Last Sunday was the 3rd edition of Kaffeeklatsch at Laloux restaurant in Montreal. Kaffee… what?? is what you’re probably asking yourself right now. “Kaffeeklatsch” is a German term that means coffee (kaffee) and conversation (klatsch) (or coffee and gossip) and the concept of this Eastern European tradition is to spend a leisurely afternoon gossiping with friends around some fabulous desserts and coffee. The fabulous desserts in this case are provided by Laloux pastry chef Michelle Marek who is also the instigator of these events. Marek wanted to create these kafeeklatsch since she couldn’t find anything resembling that in Montreal.

I attended the April kaffeeklatsch where lining up for an hour to taste the wonderful desserts was well worth it. The line up didn’t deter me from going back to the May 5th event last week where I was happily surprised to see that there was no line up! The concept is really simple: for $12 you get one piece of pastry, one petit four and a cup of coffee. You pick one among the four pastries and four petits fours available and if you want extra (I always want extra!) you can buy some. The coffee is chosen and provided for the occasion by Anthony Benda of Café Myriade.

I was really excited about this particular dessert overload because Stephanie Labelle of Pâtisserie Rhubarbe was a guest chef. Stephanie made 2 rhubarb-based desserts and Michelle made her wonderful sachertorte and oh-so-buttery and flaky strudel. I was there with 2 of my dessert-loving food blogger friends – Katerine and Andrea – and among the 3 of us we had 5 pastries and 6 petits fours! My favourite was without a doubt the rhubarbe religieuse made by Stephanie. I became an instant fan the minute I had a taste of her caramel religieuse months ago and I still bare an unconditional love for these pastries. The cream is always so light and the dough is unlike any chou dough I’ve ever tasted.

There is no set date for the next Kaffeeklatsch but I’ve heard it from a good source that it will probably be at the end of summer. To stay up to date as to when the next one will be taking place, check out their Facebook page. In the meantime, you can taste Michelle Marek’s wonderful desserts at Laloux and Stephanie Labelle’s delicious religieuse (the flavour changes with the seasons) at Pâtisserie Rhubarbe.

Restaurant Laloux
250 Avenue des Pins east
514 287 9127

Pâtisserie Rhubarbe
5091 de Lanaudière
514 903 3395