Hermes Bakery

Bakery: Hermes Bakery
Address: 2885 Bathurst St, Toronto ON
Website: n/a
Style: Jewish
Price: $-$$

Returning again to the Jewish part of Bathurst for more poppy seed discoveries (because, I don't know why, Jewish bakeries seem to do it best; I've been looking for someone to oust the poppy seed kings, but it'll never happen.), I ended up at two places. Here's the first.

Having always gone closer to the Russian businesses (like the heavenly Antosha), we never actually saw Hermes Bakery before. It was only after getting lost/mixing up north and south (please, don't ask; driving in Toronto is a skill that requires much practice..) that I ended up at Hermes, even though I remembered that blogto.com (that's how I had found Malta Bake Shop) had only listed them as baking bread. Pffff, what an insult! The first thing that you notice once you walk into this bakery and kosher deli is the smell. Omg, I never get why all bakeries don't smell like freshly baked baked goods the minute you step through the door; the aroma was amazing! *-* Once you get to the bakery section, tons of breads, buns, cakes, cookies and strudels behind the glass, you realize it's because they seem to be constantly baking, bringing out sheets of delectable treats. Unlike other bakeries, Hermes seems to have more Eastern European-based, yeast baked goods -- blueberry buns, egg bread, etc. -- and the basics of other Jewish bakeries (rugguleh and arrrgh, what on earth are those triangles called? with the poppy seed or prune filling?) weren't to be seen, though this is just a remark, neither good nor bad. I would, however, only say that, a) it would help if things were priced, although my purchase was reasonably priced, b) improve their service. I never consider service when buying; it doesn't really matter to me if I'm treated politely or not, but man, my experience at Hermes was unpleasant. There was one lady serving a woman and so, as there was a line developing behind me, she asked another worker to come and serve the customers. I asked for one poppy seed bun and moved over to the other end of the counter to order some things there, and she just threw the poppy seed bun at me and returned to the back without another word. O_O Okay, so you don't want business?? I considered waiting around, but seeing as the people behind me were looking a little impatient and confused, I grabbed my purchase and paid. So, nothing else from here...

Seriously, it was worth the negative purchasing experience. While it wasn't overstuffed with poppy seed, my poppy seed bun ($1.99) was phenomenal! *______* Not only did it taste like it came straight from the oven (and it probably did), it was baked with butter (another unfortunate rarity) and you could taste it in every bite of that soft, super moist dough and in the crispy bottom, where the butter pooled.. OMG! I'm drooling just thinking about it! I'm really amazed at how good this was, and it really goes to show you (there are several bakeries on my tour that could take a hint) that you don't need have tons of poppy seeds to have a perfect poppy seed bun. And Hermes nailed it; it wasn't the best I've ever had, but it was beautiful! Just... wow! ((how about opening a location closer to me now?? ;_;))

Rating: ***1/2