Also, a little fun fact: Belgium produces about 220,000 tons of chocolate a year!!! I can see why, because it’s absolutely delicious.

I spent about a week in the city of Liège. You can read about my related post about Belgium here. It’s a small city located in the Wallonia (French speaking region of Belgium). The city is close to the borders of the Netherlands and Germany. The climate here is a bit overcast at times and is like the Seattle, Washington area. Since it rains quite often here, you’ll notice the lush greenery of the country. And if you’re from California like me, where it’s currently dry, you will find this to be a nice change of scenery.

I love baked goods, especially European ones, so one of my first indulgences while on vacation is to try pastries and other sweets. If you’ve never had European desserts or bakery items from France of Belgium, you’ll note they don’t taste overly sweet or sugary (most of the time). This is what I like about their pastries.

I was lucky enough to be staying with my boyfriend’s family. Of course, I asked my boyfriend for recommendations regarding good bakeries in the neighborhood. He immediately told me about a local bakery, named Delecta, which was within walking distance from where we were staying. He said his grandparents and family had been frequenting this bakery for many years. We were immediately greeted upon arrival and we had the hard choice of deciding what delectable items to purchase.

I’m highlighting some of the items we can’t get in the United States and I thought were unique.

FRANGIPANE:

This is typically a baked good with almond flavoring. The almond flavoring in this was interesting and unique. I’ve never had any other almond-flavored food with this taste. The almond flavor was strong, not overpowering, but great. I also loved the icing on top of the pastry. This pastry was my favorite!

MOCHA:

This had a light mocha flavor which was not overpowering and was not overly sweet. I also like the assortment of nuts surrounding the pastry.

CANARD:

I had to get this because it was too cute! It’s in the shape of a duck! It basically was filled with cream and some puff pastry for the base and amidst the body of the pastry were some chocolate shavings sprinkled about. The top of the duck had caramelized sugar and was hard to keep the duck-like shape.

We also got some regular and chocolate croissants(oh the Belgian chocolate!). There’s also another goodie included (can’t remember the name). The long rectangular bar was very dense and had some raisins in it.

There were many other items to try, but I think we got enough to satisfy our cravings at that moment.

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Business Information:

Delecta Bakery

Rue Puits-en-Sock 84 4020 Liège Belgium

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After trying the baked goodies here, I must say this place is straight legit. The almond croissants I’ve been dreaming about (from a past trip to Paris) have come to America and they are awesome.

ALMOND CROISSANT

The almond croissant is hands-down my favorite. It’s a bit sweeter than the ones I tried in Paris, but has the same excellent flavor. The outside of the croissant has a nice sugary crust and the inside is very moist and has a nice buttery finish. I had leftovers (because these are big in size) and the croissant was still very moist inside.

CHOCOLATE CROISSANT

Since I love anything chocolate and baked, I had to try one of these croissants. There are huge chunks of dark and rich chocolate throughout the croissant and this also has a nice buttery finish. It’s not too sweet and is just right.

I’m interested in trying some of the other goodies here (since this bakery is in my neighborhood! Lucky me). The prices here not cheap. The average price per goodie is about $5, but sometimes quality trumps price in my opinion and you can taste the quality in these baked goods. The prices here are probably on par with other bakeries in the San Francisco area.

The bakery is closed on Mondays and open Tuesday through Friday from 7:00AM until 2:30PM and then from 8:00AM until 3:30pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Ariscault Bakery

397 Arguello Blvd.

San Francisco, CA 94118

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