Leah introduced me to Praliné a while back, and I almost wished she hadn’t. The French bakery puts out some of the most amazing desserts I’ve had. It’s a good thing that it isn’t closer to me, otherwise I might be 50 pounds heavier and broke. The lemon tart is sweet and tart, a fresh clean citrus taste to it.

The chocolate caramel tart is decadent – made with sweet almond dough and chocolate custard filling.

The small bakery has pastries, cookies, macarons and delicious chocolates. If you’re not near the Belmont area you can also pick up their sweet treats at George Howell Coffee in Downtown Crossing in the Godfrey Hotel.

Where’s your favorite bakery?

Praliné

203 Belmont Street, Belmont, MA

http://www.pralineconfection.com

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This summer Lady M Cake Boutique opened up on Newbury Street. This is the first Boston location for the brand, which has other outposts in New York, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The minimalist storefront has full cakes on display and you can order slices or full cakes from the window in the back. Lady M is known for their signature Mille Crêpes cakes, which feature no less than 20 paper thin handmade crepes layered with pastry cream. The Mille Crêpes cakes come in the original, green tea and chocolate flavors. See my post about my visit to Lady M (and the Mille Crêpes cake) in New York here.

Other flavors include: pumpkin nuage (fall only), flourless chocolate cake, and strawberry shortcake to name a few.

I couldn’t resist getting my favorite, the strawberry shortcake. As delicious as I remember it when I was in NY, so light and delicious. I also had a piece of the pumpkin cake which tasted like equal parts pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. Again, very light with a nice cinnamon flavor and a thin graham cracker crust.

The storefront has no seating, so it’s takeout only. Parking is on street at meters or in nearby garages.

Lady M Cake Boutique

304 Newbury Street, Boston, MA

https://www.ladym.com/

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I love a good restaurant rivalry. It’s like the New Haven pizza rivalry, are you a Pepe’s or a Sally’s? Here, it is the battle of the cannoli, are you a Mike’s Pastry or a Modern Pastry (maybe a Bova’s)? The shops are located across the street from one another in the North End and on any given day there is a line out the door and down the block. Mike’s seems to be more popular with the tourists and Modern with the locals. Both accept cash only. The Mike’s location in the North End is small, there are a few tables in the front and the counter is in the back. Half the fun is drooling over all the desserts in the case and deciding which one (or six) you want.

The Harvard Square location is even smaller than the North End location, with even fewer seats, mainly just a counter by the window. I was a little disappointed when I got there that they have all of the pastry in the back, and only one sample of each for “display only”.

I picked up a few cannolis and a cream puff. In my head I just felt like the cannolis were different – kind of like how the red and green pasta takes different than the regular pasta or how the pizza from any of the other Pizzaria Regina’s just doesn’t taste as good as the original. I’d go back in a pinch, the location is certainly a bit more convenient for me in Cambridge, but there is just something charming about the character of the North End location that you can’t replicate.

Mike’s Pastry

11 Dunster Street, Cambridge, MA

www.mikespastry.com

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