Bernhöftsbakarí [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Bernhöftsbakarí
Address: Bergstaðastræti 13, Reykjavik
Website: http://bernhoftsbakari.is/
Style: Icelandic, Scandinavian
Price: $-$$ 

Bernhöftsbakarí is another bakery I tried while in Reykjavik (yes, I was very busy with the Cake Tour while here :P) which seems to be pretty impressive in terms of history (it was established in 1834! O_O), although history doesn't help that much in what I was pretty much stuck with. I suppose it's never a good idea to come at closing time (I had arrived from Selfoss late in the afternoon and by the time I had got settled in my room, it was 5 o'clock... which means closing time. :/), but hey! what little was left behind should have been half price or something...

Yup, out of all my Icelandic destinations, these guys proved the worst, both in terms of freshness and taste. Unfortunately, I didn't come earlier in the day to see what other goods they had to offer, but at 5pm, there was literally nothing in the bakery and yet the line up was still out the door. My choices were what I bought (around 200kr) and some sort of muffin, so I settled on the former, not only because it was in fact the best thing there, but I had been vaguely curious (though not overly so) to try this concoction, seeing as it's pretty much a staple of Icelandic baking. Every bakery in Iceland has a version of these danishes filled with custard and dotted with pink and chocolate icings and some other toppings. In this case, this was like a sample platter: chocolate icing here, some pink stuff, a little bit of caramel, some chunks of walnuts at this end and that large pool of custard in the middle. Um, I think that the concept itself wasn't one I particularly enjoyed. The chocolate icing and walnuts with typical airy danish dough was a fairly nice combination, but the caramel and pink icing (I'd like to say strawberry, but nothing in taste would tell you that) was a mistake. And then add to that the fact that this poor misguided baked good was far from at the peak of its freshness. Looking at the picture is enough to see that the custard had gone hard and started cracking and the danish dough wasn't in better condition. Old custard and a variety of toppings just was... not for me and I think I'll think twice before I try this thing again. :/

And, alas, I guess the same applies to this bakery too, though, seeing as there are only a certain amount of bakeries in downtown Reykjavik, I *might* go back on those hypothetical future trips (if you keep saying it over again, it must come true, right? Right? ;__;), though I'm not too thrilled at the idea right about now.

Rating: *1/2

Crown Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Crown Bakery
Address: 333 Dundas St E, Mississauga ON (inside PAT supermarket) 
Website: http://www.patmart.net/pat/mississauga
Style: Korean
Price: $$

[Goodbye, Crown! :( First the little cubicle that housed the bakery got taken over by Kevin's Taiyaki, but baked goods were sold on the racks next to the rice cakes/ready foods near the cash. Now, I've tried a few times and have found that all products sold from them are gone and have been replaced by a limited selection of Korean baked goods courtesy of Oven Fresh on Kipling (Oven Fresh is Korean!?! I'll have to look into that), so there goes my green tea castellas, cream buns, and doughnut twists, among other things... Maybe there will be a new bakery after PAT's fairly ambitious expansion??]

Crown Bakery, inside the PAT supermarket (they got a brand new little nook at the front of the newly renovated store) is a teeny tiny bakery selling quite a bit, given their size. Basically, they cover all the Korean classics like red bean and... cream-stuffed buns (*-*) as well as breads and more savoury baked goods like croquettes and sausage/pizza buns. They have a few cakes in the case with the green tea one looking particularly delicious... I really wouldn't mind coming back and trying one for myself! Labels and prices and probably the only outright minus: baskets containing the baked goods are just stuffed with everything and the labels (complete with prices, though they all seem to be around $2) as to what it is hardly ever corresponds with what is actually stuffed behind it. Strawberry cream buns (I only remember because I was so so tempted to try this one, a sweet bun sliced open, bursting with pastry cream and topped with thick slices of fresh strawberries... whoa! O_O) were located in the "tapioca buns" slot and the bag contained my purchase called it a sausage bun... it's pretty much a hodge-podge of everything and on a busy day, it can get pretty insane with people charging in front of you, so some manoeuvring and patience may be required.

Then again, when you know what you're after, then it makes things a little easier.. because I knew what I was getting: a pack of two delicious sweet breads ($2.25) that I have long called, for lack of a better description, Korean doughnuts! :P These braided sticks are, I believe, lightly fried and dusted in this amazing crumble. Not too sweet, these are perfect with a cup of tea. The key is to eat them right away, since they get old fast, and unfortunately, they didn't seem too fresh upon purchase, so this was a little difficult to do. The dough is still super soft and moist, but you can tell they're not that fresh and, for a supermarket bakery, they are a little pricey, so in that sense, you're much better off going a few blocks to.. Fauchon, my Korean bakery of choice. *-*  Still, these guys are pretty good in their own right, and hey! while shopping for your fave Korean goodies (you can so tell I am the biggest fan of Korean food) and standing in line to pay, that urge to just walk a few steps and into the bakery is too big to pass up. :DD

Rating: **1/2

Ocean's Fresh Food Market

Bakery: Ocean's Fresh Food Market
Address: 4557 Hurontario St., Mississauga ON
Website: www.oceansfood.ca
Style: Chinese
Price: $ 

Ocean's is a fairly new supermarket (at least, in this location -- they have two other, older locations in Brampton) in Mississauga, specializing mostly in Chinese food. I don't really go here often as it's not in the area... okay, more like I'd only gone one time before this, but we were off to Highland Farms and the mom stopped here for some dinner, so I thought: well, why not? :P

Perhaps it's best to simply compare this place to that other Chinese supermarket, T&T, since that would make it a little easier to get this post started. ^^ Well then, Ocean's actually has a surprisingly large bakery section with a lot of selection, although most of this is in the form of sweet and savoury buns. The variety is pretty big and these guys definitely outdo T&T on that subject, especially when you're in the mood for meat ones. The Mississauga location, at least, meat buns and just buns in general have been going steadily downhill at T&T, but Ocean's has got the usuals and then some. Seeing as I'm talking about sweets, they have the usual pineapple buns, red bead, custard, coconut cream, even chocolate. Really, I think that if you do want to try Chinese buns, this is the place to do it. Not even an individual bakery has such selection!

The only thing that puts T&T at the advantage is their selection of fancier pastries, both Chinese and "continental" (cakes, mousses, egg tarts, etc.), which you don't really get at Ocean's, but still, if you're just after something simple, this is a pretty good place to go. Not the best (since those independent bakeries do beat it, taste-wise), but good all the same.

As for the specific purchases, there were a few! I picked out two buns, one coconut... or was it pineapple -.- ($1.09) and the other a cluster of three stuffed buns in one: one with custard, one with red bean and the third with coconut (if I remember correctly) ($1.29). The first was fairly typical with a mass folded into the dough. Soft, fluffy, though a little lacking in the actual filling. The three-way cluster was a huge surprise hit, because as the brother who ate it said, "you get a little bit of everything!" He got very excited. XD I can't say I've seen this anywhere, so it must be a signature one.

In addition to this, we got a box of almond cookies ($2.49 for about a dozen), which wasn't the greatest. The cookies didn't taste very fresh and fell apart and crumbled very easily. They tasted of shortening and there was too little of almond in it. This, it seems, is better at a bakery.

Lastly, I got a steam cake ($1.19 -- first picture) (this is actually baked by H&A bakery and shipped here, so you know what that means: separate post!!!! :)) which just could not compare with the one at T&T: too doughy, too crumbly and with a kind of.. greasy, Crisco aftertaste. Can't say I recommend it, but there'll be more on that in the full review.

Still, what's the verdict on Ocean's: stick to the buns and you'll be fine. :P

Rating: **1/2

Tova's Bakery

Bakery: Tova's Bakery
Address: 350 John St, Thornhill, ON 
Website: n/a
Style: Eastern European, Jewish
Price: $$ 

Tova's is a commercial/wholesale bakery operating out of Thornhill, though I highly doubt you can buy their stuff here. I bought mine from Highland Farms in Mississauga (I recall seeing some packed goodies from them in Starsky, but don't take my word for it. I just know I've seen these guys somewhere and had a hard time pinpointing where :/), though they didn't have the rougelah and challa that the reviewer on Google mentioned... actually, this was pretty much it in terms of selection in this supermarket, but given the amount of poppy seed oozing out of this thing, I am NOT complaining. :D I only went to the bakery section this time for bagels, so imagine my surprise when instead I found a freshly shipped, fully stocked shelf of these "Hungarian-style roulade" ($5.99) in either poppy seed or walnut fillings. Well, I'm sure everyone knew which one I picked up... and I had a lovely time with it. ;P

First of all, the "Hungarian" part really excited me beyond anything -- I thought I might have finally hit upon some Hungarian baked goods (I'm still looking for a bakery in the GTA -- any help?), but from that "rougelah and challa bread" comment, I believe I might have discovered a new Jewish bakery, which is... also a good thing. One can never try too many poppy seed strudels. And this one was amazingly good (taking into account it was bought in a supermarket and baked with all natural ingredients, it was brilliant!) with this thin, dense dough wrapped around a generous, practically oozing poppy seed mass of whole poppy seeds that gave it nice flavour and a slightly crunchy texture. Seriously, this was like a poppy seed sandwich! O__O Yumm...

And now... let's see if I can chance upon their other baked goods somewhere too. I wouldn't mind that in the least. :P

Rating: ***1/2

Almar Bakarí [Mimi's World Tour] [RIP]

Bakery: Almar Bakarí
Address: Austurvegur 3-5, Selfoss 
Website: n/a
Style: Icelandic
Price: $-$$ 

[My last time in Selfoss, this past summer, I noticed this place is gone. :( There is another location in Hveragerði and I actually went there, but wasn't as impressed as I was with this place. This may be because I'm getting more picky or it wasn't to my liking. There was no poppy seed bun... But the cheese bun was still good. :P]

Almar Bakarí is a chain of bakeries which are always (if not, then almost always) attached to the outside of supermarkets. The ones I spotted in Reykjavik and Hveragerði were next door to Bonus, whereas in this case, it was in the same building as the Kronan supermarket in Selfoss. (please forgive the lack of accents, I didn't feel like opening up the dictionary to copy and paste them XD) I  think that the individual bakery will always be better than the chain, but this time around, I was proven wrong: surprising at it sounds, this had to be the runaway favourite from this year's Tour to Iceland! 

Well, one reason for this is the fact they had... poppy seed buns! Yes, yes, I'm shameless, but to make a poppy seed bun, there are standards that have to be met and these guys made the grade. On what turned into my cheese-bun tour (I had a total of three), these guys also made the best one: super soft dough rolled with the most cheese and sprinkled with mostly sesame seeds. Perfect! They've got a lot of goodies and I could have gone away with a lot more if I knew I could eat it. :D Settling on that poppy seed bun, amidst the other sweet rolls, was hard... but then again SO easy. LOL.

But pff, what am I talking about cheese buns for? The masterpiece was the poppy seed bun (I'm afraid I've completely forgotten prices .____.;;)!! Omg, this was just flawless: a soft, fluffy, freshly baked bun rolled like a cinnamon bun and filled with whole poppy seeds (versus crushed into a mass) and stuck in place with a bit of I believe lemon marmalade and then generously topped with crumble and icing. WOW. I see this and I want another one. I had one other poppy seed bun in Iceland, at Kornid, but this one beats it hands down.

Rating: ***1/2

Trigo Bakery

Bakery: Trigo Bakery
Address: 289 Dundas St E, Mississauga ON
Website: n/a
Style: Portuguese 
Price: $ 

[Note: I've received word that there has been a management change following this review and the following may not apply. I'll keep this up until I get a chance to try the "new Trigo" for myself]

Trigo is a fairly tiny, somewhat obscure (at least, based on the fact that the only other people there all spoke Portuguese) bakery tucked into the back of the small Pizza Hut plaza on Dundas St. Despite their size, they still seem to have pretty much all the basics of Portuguese breads, buns and baked goods (fyi, Trigo baked breads are also sold in Highland Farms Mississauga). I went there on a holiday Monday, so, to be honest, I was expecting nothing to be there, but I was surprised in that sense. Their sweet selection was also pretty impressive and they have a variety of coconut and custard buns, custard tarts and cakes. It's not overwhelming in terms of choice, but it was nonetheless very easy to find something to sample and I could have settled for the other goodies as well. And I'm really not sure whether they were having some sort of special/end-of-day (it was 3pm) discount or something, but the baked goods were cheeeeeaaaap. O_O I paid $1 each, which sounds almost too good to be true. Something must have been going on; if not, pfff, this is the place to go when you're on a very tight baked good budget!

For myself, I purchased this cinnamon twist. This was a giant yeast pretzel that seemed halfway between a doughnut and sweet bread. The dough was very airy and stiff; being so big, just the plain dough in the middle was a tad boring and it was a little on the dry side already, but if you got a piece of the fried outer layer with cinnamon and sugar, mmm.... I had the same thing, I believe, from Nova (at least, it looks and tastes the same ^^) and I must say that, despite the 4-star rating, I think this one from Trigo beat the former: plenty of flavour, great texture. Good stuff!

I also got this custard ring with slivered almonds and powdered sugar on top: it was really good, but pretty dry. Perhaps the $1 was the sale/we need to get rid of this before we close price? Nonetheless, Portuguese bakeries are pretty reliable with their tasty, well-priced goods and Trigo's a great place to keep in mind!

Rating: ***

Furuma Cake and Desserts Garden

Bakery: Furuma Cake and Desserts Garden
Address: 248-250 Spadina Ave, Toronto ON
Website: n/a
Style: Chinese
Price: $

There are so many bakeries in Chinatown (maan, if only every ethnic neighbourhood has this many bakeries in it *___* How happy I would be!) that it's hard to pick which one to review next. I settled on Furuma, simply because it's such an institution on Spadina and it was the first Chinese bakery I tried in Chinatown (well, the Toronto Chinatown at any rate) several years ago, so I thought I might as well return. For some reason which I can't exactly figure out, people flock here like it was the epitome of Chinese baking. It's hard to navigate the island of bins filled with buns and other baked goods, hard to find a pair of tongs, and even harder to actually pay for your goods, simply because there are always so many people running up to the counter. I've never attempted sitting down here, but I'm guessing, from the masses of people in the sitting area, that that would be hard too. This place easily gets the most crowds; at everything above a dollar (omg, how weird that sounds!), it's one of more, if the most, expensive places in Chinatown, although I can't say I was wowed neither by the experience nor by the taste.

It *is* true, however, that it is without a doubt that they do have the most sweet baked goods (hence, I assume, the "desserts garden" ;P) and a fairly impressive selection for a Chinese bakery. There are a few buns and pastries stuffed with bbq pork mostly, but the majority is sweet, not savoury: there's an almost amazing variety of pineapple buns, flaky traditional pastries, sponge cakes, etc. etc.

On my trip, I got three sweet items (6 is tax-free and always earns you a box; with less, they're all squished in one paper bag, with the bbq pork pasty getting stuck in the peaches and vice versa :/): the first was the fairly traditional almond cookie ($1.20), which was quite good ("it definitely wasn't a T&T cookie, that's for sure" was one brother's verdict), but also not superb.

Another purchase with similar opinions was what the bakery called a "sugar ring" ($1.00) and which is... well, a doughnut. ;D A fairly flat ring of moist dough deep fried and coated in sugar. Nothing overly elaborate (nor overly Chinese, for that matter ;)), but still good.

I'm afraid the same can't be said for the "peach butter cake" ($1.20) which was a small loaf cake made of fairly typical Chinese "cup cake" dough (i.e. sponge cake) topped with a few slices of canned pieces. First of all, the butter should be crossed off the description, but, honestly, I can't say I was expecting it. Secondly, sponge cake (almost every Chinese bakery has cup cakes, so that's the dough) is always -- and should be -- nice, fluffy and moist. This one felt soft and fluffy as a whole, but once you starting cutting into it, the dough was strangely dry and crumbly -- definitely not what I was expecting and not too tasty at that.

Overall, with so many options in the immediate area, I don't think it's worth the time and effort to fight through the masses of people to get into this place. Besides, I need to get some more reviews up here as well. :)

Rating: **1/2

Clafouti [RIP]

Bakery: Clafouti Patisserie et Cafe 
Address: 915 Queen St W, Toronto ON
Website: n/a 
Style: French
Price: $$ 

Yay! I've got two more Toronto stops for you from this past weekend. :) One was good, the other not so good. Clafouti, fortunately, is the former. This is a teeny tiny French pastry shop across the street from Trinity Bellwoods Park and the last time I was walking along Queen W (which was probably last year or longer -- I'm not here very often .__.;;), there were so many people here that I couldn't even get inside to see what they had. Since then, I've been curious to try this place out. Luckily for me, it was empty now and I could look to my heart's content (now, I'm actually not sure whether there really were so many people or was it just that only that many people can fit inside); a lot was already sold out, but there isn't really that much room for more. There are two glass cases, one with sandwiches and a few baked goods (almond croissants and puff pastry plum cake -- $2.75 each) sitting on top and the other with a series of big and small tarts, either fresh fruit tarts (like blackberry, raspberry, etc.) or clafoutis. At $3.15 for the individual sizes and $16 for the large, they're very reasonably priced (especially compared to Nadege across the street >.>) for French pastries and so I just couldn't help myself. ;)

Assuming that the clafoutis were their specialty (I mean, what else can you think with a name like that? :P), I decided to try one, though I was a little wary at the same time. Ha ha I remember once one of my brothers tried to make one from the Cordon Bleu cookbook and it turned out like scrambled eggs with cherry -- I've been skeptical since then. XD Okay, but that's not the point... I would have taken the wild berry, since that sounded really good, but alas, they were all gone, so I went with another interesting one: raspberry and pomegranate. Amazing shell (the first sign of skill, as always :)) filled with what I guess you could call a custard (that's the easiest way to describe it at any rate) stuffed with tangy pieces of raspberries and pomegranate. I've had a few custard-based tarts where they put one raspberry in it and the rest is just pudding, but this one was just full of fruit and you had a piece with each bite. Mmm, so good! I think the more sour fruits were so perfect with the creamy custard -- yummy!! ... lol, I wouldn't have minded a second one.. or at a slightly larger tart. ^.^;;;

Rating: ***1/2