Praline - Belmont

Wonderful bakeshop with extremely nice and accommodating staff! Everything tasted fresh and delicate: the tarts were crisp with nice balances of flavor while the kouign-amann and pain au chocolate both had obvious layers that melted in your mouth.

I love this place! It’s the best French pastry shop in the Boston area. The pastries are beautifully made and taste so good! I love the macarons (espresso and black currant are my favorite), tarts, and opera cakes.

Picked up some food from Praline on Saturday morning. The Croissant is definitely the way to go here, but expect prices to be high.Quality: Grabbed a few items for breakfast at Praline. The Croissant Ham Cheese was the the better of the two items I tried. A nice flaky pastry with rich swiss cheese and smoky ham inside. While it is a bit pricey, it was very good. I was less impressed with the Spinach Quiche. I felt neither the consistency or the flavor wholly worked. I don't know if I picked the wrong option with spinach, but the interior felt too soft and almost watery.Quantity: Decent size portions.Value: $8 for the Croissant Ham Cheese. $8 for the Spinach Quiche.Ambiance: Praline is a small bakery located in the Watertown area of Boston. They are a little shop without any seating. They have several display cases of their fresh pastries and desserts. They also have some other prepared and baking products for sale.Crowd: Only guests on a Saturday morning.Service: Friendly staff.Parking: Easy street parking right out front.

I've had Praline bookmarked for ages and am so glad I finally had an opportunity to try this little bakery in Belmont. We came later in the day and, while some of the offerings looked to have been sold out, I was happy to see the thing that I wanted to try the most, the hazelnut opera cake, still available. It's a small piece for about $6 7 but undeniably worth it. The craftsmanship is insane. I counted about four separate layers, beautifully clean and precise, each one requiring its own set of ingredients and technique. Opera cake is one of those things I've resigned to never being able to make myself the layers are sponge, buttercream, ganache, and a crispy bottom. Talk about a hefty GBBO challenge. This one was so good I had to restrain myself from gobbling the whole thing and took back half of it for my husband to try. They also offer a number of imported treats and snacks, including Bonne Maman (aka, the maker of my favorite jams) chocolate caramel tartlets. I'll have to try the macarons and croissants next but ... that opera cake is still calling my name. Parking: A few parallel parking spots right in front, as well as some more spots on the next street over.

The opera cake with its many very thin layers must be a pain in the ass to make and is my favorite. Their fine pastry is what I come here for. Sometimes it's best to call ahead or order online because they can sell out. Really my review is pretty much about that one piece of cake but their other fine pastry is delicious too. Wish they were open later. Don't love their croissants. Macaroons and chocolate are also delicious.