Le Mercredi est Jour de Gâteau

The Apple Garden Café on Rue Gambetta

So this week, Allison and I decided to check out a new café she'd walked past with her host family. It was called 'Apple Garden Café'on Rue Gambetta. We went on Wednesday afternoon (fast becoming cake day), while Aurianne was asleep in the pram.

It was a lovely little café. Very clean and bright, with artwork in English and a bookshelf with lots of English books on it.

At first, we were a bit confused as to whether we ordered from the table or the counter (most cafés seem to be from the table), but no one came over and there was no menu... Also, all the cakes were in one of those glass display cases so we had to go up and have a look. We just ordered while we were over there.

The Apple Garden Café
(I believe that's the owner stood to
the right of the counter - Google tells me
his name is Derek Smith)

They didn't have quite the selection that some of the patisseries and cafés have, but it was more similar to a British café with a small selection (although the selection was more desserts than your custom shortbread and cakes that one might find in a café in the UK).

We went for 'Cheesecake Chocolat Blanc' and 'Panna Cotta Chocolat Noir'. They also had New York Cheesecake, which Allison (an American, albeit West Coast) had never heard of. Perhaps that's something we've created and given an American name? Like French toast - no one in France knows what French toast is supposed to be! Allison had also never heard of Panna Cotta, so I tried to explain that it was like a set custard cream dessert, probably from Italy (I got the origin right, but it's cream, egg white and honey according to Wikipedia!)

It was a good choice, (Allison was sad to realise they also had cookies but that we couldn't see them).

Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta (left)
and White Chocolate Cheesecake (right)

Aurianne isn't very well at the moment, and she woke up coughing after about 10 mins of sleep - not ideal, especially as she hadn't had a nap that morning. I then spent an hour trying to get her back to sleep (during which time she was fed cheesecake), and then she finally went back sleep again.

The (we think) owner came over to ask us how everything was - in English!! Allison didn't notice he was speaking English at first, but he was very nice. He had a (I think) French Canadian accent, so that would probably explain the English decor, and name of the Café. It was a very nice place though - it even has an outdoor patio (which lots of school kids went out to) which would be quite nice in the Summer!