Harbord Bakery

Bakery: Harbord Bakery
Address: 115 Harbord St, Toronto, ON
Website: http://www.harbordbakery.ca/
Style: Jewish
Price: $$

I've been waiting to try these guys since trying a stale bun from good ol' Pusateri's and knowing it had plenty of promise (and highly suspecting that the bakery might have more poppy seed goodies ;D). It's not really on the way to anything, so I just decided to make the walk up from Kensington Market late Saturday afternoon and was a little disappointed to find that, with the cold and the time and effort, the bakery was totally cleaned out, although I was a little pleased with myself that I had correctly identified the Pusateri's bun as having a Jewish-style poppy seed filling (yup, poppy seed is indeed an obsession). Asking about the poppy seed ring on the back shelf ($7.99), I was SO going to take it until the worker inspected it closer and informed me it was in fact chocolate. Noooooooooo~! ;____; Sadly, there was nothing else with poppy seeds in it (the characteristic Challah bread, honey cake and whatever else people rave about weren't in sight...), so I had to *sobs pathetically* settle for something else...

Looking back, the poppy seed ring would have been a great choice at a reasonable price since the three small things ended up totalling more and I don't necessarily think there was more for sharing/sampling. Anyways~ poppy seed tragedies out of the way, I took two goodies for the guinea pig brothers: a sweet bun with plum jam ($2.50) in the same style as the poppy seed bun, but just with... plum jam. :P A dense dough baked a little too hard, filled with more than a dollop of plum jam and then topped with icing and some crumble, I believe. (I made 5 pics of this thing and 4 came out completely blurry -____-) Brother #1 liked it; well, he said it was "good", although it could also have been fresher.

Brother #2 ended up with the almond bun ($2.50) which was the same dough folded over a strange almond mass and then topped off with more slivered almonds. At first, we thought the filling was just marzipan, but he said it wasn't... but "whatever it was, it was good". Why can no one ever help me? :/ Both, I suppose, ended up being good, but the almond seemed to be the winner among my testers. ^^;

Then there's me... I took the peach and raspberry tart ($3.49), which was probably the least Jewish-looking of the three and looked more Amish (I was looking at the 'Amish Baker's Bible' the week before at the bookstore :D) with a pie-like shell and stuffed with homemade filling. However you can call it, I really liked this: perfect dough, tons of peaches -- this is what pies *should* taste like! My only comment was that they shouldn't call it raspberry... there was one. Still, loving baked goods with peaches (something pretty rare, I think), I enjoyed this.. though upon a return visit, I'll still have to nab something with... poppy seeds. O.O (very obsessed, I know...)

Rating: ***

Korcarz [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Korcarz
Address: 29 rue de Rosiers, Paris
Website: http://www.korcarz.com/
Style: Jewish, Eastern European
Price: $$$

I'm a little ashamed (okay, very ashamed) that I have yet to finish posting all my Parisian cake tour destinations, so I thought that before I continue with the Norway trip, I should go back and review the stuff from France first and get it out of the way. ^^

Nestled in the heart of the Jewish district of the Marais, Korcarz was a purely accidental visit. Having read great things about Sacha Finkelsztajn, a patisserie two or three doors down, I decided to make the trip on a religious holiday, thinking that some stores in the Jewish area would be open for business. It was a miserable day, with pouring rain having started at around 5am and which would continue for another 48 hours. Amidst unending rain and trying to get past the still massive line at L'as du Falafel, Finkelsztajn would turn out to be, like many patisseries on my list, closed for vacation for the month of August. Just as I had done in front of Pierre Hermé and Lenotre, I stood in shock for a few moments (maybe shed a few tears too ;D), vowed to remind everyone never to go bakery-hunting (and second-hand designer goods stores, for that matter) in Paris in August. The whole city will be shut down. Devastated (because I do love Jewish baking), I kept walking and found Korcarz open. Of course, it's usually a sign that it's not so good, but I ran in nonetheless at the mere sight of... poppy seed buns!!! *-* ... And came back considerably poorer (and a bit angrier considering the worker was faaaaaar from polite) and having used a huge chunk of my food budget for that day. Korcarz is expensive and even more so if you decide sit down and eat your goodies there; in fact, I think there might be more affordable options available at the really high end patisseries, which sounds a little strange, considering this is more of a deli with breads, pastries, Eastern European products and, for whatever reason, sushi. O.o

Nonetheless, those monstrous poppy seed buns (3 euro at the time of purchase, definitely more expensive now) drew me in. I couldn't help it, they looked amazing! And they ended up being huge; you can't eat these beauties in one sitting, that's for sure. With its fairly dense dough and bursting with poppy seed mass, I really did love these things, although I found the sesame seeds baked on top detracted from the flavour, but that just might be because I don't like sesame seeds. Still, I definitely wasn't planning on eating poppy seed buns in Paris, so this was an amazing, amazing find. ;)

In addition to this, I also purchased a small piece (individual portion) of cheesecake, because this was the thing to try chez Finkelsztajn. At 25 euro/kg or something ridiculous like that, I ended up paying 8 euro for a single piece. It was crazy and I felt thoroughly ripped off, even if it was really good and perfectly cheesy. However, I can name a few places here in Toronto where I can also buy equally delicious Jewish-style cheesecake (What a Bagel Richmond Hill is my first thought ;D) at much, much cheaper and cheese in general can be bought cheaper in France, so I don't know where the price came from and personally find it too expensive, considering you can buy nearly three poppy seed buns for that and man, you won't go hungry for a whole week. LOL!!!

So, yeah, totally yummy, but I'd say stick to anything and everything not being sold by weight and you'll have a better and tastier time at it. :P

Rating: ***

Swedish Christmas Festival

Event: Swedish Christmas Festival
Address: Harbourfront Centre, Toronto ON
Website: Try www.harbourfrontcentre.com/whatson a few weeks before
Style: Swedish, Scandinavian
Price: $$-$$$

This really isn't a bakery, per se, but I just couldn't resist, as it really is one of the few opportunities (the others, minus the still-to-be-visited Beaches Bakeshop, have all been reviewed on this humble site) you have to snag yourself some Scandinavian baking in the city... and is the only event I was successful at getting *something* (the long drive, but failed trip to last week's Finnish Christmas Bazaar got me nothing; after less than two hours, all baking was sold out ;___;).

This is what, the fourth year I've been to the Swedish Christmas Festival, which runs every year on the second last weekend of November and features a whole bunch of Swedish fun, for the casual visitor, Swede and Scandiphile alike (you can guess where I belong XDDD): oodles of Swedish products, adorable crafts (my 'gift' this year is featured in the photo ^^), smörgåsbord with a variety of sandwiches, delicious cups of too hot glögg (probably the most important and necessary part of the trip ;P), and... baked goods!! Normally, I get myself an almond tart ($2.50/each), but they seemed to be gone/not baked when I was there on Saturday afternoon. I was a tad bit heartbroken and so I decided to go up to the food counter and at least get either a cinnamon bun or saffron (Lucia Day) bun ($3.00/each). Totally intent on this, though not quite remembering it cost this much in previous years, I went up and was about to get one when I realized these things were minuscule and at a pretty steep price. Either I'm too cheap or too poor, but it didn't seem to faze anyone all that much. Still, turning around devastated, we returned to the bakery table hoping we may have overlooked the almond tarts on our first go or settling for the large packs of baked goods. When I noticed that the cinnamon buns on sale at the counter and a whole bag of 12 ($12) were exactly the same, I caved and went for the giant bag and saved a whopping $24 in the process. ;DDD

Went back home and froze the majority to keep up freshness and then just defrosted and heated them up in the oven. Mmmmm... I'd really like to know who baked these (there was a group of people actually discussing the Beaches Bakeshop next to me, so I'm hoping...) because these were absolutely delicious. *-* Omg, clearly made with real butter (not so common nowadays, alas), the soft dough interwoven with that heavenly mass of cinnamon and butter and then topped off with rock sugar.... *swoons* This is without a doubt the yummiest thing here and honestly, I'm looking forward to next year's festival (though I've gotta wait.. 49 weeks for it *sighs*) so I can not only get myself some almond tarts (hopefully), but maybe two bags of these lovely things. It might set me back a little bit, but it'll be worth the investment... though I might not agree in regards to the "cafe". ^-^;;;;

Rating: ***1/2

Astra Deli and Catering [RIP]

Bakery (?): Astra Deli and Catering
Address: 2238 Bloor St. W, Toronto ON
Website: http://www.astradeli.com/
Style: Eastern European, Hungarian (?)
Price: $

Ahhh, I do believe commercial bakeries will make this site totally obsolete one of these days. Okay, fortunately, I don't think it will come to that, but really, it's still pretty irritating to want to try something new, to get excited that you're in a place you haven't really staked out yet and then you get something which is available elsewhere. This is what happened at Astra, which excited me solely because it was a deli with a few signs in Hungarian. I'd never reviewed anything Hungarian on my site before and the one place that I did know of beforehand (across from Honest Ed's) closed down awhile ago, so I was waiting to get my hands on something Hungarian again, especially seeing as what I did have (ahem, poppy seed buns ^^) were so good. Maybe someone has a suggestion??

Anyways, I suppose I had some pretty high expectations when going in. The deli itself has many Hungarian products as well as from other European countries; there was some German stuff, some Polish stuff. The workers were... Slovenian? Maybe? Wasn't paying too much attention at the time. Their baked selection is very low, though, with a few sweet buns all at $1.59 and then some other buns, a few varieties of rye bread. That's pretty much it. I was going to leave, but noticed that of those sweet buns, there were -- you guessed it -- poppy seed buns! How could I not resist? ;) Taking it home, however, I realized that I'd had this before and was identical to the Sweet Temptations buns (reviewed at Highland Farms... at least the photo turned out better this time!!)... Still, same thing. Not that I'm complaining: soft, fluffy eggy dough alternated with layers of Polish-style poppy seed mass and a small drizzle of icing on top. It was good... just nothing new. And yes, I realize you could say I had it coming going to a place that's not a bakery, but pffff, don't remind me. :/

Rating: **1/2

Nova Era

Bakery: Nova Era Bakery & Pastry
Address: 460 Egerton St, London ON (9 other locations across Ontario and GTA)
Website: http://www.novaera.ca/
Style: Portuguese
Price: $

I've walked by Nova Era one or two times on Bloor St, but oddly enough it took the brothers' trip to London (Ontario) for me to actually try it and, as with most Portuguese bakeries, it certainly didn't disappoint me (on the contrary... *-*) and it was a great value on top of that. ^^

Fortunately, they brought back quite a bit this time, although I only ate one of the items. Still, let's jump right into this thing: they got four tarts, two standard custard/egg (you know what I mean... don't exactly know what they are though .__.) and two orange tarts ($1.00/each), not pictured. Because there's only one brother at home, I asked him his opinion and "it's really good". Coming from those who can't string together an opinion of more than one word, this is pretty impressive. XD I myself, oddly enough, have never tried them... I really should though. If only for the Cake Tour. ^^;;

The brother's other delicacy was this monster napoleon-style cake ($1.50) with two thin layers of puff pastry and a skyscraper's worth of cream. This thing was MASSIVE and even that doesn't quite nail it. Everyone laughed at him for taking it and, in the end, he did seem to regret it, as it was so huge, he had to chop it in half and just pretty much eat nothing but the cream, which had the taste and texture of marshmallows. Better luck next time, I suppose. :P

The other brother got this, for lack of a better word choice, a danish with a smattering of almonds on top ($1.50) and with, maybe, possibly some custard on the inside. Can't say that for sure, but at the same time, I *do* know that he enjoyed this one and the tart mentioned above. *nods*

And of course, they were kind enough to get me my favourite (I suppose no one knows what this is called, do they? I'm curious), a relatively flat sweet yeast dough topped with a coconut mass and then folded in half and dusted with vanilla sugar. Maaan, I love this thing! And I really loved this one too! At the moment, I can't decide which one was better: Nova Era or Caldense. Both were amazing; I was actually thinking that I wouldn't find anyone that could really come close to outdoing the latter, but hey! it looks like I've been, most pleasantly, surprised. :)

With that in mind, definitely wouldn't mind returning... probably not to London, but any other GTA location will do just fine for me. ^^

Rating: ***

Anna's Bakery and Deli [RIP]

Bakery: Anna's Bakery and Deli
Address: 2394 Bloor St W, Toronto ON
Website: n/a
Style: Polish, Eastern European
Price: $-$$

[Anna's has closed after a great many years in business and has been replaced by Janchenko Bakery; be on the look out for that review ^-^] Anna's is a pretty tiny place and the deli part is even tinier, which means that the majority is devoted to some great Polish baked goods. In fact, disregarding the heavenly display at Hansen's Danish Pastry Shop, Anna's has a pretty amazing front window stocked with buns and pączki and slab cakes. Almost everything with the exception of per weight items are priced, well-priced, with the vast majority at around $1 and other goodies also at pretty good prices ($3 for half a makowiec is impressive; the per kilo stuff is, of course, more). All goodies include tax. I stepped in and realized that was indeed Anna's Bakery, which is also sold in Starsky and which bakes probably the best poppy seed goods available at the supermarket. ((I'll review it eventually in my ever-growing, yet never written Starsky post)) Wow, it never dawned on me until then. Anyways, the place smells good and I could eat nearly anything there. Polish baking is great, though I myself underrate it a lot of the time. :P

Seeing as I started from Jane and Anna's was my first stop, I didn't want too much since I'd then ruin the rest of the trip, so I settled on two items. It was a hard, hard choice. For the guinea pigs I picked out an apple bake/baked apple (my mom kept saying it wrong and now I don't remember what's right -__-) ($2.00) which was an apple sliced into thinner pieces and stuffed with raisins, cinnamon and sugar. Both highly approved.

For myself, he he he, I really could not resist the apple strudel (priced per kilo; my slab -- it was then divided for three people -- was $3.90) which looked so delicious... maybe because it didn't look typically Polish? Ha ha sorry! ;DDD Strudels are a hit and miss sort of thing, I find. I think the reason I was so... allured by it was because it somewhat managed to remind me of Hansen's strudels. Hansen's... *___* This was really good, though my camera isn't a fan of egg-brushed dough. *sighs* The apples with soft and yet slightly crisp, perfect level of sweetness and then with the dough covered with glaze and sugar. Mmmm... I always like to try something new, but I might have to take this again, because I *will* be returning. I loved it! :) Impressed!

Rating: ***

Opera Cafe and Fine Pastry Boutique [RIP]

Bakery: Opera Cafe and Fine Pastry Boutique
Address: 2312 Bloor St. W, Toronto ON
Website: n/a
Style: European, Austrian (?)
Price: $$$

[I haven't been here in awhile, so it was only when the subway was down and we had to be bussed to Keele that I realize Opera is no longer. I wasn't really emotionally attached to the place and not too impressed with the purchase I did make here, but it's always sad to see bakeries come and go. Here's hoping that the empty location will bring in another bakery/cafe.. that makes their own baked goods! because, well, it's sad to see a place like Granowska's turned into a fruit market turned shoddy pots and pans distributor. :/] 

Toronto has these parts where there's a massive concentration of bakeries, so much so that you realize you can't go once and try everything, especially on a budget. ;D One of these sorts of areas is without a doubt Bloor-Runnymede (also known as Bloor West Village) where, between Jane and Runnymede, you literally have an endless assortment of bakeries of any kind, from European goodies, more high end stuff, and ones with your North American staples (cookies, brownies and the like). One such example is Opera, the bakery with the name that's quite a mouthful. Seeing as it's been a while (one year, maybe two?) since I was last here, this place was new for me and the second I saw, I *had* to step in. *-* It only took me upon entering that this used to be the Sweet Gallery which is now nonexistent. :(

Still, I have to admit that this place looks amazing and you get the old-world patisserie feeling from both the outside and the interior, although they did little else except spiffy up the old Sweet Gallery decor. However, with a name as totally appealing as "Opera fine pastry boutique", I already got these lovely ideas of Austrian coffee shops with yummy cakes and viennoiseries and, upon looking at the glass cases, went away a tad disappointed in that instead of being greeted with Austrian delicacies, I found stuff that are a staple in far less chic places: red velvet cake (two varieties), Bailey's cheesecake, or tiny slivers of pound cake, in particular, failed to wow me or live up to the "boutique". They had a few pastries besides some mousses (which I'll never really consider pastries... feel free to disagree), although not that many and at a pretty steep price. I found it especially curious how they happened to have napoleons and mille-feuilles, which confused me somewhat (Napoleon = English and some other languages; Mille-feuille = French). Nonetheless, still being relatively at the beginning of the journey (and having already bought a bit from Anna's a few doors down ^^;;;), I passed on the pastries and settled on the baked goods, which for me at least, looked much more exciting and appetizing. And all are at around $2. :)

Anyways, I got super excited at the poppy seed bun (!!) and for the sake of the poppy seed tag I've set up, it was tempting me and tempting me... until I took a look at the glazed plaited dough and noticed that I couldn't see any poppy seeds in/on it. O.o Where were they? Were they there at all? Sensing disappointment (it was too small to have some sort of mass rolled into it, I presume) I settled on the very tasty looking plum danish ($2.25). If you might have read my previous posts, you might already know that I'm not on the hunt for poppy seed, it's plum cake. I looooove plums. A plum danish... thrilled me (in a way only I can understand, no doubt XDD) and so, I found myself a bit... disappointed with it in the end. Plums are in season and pretty cheap now, so I failed to understand why they were so skimpy on the fruit. Not only was there not enough plums in the first place, but they were literally plum shavings, not slices. The only thing that was generous was the glaze and as the plums didn't cover the entire gap in the middle, there were plenty of mouthfuls of just glaze and dough, which gave the thing a bit of a gloopy texture... I can't describe it very well, like always. Kind of like you're eating orange marmalade and bread... except it shouldn't be tasting like that. In this sense, I wasn't wowed by Opera. As a cafe, it's pretty good (and the people pouring into it left right and centre seem to agree), but the whole "fine pastry boutique" was a taaaaaad over-the-top, funny even.

Verdict: Opera is alright, but I get the feeling it's trying a little too hard to be fine and fancy (the waitresses serving the tea room crowd wearing oversized chef garb is the first thing I think of as an example XD). Baked good-wise, there isn't anything overly remarkable here and, if in the neighbourhood, there are other places I'd rather go and stock up on equally delicious goodies for a fraction of the cost. ^^;;

Rating: **1/2

Eileen's Centerview Bakery

Bakery: Eileen's Centerview Bakery
Address: 465 Center Road, West Seneca, NY
Website: http://eileensbakery.com/
Style: North American, German
Price: $-$$

The male member's of my household go to Buffalo semi-regularly and since discovering Eileen's, one brother has been sure to include it on his trip. Actually, he promised to write the review himself, but I know that'll never happen and seeing as my photo folder for the Cake Tour is running on... empty, I thought I might as well do the honour myself. The first time the brother found it, he came running into the house raving about it, that it was one of the few bakeries where he didn't know what to take, simply because there was so much to choose from. Ironically, despite all the choice, he came back with everything looking pretty much the same. :/

Eileen's style seems to be a mix, like many businesses in the Buffalo area, of a bit of German recipes and North American stuff like cookies, doughnuts and whatnot. The small baked goods, at around $1 each are the best deal, though they weren't varied enough for me. The brother bought on this first trip: doughnut sticks (I have no idea what they're supposed to be called), sticky buns, elephant ears (the spiral bun) and fastnachts. The former two were the least interesting, though the brother loved the sticky buns, ooey gooey buns with nuts and sugar, so much he bought and ate another on his return trip. The fastnacht, a very thin piece of dough deep fried and then coated in sugar and cinnamon, were interesting, but ha ha mostly for the name. Reminiscent of Portuguese doughnuts or a brittle version of Mexican churros, I personally would have liked them more if they weren't so hard, but I guess that's the recipe, not the baker. :P By far, the best thing was the elephant ears, which were thin, though fluffier dough swirled with cinnamon and nuts and coated in sugar. It doesn't sound too complex, but the texture, the sweetness and flavour was just right and that was... pretty tasty. ^^

Being yelled at for not getting something different, the brother came back with a huge cherry crumble cake ($6.49) which was, to be quite honest, an amazing idea, but with the execution being off. I loove fruit crumble cakes, which are a staple in quite a few European countries and the more crumble you have the better you are. ((my mom just baked buttery lingonberry crumble cake... omg! amazing!! *-*)) The premise was the same here: yeast dough on the bottom, fruit and then crumble. What ruined this was the filling: pre-fab cherry pie filling, which was more red gloop than actual fruit. The dough and crumble were much too sweet as well, but maaaan, fresh fruit would have made all the difference here! There doesn't need to be so much in it, if costs are a problem ($6.49, btw, isn't sooo cheap for pie filling), but pie filling was a huge no-no in terms of presentation, texture, and taste. Huge disappointment.

The brother will probably be returning for more goodies, but I personally think that he can either count me out or try and convince me with some other goodies. The first batch was alright, though nothing spectacular. The second attempt had the potential, but, in the end, didn't make the grade.

Rating: **

EuroMax

Bakery: EuroMax Foods
Address: 2550 Hurontario St, Mississauga ON (two other locations)
Website: http://www.euromaxfoods.com/
Style: Polish, "European"
Price: $$-$$$

I was sharing my confusion in regards to Euromax in my Karpaty post several months ago and I still don't get it. Are they the same? Are they different? Disregarding the name change (partial name change -- the sign has both names on it still ????), I see nothing else to differentiate the two. The cashiers even wear, albeit faded (my mom was laughing at this while there), Karpaty T-shirts. More confusing is that everything there is the same as in my previous post, although perhaps fresher and of a wider selection. On top of this, Euromax decided to add onto their cake and baked good selections, items looking *very* Portuguese and *frowns* unneeded muffins and brownies. What's that doing there? Honestly, there are more than enough stores where you can buy muffins, I don't expect (nor do I want) to buy muffins from a Polish deli. Come on, guys! Fill it up with some gooood stuff! ;)

Of course, the first thing I ran to was the poppy seed bun ($1.79) which is the same as Karpaty up on Bristol (did a review and photo for that already), but since it also happens to be one of my Polish-style faves, I couldn't resist. I feared that these would only be available at Karpaty, seeing as this place is all new and all. -_- I guess not. Various other danishes and poppy seed buns are available, but I love this one! And, most likely to the high amount of traffic (the place was packed when we went, Thursday afternoon), it was fresher too. Yummm...

On top of that, we decided to risk getting a cake this time and settled on the delicious looking plum cake ($17.99/kg ; we paid around $6 for a smallish piece) which I'm still trying to figure out if it's from Sweet Temptations, as I just bought a slice at Starsky from there of plum cake... for $3/kg less, and the two look similar. I don't remember now if they tasted similar. Still, Sweet Temptations, a commercial Polish bakery (they should open a factory outlet, they really should *-*) baking for the GTA from their place a couple blocks from Euromax. Nonetheless, it's the season for local plums and plum cakes are a favourite sight at delis and bakeries. I love plum cakes. This one had a yeast-dough on the bottom, topped with slices of prune plums and then a tooon of delicious crumble. The taste was amazing, although I was a little disappointed that for how much we paid for it (btw, $3/kg more at Starsky will get you Granowska's delicacies ^^), they treated as though it were reduced: we got the end of the cake and the very lopsided, almost triangular chunk looked horrible. If, say, you were buying it to serve to guests, it was impossible to cut even two nice slices from it. They don't bake it and aren't responsible for the taste, but they should at least take some pride in what they're selling and make it look decent. Cutting a relatively equal slice isn't asking for too much, I think.

General verdict: besides the Portuguese baked goods and those muffins, brownies and carrot cake which I wouldn't think of buying (I can buy the former at an actual Portuguese bakery and the others at a bakery more specializing in this kind of baking), Euromax offers an assortment of tasty-looking baked goods and cakes, although their selection isn't that much bigger than Karpaty to account for the "upgrade" or any different, so I can't exactly say it felt like I was trying something new. Still, they've got those poppy seed buns, but I would stick to buying by weight items elsewhere, since they're quite expensive here. And... I still don't get it. ;DDDDD

Rating: ***

[photo courtesy of Euromax/Karpaty... I drove off without making my own :P]

Le Delice Pastry Shop [Updated!]

Bakery: Le Delice Pastry Shop
Address: #8 1150 Lorne Park Rd, Mississauga ON
Website: n/a
Style: North American, Canadian, European
Price: $$

My mom let me know she had found another bakery to check out in Lorne Park, a more expensive neighbourhood in south Mississauga, and seeing as we had been running pretty low on bakeries to review in the vicinity, we went there while the male members of the household were away on holiday. From the name (didn't notice that accent in there, and on second thought, it wouldn't be correct Italian at all ;D) and location, I was expecting some overpriced Italian bakery with not much in it, but in this sense -- and this sense only -- I was disappointed. ;)

Le Delice is a teeny tiny bakery in between the bank and some sort of copy centre. It's a hard place to find and an even harder place to photograph... the CIBC is really trying to steal the spotlight. XD Nonetheless, it's equally tiny on the inside, but unlike many bakeries, these guys have a majority of sweets (with some savouries on the side) in the way of some fairly typical, North American/British staples like muffins, pies, scones and pound cakes. Not normally a fan of this sort of baking, I think I was pretty amazed to find how yummy everything looks! (and bonus points for having absolutely everything priced... and affordably ;D). Impressed by the cheaper stuff, I think we need to make a return for the crumble pie (~$16) made with locally grown peaches. It looked amazing. *-*

Anyways, for this trip, I decided to uh, go low-risk and stick to the less expensive goodies. My partner is sampling (the mom, this time around ^^) took for herself a pumpkin spice muffin ($1.60), which, though it makes a pretty horrible photograph (how can you take a photo of a muffin... it's a muffin :/) was absolutely delicious. "You wouldn't believe that this and the stuff they sell in the supermarket are both considered muffins" was her comment -- more useful than the brothers, that's for sure. ;)

For the purposes of the cake tour, the mom treated me to the wild blueberry tart ($2.75, or thereabouts) (with, I believe, locally grown fruit as well) which was blueberry in a custard-like filling (sorry, I don't know what to call it :P) in a homemade, perfectly crispy shell. This was delicious, I must say that. ^^;;

I don't know what else to say but that... and that you can count on me returning and providing an update for everyone while I'm at it. ;)

[NEW!] I was ranting, and in earnest, that it's impossible to find a real, good bakery in Mississauga. Even the ethnic choices are good, but not outstanding and nothing has really stood out in the way other bakeries elsewhere have. I'm saying this now, because here's one exception that snuck up on me. I'm a little late with it, since it took me a return visit here to truly grasp it and some excellent choices from my mom, who did the selecting in my place. First thing was a pecan tart for the youngest brother ($2.50) who had been craving one and whining about wanting one for months. He was really impressed. Next up, I got a cinnamon bun ($1.75) which was excellent and there was something oddly... similar to the ones I'd been sampling on my latest trip: delicious dough folded in with butter-cinnamon and topped with a little glaze and icing on top (the lightning was horrible that day...) . Very, very tasty. But! the showstopper is definitely this lovely almond-raspberry tart ($3.25): homemade shell with almond filling (think Hansens) a thick layer of icing and dark chocolate drizzle and on the bottom of it all was a generous amount of thick, homemade raspberry jam. Pair that with the almond and icing... this was AMAZING! Yes, this thing knocked my disbelieving socks off and got me thinking for the very first time: who are these people? Danish style tarts and cinnamon buns and an ample, daily changing selection of danishes. Whoa. O___O

Regardless of the answer, now that my second trip has made me truly appreciate this little place a little more, I *know* they can't disappoint me. Sadly, another bakery came to claim title, but, as consolation, I can say Mississauga's [second] best bakery!! ;)

Rating: ****

Sandholt

Bakery: Sandholt Reykjavik
Address: Laugavegi 36, Reykjavik
Website: They've got a Facebook page, if that counts...
Style: Icelandic, Scandinavian
Price: $$-$$$

Continuing with this year's World Tour despite promises to catch up on my Parisian excursions. (I believe not much is left and the most exciting have been upped already) ^^;; This was my second stop bakery-wise in Reykjavik and one which really thrilled me, because one of my tour books had recommended it, since the owner/baker/pastry chef/whatever the proper title may be was crowned Nordic cake champion once. I read the words "Nordic cake champion" and it was a must-visit, and one which I had been planning since well, reading that a month or two before my trip, despite pfff, the Lonely Planet visitors rank it #274 out of 274 for things to do in Reykjavik. *glares*

Sandholt is a smallish, though pretty... swank bakery in the heart of Reykjavik (okay, everything is in the heart of Reykjavik, but you get what I mean XDDD) with a small cafe in the back and the front part displaying their goodies: breads in the back and goodies, both sweet and savoury, in the glass case and behind the partition there's a second case of chocolates and the famous cakes. I went in to take my pick since everything looks delicious and found not a single thing was priced, but that the list was posted on the wall next to the cash register, in such a location as it's *very* obvious that you're checking out the prices. I started looking at everything and could only think back to the coffee shop (ha ha I should actually review it, I've got the pics for it!) in the airport and the tiny cake slice that cost $9. It wasn't a bakery or anything fancy, so in my mind, I started seeing the kronur add up and I... was a cheap coward and backed down! ;______; Instead of those delectable-looking cakes, I went for the safe option: the baked goods. Because I figured it couldn't be that much more than Kornið, and, fortunately, I was right. ^^ Now, looking back on it, I really can't believe why I didn't cave and go for the cake after all. I'm an idiot sometimes... All I know is that I will definitely return to Sandholt when I come to Iceland again (hah, look at me, acting like it's already planned already -__-) and sit down with some tea and a... slice of cake, even if it might set me back $20 or more. But I had to test the waters, so to speak. ;DDD

Nonetheless, for the brother I first asked after an interesting looking pastry, but upon asking what it was and getting the answer of cheese and ham, I picked out this sticky, nutty one (240ISK/$2) (and why is the pic so damn blurry -- arrgh!!!) which smelled a little like baklava and which I had a feeling the brother would love. And he did. Flaky pastry folded with crushed and whole nuts and then coated/partially soaked in honey.

I, on the other hand, settled for prettily braided cinnamon bun (250ISK/$2.10) which was amazing, and I think the tastiest out of the ones on my trip to Norway afterwards. The only shame is that I couldn't enjoy it properly as we were running through Reykjavik at 4am with luggage to the bus station and I was eating breakfast along the way. Not a great idea, but in between bites, it does allow for intervals of cool, crisp Icelandic air. XD Very flavourful filling with perfect, denser dough and then with a dark chocolate drizzle over top (I believe they had caramel too). Heavenly. ^^;; I love Scandinavian cinnamon buns and this was definitely worth it.

Next time, though: get the cake, Mimi!!! ;)

Rating: ***1/2

La Pâtisserie Belge [RIP]

Bakery: La Pâtisserie Belge
Address: 3485 Avenue du Parc, Montreal QC
Website: http://www.lapatisseriebelge.com/
Style: French, Belgian (?)
Price: $-$$

[Gone?! When did that happen? I walked on Parc once or twice without really noticing that this place wasn't there. It was only when I really thought about that I realized that I hadn't walked past La Patisserie Belge and that this long-standing bakery was indeed gone without a trace. Especially given the fact they weren't replaced by a bakery, it's a sad piece of news. :(]

I could have sworn that I reviewed La Belge ages ago. It was only when I was looking for some photos when I unearthed a whole, hidden folder of photos from one year ago. I went more recently and so I only thought I had to update it, but I guess there is indeed something for me to do today. ^^


Nonetheless, La Pâtisserie Belge is a fairly old institution (the logo is enough for you to see that :DD) in the area and for years and years, I knew this place existed since it's in the area of our usual "hotel", but it was only last year that I actually tried them and after that, well, I was a little angry that I hadn't bothered beforehand. La Belge is a fine patisserie and deli selling pastries, baked goods, breads and also cold cuts/cheeses and, in comparison to other patisseries with "fine" tagged onto them (de Gascogne -- which is only one of my most popular posts ^^), this one has some pretty impressive prices. All cakes are at a set price ($3.25) whereas tarts are slightly cheaper.. I'd like to say $2.50, but this sounds too good to be true. I think I might be mistaken... but as always, if the prices are wrong and you know what they are, don't hesitate to let me know and let this be updated! :) Still, I do remember thinking it unfathomable to get such goodies at under $4 with tax at such a place! This is one great thing about this place.


The second is that they're good. I personally don't find them as good as de Gascogne, which uses a lot more fresh fruit and, according to the brothers, also uses higher grade chocolate, but seeing as you pay double, this is understandable and almost expected. ;) At the same time, there's always something tasty to be found at La Belge, even if you go, like I did, one hour before closing. So, here come the purchases:

On my first trip there, and fresh from my vacation in Paris (which I still need to finish posting reviews for), I couldn't resist the strawberry tart, which not only looking yummy, but ended up tasting the same. Actually, this was really good! I was pretty impressed, thinking I wouldn't be able to find such delicious fruit tarts on this side of the Atlantic.

The brother got a Cointreau, which is, as one may guess, rather plentiful is the liquor of the same name: a sheet of dark chocolate with candied orange peel tops layers of chocolate cake and orange mousse.

In fact, they seem to offer a lot of mousse-y cakes, since on my return here, the three pieces I picked out of what was left was all mousse-based. The pink one was mine: a dual-mousse concoction of raspberry and chocolate. Personally, I found this far too much. I think that if I had noticed in the store that the bottom of chocolate mousse, I wouldn't have picked it at all. The first few bites were good, but then the moussiness really kicked in and I had had enough. For myself and maybe for future customers, I'd definitely recommend either the tarts (which are amazing ^^) or something with substantially more... dough. ;)

The same thing can be said of the creme brûlée, which is several layers of mousse and sugar flambéed on top. Unlike me, the brother that I picked it out for really enjoyed it and said that it ended up being better than that delectable raspberry tart I picked out from de Gascogne. Whatever flouts your boat, I suppose. O.O? The final piece was an Opéra Torte, which was for the other brother: this time around, the layer of mousse was curiously small (unlike the one I had in Paris DX) and it was sandwiched between some more liquor-saturated cake. His verdict? "Pretty good... but next time I'm taking the Cointreau!!" ;P

I suppose the opinion is pretty unanimous: La Belge is indeed a must-visit... just come early before the tarts sell out. ^.^;; That's advice I'll keep for myself, heh heh heh...

Rating: ***

Polcan

Bakery(?): Polcan Meat and Deli
Address: 3115 Winston Churchill Blvd, Mississauga ON (second location on Dundas St W)
Website: N/A
Style: Polish
Price: $$

Polcan isn't a bakery, but rather mostly a meat shop with homemade sausages and cold cuts as well as a butcher shop with mostly beef and pork. The deli receives their small selection of baked goods from a more commercial Polish bakery (such as Sweet Temptations, Karlik or Double W, for example); I'm extremely curious which one it is, since I'd aim this review at them. Previously, (that is, before Starsky supermarket existed) they had a small, though fresh (with nearly daily shipments) selection of baked products such as cheese, fruit or poppy seed buns or pączki and a few, rather expensive slabs of cheesecakes or more tort-like goodies. Now, with Starsky there, Polcan focuses mainly on the meat part of their deli with the rest, in particular the bakery section, having gone downhill (and yes, the worst part is that it isn't their fault). I think that Polcan did get shipments from Sweet Temptations beforehand, and I went for their poppy seed buns, as it was the only place in this half of the city (the only other place that I knew of was Highland Farms and, occasionally, Karpaty) that had them. I don't know who supplies Polcan with their goods and if it's the same place, but they should uh, reconsider their supplier. Or maybe not have a bakery section at all?

While going for some meat, my mom picked me up a poppy seed bun (something around $1.80; she can't remember for sure) for the sake of the Cake Tour and: worst poppy seed bun ever. :( It was something new, so I was pretty excited to give it a try, but the experience actually managed to beat that of Pusateri's poppy seed bun, which, although old, had an incredibly promising taste. There were two things that didn't work out for this thing: the taste and the freshness. For one, it was purchased from the store almost completely solidified. The dough was very stale and that good old microwave refresher trick failed to work. Secondly, it just wasn't good. The bun, unlike other Polish ones, quite literally was 'what you see is what you get': the poppy seed on top was all the poppy seed you got. Polish poppy seed buns mostly use the same mass, which you can buy (from Starsky) imported from Poland in cans, but this was curiously a bit of mashed poppy seeds, with not too much taste, expertly folded so that it all showed up on top. This was really as skimpy as you can get. Perhaps with more of a mass or more poppy seeds in general, the whole thing could have lasted longer or remained sliiiightly more moist. However, seeing as a huge chunk (see above, with the crack in it) of the bun had no poppy seeds, it was just... like a dried bread end. :/ It's not like it was $0.75 or something that you're cutting corners to make it cheap: it wasn't cheap and yet was very cheap, even with the icing. Huge disappointment!

Rating: *

Cob's Bread [Updated!]

Bakery: Cob's Bread
Address: 370 Bloor St West, Toronto, ON (multiple locations)
Website: http://www.cobsbread.com
Style: North American, British
Price: $$

[I haven't been updating recently; mainly because I don't have that much "footage" left. Ha ha I was saving up photos for months before I got this started, and now that my cache is being used up, I've realized that I really don't go to very many bakeries at all. This has to change. ;P Nevertheless, went to a few places over the past few weekends, so hopefully, this will get me through for awhile...]

Cob's Bread is a chain of bakeries (the world's biggest bakery chain????) with a majority of its Canadian locations in and around Toronto, and some in BC and Alberta. As the name indicates, they specialize in a whole bunch of bread, from rye to white to special grains and a bunch of interesting varieties in between. In addition to this, they do carry a few sweet options, although it's not a lot and all except the scones are based on the same yeast dough. In the latter category, there's their delicious cinnamon buns ($2.50 + tax), larger sized tea cakes with fruit and custard or just apples ($5.95 + tax). I believe it was during Valentine's Day, they also had these amazing berry rolls which are like cinnamon buns, but with a berry filling and then on top there's icing and coconut. It was good. ^^;

Last time around, we took the scones ($1.50 + tax) which is pretty much the only other option you have; they have a few flavours, both sweet and savoury. We were going to take three, but the worker said we'd save money if we bought four, so we got another one... and ended up paying $6.25. O_o? Anyways, we took (clock-wise starting from top) cheese and chive, berry white-chocolate, chocolate chip and banana, and cinnamon. I've taken the berry one before, and it's pretty delicious, in terms of scones. The chunks of raspberries and heaping with white chocolate chips. According to the ribbon on the wall at the Bloor St. location, they won first place for this scone and rightfully. ;) No one seemed so thrilled with the other flavours, however. My younger brother said the banana chocolate chip didn't have enough banana in it and... "tasted like a sofa cushion". Yeah, thanks yet again. -_-

Overall, their sweets are pretty good. Their style is more British than anything else (think of every single English-language book entitled "Baking" and that's what I'm talking about), which isn't a style I'm fond of. Their scones are delicious, especially as scones go, and the same goes for their yeast-based concoctions, but at the same time I'd a) prefer something else at another place, b) find their bread a lot tastier. Indeed, there are always places where their good bread doesn't necessarily equal good sweets. Cob's Bread doesn't go to that extreme, since their sweet stuff is pretty tasty, but at the same time, their bread is so good! You may pay a little bit compared to supermarket (in-store) baked breads, but it's worth it. Fresh every day with some amazing flavours (my fave has to be the cheese and jalapeno flat-ish bread, with special mention going out to the Turkish bread). I'd recommend this over anything else, sweet or otherwise, but the baked goods aren't bad either... just a little bland. After all, I think their cinnamon/berry buns are the best choice from the sweet selection. :)

[NEW!] Yay! I never thought it would be possible, as Mississauga never seems to me like the place to have a Cob's Bread, but they did indeed open one not too far from me this summer. And I had to run and check it out. Serving the standards, and not knowing what to take, I must say I was a little reluctant in my mom's suggestion of the Cranberry and Custard Danish (around $2.25, I think... please correct me if I'm wrong) which I didn't think I'd like because of that mentioned custard, which is pretty much vanilla pudding with cranberries and then with some dark chocolate drizzled on top. Perhaps it doesn't look like much, but after the first bite, I was thinking, "wait a minute, this isn't supposed to be so good!". Yup, this might be my favourite sweet from them. The dough is soft and fluffy, but, like their cinnamon buns, not sugary. The little bit of custard and dark chocolate teamed up with the tartness of the cranberries. Who thought this up? Wow, you've impressed me, Cob's! ;)

Rating: **1/2