Fougasse Boulangerie & Patisserie @ Pandan Indah

This boulangerie and patisserie is managed by the same people who started Levain Boulangerie & Patisserie.  They have since opened a couple of other bakery cum cafes, all with different names, such as Ficelli, Fougasse and Shakespeare, but serving almost similar food.

I had eaten at Levain a couple of times before (though finding parking space is a challenge) and now that they have opened a similar one in my neighbourhood, Fougasse Boulangerie & Patisserie @ Pandan Indah (in 2012), it has been so much more convenient for me.

 

Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked breads in the morning when you walk into a bakery shop.  Seeing freshly baked breads, cakes, pastries and sweets on the shelves is just warm and comforting.

 

I have been eating at Fougasse regularly as western breakfasts are one of my favourite things to eat.  However, since the beginning of this year, I've noticed that they have changed and/or refined some of the items on their menu.

 

Their western breakfasts have been streamlined to just 5 choices.  The English Breakfast @ RM14.80 comes with a choice of chicken ham or beef bacon, (not one but) half a sausage, tomato, mushrooms, baked beans and 2 slices of toasted bread.

 

The Croissant with Tuna & Mushrooms @ RM9.80 was served with a hash brown.  What's not to like, the croissant was buttery and fluffy, the tuna, mushrooms and sweet corn combination was delightful and the hash brown was rather crispy.  You can also opt for the Croissant with Scrambled Eggs which is also priced @ RM9.80.

 

The Mushroom Soup with Toasted Bread @ RM7.80 is creamy mushroom chicken soup with 2 slices of toasted bread for something light (if you don't want a heavy breakfast) and it's a great choice for kids too.

 

If you choose  one of the above breakfast sets, you can add on a cup of coffee or tea, hash brown or a mini salad for RM2.50.
 

You can also get a cheap (daily) breakfast set (inclusive of coffee or tea) for just RM10.90 (like this Egg Mayo & Smoked Chicken Ham Sandwich Croissant).

On a recent visit, I spotted something "new" on their menu and proceeded to order it...French Toast with Mushrooms & Spinach @ RM8.90.  This was how it looked like in the menu.  How many mushrooms can you count in the pic?  Didn't realise that it came with cheese.

This was what it looked like on the plate.  And how many mushrooms were actually on the dish (I counted)...just 7 pcs (from less than 2 mushrooms cut into quarters...what the....)!!  At RM8.90, surely they can afford to give us a few more mushrooms!

 

If I'm not in the mood for a breakfast set, I would normally get a Tuna & Ham Sandwich @ RM6.80 where you get 4 mini sandwiches (white and wholemeal bread) filled with a slice of ham and minced tuna with sweet corn on a bed of lettuce.  There are also other combinations of sandwiches you can choose from RM5.80.  If sandwiches are not your thing, you can also opt for a Potato Salad or a Caesar Salad, both priced @ RM5.50 each.

 

Some of our other favourite pastries would be the Croissant @ RM2.70 (so buttery and light), the Curry Beef Doughnut @ RM2.80 (the beef filling is tender/flavourful and the doughnut's exterior is slightly crisp), the Mini Pizzas @ RM4.90 (my husband's favourite) and the Octopus @ RM2.80 (otherwise commonly known as sausage bun but pay a bit more for extra 'cuteness').  As for the Chocolate Crunch @ RM3.30, I have never ordered them as I'm not into chocolate but couldn't resist taking a pic as they looked absolutely adorable!

For those of you who love doughnuts but can't have those sugar coated ones, I recently came across the Egg Mayo Donut @ RM2.80 which is savoury in nature.  Now you can enjoy the texture and taste of a doughnut but minus the sweetness.

 

Two of the drinks that I would usually order are Chilled Mango @ RM6.50 and Iced Caffe Latte @ RM8.50.

On a revisit.....does this look like an Iced Caffe Latte to you?  More like "Teh Tarik"...where's the coffee!  It was diluted with no coffee taste at all.

As for the dinner options, apart from their menu items of pasta and rice, they do offer dinner combos of lamb, chicken or fish.  All are priced @ RM19.80 and they come with a side of spaghetti (in mushroom or tomato sauce), fries and salad.  Don't know why they call it combos as nothing else comes with the main course.  Drinks and soups cost extra.

This is the Chicken Chop Combo @ RM19.80.  The chicken chop and the accompanying brown sauce with onions were ok (albeit just a tad salty) but everything else was not up to mark.  The spaghetti with mushrooms (not mushroom sauce) was quite oily (as it left a layer of grease on my lips).  The fries tasted powdery as they were of the frozen type and the Japanese soy dressing for the salad was too salty.

 

I also tried the Chicken Combo @ RM19.80 that came with the same unimpressive sides.  For this, you get a whole chicken leg (on the bone) instead of a deboned chicken thigh.  The sauce for this dish tasted more like our traditional sweet and sour sauce but lighter in colour, like a sweetened orange/honey sauce, which was quite nice.  Since the spaghetti with mushrooms didn't leave a good impression, I tried the tomato sauce version instead. It was just as disappointing.
 

 

As for the Fish Combo @ RM19.80, the fish was quite dry and (again) tasted like the frozen kind.  The tartar sauce that accompanied the fish was rather horrible as it had a 'metallic' taste to it (I just don't know how else to describe the taste).

The Fish Combo (hold the tartar sauce) can be quite inconsistent (just like their cooking), sometimes the fillet is in 2 small pieces and sometimes it's just one piece.

There's also a Lamb Combo @ RM19.80 and a Prawn Combo (New) @ RM22.80.  I have not sampled the Prawn Combo though I've tried the lamb (some time ago) and it tasted really awful (it was so tough).  If someone used that as a weapon of choice and flung it at you, it'll probably give you a concussion!
 

My Personal Opinion

As there are no other bakery cum cafés in my neighbourhood, I guess this will have to do when I need a western breakfast fix or some pastries/breads or just to relax over a cup of coffee. 

Can it rival some of the better western breakfasts that I've had?....not by a mile!  Price wise, they are not much cheaper as Fougasse's English Breakfast with additional Hash Brown costs RM17.30 and Antipodean's Big Breakfast costs RM20.  Which one would I rather have?  The one from Antipodean, hands down.

Still, their breakfast items fare much better (in terms of taste) than their dinner menu.  So, come for breakfast and forget about dinner.  [#Note: Seriously, there's a lack of western dining options in my housing area...arghh!]

Likes:  Definitely their croissant (their best item on the menu), simple salads and sandwiches, and any of their breakfast menu that has a croissant in it.

Dislikes:  Their dinner options...and the Chinese lady (who usually stands 'guard' at the bakery section but sometimes man the sales counter as well) with her unfriendly demeanour and service!
 

Fougasse Boulangerie & Patisserie
No 25G Jalan Pandan Indah 4/6A
Pandan Indah
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-4280 0618