Bread and Bretzel Basket

Bakery: Bread and Bretzel Basket
Address: 255 Toll Gate Blvd, Waterloo ON 
Website: http://www.breadandbretzel.com/
Style: German
Price: $$

So, one brother was planning a trip to Waterloo to check out some audio equipment and, seeing as I have yet to have anything from Kitchener-Waterloo (except the now nonexistent Cinni-Bun Shop ;_;), everyone knows what that means: Cake Tour time!! :D And seeing as there are several German-style bakeries in the area, do you know what else that means? Poppy seed Cake Tour time!!!! Ah, how beautiful! *-*

The first on this eventual tour (I'm aiming to go everywhere and will do so... one day) is Bread and Bretzel Basket, a rather small neighbourhood bakery that does in fact have more than just bread and pretzels. :) And that more is certainly of the sweet variety, with danishes and traditional German buns, for instance. Their website lists plenty more and I'm not sure whether the items rotate depending on the day and season or their selection has decreased, but they don't seem to have that much room for it all, so perhaps it's the former? Nevertheless, I went for poppy seed and did not come away disappointed. At first glance, it didn't look like there would be much there, but they were indeed there.

As I mentioned, their sweet selection isn't that overwhelming and we picked up pretty much everything sweet (and German) up for grabs. This included fruit-filled danishes as well as marzipan and poppy seed swirl buns -- all of which no one knows the price except that it was 'well-priced'. The first of which were surprisingly good, as danishes of the North American variety usually aren't: great cherry filling that wasn't too gloopy and a wonderfully soft, tasty dough.

Similarly, the marzipan and poppy seed buns (both are based on the same recipe and only vary in their filling) were really good. Actually, although I haven't had that many, this is by far the best German poppyseed bun I've had here. For one, it was nice and fresh (not the case in a few other places I've tried) and even though it wasn't exactly bursting with poppy seeds, especially along the edges, it was so yummy with the perfect amount of glaze, quite a bit of poppy seeds in the middle, and the right dough.

And oh, I almost forgot! They had doughnuts as well (also known as Berliner or Krapfen, whichever you prefer ^^), which were super tasty: slightly crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and then filled with delicious cherry filling. Mmm... what a find and on my first trip here! I'd definitely return to the triple B; with pleasure. ;)

Rating: ***1/2

Atlantic Bakery

Bakery: Atlantic Bakery 
Address: 4025 Brandon Gate Dr, Mississauga ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: Italian 
Price: $ 

With the brother being in the airport area (buying sports stuff and whatnot), he told me to find an address of a bakery and he'd go there, as long as it wasn't out of the way. One of the closest bakeries that wasn't a commercial one in the industrial sector was Atlantic Bakery. There's nothing on this place online, so I was almost beginning to worry that it no longer existed. Luckily, this Italian bakery/convenience store (no, this isn't a typo) is still here. Not only that, for a half a bakery and a convenience store on the side, it's quite good and also manages to beat a few of the latest Italian bakeries on the tour.

The sign indicating that it is indeed an Italian pasticceria is, in this case, not wrong. For a rather small establishment, they have all the classics, from those famous cannoli to a darn good tiramisu. On top of that, everything is well priced, at $1.50 for the pastries and around $2.00 for the cakes, and well sized in accordance to its cost. That is to say, it ends up being pretty bang for your buck.

The pastries turned out surprisingly well -- it must be since this is as close as you get to Woodbridge in Mississauga :DDD -- with the ricotta cannoli not necessarily the best anyone has had, but certainly one of the better ones, especially in the city. Both the sfoglia and uh, the other one (some call it 'lobster tails' but the Italian name has slipped my mind -- che peccato!) were also quite impressive, with generous, tasty fillings and good puff pastry dough, albeit it was clear they weren't baked that morning.


Similarly, the zeppola (probably my favourite Italian pastry ^-^) tasted a tad stale, but not only was it authentic -- the brother was getting worried when it was called a "custard tart" -- it was one of the best. Had it entered the zeppola challenge, it would have been a medal winner. Not gold, for sure, but it was definitely notable, with cherry syrup inside and... yum!

What else was yum? The tiramisu, which was nice and moist -- and we know what that means. :) I think the last few times we've sampled tiramisu, it's been horribly dry and stiff with more ladyfingers than anything else. This had the perfect proportions -- a definite highlight.

The 401-area of Mississauga is pretty renowned (okay, by me, at any rate) as being a bakery desert, with  bakeries very few and far between. Atlantic Bakery is, however, a very good choice, not only in this sweets-starved part of the city, but in general. Don't let the convenience store scare you off. ;D

Rating: ***

Windsor Fine Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Windsor Fine Bakery
Address: 4350 Steeles Ave, Markham ON (inside Market Village)
Website: n/a
Style: Chinese 
Price: $

Last week, I decided to take a trip to Pacific Mall after an absence of five (perhaps more) years simply to see it and take advantage of the close proximity of stores to review more than one bakery. Well, that failed when I realized that it was actually the same one (the one I remembered being in Pacific Mall proper was gone): Windsor Fine Bakeries. In a way, the whole trip was a bit of a waste, since Pacific Mall has hardly changed and, if it has, only for the worse. In the midst of endless rows of cellphone accessories and fashion shops, not a single bakery. Now that's boring. :P

In the smaller shopping mall known as Market Village, Windsor has two separate bakeries pretty much around the corner and down the hall from each other. The one next to the supermarket seems to focus more on their cakes, which come in the usual Chinese types: creamy fruit cakes, taro, green tea, etc. Their second, main location (across from One's) houses their baked goods, although I can't quite see the justification for the "fine" in their name. Don't expect anything other than your usual Chinese bakery staples, although I was surprised to find that they really don't have a lot of the typical buns, especially the always popular meat buns. Instead, the majority of the bakery was dedicated to tables of various bulk-packed cookies (allowing for items to sit for longer vs. freshly baked yeast goods) For the New Year, there was also a variety of moon cakes and other more "unique" treats, stuffed with lotus or bean pastes. Unlike your standard Chinese bakery items, expect to pay more for these (a pack of six moon cakes cost $5.20).

Taking full advantage of the occasion, the brother was on the hunt for a "double happiness" cake and ended up finding it ($2.80; these guys called them "flaky cookies with lotus or yellow bean paste) These are little discs of multi-layered flaky dough filled with quite a bit of lotus paste. It was alright; for sure, it was a different experience in comparison to the usual (boring) offerings. The texture and taste was good, although the brother couldn't seem to get past the smell of the paste. As long as you don't smell it, it's fine. ;)

Going the more 'traditional' route, I also picked out the rice cookie (seen elsewhere under a whole slew of different names; I could have sworn it was $1.00, but I was charged $1.20) which I had tried elsewhere and, despite its plainness, quite liked. Sometimes, I've found these sitting on the counter, rock-hard, but these were actually nice and soft, so that lured me in. I was almost tempted to draw in a face to make the photo a little more exciting, but I managed to resist the temptation. ^.^ Anyways, pretty dry and it does clog a little easily in your throat, but it has a nice, softer texture with that slightest hint of peanut. Not bad.

Overall, um, Windsor isn't beating any records here and comes out as just your average Chinese bakery. It's certainly better those dirt cheap places you find elsewhere with a few items that go beyond the usual cream/pineapple buns that you find everywhere else. And well, if you're in Pacific Mall, it *is* your only baked good option. ;P

Rating: **1/2

Kiva's Bagels

Bakery: Kiva's Bagel Market and Bakery
Address: 2496 Yonge St, Toronto ON
Website: http://www.kivasbagels.ca/
Style: Jewish
Price: $$ 

This third location of Kiva's Bagels, a block or so north of Yonge & Eglinton is a bit hard to find online (there's practically no sign of it, even on their website), but it's indeed there, a fairly new bakery with a couple of shelves of imported and local deli goods. There's not that much in terms of selection, with one panel of shelves filled with a variety of bagels and the another with a few varieties of baked goods, namely chocolate buns, sweet cheese buns, typically North American muffins and pies, and some rugullah. Coming there on a Sunday afternoon, we were greeted with the news that they were closing earlier and everything was buy one, get one free. Very, very nice. :) And what did that mean? Four baked goods for $5, tax included. Even better!! That made the trip definitely worthwhile! Who can resist such a deal on baked goods? ^-^

Nonetheless, I pretty much nabbed every variety of baked good there was available for the taking: first up was the chocolate bun (*not* a buffalo, as my brother pointed out multiple times), a cinnamon-style chocolate bun with crumble on top. It was a tad bit dry and all agreed that it didn't beat a buffalo, but it was still good.

Similar to the chocolate bun, there was also the cinnamon bun (all, by the way, are regularly priced at $2.50/each), using the same dough, I believe, but with cinnamon filling instead. I also found it a little too hard on the outside and would have liked a little more moistness with the cinnamon, but I liked it. Cinnamon buns seldom amaze me, but these were up there as great examples of one. These guys could have made a great poppy seed bun with this same concept (yes, I'm always a little saddened when the only thing with poppy seeds are the bagels... >.>)

On a different note, there was also the sweet cheese bun with both cheese and jam on the inside. Not being a fan of sweet cheese anything myself, I handed this off for the brothers to sample. One really liked it, saying it was better than the chocolate bun. He liked the soft dough and enjoyed the sweet cheese filling, saying it was better than usual buns of this kind. The other... somewhat agreed, at least with it being better than the chocolate bun. I guess no one agrees on anything here. :P

Nevertheless, about a block away from the What-a-Bagel, which has been around forever, Kiva's definitely has the edge with more small-scale (the bagels don't come through the machine, after all) production, interesting selection and just, put simply, tasty baked goods.

Rating: **1/2

Bagel House

Bakery: Bagel House
Address: 235 Lakeshore Rd E, Mississauga ON
Website: http://www.thebagelhouse.com/
Style: Jewish
Price: $-$$ 

I was pretty excited to find that Bagel House, the Montreal-style bagel chain in Toronto, was opening up a location in Mississauga, although I can't say I was there for the bagels (then again, am I ever there for the bagels? ;P). Actually, before the Cake Tour existed, I visited the Avenue Rd location and had a pretty darn good poppy seed triangle (with the poppy seeds baked into the dough itself and the size just huge *-*); they also had your usual chocolate buffaloes and rugullah. In a sense, they don't have all that much (which seems to be fairly typical of bagel places), but I was still expecting what their online menu had in terms of treats at their Mississauga location. In comparison to the other locations, the Mississauga location... has bagels. Obviously people don't buy anything else and, as such, selection and freshness for everything else is next to nonexistent. Put simply: no poppy seed triangles, no triangles at all, and, well, no poppy seed at all either. :(

This, however, was not my first disappointment. One of the only remaining mainstays of the online menu is the chocolate buffalo ($2.00), which looked and tasted quite good -- it wasn't the best, but it still had good dough, plenty of chocolate filling and even some drizzled on top. The one real drawback was that it was machine-sealed in a plastic bag and it's not exactly clear how long it had been sitting like that. Was it even baked on site, as it didn't exactly resemble anything else in store? It definitely didn't give the greatest impression, in my opinion.

Similarly, there were the cinnamon or chocolate puffs (somewhere around $1.50), which were basically giant rugullah cut in half. I got the cinnamon variety. Again, it tasted pretty good; there was quite a bit of cinnamon filling, which served to moisten the dough and keep it from getting dry. This was a good thing, since it wasn't exactly fresh. :/ Thankfully, the filling did mask it quite a bit and still gave it that chewy yumminess I expected.

Unlike the cinnamon puffs, the raspberry puff twist (something along those lines; $1.50) was a complete disaster. I'm sorry, I don't want to be mean, but I felt cheated and recommend that anyone coming here *not* take anything made of the puff dough. This was, in a word, inedible. Puff pastry dough may not be so time-sensitive as yeast dough, but that doesn't mean it can sit on the shelf for two weeks. This was hard as a rock and, to only it make worse instead of better, there was so little raspberry jam swirled through it that it too hardened and had the consistency of hard candy. It was only possible to cut this with a knife and after toying with it for awhile (and subsequently cutting the top of my mouth), I just gave up. Never again. :(

In the end, this place seemed a bit of a hit and miss. Had it just been the raspberry twist, my rating would have been abysmal, but two solid treats -- although not fresh -- did manage to bump it back up from the lowest possible one. Buyer's discretion is nonetheless recommended.

Rating: **