Empire Bakery

Bakery: Empire Bakery
Address: #31, 180 Steeles Avenue West, Toronto, ON
Website: http://www.empirebakery.ca/
Style: Russian, Jewish, Eastern European
Price: $-$$

I haven't actually been to Empire Bakery. It's not really in the area and I'm not quite sure if there is a retail location, seeing as they are a commercial bakery and distribute to various supermarkets and delis in the GTA. I got these at Starsky supermarket. As with everything from Starsky's bakery, it's not fresh and that really detracts me from anything they have to offer.

As you may expect (I'm predictable, I know it), I got two different poppy seed treats. I also once tried (no photo though) their strudels ($6.49) which come in a variety of flavours, mostly fruity. I think I got the cherry; it was okay, though, as I already know, not at its freshest. It's fairly generous on the fruit and, like the other goodies, has a dough that's pretty dense. It's definitely a different dough than many other sweet yeast-based goods.

Aside from that, I got a small poppy seed strudel ($1.75); they've got other flavours as well like, I believe, cherry and cheese, plain cheese and... nuts?  It features this same, dense dough with a drier, grainier poppy seed mass.... It's glazed with egg on top and dusted with dry poppy seeds. Pretty good, though not moist enough.

The showstopper was the giant poppy seed ring ($8.99) which was the best. The amount of poppy seed mass (in this one, you also get a generous amount of slivered almonds and walnuts on top and chunks of walnuts mixed in with the mass, which not only adds an interesting and tasty texture to the ring, but makes it stay nice and moist a lot longer than the smaller poppy seed bun above. Of course, it is essentially a commercial bakery and it has the taste of something that is plastic wrapped and sealed, ready to be shipped. Never really fresh, and somehow tasting inescapably... mass produced. You can't hide it.

Rating: **

The Sweet Gallery [First Post!!] [Updated!]

Well, well, well, it's taken some time for my first post to appear here. As a matter of fact, I had the biggest problem choosing which place to review first and I settled on... my best photo. -_- But weee, it's finally up and from now on, I'll be (hopefully) updating more often. And hopefully, you'll be here to join me. :)

Bakery: The Sweet Gallery
Address: 350 Bering Ave., Toronto, ON (also two additional locations)
Website: http://www.thesweetgallery.com
Style: Austrian/European
Price: $$


I discovered Sweet Gallery several years ago by chance (while hunting for a Finnish bakery, as a matter of fact) and since we had already spent enough money at one bakery, we decided it was no use stepping in and being disappointed, so it had been something on my major to-visit list, especially when I could see from the window the typically Austrian display of marzipan animals and Mozart chocolates. ;) Seeing as the Mount Pleasant location was *really* out of my way, I went to their other location on Bloor St. last summer (and no, I didn't think of chronicling my stuff back then) and found their variety wasn't as amazing as their website promises. I had an apple turnover-like pastry which was very memorable.

I always wanted to go back, but again, it was slightly out of the way, so along came my third opportunity, which was proposed by my mom: the Sweet Gallery headquarters is right next to the subway I go to every Saturday. This is, by the way, my favourite location (note that the other two have since closed). Nevertheless, in addition to carrying cakes (mostly chocolate or Black Forest), they have their famous apple strudel, a few pastries, some tarts/fruit cakes and cookies. You can take it out or sit down and have a cup of tea or coffee with your snack. I'm pretty sure they have some sort of breakfast and light lunch (sandwiches) available too, but don't take my word for it on that latter point.

Anyways~~ unfortunately, I was so eager to delve into my treat that I sort of forgot to take a picture of it first and only remembered after I had eaten it. And it ended up being my favourite one too. :( Regardless, it was a slice of plum cake [around $3.25] (I believe it's a seasonal thing) with plums, shredded dough and cinnamon on top, and some sort of mass beneath the plums. It was delicious!! ^^;; I'm the biggest fan of plum cakes and this was probably the best I've tasted, I swear it.

In addition to this, I snagged myself a slice of their apple strudel [around $3.25] *points* because the online opinion is unanimous that this is probably the best apple strudel in Toronto -- this time, they're probably right. ;) This was amazing!! (and PS. I am just *so* proud of myself for how pro this photo turned out, despite constant transportation making it a little messy) I loved the crisp, thin layers of filo lined in sugar and cinnamon and then the mass of apples, raisins, and more cinnamon. Sometime during the eating of this, I must have fainted. Lol! My only issue was that it was pretty small as slices go. The plum cake and the apple strudel were both the same price, and yet the plum cake was easily twice the size. Taste wise, though, they've got themselves a fan. ;)

[NEW!] Thought I'd bump this back up seeing as a) I went here last week to sample a few more goodies and, b) this has constantly been one of my top posts. Don't know why, but I'm not complaining. This time around, I came to try some of their squares. I picked out two ($2.25/each): the first being an apple and cranberry one with plenty of fruit and some pretty amazing crumble and powdered sugar on top. The cranberries weren't too overwhelming and gave the whole thing a little tartness, but without detracting from the sweetness of the apples (oddly enough, I can't remember there being any cranberries, just the redness... unless it's not cranberry. I *am* only assuming here. XD) I loved it.

Same goes for a slice of cheesecake with the same delicious crumble on top (I love crumble *-*). The taste was pretty Eastern European, but that's more a compliment than anything else. I also happen to love Eastern European cheesecake... Sandwiched between the bottom dough and the cheese was also a thin layer of... raspberry/strawberry jam. Whatever it was, it was amazingness. ;) I probably loved this more than the apple/cranberry one, but for both, I had the comment of: omg!?! why is this so small!?! Personally, I would be willing to pay a little more to get a little more... especially when these things are so good.

Rating:****

Kornið [Mimi's World Tour]







Bakery: Kornið
Address: Lækjargata 4, Reykjavik
Website:  http://www.kornid.is
Style: Icelandic, Scandinavian
Price: $

[Note: This downtown address has closed down, but Kornið does exist in other forms in the outer Reykjavik area as well as a few spots in Reykjanes.

Having just returned (okay, a few weeks ago ;_;) from my vacation, I thought it inevitable to start up the World Tour yet again with some fresh entries. Of course, I *still* have a ton to do from Paris and more from my earlier trips, but that will all come in time. This time, I'm going in chronological order and start with my first sweets purchase. I came across Kornið (which doesn't seem to exist anywhere online, so I'm hoping my site will skyrocket to the top ;D) by accident while exploring the lovely city of Reykjavik (^^;;) for the first time. It was one of the first bakeries I encountered and seeing as I was going to be going on a bus tour for the remainder of the day, I stepped in and found the prices very reasonable. The bakery had a lot more selection in the past; while there on my latest trip, on a Tuesday morning, there were only really cinnamon buns for sale (and selling). The bakery also sells some cakes (the advertisement on top of the counter is for a strawberry or chocolate cake, or something similar), which I remember to be quite expensive, although now that I'm zooming in on the picture, are selling for 1490ISK, which is around $12. Not bad.


The brother, after seeing the menu on Icelandair, couldn't resist the kleina (170ISK /$1.40 for a plain, or, 180ISK / $1.50 dipped in chocolate) which the plane touts as being a traditional Icelandic doughnut. It's pretty much deep-fried cake dough. He really liked it, though he can't describe it to be in better terms). For the price, it's definitely one "traditional Icelandic" dish you can afford to try!!!

I, on the other hand, was contemplating and contemplating which looked the yummiest and then I spotted... the POPPY SEED bun (260ISK/$2.15). Omg, I didn't even such a thing existed! O_O I was in a state of ecstatic shock: imagine trying an Icelandic poppy seed bun. Of course, I ate it next morning for breakfast, so the photo wasn't so great and it was a tad dry (it was kept in a paper bag, which didn't help matters much), but that was my fault. Similar to my Estonian poppy seed bun, the poppy seeds were folded along with the dough instead of made into a mass and then spread with a tad bit of icing on top. The showstopper was definitely biting into this bun and finding the inside was kept soft and moist by a fairly generous bit (so generous you can taste it most distinctly) of liquor!?! Poppy seed + liquor = one great bun! (EDIT: It's only sad that poking my head upon return trips, I have never seen this again)

I'm not sure how useful this review will be, seeing as I don't know how many from here are travelling to Iceland, but hey! I can try to spur the tourism. :) Kornið was a good start to my World Tour this year though! ^^

Rating: ***

Pâtisserie Callia [RIP]

Bakery: Pâtisserie Callia
Address: 78, rue de la Gauchetière O, Montreal QC
Website: n/a
Style: Chinese
Price: $

Haven't posted a new post in a week or so, so here comes a new one. Once again, it's from Montreal  Callia is one of a few patisserie/restaurants in Montreal Chinatown. It's definitely one of the more humble ones, and doesn't seem to be such a big hit with the "foreign" crowd (they seem to go to Patisserie Harmonie on the corner, which I'm not that fond of). Of course, that has its advantage: Callia has great prices (a vast majority of baked goods are in the $1 range) and they also happen to have some of the best Chinese meat
buns. The BBQ pork and flaky beef buns are especially recommended, and they also have a ton of options not found in other nearby bakeries: bacon and onion, curry meats, meat stuffed in flaky, pastry-like dough to name a few. It's also a restaurant serving congee, milkshakes and "Chinese-cafe"-style fare. 

But.. I'm not here to review meat buns. LOL Aside from the savoury, Callia also has a few sweet options, though not an overwhelming lot: red bean buns, almond cookies, Chinese doughnuts, and the advertised egg tarts. For some strange reason, I have an easier time picking something at other bakeries and I've settled sometimes on just the plain dough cupcakes or sponge cake, which are both good: soft, spongy and not sweet with a few slivered almonds on top.

For the sake of the Cake Tour, I picked out something different my last time and went for the green tea bun (pictured). Sadly, I didn't like it. Well, the taste was alright: white dough somewhat folded in with a green tea flavoured mass and glazed with egg on top, but the texture was a little unpleasant. The green tea mass was quite mushy and after carrying it back, it turned almost wet and made the surrounding dough somewhat soggy. I don't know... it wasn't for me. :/ ;


[EDIT] On a return trip to Callia and grabbing some more traditional items this time around (this original post, it must be said, is quite an old one), everyone was  impressed. These guys do seem to have one of the best red bean sesame balls out of all bakeries tested... along with some other items like red bean sponge cakes and these... yellow balls. Not sure what they were, but they were tasty and a hit for all. Sadly, my 'updates' are usually here to report on the deterioration of a bakery, but this time around, it's almost the opposite: a return visit did second my original opinion of it being the best Chinese bakery in Montreal. 

Overall, Callia is a pretty good Chinese bakery and one of, if not the, best in Montreal, if anything purely for their "doughnuts" (three doughnut balls on a bamboo skewer and dusted in sugar = bliss). A stupid choice from me kind of dampened by opinion of this place, but I'll definitely return, though I'm not sure when's the next time I'll actually be in Montreal. And well, I won't be taking the green tea bun on a hot day. ;)

Rating: ***

Le Thobors [Updated!]

Bakery: Le Thobors Cafe
Address: 627 Mount Pleasant Rd, Toronto, ON
Website: http://www.thobors.ca
Style: French
Price: $$

Get ready for this one: Best French Patisserie/Boulangerie in Toronto!! *-* This is a pretty... pompous way to start out my latest post, but I'm swearing by it. I had this. as of now, two weeks ago and I'm still savoring the yumminess that is a Thobor pastry. And this is the real deal: you know you're in a French bakery worth noting when not only the workers and owner are speaking French, but all the people sitting at the few tables and the people in front of you are francophones. This impressed me the second I walked in the door; after that, however, I was wowed exclusively by all the tasty goodies behind the glass ^^;;: danishes and cookies, macarons and individual cakes and tarts, chocolates and full-size tortes (I read on their website that their apple beignets are voted Best Doughnuts in Toronto, but I didn't see them there ;___;). I was also surprised, especially considering the neighbourhood the bakery is in, that everything was -- not cheap -- reasonably priced: tarts and cakes could be bought for under $5 (believe me, for a French bakery, this is a hard find), macarons/cookies were around $2.10 and all baked goods under $3. Not bad.

Nevertheless, I took one look and felt like I was in Paris yet again. ;D And like in Paris, I had *no* idea what to pick. Everything just looked so good!!! Ahhh, dilemma, dilemma~! I was debating between two raspberry cakes and settled on the "souffle framboise" ($4.85; pictured), because it seemed the less heavy of the two. And it was... HEAVEN!! Omg, just looking at this photo makes me want to drool. This was just SO good! I really couldn't/still can't believe a place in lacklustre Toronto would be capable of making something so delicious. With the flawless, flaky tart shell filled with pastry cream and then the unbelievably light white-chocolate souffle teamed up with fresh raspberries. Eeek, perfection! *____*

I don't go along Mount Pleasant often at all (once a year sounds like a pretty fair guess), but not only can I NOT wait to return to this place, but I'll revisit this place in better weather *just* to get more stuff from Le Thobors: definitely more cakes (though it'll be hard not to settle for this baby ;DDD), maybe some of their famous beignets, baguettes, chaussons aux pommes... pretty anything I can get my poor little hands on. ^-^ Amazing-ness!!

[NEW!] I couldn't resist the temptation of returning to this place and did so a few months ago (yup, I'm very behind with my updates) and this time stocked up on some goodies. In addition to getting the same thing as above (although it collapsed before we returned home ;-;), we also got tried out their delicious and award-winning baguettes (poppy seed) and two other baked goods: chausson aux pommes (I suppose an apple turnover would be most accurate) and, yet again, their award-winning beignets. The former (around $2.25) was flaky dough filled with the bakery's homemade apple sauce. As I was not the one to eat it, I can't say much about how it tasted, but I should let everyone know that I'm now not the only one waiting to return here. XD

The second goody we picked up were three beignets (small: around $1.10 with filling, large around $3.00? I really don't remember...), two filled with that homemade apple sauce and one with their homemade jam. They're baked plain and halved and filled to order. Other fillings include custard, hazelnut butter and... one more. ^^;; Honestly, I don't think I'll manage to do a decent enough job of explaining how delicious these are. Just now that the award they have up for the city's best doughnuts is well, VERY well deserved. This has to be Toronto's best doughnut. *-*

The four-star abides, my friends. ;DD

Rating: ****

Pâtisserie de Gascogne [RIP]

Bakery: Pâtisserie de Gascogne
Address: 237 av. Laurier O., Montreal, QC (ALL locations closed)
Website: http://www.degascogne.com/
Style: French
Price: $$$

[De Gascogne rather abruptly closed all their locations]

Nevertheless, seeing as there were four of us, we got four little, individual cakes ($4+/each) all fancily decorated... although considering how much you pay for them, it would be nice for them *not* to put them into one giant box and pack them individually or put some sort of barriers between them. When I opened the box to take pictures, they were all either smooshed against one another or against the wall. I mean, it wasn't such a big deal for me, but if you were entertaining, peeled chocolate, fallen raspberries and dirty wrappers doesn't look so impressive. This was my biggest complaint about these guys.

As for the cakes... Well, I can only really speak for myself, but mine was superb and definitely beat out the treat I bought the day before. I chose it due to the fact that de Gascogne seems to specialize more in chocolate cakes (they also sell their own chocolate at another counter in the store) and they didn't have so much in the fruit category...  Anyways: fresh raspberries on top with a little glaze sitting atop a sponge cake with vanilla cream in the middle. This was amazing, just a tad too small, especially considering the price ($4.30, I believe).

The next, at around the same price, is a chocolate raspberry cake. (pictured at top) This apparently was a chocolate cake with raspberries on the inside coated in dark chocolate and decorated with dark chocolate flakes. Verdict: "It was good. I'd give it ***"
The other was the Marocain. This was a chocolate and nut combination with nuts in the dark chocolate coating and a thick, very rich nutty mousse in the inside along with some sort of dough. Good.

Overall: perhaps the price doesn't make this a place you go to on a regular basis, but this is definitely a place worth visiting.

On a return trip, we settled on splitting a large raspberry tart ($15.00) which was made up of two layers of dense, almost almond -like in taste "shell" which was split with some sort of cream. This was then topped with tons of fresh raspberries, a bit of powdered sugar, some candied orange peels and a small sheet of chocolate. The cake was definitely a unique take on the fruit tart/flan idea. Really liked it!

Rating: ***1/2

Milbree-Viking Inc.

Bakery: Milbree-Viking Inc.
Address: Unit 2, 350 Davis Dr., Newmarket, ON
Website: http://milbreeviking.com/
Style: Finnish, Scandinavian
Price: $$

I've been waiting MONTHS and MONTHS to have some pretext to go to Newmarket, around 100 km?? north of Toronto, so I could go back to Milbree-Viking and have another taste of their delicious pulla. The Finnish deli, smokehouse and bakery used to be in Toronto, but relocated after a huge fire destroyed much of their previous location. :( Ever since seeing the CP24 news screen on the subway about a "multi-alarm fire at Laird Rd deli" and *knowing* at once that it was the single Finnish bakery in the city, I've been eagerly awaiting some news of their reopening. This came about a year ago when, on their website, they had found a new site for their business... in Newmarket. Seeing that it was hard enough going nearly to Scarborough (I visited, with much traffic-related complications Milbree-Viking, only once before), I wept knowing that I'd never make the trip to Newmarket. Fortunately, the brother was having a soccer tournament there and yeah, pulla for me! ^^

Anyways~ as I've said, Milbree-Viking is indeed the only Finnish deli in the Toronto area (unless you include Hillside Cafe, who are Estonian, but it's as close to Finnish as you can get ^^) they sell a few imported goods from Finland and their own, homemade goods. The brother isn't very helpful in terms of what was there now, but they should still have their variety of smoked goods, especially fish, cold cuts, cheese (you can buy yourself a sandwich), various salads and, of course, fresh rye breads and Finnish baked goods, which are all of yeast-based dough. Knowing me, I'm only focusing on the latter. ^^ Their variety isn't huge and the breads, especially, are more than the price of bakery white bread (rye breads are never cheap, and this is especially true for heavy ryes), but what they do have is of high quality and uh, great taste. ;)

We bought two loaves of bread: one heavy and the other light rye. Everyone was pretty impressed with this, but as for the sweet stuff, he he he, anyone can already guess what a fan I'm of them. ^^ First off, we got a whole bag of cinnamon buns (~1.50/each; please excuse the appropriately cheesy pic, I couldn't help myself), which are so good. The cinnamon mass folded into cardamom-laced dough is especially recommended for those who want a tasty treat with their tea or coffee and don't a mass of overly sweet, sugary stickiness. Of course, one brother was complaining that it would have been better with icing. No, I don't agree. ^^;;;

On top of that, we got a pulla (Finnish sweet bread with cardamom and either sold with sugar (~$7) or with raisins and almonds (~9). The prices are approximate, since those that bought it didn't do a great job of paying attention. :/ Nevertheless, I love pulla. A lot. ^__^ The taste is simple yet so good, even with just a little butter. Mmmm, I LOVE Finnish baked goods... I can't wait for another tournament to come along, since I don't think I can get here any other way. ;_;

Rating: ****

Wawel

Bakery: Wawel
Address: 5499 Sherbrooke O., Montreal QC
Website: http://www.wawelpatisserie.com
Style: Polish
Price: $$-$$$

I'M BA-ACK! :) After several weeks' absence due to icky schoolwork (which has been handed in after months of work-- yes!) and vacation (complete with a few great World Tour bakeries to add to the collection), I've officially returned with plenty of places ready to check out, tons of badly photographed pics to share, and a few to recommend to you. My first post since my return belongs to that category... actually, it would be more fair to say it's more a four star, enamoured rave than a recommendation, but hey, it's not my fault.

Nevertheless, during my latest trip to Montreal more than a month ago, I was checking out new places to try out and my brother told me that they were saying good things about a Polish bakery by the name of Wawel. More specifically, there was the general opinion that Wawel happened to make the best pączki in Montreal. Of course, considering the total lack of Polish businesses in Montreal, I kind of laughed it off to people not having tasted that much else, but man, was I ever wrong. For this, I have to apologize, Wawel.

We went here and taking a look at the first glass case, I must admit I wasn't wowed. Well, if you like opera tortes and macarons, then you wouldn't be complaining, but I was a little disappointed that they didn't have anything really Polish, except for some pretty expensive cheesecake sold by the kilo. It was then that I spotted a tray of pączki; seeing as the windows of the store were covered with cheesy, multilingual decals advertising them as the best doughnuts in the world, I thought it had be to be tried to believed.

So, we bought a half-dozen pączki ($1.25 each) and a poppy seed bun. My brother, not being to control himself because of the scent of sugary glaze wafting through the car, caved and ate his within ten minutes of leaving Wawel. His verdict: "This is the best pączek I've ever eaten." He followed that by non-stop comments of how fresh it was, how good the glaze was and the plum filling, and how Granowska's was nothing compared to this. My other brother, finding he couldn't resist, had his soon afterwards. His verdict: "This is the best pączek I've ever eaten." Not taking either of them seriously, I decided to finally bite into this relatively small ball of deep-fried goodness. I normally pick out the plum jam, because it's not something I like that much, but one taste was enough for me to know I was going to finish this. Holy crap, this *IS* the best pączek I've ever eaten! O.O The unbelievable, perfectly fried freshness of it teamed up with super-soft dough, perfect filling and glaze with a hint of alcohol in it... This was really one of two Polish bakeries that have succeeded in wowing me.  It was amazing, Polish perfection! :)

The next morning, I delved into the poppy seed bun which used the same soft, delectable yeast dough and liquor-ish glaze as the pączki, but with a fairly generous amount of poppy seed mass rolled into the dough. A-maz-ing. ^.^

As a concluding remark, all I can really say: I can NOT wait to return to Montreal, because I know that Wawel will always require a visit. I really can't believe it's taken me... seven, eight years to find this gem of a place!

Rating: ****