Cho Pain Bakery - Victoria

Loved this place, the display of colorful pastries pulls you in off the street and once you are in its brilliant. We had finished dinner a block away and were very full but walking past the display grabbed us and we got a fruit tart, strawberry cheesecake and lemon tart to take away for later. We were served by a really nice French couple who chatted away as they boxed up the goodies. We ended up splitting each of the pastries as after dinner treats at home over the next three days and everything was delicious, and not too sweet. I'm normally not a dessert guy but I will be back for more. If you have trouble deciding between the regular sized pastries they have miniature versions you can select three for the same price as a single regular sized pastry.

I've said Cho pain is average. That's simply because I have had mixed visits. On the whole I think the place is great. Lots of beautiful cakes and pastries displayed in shiny glass cabinets. You can see stacks of croissants getting ready to be baked in the back. Beautiful.Sometimes I feel though, the service lacks luster. The folk at the till seem hashed. Yesterday, the server forgot to give my boyfriend his change, no big thing, but then she blamed her absent mindedness on her colleague who'd asked her a question while serving us. I've worked in coffee shops so I know it can be stressful. I've probably forgotten to give people their change more often than her, but people in general don't mind (providing they get it back). Anyway, that is a very small thing. Other times I have just found the staff a little cold..The vegetarian and the salmon sandwiches are both awesome. I haven't tried the onion soup because the only time I fancied it they didn't have any. One day I'll be back to try it!Also it's one of the few places in Vancouver I've found which gives you a pot of tea!

Good points are : The food and beverages are in deed delicious, baked just like in French's bakeries ( And I'm french and I used to work in bakeries :) ), it is also always clean and what I liked the most is that every unsold loaf od bread are given away to charities at the end of the day!Bad points are : The owner is one of the most racist guy i've ever met, treat employees like ****, humiliates them in front of customers sometimes, I felt sorry for them. Worth boycotting!

Both my wife and I truly enjoyed our breakfast there.Great buttery and flakey croissants...plain, almond, chocolate, ham.Enjoyed their mini baguette with butter and jam.Good selection of quiches. Excellent cappuccino and cafe latte.We also bought various petit four and cakes for friends and family that we were visiting.

Good breakfast fare, reasonably priced.__We go for breakfast every couple of weekends.