Bakery:
Coco Bakery
Address:
225 The East Mall, Toronto ON
Website:
http://www.cocobakery.ca/public/11/Home
Style:
Eastern European, Serbian, North American
Price:
$-$$
[I was pretty distraught when driving by with the intent of getting something at Coco only to find it closed down: sign taken off and website not working. I was thinking maybe it moved... I didn't want to go onto the plaza and check, but it doesn't look promising. :(]
Coco is a relatively new bakery that I noticed prior to my trip and had to wait a few months before coming back to try it. I'm always excited when something European (though this usually means Eastern European; however, as Eastern European often signifies poppy seed, this is a good thing ^.^) pops up and this was no exception, although I have to say that signs advertising pierogies, bagel sandwiches and cupcakes in the parking lot did not make my trip get off to a wonderful start. I... don't do cupcakes.
It being next door to the Ukrainian credit union and a couple of doors from the Polish crepe (naleśniki) house, I assumed it was one of the two, but it turned out to be what I assume to be Serbian. At least, one of the ex-Yugoslavian countries is a certainty (I'm sorry, I'll never be able to tell outright) with burek being their specialty, goodies such as baklava (no
tulumbe though) and Eurovafel/Vegeta in the deli section. Judging I had no expectations after those cupcakes, their prospects went up quite quickly. After all, the liklihood of there being poppy seed was very high and.. and... the lady in front of me too the last poppy seed cake! Noooooooooooo! ;o;
While a return trip is on the works, especially with poppy seed on the line, I didn't go away empty-handed. Yes, the cupcakes should not have been there, but they had a bunch of lovely, tasty-looking things: cake slices, cookies, even macarons. I, however, went for the more authentic items because I know how much the household loves baklava. Three pieces of those. ($1.45/each) These were so wet, so soaked in honey that I didn't even want to take them out of the box for photo purposes, since it would be a total mess. These were just *drenched*. At first, the brothers got excited about the copious amounts of honey, since the problem is usually that it's too dry, not too wet, but in the end it proved to be a tad too soggy, even if the texture was good and the nutty filling tasty. Laying off on the honey was, in this case, allowed.
Also, an apple-almond cake slice ($2.99)... well, that's what the girl called it. The label called it apple-raspberry, though I think the former is the more appropriate description. Since it was more apple chunks and a delicious almond layer than anything else; there was a hint of raspberry, but not much. More of a slab cake, but man, this was a good one! It reminded me a lot of the apple-cinnamon square at
My Market, in fact, just without the almond, which was a really nice touch. Kind of a mix between apple cake and almond tarts... mmm, and I love both!
Finally, I grabbed two anise cookies ($0.50/each), rings of hard dough sprinkled with sugar. Good taste, but, this time, I believe there could have been a bit more of that anise, either in terms of spice or uh, ouzo content. :P
Overall, this turned out to be a pretty good trip and, like I said, I
will be returning. Don't let the pierogies and cupcakes hold you back. :DDDD
Rating: ***
