Hillside Cafe [RIP]

Bakery: Hillside Cafe
Address: 594 Mount Pleasant Rd, Toronto, ON
Website: N/A
Style: Estonian, Finnish
Price: $$-$$$

[ Closed? CLOSED! The only Estonian  bakery, probably in Canada, and the only source for Finnish-style baked goods in Toronto, is no more. It's a sad, sad day...]

Anyways~~ in the spur of the moment, I decided to go to the Yonge/Eglinton area this past Saturday for some bakery hunting. Mostly, this was because the subway was closed southwards, so well, I had to restrict myself. The real point was to return to Hillside Cafe, because right now (with Viking Deli burning down and recently relocating to... Newmarket... Newmarket! How am I going to get there? ;__;) it's the only place you can get Finnish/Estonian baked goods in the GTA. Unless someone knows a secret location unknown to me... then, speak up NOW! XDDD

Ahem, back to the post. ^^ Hillside Cafe (Bakeshop and Delicatessen) is touted as a Finnish/Estonian bakery, although this is mainly by a few people online and nowhere else. Actually, I'm a little surprised that they don't advertise it a little more, since if I didn't know what I was looking for, I would easily pass by this small place advertising sandwiches (the open-faced, Scandinavian variety), bread and muffins.

Upon entering, you're greeted with the (heartbreaking ;D) sight of several shelves of Finnish goods at moderate prices: Fazer chocolates, Finnish randomness like rock sugar, gum, and crisp toast. Then, there's the racks of bread and baked goods all behind the counter with no names or prices, so it's a little hard to see what they have to offer. Some more standard offerings include muffins and danishes, but you definitely come here (in my opinion) for the hard-to-find Finnish and Estonian goodies: rye breads, cinnamon buns, other hard to distinguish (the rack isn't in the best position in figuring out what's on it) baked goods, and of course... pulla! The goodies are reasonable priced at around $1.90/each, but quite frankly, the breads are a little pricey...

This time, I bought a *gasps, shrieks, squeals* poppy seed bun ($1.90 + tax), which I've never seen before at any Scandinavian places. I got way too excited upon having the opportunity to put another one, and from a different area, onto my uh, repertoire. XDDD It was definitely different, with it not having any poppy seed mass at all, but just sprinkled on top and inside the dough in more of a poppy seed bagel way. The whole thing was then brushed with glaze. The dough itself was quite similar to the cinnamon buns/pulla, except there's no typically Finnish cardamom in it; I still liked it. It reminded me a little of this sweet, yeast bread my grandma used to make. ;P It wasn't sugary sweet, and it was great to just tear apart and stuff the fluffy, poppy seed-infused dough into your mouth. Definitely taking it again... when I'm there again (ha ha the last time was last? summer, maybe even before that O.o).

Of course, the main attraction was the pulla ($7.75), which was very expensive for what it is (ie. a loaf of bread). By the way, 'pulla' is a Finnish sweet bread baked with cardamom and raisins, braided, and then coated in egg glaze, almonds and rock sugar; there's another shot of a slice... which I put a little butter on and uh, eat it right up ^^. The one from Hillside, besides being expensive, was my least favourite from the two I've tried in Toronto. The one we bought from Viking was much fluffier, but now that that's not an option, I eagerly gobbled up this one, although I must admit that, despite my complete eagerness, I was a tad bit disappointed that on top of the high price, the bread was pretty stale and obviously not baked that day. :( For the price, I would at least expect fresh bread. I don't know; maybe they don't sell a lot on the weekends, so they should bake less -or- I should get the word out about this place, so they sell their pulla faster and can then bake it more often. This place is too good and too unique for me to pass it up. ^^;;

Rating: ***