Crust Bakery

Bakery: Crust Bakery 
Address: 730 Fort St, Victoria BC
Website: http://www.crustbakery.ca/
Style: Canadian, European
Price: $$

I think I've said it before, and probably will say so every time the occasion arises, but I love it when bakeries stick their goodies in the window. I mean, what more do you need in terms of marketing that laying out an array of baked goods in the storefront? I can take one look and come charging in. It's as easy as that. And it seems to be working with Crust Bakery, to overwhelming effect! Their window overlooking Fort St is a beauty: filled with rows upon rows of various French-style pastries and tarts, the wonderful thing is that it doesn't even stop there. It curves around the corner by the front entrance: cake slices, squares, and muffins... I could barely contain myself! *-* Stepping inside, I was amazed that they had even more items along the counter -- though it took some time to get that far. This bakery is a busy one; with very little standing room indoors, the line-up often reaches the door and beyond. It's crazy! The one thing I found a little discouraging was that nothing in the windows, either in the front or on the sides, is labelled, so it's very difficult to figure out what anything is; with a crowd, it's even hard for the worker to yell out the products in the window to the customer by the cash. So, I, like a vast majority of people, simply ordered from the counter inside.

In a sense, I wasn't bent on any specific product until I was addressed, and only then did I choose from the products directly in front of me, namely the sour cherry vanilla scroll. ($3.25) This was a flat piece of flaky, very buttery pastry topped with vanilla custard and whole pieces of sour cherry. The pastry was delicious and flavourful, the custard creamy and of the right consistency, neither too runny nor too gloopy; I would have only liked for the cherries to have more flavour. Whether it was due to the fact that there were too few or not, I was expecting more of a "bite".

Still, a tasty treat that has just upped the recommended bakery count yet again: 7 - nil! :P

Rating: ***