Hedge my bets.  Best. Decision. Ever.

I think the mochi tarts sometimes come in other flavors, but the day I ordered, they only had one: vanilla.  

Original Vanilla. $4.99.

"Crispy shell filled with our handcrafted mochi and topped with vanilla brûlée."

Ok, so a mochi tart.  Even reading the description, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect.  And, really, I wasn't sure it made any sense.  A tart, and mochi, and brûlée, all in one?  Even though I adore crème brûlée, so much so that I have a label on my blog devoted to it, this just sounded, well, confused.  And I'm not really one for tart shells either.

And yet, well, this was magical.

I call it the lovechild of a crème brûlée, a Chinese egg custard tart, Japanese mochi, and a French tart, all in one.  It sounds like too much going on, to put it in Gordon Ramsey terms, rather than "fusion" it is "con-fusion", but actually, it was glorious. 

The base is a crisp and sturdy, slightly sweet, pâte sucrée shell.  I often call tart shells throwaway at best, but this was tasty on its own.  A very good short crust, one of the best I've ever had really.  This could make me change my mind on tart shells.  ****.

The top, as you can see here, a perfect brûlée topping.  I think they brûléed it to order.  It had the right snap to it, and lovely caramelization.  As good as any crème brûlée I've ever had anywhere.  I'd be happy just eating a crème brûlée made with this top layer too. ****+.

Just those two components together made this an incredible item I'd rave about, and it made me wonder why you don't ever see crème brûlée in an actual crust of any kind - wouldn't a pie crust, or a tart shell, be a nice addition sometimes?

Original Vanilla: Inside.

But this item just kept on giving.

Inside the tart shell, at the bottom, was a base layer of mochi.  It was soft and squishy, totally odd to have inside a tart and with a crème brûlée, but, actually, it worked.  Such interesting textures together, and it was really a quite good mochi, fresh as can be. ****+.

And then, above that, an egg custard, well set, great consistency, again, as good as any I've ever had in a traditional form.  They nailed this, too. ****+.

And there you have it.  Chinese + Japanese + French fusion dessert.  Each element nailed, exemplary, and I'd rave about how well done they were in a standalone context too.  They shouldn't all work together so harmoniously, but, well, they do. 

This was incredibly unique, and so very, very tasty.  One of the best pastries I've probably ever had.  Perfect *****.