Category Archives: Bakery

Bakery, Coffee & More, Desserts/Pastries, Middle Eastern

Arabella Cafe in Washington sq. mall

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I had to go back to this café for the 2nd time and try at least one of their hot beverages before I started blogging about them. Not the greatest blog intro but here I am, satisfied and excited that we have a posh café/bakery inside the Washington Square Mall in Tigard. Yes, we definitely needed one of these in this area.

Arabella Cafe in Washington Sq. Mall, Tigard, OR

Arabella is my new favorite place to hang out with friends, kids, or just to enjoy some masala tea by myself when in the mall. With it’s luxurious look and cozy atmosphere, it didn’t take much for the people to flock to this café in no time. Man, it was crowded this Saturday evening when my friend and I met up there. We had some sweet cheese bites and a Jordanian pastry. My friend ordered some of their decadent chocolates to go with her Turkish coffee and my “Karak” tea.

This was not my first time in Arabella. My daughter and I were shocked when we went to the mall few weeks ago and saw this brand new stylish place right outside the Macy’s. The grand opening was just couple weeks before our visit. After going inside the store, we discovered this is not your normal, every day coffee place. This had a unique Middle Eastern cultural touch in every corner. A big mural on the center wall, a history on the Jordanian town called “Arabella” on one side, gorgeous front-desk with varieties of chocolates individually packed as your front focal point, a marble table displaying different kinds of sweets on another side, and finally, a barista station where you get your exotic coffees from. Oh, if you are not in the mood for any drinks or chocolates, then at least go inside for all the gift items they have to offer, like chocolate boxes, Turkish coffee sets or Jordanian teapots, and tons of other stuff.

Arabella Cafe in Washington Sq. Mall, Tigard, OR

There are quite a few numbers of chairs and tables to sit down and enjoy your coffee/tea inside the store. What surprised me the most was that I knew the owner from way before and I even bought food from her few years ago at different community events. I was just thrilled to see that she and her husband established this beautiful eatery so close to me.

During the first visit with my older daughter, we picked 4-5 different kinds of cookies, sweets, and desserts. Usually they are mostly made from figs, dates, pistachios or various other similar dry ingredients. All of them were absolutely perfect…not too sweet nor too rich or too big. These are light and airy bites to go perfectly with their big selection of teas and coffees.

Arabella Cafe in Washington Sq. Mall, Tigard, OR

For now, I am waiting to take my younger daughter to Arabella, since she is the one in our family with a sweet tooth and I know she would love whatever they have on display when we go. But seriously, do check out this place…you won’t regret it. If anything you’ll thank me for introducing you to this one of a kind café in Portland.

PS. You can request to borrow one of their red Turkish/Sufi hats in case you want to take a selfie in it 😉

Bakery, Coffee & More, Desserts/Pastries

La Rosé Pâtisserie in Beaverton

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After coming back from Europe, I started to admire and respect local non-ordinary patisserie places with not-so-long menu of items but that has an elegant attitude towards fresh bakery. La Rose Patisserie in Beaverton, Oregon is one of those French/Asian patisserie spots that just showed up in my Google map when my friend and I were deciding where to go for some good pastries on a late Sunday afternoon.

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La Rose Patisserie in Beaverton, Oregon

Opened recently in 2019, La Rose Patisserie’s owner and baker is a graduate from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. This is a small  shop where you can get freshly baked French baked breads, very uniquely designed custom cakes, macaroons, exquisite pastries, different flavors of bubble teas, and other hot/cold drinks. The sitting arrangements inside may not be ideal for a large group or even more than couple small groups.

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La Rose Patisserie in Beaverton, Oregon

 

We picked up few different single-sized cakes, pastries, and macaroons.  While I personally didn’t try any macaroons, the way my friend’s kids almost finished the whole half a dozen macaroons box in just few minutes, tells me that they have to be very delicious.

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Mango-mango in La Rose Patisserie in Beaverton, Oregon

Some of the pastries we picked and tried were witch’s heart, honey-lavender white chocolate cake, Belgian white chocolate with raspberry cake, rainbow crepe cake, and mango-mango cake. To be very honest, EACH of those pastries that we picked were delightful in their own way. And I am not exaggerating when I say that each of those pastries had perfect textures, flavors, and just the right amount of sweetness. I am not a big fan of too rich or too sugary desserts with too much dairy or flour. The creamy consistency of these cakes were perfect combination of everything which will just melt in your mouths.

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Rainbow crepe layered cake in La Rose Patisserie in Beaverton, Oregon

I am eagerly waiting to take my kids here, I know they would go crazy looking at all the fancy shapes of cakes and delicacies that La Rose has to offer to their customers. Oh, and I can’t wait to order one of their custom made birthday cakes either…they all looked fabulously fantastic.

American, Bakery, Sandwich

Great Harvest Bread Co. in Downtown

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It is that time of the year for the ugly sweater contest and cookie exchange at my job. I am not a baker and didn’t even have time to bake last night. Therefore, the hunting for a cookie place begins. A block away from my work on the 2nd Street in Portland Downtown, there is a bread and bakery place, called Great Harvest Bread Co. It’s time to put them to test (muhahaha).

Great Harvest Bread Co. in Portland Downtown
Great Harvest Bread Co. in Portland Downtown

This is a little corner bakery shop with few other locations in Oregon, including one in Clackamas, Oregon. As soon as you enter the shop, you see all sorts of different breads and cookies being displayed. It looked like couple of their specialties are fresh milled and grind wheat bread and fresh challah bread. YUMMM. FYI, I’ve made challah bread before…my kids loved it. But then again, who doesn’t like freshly made warm bread right out of the oven???

Great Harvest Bread Co. in Portland Downtown
Great Harvest Bread Co. in Portland Downtown

I was in there for some holiday cookies and from many options, I  picked 1 ½ dozens of eggnog snickerdoodles. They also had oatmeal, chocolate mint, and tons of other cookies in the selections. But remember, these are jumbo sized cookies…bigger the better.

My jumbo sized snickerdoodles from Great Harvest Bread Co.

If you are not up for breads or cookies, maybe try one of their sandwiches, which would be my next adventure in this restaurant. There are only few high chairs to really sit down and have a meal. Most of the customers were there to buy different breads or grab a to-go cookie. But yeh, I would go back there to get some sandwich breads next time and try the chocolate mint cookies, because you can never go wrong with chocolate and mint together.