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: ****