Nova Era

Bakery: Nova Era Bakery & Pastry
Address: 460 Egerton St, London ON (9 other locations across Ontario and GTA)
Website: http://www.novaera.ca/
Style: Portuguese
Price: $

I've walked by Nova Era one or two times on Bloor St, but oddly enough it took the brothers' trip to London (Ontario) for me to actually try it and, as with most Portuguese bakeries, it certainly didn't disappoint me (on the contrary... *-*) and it was a great value on top of that. ^^

Fortunately, they brought back quite a bit this time, although I only ate one of the items. Still, let's jump right into this thing: they got four tarts, two standard custard/egg (you know what I mean... don't exactly know what they are though .__.) and two orange tarts ($1.00/each), not pictured. Because there's only one brother at home, I asked him his opinion and "it's really good". Coming from those who can't string together an opinion of more than one word, this is pretty impressive. XD I myself, oddly enough, have never tried them... I really should though. If only for the Cake Tour. ^^;;

The brother's other delicacy was this monster napoleon-style cake ($1.50) with two thin layers of puff pastry and a skyscraper's worth of cream. This thing was MASSIVE and even that doesn't quite nail it. Everyone laughed at him for taking it and, in the end, he did seem to regret it, as it was so huge, he had to chop it in half and just pretty much eat nothing but the cream, which had the taste and texture of marshmallows. Better luck next time, I suppose. :P

The other brother got this, for lack of a better word choice, a danish with a smattering of almonds on top ($1.50) and with, maybe, possibly some custard on the inside. Can't say that for sure, but at the same time, I *do* know that he enjoyed this one and the tart mentioned above. *nods*

And of course, they were kind enough to get me my favourite (I suppose no one knows what this is called, do they? I'm curious), a relatively flat sweet yeast dough topped with a coconut mass and then folded in half and dusted with vanilla sugar. Maaan, I love this thing! And I really loved this one too! At the moment, I can't decide which one was better: Nova Era or Caldense. Both were amazing; I was actually thinking that I wouldn't find anyone that could really come close to outdoing the latter, but hey! it looks like I've been, most pleasantly, surprised. :)

With that in mind, definitely wouldn't mind returning... probably not to London, but any other GTA location will do just fine for me. ^^

Rating: ***