Sunnlenska Bókakaffið [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Sunnlenska Bókakaffið
Address: Austurvegi 22, Selfoss
Website: http://bokakaffid.blog.is
Style: Icelandic
Price: --

I wasn't even thinking of putting this up at first, but looking back at my pictures, I was thinking: wait a minute! I got a Cake Tour almost every day I was here without even knowing it! O_O Whoa! Anyways, Sunnlenska is actually a bookstore/cafe... rather *the* bookstore/cafe in Selfoss, and not a bakery per se, but as with many cafes, you can find a few original goodies and well, this one just happens to be the home of the so-called "Waffle Party".

What on earth am I talking about? Well, for those who may not know, I volunteered at this very bookstore/cafe this summer and one perk was being hauled in almost every afternoon to what two of the other volunteers had termed "the Waffle Party" (you can buy everything on the small menu -- from drinks to waffles to "kleinur", Icelandic doughnuts -- but we got it all for free, so nah nah nah, no prices this time! :P). I swear, this turned into a highlight for many: taking a break from well, doing little work as it was, sitting down at the table or on the comfy sofas, and watching as one treat heaping with freshly whipped cream after another was deposited in front of us. So, here's this Waffle Party, step-by-step:

First came the drinks. Sometimes it was hot cocoa; other times it was Swiss Mocha. Always served with almost *too* much whipped cream and shredded chocolate on top and a piece of chocolate on the side (and a glass of water), as though the contents themselves weren't chocolatey enough. ;D Once Bjarni, the owner, made me some really good 'Pakistani milk tea' which would also go well with the waffles if you're not willing to go all out, calorie-wise. ;)

Next came the waffles, hot off the iron: crunchy on the edges and soft on the inside, with a dab of rhubarb jam in the middle (I actually bought some to take with me, but no one at home was willing to give the Party a try XP) The self-serve whipped cream (always fresh) is then plopped on top and then, well, it's pretty much as you like it. I loved (I will say I added more than usual just for the sake of this photo.. *ignores disbelieving laughs* ) mixing the jam and whipped cream and then spreading that all around so that the dough softened a little bit. Mmmmm... so good! And several times a week too... *-*


*sighs* Looking at this is bringing back all sorts of memories -- I do think that when (yes, it's always will be a "when") I return to Iceland, a visit back to Sunnlenska will be inevitable, not only for sentimental reasons, but for the waffles. :) Especially as I don't know how long I'll have to wait for one the volunteers to hold true to their promise of making a North American "Waffle Party" chain. :DDDDD

Rating: ***1/2

Coco [Mimi's World Tour]

 Bakery: Coco 
Address: Estonia pst 9, Tallinn (inside Solaris Keskus) 
Website: n/a 
Style: Estonian, Eastern European 
Price: $$$

Wah, with this post my Estonia trip comes to a close (actually, it brings my trip to an end, but I have a few informal reviews to do from Iceland). Just in terms of baked goods, my trip was far too short and I would have loved to hunt for more goodies, but alas, that's life.

Coco was my last stop and turned out to be the most disappointing. This bakery/cafe with the fancy facade is in the basement of the Solaris Keskus (shopping centre), right next to the supermarket. They seem to be more a place for a quick bite, as they seem to be more bread-oriented, though they had some cakes and -- as you'll see --the traditional poppy seed bun which I love so much. :3 I personally found them overpriced, especially after the past three days of buys, but I had made the walk here and didn't want to leave empty-handed. I could expect a cafe in Old Town to be overpriced, because well, there's no surprise there. Coco's location nor their selection warranted paying double for the same thing I bought in Old Town for 60 cents. I can't say the taste was worth it either.

Nevertheless, I bought a poppy seed bun (1,10 euro), because seriously, could you expect anything else from me? As with the one I got before, it was a lovely spiral rolled with whole poppy seeds and lemon marmalade. In this sense, I really can't say it disappointed: nice, airy dough and plenty of poppy seeds (the complexity of the spiral kind of made this a given) At the same time, it wasn't necessarily stunning: the marmalade and dough together got a bit slimy wherever there wasn't enough poppy seeds so the texture wasn't the most pleasant and there was a slight bitterness to it. Still good, but I must say I preferred the one from Maiasmokk better. And you'd get two for the price of one from Coco. Pff, need I say more? :P

Rating: **1/2

Pagaripoisid [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Pagaripoisid
Address: Vana-Lõuna 37, Tallinn 
Website: http://www.pagaripoisid.ee/ 
Style: Estonian 
Price: $ 

[Due to a lack of local bakeries pending review -- okay, none for the moment -- I thought I'd delve into my old holiday locations as there are a few more to go through before my reserves totally dry up. Which means I'll need to go a-visiting :D]

I came to Tallinn with a list of eight or nine "cafes" in and around Old Town, but on the first two days I realized that my list really wasn't what I was expecting to find. Yes, there are tons of these little "kohvik" in Tallinn and, while many do make their own goodies, they don't have a lot, they're fairly expensive, and the stress is on the coffee part. As such, I somewhat threw out my list and scurried online while there and did a search for bakeries instead. Doing this in English was a bit of a challenge (mostly because, as I mentioned beforehand, people really don't venture outside of Old Town -- a shame, imho -- and there are none there), but one of the only places I did find was Pagaripoisid, a bakery (chain, I believe?) with almost everything on the edge of Toompea Park and near where you climb the stairs down from the panorama. Despite the lack of poppy seed buns (though their website has them -- at 30 (!!) cents each) while I was there, these guys did end up being my favourite.

First of all, they're ridiculously cheap and more cheap than the cheap Kohvik Narva: baked goods for 30-40 cents and cake slices for around 60. Yes, seriously! I was just more blown away with each coming day (until the next day, that is -_-) On top of that, they just have a little bit of everything: more traditional, home-baked goods like simple cheese cakes and yeast goodies, fancier tortes and pastries; heck, they've even got muffins and brownies for the extremely unadventurous. ;D They also seem to change their selection according to season (especially since I couldn't find my purchase on their list).

So, let's get into it: I was thinking about the baked goods, since this is really my favourite in any cuisine, but I thought I could not pass up cake slices for 60 cents! Like, really, what else could be done? :P I picked out one slice of cheesecake ("kohupiimakook", 60 cents) because a) it looked good and b) it had that homemade charm to it that I couldn't resist. Mmm.. so good! A wonderfully moist cheesecake with the kind of cheese mass I love (I like to call it "Russian-style", but this my own invention :D), though maybe with a tad too many raisins, but that's only because I happen not to like raisins. Heh heh heh... So yummy!

The highlight definitely had to be the rhubarb cake (45 cents), a traditional Estonian summer cake which I took because it looked good and I had been craving rhubarb cake since having been served an amazing rhubarb cake in Iceland (it'll be a future post, even though you're not too likely to find the maker of it ^^). This did not disappoint at all, despite it being different in style: two thick moist layers of sponge cake stuffed with a spiced filling of fresh rhubarb. And of course, there's that powdered vanilla sugar yet again. This was SO good. [And in keeping with the park theme, these were photographed -- with the rhubarb cake being eaten -- in nearby Toompea Park ^^] The best I had... without any poppy seeds in it. And even then, it might have beaten those poppy seed buns as well. SO tasty!!!

Seriously, Pagaripoisid isn't like the countless cafes (though, you can sit there and get a coffee as well) within and around the walls of Old Town, but who really cares when their treats are so delicious? I certainly don't. I left very impressed... and loved Tallinn a little more after seeing this place. ;DDDD

Rating: ****

Kohvik Narva [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Kohvik Narva
Address: Narva mnt 10, Tallinn
Website: http://www.kohviknarva.ee/ 
Style: Estonian, Eastern European
Price: $

This one was actually quite accidental and I wasn't really planning on buying more sweets until eating the ones from my previous trip, but I really can't complain. On my "scenic" (I was following Lonely Planet's walking tour of Tallinn and this was supposed to be Soviet-era leg) tour of scorching Tallinn, I was walking past this little, unassuming cafe and then this whiff of freshly baked sweet yeast goods just came at me. It was so strong, so delicious (seriously, I don't know what it is, but not enough bakeries smell like freshly baked goodies anymore!) that I retraced my steps and ended up in front of Kohvik Narva or, rather, the Kohvik Narva, which seems to have gotten a (international) reputation of serving classic tastes of the USSR. I can't say I found anything overly dated about their sweet cheese or nut buns and traditional cheesecake (the one I love so much XD): you'll find similar if not the same things in Eastern European bakeries on location and here as well. Unlike other people online, I wasn't here for my dose of Soviet nostalgia, but it was enough for me to smell the aroma coming from the door... and to see the line of people that actually went out the door as well! That is always my sign that I *have* to check this place out!

And I did. ^^ Once you make it to the front, there are baskets behind the window showing off various individual sweet buns, almost all dusted with vanilla sugar and stuffed with either nuts, sweet cheese, cinnamon or fruit, and a few slab cakes (cheesecake and a fruit-topped cake is what I remember) sold by weight. The prices are ridiculously cheap: buns are around 50 cents and per weight items were something like 4 euros per kilo (!). I thought at first it was simply coming from Finland that made the prices so amazing, but compared to the places in and around Old Town (alas, I didn't have enough time to wander farther and explore bakeries in the non-tourist zone, though I probably went farther than most do) this place is Cheap; yes, with a capital C. I continued on my subsequent Cake Tour with this idea in my head that Tallinn has amazingly affordable baked goods and I was pretty disappointed in that sense. :/ Still: Kohvik Narva = eat your fill for under 1e!

So, with my extremely limited to nonexistent Estonian, I was eyeing what I knew to be the cinnamon twists and strawberry, I believe, sweet buns with crumble and sugar on top. Unfortunately, this place just keeps selling and selling, so it's no wonder they keep well, baking and baking -- the woman in front of me took the entire remaining basket (around 6) of fruit buns and I was at a loss of what to pick instead. Not fair. *pouts*

Nonetheless, I did end up with what I call the cinnamon twists (45 cents each), a soft yeast folded with a generous amount of sticky cinnamon mass and dusted with, you guessed it, vanilla sugar. ;) I've had North American cinnamon buns, Scandinavian cinnamon buns and this was my first time trying the Eastern European variety.. and it was a pass! So soft, so cinnamon-y without being too sweet  -- mmmm... I had one of these on a bench at Kadriorg Park (this was where the photos were taken! ^^) and got the powdered sugar all over me; oh, the memories! :)

So, not wanting just one thing, I settled for what I highly suspected to be a sweet cheese bun (60 cents) and I was right. It looked so nice though.. I say though, because I'm actually not that fond of sweet cheese in baked goods. It's a staple of Eastern European baking, so I suppose it was inevitable having to trying it eventually. ;D Actually, it was pretty good after all: the same deliciously fluffy dough folded over a surprisingly generous (for 60 cents) sweet cheese stuffing. Perhaps there was a little too much for my liking (and, alas, the heat had caused the powdered sugar to melt off this one -- it was so hot ;_;), but it was still fresh and tasty, and not a lot beats tasty baked goods fresh from the oven!

Seeing as it's not too much off the beaten path for tourists (though, to be fair, I can't say I saw any in the area :/), this place is definitely worth the visit, especially when you're on a budget and you'd rather settle for some great home-style baking (versus the French-inspired creations of many places in Old Town)~! ^.^

Rating: ***1/2 

The Danish Pastry House [Updated]

Bakery: The Danish Pastry House
Address: 487 Cornwall Rd, Oakville ON
Website: www.danishpastryhouse.ca
Style: Danish
Price: $$ 

[Note: The following review applies to the old Port Credit location only; for an updated version of the new Oakville location, please scroll down!]

OMG. O. M. G. There exists a little piece of heaven in Mississauga. More accurately, there exists a little piece of Denmark in Mississauga. Yes, Denmark. And yes, in Mississauga! If I didn't just eat it, I might have thought I was still dreaming, because it's a miracle, a miracle that I would have thought completely impossible! Squeeeeeaaals, there's a Danish bakery in Mississauga!?! [please be warned: this post will probably be very incoherent. I waited a few hours after consuming, but just looking at it is turning me back into a rabid fangirl]

Alright, *takes a deep breath* let's start from the beginning: on Tuesday, my brother came back with the announcement that he had spotted a Danish flag from the window of the GO train and it was next to a sign containing "pastry". Seeing as he probably takes the GO train at least once a week, this was met with a lot of skepticism. A quick search gave the name and place; Yellow Pages listed it as a wholesale bakery and, knowing other wholesale bakeries located in industrial plazas, I didn't have any hopes. Then I found their website and I knew it could only get better. *-* It's really pathetic how impatient I was for the weekend, since it was the first chance I could get to to go Port Credit in the morning/early afternoon (note that this is not a regular bakery and they only open for a few hours on certain days -- check their website!) Not needing to follow the adorable red and white signs with cinnamon buns on them from Lakeshore, I ended up in front of a little business with a Denmark flag heart logo and another flag hanging outside (and another giant one inside). The 'open to the public' area is quite small and basically has two windows of goodies (with red and white curtains ^.^) and then there's the heart stickers and cut-outs on the box! Seriously, was this place designed expressly for my cute&kitschy tastes?!?! This is freakin' amazing! ... And here I was, thinking I'd never get the chance to use my homemade Denmark flags again!

And like that, there was some dethroning going on (though I do feel bad for the previous winners, since I still love them so), since The Danish Pastry House is now:

#1 best -- hands down -- Bakery in Mississauga
#1 best Danish Bakery in uh, Canada
 (I wanted to say the GTA, but this sounds so much better and I can't imagine anyone possibly making anything better than this ^^;) 
After 5 weeks in Denmark, hunting in vain for amazing bakeries, I can now say:
#1 best Danish Bakery... EVER!!!!!!! 

I was there at around noon and a lot was already sold out, so come early! There's individual goodies (cinnamon buns, danishes, etc.) all at around $2 and larger, strudel-like treats ($7 and up) as well as rum balls, some cookies. Most are based on the same (absolutely stunning) 'danish' (in Danish, it's called "Vienna bread" ^^) dough and contain custard, marzipan, fruit in a combination of one or more items stuffed inside.

Now, to the purchases: first up, knowing that I will be returning here on a very (possibly too) regular basis, I decided to go for the seasonal item: the large Julekage ("Christmas cake"; $7.50/$2.50 for a small): a fattened flat cake stuffed with marzipan, raisins and custard and decorated with fondant snowflakes. *swoons* The verdict was unanimous: "whoa". (yes, four people said the same thing when they bit into this the first time) Upon recovery, you realize that was is so whoa is that this is the best, the most perfect dough ever! As one brother said: this is what croissants are supposed to be like. This is the epitome of flaky, buttery dough: super crispy on the outside and super soft, moist and airy on the inside with this unbelievably delicious stuffing. Mind-blowing amazingness. *____*

Up next was the Cremebolle (the sheet only gives the plural, Cremeboller, and I don't know enough Danish to know if that's right... but it should be) ($2.25) which, despite the name, wasn't actually stuffed with cream as I thought nor was it stuffed with anything. The cream from the name seemed folded into the dough itself so it was one big, airy.. ball of the most perfect dough ever. ;D

Last up is their raspberry Spandauer (or 'danish', in English; $2.50) which was... *cues the angelic choral music* I honestly can't think how anything can be better than this. This was, holy crap was this ever good!! Seriously, I can't get how this is just dough, but wow. WOW! You take one bite, you faint, and then you get into the middle, where the raspberry filling is fresh fruit pureed with only a slight bit of sugar so that it's still tart... *swoons in a pool of drool*

Huh, what was I talking about again? I really think I should stop here, since it'll really get nonsensical, so I'll conclude with my ending remark and leave it at that (besides absolutely ordering you to go to this place):

Rating: **** 

PS. It breaks my heart to say it, but after repeated attempts, I have to say that I really, really miss the Port Credit location. :( The new Oakville location feels like an entirely new bakery and there's really none of that cute coziness I liked; it's hectic and cold and industrial. The selection has definitely expanded, though not in the way of danish dough (which seems to have shrunk??), with there being a lot more cookies and cakes. Large items, which were always my fave because you can split them nicely amongst people, are almost nonexistent. And then I just can't seem to find anything that compares to the goodies in the old place; I have this feeling that they've gone from quality to quantity. Portions have shrunk -- most notably the spandauer -- and items are regularly burnt. Man, looking back at my original photos is so depressing, since nothing looks like this anymore! ;_____; Seeing as nothing can still compare to the greatness of the DPH, it still is the best, but I just wish that that some of that initial "wow factor" would come back. //distraught fangirl

New Rating: ***

A.F. Home Bakery

Bakery: A.F. Home Bakery 
Address: 5168 Dundas St W, Etobicoke ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: Balkan, Serbian
Price: $-$$ 

[Seeing as my collection of bakeries from Etobicoke has grown quite a bit, I thought it only right to introduce a tag for it (I usually do so at 3+ bakeries in one place), so uh, I hope it'll help those in Etobicoke navigate a little easier! :)]

I don't even know how long I've been waiting to go to this place and give it a try. I actually have quite a few places on my bakery list to go to near Kipling station and this was one that I passed several times while going for lunch and kept putting it off (mainly because you can only access it by car if you're taking the northbound Kipling ramp off of Dundas), but while we were getting frustrated with finding a parking spot, I got my chance! :)

This little bakery is, well, just that: unlike a majority of "European" bakeries, it's not a deli first, but a real bakery with buns, loaves of bread, hot bureks (well, okay, I can't say that's part of 'real bakery' but they've got a bunch of varieties), and, of course, sweets.

They offer up a bit more of a hodgepodge of goodies: with the breads, they have a few standard items like danishes and some cookies. Someone mentioned them having cannoli, though I don't recall seeing it... They had one or two chocolate/cream cakes, baklava and those little honey cakes I've seen at Solero and Pastries&Deli behind the glass, but I was particularly in the mood for some baked goods this time around, so I must say I was more intrigued by the very tasty looking apple strudel in a flaky dough and well, the thing I ended up picking: an apple and walnut danish ($2.29). Upon purchase, I can't say I was overly eager to bite into it. I mean, it didn't look so exciting, just a fluffy dough "pocket" with powdered sugar and a few chunks of walnut on top, but once taking it out at home for photo-making purposes, one thing got me pretty thrilled: I could smell the butter! ^-^;;; And I could taste too! The buttery, soft dough with the mass of finely minced, almost mushy apples, pieces of walnuts and cinnamon.. ooh! these guys managed to take me by surprise!!! Yes: what a great, yummy piece of baking!! ^____^;;;

Rating: ***

Pastries & Deli

Bakery: Pastries & Deli
 Address: 290 The West Mall, Toronto ON
Website: n/a
Style: Serbian
Price: $$$

First of all, you cannot find any proof of this place existing online (must be their ever-so helpful name -_-), so this address will actually get you the IDA pharmacy next door. Just so you don't start wondering. ;)

Alright, so on Thursday, an attempt was made to take a shortcut to Eddie's Meat and Deli without having to turn left from Dixie. This attempt was a total disaster and the end result was ending up on Bloor and then turning right on the next busy street leading somewhere: The West Mall. Never having gone this way, I was on high alert and rightfully so: the giant "pastries" sign required a sudden right turn into the Bloor West Mall plaza (another very nice name ;D) and away I went~!

To begin, I really think these guys should invert their sign, since this place is definitely more a deli than a pastry shop with a few shelves of imported goods and the rest a lunch spot serving hot meals (the smell of cabbage is unmistakable ;P). The pastry section is rather empty with the glass case containing one torte-style roll, a tray of baklava and those Serbian honey cookies. On top of the case, there's four boxes of cookies, priced per kilo (between $20-30/kg). These were black currant cookies, some nutty things with a Serbian name, fried dough and fried French dough with honey. While the stuff in the case had no prices, the cookies turned out to be quite expensive for what you get, especially given that I'm not exactly sure what the more expensive ones contained. I was actually going to just mention thinking it wasn't worth the price.. and then it always turns out that I try it and well, all such complaints are long forgotten. So, I suppose, let's go! ^.^

First up were the black currant cookies (23.99/kg; 8 bits and pieces of varying sizes cost $3.90) which, despite the name, were far from your boring chocolate chip kind (ha ha can you tell I'm not the biggest fan of cookies) and which I wouldn't actually call cookies at all. It was more like little pieces of strudel: layered puff pastry with a honey and black currant mass stuck in the middle and then literally coated, not dusted, in icing sugar. The black currants were barely there and, had the sign not said it, I don't think I would have been able to tell. The pastry, sugar and hint of honey were pretty good though, even without the stuffing. ;)

Secondly, I got three of the nut crescents ($29.90/kg; three cost $2.50) which I can't say look like much. I was more excited about trying the black currant ones while there, but the second I bit into this.. O_O Whoa. This was like perfect chewiness!! It was a soft, impeccably chewy dough which had this 'crust' of crushed nuts on the outside. At first, you think it's all hard since it breaks apart fairly easily, then you take one bite and you chew and chew... Omg, delicious!! *-*

So, yeah, P&D doesn't have a lot in terms of the former, but that's not too important with these two goodies in store! :D

Rating: ***1/2

Wisła Deli [Updated]

Bakery: Wisła Deli
Address: 3615 Dixie Rd, Mississauga ON
Website: n/a
Style: Polish
Price: $-$$

Yay! Another local place to add to the repertoire! Wisła Deli is one of three delicatessens on the Wisła plaza (at Burnhamthorpe and Dixie) and while I believe they don't bake their baked goods (they might bake their breads as the wrapper has their name on it), they still have a bunch of cakes and treats that seem to be available exclusively there.. and well, I wasn't planning to buy anything at all until I chanced upon a unique goody with, you guessed it, poppy seed! :) Besides this, they have a few other baked goods that aren't from the typical commercial bakeries as in a majority of Polish delis: cookies, slab cakes, creamy cakes by the slice, choux pastry creations, meringues, etc. They did have interesting-looking poppy seed buns (i.e. ones that I've never seen before elsewhere) with icing and almond slivers on top, but seeing as the dough was quite unforgiving when being poked with the tongs (okay, it was pretty much hard as a rock), I decided not to risk it. I can't say I was in the mood for stale poppy seed buns for the sake of the Cake Tour. :P

Instead, they had these "świderki" ($1.39), long twists of flaky dough and a traditional Polish poppy seed mass with raisins. This was then glazed and rolled in coconut. I have to admit that from looking at it, I didn't think the coconut matched that well (I'm not the biggest fan of coconut, to be quite honest with you), but after actually tasting it, I must admit the two matched quite well. There wasn't too much and there was more poppy seed than expected.. actually given the state of Polish poppy seed buns in the city *proceeds to shake head in disapproval* the amount was amazing and I think it ended up being more than the dough itself! Whoa. O_O I was impressed: it was both soft and crunchy with that slight hint of coconut and the dough, lol, won't go stale that easily! 

Any time I'm in the Wisła plaza, I'm there to go to Jaswoj, but I think I should pop into here again and try more of their sweets and maybe I'll risk that poppy seed bun after all, since I guess I liked what I saw after all. :P

[NEW!] Okay, so I don't know what happened or it just depends on when you go there, but this place has oh so quickly become Polish poppy seed headquarters. Not only do they have unique cakes and baked goods (that is, not baked from the same places as every other non-bakery deli), they have great Polish poppy seed goodies! Their braided buns ($1.39) are so delicious, with plenty of whole poppy seed rolled into fairly fresh, yeasty dough. And last time I was there, I spotted one large poppy seed roll (on top of the cake cabinet) which was just... wow. Seriously, look at all that poppy seed! It looked a little like traditional makowiec (poppy seed roll), but the dough was the same as the bun with plenty of crumble and orange-flavoured glaze. A little too many raisins for me, but what a beauty!
EDIT: And... where did it all go? The variety of baked goods, including all that poppy seed, recently vanished and Wisła Deli just sells standard deli baked goods: commercial doughnuts and a few extras (though their slab cakes still seem unique). Disappointing.

Rating: ***

Maiasmokk Kohvik [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Maiasmokk Kohvik
Address: Pikk 16, Tallinn
Website: http://www.kalev.ee/maiasmokk/kohvik
Style: Estonian
Price: $

Yes! I'm finally down to my Estonian Cake Tour... well, to be fair, as much as I would have liked to travel to at least one other city, time and money didn't permit it, so it should actually be called the "Tallinn Cake Tour". Nonetheless, speaking purely of bakeries and hunting for treats, I had an amazing time in Tallinn. :D I brought a whole list with me, and I actually didn't go to any of them, but you wouldn't believe how much fun I had with the places I chanced upon along the way. Actually, I was a tad disappointed with the list I *did* bring along, since within Old Town itself, there are tons of tiny cafes, serving coffee and cakes, but there are in reality not that many "bakeries". These cafes are fairly expensive and, even if a majority do have treats baked on site, their variety isn't that big and, trying to be fancy, tend to be more French in style and not the traditional Estonian goodies I'm after. But I managed. ;P


Three years ago, while on my trip to Finland, I popped over the strait to Tallinn for a total of 2 1/2 hours. This was pretty much a mad dash through old town with a stop here, the most obvious of cafes and also the oldest. It's a gorgeous, gorgeous place that looks like it came straight from Vienna: dark panelled walls, vaulted ceilings over the mirrored seating area with uniformed workers running back and forth with coffee spiked with Vana Tallinn liquor. *sighs* This being before Cake Tour days (though I did a pic of my purchases once back in Helsinki), a priority was to get back here. It's not that hard to find this place and so I came here on my very first evening. Ah, the same giant, delicious array of goodies from before! And, oddly enough, (and here's the really amazing part!) this cafe is amazing value. From my searches, it's by far the cheapest cafe in Old Town, with cake slices under 1,50 euros and baked goods under 1euro and that Tallinn coffee being, I believe, 3euro (a couple in front of me ordered two coffees and cakes and paid around 7 euros)! I thought this was a standard price, but once you venture into the other places and discover the almost Parisian prices, you come to realize Maiasmokk is very well priced. O_O

Anyways, I started with the same thing I took the first time, purely for nostalgia's sake (and because it was good and a bit of classic in terms of Finnish baking): the Aleksanderinkook (this will be a spelling mistake, I know... I only know that it's supposed to translate to "Alexander cake") (1,10 euro), two layers of dense, hard dough made of powdered almonds with a thin layer of jam in between them and then an icing-glaze on top. It wasn't at the peak of its freshness (a guidebook made a joke about the cakes tasting like they were baked on opening day), but it wasn't as bad as they made it sound. If you've tried anything almond-based (macarons, for example), you know they won't last long. It was a little crumbly, but again, I still enjoyed it!

And then, *gasps, shrieks* this is the one really amazing thing about Estonian baking: they've got poppy seed buns! *-* Yes, it's unbelievable and, what's more, it was 60 cents! They seem to resemble German poppy seed buns the most (I do have a few pics from my trip to Germany, but it's so old that I'm not sure if it's worth posting it up): soft, freshly baked (as opposed to their cakes XD) dough wound around a generous amount of whole poppy seeds and with a hint of lemon marmalade. Mmmm, so good! I could have had this every day I was here (even though I did want to try other things) and it definitely turned out to be the best poppy seed I had in Tallinn (to be fair, I only had two). But man, looking at these pictures again makes me want one of these again.

I swear, if you're in Tallinn's Old Town, you can't not go to Maiasmokk. ;D End verdict.

Rating: ***1/2

Cafe Esplanad [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Cafe Esplanad
Address: Esplanadi 37, Helsinki
Website: http://www.esplanad.fi/
Style: Finnish
Price: $$$$

To tell you the truth, I had popped into Cafe Esplanad on my first trip to Finland, three years ago. It was pre-Cake Tour days, but I was still lured in by that 'bakery' part and the crowds of people rushing in and out of this place. Seeing the prices and the somewhat erratic service, I stepped out just as quickly and continued on my way. ._. I returned solely based on the blurb in Lonely Planet about this place making the best cinnamon buns ever. Being a huge fan of Scandinavian cinnamon buns (and Finnish with their cardamom-infused dough probably reigns supreme ;)), I could *not* resist. So I returned. The same madness was back and even before you step inside, people are rushing past you. Once you're in the line for the takeaway food (basically only the baked goods), it's not much better. I think I stood there between five to ten minutes before being served (there were two people in front of me :/). Only select items are priced (mostly cakes) and some are written out on a chalkboard on the wall; either way, I found the prices expensive, almost downright ridiculous. At the very least, they should do as the Parisians do and charge different prices for eating there/away if you're paying for the cafe's location.

Nonetheless, I did leave with the cinnamon bun (a whopping 3,70 euro), a pretty huge, not very fresh bun rolled with not enough cinnamon and topped with the typical sprinkling of rock sugar. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what Lonely Planet saw in it, especially since they're usually more budget-oriented. Yes, it was good, but that's simply because I don't think Finnish cinnamon buns can ever be bad. ;) It was nothing special and, as a matter of fact, my fresh bun oozing with cinnamon I had at Stockmann during that same trip wowed me so much more than this one did, and for the price of one from Esplanad, I'd have 2.5! *shakes head in wonder* Perhaps this is one of these great places to see and be seen (as the hoards outside will attest), but it certainly isn't a place worth going to for just their baked goods. LP, you disappointed me! :(

Rating: **1/2

Btrust Supermarket

Bakery: Btrust Supermarket
Address: 1177 Central Parkway W, Mississauga ON
Website: http://www.btrustsupermarket.com/
Style: Chinese
Price: $ 

Gah! I think this is my last bakery to review for now, which means I'll (finally) get down and do some international destinations (I *still* haven't gotten to Estonia -- unbelievable! .___.;;;), but in the meantime:

Btrust is a Chinese supermarket with one store in Mississauga and another in North York. They're a smaller store and, to be honest, their hot food isn't so good, so I was a little reluctant to try their bakery, which is tucked into one corner of the store and actually contains a pretty impressive (especially given its size) selection of Chinese baking classics, some more unique treats as well as goodies brought in from other Vietnamese, Filipino and Korean bakeries. Not bad. They're slightly more expensive than T&T, but it's a matter of ten-twenty cents usually.

Anyways, I'm actually not sure if they have the facilities to bake their own stuff, but nonetheless, I decided to take a few things from their bakery, all of which looked pretty good from the very beginning. Three things, to be exact. ^^ First of all was the daily special that day: the "Hokkaido milk bun" ($1.49) which is called a 'steam cake' in T&T and which comes out on the Btrust receipt as 'teddy bear cake' or something like that. It can get confusing! Either way, T&T has this exact cake in their bakery and, oddly enough, this one tasted identical, right down to the little teddy bear stamp and the imprint of the metal racks on the bottom. Was this baked by the same people and distributed? O.o Or is that just the foolproof recipe that's made in exactly the same way each time? It didn't bother me all that much, since this is probably my favourite thing from either bakery! I love these things. :3

Second on the list was the giant 'walnut cookie' ($0.99) which I found slightly strange in that the Chinese staple are almond cookies. I thought it might have actually been a translation error, but nope, there are chunks of walnut on top and the dough itself is a light brown in comparison to the (sometimes too bright) yellow of an almond cookie. Taste-wise, this was very good. Perhaps it doesn't beat an independent bakery, but it tasted like it should and the saran wrap made it look home-baked: no lingering taste of shortening, fresh and crunchy in the right way. Not bad.

Lastly, when I bought this, I thought I'd write down the name and I overestimated my memory skills, because I don't remember what this was called. I could have sworn it was a Jiangsu pastry ($1.09) (it excited me that Jiangsu is an actual region!), but an image search gives me nothing, so I must have gotten the name wrong....

Again, strangely enough, T&T has the same thing, packed up in bags of four... I was there yesterday and I should have checked the name again. I'll have to update this again when I do get that name. Anyways, I saw those four-pack bags in T&T and always wanted to try this based on the Chinese name (and the fact that there really aren't that many traditional baked goods that are plain, without any stuffing), the description on the back of the bag ('memories of my hometown' and similar... silliness ;D), and the list of simple ingredients, but never wanted to take the risk of getting four and not liking it. So, Btrust was very helpful in this sense! :) I jumped at the chance and, as plain as it is (it is, after all, just a very white dough made up of flour, sugar and eggs), I quite liked it. The dough is very dense and has a completely different texture to that of Western cookies (even of Chinese cookies); there's a slight hint of peanut, though I couldn't place if it was in the dough or maybe brushed on top. This was surprisingly tasty!

So, in conclusion, Btrust surprised me a little. I can't say I was expecting much; I don't really see people buying anything from there, but it's worth popping into, though I'm not sure about the similarities with T&T, which I would assume bakes only for themselves? I actually gave T&T the honour of being one of the best supermarket bakeries, and yet, Chinese-wise, I keep finding that the other smaller supermarkets bake it better: Btrust is better for the pastries/cookies and Oceans, as the youngest brother continues to attest, makes the best buns. So, give the small guys a try, maybe? ;) //need to improve my concluding remarks//

Rating: **1/2

Astoria Bakery

Bakery: Astoria Bakery
Address: 3171 Lenworth Dr, Mississauga ON (sold at Starsky and Euromax)
Website: n/a
Style: Polish, Eastern European
Price: $$$

Astoria is yet another commercial bakery operating out of an industrial building in east Mississauga. As far as I know, you can't buy anything at their headquarters, but their stuff can be purchased at various Polish delis, specifically at Starsky and Karpaty/Euromax. They seem to make only slab cakes in the standard varieties: apple cakes, gingerbreads and a few types of cheesecake.

Two weeks ago, Starsky had a flyer special on their 'Smetannikov' (I really tried with my photo this time, btw ;)) cake which makes me doubt my previous assumption that they were Polish. Perhaps they're Ukrainian or Russian? Or Poles just making a Russian cake? *shrugs* Anyways, their Smetannikov was on special ($5.99/lb) and I thought it the perfect opportunity to give it and the bakery a try. Unfortunately, perhaps Starsky was not the greatest or fairest place to taste it, since, even though it was the only cake on sale, they had only a small piece (equal to maybe 1 1/2-2 slices) which still ended up costing $5.00 and that small piece was *old*. At regular price, it would have cost nearly $7.00 which seems almost ridiculous given the size and how stale it was. Seriously, there was a crust on two corners and the dough had that 'too long in the fridge' flavour to it. x__x This thing should have been in the reduced section. At the very least, Starsky should have cut away the stalest edges so you're not buying old cake. Was not very impressed. :/

Sadly, I think I can say pretty much the same thing about the taste: it was a rich, heavy cake made up of layers of chocolate cake, thick cream, a few cherries stuck in here and there, and topped with a thick, gooey dark chocolate glaze. First of all, I'm not sure how other smetannikovs taste (as I've seen other bakeries do them and am curious if it's a standard recipe), but I found the name slightly deceiving ("smetana" = sour cream in Russian; in Polish "śmietana" = cream.) as all you could really taste was the chocolate dough and glaze. The hint of cherries reminded me more of Black Forest cake than anything cream-based. Not what I was expecting.

In the end, I pretty much found out what I already knew: when you want an amazing, multi-layer cake, it is so worth the drive to Richmond Hill. ^^;; Still, I can't say I was pleased at all with the whole experience (especially the selling ancient cake part) and I know I'd give this place higher if the cake was fresh, but man, as it was, I can't recommend it to anyone. :/

Rating: *1/2

Bakery Nakamura

Bakery: Bakery Nakamura
Address: 3160 Steeles Ave E, Markham ON  (inside J-Town)
Website: http://bakerynakamura.com/
Style: Japanese, European
Price: $$-$$$

You can't believe how long I've been wanting to come to this place and review it. A few years ago, I regularly travelled across the GTA to come to Pacific Mall and occasionally stopped into J-town, though I don't remember if I ever got anything from the bakery, even if I always, always wanted to. In the summer, I was planning the somewhat-trip just to J-Town, but things came up and it never happened. So, finally, my mom promised me and my brother a joint birthday lunch at Hunan Garden (*___*) and I just *had* to finally get my butt over to Bakery Nakamura!!

Nakamura is was, if not the only, one of the only Japanese bakeries in the GTA and this alone warrants a visit. Expect to pay more for your goodies at this place -- especially in comparison to nearby Asian bakeries -- that prides itself (and a lot at that) on its pure, additive-free and filtered water baked goods, but in the end, I think that even the simplest thing won't disappoint you and you'll realize it's worth it... though I was a little too poor this time around to go all out and get some cakes. :( The bakery is split up into two sections: the glass case featuring their totally gorgeous and delicious-looking cakes and pastries, the majority of which are French-inspired: buttery croissants and danishes, flaky tarts, and pretty cakes, both European-style and with more Japanese flavours like green tea and a very tasty-looking cheesecake. Cakes are around $30 and a slice is more or less $4.. and we were in the area to pick up a cake elsewhere, so it just didn't happen.

... Man, I would love to find a gift certificate to J-Town on the floor somewhere -- I'd spend it all in the bakery... though that might be hard with all the yummy hot food in the area. (PS. I wouldn't mind receiving one either; the holiday season is just around the corner... message me, I'll give you my contact info ;DDDDDD [please don't take what I say seriously; I'm a little silly like that])

Ahem, back to the review now! It's pretty hard to tear yourself away, but there is a baked goods area with only baked daily goodies: plain bread, savoury filled buns, and sweet buns stuffed with red bean, melon, or chocolate. Seeing as these are all around $2, they're nice and affordable. Even for me. :P So I ended up with two items this time around...

The brother was with me at the time and he seemed a little disappointed that there wasn't more signature, or rather traditional Japanese baked goods (he's not a big sweet bun fan), but the majority being... European-inspired. At first, he seemed a little reluctant to get anything at all and settled on the doughnut ($2.00): a big ball of deep-fried dough filled with red bean. He wasn't as pumped for the sampling as I was, but wow, you should have seen his face when he bit into this thing! XD What were his first words? "Five out of five!" (I don't think he knows I rank things out of four, but well, okay) The rest of the doughnut was eaten amidst mmm's and oooh's and, being told afterwards that he didn't seem that excited at the time of purchase, he replied, "But I never thought Japanese baking could be that good!"

Alright. Not being a fan of red bean myself, I had a hard time choosing between the turtle and the bear (both $2.25 each)... I'm not sure why. This little guy is irresistible! The amazing thing is that the other bears actually had smiley faces; this was the only sad one. Amazing!!!!! He's so in contention for the cutest piece of dough award (I thought T&T had nabbed it with the Happy Pigs, but not sure now..) with that gigantic, not very bear-like nose, the mismatched chocolate chip eyes and that sad, "don't eat me" expression on his face. You almost feel bad biting into that lovable little face. ;__; But, well, it had to be done! Super soft dough and filled with homemade, quality chocolate in between a mousse and a cream. I don't normally like chocolate, but this was yummy!!!!!!

Next time, though, I need to go back for the cakes and see if they live up to the amazingness! Though, if my kitschy website is enough indication of my general cheesiness, you already know that I don't think I'll ever be able to pass up animal buns! :P

Rating: ***1/2

Cafe Konditori Copenhagen [Mimi's World Tour] [RIP]

Bakery: Cafe Konditori Copenhagen 
Address: Grensásvegur 26, Reykjavik 
Website: http://www.konditori.is 
Style: Icelandic, Danish, Scandinavian
Price: $-$$ 

[It took me one year -- well, that's the last time I was in Reykjavik --  to find out that Copenhagen is no longer, but the website exists and gives me a bakery in Gardabaer) There seems to be a new bakery in its place, but that will have to wait until next year. I'm leaving Iceland tomorrow. ;___; Goodbye, Copenhagen! EDIT: the location is now empty... or at least there is no longer any sort of bakery there] 

Uh-oh, it's been ages since my last World Tour and I haven't even gotten to the places I visited in Tallinn (the third and final leg of my summer trip 2012 ^^)! So, I thought it's about time to stick in my last one from good old... Reykjavik (no, I have yet to visit Copenhagen ^^;;)! 
  
I'd seriously been looking forward to this place after having read about it a year before in my tour book about it being a 'heaven for pastry-lovers' or something like this, but didn't have the time for it. So, this year I made sure I got to this place. Actually, as pathetic as it sounds, my tour book (it was obviously out-dated) mentioned that Copenhagen had an second location in Kringlan (the big shopping mall) so that was probably the first reason I went to see it. .__.;; Finding nothing and remembering seeing the original location from the bus, I decided to just walk the few blocks... all for the sake of a little piece of Copenhagen. :) 

Well, either I came at a bad time (though I'm not sure how bad late on a weekday morning is) or they've gone downhill since this tourbook review, but I found the place almost empty. The baked goods section is fairly large, but about half of that had absolutely nothing in it. A lot of the staples in other bakeries (Icelandic poppy seed buns? ;)) just weren't there and I had a bit of difficulty picking something sweet (the breads seem to be more popular than the sweet goods... and of course, I had myself another cheese bun (~300kr) to complete the cheese bun tour  ;D) 

Finally, I caved and just asked the worker (as a rule, I don't like revealing I don't speak enough of a language when shopping, so I try to get by, but asking requires the use of English XD) if I could buy half of one of their strudels (whole, they cost 600kr). There was one cut in half already and I would have taken that one, but asking which one I wanted, I selected this one, which had 'apple' as part of its very long name (I paid 330kr for it) and which looked neat: a typical Danish strudel dough (I know from Hansen's amazing pastry shop) with an apple filling practically smothered in cinnamon and topped with slivered almonds and an alternating pattern of white and chocolate icing. 
 
I say 'practically smothered' because, honestly, if I hadn't recognized the word for apple in the name, I could never have said there was any apple in it; that's how loaded with cinnamon it was (you can maybe see it in the photo: see those whole filled with brown stuff? That's the 'apples'! The first few bites, it was alright, but then it just got too intense. It was gooey like apple sauce.. that doesn't sound so appetizing, but the texture was so good: both soft and a few pieces of apples, but then it was cinnamon overload. The dough itself was a little too soggy as well (I swear, I might actually have a problem finding someone that will dethrone Hansen's -- they're just *that* amazingly delicious)... I guess my expectations were way too high when coming to this place; ironically, it was the random finds that ended up being better... and this applies to all three countries I visited and sampled baked goods from this year. Specifically talking about this place: not worth going by free Kringlan shuttle bus and walking four blocks in the rain when there are some yummy places in the city centre. 

Rating: **1/2