My problem with Hispanic Pastries in NoVa

After going to an amazing Chinese lunch at A & J in Annandale, we decided to stop at the Guatemalan Restaurant & Bakery “Tikal”

While we were in the car we were almost praying “please don’t be like Castro’s Bakery or any of these other bakeries where the dry almost sandy texture and no flavor are king & queen on these pastries” and of course our prayers were in vain, such a shame.

Look at these pictures, you would swear that this is delicious, and trust it does have potential when they are done with love and technique, you know a Tres Leches come on! Or a Vanilla Muffin, or the classic Strawberry Turnover, they also had some sort of Pineapple thick and flaky Palmier that I open at once when I got home, I wonder where did the Pineapple go, but what is worse is that the pastry itself was like a piece of cardboard but light in color and texture, you have a bite and it makes your tongue dry and then greasy, where is the sweetness? flavour?

I am about to give up on Hispanic Bakeries but I will keep looking, and keep trying and spending my little money and hopefully I will find a good one even if i have to dry 50 miles.

On the good side they had a decent Tamarind Juice (better than El Charrito Caminante at least), I wish it had more tamarind and less sugar, but that is a matter of taste and Mom always made it quite strong for us.  Mami makes the best Chicha de Tamarindo in the world, I promise sharing it soon.

Pictures:

I know it looks delish, but it was not, the cream on top tasted rancid and the cake was a some moist but it would seem that they soaked this cake instead of condensed milk in a fat free milk & water solution =(

What seemed like a good a idea, Strawberry turnover, the texture of the pastry itself was ok, not heavy or too greasy, but the strawberry inside tasted worse than the strawberry syrup IHOP serves for their pancakes (yes I have tried IHOP many times), and what is even sadder is that it was really, really dry…

And the Muffin, my favorite Muffin was as dry as a piece of paper =(, it was very heavy, it did have better flavor than Castro’s Bakery one, but was not worthy the drive or calories.

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At least they were pretty cheap, those 4 desserts plus a juice was $14 (I bought a chicken empanada to fry at home, when I opened it I was too disappointed with the cakes already so I just gave up).

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Come on Hispanic Bakeries in Northern Virginia, we want these pastries, but we want them tasty, flaky, sweet and with lots and lots of flavors, for now I won’t give up … for now…

¡a comer!