Treats From Thessaloniki - Blé

Last week I got back from a fun adventure to the city of Thessaloniki.  It's the second largest city in Greece, many consider it to be the cultural hub of Greece, but I would also consider it the baking capital of Greece.  It's not hard to argue that this city has some of the best food in the whole country, yet it's very surprising that more tourists don't come and visit. All this week I've decided that I'm going to highlight some of the food adventures I had on my epic adventure.  Most of the treats featured will be sweet, but not all of them.  What I can guarantee is by the time you read all of these adventures, you might consider a stop in Thessaloniki on your Greek vacation.

Yesterday I wrote about the best smelling bakery in all of Thessaloniki, the Cookie Man.  Today I'm going to tell you all about the bakery with the best looking treats in all of Thessaloniki, Blé.  This place turns every single baked good into a piece of art.  Even their breads look absolutly stunning.  Best of all the store itself is stylishly decorated and it shows off the visual beauty of their food very well.

While Blé does sell traditional Greek sweets and foods, it's not really their specialty.  Most of their sweets have a French influence.  This is actually a very good demonstration of the difference between French and Greek baking.  Greek baking tastes great and has a very rustic home baked look to it.  French baking on the other hand is much more refined in its appearance, and I often find the flavours are a little more subdued.

As you can see Blé really does pull off the "French" look very well.  Each dessert is a treat to the eyes as much as a treat to the mouth.  Each fold of chocolate, clump of berries, and squirt of icing is perfectly placed.  It almost makes you want to preserve your dessert for posterity instead of eating it.

Blé also had the best looking profiteroles I've ever seen in my entire life.

CC