Messina Bakery

Bakery: Messina Bakery 
Address: 19 Scarlett Rd, Toronto ON 
Website: http://www.messinabakery.com/
Style: Italian 
Price: $$ 

I've known about this bakery for a few years now and due to not wanting to navigate into the tight plaza, I kind of just wrote it off for another day. At last, having visited no new bakeries on a recent Maltese baked good run, I decided to finally give Messina a try.

Like most Italian "bakeries", these guys are more a deli than a bakery, with the majority of the space devoted to a cold cuts counter and prepared foods. Coming on a Saturday afternoon, I found the trays across from the cash empty save two strudels, a couple of sfogliatelle and chocolate and candied fruit cookies. The cookie section behind the counter was in a similar state, with a few varieties of biscotti and sugar cookies, with plenty of blank spaces in between. The pastry case around the corner was slightly better; there wasn't a lot of each item, but there was more selection: slices of tiramisu, cream-filled puff pastry, cheesecake, and a couple varieties of fruit flan. Still not that much to choose from and I was disappointed that one of my go-to treats from Italian bakeries, cannoli, was gone except for a version with pistachio cream. Upon ordering this, I was informed that there were freshly made cannoli with ricotta cream in the kitchen. And at that, I ended up with just what I wanted.

The classic cannoli with ricotta cheese cream ($2.50/each, taxes included), taken right from the back, smelled fresh in the bag. The shells were perfectly fried and neither too thin nor too puffy; the cheese didn't have that typical hardened crust on it that indicates it's been sitting in the fridge for many a day, but was soft and clotty, good enough to pick out of the shell and eat on its own. The cheese had the addition of chocolate chunks along with the odd piece of candied fruit and raisin, which personally wasn't to my liking (though another sampler liked it). Nonetheless, with the bite-sized sample I had immediately, I realized I don't think I've ever had a fresh cannolo before and the difference was remarkable, so remarkable that even I, who is not exactly fond of cannoli, ate that bite-sized piece I cut myself and without thinking ate the rest of the cannolo with it. .__.;; Fantastic shell and creamy filling mean a strangely addictive treat; my sampler and I both agreed: the best cannolo in Toronto and area!

Rating: ***1/2