Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Hawaii Bakeries~Fendu Boulangerie; Las Vegas Bakeries~ Bouchon

I really wanted to check out Fendu Boulangerie when I was back home in Hawaii after I had read the reviews on yelp. Mike and I checked out this bakery late one afternoon after I had visited some of my undergrad professors at UH-Manoa.
Fendu Boulangerie is a relatively new French bakery located in Manoa Marketplace. It's a cute little bakery with very friendly staff.
There were a couple of people there who were waiting for their pizza orders. I guess pizza is the thing to order at Fendu. The pizzas range from $12.50-17.00/ 14" pizza, and $7.50-10.50/8" pizza. The pizza choices sounded amazing: Firecracker Shrimp pizza (with jalapeno peppers, fresh tomatoes, and sour cream), Cilantro chicken pizza (with white truffle oil, sauteed shallots, tomato sauce, and brie cheese). The pizza smelled so good that Mike and I would have ordered one. But we had dinner plans with my parents, so we couldn't arrive full.

According to Mike, this was "one good chocolate cookie." It was crispy on the inside and chewy on the inside. I really enjoyed this cookie too because of the gooey-ness of the chocolate. Only downside of the cookie was that it contained macnuts (okay, this is not a bad thing for the majority of the world, but I prefer chewy cookies to not have nuts in them).
We also purchased a lychee strudel danish. I mainly bought it because I've never seen lychee incorporated into a pastry before and I love lychee. The pastry was light and tasty, but the mild flavor of lychee was lost in the overall effect of the danish. Props for the concept of a lychee pastry, but these types of pastries need stronger flavored fruits like apples or apricots.
Moving on to Bouchon. Bouchon is owned by Thomas Keller (of the famed French Laundry). While I was back in Hawaii, Mike and I dog-sat at home while my parents went on a trip to the mainland. One of their stops was Las Vegas (that's where my sister lives), so I was lucky that my super nice sister bought a bunch of pastries from Bouchon. She took a few pictures of them, but I couldn't open the images that she had emailed me.
So what did she buy? Macaroons (Pink-Raspberry, Yellow-Lemon, Cream-Vanilla, Orange-Orange, Tan-Mocha, Brown-Chocolate), the nutter butter (think a peanut butter cookie sandwich), the TKO (Thomas Keller Oreo), and a chocolate cupcake. Mmmm....yumminess!
I cannot wait until I visit my sister later on this year. She's planning out all the restaurants and bakeries we'll check out. My sister was never a foodie, but this year she's slowly becoming one.



Fendu Boulangerie
Manoa Marketplace (closer to Long's)
2752 Woodlawn Dr. #5-119
Honolulu, HI 96822
(808)988-4310

Bouchon
The Venetian Hotel
3355 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 414-6200

6 comments:

K and S said...

great looking macarons & I will note that bakery in manoa :)

shayna said...

i'm near the bakery but i still haven't been there! i have been to bouchon (all those miles away) though! i'm not much of a breakfast person, but i did enjoy their french toast. it was more like a bread pudding ...maybe that's why!

Lori said...

Seeing that lychee danish is also a first for me!

genkitummy said...

kat-the bakery is worth a visit. but there probably are a lot of other places you'd enjoy more.

shayna-you've been to bouchon? you're so lucky! i think I'll make my sister take me there when I go in september.

lori-me too. it's interesting to try, and the pastry portion is really delicious!

Chou said...

I love bakery tours. I want to do one with you. :)

Diana said...

Oooh Bouchon! You guys lucked out :)