Kraków Deli [Updated!]

Bakery: Kraków Deli
Address: #4 2560 Shepard Ave, Mississauga, ON
Website: N/A
Style: Polish
Price: $

Possibly with the exception of Benna's Bakery and Deli, this is definitely the cheapest Polish bakery I've encountered (3 for $1 pączki, $10/kg cream cakes, $12/kg cheesecakes and szarlotki (apple cakes) -- insane!!!). We go here regularly for this reason and for the fact that their treats are always so fresh; other places (*coughs* Karpaty/Euromax down the block *coughs*) not only charge more, but you always get the impression that it's been sitting in their fridges for months. Not so here, where the cakes go so fast, you can actually totally not get anything, because they've sold out. And as with most Polish delis, they don't actually bake anything, but get it from a commercial bakery (if I knew who, I'd so go and see what they've got to offer if they've got a "open to the public" store).

The only real problem is that, seeing how small the 'bakery' section is, there isn't very much variety and the cakes don't exactly change. They've introduced one or two new cakes, but the majority is still various types (different toppings, mainly) of their delicious cheesecake. And, while I'm on it, another problem is the fact that someone decided it would be a *great* idea to put róża (rose jam) in everything: pączki (doughnuts), strawberry cheesecake and their otherwise amazing piernik (gingerbread). Seriously, whhyyyyy? You just don't put rose in gingerbread; it's wrong! (and yes, I absolutely, definitely, most certainly hate rose) This was a huge mistake on the bakery's part, because well, they aren't getting my business anymore, despite the excellent ($5 per piece) price. [EDIT: after taking the risk and buying it again -- you can't take my threats seriously -- I discovered there is no more rose in the gingerbread. Oh, yes!!!!!! ;D]

Since we go regularly and did shop here for all our Christmas cake needs (hence, I did not eat all of this, and certainly not in one go XD), I managed to get a few pics and reviews ready:

Plum cake (~$3/half a pre-cut chunk; first photo): I was super excited to see this here two days before Christmas, as I'd never before seen any sort of plum cake here and well, I'm a huge fan of plum cake, so I couldn't resist reviewing it. ^^;; Sadly, it wasn't the greatest. The crumble on top was a little too doughy and there was too little plums in it, so it really felt like you were eating nothing but (not too fresh or, more likely, too overbaked) dough.

Sernik (cheesecake -- ~$4.50/half a pre-cut chunk; above photo): I absolutely love this cheesecake! This is really the best I've tasted; it's always fresh and cheesy and yet so light and delicious with just the soft ciasto biszkoptowe (what on earth is this as a translation? soft... ladyfinger-like dough -__-;;;) on the bottom. This is so yummy!! ^_^

Mars (~$4/half a pre-cut chunk) : this is one of the new offerings that was introduced a few months ago. It consists of layers of honey cake and cheese with chocolate and peanuts on top. This is one of the most interesting and unique cakes at this deli and I really like it, although the dough always seems to be a little crumbly and falls apart when you try and scoop it onto your fork. But the taste of the spiced cake and cheese is so delicious. I was pretty satisfied with them introducing this. :)

Makowiórek (~$5/pre-cut chunk): this is a cream cake, so not for everyone. In fact, I'm not too big a fan of this, but we bought it for everyone else, so I thought I'd take a pic despite not eating it this time around. As for cream cakes, though, it's pretty good, as you get some more variety than just dough and cream. Here, this is vanilla dough on the bottom, cream then a mass of poppyseed and coconut in the middle. On top, it's dotted with round ladyfingers (Nilla-shaped, but not texture-wise) which are then drizzled in chocolate and coated in more coconut. This is really for people who *love* coconut. Not being one such person, I find it a tad bit... overbearing with there being too much cream for me.

Last but not least -- Sernik na zimno (cold cheesecake -- ~$4.50/half a pre-cut slab): another newer addition to the display case. :3 Cold cheesecake is a hit-and-miss sort of dessert in Canada, with the majority falling very clearly into the "miss" category. This is mostly due to the fact that original recipe calls for serki, small packs of homogenized sweet cheese which can be eaten like yogourt (a little like Minigo or Petit Danone, I suppose), and we simply don't have something like this here. Many bakeries substitute this cheeses with Philadelphia Cream Cheese. This is a complete *disaster*; I absolutely hate the distinct taste of a Philadelphia cream cheesecake with that unbearable heaviness, that taste -- UGH! I don't know how they do it, but these guys have finally nailed it. Delicious bit of the same, perfect vanilla dough with a nice, generous helping of light, fluffy cheese and then jello on top with some random berries in it. Sooo good. :)

NEW!! I finally got a chance to snag a piece of my favourite cake from these guys. I really have no idea what this is called, but it's just so unique, taste-wise, that I really always go for it: dough on the bottom, then little pockets of round, almost dough-like custard with berry jam and lime (the green stuff) pudding. On top of this, there's more berry jam with whole pieces of fruit: strawberries, peaches and blueberries, and then dusted off with some coconut. This is really a weird one (and probably my description isn't so great, but it's super tasty!

MORE NEW STUFF!!  I could hardly believe my eyes when my mom brought back for me a... poppy seed bun!! Gaah, what on earth happened! I've never seen anything like this before, especially as they don't seem to have any baked goods. And it looked so promising too: look at those poppy seeds, crumble and icing, on the outside and yet, there seemed to be more of an art to it than I thought, since they somehow managed to expertly weave the bun so that literally *all* the poppy seeds were on the outside whereas the inside was just plain sweet dough. It's not the first time that's happened in terms of GTA Polish deli/bakeries, and yet I was still  disappointed. :(

The verdict: delicious baked goods and cakes (with a varying degrees of yumminess), although if you want to sample something from these guys, go for their cheescakes and the yummiest of them all, the custard cake and coconut flakes. And what's more: it all comes at a great price! ^^;;;

Rating: ***