Anna's Bakery and Deli [RIP]

Bakery: Anna's Bakery and Deli
Address: 2394 Bloor St W, Toronto ON
Website: n/a
Style: Polish, Eastern European
Price: $-$$

[Anna's has closed after a great many years in business and has been replaced by Janchenko Bakery; be on the look out for that review ^-^] Anna's is a pretty tiny place and the deli part is even tinier, which means that the majority is devoted to some great Polish baked goods. In fact, disregarding the heavenly display at Hansen's Danish Pastry Shop, Anna's has a pretty amazing front window stocked with buns and pączki and slab cakes. Almost everything with the exception of per weight items are priced, well-priced, with the vast majority at around $1 and other goodies also at pretty good prices ($3 for half a makowiec is impressive; the per kilo stuff is, of course, more). All goodies include tax. I stepped in and realized that was indeed Anna's Bakery, which is also sold in Starsky and which bakes probably the best poppy seed goods available at the supermarket. ((I'll review it eventually in my ever-growing, yet never written Starsky post)) Wow, it never dawned on me until then. Anyways, the place smells good and I could eat nearly anything there. Polish baking is great, though I myself underrate it a lot of the time. :P

Seeing as I started from Jane and Anna's was my first stop, I didn't want too much since I'd then ruin the rest of the trip, so I settled on two items. It was a hard, hard choice. For the guinea pigs I picked out an apple bake/baked apple (my mom kept saying it wrong and now I don't remember what's right -__-) ($2.00) which was an apple sliced into thinner pieces and stuffed with raisins, cinnamon and sugar. Both highly approved.

For myself, he he he, I really could not resist the apple strudel (priced per kilo; my slab -- it was then divided for three people -- was $3.90) which looked so delicious... maybe because it didn't look typically Polish? Ha ha sorry! ;DDD Strudels are a hit and miss sort of thing, I find. I think the reason I was so... allured by it was because it somewhat managed to remind me of Hansen's strudels. Hansen's... *___* This was really good, though my camera isn't a fan of egg-brushed dough. *sighs* The apples with soft and yet slightly crisp, perfect level of sweetness and then with the dough covered with glaze and sugar. Mmmm... I always like to try something new, but I might have to take this again, because I *will* be returning. I loved it! :) Impressed!

Rating: ***