Address: 679 Landsdowne Ave, Toronto ON
Website: n/a
Style: European, French, Filipino
Price: $$-$$$
Yay! Some new places to review in Toronto! I noticed this place right outside Landsdowne subway station a few months ago and seeing as Google doesn't have a street view of it, I believe it's somewhat new. The mouthful of a sign -- Fine French and European pastries and Filipino delicacies -- made me a little wary; truth be told, I'm never a fan of these hodgepodges when you can't quite discern what's what, so I actually went more to try some more Filipino baking than anything else, but in that, I came back unsuccessful. I'm not sure what the "Filipino delicacies" listed on the sign are supposed to be, but they weren't there and they sure weren't of the sweet variety. :( (Never fear though -- I have another review in the works if you're in the mood for fried coconut-stuffed buns ;))
In fact, there really is little choice if you're not coming in for a full cake or flan, some of which, loaded with fruit, look pretty good though not sure how they taste. This consists of half of their selection; the other glass case is sparsely filled with baked goods though, as the worker began explaining everything, you come to realize that a majority of these are actually savoury, like meat- and cheese-stuffed filo, meat-filled empanadas. The sweets selection, thus, isn't very big and I hard time deciding what to take. They had a few (three) individual cake squares; there was a Napoleon and I think some sort of date/fruit square, though it didn't seem to lure me in all that well. So, I settled on two baked goods: an almond ring ($2.25) and some sort of twist ($2.50).
The almond ring, a popular treat in a variety of bakeries
(Portuguese Nova Bakery and the Polish Benna's both make tasty versions as well) was pretty good and all taste-testers enjoyed it. Hints of both almonds and peanuts with almonds coated on top of it, the dough nice and flaky, it ended up being a pretty good choice. *nods* Besides this, I got one... thing for myself. Really, I gave everyone a piece to try and figure out what was in this and no one could figure it out: from the outside it looked like a cinnamon or maybe apple bun, but it wasn't.
What I do know was that the dough was light and buttery (yup, I could taste the butter -- always a plus point ;P), glazed on top and filled with what I believe was some sort of nut, though it wasn't anything you could taste. Although the almond ring looked more complex in terms of work involved and ingredients, I can't understand why this one was more expensive. Obviously because of the stuff in it, but oddly enough, it had no taste. O.o? Hazelnut? Walnut? I have no idea. The filling and the buttery dough was tasty though, no matter what.Overall, Janer's was alright. I can't say I would call it "fine pastries" as I didn't find any, and although both things were quite good, I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to come here for them, but when running into the station, it sure beats going to Tim Hortons or McDonald's, which are pretty much your other transit options (though that bakery in the Bathurst warrants a review! ^^) Maybe their cakes are more memorable, but at the same time, with nothing being priced, I found the $2.50 for a plain, sweet bun reasonable, but a little expensive, especially considering that's how much you'll pay at high-end French pastry shops and yet they don't seem set out to appear high-end at all, so that was a little... frustrating. And speaking of frustrating, I would like to know what was in that bun. ;D
Rating: **1/2
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