Monastery Bakery

Bakery: Monastery Bakery and Delicatessen
Address:1133 Monastery Dr, Oakville ON 
Website: http://www.monasterybakery.com/
Style: Italian, North American
Price: $$ 

I'm starting to branch out a little more into Oakville and here's the latest addition. Monastery Bakery, like a great many Italian-Canadian "bakeries", would be more accurately renamed Monastery Deli (and Hot Table), as this is without a doubt the highlight of this large store of imported goods. Usually, 'bakery' simply signifies that they have bread, although this isn't necessarily the case this time around, even if I was a little disappointed at the lack of variety (and especially of the classic Italian pastries listed on their website) after having checked their site prior to visiting. I can't say there was anything worthy of the 'resident pastry chef' and can't recall seeing any actual pastries -- it being the holiday season, I was considering the idea that it might have been sold out, but there weren't even any spaces where the advertised cannoli, sfoglia and rum babas could have been. Maybe you can only special order them? :/

So, I'd say to not expect anything too Italian here. Sweets include a mish-mash of pan-European, one or two Italian treats (I'd say one, in this case), and mostly more aesthetically pleasing North American desserts like cheesecake and lemon meringue pie.

For general household sampling, there were four items: cheesecake, coffee mousse, lemon meringue pie, and tiramisu. We'll start with the cheesecake, which really wasn't all that appetizing. Actually, it was yet another instance of 'back of the Philadephia cream cheese package' cheesecake: extremely cheesy, very sweet, and not that much complexity in terms of flavour. I keep hoping to find a good cheesecake somewhere besides in Polish/Eastern European bakeries, and it's hasn't worked out just yet.

Next up was the coffee mousse, which was quite pretty with the dark glaze and coffee beans on top. The two coffee lovers in the house were complaining it was way too sweet for coffee, but besides this, it was fairly good with a nice fluffy texture.

Thirdly, there was the lemon meringue pie which no one actually knew was lemon meringue. The brother picked it out, intrigued by the chocolate shell and what looked like a green filling. Nothing in the bakery was labelled. Bringing it home, it was indeed revealed to be lemon meringue pie, something which wasn't exactly anticipated. Notwithstanding the surprise, it was alright, but, again, it was a little too sweet and not "tangy" enough, considering it was supposed to be lemon.

Lastly, the tiramisu. I had a tiramisu -- I actually picked it our for myself as nothing else really appealed to me. Outwardly, it looks pretty great. The bottom was moist (good sign); there were ladyfingers, cream, and cheese filling. It was quite tasty too. At last, it wasn't too sweet and you had the varied layers, but, in the end, it was just... too dry. Tiramisu just isn't tiramisu if it's not drenched! The bottom layer was well done, but the rest of the dessert was thirsty too. :P

Overall, with not a lot of (Italian) selection and a lack of labels/prices, Monastery is more deli than bakery. It's alright in terms of its sweets, but I found it quite sugary and not as impressive as their website touted. I wouldn't consider it one of the greatest, but it's not one of the worst either; it's somewhere in the middle, I suppose. In short, I wasn't overly wowed by my visit.

Rating: **