Konditorei Austrian Pastry (Davis): Bakery Edition
food: 4/5
experience: 5/5
overall: 4.5/5
When the quarantine blues were getting me down and I was housebound with a high temperature of Cabin Fever, my mom and I decided to venture out a little bit and try a bakery out of town. I had this one down as a place of interest and figured now was as good as ever to try some interesting new carb concoctions. So off we went to Davis, only to land in this little patisserie-cafe which has a whole lot to offer. They have a restaurant menu but I'm gonna focus on the baked goodies since that was what was available at the time (and yes, we partook... even after the quarantine was over).
First, cookies. Cookies are like my signature junk food. They're so easy to just pick one up and pop in your mouth. And then another and another and yeah. We tried most of their cookie specialties, namely the baggie of snickerdoodles and the sampler pack.
Snickerdoodles: 4.5/5
These are more like crackers than cookies to be honest. They're small, one- or two-bite cookies and they do have the authentic snickerdoodle flavor. I just like a soft, chewy snickerdoodle personally but flavor-wise these definitely will do in a pinch.
The sampler pack consisted of the following, from bottom counter-clockwise (just to be different):
Chocolate chip: 3.5/5
Another crispy cookie. Flavorwise though this one is far from the best I've had. Very simple.
Chocolate almond: 4/5
They sure like their crispy cookies here. This one's just got a Dutch chocolate base with almonds strewn throughout. Simple, again.
Polo nero: 5/5
Another Dutch cocoa cookie, this time dipped in chocolate. This chocolate tastes a little different. I can't put my finger on it but it may be Belgian chocolate actually.
Almond meringue: 4.5/5
This one is soft but more in a macaron sense than a typical chewy cookie. It's got powdered sugar and almonds on top and it's filled with I believe an apricot filling. Very unique.
Spiral cookie: 3.5/5
Essentially just a shortbread cookie with a cocoa powder swirl. Nothing special, nothing great.
Polo horseshoe: 5/5
A soft, crumbly butter cookie dipped in chocolate with more apricot filling. The texture of this one really is what makes it great. An unexpected favorite.
Konditorei has a small selection of truffles. Four to be exact. They're almost two bucks each and somehow more if you buy them by the box because they charge (way too much, in my opinion) for the box as well. I got them individually (and I still think they're way too much since they're competing with the exclusively chocolatier Ginger Elizabeth).
There's four flavors: cognac, creme de fraise, coruba rum, and grand marnier. Yes, lots of liquor. Alcohol and chocolate, the perfect pair. What can I say. They're all really good in their own way. To be honest I couldn't distinguish which was which (besides the obviously orange-flavored grand marnier) but suffice it to say these are well done. Are they worth $1.75 each though? Ehhhh... I dunno about that.
On to the good stuff: the pastries! Box by box, here's the breakdown.
From top left clockwise:
Almond croissant: 3/5
This would've been a lot better had they put a decent amount of filling in it but there's barely any. If you look inside it's kinda pathetic actually. But it is huge. It's pretty much just a croissant with a hint of almonds on top and a hint of almond paste inside.
Cherry vanilla danish: 4.5/5
The clear winner in this box by both judges. It's creamy, gooey, sweet, yet tart, and the danish is moist on the bottom where the filling is.
Marmor schnitte (coffee cake): 3.5/5
A basic plain marble cake. It's sweet but it's very simple.
Apple strudel: 1.5/5
Just no. No flavor here to be spoken of. It comes with vanilla cream but we got it to go so we didn't get that. The apple is bland, the nuts are bland, the whole thing is just bland and not sweet and pass.
Cheese danish: 4/5
A solid danish, same texture and flavor as the croissant but with a sweet cream cheese filling. Not too much in there once again but it's at least noticeable this time. They sure don't put much filling in their pastries.
Next up, another batch of delicious (hopefully) pastries.
(from top left clockwise)
Marzipan chocolate chip coffee cake: 4/5
Another plain ol' coffee cake but this time with chocolate chips. I'm a sucker for chocolate chips and chocolate in general so this is good. It's got some almonds on top but I can't detect marzipan.
Rhubarb tart: 4/5
Rhubarb is a sour fruit that comes in stalks, if you're unfamiliar. It's definitely got a different yet very recognizable flavor and most people either like it or they don't. I do. If you're a fan, this tart's got plenty of rhubarb as you can see.
Zwetchgenfleck (plum cake): 2.5/5
A very subtle-tasting fruit, and it's not very popular but it's simple. I dunno. Not much to this one.
Topfen strudel: 4.5/5
A dense strudel filled with quark cheese, which is like a less potent cottage cheese. It's very light in flavor but just the right amount of cheesy.
Apple croissant: 3.5/5
Once again it's a basic croissant with like a tablespoon of apple filling. While the filling is good, you can't have much of it so... yeah. Topped with chopped peanuts. Recommend avoiding their croissants in general due to lack of filling.
Mango vanilla danish: 4.5/5
Another delicious danish made with vanilla custard and mango this time. Mango is always bomb.
And the remainder of the pastry case.
Whole wheat peach vanilla danish: 5/5
Who woulda thought making a danish with whole wheat would be so good? This was the underdog favorite in this box (for me anyway). The grainy flavor makes the danish very satisfying. They have this flavor as a regular danish but really: get the whole wheat.
Cinnamon roll: 4.5/5
Pretty good as far as cinnamon rolls go. It's just a flaky roll with cinnamon filling. It's got a bit of a "tang" to it somehow, like it's a little fruity. I dunno.
Puff pastry with strawberries: 4.5/5
Another simple flaky pastry, with rich vanilla custard and strawberries on top. Not much to it but it gets the job done.
Apricot krapfen: 5/5
A ora-fen must be like an Austrian doughnut. This jelly-filled doughnut was a nice, light delight, with just the right amount of filling. Also comes with vanilla inside instead.
Kaffee kuchen: 4.5/5
The best part of this is just the fruit that's on top. Peaches and cranberries. The bottom tastes like angel food cake. It's not bad but I'm not a huge fan of white cake.
Vanilla apple strudel: 4.5/5
A very eggy custard on top of which are some apple slices. The custard is the star player here for sure. The "crust" is aight.
Their desserts all have heavy cream in them (which means carrageenan - nasty stuff) except the esterhazy. So I just tried that and the fruit tart because, well, I can't resist a fruit tart.
Esterhazy: 4.5/5
The frosting on this looks like white chocolate but it tastes tangy somehow. Kinda like there's lemon in there maybe? Not sure but it's different. From there it's layer after layer of buttercream and walnuts. Not too sweet but definitely tastes sinful.
Fruit tart: 5/5
A lovely fruit tart with a great selection of fruit. The custard is sweet and creamy, the shell is yummy. One of my favorite fruit tarts in the Sacramento area.
Other desserts they offer include the lemon tart, Austrian cheesecake, and linzertorte (spice cake), among others.
Ordered a few of their loaves of bread to go...
Nussbrot (nut bread): 5/5
I had no idea how big this loaf would be when I ordered it. It's like a cake. It'll set you back almost fifteen bucks too. Pretty much a dessert bread I'd say. It's sweet, moist, yet light and flaky, and it's full of a kind of sweet walnut paste reminiscent of baklava. It's delicious. I'll take this over dessert any day. Warm it up and it's even better.
Strawberry bread: 4.5/5
Another huge loaf, this time with peanuts on top instead of almonds. Strawberry preserves aren't generally something you'd expect in bread, though it makes sense with the whole PB&J thing. It's just not common here. But it works. It makes it a light, somewhat dessert-y kind of bread, similar to the nussbrot. The actual bread is very fluffy and a bit like sweet bread in flavor but not quite. The peanuts on top are kinda random though. Personally think almonds would've been a better choice.
Apple cinnamon walnut bread: 5/5
Like a cross between a cinnamon roll and apple pie, but in slices. The same bread base as the others but with cinnamon and gooey apples mixed in. Tastes even better out of the microwave where it gets nice and gooey. Didn't taste any walnuts though.
Vanilla chocolate bread: 5/5
The same sweet bread base but with a hint of vanilla, plus chocolate on top and throughout. It's another dessert bread and, though simple on the outside, tastes amazing. Once again warm this up for the full experience.
The service here is superb. Incredibly nice people who remember your name and are glad to help you with any questions. They even brought out ingredients for me to look at just to make sure I wouldn't react to anything.
experience: 5/5
overall: 4.5/5
When the quarantine blues were getting me down and I was housebound with a high temperature of Cabin Fever, my mom and I decided to venture out a little bit and try a bakery out of town. I had this one down as a place of interest and figured now was as good as ever to try some interesting new carb concoctions. So off we went to Davis, only to land in this little patisserie-cafe which has a whole lot to offer. They have a restaurant menu but I'm gonna focus on the baked goodies since that was what was available at the time (and yes, we partook... even after the quarantine was over).
First, cookies. Cookies are like my signature junk food. They're so easy to just pick one up and pop in your mouth. And then another and another and yeah. We tried most of their cookie specialties, namely the baggie of snickerdoodles and the sampler pack.
Snickerdoodles: 4.5/5
These are more like crackers than cookies to be honest. They're small, one- or two-bite cookies and they do have the authentic snickerdoodle flavor. I just like a soft, chewy snickerdoodle personally but flavor-wise these definitely will do in a pinch.
The sampler pack consisted of the following, from bottom counter-clockwise (just to be different):
Chocolate chip: 3.5/5
Another crispy cookie. Flavorwise though this one is far from the best I've had. Very simple.
Chocolate almond: 4/5
They sure like their crispy cookies here. This one's just got a Dutch chocolate base with almonds strewn throughout. Simple, again.
Polo nero: 5/5
Another Dutch cocoa cookie, this time dipped in chocolate. This chocolate tastes a little different. I can't put my finger on it but it may be Belgian chocolate actually.
Almond meringue: 4.5/5
This one is soft but more in a macaron sense than a typical chewy cookie. It's got powdered sugar and almonds on top and it's filled with I believe an apricot filling. Very unique.
Spiral cookie: 3.5/5
Essentially just a shortbread cookie with a cocoa powder swirl. Nothing special, nothing great.
Polo horseshoe: 5/5
A soft, crumbly butter cookie dipped in chocolate with more apricot filling. The texture of this one really is what makes it great. An unexpected favorite.
Konditorei has a small selection of truffles. Four to be exact. They're almost two bucks each and somehow more if you buy them by the box because they charge (way too much, in my opinion) for the box as well. I got them individually (and I still think they're way too much since they're competing with the exclusively chocolatier Ginger Elizabeth).
There's four flavors: cognac, creme de fraise, coruba rum, and grand marnier. Yes, lots of liquor. Alcohol and chocolate, the perfect pair. What can I say. They're all really good in their own way. To be honest I couldn't distinguish which was which (besides the obviously orange-flavored grand marnier) but suffice it to say these are well done. Are they worth $1.75 each though? Ehhhh... I dunno about that.
On to the good stuff: the pastries! Box by box, here's the breakdown.
Almond croissant: 3/5
This would've been a lot better had they put a decent amount of filling in it but there's barely any. If you look inside it's kinda pathetic actually. But it is huge. It's pretty much just a croissant with a hint of almonds on top and a hint of almond paste inside.
Cherry vanilla danish: 4.5/5
The clear winner in this box by both judges. It's creamy, gooey, sweet, yet tart, and the danish is moist on the bottom where the filling is.
Marmor schnitte (coffee cake): 3.5/5
A basic plain marble cake. It's sweet but it's very simple.
Apple strudel: 1.5/5
Just no. No flavor here to be spoken of. It comes with vanilla cream but we got it to go so we didn't get that. The apple is bland, the nuts are bland, the whole thing is just bland and not sweet and pass.
Cheese danish: 4/5
A solid danish, same texture and flavor as the croissant but with a sweet cream cheese filling. Not too much in there once again but it's at least noticeable this time. They sure don't put much filling in their pastries.
Next up, another batch of delicious (hopefully) pastries.
Marzipan chocolate chip coffee cake: 4/5
Another plain ol' coffee cake but this time with chocolate chips. I'm a sucker for chocolate chips and chocolate in general so this is good. It's got some almonds on top but I can't detect marzipan.
Rhubarb tart: 4/5
Rhubarb is a sour fruit that comes in stalks, if you're unfamiliar. It's definitely got a different yet very recognizable flavor and most people either like it or they don't. I do. If you're a fan, this tart's got plenty of rhubarb as you can see.
Zwetchgenfleck (plum cake): 2.5/5
A very subtle-tasting fruit, and it's not very popular but it's simple. I dunno. Not much to this one.
Topfen strudel: 4.5/5
A dense strudel filled with quark cheese, which is like a less potent cottage cheese. It's very light in flavor but just the right amount of cheesy.
Apple croissant: 3.5/5
Once again it's a basic croissant with like a tablespoon of apple filling. While the filling is good, you can't have much of it so... yeah. Topped with chopped peanuts. Recommend avoiding their croissants in general due to lack of filling.
Mango vanilla danish: 4.5/5
Another delicious danish made with vanilla custard and mango this time. Mango is always bomb.
And the remainder of the pastry case.
Whole wheat peach vanilla danish: 5/5
Who woulda thought making a danish with whole wheat would be so good? This was the underdog favorite in this box (for me anyway). The grainy flavor makes the danish very satisfying. They have this flavor as a regular danish but really: get the whole wheat.
Cinnamon roll: 4.5/5
Pretty good as far as cinnamon rolls go. It's just a flaky roll with cinnamon filling. It's got a bit of a "tang" to it somehow, like it's a little fruity. I dunno.
Puff pastry with strawberries: 4.5/5
Another simple flaky pastry, with rich vanilla custard and strawberries on top. Not much to it but it gets the job done.
Apricot krapfen: 5/5
A ora-fen must be like an Austrian doughnut. This jelly-filled doughnut was a nice, light delight, with just the right amount of filling. Also comes with vanilla inside instead.
Kaffee kuchen: 4.5/5
The best part of this is just the fruit that's on top. Peaches and cranberries. The bottom tastes like angel food cake. It's not bad but I'm not a huge fan of white cake.
Vanilla apple strudel: 4.5/5
A very eggy custard on top of which are some apple slices. The custard is the star player here for sure. The "crust" is aight.
Their desserts all have heavy cream in them (which means carrageenan - nasty stuff) except the esterhazy. So I just tried that and the fruit tart because, well, I can't resist a fruit tart.
Esterhazy: 4.5/5
The frosting on this looks like white chocolate but it tastes tangy somehow. Kinda like there's lemon in there maybe? Not sure but it's different. From there it's layer after layer of buttercream and walnuts. Not too sweet but definitely tastes sinful.
Fruit tart: 5/5
A lovely fruit tart with a great selection of fruit. The custard is sweet and creamy, the shell is yummy. One of my favorite fruit tarts in the Sacramento area.
Other desserts they offer include the lemon tart, Austrian cheesecake, and linzertorte (spice cake), among others.
Ordered a few of their loaves of bread to go...
Nussbrot (nut bread): 5/5
I had no idea how big this loaf would be when I ordered it. It's like a cake. It'll set you back almost fifteen bucks too. Pretty much a dessert bread I'd say. It's sweet, moist, yet light and flaky, and it's full of a kind of sweet walnut paste reminiscent of baklava. It's delicious. I'll take this over dessert any day. Warm it up and it's even better.
Strawberry bread: 4.5/5
Another huge loaf, this time with peanuts on top instead of almonds. Strawberry preserves aren't generally something you'd expect in bread, though it makes sense with the whole PB&J thing. It's just not common here. But it works. It makes it a light, somewhat dessert-y kind of bread, similar to the nussbrot. The actual bread is very fluffy and a bit like sweet bread in flavor but not quite. The peanuts on top are kinda random though. Personally think almonds would've been a better choice.
Apple cinnamon walnut bread: 5/5
Like a cross between a cinnamon roll and apple pie, but in slices. The same bread base as the others but with cinnamon and gooey apples mixed in. Tastes even better out of the microwave where it gets nice and gooey. Didn't taste any walnuts though.
Vanilla chocolate bread: 5/5
The same sweet bread base but with a hint of vanilla, plus chocolate on top and throughout. It's another dessert bread and, though simple on the outside, tastes amazing. Once again warm this up for the full experience.
The service here is superb. Incredibly nice people who remember your name and are glad to help you with any questions. They even brought out ingredients for me to look at just to make sure I wouldn't react to anything.
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