The BIG Cannoli

Bakery: The BIG Cannoli
Address: #11 28 Roytec Rd, Woodbridge ON
Website: http://bigcannoli.ca/
Style: Italian 
Price: $$ 

"BIG-ger" doesn't necessarily mean better. It's a saying that holds true in many situations and it was, in fact, the first thought that came into my head when I tried the first of three Woodbridge bakeries (all Italian, naturalmente) that my brother brought back for us after some sort of professional event. Certainly, the pastries were bigger, a lot bigger than not only the samples I received from two other bakeries, but the biggest Italian pastries I've seen. They were on the verge of being more than big; they were huge! However, in the battle of the bakeries, size doesn't matter all that much and it was the case here.

The BIG Cannoli is situated in the industrial corner of Woodbridge, a couple hundred metres from the generally more popular and more renowned Sweet Boutique (future post). Coming there on a (not that early) Saturday morning, the brother found the pastry shop and cafe looking more abandoned than anything else with -- get this -- not a single cannolo in sight! Seeing that he can be a little bit of an idiot, I was very skeptical, but after asking him about a dozen times, I got the same response: there were no cannoli! So, despite the six variations featured on one of their banner photo, the great cannolo challenge with all three bakeries competing did not take place as the most natural place to try cannoli didn't have any. Yes, it was pretty disappointing.

Instead, the brother got two of three pastries that *were* there: one eclair and a "rum" baba ($2.50/each) These were, as mentioned above, pretty big, especially in comparison to your standard Italian pastries. The baba, in particular, was gigantic, although I wasn't too pleased with it. For one, it was simply too big: too much custard, too much (not too moist) sponge cake and well, not enough alcohol. Actually, if there was any (I doubt it; I'm excellent at detecting such things ;D), it was so little that it couldn't be noticed. Instead, the cake was soaked in a sort of sugar water, so biting into the cake got you a gush of sweet. It certainly wasn't the experience I was anticipating.

Luckily, the equally large eclair was better than the baba, with good dough and pretty tasty, very generously loaded cream filling. One brother remarked that he particularly liked the chocolate topping. Although there was nothing overly amazing about it, it was fairly good and redeemed the place a little bit.

Overall, I'm still a little surprised that The Cannoli's specialty was nowhere to be found (and I really don't think that they're that good that people line up at the door and snatch them all up at 8:00am or something O.o); however, as the few non-cannolo items weren't particularly delicious, I'd say stick to a few of the other Italian bakeries in the immediate area. Not a BIG disappointment, but a moderately sized one.

Rating: **

Punch Bowl Country Market [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Punch Bowl Country Market and Bakery 
Address: 136 Ridge Rd, Stoney Creek ON
Website: http://punchbowl.ca/
Style: North American 
Price: $-$$

Once, my brother went to Stoney Creek and brought back a few squares from what he called a farmer's market. He says that all they had were different types of squares and some pies, traditional, home-style stuff, though I'm looking through the website after finally figuring out where this place is and they talk about their pies more than the squares.

We got four different squares. Some were pretty good, but I liked some more than others. This first one was some sort of chocolate square. Maybe it was cheesecake; I don't really remember what it was exactly except that it was alright tasting, but I thought it was a little too sweet.

Then there was the lemon custard square which was the worst out of everything. I didn't really like this one that much. I kept thinking of pudding cups, so I wouldn't recommend this.

The next one was a cheesecake with some sort of fruit jam inside and then on the top, there was granola, with oats and crumble. I really liked this one. This was my favourite and I liked the combination. Another good one was the date square. I'd say it was second best. The topping was like the cheesecake, with the granola and crumble. I liked this on both squares.

Even though this is more of a market than a bakery, I think it was pretty good and would recommend it.

Rating: ***

Le Viennois [International Correspondent]

 Bakery: Le Viennois 
Address: 359 des Saguenéens, Chicoutimi QC 
Website: http://www.leviennois.ca/
Style: French
Price: $$ 

Along the craggy banks of the Saguenay lies the city of Chicoutimi. [editor's note: yes, the latest correspondent takes his job way too seriously... or not seriously enough -__-] I was there this past summer on a train tour of the scenic Charlevoix region and stayed briefly in Chicoutimi, where we had lunch. Nearby is Le Viennois, resembling a typical office building coffee shop. Disappointed after a string of closed patisseries along the way, I was pleasantly surprised by the immense, mouth-watering selection that Le Viennois offered, from fresh baked goods to tortes and pastries. The prices are standard for a patisserie.

While here, I selected two individual pastry slices. The first was a classic mille-feuille; that is, what is known in English as a napoleon. It was very good; however, the chocolate and almond cake (which I believe was named after the establishment) was much better. I enjoyed the chocolate slice very much and could taste it was made with skill and only quality ingredients.

Looking back, Le Viennois is a very good, authentic patisserie and probably (since I have yet to visit others, although the places I visit are usually the better ones, because I have good taste) the best in Chicoutimi.

Rating: ***1/2

Melrose Bakery [International Correspondent] [RIP]

 

 Bakery: Melrose Bakery 
Address: 707 Hamilton Rd, London ON 
Website: http://www.melrosebakery.ca/
Style: North American, Wedding Cakes 
Price: $-$$ 

Every time we're in London, we eat at the same Portuguese place and across the street from there is Melrose Bakery. I noticed it before, but never went inside, because it looks like a place that only has cakes, especially wedding cakes. This must be their specialty and what everyone comes here for. From the outside, that's all you see and their website doesn't mention anything else except the cakes, but they actually have a few "Canadian classics" to choose from.

When we were there, we bought danishes. I don't remember how much they cost, but they were pretty cheap. We bought six, so we paid something like $6 or $7, but I thought it was a good price for what you get. I think they were pretty good for danishes. I normally don't like them unless they're really Danish, but I liked the dough they used. It was different from the usual danishes and so was the fruit, because they used real fruit and not the usual fruit filling they use (that sweet syrupy stuff). I even liked the glaze on top, though I don't know why we had to just get six danishes. I wanted something different to try too.

Anyways, even though we didn't pick out a lot, I still liked what we took and would recommend this bakery. I'd definitely return on the next trip to London.

Rating: ***1/2

Seventh Sister Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Seventh Sister Bakery 
Address: 53 Roncesvalles Ave, Toronto ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: North American, Canadian 
Price: $ 

This place is little enough to miss and, indeed, I've actually done so a couple of times before I realized there was a bakery here that I had yet to try. ;) Seventh Sister is an adorably petite bakery and cafe with all baked goods presented (with labels, explanations and prices on each of them) in the window on small plates. There's not a lot of anything, in terms of number, and I assume that once the plate has been cleaned out for the day, that's it, but the selection of bite-size cookies, squares and danishes is pretty impressive, in that they put in the effort to actually be creative (like the Star Wars inspired baked goods and potato chip muffins) and feature goodies that you won't find anything else. And the inside is just so... cute and kitschy (the guestbook was an especially nice touch ^^) that it totally inspired me -- this is how my tea shop would be (don't mind me.. I have my delusions)! It was great.

Nonetheless, I picked out (the descriptions of ingredients and texture on each item really helps you out -- I have to give them bonus points for that) two treats this time around: the Nova Scotia oatcake (which I know I won't get anywhere else; $2.00), a big brick of chewy oats spiced with a whole bunch of cinnamon. If you love cinnamon, as I do, this is a good thing to try. :) I'd only say that it crumbled a little too easily and, ha ha ha, it tasted really... healthy (not necessarily a bad thing, I suppose), but other than that, it was tasty....

Although it couldn't beat item #2: Cherry Chewbaccas ($1.00/each or 3/$2.75) which were described as being made with oats, coconut, and maraschino cherries, but had this complexity that made it hard to figure out just what they contained. Except that they did *not* contain "chewy wookies" -- seriously, people like me do exist out there! :D So, yes, cherries, oats and coconuts, possibly something else, cram-packed into a square and topped with a generous layer of butter cream icing. These were good. Too good... no, they were only too small. I now realize (as three people tried these) that the reason these have a three-item deal is because you buy all three for yourself. Mmmm...

A great find! Actually, I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a review, but that's what wookies do to you. :P

Rating: ***1/2

The Baykery [International Correspondent]

Bakery: The Baykery
Address: 21 Bay St., Barry's Bay ON 
Website: n/a
Style: Canadian, North American 
Price: $-$$

[editor's note: this place definitely gets points for wit and originality with that name! ;D Bay St in Barry's Bay -- how fitting and oh so punny]

This summer, we went to Barry's Bay and noticed Baykery, so we decided to stop and check what they had. I'd call the bakery's selection pretty good and including a lot of traditional favourites like cookies, pies, tarts. That sort of thing. We actually ended up taking a few things and I liked them a lot, but some were better than others. I think they were well priced, though I don't remember how much anything cost; I'd say pretty cheap.

First, I picked out a pecan tart, because I like them. I don't remember there being anything special about these ones except that they were good. Maybe the tart shell fell apart too easily or was too soft, but I can't think of anything bad.

The next thing was an apple fritter, which was my favourite out of everything and probably the best apple fritter I had that wasn't Mennonite. This was really good. I liked the dough and all the apples in it. I'd recommend the bakery (the "Baykery") just because of the apple fritters.

The third thing was kind of disappointing, because I thought it was filled with fruit, like some sort of date square, something like that. Actually, it turned out to be a peanut butter and jam square, so I didn't really like the idea of it. It was chewy, so I liked that, but wouldn't take it again.

Finally, as the fourth item, I picked out a Chelsea bun, which is basically like a cinnamon bun with raisins in it. I thought it was okay. I had nothing against it, but the apple fritter was really the best out of everything. I would definitely recommend it.

Rating: ***1/2

Urmia Market

Bakery: Urmia Market 
Address: 5321 Yonge St, North York ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: Persian, Middle Eastern
Price: $-$$ 

The second stop on my K-town North Cake Tour, Urmia Market is a Persian supermarket/deli with hot food, meat and grocery items. They also have their own bakery section (ha ha the reason why they're up here! ^.^) with freshly baked breads (there's actually a sign on the door that it comes hot from the oven at 9:00 each morning), like really well-priced Barbary bread ($1.50) and, of course, sweeter varieties as well ($2.99): milk, sweet, and walnut Gata breads. In addition to this, they have a small pastry counter with walnut cookies, some sort of cake, traditional baklava and other cookies and sweets that I have yet to see anywhere else, and which are presumably Persian specialties. At $22.00/kg for everything in the sweets case, they're at your standard baklava price, though certainly lower in the usual range, and a few pieces will set you back more than $5, doubtless. Um, I'll probably be back for those on a return trip. :P

This time, because I am a sucker for yeast baked goods and also because I had bought a milk Gata as my first experience with Persian baking and liked it, I went for one of the sweet breads. Having had the milk variety before, I went with the walnut this time around. This a round, fairly dense sweet bread topped with sesame seeds and filled with a bit of that milky-buttery mass, the same as was in the milk Gata, as well as big chunks of walnut. I would have liked a bit more filling -- in the very middle, this was really tasty and the two fillings went so well together, but once you got to the edge, it was pretty much plain dough. That was really my only negative criticism. Simple, but yummy in taste... I'm wondering if the pastries will be just as tasty. Time will tell (well, and weather and driving conditions :/)!

Rating: ***

H Mart

Bakery: H Mart 
Address: 5317 Yonge St, North York ON (and several other locations)
Website: www.hmartca.com
Style: Korean
Price: $ 

Last week, I visited Koreatown North for the first time. Well, this isn't entirely true, as I had driven past this stretch of Yonge between the 401 and Steeles (and it really continues onward into Thornhill and Richmond Hill), but it was the first time I had actually parked and walked a few blocks where the highest concentration of Korean businesses were located... only to find that there just aren't any bakeries. *pouts* Okay, so that wasn't the sole purpose of my trip there, but I still came away with two semi-bakeries. :) The first of the two was H Mart, North York (H Mart Finch is located a few blocks away) which is a Korean supermarket with several locations throughout the city, mostly in the Yonge St vicinity. These two, being smaller, are more reminiscent of convenience stores and seem to get their nonetheless impressive selection of ready-made food from the larger branches. The baked goods, in particular, come from the big H Mart in Richmond Hill (which I've gone to multiple times, but never tried seeing as, well, I'm more interested in the other bakeries on the plaza ;)), but it was still an opportunity.

All locations carry quite a number of typically Korean sweet buns (the majority of which are filled with pastry cream ^^), cakes, and larger loaf cake-like creations, filled with red bean or walnut. The buns are especially cheap, all of which are $1.50 or under; therefore, very well priced. I'm not sure about the big store, but the North York location had no signs or labels, so I uh, picked out this one ($1.30) because... I could see there was cream on the inside.... which is very shameless of me, but Korean cream buns are very yummy. ^.^

Sadly, I opened it up and could instantly smell peanuts. Personally, I'm not sure what the almonds were doing there, since almonds and peanuts just don't match. But that might just be because I don't like peanuts. Yes, I don't like peanuts so this peanut smell was pretty unpleasant. Turns out that it was peanut pastry cream and lots of it. A cross between whipped cream and peanut butter, and I wasn't exactly loving it, but that's partly my found for giving in to my creamy urges. XD Nevertheless, I tried a piece and gave the rest to one brother.

Overall, it wasn't the greatest, even disregarding the peanuts. The dough wasn't as fluffy as I had come to expect from Korean bakeries, slightly denser and not so moist, but at least it was loaded with cream... and hey! I was a little frustrated that this isn't my first time coming to a Korean bakery and not having anything explained or having things wrongly labelled! :/ Taking everything into consideration, it was alright, but not the best I've had.

Rating: **1/2

Sobeys

 Bakery: Sobeys
Address: 511 Maple Grove Dr, Oakville ON (tons of other locations, just with no poppy seed XD)
Website: www.sobeys.com
Style: North American 
Price: $

I'm not one to do such giant supermarket chains, mainly because these supermarket chains also happen to have the worst bakery sections you can encounter. Sobeys isn't great itself, but then again, it's not Loblaws, so it is one step ahead of its game.  Nevertheless, it's not everyday that you randomly pop into a Sobeys and find them selling poppy seed buns; therefore, a post was absolutely necessary! O_O

And yes, I did say poppy seed buns. POPPY SEED BUNS at SOBEYS!?! If someone had told me this, I would have laughed at them and played along, just for fun, but never would I have believed it. Chocolate danishes, perhaps. But poppy seed buns: never. That being said, I've been to Sobeys locations in this part of the GTA, from downtown Toronto to Mississauga, and know that you won't find poppy seed buns at any old supermarket, although I have no idea what makes this location on Cornwall Rd so special. It just boggles the mind.

Sobeys seems to be taking the cue from Metro and introducing a series of all-butter, individually sold baked goods. At a standard Sobeys, this usually includes croissants, a pain au chocolat-looking creation, and occasionally the odd fruit danish. In addition to this, they also sell a few lacklustre cakes and the usual, pre-packaged muffins, cookies, and flaky strudels. Nothing too exciting and your best bet is most likely the butter goods. Because you can never have too much better. (Okay, yes, you can, but given how hard is to find bakeries that still bake with butter, the occasion should be celebrated ^^)

At the Oakville-Cornwall location, there were two bottom trays of the croissant rack that had no labels. One was a blueberry roll or bun; at any rate, something with blueberries that didn't feel the usual pie gloop. On the very last row, there were these spirals and at first glance, I thought I was seeing things. Was that a poppy seed bun? After much stooping and examining, I did indeed discover that they were poppy seed buns. Stunned beyond belief, I had to take one ($1.49). That being said, they weren't the greatest I've had. Actually, they had been sitting out in the open for too long since the dough, especially the outside layers, were tough and chewy like a strip of meat. Not the experience I had been hoping for. Once in the middle, it was pretty good: the poppy seeds were surprisingly generous and I liked the unique combination of crumble and this light glaze. The most notable was of course that "100% butter" dough which was, in fact, extremely buttery. Despite my previous conviction, I'd almost say too buttery. The dough was very rich and I think in a croissant that would be great since there's no other flavour clash, but it was so strong that you couldn't really appreciate those poppy seeds. And poppy seeds need to be appreciated. :3

Sobeys on its own would probably get *1/2 -- it's not the greatest supermarket bakery by a long shot with no real options or exciting treats, but including this stunning find...

Rating: **1/2 

Aux Delices [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Aux Delices 
Address: 32 Byward Market Square, Ottawa ON 
Website: www.auxdelicesbakery.com
Style: North American 
Price: $$ 

We tried to find some bakeries to visit while we were in Ottawa, but in the time we were there, this was the only one we saw. Actually, we spotted a Middle Eastern bakery once, but it was too late and it was already closed, so this was it. Even if I didn't really want to look for bakeries, I was pretty disappointed with Ottawa's food, unless we just didn't know where to go for the good stuff. I tried to do my research though.

Anyways, Aux Delices is a bakery in Byward Market, one of the famous attractions in Ottawa and sells mostly cakes and flans, that sort of thing. They had a window with everything laid out, but I thought it pretty boring. I guess I was thinking there would be something more exciting because of the location. I remember that there was a lot of chocolate. We had a hard time picking something to try, so that's why I just ended up getting one slice of cake. I don't know what it was (I also don't remember how much it cost, but it didn't seem too expensive. Average), but it was a sort of maple chocolate cake. The taste was alright, but everyone thought that it was way too sweet.

Yeah, I guess I'd say that this was nothing special and couldn't compare with the kouing aman I had in Montreal. [Editor's note: look out for that review soon! ^.^] That was the best thing from my trip.

Rating: ** 

Cordi Italian Bakery

Bakery: Cordi Bakery 
Address: 1891 Rathburn Rd E, Mississauga ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: Italian 
Price: $ 

Cordi is tucked into the corner of the plaza and looks like it's been a mainstay for many a year. Noticing the mention of custard tarts, I assumed at first they were Portuguese when, in reality, they're an Italian bakery (well, yes, there are custard tarts) with many classics (cannoli, rum baba, sfogliatelle, ecc.) as well as with a plentiful smattering of Canadian favourites like pies and several varieties of doughnuts -- which are the highlight. With all individual goods at well under $2, they're also a really well-priced bakery that seems to have many regulars, a lot of whom look to be very fond of the place.

Someone in the household was once complaining about not getting to try more cannoli, so I picked out two for the sampling, one with cheese filling ($1.65) and the other with chocolate ($1.25). They were smaller and the dough thinner and wafer-like (unlike the huge, puffier cannoli of some supermarkets) with those characteristic deep-fried bubbles. As a whole, they were good, but not the greatest either. I have a few more Italian bakeries to try, so maybe I'll take cannoli everywhere and see who will come out on top. There was some disagreement about whether the cheese was better than the chocolate (or vice versa) and ha ha I don't think anyone really agreed in the end. I'm saying cheese. :P

I also took a slice of apple strudel (not sure if I would necessarily call it a strudel, but 'apple cake' will work too; $1.10) which was, in addition to being cheap, was quite tasty. The dough was different; softer and and just not puff pastry, to put it simply. Plenty of apples, a little sponge cake layer on the bottom and dough wrapped... around.  I liked it.

As a concluding remark, Cordi didn't knock my socks off with everything they sell, but those doughnut twists... I'll never get enough of those! A good bakery with plenty of choices and those being pretty yummy choices at that.

Rating: ***1/2 

Lev's Bakery [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Lev's Bakery 
Address: 124 E Chicago Blvd, Tecumseh MI
Website: n/a
Style: North American 
Price: $ 

[While I was away on my trip, Cake Touring across Denmark and Sweden, my brother was also charged to find some bakeries to visit on his own vacations. This turned into quite a few bakeries sampled. Not as much as I had hoped, but they didn't come back empty-handed, so here's a few of these, interspersed with some more recent local finds! ^.^]

We were driving through Tecumseh when I saw Lev's bakery and decided to try it. The bakery is just your everyday bakery with mostly cakes, cookies, and doughnuts. The usual stuff. There was a sign that their pretzels are only baked on the weekend, so I wanted to try those (even though they're not sweet I took a picture of them too). They were actually the best out of everything we tried and were pretty good. They're probably I really liked them.

For the sweet stuff, nothing was really that good. It was pretty cheap, with everything costing around one dollar. I had the cinnamon bun and didn't like it. The dough and icing made it feel like one of those packaged baked goods you buy at the supermarket. It tasted commercial and I don't think I can say I recommend it.

The other thing we bought was a doughnut. This was better than the cinnamon bun and tasted alright, though in my opinion there was nothing special about it. I can't even remember what the inside had or if it was just plain. It wasn't bad, but not great. Definitely, the pretzels were the best thing in the store, but I personally wouldn't come back for anything else.

Rating: *1/2

BeaverTails (Queues de Castor)

Bakery: BeaverTails (Queues de Castor) 
Address: 116 Chemin de Kandahar, Mont-Tremblant QC (and other locations)
Website: http://www.beavertailsinc.com 
Style: Canadian
Price: $$$$ 

BeaverTails is indeed one of these things that I've heard of for ages, but have never actually tried. Many say very good things about them and claim they're one of the must-visits whenever you're here, this one being in Mont-Tremblant, and elsewhere in Canada (Montreal has one and I haven't seen any beyond this, but they're out there, usually in very tourist-heavy areas). Indeed, they're as signature Canadian as you can get -- not to mention the beaver on the logo has a RCMB jacket -- amazing! XD For the sake of the Cake Tour, they were finally sampled and well, there is some good and some not so good to report.

For those who are unaware, BeaverTails sell just that. It's not necessarily a bakery, per se, but the franchise seems to pride itself on the fact that BeaverTails are a pastry, although they resemble doughnuts more than anything else. Well, that's what they are, essentially: somewhat thin, oblong pieces of fried dough with various toppings. The most common one  (seeing that it seems to come ready and is served at room temperature) is just with cinnamon and sugar. It's well... a flattened churro! :P Perhaps a little more chewy and a lot more rich owing to the fact it's first slathered in butter, but that pretty much says it all, I think. The second one was not taken by me and was the maple butter and chocolate variety -- the uh, proud owner (^^;;) had to wait around five minutes for his and it came hot, thus resulting in the topping melting and oozing off into the paper wrapper. His verdict? Very rich. That first bite (which is enough in my opinion :D) is quite tasty, but the more you eat it, the more fatty it gets... and, consequently, the more guilty you feel.


In taste, then, they were pretty good and can be recommended by all who had them, but they give you the impression of a tourist trap, especially as BeaverTails locations abound in the most touristy parts, from Old Town Montreal to Niagara Falls to Banff. And what cements this impression even more is the fact that, at up to $5-something for a BeaverTail, they're downright overpriced for what can be called little more than a doughnut. Nonetheless, if you want to treat yourself, this is for those who don't shy away from their fried, extra buttery dough. At your discretion. :D

Rating: ***

Applewood Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Applewood Bakery 
Address: 1077 North Service Rd, Mississauga ON
Website: n/a
Style: North American, Portuguese 
Price: $$

[Yay! Back to some local finds and keep looking out for even more! :)]

Applewood Bakery is really tucked away (unless you live in the area, that is) and I forgot about its existence even when I made my exhaustive "bakeries still needing a visit" list, but a drive along the QEW reminded me instantly that I still needed to make my way over here. And make my way I did... though some manoeuvring was needed. The sign on the outside makes this look like it's been an institution on the plaza for quite some time, although the newer interior gave me the instant impression that it must have changed hands along the way. Possibly? Nevertheless, I was expecting a more or less traditional North American (squares and cookies) sort of place, so I was pleasantly surprised (ha ha this sounds awful, I know, but ethnic baking will always reign supreme for me .____.;;;) to find they were also a Portuguese bakery, even though they don't sell that many Portuguese baked goods, besides the famous custard tarts and some bread. The traditional Canadian goodies -- butter tarts, pies, cinnamon buns and a variety of home-baked squares and cookies (they also had puff pastry strudels which look eerily familiar to the place I suspect doesn't make any of their stuff, thus somewhat... confusing and disconcerting me) -- does seem to be the centrepiece here, but in this case, this was in no way a bad thing, simply because they actually had a fairly impressive selection of it, not just lacklustre stuff like... brownies and chocolate chip cookies. :/

I picked out three items (around $2.50/each -- not too cheap considering Portuguese bakeries are usually great value and it's nothing overly special; no prices are listed on anything) for sampling this time around and didn't leave me disappointed. First up was simply taking cue from the man in front of me: a pretty large chunk of apple cake, which proved to be my least favourite (though one brother claimed it was the best): very soft sponge cake prone to crumbling apart with chunks of apples adhered by a cinnamon sugar glaze/gloop. For me, there could have been more apples and less of the gloop, possibly a little less dough as well in comparison to the topping, but in taste, it was really taste and definitely something new in comparison to the same apple filling that can be found anywhere and everywhere.

Second on the list was the date square, my favourite. Loaded with dates and topped with tons of oats, this had the perfect moist, chewy texture you expect from this sort of thing. Mmmm.... I could have another one of these, that's for sure. ^^;;

Lastly was well, I'm not sure what it is, but it was another tasty one. Crunchy slivered coconut in this chewy, quite lemony dough that was... not that easy to describe. Lol. It does come as a surprise as the brown dough just doesn't look like it'll have anything citrus-y about it, but there is it is. Oh, this is really coming out wrong, but ahem, the lemon-coconut square was another noteworthy discovery, and in fact, Applewood Bakery really did turn into an enjoyable visit -- ha ha ha it better, after that navigation. :D Don't expect anything fancy or overly elaborate, but it's great for what it is: a bakery serving plenty of simple, though tasty treats.

Rating: ***