La Madeleine Bakery Bistro, Georgetown, D.C.

After finishing our dinner at Vietnam Georgetown, we walked across the street to La Madeleine Bakery Bistro for dessert. La Madeleine is actually a national franchise based in Dallas with about a half dozen stores in the D.C. metro area alone; even though they are a chain restaurant, their decor feels very homey and almost too original to be a national design. The best way to describe the food here is to say it's a French version of a fast food restaurant. The boulangerie includes all manner of French breads and rolls, filled croissants, and a big selection of French and European desserts. The bistro has quick-to-make salads plus quiches, gallettes, pochettes, and friands, all of which are really eat-in-hand items (though one is permitted to use a fork), some crêpes, and sandwiches. In the evenings, the bistro features country French style plats, though I didn't see anyone in the restaurant eating those. There is also a coffee bar with both hot and cold drinks. Prices for all seemed quite moderate.

As we were there just for dessert, we didn't try any of the food or breads. Leo selected a fine looking slice of Sacher torte and a glass of raspberry lemonade. I had a big individual fresh fruit tart with a cafe chocolat frappé (coffee, chocolate syrup, and ice put through a blender and topped with whipped cream). My tart was quite nice, starting with a very thin chocolate cookie molded into a bowl shape, then filled with a smooth crème patisserie and topped with blueberries, grapes, kiwifruit slices, mandarin oranges, and sliced strawberries.



We chose La Madeleine for dessert since Vietnamese food is very heavily influenced by French cuisine, especially since the long French occupation of Indochina during the middle part of the 20th century.