The “little taste of France” located near the University Center, La Gourmandine is a place worth visiting. This small bakery Is not only convenient and delicious, but the workers are fantastic people.

My favorites are the marquise, the éclair, and any of their chocolate or regular croissants. I’ve tried the tarte au citron and if it wasn’t for me, for a lemon lover it would be. The only thing I definitely do not recommend is the choux à la crème. When I ordered this, I was expecting something like a cream puff with a pudding filling but was sorely disappointed to receive a mouthful of whipped cream. There are far better things on the menu to try than this.

Inside the shop, the scent of coffee and freshly baked bread wafts out into the city; as it should. While I can’t speak for the other four locations, the one downtown is quaint. It’s colorful and homey, and the company has done a good job creating a brand for itself. The place is always bustling and full of life and most days it can be quite difficult to order any soup or a sandwich.

La Gourmandine has my full adoration, yet it has its faults. Around lunchtime, if you don’t arrive early enough, they always run out of their soup, and by the time most classes end most lunch items are sold out.

Last semester I would sometimes go before class to get a bagful of chouquettes. A pastry made like a cream puff, but without the filling. It’s sweet, airy, and was sometimes the only thing that kept me awake in information technology class. For a whole bag of these things, it’s not a bad price. But after leaving the bakery they gradually become soggier over time.

If you have some extra cash, the best sweet to get is a macaron aux fruit. The pink cookie is deceiving, I’m not sure what I expected it to taste like; yet, after getting through the nougat-like outer shell it tasted like a sweet bowl of fresh fruit. At first, it tasted of apples, then raspberries, then citrus. It was quite exquisite. I recommend trying this over any other types of macarons first.

There are many other pastries and sweets that I have yet to try. You’re getting what you pay for, so in my opinion, La Gourmandine is affordable. When I say that this food is quality, I mean it. It’s a great place to crack open a laptop and focus on work. There is a high volume of businesspeople that frequent the place, and you’ll see lots of college students and tourists too.