This Pastelería Ideal is not the flagship store but very close by and also equally just as good and…read moreequally just as busy. Pastelería Ideal is known for being the biggest bakery in Mexico City and has been around for nearly 100 years (since 1927).
Pastelería Ideal sells anything and everything of all things baked goods (both sweet and savory), such as traditional pan dulce, many different types of cookies (also many different colors), cakes (whole and sliced) and also gelatinas (or gelatins usually made with sweetened condense milk and multi- colored gelatin cubes to make for a very eye catching and colorful presentation).
Since my husband and I were doing some sight- seeing in downtown, we decided to walk to this bakery to see if we would like to pick up anything. We came on a Wednesday afternoon, a little after 3:30 pm. It was definitely busy with people but it wasn't crowded and did not feel that we came during a peak time.
If this is your first time visiting, like us, you are supposed to grab a white tray and a pair of tongs. Then start piling on the baked goods that your heart desires (although the whole store will not fit on that tray... and honestly this bakery is really, really big). After you have made your selection of items, you will head to the register. After you pay, you will be given a ticket and then you have to come back to pick up your items, which will be wrapped and placed in a bag.
If you decide to purchase any cookies or cake (sliced or whole), you just let the employee know what items you want and then you give you a ticket and you can pay for it at the register. Then after you paid, you walk back to the cake or cookie display case and pick up your items.
We ended up purchasing:
Fruit Tart- I picked this and I liked it. The tart shell was hard though because the inside shell was coated with melted chocolate. Under the fruit was a custard, which was nice. But because the tart shell was hard to break with a spoon, it was hard to eat this tart and would have preferred for the tart to be a little softer to eat per bite. But I still liked it and most likely would pick this item again.
Blueberry Cake Slice- This item in the display case actually was marked as a blueberry tres leches (3 milk cake), which my husband was looking forward to try. But sadly he was disappointed because it did not taste like a blueberry flavored tres leche cake. It was a moist cake that just tasted like a blueberry flavored cake. I thought it was good though.
Two other pastries that I have no idea what they are called. But they both had a melt in your mouth type of texture and some kind of fruit based or a cream based filling. Both were okay but did not like them as much as I liked my fruit tart.
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(Total= $99 MXN or $5.69 USD)
Prices are pretty cheap. If you purchased a bag of baked goods, it will probably cost you ~$10 USD.
Service was friendly and pick up time for our items from the register was pretty quick. I liked how this other employee wrapped our items.
Please note that this bakery does not have any forks or spoons for you to use if you wish to consume your items after purchase. Also there is no seating area. Because my husband really wanted to try the items we got in the cake display case, we ended up finding outdoor tables at another eatery with outdoor seating. And I actually had a small plastic fork in my purse and so we ate our items there and took the other 2 items back with us to our Airbnb.
For myself, I definitely prefer the slices of cake and tarts and would come back to purchase those.
