Caldense Bakery

Bakery: Caldense Bakery
Address: 1030 Dundas St., Mississauga ON (multiple locations in and around Toronto)
Website: http://www.caldensebakery.ca
Style: Portuguese
Price: $-$$

I must say that Caldense is one of the best Portuguese bakeries, especially at the more affordable standpoint. The location I go to is inside the relatively new Tavora "European super centre (aka. Portuguese supermarket ;D) It would just be really helpful if they actually printed their prices before everything or at least put up a board listing how much are baked goods/cakes/tarts. A bakery without prices is extremely intimidating and people are less likely to buy stuff, in my opinion, so if you have good prices show them off. ;) Really, this is my only minus about Caldense.

Besides this, Caldense's goodies are just super yummy and, aside from overpriced Lazar, they probably have the best variety, especially for Mississauga. They feature the typical custard tarts ($1.25/each), a few individually-sliced cream cakes, and some interesting baked goods made of flaky dough and filled with coconut and custard, depending on what you like. The independent locations in Toronto (never been there, so I'm not sure) and the other one in Mississauga should have even more variety if they're bigger. I think the only thing not pictured that I had a few months ago is their apple squares (I'm sorry, I really need to go somewhere and find out the names of all these things in Portuguese ^__^;;) with apples surrounded by flaky dough and coated with an extra generous helping of coconut flakes. And yes, this isn't so obvious at Brazil Bakery, but Caldense is extra generous with their coconut and custard, so if you're not a fan, you might want to go elsewhere. ;)


Other notables/recent purchases include... first of all, a giant egg tart [above](everything featured today was $1.70, including tax) which is flambé-ed on the top. Really, I love this place and I was just so mad that my brother took this one for himself when I wanted to review it. He tried a bit and said it tasted like 'tamago sushi' (the one with the egg on top of rice) Yeah, thanks so much for that. :/ Let's just say it wasn't very recommended.

He also bought something else new to try, and I really have no idea what to call this. It's roughly the shape and size of a coffee mug, and apparently, it was layers of dough on the inside which was then surrounded by custard, dusted with coconut which was then baked and, in the end, topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon. This was actually was quite a hit for the three people that tried it: it's pretty original and worth a try.


Finally, my favourite! *sighs* I do hate it that when I plan on taking a photo of it, they just to burn the top in the corner and sort of ruin the picture, but this is seriously what I come here every time I come, and am pretty disappointed when they already sell out. :/ This is just soooo good, albeit being pretty simple too: it's sweet, yeast dough folded in half and stuffed with a little bit of coconut mass and then baked with coconut on top and dusted with powder sugar. It's huge, size-wise, but every bite is a uh, pleasant one. ;DDD I can't find this in any other bakery, which is a shame, because I really love this!

Rating: ***