Boulangerie antoine

Boulangerie antoine is a bakery, pastry shop and confectioner in the canton of Fribourg, with shops in Le Mouret and Corbières. For weddings it does two things: apéritif platters, baked during the night before the event and priced per person on its website, and wedding cakes, including the traditional pièce montée, made to order.

Where it is and what it makes

The bakery's own history note says it stands, and has always stood, on the border of the communes of Praroman, Montévraz, Essert and Ferpicloz, with the boundary stone of the four communes at the edge of its car park. It describes itself as marked by the wars, by changing habits of consumption and by the arrival of mobility, and as having evolved with its time. The site gives no founding year.

The menu of the site shows a broad business: bread, cakes, vacherins glacés, homemade ice cream, macarons, confectionery, a tea-room, and an events section covering birthday and wedding cakes, dessert buffets, corporate gifts and apéritifs. The dessert buffet has its own page in that section, which a couple wanting sweets rather than a single tiered cake may want to ask about. The team is described as bakers, pastry chefs and confectioners.

The wedding apéritif

The apéritif page is written for companies, associations, baptisms, weddings and family or religious celebrations, and is made to measure. It makes three promises worth knowing:

• the platters can be with or without meat, savory, sweet or both
• the bakery takes account of allergies and food intolerances, in its own words "nous tenons aussi compte de vos éventuelles allergies ou intolérances alimentaires"
• everything is produced during the night before the event, from regional ingredients, by traditional craft methods

Delivery covers the Bulle and Fribourg regions, by way of Le Mouret and Gibloux, so a wedding in that part of the canton is within its stated area. The page does not say whether it delivers further afield or what delivery costs.

The page prices three set formats per person:

• Petit apéritif 1, 5 pieces for CHF 11.-, minimum 8 people: mini canapés, mini sandwiches, savory puff pastries and mini ham croissants (2 each).
• Petit apéritif 2, 7 pieces for CHF 14.50, minimum 8 people: mini canapés, mini sandwiches, shrimp puff pastries, savory puff pastries and pains mosaïques, plus 2 mini pastries each.
• Apéritif dînatoire, 13 pieces for CHF 29.50, minimum 15 people, with the note "Remplace un repas principal" (replaces a main meal): mini canapés, savory choux, mini vol-au-vent, mini sandwiches, mini délices, pains surprise, mini ham croissants, pains mosaïques, ramequins, quiches and mini pizzas, plus 2 mini pastries each.

The difference matters for planning. A petit apéritif is the drinks-reception snack before a seated dinner elsewhere. The dînatoire is designed to be the meal itself, which suits a smaller or daytime wedding that skips a banquet.

The low minimums are also worth noticing. With a floor of 8 people for the smaller formats, the bakery can supply a modest apéro after a civil ceremony at the registry office, for close family and witnesses, as readily as a larger reception. And because the platters are delivered rather than served, they fit best at a venue that lets you bring in outside food, a family garden, a rented hall or a village room, where the couple or a friend can set out the trays and keep the drinks moving.

Pieces you can add

Beyond the set formats, the page lists items one by one. On the savory side: homemade flûtes, mini canapés, savory choux with salmon or tuna, mini ham croissants, mini délices (ham, salami, tuna, salmon, cheese, parfait, dried meat or turkey), mini ramequins and quiches, mini sandwiches filled to taste, savory verrines, vol-au-vent with shrimp, tuna or cream cheese, pain en grappe, pain mosaïque, and a filled pain surprise (ham, salami, tuna, roast beef, salmon or cream cheese) for a minimum of 6 people.

The sweet list runs to mini caracs, mini choux, mini mille-feuilles, mini mousses or verrines (panna cotta or tiramisu), mini fruit, lemon and vin cuit tartlets, mini éclairs, and caramel, strawberry and fruit tartlets.

Wedding cakes and vacherins glacés

The cake page covers occasions from birthdays to weddings and says that for a wedding you can entrust your pièce montée to antoine, with each cake an artisan creation. You can personalize a cake or a vacherin glacé, and orders are placed by phone with either shop.

The standard range lists Forêt-noire, mille-feuille, Saint-Honoré, fruit tourtes, buttercream tourtes (mocha, kirsch, praline or chocolate), chocolate tourtes, and mousse tourtes in raspberry and duo-choc, both marked gluten-free by the bakery, and exotic. Numbers cakes come in fruit tourte, mille-feuille or Forêt-noire flavor. Dry cakes sold by weight include lemon cake, carrot cake, gâteau bullois and gâteau à la crème.

The vacherins glacés come as raspberry sorbet or as vanilla, mocha, chocolate or exotic, with a seasonal flavor, and the page notes that its vacherins are gluten-free.

Shops, hours and contact

• Le Mouret, Route de la Gruyère 15, 1724 Le Mouret, 026 413 11 22. Monday to Friday 06:00 to 18:30, Saturday 06:15 to 16:00, Sunday 07:00 to 12:00.
• Corbières, Route du Vanel 121, 1647 Corbières, 026 915 02 62. Monday to Friday 06:00 to 18:30, Saturday 06:00 to 12:00, Sunday 06:30 to 12:00.
• Self service at Route de la Gruyère 15 in Le Mouret, open until 22:00 every day.

The apéritif page gives +41 26 413 11 22 for orders and questions.

What the site leaves open

The site does not publish wedding cake prices or a lead time for ordering, and there is no online ordering. It says nothing about staff to serve the platters, or about tableware. It is written in French and does not mention English. A couple planning from abroad should expect to order by phone in French, or have a French-speaking friend call for them, and should confirm delivery to the venue and the timing on the day.

Who it suits

antoine suits couples marrying around Fribourg, Bulle or the Gibloux area who want a generous, clearly priced apéro from a working bakery, and possibly the cake from the same place. The published prices are rare and useful. The limits are that the site presents it as a supplier of food, with no mention of service staff, and that everything happens in French and by phone.