Albert T.
Yelp
Right at the very start after entering Tous Les Jours, we saw that the pastries didn't look like they were in the best shape. Most of croissants seemed far overcooked, with dark burnt looking tops and inconsistent toppings and the sweet rice donuts looked like dried out, wrinkly balls. Not to mention that most of the pastries cost 50% more than competitors (for example, Soboro is typically around $2, here it is $3.35). We came here wanting to get a croissant, but we immediately backed off after we tapped a couple of them with the tongs and saw how hard and dry they were. We did pick up a couple of items and were not very impressed with any of them:
Ube Latte, 16oz, Iced ($4.95) - Basically milk with sugar, purple food coloring, and a small amount of ube flavoring. The barista measures out how much flavoring to use, then dumps milk into a cup full of ice and then puts the flavoring on top. It makes for a cool looking effect but you have to mix it yourself or else the ube flavor barely comes at all until you get near the bottom of the drink. And when it does come out, it tastes artificial. Not a good drink but good visuals I guess.
Pain Au Chocolat ($3.95) - This pastry is quite small with a nice egg wash on top. The texture is very chewy, no sense of flakiness as would be expected of a pastry made from a proper croissant dough. Most likely due to the use of shortening or margarine rather than butter. Reminds me of a typical low quality grocery store pain au chocolat.
Mini Green Tea Buttercream ($2.95) - I was expecting something like a soft and tender shokupan or milk bread texture, but this turned out to be quite tough and somewhat stale like it had been sitting on the counter for a couple of days. Kind of like a piece of sandwich bread that is on the way to becoming a crouton. The buttercream inside was appropriately sweetened and had a great matcha flavor but I'm not sure if it's made with 100% real butter based on the texture and mouthfeel.
I'm honestly not sure why Tous Les Jours is so popular. The quality and craftsmanship of their pastries/breads is poor, their drinks are pedestrian, and their prices are way higher than they have any right to be based on the quality of ingredients being used.