Perth Voice Interactive

IF you’re on a no-carb diet you don’t want to be living anywhere near Chez Jean-Claude Patisserie, because his bread is that good.

My wife “Special K” has been a long-term fan of the Swiss bakery, which opened in Subiaco in 1997 before expanding with another patisserie in West Leederville in 2005.

Anytime she was in the vicinity of Jean-Claude’s, she would return with an assortment of exquisite cakes, fruit tarts and chocolate eclairs.

They were always gorgeous – light, fresh and beautifully presented – the perfect accompaniment to afternoon tea.

I had heard good things about their bread, but never tried it, so I fired up the Voice jalopy and headed there for lunch on Tuesday.

Jean-Claude’s West Perth is in Oxford Close, just down from Loftus Street, and it’s quite easy to get parked in the surrounding streets, which are filled with a curios mix of trade outlets, cafes, massage parlours and the odd music store.

The patisserie has a pleasant indoor dining area and a pavement alfresco, so you can sit-in and enjoy a coffee with their delicious range of cakes and sundries.

As you walk into the super clean and tidy eatery, you’re confronted by a mouth-watering array of cakes and pastries.

Off to the left is a display cabinet over-flowing with pre-filled ‘La Parisienne’ baguettes.

There was a mind-boggling range with everything from classic ham and cheese to Lebanese vegan, Shanghai duck, cranberry turkey, and curried egg.

The place was busy with hungry office workers flooding in for their carb fix, but the cafe had a large number of efficient workers behind the till, so I didn’t have long to wait.

I got an assortment of baguettes to take home and also got one of Jean-Claude’s tote bags as I didn’t want to carry four javelin-sized baguettes across West Perth (I might have got mugged by some ravenous tradie who had been on the tools all morning).

The skinny vintage-style baguettes had a lovely rustic texture and an irregular finish with an artful dusting of flour.

The minute you bit into the bread you got an ear-splitting crunch that was off the charts.

The bread seemed to defy the laws of the physics and was incredibly light, almost floating out your hand and making its way towards the sky like some carb rocket built by Elon Musk.

The filling in the vegan baguette ($11.10) was a delicious mix of green salad, avocado and sun-dried tomato.

The tomato was yummy and the salad had a herby, slightly spicy dressing, adding an extra flavour dimension (it could have easily been a bland, vegetarian slog).

My young kids, Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles, were tucking into their classic French-style ham and cheese baguette ($12.10) which also had slices of fresh glossy tomato.

It was a hit and I couldn’t resist a sneaky taste – the soft mild cheese and ham instantly whisked me back to the streets of Paris with Joe le taxi reverberating around my head. It was super authentic and delicious. We rounded the carb-fest off by sharing the roast beef ($12.10) and chicken avocado ($12.10) baguettes.

They continued the same high standard and I liked how Jean-Cluade didn’t skimp on the fillings, cramming it with tender roast beef and moist chook.

The prices were good too with my most expansive baguette costing $12.10.

If you fancy something a bit more substantial, they also do chunkier pre-filled sourdough baguettes, sandwiches and large white ‘sticks’.

I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch at Chez Jean-Claude Patisserie – it was the best baguette I’ve ever had in Perth.

Chez Jean-Claude Patisserie
26 Oxford Close,West Leederville
chezjeanclaudepatisserie.com.au

by STEPHEN POLLOCK