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: ****