That freestanding building at 1230 W. Fairbanks Ave., just west of Orlando Avenue, in Winter Park has been home to a few concepts, including Bread & Co., Nakada’s Kitchen, which was inside Bread & Co., and Wonton Asian Kitchen. Before it housed restaurants it was a beauty salon and day spa.
The current tenant is Tous Les Jours, which opened a year ago. Like B&C, its pastry line is French-Asian. Unlike it, it is part of an international franchise based in South Korea. According to its website, “Since its launch in the United States in 2004, Tous les Jours has developed into a reputable bakery & café franchise,” which makes you wonder what sort of ill repute it started out with.
The bakery, which, also like Bread & Co. has another location inside the Lotte supermarket on West Colonial Drive in Orlando, offers an array of baked goods, including traditional and fancy cakes, breads and pastries.I stopped by at lunchtime, so I was interested in the various savory options in the self-serve display case.
(Customers grab one of the trays stacked inside the front door, place a waxed paper liner on it and take a pair of tongs to make their selections. No fingers, please, and no finger licking until later.)
I was fascinated by a Sausage-Onion Pastry that looked like sort of an open-face hot dog. It had a dense crust with a wiener placed across it and covered with melted cheese. (It was at room temperature so the melted cheese had hardened.) It was surprisingly tasty.
I also tonged one of the kimchi croquettes, a fist-sized ball, bread based and deep fried. Inside was a soupçon of kimchi that if eaten by itself had a nice spiciness but if taken with a bite of the bread sort of disappeared.
For a sweet ending, I took one of the almond croissants, which had lots of nut slivers on the outside and a creamy almond filling inside.
There is dining space inside the bakery, and your selections can be heated to enjoy on premises. I got mine to go and asked the young man at the checkout counter for reheating tips. (Basically, if using a microwave oven, don’t go more than 30 seconds.)
As the name implies, Tous Les Jours would like to be your everyday bakery. I’m not sure I could eat these things seven days a week but they make a nice friandise occasionnelle.
Tous Les Jours is at 1230 W. Fairbanks Ave., Winter Park (map). It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. The phone number is 321-316-4969.
