LaHave Bakery

Bakery: LaHave Bakery
Address: 3 Edgewater St, Mahone Bay NS
Website: http://lahavebakery.com/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$

There's a second bakery in the town of Mahone Bay and it's actually located next door to the first one which makes comparing the two very easy for someone just passing through as I was. :) At any rate, LaHave is a wonderfully petite bakery whose first location is in well, LaHave, on the other side of Lunenburg, and which is tucked away in one corner of the building and fairly hard to miss. Inside, it's just as small, with only a single case of sweets featuring a few squares and cookies. On top, there were a couple of additional items, but I had the impression they seemed to be more of a lunch place, advertising sandwiches, bagels, and whatnot.

Nonetheless, being already pretty overwhelmed by the amount of baked goods I already had in the car, I thought I'd be a little modest and pick just one thing for the trying. As they seemed quite devoted to providing locally-sourced baked goods, breads, jams and the like, I thought I'd give the blueberry scone, with local blueberries, a try. And hey, I had already bought a scone from another bakery, so direct comparisons are always easier. ;)

Yes, so the blueberry scone it was ($2.75... or perhaps $2.50 -- something around there). Comparing the two at the same time, that being the ginger apricot scone from Kate's, I have to say this one was my least favourite. As a scone, it was alright. It was certainly bigger than your average scone and airier, fluffier if you will. I think it needed a little bit more fruit, since the soda-based (with a tad too much dusted on the bottom and along the sides) dough really overpowered the berries. Pretty good, but not great either -- that puts me into the position of being more than willing to try something else from them; however, I probably wouldn't get this particular item again.

Rating: **1/2

Heimabakarí [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Heimabakarí Konditori
Address: Garðarsbraut 15, Húsavík
Website: http://heimabakari.is/ 
Style: Icelandic
Price: $  

My tour of North Iceland continued with a stop in the small, quaint town of Húsavík, where it took me very little time to locate its one bakery: Heimabakarí. After all, when one is there with a purpose... ;D Sticking to my self-catered meals in Akureyri, I thought I could splurge a little bit, but it looks like I didn't have to! Not only was Heimabakarí a delicious addition to the Cake Tour, but it was likewise a wonderfully cheap one. It's actually been awhile since I've used my 'great value' and so it was about time to drag it back out; after all, this place does happen to have the cheapest vinarbrauð in what currently looks like the country! O.O 

Anyways, the bakery itself is quite small and didn't have the selection I've encountered elsewhere: a few varieties of danish-dough goodies, some cakes, and what seemed to be the most popular item there that morning: American-style doughnuts (Iceland, my dear, why? I mean, there's nothing bad about doughnuts. I like doughnuts myself and they do look a lot better than a lot of the ones that sell her, but still~ Icelandic baked goods are just so much better! I think I won't even choose to comment on the 'cronut' advertised on their website...) Everyone in line, either taking it away or eating there, were grabbing these. Maybe I should try one someday and see if they really do trump the ones here. 

I myself couldn't settle for a doughnut, however; especially not when I could get a lovely slice of danish for 220kr! It blew my mind. I even backtracked and found that, three years ago, the cheapest I ever found was a danish for 240kr, so this indeed wins the amazing price award! And unlike other places, where the log is simply stuffed with a little custard in the middle and sprinkled with some slivered almonds, this one not only had the custard (soft and not hard-baked), plenty of almond chunks, but filled in part with a tasty and unique apple caramel sauce. It was a little too full at times, but the dough had the perfect texture: soft and crunchy all at the same time -- a far cry from the slice I had in Akureyri the day before. :/ Perhaps I prefer the classic (sans apples) variety in the long run, but this was still a delicious, affordable treat... and probably just as satisfying as seeing a whale fin somewhere in the distance. :D

Rating: ***1/2 

Jo-Ann's Deli Market & Bake Shop

Bakery: Jo-Ann's Deli Market & Bake Shop
Address: 9 Edgewater St, Mahone Bay NS
Website: http://www.joannsdelimarket.ca/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$

Well, that's quite a mouthful of a name! Swallow first before starting with the baked goods. ;) Okay, okay, seriously now: while on our Lunenburg - Peggy's Cove tour, we stopped briefly in Mahone Bay to take a look around and to, hopefully, find somewhere to have lunch; lunch that didn't comprise of pizza, that is. And that's how we not only stumbled upon Jo-Ann's, but upon two bakeries, located next door to one another. How convenient! The first of these is Jo-Ann's, a market with a little bit of everything, most of which is locally made, not to mention made in-store as well. In addition to their deli counter, with plenty of ready-made options to be taken out or eaten there (we had lunch here, in fact: seafood chowder, salt cod cakes, and mac and cheese), they have a cute bakery counter tucked into one corner, with a few pies (they were advertising coconut cream when we were there), some squares, and cookies. The usual culprits. ;D Actually, the selection was more extensive than the bakery-proper next door and the goods, I'd even say, more attractive.

I'm not sure why we opted for the cookies this time around, perhaps for some variety. At around $2.00 each, they're also the cheapest option. :P Anyways, the first item was an oatcake (a Nova Scotian classic, I believe -- $2.00 for plain and $2.25 for half dipped in chocolate) which we felt needed to be tried somewhere. It was fairly good, but felt like it was lacking something. Given it was eaten immediately upon purchase (that is, after the seafood chowder), it seemed a little dry and could have benefited from a little more butter or oil, whatever the case may be.

Similarly, I thought my raspberry shortbread ($2.00, or around there) needed more butter. The beauty of shortbread is the butter. They got the texture right: melt-in-your-mouth softness that was actually melting a little too quickly, since it was difficult to even pick it up without it crumbling in your fingers. However, once it did melt, there was no buttery finish. Instead, it came across as a bit sandy. Filling was good as was the icing, but would have liked more butter and more cohesion, and it was the same of both.

Overall, Jo-Ann's is maybe too all-encompassing to have a spectacular bakery section. Both items were good, but lacking that something to make them super.

Rating: **1/2

Bakaríið við Brúna [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Bakaríið við Brúna
Address: Gleráreyrum 2, Akureyri 
Website: n/a
Style: Icelandic 
Price: $$-$$$ 

I was speaking in my previous post of two bakeries in Akureyri. Here is the second one. Bakaríið við Brúna is, for the common tourist, a little out of the way, especially when you don't have a car as I did. In fact, it might be a little hard to chance upon, as it's off the main road and tucked into the corner of a fairly insignificant plaza, but the maps you pick up at tourist information advertise it, so making the small trip shouldn't be that difficult, especially as you'll be fairly pleased you made it.

BvB is as busy a bakery as you'll find. I came at well past lunchtime (around two) and there were still tons of people there (all of whom were locals -- always a good sign), with almost every single table in the seating area occupied. In fact, I was lucky I came when I did since I might not have got a table at all! Ha ha it's almost weird that we're still talking about Akureyri here. :P One thing that impressed me from the very start was the amazing variety of baked goods, both sweet and savoury. One wall is dedicated to breads and the selection of sweets was downright overwhelming... had there not been poppy seed for the taking. ^^; The one thing that kind of irked me was the inclusion of cupcakes.... *shakes head* Classic American doughnuts are everywhere in Iceland, but cupcakes are uh, a fad that doesn't need to be exported across the Atlantic. Nonetheless, there is plenty to choose from here: from danishes to various cakes to well, doughnuts. There's something sweet for everyone. :) One drawback is that this place was one of the more expensive bakeries I've been to in Iceland -- the inexplicably overpriced one in Stykkishólmur took top honours -- with everything costing upwards of 300kr. For three items (two baked goods and one choco milk), I paid 767kr, 200kr more than I paid in Siglufjörður for the same combination. That's pretty ouch. x_x 

As this doubled as my lunch, I thought I should get something lunch-worthy as well and somewhat regret that I did. I don't really review the savoury, but I thought I might as well just say that I got a cheese bun as well. Icelandic cheese buns are beautiful things (really :P), but this one disappointed with dry dough, not enough cheese, and two totally unnecessary chunks of ham. I've had much better. 

Fortunately, the slice of poppy seed cake (moonstykki; around 310kr) more than made up for that not so great cheese bun: whole poppy seeds braided into moist dough and topped with dark chocolate drizzle and vanilla sugar. Holy moly was this ever good! Does everything Icelanders make with poppy seeds have to be so yummy (because, yes, now that I think about it, I have yet to be disappointed by poppy seed baked goods)!? I think this was one of a few items I would have happily bought the whole roll of, even if meant eating it three days in a row... if it lasted that long, that is! ;D

So while the cheese bun fell a little flat, my sweets purchase was delicious, not to mention the fact that the goodies other people got around me looked really good as well. Judging not only by the crowds, but by the fact that this was one of the few places where almost everyone is buying treats in addition to their pizzas, grilled cheese and whatnot, this seems to be the destination for baked goods in Akureyri.   

Rating: ***1/2

Kate's Sweet Indulgence

Bakery: Kate's Sweet Indulgence Catering and Cafe
Address: 242 Lincoln St, Lunenburg NS
Website: http://www.sweetindulgence.ca/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$ 

As far as I know, this is the only bakery in the relatively small, picturesque town of Lunenburg. In a sense, it's not really a bakery, but don't let the 'catering' part deter you. Kate's is a cozy cafe and breakfast/lunch spot on the main street with several cases of homemade baked goods, ranging from muffins, to cinnamon buns, to cake slices. Although many items are quite simple, they nonetheless look pretty tasty, so much so that I was at a bit of a loss as to what I should pick. Not wanting to grab too many items in one spot (and this time, I did visit two more bakeries on the same day!), choosing only two wasn't easy, but regardless, Kate's did come out on top as the pick of the day.

The first item was a rhubarb crumble muffin ($2.00) and while it wasn't the most photogenic of baked goods (how does one photograph a muffin and one that got a little smushed in the bag at that?), it was very tasty and definitely my favourite. Unlike most muffins which are heavy, dense and contain a few bits of fruit on top, this was not only super moist, resembling more a coffee cake, but loaded with chunks of fresh rhubarb. On top, there was some streusel, which was either baked into dough or I flattened it into it, and cinnamon. Nothing fancy, but this was one good muffin. :P

Up next was the ginger and apricot scone ($2.25). While not a huge fan of scones, I couldn't resist as these guys had a few unique flavour combinations and apricot and ginger is as unique as it got. Again, the dough was fluffier than a usual scone, which I preferred, and the chunks of apricot and fresh ginger (for that real zing) also helped keep it from getting dry. The sugar on top was a nice touch. Although I did prefer the muffin, this was pretty tasty as well.

Overall, Kate's didn't knock any socks off, but it was a tasty addition to my too-small tour of Nova Scotia and worthy of a mention.

Rating: ***

Kristjáns Bakarí [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Kristjáns Bakarí
Address: Hafnarstræti 108, Akureyri
Website: n/a
Style: Icelandic 
Price: $$ 

If you don't venture outside of Akureyri's "city centre", you might think that Kristján's is the city's only bakery. Luckily, there was another one for the sampling, and that luckily refers to not only there being two bakeries to make things more impressive and interesting, but that there is a better place for baked goods. That being said, Kristjáns was my least favourite destination on this year's World Tour. Although reasonably priced, it seems to focus more on their commercial baking (many local supermarkets -- I first spotted them in the supermarket near Lake Myvatn -- stock pre-packed cakes and buns from them) and is in fact more a full-fledged deli than bakery, with some grocery items as well as shelves of the same pre-packed goods you find in supermarkets. Behind the glass in the fresh section, I didn't find the selection all that impressive, especially considering that the place calls itself a konditori and was one of the few I went to that did so. It was either the danish slice or the cinnamon roll that day. However, the first thing that really put me off was the sign under the doughnuts behind the glass saying they were produced in the EU. O.o? I guess it's laudable that they were honest about it, but a bakery just heating up imported frozen goods -- these are practices I don't in any way approve of!

Nonetheless, I did go away with a slice of danish (270kr) -- only for you, my dear Cake Tour! :3 Overall, I can't say there was anything bad with it, and in this sense, I felt a little comforted. After all, I can never really resist danishes... However, the dough was a pretty bad example of 'Vienna bread', lacking the usual flaky crispiness on the outside and airy softness on the inside. This was more dense, a little too dry, and far too bready. Compared to previous samples, it wasn't even very aesthetically pleasing: the slivered almond(s), custard and rock sugar were barely there and the icing was smeared on. I was pretty disappointed.

Judging by the fact that you're automatically greeted in English, this seems to be more popular with tourists than with locals and I don't blame them. Perhaps the bread is alright, but when it comes to sweets, the extra trip (and a few more kronur) to Bakaríið við Brúna is worth it! 

Rating: **

Smith's Bakery

Bakery: Smith's Bakery
Address: 2525 Agricola St, Halifax NS
Website: http://www.smithsbakery.info/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$ 

I don't know how it happened, but three nights in Halifax somehow turned into just one bakery reviewed! D: I turned down a few I spotted along the way in favour of the ones on my list and somehow it just never worked out. As such, a return trip is needed for this to expand beyond this very pathetic single offering. Accepting donations now... cash, credit, paypal -- any currency. Anyone? ^^;

Anyways, Smith's Bakery is Halifax's oldest, dating from 1932. As may be expected, it predominantly features all the Canadian classics (well, except for doughnuts): squares, cookies, and pies, all in several varieties. There were a few pound cakes as well, but the big three were for me the most interesting. In all honesty, I'm not that big a fan of what I like to call the Canadian classics; I like pie, but very few make them well enough to be considered 'wow', and many squares come across as a tad boring, so I wasn't expecting too much. Actually, envisioning bakery greatness somewhere on the horizon, I didn't want to buy too much (which turned out to be the problem with the goodies from New Brunswick) so I played it safe and bought just one thing. Big mistake. :( Items are labelled and priced; at $2.75 per square, for example, don't expect super cheap, but it's reasonable.

With one item, it took some deliberating between a few of the fruity squares, but at last I settled for the raspberry walnut square ($2.75), seeing as it looked the most complex and was in for a great treat. Graham cracker crust, a layer of shredded coconut, thick, far from gloopy raspberry, and chunks of walnut drizzled with white and dark chocolate. Ha ha quite a mouthful! From the glass, you can't see the coconut, so it comes as a bit of a surprise and it's so wonderfully chewy (I like chewy ^^), really matching the raspberry and softness of walnuts. I have to say it was really tasty and most certainly I regret not getting more while here. Nonetheless, I guess I can see now how Smith's has stayed in business for so long -- sorry for doubting you! :P

Rating: *** 

Aðalbakarí [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Aðalbakarí Siglufirði
Address: Aðalgötu 28, Siglufjörður
Website: n/a
Style: Icelandic
Price: $ 

Siglufjörður is one of the northernmost towns in Iceland and while on a five-hour day trip (bus schedules...) in the small fishing village, I also discovered it probably has the country's northernmost bakery too! Oh, the excitement! ^.^ Sure, it still doesn't beat some of the locations I came across in Lapland in terms of latitude, but it's still a lot of fun to kick back and relax after an exhilarating hike at the local bakery. The building itself doesn't say what it's called; it took me a long time to actually find the address, but if you're there, you'll see it. 

Nonetheless, Aðalbakarí is a fantastic place; it was one of the highlights on this year's trip, not only because of the yummy baked goods, but because of the exceptional service. Nothing is labelled or priced, which was a little annoying, but the worker on hand (most likely the owner) was all too happy to help out. And what's more, I got a free sample! One whole "love ball" for the trying! :) As classic a baked good as these lovely fried ástar pungur claim to be, this was one of the very few bakeries I've seen that had them (one in Borgarnes and another Stykkisholmur are the only two places I've encountered them and I can't recall seeing them anywhere else on previous tours). These are deep-fried and stuffed with an odd raisin or two and the dough is mixed with a bit of cardamom. The ones here were perfectly spiced; the dough was wonderfully fried, crispy on the outside and a dense, cake doughnut on the inside (reminding of fellow Icelandic classics kleinur) with one end stuff with raisins. They were so good I had to buy another one for later on. :)

For eating there (an après-hike reward ^^), I also got a danish -- naturally, with pink icing. (I don't know individual prices, but paid 560kr for one danish, one 'love ball' (one was on the house) and a box of chocolate milk -- a pretty good deal, if you ask me) Mmm... definitely one of the best this year (though I'm sure it helped that I ate it on the spot) with perfectly flaky dough and yummy filling of custard and almonds.

Sure, you don't actually have a choice of bakeries, so coming here is in a way inevitable, but you won't be feeling like that afterwards. Excellent bakery... and that's excluding the fact that (feel free to remember this for the future) bribes... ahem, free samples *do* work on me. ;D

Rating: ****

Baking Paradise

Bakery: Baking Paradise
Address: 608 Queen St, Fredericton NB 
Website: n/a
Style: German
Price: $$ 

When picking me up from the airport, there were actually Cake Tours in tow from New Brunswick and here's my one and only (for now, at any rate) selection from Fredericton. Following my own tour, I know that it's not that easy to find poppy seed baked goods, so to come across a German bakery with poppy seed cake for sale in addition to it being a part of the Great Canadian Cake Tour (currently at two posts, so it's not that great ^^;;) is an extra special addition to my site. You can only imagine my excitement...

Nevertheless, Baking Paradise is indeed a German bakery, specializing in rye breads and buns. The assortment of (strangely long -- it was very difficult to photograph these well) German sweets isn't very big; in fact, besides one or two other items, this was it.

The first item seems to be the bakery's most popular, given how much of them they were baking. There were trays of these, and... I'm not exactly sure what to call them, but they were basically dough twists with some sort of fruit filling and dipped on both ends in chocolate. These get old pretty quickly, so it's best to eat them right away. A little doughy in some areas, these were still nice and tasty.

There was also the apple strudel. I wouldn't necessarily call it authentic German, but it looked pretty good for a Canadianized version of the classic. Sadly, no one got the opportunity to try. We left it for the following morning only to discover that our room in Halifax had the misfortune of having an ant problem -- a whole colony got into the paper bag and that spelled the demise of my poor apple strudel. ;___;

Last but not least there was the poppy seed cake. Actually, no one knew it was a poppy seed cake until the very last minute; my purchasers wanted one more item and chose this slice (the last one) with crumble on top. Upon being informed it was indeed a poppy seed cake, they got excited and I got even more excited! :D This was a very low cake with quite dense, barely-there dough that was layered between several generous masses of poppy seed and nothing but poppy seed -- it was a little oily, but beautiful nonetheless! To make it even better, it was completely covered by a solid layer of delicious crumble and icing. Whoa. It is possible to encounter German poppy seed buns (often, but not always), but poppy seed squares, though yummier, are far more elusive; I was impressed, very impressed!

Rating: ***

Bakarameistarinn [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Bakarameistarinn
Address: Suðurver 18, Reykjavik
Website: http://www.bakarameistarinn.is/
Style: Icelandic 
Price: $-$$ 

If you're coming from the airport, chances are the first bakery you see upon entering the city is Bakarameistarinn. In this way, this place has been tempting me every time I arrived (and left) and, seeing as I was staying a few blocks away during my first stay in Reykjavik this time around, I vowed to finally get a chance to try something from these guys. Located more or less across the street from Kringlan (the shopping mall (like most bakeries in the capital region, they have three other branches in the suburbs), Bakarameistarinn is quite impressive in terms of its size and it's variety, which did not disappoint. And, really, how could it when they had poppy seed buns? ;D

Yes, in addition to a couple varieties of 'vinarbrauð', available in both small and large portions, the forever present sniður (giant cinnamon "snails") and generous selection of cake slices, these guys have poppy seed buns and you know what I think of Icelandic poppy seed buns. At first, having not yet spotted this must-pick, I was actually having a hard time deliberating between the danishes or a slice of apple cake. It was a tough choice; that is, until I saw my beloved poppy seed buns. *-*

So I couldn't resist: the poppy seed bun (265kr) it was. It was rolled up into a spiral, German style, and was pretty darn heavy. Nice and fresh, the poppy seed filling was quite generous, although I found it was mixed in with a little too much dough, especially towards the middle, but that's just being picky. Top that off with alternating chocolate and vanilla icing and some absolutely delicious crumble, sprinkled all over the place.

Mmmm.... had I known it'd be this good, I would have come a few years earlier! At the very least, it was worth the wait. :) Very good stuff.

Rating: ***1/2

The Green Pig Country Market

Bakery: The Green Pig Country Market Bakery
Address: 2927 Fredericton Rd, Salisbury NB
Website: http://greenpigmarket.com/
Style: Canadian, North American
Price: $-$$ 

And so we begin! I even took (read: wasted) three days to make a fancy banner for my Cake Tour road trips! ^^; I suppose that a few of the other bakery stops (like those in Quebec) also had to be done in more than one day and thus would qualify as part of the GCCT as well, but um... there's nothing overly adventurous about that, I suppose. At any rate, the idea didn't come to me just yet, and so it starts here. ;)

Actually, I was picked up from Halifax, where I was flying from Iceland, so my drivers were the ones that ended up going to this place (although I had my fair share of eating, ha ha ha!). The Green Pig Country Market, located a few minutes off of the Trans-Canada highway in the vicinity of Moncton, is more a farmers market than a bakery, selling local produce (fresh strawberries were also tasty), eggs, maple products, etc. However, they do advertise as being a bakery and are indeed an in-store bakery selling the Canadian classics (muffins, brownies, Chelsea buns among others), freshly baked and packed onto trays of three to six items. I believe all trays, notwithstanding the contents and amount, are priced at $4.29 each.

So I got the homemade cinnamon rolls ($4.29 for a three-bun pack)! These were really good, mainly because they weren't the same cinnamon buns as everywhere else. The dough must have been soda-based and had a denser, unique texture. Not too sweet and not to gooey on the inside, just an absolutely delectable mass of cinnamon, butter, and sugar -- heat it up a little in the microwave to get the dough soft and the cinnamon even softer and it's just the way I like it. *-* I don't know about the rest of their products, but man, these cinnamon rolls! These had to be one of the highlights of this first Maritime tour.

Rating: ***