Galata Cafe

Bakery: Galata Turkish Cafe
Address: 5122 Dundas St W, Etobicoke ON
Website: http://anatoliafinefoods.com/
Style: Turkish
Price: $$

This Turkish cafe a few doors down from Anatolia restaurant somewhat-recently changed its name but still redirects to Anatolia; is it still a more laid-back offshoot of the restaurant and they simply tried to avoid the confusion of having two Anatolias on the same plaza? Or are they independent? Either way, this is one of the very few places for Turkish food in the GTA. There are, of course, a couple spots specializing in pide (a pizza-like savoury pie), but nothing really delving into the sweet realm.

 That being said, Galata/Anatolia advertises Turkish coffee and pastries, but these pastries are mostly savoury, stuffed with feta cheese, spinach or meat. Of the sweets, there are but few. These include three types of baklava, a honey-soaked cookie and a Bundt-style walnut cake. All are more or less the same price. 

 The walnut cake ($2.25) was a big slice of slightly dense, sandy coffee cake with chunks of walnut mixed into the dough. The size of the nuts made them restricted to only one area, but it was homemade in taste. I personally prefer the moister coffee cafe style, but this was a nice treat.

Secondly, there was the cookie ($2.00). Just like baklava, it was soaked in a honey syrup and it drank it all purchases. Not soggy, but still nicely moist, this was the highlight, if, that is, you don't count the hospitality. There's a reason why it's one of the first things mentioned on their website: genuine, warm hospitality that you seldom meet at any business and completely changes your view of customer service.

Rating: ***