Nadège

Bakery: Nadège
Address: 780 Queen St. W, Toronto ON
Website: http://www.nadege-patisserie.com/
Style: French
Price: $$$

We went yesterday along West Queen West (which we decided to go to on one of the coldest Saturdays and consequently ended up totally *freezing* x___x) to go bakery hunting! We'd gone here two or three times before in the past, I was 100% positive there was a place selling macarons here. And indeed there was, among a whole bunch of delicious looking treats. I was a happy, happy fangirl, although a little in a panic because I had no idea what to pick.

I mean, really, when you want everything, how can you only pick (and be able to afford ^^) just one thing? The first thing that caught my attention was the rows of macarons ($2.10/each or $23 for a dozen), which look so yummy, don't they?? Then, I thought it would be better to go all out and try something new, like several varieties of cakes and tarts. Some that I still remember were a caramel tart, chocolate tart, lemon meringue tart (I think all three were $4.75) For the same price, they also had the alluring fruit crumble tart which I *almost* took. Yes, it was such a hard decision!!!!! In addition to the pastries, they also have a variety of French-style baked goods like Pain au Chocolat and various danishes. And this looked so good too... *sighs* I guess I can say that I would be ecstatic if I won a gift certificate to this place -- that's the only way I could go crazy here. I'm too poor to pay for it myself. :(

I was really leaning towards the "Miss Chilli" ($8.50 // $30.00 for a large-size) cake, because honestly, that might as well be my nickname ('there's no such thing as too spicy' is my motto, after all ;D)... it was a big pink round thing that I assume is... spicy?!? Then I noticed the mini macaron-laden "Marie Antoinette" ($8.50)...

But seeing as this is very expensive for me (I'd like to say for everyone, but the place was overflowing with people...), especially for an individual cake and not knowing whether it would be good and worth the price, I settled on the interesting "Pink Grapefuit and Earl Grey Tart". ($5.50). Being a fan of grapefruits and Earl Grey Tea, I couldn't go wrong. And it was so pretty too... like a little pink rose. ^.^ The taste was really... strange. That was the word that first came to mind when I took my first bite. You really wouldn't think it would match, but the tartness of the grapefruit matches  the tea-flavoured, dough-like filling which was a little more subtle-tasting. The tart shell was delicious as well with the perfect texture and taste. Top that off with a piece of candied orange peel. The only thing was that this was a little hard to eat with the overlapping slices of grapefruit, I went down with my fork and instead of taking off a piece, I got two full slices at one time and then, in the end, I had just the tea-filling and shell left.I also thought the grapefruit would have been better sweetened/more sweetened with some sugar as it was a tad too sour. Still, it was original, pretty and tasty.

More importantly, it's upped my conviction in getting my butt back to Nadège, investing a little bit of money and buying myself either the Miss Chilli or the Marie Antoinette... or both. ;D All I know is that I'm definitely returning; it's a little expensive, but the quality and craftsmanship of what you get makes it a worthwhile purchase.

Rating: ***

Hotel Sacher Salzburg [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Hotel Sacher Salzburg
Address: Schwarzstraße 5-7, Salzburg (Original location at Philharmonikerstraße 4, Vienna)
Website: http://www.sacher.com
Style: Austrian
Price: $$$

Because this was a monumental visit for me, I thought it was about time to post my trip to the Hotel Sacher in Salzburg. Nevertheless, if we take Sacher's website claim that the Sacher Torte is the "world's most famous cake", I'm a little honoured that I've been able to taste it. Twice. And seriously, I'm so excited that I'm able to post it up here. The Sacher "experience" was the first real Cake Tour post I'd ever done (ah, the memories!), despite it took me several years to create a website for it. ;)

Anyways, I went to Salzburg twice in different years. The first time, I visited the shop (located around the corner from the main entrance and through a small door) and was pretty much... amazed at the price of the actual tortes, I settled on a mini, bite-size version (3 euro, but this was several years ago; keep that in mind!) complete with its own Sacher chocolate on top. Just because I adore this photo I made of it (complete with "Mozart" presenting it ^-^), I had to settle on this instead of the more traditional shot. It was... perfect, just too small.

So, when I returned to Munich the year after, I couldn't help but run back to the Hotel Sacher, intent on buying an actual torte this time around, despite whatever price I had to pay for it. And well, pay I did, but it was worth it. ^_____^ I bought the third biggest (size I: 29 euro...three years ago), which happened to be quite an investment considering its price.

 Okay, so for the money, it did have to come nicely packed. It came wrapped up in paper and tied with golden ribbon, and kept in this fancy bag, which I hauled around the city with great pride. ^^; Then, after unwrapping the paper, it was in a wooden box stamped with the logo of the hotel with some booklets on the history of the hotel, cake, etc. The cake came wrapped in plastic and protected with tons of shredded paper (which I removed for the photo) The plastic was removed and the cake placed a plate. Then... it had to be cut.

I had it with what the booklet recommended, some unsweetened whipped cream. And... omg! *melts* it was absolutely delicious.... chocolate cake, apricot jam, and liquor-infused chocolate gaze. It was... heavenly. *-*

Quite honestly, I'm not a chocolate fan at all, so at first I feared the torte would be a little imposing, considering that it's pretty much entirely chocolate, both the dough and the glaze. The little hint of marmalade doesn't detract from the chocolate, but at the same time, you don't need to love chocolate to appreciate this cake, but at the same time, I can safely say that if you love chocolate, this torte is the closest baked confection you'll find to heaven. ;DDD The quality of the chocolate is phenomenal, and despite the complaints about the price above, this is one of those things that you certainly get what you pay for. Well, I don't know if it's bang for your buck, but you get quality ingredients (the tortes are shipped several times a week from the original location in Vienna to Salzburg -- an impressive feat considering I couldn't do the same :() and a delicious experience; the size 1 easily fed 6 people, mostly because you can't eat so much at a time, so when you divide the price, it turns out... decent. And it's just too, too good to be categorized as "overpriced". XD

I enjoyed/loved/spent a few hours in complete ecstasy twice before, and all I can say in conclusion is that I can't wait to be able to go back and try this lovely, "world famous" delicacy once again... maybe I'll even muster enough courage to go and eat it in the hotel cafe with a cup of coffee and on the official, red-rimmed plates!! ^_^

With all that, can the rating really come to you as a surprise?? ;D

Rating: ****

Highland Farms

Bakery: Highland Farms
Address: 50 Matheson Blvd., Mississauga, ON (4 other locations)
Website: http://www.highlandfarms.ca/
Style: European, Italian, Eastern European
Price: $

Runner-up for a medal standing in the Best Supermarket Bakery category, Highland Farm's huge assortment is pretty impressive. What's even more wow-worthy (well, for supermarkets and most delis, that is ;D) is that they do make quite a few of the stuff in store. As HL is essentially an Italian store, their homemade stuff naturally tends towards this (behind the glass counter they have 12/15$ (or $1.35/each) pastries including bite-sized cakes, canoli, cream-filled choux swans, and other cute delicacies ^^) although they do also bake quite a bit of the standard, North American fare (muffins, doughnuts, cookies, danishes). I don't actually go here often at all, mainly because it's really a pain to get here. Well, it's at the other end of the city, so I guess it's understandable. ^^ So, I sort of just went and picked something for everybody to try and get my post looking nice and spiffy after one visit. Great job, Mimi!! ^-^

Erm, anyways, I was really having a hard time deciding on what to take: their store-made stuff or something else. And then I saw all the poppy seed and I caved for most of the latter. :P

First up are mini-buns (3 for $1.99) in either cinnamon or poppy seed by a German-sounding bakery I'd never heard of before. I'd actually never seen this in store either, so I was pretty intrigued by these little things. The brothers ate the cinnamon ones, but the poppy seed one was pretty good with not a lot of poppy seed but a good dough, soft feel, and tasty... taste. -___-;; I'd take them again next time.

The next purchase was my poppy seed bun ($1.79, I believe) courtesy of Sweet Temptations. He he I took this because I love it. ^^ We used to buy them more often at a Polish deli we don't shop at anymore, so I missed them, although they're really at varying levels of freshness and poppy seed mass here. Sadly, it didn't taste too fresh (I went on Sunday) and the icing was a little sparse, but I still like this thing... too much, I sometimes believe, since it's not super, super good, but tasty. I'm pretty happy HLF carry them. ^^

Last pick for today is their store-baked maple and pecan danish ($1.29) which I... didn't eat. Accordingly, you won't be getting my in-depth taste analysis. ;DDDD Um, but anyways, there was apparently plenty of nuts, but not enough maple taste, although it was pretty good in taste, especially in comparison to other supermarket baking which is just not good here. Seeing as my brother ate it is a good sign, since he recently got an almond danish from Longo's and he didn't look too pleased even at the mention of it. LOL!

Verdict: in terms of standard supermarket chains, Highland Farms' bakery department is probably as impressive as it'll ever get around here. The freshness may be lacking, but the variety is pretty good and the prices are very reasonable, especially with Italian and other European goodies. If you have a lack of bakeries around you, this is a good place to just sample different places.

Rating: **

Dufflet Pastries

Bakery: Dufflet Pastries
Address: 787 Queen St. W, Toronto, ON
Website: http://www.dufflet.com/home.asp
Style: North American, European
Price: $$

I have yet to actually visit Dufflet's store in person, but this has somehow become the most accessible commercial bakery of pastries in Toronto and area, in that you can buy it everywhere. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The first being that they're actually pretty tasty, the bad thing being that, as someone who likes going to another bakery to sample something different, it's pretty much killing this sort of idea. I mean, in a place and time where everything else is already overly commercialized already, why must pastries fall into this trap as well? :( This was the reason why my trip to Pusateri's was so disappointing.

With this sort of intro, I guess I'm a little... embarrassed that I enjoyed Dufflet. ;DD I really need to go to their store on West Queen West when it gets warmer and see what else they have to offer. In general, they seem to offer two options: cakes and tarts. I'm not a fan at all of rich, icing-laden cakes which seem all the rage in N. America, so I don't think I'll be trying that any time soon, so I settled for fruit tarts, which seem a little more European in style and just look super tasty. The first I got as a "surprise" when my brothers went to Deninger's in Hamilton; they picked out for me the "European Berry Tart" ($2.99 +tax), which just looks totally adorable. ^__^;;; Although it was really lacking in the 'berries' (it tasted like apples and I wasn't mistaken in identifying what all the chunks of fruit were. For that matter, I don't really know how the filling got so red. Hmm.. XD), it was super tasty, especially their almost shortbread-like dough which was delicious! The little flower on top with glaze topped it off perfectly. Would definitely take this one again. And happily, too. ^^

A few days later, I was at MichaelAngelo's Marketplace (Mississauga location), which for the record doesn't have an impressive bakery section in the least, and picked from their selection of off-site baked goodies the... "Apple Raspberry Custard Tart" ($2.79 +tax). I think. O_o At least, I'm pretty sure it was raspberry in the title and in the picture as well. This was a few slices of baked in brown sugar apples and some raspberries in a tart filled with a lemon-y custard. I was pleased to find out that they seem to use the same shells for everything, since they're *that* good. :DD The inside was a little... odd. The taste was pretty good and it was definitely original, although my biggest thing is that I think apple slices was a bad idea for this recipe -- you take one corner with your fork and *all* the slices of apples slide out along with the custard around it. It may look nice, but it's definitely not practical for eating. Not bad, but I'd definitely stick to the former, although at the same time, I have been pretty intrigued to seek them out and try some more from the ever so omnipresent Dufflet. ^^;;;

Rating: ***

Pusateri's Fine Foods

Bakery: Pusateri's Fine Foods
Address: 57 Yorkville Ave. (2 other locations)
Website: http://www.pusateris.com
Style: European, French
Price: $$$-$$$$

I'm sorry, but this was one of the biggest disappointments I've had to review so far on my little site. I've always been scared away by this place because of the valet parking (with freshly cleaned Mercedes waiting for pickup) and its classy look. I decided to actually go inside this past weekend while I was in the area to see a movie, and at first, I was just blown away, despite it's pretty cramped location. There were so many cakes and super fancy treats. It was so beautiful and it made me wonder why I hadn't come here earlier! *-*

And then, as I was waiting in line after a couple who were planning on buying *every* cake and flan in the display case, I started paying more attention to the actual tags. Yes, I was very pleasantly surprised that everything was labeled and priced as it should be, but the latter of which... shocked me. I've mentioned to people before that buying individual cakes and goodies at fancy stores isn't too bad, because they can't overcharge you so much that you can't afford it. I suppose that's not the situation in Toronto, since the prices seemed extremely ridiculous for me: $7 berry tarts, $3.30 doughnuts (!).

Then, I realized that they don't make a single thing here; you can expect this of supermarkets, but it was pretty disappointing to see such a place as this fall into this as well. I expected a lot better than seeing those guys from Dufflet here... and having to pay $4 for a tart that costs $3 in every other supermarket, no matter how fine it is (I was browsing the website of the bakery that provides the $7 tarts and found them to cost $5). So, I just made a note of all the bakeries that they do sell (he he he, look out for those posts in the future ^_~) and settled on something from their baked goods section, which features some more items from other bakeries (these guys don't even bake their own croissants -- come on!), usually French staples like butter croissants, brioches, etc. Being a complete lover of poppy seed buns, I picked that ($2.50 + tax). This is courtesy of Harbord Bakery, which I now know I *need* to visit. This particular bun, however, was hard like a rock. A decent bakery wouldn't even sell this in the day-old, reduced section! The icing had completely flaked off and I couldn't bite the dough at all and tried (in vain) to revive it by sticking it in the microwave, but even that couldn't get rid of the crust on the poppy seed mass and that telltale texture of stale bread. The worst was that this would have been an amazing bun, which is why I need to see these guys in person. The typically Jewish and/or Russian poppy seed mass is getting me excited...

This is definitely a 'no' from me. Yes, Pusateri's can sell their expensive, high-end foods (although at the same time, I find it hilarious that a place trying to be so fancy sells Wonder Bread XDDD), but they should stick to something with a long shelf -life, because this was just not edible and shouldn't be sold, especially at such a price. "Expensive" is *not* synonymous with "tasty"!

Rating: *1/2

Caldense Bakery

Bakery: Caldense Bakery
Address: 1030 Dundas St., Mississauga ON (multiple locations in and around Toronto)
Website: http://www.caldensebakery.ca
Style: Portuguese
Price: $-$$

I must say that Caldense is one of the best Portuguese bakeries, especially at the more affordable standpoint. The location I go to is inside the relatively new Tavora "European super centre (aka. Portuguese supermarket ;D) It would just be really helpful if they actually printed their prices before everything or at least put up a board listing how much are baked goods/cakes/tarts. A bakery without prices is extremely intimidating and people are less likely to buy stuff, in my opinion, so if you have good prices show them off. ;) Really, this is my only minus about Caldense.

Besides this, Caldense's goodies are just super yummy and, aside from overpriced Lazar, they probably have the best variety, especially for Mississauga. They feature the typical custard tarts ($1.25/each), a few individually-sliced cream cakes, and some interesting baked goods made of flaky dough and filled with coconut and custard, depending on what you like. The independent locations in Toronto (never been there, so I'm not sure) and the other one in Mississauga should have even more variety if they're bigger. I think the only thing not pictured that I had a few months ago is their apple squares (I'm sorry, I really need to go somewhere and find out the names of all these things in Portuguese ^__^;;) with apples surrounded by flaky dough and coated with an extra generous helping of coconut flakes. And yes, this isn't so obvious at Brazil Bakery, but Caldense is extra generous with their coconut and custard, so if you're not a fan, you might want to go elsewhere. ;)


Other notables/recent purchases include... first of all, a giant egg tart [above](everything featured today was $1.70, including tax) which is flambé-ed on the top. Really, I love this place and I was just so mad that my brother took this one for himself when I wanted to review it. He tried a bit and said it tasted like 'tamago sushi' (the one with the egg on top of rice) Yeah, thanks so much for that. :/ Let's just say it wasn't very recommended.

He also bought something else new to try, and I really have no idea what to call this. It's roughly the shape and size of a coffee mug, and apparently, it was layers of dough on the inside which was then surrounded by custard, dusted with coconut which was then baked and, in the end, topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon. This was actually was quite a hit for the three people that tried it: it's pretty original and worth a try.


Finally, my favourite! *sighs* I do hate it that when I plan on taking a photo of it, they just to burn the top in the corner and sort of ruin the picture, but this is seriously what I come here every time I come, and am pretty disappointed when they already sell out. :/ This is just soooo good, albeit being pretty simple too: it's sweet, yeast dough folded in half and stuffed with a little bit of coconut mass and then baked with coconut on top and dusted with powder sugar. It's huge, size-wise, but every bite is a uh, pleasant one. ;DDD I can't find this in any other bakery, which is a shame, because I really love this!

Rating: ***