Belle Epoque Patisserie

Belle Epoque Patisserie
1000 Ann St, The Emporium, Fortitude Valley



We were hanging out in the valley looking through furniture shops last Sunday. Come noon, I started getting peckish and the old brain starts pondering the age old question: what to eat?



I hadn't been to The Emporium for a months. A long, long time ago, my family ate at the Belle Epoque restaurant there, which has since closed. It's a shame because I actually really liked it! A remnant remains: the Belle Epoque Patisserie. It's a little bakery slash cafe located next to The Emporium Hotel.

Box of macarons

The sweets section caught my eye before I even entered the building. I wasn't crazy about macarons when they first started getting popular (might be a personal vendetta I have against them after wasting $20 of almond meal in failed baking attempts) but suddenly, I got the craving. We all ordered a light lunch and I bought a box of six macarons to share.

Cappucino

Dad had a cappucino to wake himself up a bit. It was nice and foamy but we thought the cup was tiny. Dad doesn't have a 'slow' setting when it comes to ingestion and the coffee was up-ended under 2min.

Butter croissant

He also got a butter croissant. It was very soft and flakey with a crunchy shell.

Creamy tomato soup with sourdough

Mum was going to go with the coffee and cake but changed her order to the soup of the day. It was a roast tomato soup and came with a bit of sourdough. I tried some of the soup. It was really creamy and had a nice cream cheese flavor through it. I normally don't think much of tomato soup but this was a good one.

Chicken and bacon Turkish sandwich

For myself, I chose the chicken and bacon Turkish sandwich. It was packed with filling and had egg in there too.

Close-up of chicken Turkish

My problem with it is the chicken was overcooked and there wasn't a lot of sauce so the whole thing was very dry.

Pistachio macaron

What about the macarons? Well my pack of 6 had a few flavors: pistachio, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. The flavors were nice. My favorite was pistachio with the chocolate coming a close second.

Bite-shot of macaron

I found the texture of the actual macaron to be less appealing than Adriano Zumbo's. It wasn't as crunchy on the outside. I think it needs the crunch. The buttercream on the other hand was wonderful. It was really smooth and creamy in all the different flavors.


Belle Epoqute Patisserie is a nice cafe in a cushy part of the valley. We were sitting outside and it would've been nice to get some sunlight (it was on the shadey side of the Emporium) but that's not really the cafe's fault. I think it's a nice place to stop for a coffee, snack and chat.