Le Brunch du Dimanche: Les Halles
Boulangerie & Patisserie
27 January 2013
Back in September, we explored the
Boulangerie Patisserie France Bakery in Epcot, and with the new
year comes the new Les Halles Boulangerie & Patisserie, now located
in the rear building that also holds the gift shop and exit to the
Impressions de France attraction. The move more than doubled the
size of the bakery, expanded the pre-existing seating area, and
added restrooms.

The look and feel of the new
bakery reminds me a lot of Penn Station in
Manhattan: a bustling and busy cafe with diners
going in and out in the middle of a busy
underground. Some may sit and chat over cafe
and pastries with companions or stand at a
high table for a quick on the go meal. This
design seems appropriate as the name 'Les Halles'
refers to a marketplace that opened in the 16th
century that was later converted into an on open
air, yet below street level shopping precinct in
Paris in which the central station for Paris's
commuter rail system lies beneath.

The posters on the back wall of the dining area
make it seem like a turn of the century metro
station

The wall by the cutlery station gives further
indication of an underground marketplace 'Les
Ventre de Paris' translates into Belly of Paris

No Translation needed for this

Get a spoon and learn French!
For those who've frequented the
previous version of the France Bakery, guests to
the new one will feel an immediate sense of
openness and comfort as a large portion of the
new bakery holds a queue and again two sides in
which to view and order the bakery's goodies.
While the building and some decor maintains the
classic architecture of a centuries old city,
digital screen menus and other touches give the
bakery a feel that modernism and technology has
brought the bakery from a past era into the
future.

The bakery

Digital menus

Some modern art with bread

A walk-up counter for hot beverages

New open kitchen let's you see your meal baked
before you

French cook Morgan brulees the creme
More space, more technology,
what about the food? Well it seems like the
majority of the favorites from the former bakery
have survived the move, while new entrees and
some new desserts were also discovered. An
assortment of salads was added to the menu as
well as some hot and cold sandwiches.

Quiche and Croissant Sandwiches
return with new entree salads such as the Salade
Lyonnaise and Salade Nieoise. In addition to hot
and cold baguette sandwiches, one sure to be new
favorite the Croque Monsieur, a French cafe
classic, is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.
My friend and frequent dining companion Bekah
ordered the croque and it was simple and plain,
white bread with ham and cheese (which I'm
guessing was gruyere cheese) and tasted exactly
what it was described as. The new Be Our
Guest restaurant in New Fantasyland at the
Magic Kingdom also has a croquet monsieur, which
is better in my opinion.

Fancy gold trays add a touch of French elegance
to your quick caf' meal
We also tried the Brioche de
sucre and the raspberry mousse dessert (Framboise).
For a brioche, we found the rich egg bread to be
quite dry, but the coarse sugar crystals on top
added a nice crunch of sweetness to the
otherwise dull bread. I'm hoping we just got a
fluke roll as brioche is usually rich and
tender. The Framboise was a delicious and tart
mousse, not for those craving sweet. On my most
recent trip, my friend Randi tried the new
Napoleon, now in a smaller portion with an
elegant wrapper. She loves sweets and was a bit
dissatisfied that this Napoleon did not appease
her sweet tooth, but still the dessert was good
and of the high quality one expects at Disney.

Brioche de sucre

Napoleon!
With just two visits to the new
bakery this year, I've tried some new things I
found to be great to just okay and was pleased
to have some old favorites. I hope to try all
the new items as the pumpkin soup caught my eye
last trip. We'll learn more about those on
future Sunday Brunches, but for now enjoy this
feast for the eyes!


Exotique - a mango and coconut mousse cake



Duo au chocolat - white and chocolate mousse cake