John L.
Yelp
The first Swiss Bakery opened in Burke, VA in 2001. It closed some time after this bakery opened in 2007. The owner is from Switzerland. My wife and I wanted to see what he offers in pastries and traditional Swiss dishes. The bakery had imported cheeses, wines, meats, and many other products imported from Europe. We made 2 visits because our first visit was after 2 pm and the kitchen was closed. We tried 10 items.
1) French Onion soup
Beef flavor broth with pieces of french bread and onion strips topped with melted Gruyère cheese. It had a nice balance of sweet onions, beef broth, and a mix of seasoning. A more savory beef flavor was needed. The onions were not caramelized, which means the soup was missing an important savory flavor. The gratinée was terribly made with very little browning, but the cheese tasted good. Overall, it was okay.
2) Berner Rosti
A traditional Swiss rösti (shredded potato cake with onion), topped with melted Swiss cheese, a sunny-side-up egg, and smoked bacon, served with brötchen. Brötchen is German for bread roll. It was a plain white bread with a hard exterior. The rösti was like a huge hash brown patty with diced onions and no seasoning. It was bland. The rest was typical. This dish was disappointingly plain.
3) Wurst platter
You get a choice of bauernwurst or bratwurst. It is served with brötchen and sauerkraut. I chose bauernwurst. It was firm, coarse ground pork and beef that was lightly smoked with a touch of spicy mustard. It was lightly broiled. Overall, the bauernwurst didn't have much flavor or savoriness. The sauerkraut was typical, and the roll was the same as above. This dish was disappointing compared to the one at Heidelberg pastry shoppe.
4) Apricot Jalousie
Sweet apricots and custard in a danish pastry. It was moderately sweet with good taste and texture in the candied apricots, smooth milky custard, and multilayer puff pastry.. I'm not a fan of apricots, but I could recommend this because it was well made and delicious.
5) Strawberry Eclair
A choux pastry sandwich with sliced fresh strawberries and sweet whipped cream. A simple dessert with a well- made choux pastry. It was light, airy, and moist inside with a flaky crisp exterior. The strawberries were fresh, but not sweet or sour. The whipped cream was fresh made but typical. This was decent tasting but not special.
6) Paris Brest
A choux pastry sandwich filled with a buttery, nutty, vanilla pastry cream topped with powdered sugar and 3 pieces of caramelized nuts. The choux pastry had a more toasted flavor than the choux pastry in Strawberry Eclair. The filling was moderately sweet with modest flavors of butter, nuts, and vanilla. If you love those flavors, this pastry will fulfill that craving.
7) Fruit tart
Strawberry, blueberry, kiwi, blackberry, red grape, and pineapple topping a custard filled shortbread like crust. The sweet custard was balanced with mild tartness from some of the fruit. The crust was mildly sweet with a buttery vanilla flavor. Overall, it was a delicious combination of flavors that were beautifully balanced.
8) Double Dark Love Roulade
A swiss roll made with dark chocolate sponge cake and milk chocolate Chantilly cream. It was partially covered with dark chocolate shavings. It was moderately sweet, and the dark chocolate wasn't bitter. The cake was moist and soft. This pastry is a chocolate lover's paradise.
9) Swiss Mocha coffee
It had Caotina brand chocolate powder added to regular coffee. There was a choice of Milk, Noir, or Blanc. Noir is dark chocolate, and Blanc is white chocolate. We picked Milk. The powder did not completely dissolve, so the coffee was a tad grainy. It was rich and moderately sweet. It was good, but not great cocoa flavor. Syrup would have been better.
10) Cappucino
Strong smooth espresso with plenty of milk foam. It came with a small chocolate/vanilla square cookie. This was a perfectly fine cappucino with a nice bonus cookie that was light, crisp, mildly flavored, and slightly sweet.
The service was attentive, responsive, and polite; but not knowledgeable about the pastries. The worker said the Paris Brest had praline filling. Wrong. My wife bought it based on what he said. He didn't know what pastry dough was in the Apricot Jalousie. He didn't know what type of chocolates were in the Roulade. And he didn't ask anyone else. I figured it out after trying them. I enjoy discovering new foods, but some knowledge would be helpful and appreciated. The store and dining areas were clean. The ambiance was European and casual. They had 2 restrooms that were clean. They are located in a shopping center with a free parking lot.
