The Sweet Greek [RIP]

Bakery: The Sweet Greek 
Address: 2277 Commercial Dr, Vancouver BC
Website: n/a 
Style: Greek 
Price: $$ 

I know I've fallen a little behind in my reviewing, but how could this popping spot serving Greek pastries and hot food close within two months of my having gone there?! Before I got a chance to even post my review of it! Well, I ate it, I have the review for it, and so it's going here nonetheless...

The Sweet Greek really is more a cafe than anything else and I think the name probably brings up connotations of a dessert cafe; however, they've got some sweet, some savoury, and some classic Greek food (souvlaki, anyone?). Though the counter space isn't that big or well-stocked (actually it came across as quite empty), in terms of those sweets, they have everything that comes to mind when you think of Greek pastries: baklava, kataifi, bougatsa... just no loukoumades when I was there. Darn it! ;) In addition to this, they have a couple cake options as well - something you don't often see. Some sort of coconut cream and cheesecake, for example.

Of course you have to try the baklava. Mini baklava, to be exact ($2.50). It definitely was mini; the price, on the other hand, was a bit too much for the size. Still, it was a beautiful, intricately twisted piece of syrupy and nut-stuffed phyllo dough. It could have perhaps been a bit more soaking, but still a classic Greek baklava - the best kind of baklava there is.

I was intrigued by their original creation: the apple bougatsa ($3.00). Bougatsa is that flaky, rich and syrupy custard pie, so I was kind of expecting to bite into this and get an eruption of custard and spiced apples. In that sense, I was a little disappointed that there actually was no custard and the dough wasn't really flaky or honey-soaked. The spiced apples were there and had quite a nice flavour, but I think there were too few of them and too much dough in comparison. The baklava was definitely the highlight of this now defunct show. :/

Rating: ***

Along Bread [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Along Bread (빵길따라)
Address: 227-2 Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Website: n/a
Style: Korean
Price: $$

Is this it? Yes, my last bakery in the bakery-rich neighbourhood of Hongdae (more specifically, the areas encompassing Hongdae and Sinchon metro stations) is upon us and the honour belongs to Along Bread, a small bakery that was a nice change from the predominantly bread/savoury-focused bakeries I'd been visiting earlier. Along has a fairly good selection of pastries and sweet buns, with signature items appearing to be their loaded brownie-looking "cup" cakes and cream-stuffed buns. They do, however, get bonus points for the number of samples they offer.

 There really does come a limit to how much cream you can handle and so I stuck with a perennial favourite, the slightly healthier, heartier soboro bun (3000 won). Unlike some that have just a softer, doughy streusel topping, this one had almost like a granola top with so much texture and complexity: some chunkier dough clusters and big pieces of nuts atop a denser, mildly chewy bun. Good stuff.

Rating: ***

Nana's Green Tea

Bakery: Nana's Green Tea 
Address: 2135 W 41st Ave, Vancouver BC 
Website: http://www.nanasgreentea.com/en/
Style: Japanese
Price: $$$-$$$$ 

Looking at Nana's Green Tea, I have to confess it doesn't immediately strike me as a Japanese tea and dessert cafe similar, if not nearly identical, to Tsujiri (the one Vancouver area location being in Richmond). A Japanese lookalike, perhaps, but not the real deal; maybe it's the name? Nana's, however, is indeed a Japanese chain with shops mostly in the Tokyo and Kyoto area. And now there's one in Kerrisdale! Out of all the green tea or even Asian inspired cafes/tea shops, Nana's comes across as the most exclusive. This might be owing to the limited menu and the pricier items.

There was something actually green tea-flavoured that I wanted to try, but it was snatched up before I made it to the front of the line. Actually, the area was pretty empty. The opening hours go quite late - I'm wondering if they would have no more cake/sweet options for the next five hours or do they restock?

Having two options remaining, I went with what had to be a surefire hit: yuzu cheesecake ($5.85/slice). Well, you could definitely taste the yuzu (and I did like how they gave the small container of whipped cream for takeout). That was a plus. I like that distinct citrus taste, even though it kind of lingers on your taste buds for a long time afterwards. Beyond that, the thing I love about Japanese cheesecake - any style, since there are several - is that it's so light and fluffy. Your fork just goes through it like it's nothing and that delectable cheesy mass seems to melt on your tongue. I would have never called this a Japanese cheesecake; it was so thick and decadent, not at all what I was expecting - and why is it so much smaller than the crust? -_- It was borderline NY-style. Wrong cheese? Wrong technique? I have to say I wasn't that impressed. In my opinion, way too much hype and not enough to back it up.

Rating: **1/2 

Mandong Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Mandong Bakery (만동제과) 
Address: 32 Yeonhui-ro, Sinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul
Website: n/a 
Style: Korean 
Price: $$ 

It's always a bit frustrating coming out of a bakery with something that you think is sweet and it actually isn't, though even from the description or name you'd assume it was, well, on the sweeter side. This is especially true of bread-focused bakeries; not being to completely figure out what you're buying also contributes to the problem. Ah, silly Mimi! .__.;;

Now, enter Mandong. Mandong is a primarily bread-only bakery that serves rustic savoury mini loaves and generously filled hot dogs and sandwiches. Sweets are definitely at a minimum and the closest thing is perhaps the extra nutty take on the Soboro bun and a few sesame buns - whether they are actually sweet is to be determined.

 One more appealing and less savoury option was the green loaf with almonds (4500 won): the "쑥떡쑥떡" [mugwort rice cake], to be exact. At first glance, I thought it was green tea and almond - a pretty good combo if you ask me. In some ways, I must have been blinded by its appearance to not have let it really dawn on me at the time that a) I know the word for green tea in Korean and it wasn't there, and b) I most definitely know what "tteok" means. In a sense, the mugwort wasn't a problem; it has this very fresh, green tea-like flavour and was a nice, subtle addition to the bread. The rice cake rolled into the loaf of bread, on the other hand... I was not enjoying that. Though good in taste with the bread parts alone being quite tasty, it gave the loaf a slimy texture and made you feel like you were eating soggy or unbaked bread. And just... rice cakes in bread. Why? This one is beyond me. XD

Rating: **1/2

La Patisserie 金磨坊

 Bakery: La Patisserie 金磨坊
Address: 1405-4771 Mcclelland Road, Richmond BC
Website: https://la-patisserie-bakery.business.site/
Style: Chinese
Price: $$-$$$

Let's admit it: Chinese bakeries don't often conjure up images beyond cheap, clone-like meat or cream buns served out of big plastic bins and tossed haphazardly into plastic baggies upon purchase. Even those with a little more than Westernized bread, there is still this element of cheapness exuding from it. Some bakeries, however, are aiming to change this preconception. One of them is La Patisserie "Golden Mill", a chic little pastry shop that, though they do sell your classic meat floss and coconut cream buns as well, seems to focus on elaborate creamy cake creations and dainty sweet and savoury flaky pastries. With this being the focus, this bakery is definitely not cheap; in some ways, I found some items too expensive, especially since, though products looked pretty, the quality that you would expect at that price was not there.

The first item was a wintermelon "wife" pastry ($2.00). There was a good amount of paste, but I felt the pastry was a bit too underbaked and disintegrated too easily. On the other hand, the egg wash on top was too thick and just fell off the rest of the pastry in one piece.

I also grabbed a little bag of green tea "matcha" butter cookies ($5.00). I actually thought they were $3 at first and was surprised that they were $5. These were not cheap cookies and yet I was ready to laugh at my first bite: these were not matcha cookies and they probably weren't butter cookies either. Maybe they used green tea powder, but it was not matcha. When I make matcha butter cookies at home, they're rich and super flavourful: you can taste both key components. The fact that there was no rich green tea flavour for how green they were indicates it must have been food colouring. Huge disappointment. They were also very floral - was jasmine tea used?? Actually, that was the only thing I could taste.

In the end, it appears that all that glitters is not gold. :/

Rating: **