Sweets Festival at mc2

It must be said straight away that the name "festival" has been taken rather too boldly. To even notice this so-called festival, you have to enter and exit the "Gastronome" department of the mc2 shopping centre almost twice. At the entrance - the event poster, which is an enlarged copy of the promotional flyers sent to various company addresses. First, two stands with honey and other bee products. Presumably you could find out there "what Latvian bees do in winter," but if no one pushes the information on you, the unhurried Latvian isn't going to go and ask. Beside it, a despondent photographer with a fairly large camera in hand, and an empty chair next to an improvised sweets pyramid. In short, what was missing was a barker - someone who would invite you to sample the delights of "Gastronome", have your photo taken, and so on. Walking along the counters, it didn't seem at all as though anything special was happening or that any thought had gone into it. Ordinary shop business-as-usual.

The wide and delicious selection of cakes and other sweets promised in the buffet amounted to one table of pastries, where a couple of dozen trays of small cakes - of which only up to three pieces per person were permitted, upon paying Ls 3.90 at the till. The pastries, though, were perfectly fine - delicious. We chose an Italian cake (the tastiest), a jam-filled roulade, and a slice of wild berry cake. The pastries were not excessively sweet, didn't make you feel queasy, and were quite filling.

A glimpse of the "Gastronome" pastry buffet: