La Baguette by R and M is a French bakery located in the School of Arts building at the Australian National University. It recently opened on Saturdays which is great news for the rest of Canberra that do not work near the ANU.
French pastries, baguettes and tarts are baked on site every day. The various tarts in the display cabinet look so luscious. The owners say they change up the specials each month.
The owner came out and explained each of the tarts to us and the various fillings used. I honestly can’t remember what was said but there was so much passion and love in the cooking process.
I first dined in at La Baguette early on a weekday morning. There was a croque monsieur + coffee special for $10, and that was what I ordered. The croque monsieur came with thick slices of white bread, ham, dijon and bechamel sauce. It was topped with melted cheese allowing a nice cheese string pull. Very tasty. The coffee was rather average but it was a good deal for $10. The display cabinet of tarts was mesmerising, and even though it was about 8 in the morning, I was going to have a slice of tart too. I chose the apple tart ($6.90) which was fresh, not too sweet, with a delicious pastry shell and soft buttery crumbly base. I didn’t think I’d eat it all, but it was so good and easy to polish off.
Since that outing, I’ve been meaning to go back for more but it didn’t happen until several months later. This time I was with two foodie friends Michelle from HerCanberra Food & Drink, and Tales of a Confectionist. We ordered baguettes for lunch – pulled lamb for two of us and a ham and tomato. The baguettes were $9.50 each or for an extra 50c, you could upgrade it with a soft drink can / bottle of water. The baguettes are delicious as were the fillings. The pulled lamb came with sundried tomatoes, house made mayo, dijon and salad.
But it was the dessert options that got me excited. With three of us sharing dessert, we chose a good range of tasty treats.
We picked the Normandy apple tart (different to the regular apple tart), pear and almond tart, cherry clafoutis, pineapple flan, almond croissant ($7.50), and a pain au chocolat.
The pear and almond tart was my favourite. A beautiful flavour of subtly sweet pear mixed with almond meal and a soft buttery tart shell. Best of all, it wasn’t too sweet. We are told La Baguette’s Normandy apple tart is the more traditional take and includes raisins and custard. I felt there were more raisins to apple, so it wasn’t my favourite kind of apple tart.
The gluten-free flan was denser than expected with sweetness from the pineapple. The cherry clafoutis was filled with a generous portion of cherries mixed into a flan-like custard base with a thin pastry shell. There was a nice sour and sweet balance to it. A clafoutis is meant to have a lot of fruit in it (traditionally cherries) and I really liked it.
The owner told us that their almond croissant is a traditional French almond croissant filled with a delicious oozy buttery yet sweet almond cream. I haven’t seen this almond cream style anywhere else in Canberra. It was delicious and I’ll be sure to order more in future. Quite pricey at $7.50 though.
I never order the pain au chocolat, although it is Mr FPJ’s favourite. This is because there’s a lot of pastry with the tiniest amount of chocolate. Yes the pastry was flakey and crunched when I sliced through it (to share with the others), but there’s always a minimal amount of chocolate.
Other pastries available that day were the chocolate swisse bread ($7.90), apple turnovers ($6 and there was only one left), lemon and cranberry scrolls ($6.50).
Apart from the original white French baguettes available for purchase, there were turmeric and coriander baguettes, and fig, garlic and cheese baguettes. I chose one of the latter to take home for a baguette sandwich dinner. (The flavoured baguettes also change each month).
It wasn’t too busy that Saturday at lunch time. It was lovely to speak to the owner about his products and to see the passion behind it. There are plenty of tables inside but it was great to sit outside in the courtyard.
There are also other lunch specials like the spiced lamb shank casserole. Yum!
Highly recommended if you’re in the area. Definitely try some of the tarts!
La Baguette by R & M
ANU School of Art and Design, Cnr Ellery Crescent and, Liversidge St, Acton
Opening hours:
Monday – Friday: 8.00am – 5.00pm
Saturday: 9.00am – 3.00pm
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