With the best butter, everything is good or so the plates tell me at Bijoux de Beurre Échiré. Located in the newly-opened Earth Dining complex on Sukhumvit 63, the patisserie, viennoiserie and boulangerie is in "the business of selling butter, in all forms" as head pastry chef Champ Phanichkul tells me.
If the name reads familiar, it's because Champ is the owner and chef at Patisserie Rosie Bangkok, which opened in 2014. But back to Bijoux de Beurre Échiré, which is the bakery of the famous French butter brand. It first opened in Japan, only to become famous and in Bangkok it aims at doing the same. The blue tones and wood furniture interiors with massive French windows give the café an airy feel and one can easily spend an entire day there, if it weren’t for the calories you’ll be consuming. But, butter is the good fat, right?
And good fat is in the croissants, which use 65% butter. “Any more and we’ll have butter all over the place,” laughs chef Champ. Croissant aux amandes or almond croissants are a popular choice, though I rather eat a Croissant excellence d’Échiré so I can get the true taste of the good fat. For those with a sweet tooth, there are Croissants aux fraises (strawberry croissants) or the classic Croissants au chocolat, which are my favourite sweet kind.
What makes the butter so special is that it comes from the Échiré village in the Deux-Sèvres region of France and is a co-operative founded in 1894. The milk comes from 60 members within a 50km radius, whose cows eat the same grass in the same climate, and the production is supervised by a master butter maker. It derives its unique taste and texture from the churning of the creams in teak wood churns, making Échiré one of the last co-operatives to do so. The butter is certified AOP.
The bakery also offers pastries like Kouign-amann, which is filled with apple and black currants. Really sugary, buttery and sweet! Don’t forget to try the St Honore from Uji, Japan, and the chef’s special: the Flan a la vanille.
“We just opened and so we plan to have more desserts and seasonal pastries. We will have quiches and sandwiches, with the lowest hanging fruit being something as simple as a Jamon beurre with Paris ham, since we already bake our own breads,” says chef Champ.
The bakery also plans to open earlier in the day (currently it opens 9am-6pm and is closed on Monday) to attract the breakfast crowd. What’s better than a hot coffee and a warm croissant first thing in the morning? A warm croissant oozing Échiré butter, of course! Call 094-520-6644.
