Address: 830 Pape Ave, Toronto ON
Website: http://www.seranobakery.com/
Style: Greek, Mediterranean, European
Price: $
On a spur of the moment decision, I decided to make a loooong overdue trip to Greektown. I came for the Danish bakery (which still amazes) and ended up going away with two new Cake Tours. :P I could have sworn that this place looked a lot different from the last time I saw it. I remember this fairly dark bakery divided into several cramped rooms and thinking it was Italian, or am I just really confused? Several years ago (the first time on Pape, in fact) I don't think I ended up buying anything; seeing as I walked in this time into a veritable gallery of cakes and pastries (the Olympus of Greek baking, if you will :P), something must have changed.
Whether I'm thinking of some other bakery or not, Serano, as it is, is amazing. There are few bakeries I've gone to where I have a hard time deciding what to take, simply because there's so much selection and, not only that, everything looks so darn good! And this is certainly the case with Serano, where there's beyond dozens of delectable treats in a long row of glass cases. One (or was it two) was devoted exclusively to cookies. Another set are for elaborate cake slices. Around the corner are the dozen or so varieties of baklava and phyllo-based pastries, and next to that there's even their own gelato (complete with a few Greek flavours that *must* be tried; the miserable weather was the only thing preventing me from getting it this time) Along the opposite wall, there are even more glass cases, these housing exclusively Greek pastries: from larger sized custard pies (not bougatsa, the other one -- the former is found in a box next to the cash with the yeast-based baked goods) and semolina-based cakes, among other things.
If you haven't figured it out yet, the selection is jaw-dropping. If you love Greek baking, there are traditional cakes, cookies, and honeyed pastries that you won't see anywhere else in the city. Even if you're not too fond of the authentic goods, come for the lovely and affordable assortment of cake slices. There's something for everyone (unless you don't like sweets, but then again, what are you doing here? :D)! Not to mention the fact that everything is labelled and priced. With the exception of the items sold by weight (baklava and cookies are at around $17/kg), all single items are very well-priced at $2.00 or less -- yes, even the cakes! Seriously, these guys make it pretty difficult for you to go away with the half the store in their pretty bags. ;)
After a lot of deliberating, I picked out three items, all with Greek names and all which I've never heard of before (and there were plenty more to choose from). The first was a slice of karidopita ($1.75), which was a large piece of spice cake loaded with (as the brother put it) "these awesome nuts" and then "bathed" (as the mom put it) in honey, but without it becoming soggy. Mmm... a definite highlight.
The third item was a cup of kourkoubinia ($2.00 per cup or sold by weight), these phyllo niblets or, perhaps, think of them as a sort of "baklava ends": phyllo dough tightly rolled into logs about double the thickness of a pencil, cut into bite-sized pieces, topped with nuts, and then soaked in a lovely pool of honey. One brother complained that those not in the honey were a little dry, but other than that, people were impressed with this unique treat.Overall, Serano is definitely worth a visit. It might be difficult to decide on what you want, but hey! there's always next time. And a next time there certainly will be. :P
Rating: ***1/2
