Richtree

Bakery: Richtree Market Restaurants // Open Kitchens by Richtree
Address: Square One Mall, Mississauga, ON (5 other locations in GTA and Ottawa)
Website: http://www.richtree.ca/
Style: European
Price: $$-$$$

The Richtree chain of market restaurants have changed their names a few times. In the beginning, they were owned by Swiss super chain Mövenpick (under the name Mövenpick Marché), and then they turned into Richtree, which has, in certain locations, turned into Open Kitchens, complete with a full "modern-style" renovation which I don't particularly like. Personally, I like the "old country" feel of their original markets, but that has nothing to do with the food. As the name may suggest, this is more of a cafeteria where you can buy hot and ready meals like pizza, pasta, and rösti, but which likewise has a pretty good selection of baked goods, which look pretty good, although some (at or over $4) can be a little steep, price-wise.

As corny as it may sound, I have to admit that I'm just a big fan of their muffins ($1.59 each) in particular, which are just so good. I'm pretty sure they're all baked with oats and with a variety of flavours such as the standard blueberry, carrot, and chocolate chip as well as more unique varieties that appear regularly. My personal fave is their peach muffins, which are super yummy, though a tad scant on the actual peach part. Another popular one with the household is the coconut... and I'm sure there was something else in it too (pineapple, banana??). I think the third one on my pic is apple, but I don't remember. Nevertheless, the cheapest option at Richtree in the sweets department definitely does happen to be the tastiest as well. :)

For Cake Tour purposes (bad excuse, I know ^^), I went this week to Square One and popped in to try their apple strudel again. I had it years and years ago, back when it was Mövenpick Marché, and we bought a half strudel for $4.99. Nowadays, it's $3.69 for an individual piece and all half/whole strudel purchases don't exist. That being said, the slice was fairly generous and I ended up having to split it with my youngest brother. Unlike German/Austrian strudels made of thin layers of buttery flaky dough, this one is more of a "shell" of denser, pretty flavourless dough dusted with the usual powdered sugar. The filling was chunks of apples cooked in a caramel-like sauce flavoured with cinnamon and nutmeg. The apples, however, were fresh and quite hard; this was something that really bothered me. They could have been a lot more cooked, to the consistency of more apple pie filling minus the mushy sauce. Even a little bit more would have made a difference; like this, it detracted from the feeling that you're eating a baked good, not pieces of cinnamon-coated apples. My opinion anyhow. Suffice to say, either I remember wrong or I recall liking the apple strudel a lot more the first time I had it. This.. I think I'll stick to the muffins, or maybe try the peach cake ($3.99) if they weren't so expensive! ;P
Rating: **1/2