Craig C.
Yelp
Was searching for a traditional ham and cheese croissant, which means that both the ham and cheese should be rolled with the croissant, and baked to a golden flakiness.
Found Nuvrei. Cute looking place in downtown Portland. Looked promising.
I'm not sure what is going on in Portland with regards to a traditional ham and gruyere cheese croissant. It seems like baking a traditional croissant with the ham and cheese inside is a mystery to Baker's throughout Portland.
Instead, the majority seem to slice them open and add the ham and cheese as an afterthought, or worse, which I've experienced today at Nuvrei, is that they added mustard for some strange reason. Baffles the mind!
I specifically called ahead to see if they baked the ham and cheese inside the croissants, and was told a resounding yes, but when I got there, the very nice girl at the counter told me that they no longer do it that way, and the chefs feel this way is better. When I asked if I could question the chef about this, I was told that they never come up to interact with the customer. Also weird.
I also ordered a chocolate croissant, and came home to discover that the chocolate was almost nonexistent (see picture for details).
The cappuccino was decent, though a little more bitter than I prefer.
Sadly, I probably won't be returning to this place.
Will continue my search. It's almost like I'm Sir Gwain, looking for the holy Grail.
It's a shame that Portland does not understand how to make such a simple, traditional item, and instead puts a spin on redesigning something wonderful into something that is just meh. It's like getting rid of Pandora or Spotify and going back to 8-Track.