R Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: R Bakery
Address: 3476 Glen Erin Dr., Mississauga ON (2 other locations in Toronto)
Website: http://www.rbakery.ca/
Style: Portuguese, European
Price: $

[Note that this location in Mississauga is closed; there may still be two locations in Toronto]

It's really not everyday that there's a new bakery opening in Mississauga. Actually, it's as rare a sight as possible, but lo and behold, there was one in the past month. Yup, even I was surprised, so ha ha I guess all the purple balloons were appropriate. ;)

R Bakery is a brand-new bakery and relatively new bakery in Toronto as well. I guess that, seeing as Portuguese bakeries make up a huge majority of bakeries, I was hoping for something different, and yet the second we walked in I knew it was Portuguese, although my mom did make a good point that nothing, save for those omnipresent custard tarts (;D) was actually typically Portuguese. Even the breads like organic spelt and dark rye don't give you the impression it's Portuguese, and oddly enough it was the first thing that came to mind. Odd.

Anyways, for me, R seems to try not to be in-your-face Portuguese and opts instead for a more continental feel with fruit muffins, pies, fruit and cheese strudels, and rich, torte-like cake slices. All, as seems to be the case with P. bakeries, excellently priced. [Edit: a few visits after, I'm starting to doubt how much (if any) of the items in-store are actually baked by these guys. Someone I know picked up a pie from them for $6, turned the box over and discovered it was a preservative- and chemical-loaded pie baked at a pie "factory" in Nova Scotia. Worst thing is that the same pies can be bought in several supermarkets for almost half the price. After that, I can't help but say I've been a little... wary of revisiting :/] 

Got three things for my uh, maiden journey. ;) A Nutella turnover advertised on the TV screen, a cinnamon bun and a "custard bun". All $1.25/each. As said above, nothing was very Portuguese and honestly, I almost wish it were, as I wasn't very impressed and neither were my fellow samplers. The Nutella turnover, more in the shape of a croissant, but made of dense dough and stuffed not very generously with the nutty stuff was the best thing here; not the greatest ever, but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Not so the cinnamon bun, which tasted dry, lacked cinnamon flavour and had this 'supermarket' feel to it.

The biggest disappointment was the "custard bun" which was several layers of flaky dough (not bad) folded over and stuffed, not with custard, but with store-bought instant vanilla pudding. :| The pudding, with that unmistakable artificial, pudding-cup (those JELLO ones, if anyone knows what I'm talking about) taste to, totally ruined this, since if it contained the same custard that Portuguese bakeries usually put into their buns (just click the "Portuguese" tag and you'll know what I mean) it would have had a totally different taste and would have been quite good. Not too pleased with that, and as a whole, this new addition ended up being far from my favourite. *sighs* Too bad... :(

Rating: **