Terra Breads

Bakery: Terra Breads
Address: 2380 W 4th Ave, Vancouver BC (+3 locations)
Website: http://www.terrabreads.com/
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$-$$$ 

Terra Breads has four locations throughout southern Vancouver and, as the name indicates, they specialize in more rustic breads along with homemade granola and several varieties of focaccia. Their selection of sweets is a little less gourmet artisan and features mostly classic cookies, muffins, and scones with a few "surprises" in the form of fruit tarts, croissants, and biscotti -- nothing too crazy or extensive. Actually, I stumbled upon this bakery in Granville Island and thought that maybe their other locations would be a little less... pricey. So, on a miserably rainy day when going outside was not in any way fun, I decided to keep my day's Cake Touring close to where I was staying, so I could at any time run a few blocks to my room and dry off. That meant W 4th and that meant the very busy Terra Breads. ;)

Somewhat to my disappointment, the prices were unchanged, as was the selection: the identical array of tarts and cookies, but I was intent on grabbing something. It was this or nothing but getting wet -- and there had to be a silver lining to that giant rain cloud! XD

The most unique and appetizing product at a reasonable price was the cinnamon brioche with pecans ($3.50), a muffin-shaped buttery bun with a flakier top coated in salted caramel icing and big chunks of pecans. I microwaved it a little to soften the dough, melt the sauce, and bring out amazing aromas -- the whole kitchen smelled like freshly baked buns! This rich, tasty treat, however, reached its peak with the photographed top. Peeling away those sticky, nut-laden layers, I was left with a plain, pretty uneventful sweet bun that still tasted good, but had lost its excitement. A little more cinnamon and sugar rolled in with the dough would have done wonders....

Rating: **1/2