A l’Epi de Ble

Une pâtisserie très jolie! Super cute bakery, love that the staff greet you in French. It adds to great atmosphere of freshly baked goods. Their macarons are quite delicious and they have a nice selection of pastries and jams from Provence.
I’m from Toronto and don’t really know of many other bakeries in this part of Winnipeg, but it’s definitely a great find! Recommended to any tourists or visitors :)

Excellent French bakery in Winnipeg. Worth the trip to north main st for breakfast or desert. Lot of the charm comes from the French owner who enjoys meeting people and providing a great product. Deserts taste as good as bakery in Montréal or France.

There’s no doubt in my mind that this is a five star bakery! From the moment you walk in, the aroma of fresh bread and pastry fills your nose and you immediately forget you’re in Winnipeg. The French bakers greet you with a friendly smile and are there to help explain what each item is.
I honestly had to restrain myself from ordering one of everything on the counter. I did however order many many items to share with two others. A quick run down:
— Quiche: thin buttery crust with fluffy eggs with just the right amount of olives and cheese.
— Chicken/​pork meat pie: impeccably spiced while the chicken and pork were moist and almost airy in a flaky buttery pastry shell.
— Apple turnover: the flaky crust made it light and airy with baked apples that aren’t too sweet.
— Peach brioche: BEST ITEM EVER. Sliced glazed peaches over vanilla custard on a brioche pastry.
— Blueberry tart with hazelnut cream: again not overly heavy for a cream filled tart.
— Apricot tart: very similar to the peach brioche but, with a harder flaky crust with the same amazing vanilla custard.
— Cinnamon bun: probably my least favourite of all the items we tried. The pastry was perfect, but it wasn’t as sweet or cinnamon flavoured as I expected.
— Chocolate filled éclair: slightly disappointed since I mistakenly thought I had ordered a vanilla filled éclair with chocolate on top. Still the chocolate filling was the same rich texture as the vanilla custard. Perfectly balanced with the dough of the éclair.
I would highly recommend a stop here. The prices are more than reasonable given the quality of what you’re getting in return.

I don’t give out 5 stars very often but this place really deserves it! Hands down, one of the best bakeries in the city! Even better, it’s a French pastry shop, operated by French bakers from Provence!
This place is on North Main — at Main and Hartford. The signage still reads «Hartford Bakery» from the previous Polish owners but the new owners will be changing that (hopefully soon). And they will be renovating the interior, although the current décor is fine for now. The signage is just a bit confusing.
When you step inside, you are greeted by a ridiculous sight of breads, quiches, croque monsieur sandwiches, pastries, cakes etc. And when the really friendly staff come out to welcome you with their French accent, you forget that you are in Winnipeg and on North Main. Their fresh baked breads are around $ 3-​$ 4 per loaf and most pastry items are very comparable to other bakeries in the city. They use real BUTTER and everything is made fresh and with love so value wise, it is unbelievably worth it! Plain croissant $ 1.80 each were incredibly buttery and flakey — I can still taste the deliciousness as I write this! And the pain au chocolat $ 1.90 each, is the croissant folded in a different way but inside there is the most yummy, dark, decadent piece of chocolate.
Macarons are hard to find in the city but I’ve found them here! At $ 0.95 each, they are absolutely delicious. The pistachio is a nice minty green with just the right amount of sweetness. The coffee macaron had the most deep coffee flavour and the meringue cookie portion is chewy and perfect.
There was this baked apple pastry item that was also delicious. It seemed like the baked apples were sitting on top of a brioche and there was some light cinnamon sprinkled on. It was a hit! Tropézienne, the one that looks like a doughnut with cream filling and powedered surgar is really a Provence specialty of brioche and rich pastry cream. It’s quite the delightful pastry so if you like cream and butter — try this one!
The mini quiches were also a hit. There were three flavours — vegetarian, gorgonzola and bacon/​mushroom. I went with the ladder and trust me, you will be in heaven. A light flaky crust while the quiche itself was full of creamy goodness — you could definitely taste the bacon and mushroom.
They even make hamentashen ($ 0.75 each), which is a traditional Jewish pastry that’s typically eaten during Purim. The ones here are filled with a variety of fruit fillings and the baker here does their own «French» twist to it so it’s not the most traditional hamentashen but still good. It’s a not too sweet cookie like item that’s filled with fruit and shaped in a triangle to resemble «Haman’s hat.»
Cakes can be purchased by the slice, they had a variety of genoise cakes that looked yum. Whole cakes can be purchased and ordered a day or so ahead depending on how complex you want it. They didn’t have a menu of cakes to choose and the baker just said «we can make whatever you want.» Wow. Cakes are very reasonable price wise.
Serves 4 – 6 is $ 20, serves 6 – 8 is $ 25, serves 8 – 10 is $ 32 and serves 10 – 12 is $ 39 before tax.
They are closed on Sundays. M-​F 7:30 am to 6:00 pm and Sat 7:30 to 5 pm. The bakery bakes up more varieties of pastries on Fri/​Sat. They also serve up several varieties of coffee and even have a few small tables to dine at. I can’t recommend this place enough — definitely take a drive to North Main and indulge in some delicious pastries!