Tatsu's Bread

Bakery: Tatsu's Bread
Address: 3180 Lakeshore Rd W, Toronto ON 
Website: http://tatsusbread.com/
Style: North American, Japanese 
Price: $$ 

This has been on my to-visit list for awhile now, seeing as it's not so far away and, well, it would spice up my Etobicoke selections a little bit. :) Tatsu's Bread is, as the name all too clearly indicates, known for its artisan breads in a variety of healthful flavours. As well as this, they have a few hot lunch options and the brothers are already planning their trip to try the Japanese-style burgers and hot dogs. Their website indicates a bunch of North American/Canadian baked good staples such as brownies and fruit tarts, but I found the dessert selection not that great, with a few cookies and several Franco-Japanese-inspired creations like green tea macarons, dainty lemon custard tarts, and madeleines. This, however, sure beats brownies. :P

Wanting to try something more unique (I reserve the macarons and madeleines for next time, mwa ha ha!), I was going to try the lemon custard tart ($1.00), but it was just so.. petite! Also for a dollar there's Tatsu's handmade granola bars that also get a thumbs up (if you're craving granola and not sweets, naturally :D) I guess I could have gotten two slices of tart for the price -- not sure why I didn't think of it while there -- but I finally decided on the green tea biscotti ($1.85), for the sake of getting something more Japanese, and was very pleased with this simple treat: filled with slivered almonds and not too many chocolate chunks. Of course, the highlight was definitely the absolutely delicious dough, generously infused with matcha (green tea powder) so that the flavour is always there. I also liked that it wasn't tooth-breakingly hard like many biscotti I've encountered.

In addition to this, I also got the apple danish ($2.00), because it looked different than your typical, fruit in the middle danish. And indeed it was. Strangely enough, the dough was especially worth noting: super, super soft and yet dense at the same time and different from any sort of French or Danish dough. It's the soft dough that only Japanese and Korean bakeries seem capable of (after 200+ bakeries, I can safely assume so) and it's yummy. Top that off with a great, homemade apple sauce filling. Mmmm....

Seeing as this is pretty much just a drive down from the Kipling subway station (the closest thing I'm regularly at in Etobicoke), you can count on me returning. Not so much here, but recommended nevertheless.

Rating: ***

La Casa Dolce

Bakery: La Casa Dolce
Address: 755 Queensway E, Mississauga ON
Website: http://www.lacasadolce.ca/
Style: Italian, North American
Price: $-$$

I pass La Casa Dolce, a relatively new establishment (though I think they've only moved from somewhere else) on the corner of Queensway and Cawthra, pretty much every week and yet it's taken me some time to actually visit it. For one, I think it's a little daunting/poorly advertised with the sub-heading "custom cakes and pastries", something which just screams wedding cake consultation counter and catalogue with no actual baked goods in stock. On the contrary, they have plenty of goods to offer, from cookies to pastries to doughnuts as well as a cafe, where you can order yourself a cappuccino; despite it not exactly matching, they even have some bread... in addition to the cakes, that is. In a sense, I was quite surprised to find the place a lot more drop-in friendly than I had expected.

So, to the goodies! Actually, they do have a lot, but upon further examination, I think most of what they have are cookies (sold by weight), in terms of number and variety. There's a smattering of North American (pound cakes, doughnuts and danishes) baked goods and not that much of the Italian, so if you're looking for an Italian pasticceria, I can't say I'd necessarily recommend this place. One reason why I had been wanting to try this place was that my brother had had a potluck lunch and one person, a relation of the owners, had brought cannoli. Many people there commented that these were the best cannoli they had ever had -- this had to be tasted to be believed. However, they don't really have all that much: a few cookie varieties, one version of those aforementioned cannoli, and bite-sized sfoglie and 'lobster tails'. And yes, everything is indeed bite-sized. It's pretty well priced, at first, but the sfolgie, in particular, at $1.30 are teeny tiny with no real layering going on either, and are obviously meant not to be eaten alone, but the kind of thing that is served at banquet buffets. For the $6 I paid for three items, they filled what would be considered an individual box -- the smallest there is. Bang for your buck? Not really. :/

Seeing as the cannoli were *that* good, I bought two. ($1.70/each; if I remember correctly) As said above, they have only the one "Sicilian" cannolo with ricotta filling and dark chocolate shavings. And what was said? Well, it's certainly not the best; this was the unanimous verdict. It was alright, but with the memory of two amazing bakeries from Woodbridge relatively fresh on people's minds, these guys just didn't compare. One of the better ones in Mississauga, to be sure, but I can't say that anyone here thought of it as a runaway hit.

The second item was what was labelled a cinnamon twist ($1.89), but was actually filled with either raspberry or strawberry -- there are two options. Ha ha I remember that Longo's once had these, so I'm guessing it must be some sort of Italian thing. Puff pastry dough folded with raspberry jam and topped with icing sugar. With them lying together, you don't actually see how big/small they are; taste-wise, they're pretty tasty. The jam makes the dough chewy on the inside; the outside was a tad too crunchy, but that just might be my scraped, overly delicate palette talking. :( I also didn't really like how much of the jam oozed out and created this hard caramelized layer on the bottom. It wasn't my favourite experience, but I still enjoyed it.

Overall, I can't say this place wowed me all that much, but at the same time, it's not bad either; actually, I was complaining once about there not being enough cafes where you can get an actually good (and sweet ^^) bite to eat around here, so, in the end, I did find one more place! :P

Rating: **1/2

Nannu's Pastizzi

Bakery: Nannu's Pastizzi 
Address: 6981 Millcreek Dr, Mississauga ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: Maltese 
Price: $$-$$$ 

Having already discovered that I do indeed like Maltese baked goods (and very much so ^.^) I was absolutely *thrilled* to spot a fairly new (I don't live in the area, so I must have missed it by a couple of months... or so) Maltese bakery/hot table on the corner of Derry Rd and Millcreek Dr. Yes, get this: Mississauga can now satisfy your pastizzi and Maltese baked goods cravings! I might not have believed it, but I already ate the proof. :P Ooh, I *love* it when we get some new ethnic baking!!*continues squealing*

Nonetheless, as with other Maltese businesses (Italian very often fall under the same thing) the focus is on the savoury items, namely meat- stuffed pastizzi as well as hot, ready-to-eat food. But of course, there are goodies too, from signature Maltese treats to ones that you'll find at your typical Italian bakery (cannoli, sfogliatelle, cookies, etc.) Seeing as you *can't* get spiced date cookies and molasses rings at your typical Italian bakery, this is what I went for. ^^;;

Unlike the others I tried in Toronto, these guys had the date cookies (imqaret) in two formats: fried (smaller) and baked (larger). I've only had the fried variety before and will definitely stick to it. Both are the same or similar dough wrapped around a slightly spiced date mass. The baked version was a little too hard, in my opinion, and it was hard to bite it without the soft date oozing out on all sides like an overstuffed sandwich. It was really difficult to get everything: two layers of dough and the dates all in one take and it just tasted too cookie-like, while the fried one had that something more special about it. Soft (yes, oily) dough with the powdered sugar forming a soft of softened crust on one side and plenty of dates in the middle -- mmmm, this is insanely good!

There were also trizzi, a cookie-like creation with hard dough wrapped around a somewhat chewy almond mass in the middle. This was alright, but not the greatest of the bunch. It was, like the baked imqaret, a little too hard to enjoy in one piece.

Lastly, I got my other favourite treat which I'll just call molasses rings, because I don't feel like searching through my posts and finding the official mouthful of a name. :P This is pretty much that same hard dough wrapped around a sort of chewy spice cake made of molasses and gingerbread spices. I would have liked it a bit more spiced and it got pretty doughy in some spots (i.e. there wasn't that much spice cake filling), but it was very good nonetheless, although I do have to say that the best has to be those fried date goodies. :)

One small minus was the price, especially in comparison to the Toronto bakeries I reviewed, where treats were around $1.50 to $2.00, at the very most. With everything being around $3.00 (one item was $3.50, but I don't know which one, as nothing is labelled), it seems a little bit too much, especially for the date cookies. Besides this, it's a great place to go try something different and yes, there is now a little bit of Malta in Mississauga when I don't feel like making the trip to Dundas & High Park!

Rating: ***1/2

Hong Kong Island Bakery

Bakery: Hong Kong Island Bakery
Address: 336 Spadina Ave, Toronto ON
Website: n/a
Style: Chinese
Price: $

I was back in Kensington Market and Chinatown a few weeks ago and, having vowed to visit one Chinese bakery each time I'm here until I've gone to all of them, was walking along Dunda, remembering two bakeries that I knew were there and I had yet to try. Well, it seems like bakeries just come and go, since both were gone with no sign of them having ever been there. :/ Going onto Spadina, I popped into Hong Kong Island instead. I'd actually been aware of this place for quite some time (it must be some advertising going on, but when you're zoomed out on the whole Toronto on Google maps and type in "bakery", it comes up as the first option -- it's thus the first thing whenever I try to plan some new and exciting 'tours') but usually bypass this section of Spadina or prefer the other side of the street. Okay, I'm not exactly sure what it is, but nevertheless, this was my first time here.

Like all bakeries in Chinatown, these guys feature the same baked goods, both sweet and savoury. It's easy to get around and it's not insanely overcrowded like others (ahem, Furuma Cake House, which I found wasn't *that* good either): "Western-style" meat and pineapple buns on one side and more traditional, offbeat items on the other, like taro balls and red bean concoctions (whatever that's supposed to mean XD) Compared to a few of the other bakeries, HKI is far from the cheapest with almost everything at around $1/each (versus the 3/- and 2/$1 locations -- it's cheap no matter what); sometimes, this means that the baked goods are actually better in terms of filling, size or overall quality. Not quite sure here. While nothing was bad or worth of complaint, nothing really stood out as being particularly impressive. In short, it's not the greatest place to go to, even in Chinatown.

Knowing that one thing HK does do good is deep-fried, I picked out the doughnut ($0.60) as well as the deep-fried custard bun ($0.90), the latter of which I've never seen before. Actually, it turned out that these two were the best of the bunch and the custard bun deserves especial mention as being really good and one of a kind: nice, crispy exterior and some tasty Chinese custard on the inside.

Less notable were the red bean sesame balls ($0.90/each) which, though alright, were nothing remarkable. Same goes for the red bean "wheat bun" ($0.90) which was, like the deep-fried custard bun, something that I had never seen before. I've been staying away from the buns lately, but this had a purely Chinese sign along with a thumbs-up next to it, so I thought well, it must be something real. In the end, it turned out that it was a fairly plain dark grain bun (one brother said 'pumpernickel') with red beans and black sesame baked into the dough. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of either and it just came off as a pretty boring... pumpernickel bun. Definitely wouldn't take this one again.

In the rankings of Chinese bakeries in Chinatown, Hong Kong Island isn't exactly the best, but with some classics and some unique baked goods, they're not the worst either. A return trip is certainly a possibility.

Rating: **1/2

Monastery Bakery

Bakery: Monastery Bakery and Delicatessen
Address:1133 Monastery Dr, Oakville ON 
Website: http://www.monasterybakery.com/
Style: Italian, North American
Price: $$ 

I'm starting to branch out a little more into Oakville and here's the latest addition. Monastery Bakery, like a great many Italian-Canadian "bakeries", would be more accurately renamed Monastery Deli (and Hot Table), as this is without a doubt the highlight of this large store of imported goods. Usually, 'bakery' simply signifies that they have bread, although this isn't necessarily the case this time around, even if I was a little disappointed at the lack of variety (and especially of the classic Italian pastries listed on their website) after having checked their site prior to visiting. I can't say there was anything worthy of the 'resident pastry chef' and can't recall seeing any actual pastries -- it being the holiday season, I was considering the idea that it might have been sold out, but there weren't even any spaces where the advertised cannoli, sfoglia and rum babas could have been. Maybe you can only special order them? :/

So, I'd say to not expect anything too Italian here. Sweets include a mish-mash of pan-European, one or two Italian treats (I'd say one, in this case), and mostly more aesthetically pleasing North American desserts like cheesecake and lemon meringue pie.

For general household sampling, there were four items: cheesecake, coffee mousse, lemon meringue pie, and tiramisu. We'll start with the cheesecake, which really wasn't all that appetizing. Actually, it was yet another instance of 'back of the Philadephia cream cheese package' cheesecake: extremely cheesy, very sweet, and not that much complexity in terms of flavour. I keep hoping to find a good cheesecake somewhere besides in Polish/Eastern European bakeries, and it's hasn't worked out just yet.

Next up was the coffee mousse, which was quite pretty with the dark glaze and coffee beans on top. The two coffee lovers in the house were complaining it was way too sweet for coffee, but besides this, it was fairly good with a nice fluffy texture.

Thirdly, there was the lemon meringue pie which no one actually knew was lemon meringue. The brother picked it out, intrigued by the chocolate shell and what looked like a green filling. Nothing in the bakery was labelled. Bringing it home, it was indeed revealed to be lemon meringue pie, something which wasn't exactly anticipated. Notwithstanding the surprise, it was alright, but, again, it was a little too sweet and not "tangy" enough, considering it was supposed to be lemon.

Lastly, the tiramisu. I had a tiramisu -- I actually picked it our for myself as nothing else really appealed to me. Outwardly, it looks pretty great. The bottom was moist (good sign); there were ladyfingers, cream, and cheese filling. It was quite tasty too. At last, it wasn't too sweet and you had the varied layers, but, in the end, it was just... too dry. Tiramisu just isn't tiramisu if it's not drenched! The bottom layer was well done, but the rest of the dessert was thirsty too. :P

Overall, with not a lot of (Italian) selection and a lack of labels/prices, Monastery is more deli than bakery. It's alright in terms of its sweets, but I found it quite sugary and not as impressive as their website touted. I wouldn't consider it one of the greatest, but it's not one of the worst either; it's somewhere in the middle, I suppose. In short, I wasn't overly wowed by my visit.

Rating: **

Bagel World

Bakery: Bagel World 
Address: 336 Wilson Ave, Toronto ON
Website: http://www.bagelworld.ca/
Style: Jewish
Price: $$-$$$

One brother had a soccer tournament last week, so I sent him to do some touring in the area. As luck would have it, there were still a whole bunch of unexplored bakeries to be tried. As luck would NOT have it, the vast majority of businesses were closed due to what I assume to be the ice storm (though there was electricity throughout -- maybe there had been no power in the morning?), so the list of bakeries turned into... just one. Yes, Bagel World was the only stop that day after all. :)

Actually, Bagel World could technically be considered a return visit, as I had come here last year on a long string of failed bakery stops -- I had gone in and found the entire bakery empty, with the exception of a few bagels left behind. The brother encountered a very similar picture, with there being only one chocolate buffalo left and a few of the rugullah (I'll never know how to spell this). In terms of bagels, only poppy seed were left. The sweets, however, aren't very numerous regarding selection, even from the empty slots (despite their website advertising 'pastries'). Alas, there were no poppy seed buns at this place, but they have chocolate, in addition to three or four varieties of rugullah and two varieties of loaf cake (called 'bubkas') and that's pretty much it. Yes, Bagel World might indeed be the place to go for just bagels, but that doesn't their few baked goods are bad. On the contrary. (though some may be surprisingly costly and the parking in front is absolutely insane -- don't even bother driving into the plaza if you're prone to getting frustrated)

In fact, everything he bought received quite rave reviews from everyone. The chocolate buffalo ($2) was very popular, with a softer dough resembling challah bread as opposed to the usual, denser style. It still doesn't beat Isaac's, but it was very good nonetheless.

The rugullah, coming in three (four?) varieties -- chocolate, jam, and cinnamon --were not as great a value as the chocolate buffaloes. At $17/kg, they came out to a little more than one dollar each and were the size of my thumb. Some varieties more than others had oozing filling which had then hardened and burned in the oven. Nonetheless, they were good. I loved the chewy, dense dough, although I don't think the hard, crunchy crust of brown sugar matched the rest that well. My favourite was the raspberry (?) jam, which wasn't really jam, but almost this fruity mash. Mmm.. excellent! Second was the chocolate.


Lastly, there was the cinnamon bubka [sic] cake ($8.99; also available in chocolate), a loaf cake yeast baba stuffed with a delicious thick and gooey cinnamon and raisin filling, and topped with crumble. Even days later, the dough got a little old, but the denseness and filling made it so yummy nonetheless. Not sure if the price is worth the size of it, but man, was this ever tasty!

In fact, as the brother pointed out, it's a little surprising that Bagel World's baked goods (little though there may be) turned out better than their bagels! With a few minuses (selection, a somewhat steep price), this is still definitely worth a (return) visit... even without any poppy seed. :P

Rating: ***1/2