Clarkson Scottish Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Clarkson Scottish Bakery
Address: 1715 Lakeshore Rd W, Mississauga ON
Website: n/a
Style: Scottish
Price: $

I don't know why, but I really wanted to check this place out. Maybe it's just to cross "Scottish" off the list (or, rather, add it onto the places I've visited ^.^)? Maybe simply for the uniqueness? I'd never tried Scottish baking before, and I was curious, though -- to be quite honest with you -- I was expecting nothing more than meat pies (to be sure, those *were* there) and a lifetime's supply of... scones. In every flavour imaginable. Maybe some pound cakes... XD But man, do I ever love surprises!

Nestled behind the plaza at Lakeshore and Clarkson (I did miss this the first time; you need to actually turn on Clarkson Road N and then go to the back.. it's in the downstairs area, above a restaurant), this small bakery actually had more sweets than I imagined and share the place equally with a wide assortment of meat pies and pasties. And, even more amazingly, I had a hard time choosing what I wanted simply because... I could have everything there! O_O Add on top of that stunning, stunning prices: individual items are $1.50 or less; whole pies for $5.50! Clearly labelled with names and prices, I ended up with a whole bunch of stuff. I actually bought a bridie (beef and onions) and Cornish pasty (meat and veggies) (both around $3) and a loaf of bread ($2.30) too to go ahead and try everything -- you can afford it! :)

So, I was really itching to chomp right into these treats! And they didn't disappoint. First up were three tarts (well, it was one tart per person): the iced ones were a Fern Tart (with the fern ;P) and the other a Blackwell Tart (both $1.30/each). Wanting to know which I would rather eat, I did some research and as both sounded equally good, I cut the two in half. According to online recipes, the Blackwell Tart is supposed to be filled with a sort of pudding (the photo looked more like bread pudding than the vanilla variety) whereas the Fern Tart was stuffed with an almond-coconut-marmalade mass. So, my two halves actually... I don't know if there was supposed to be a difference, but I think they were the same. O.o For all that, they were really good and reminded me too much of Scandinavian almond tarts for me to turn that into a complaint.

Along with them was the rhubarb tart ($1.30 for a small; $5.40 for a large pie) which was also really good and the favourite with both brothers. Slightly different dough than your typical pie (soda-based??), but it's definitely worth getting a big pie. I'll remember that for next time.

Besides this, I got myself a currant square ($1.40; apple also available), two layers of slightly denser dough with a crust of sugar on top just jam-packed with soaked dried black currants which literally burst with flavour with every bite. Mmm... this was SO good!

Lastly, there was the Eccles Cake ($1.55), a type of turnover, one could say, made of hard, thick dough and stuffed with mincemeat (an assortment of dried fruits) The brothers had this one; they liked the taste of the filling and thought it overall quite good, but slightly too doughy.
 
Still, this can be shelved under 'a great find'. I actually think I might have every bakery in Mississauga covered, either being already reviewed or on my "to visit" list (20+ spots ._.) and this was one of the very few remaining that I was really looking forward to and I'm so happy that, for once, it actually went beyond any of my initial expectations!

Rating: ***1/2