@ Gentle Giants Whale Watching [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery?: Gentle Giants Whale Watching (aboard Faldur) 
Address: Hafnarstétt (Harbour Side), Húsavík
Website: http://www.gentlegiants.is/home/
Style: Icelandic 
Price:  included in the price of ticket (9100kr ;___;)

Well, this is as big a stretch as it gets, but I say it still counts. At the very least, I need something in return for having spent all that money. -___- Sometime during my trip in North Iceland, I was talked into giving whale watching a try. It's as big a tourist trap as you can get in the region and while I did see whales and all that, I still came away from it thinking I did not need to get lured into that... Anyways, there are three whale watching companies operating from Husavik harbour and Gentle Giants is one in the middle in terms of price. It was, however, the only one advertising that hot chocolate and traditional Icelandic doughnuts (kleina) are included with each trip. Compare that to cookies from the cheap guys and cinnamon buns from the most expensive and I just had to go for the kleina. :) 

Granted, it's not the greatest place to try them, especially considering that the company doubtless got them from the supermarket or something, but it was my first time trying these fried dough twists and that deserves mention. And everything always tastes better after three hours of Arctic wind blasting in your face and freezing your fingers. ;) So, towards the end of the tour, our guide returned with cups of steaming hot chocolate. It was powdered and not mixed that well, but it warmed the hands... Then came the real goods: a cute dough twist that had well, seen better (and fresher) days and I'm sure that simply wasn't the cool air having got at it. The fried exterior had already gone soft and the dough was very dense. Well, I suppose they're supposed to be cake doughnuts, but some cake doughnuts are better than others and these were so dense they were hard; I'm surprised they weren't as dry as they looked and felt. 

Alright, so the kleina were a bit of a flop -- kind of like seeing those whales, but being granted the exciting privilege of seeing a fin or maybe some distant water jet: you tried it out, you technically succeeded, but a return trip is so not on your agenda. Next time, stick to the bakeries. At the very least, it'd save me some money. ;DD 

Rating: *1/2

Baltyk Bakery [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Baltyk Bakery
Address: 10557 Kingsway NW, Edmonton AB
Website: n/a 
Style: Polish
Price: $$ 

[I swear that I'll finish by taking over the whole country! XD Yes, I was most fortunate that one brother of mine went back -- I say back because I'm a Calgarian born and raised -- to Calgary and Edmonton this past summer and was charged with going to at least three bakeries in each city so as to fulfil tagging requirements, many of which were visited for pure nostalgia's sake -- these were the bakeries I went to as a kid. :) Sure, he ended up going to the bare minimum, but I now have several stops in Alberta and he did come back with two pages of notes and a few (pretty awful) photos! The Cake Tour will be cross-country and absolutely brilliant, mwa ha ha!!!!! *calms down* Anyways, what with there being no food restrictions, some were brought back for sampling, others were eaten on the spot. Nonetheless, I'll regularly be updating my site with some of these finds (or returns). ^^]

Baltyk Bakery was one of the two bakeries we regularly went to when we as a family drove up to Edmonton to visit my grandparents. This was *the* Polish bakery and deli in the city and probably still is; at least one of a few. I remember popping in here on weekends, though I can't quite remember what we ended up buying. O.o Still, when I saw this pop up on the list of bakeries, I knew it had to be revisited.

To the first set of notes: Baltyk Bakery serves typical Polish bakery fare: cakes, bread, pączki (doughnuts), etc. I took the piernik (gingerbread; pictured) and 'poppy brandy biscuit bar' [it looks like a makowiórek cake with a choco-cookie top to me: poppy seed with coconut on the bottom, cream in the middle and then chocolate coated biscuits on top]. I was warned that the doughnuts were day-old and were therefore passed up, but I found it disappointing that there weren't any fresh pączki on the premises -- and they call themselves a Polish bakery! At the very least they were honest about it and didn't trick me into taking stale doughnuts, which would have made me mad. The poppy bar was soft and nice with a good punch of brandy. The gingerbread, on the other hand, was dry, the chocolate was hard and the raisin mid-layer had an off-putting taste. A major disappointment for a gingerbread connoisseur (lol, what on earth is that? This is the first time I've heard he's a gingerbread connoisseur. XD) like me.

It was alright. I was expecting something a little better than the average GTA deli, but I'd probably put it at the same level. I can't say it was that good.

Rating: **1/2

Amadeus Fine Cakes

Bakery: Amadeus Fine Cakes
Address: 7380 Bathurst St, Thornhill ON
Website: http://www.amadeusfinecakes.com/
Style: European
Price: $$$

Not wanting to drive all the way to Richmond Hill for a cake, the brother decided to give this place a try after having driven past it once by chance (avoiding traffic on Yonge...). So, he returned and we broke up the years of going to What a Bagel in trying this place out. Was it worth the upsetting of a tradition? Well, not really. Ha ha I might as well state it outright: it certainly did not beat my favourite cakes.

Amadeus is, as the name suggests, a cake place first. Rows of shelves are dedicated to their fancily decorated and delicious-looking cakes; even what they call their pastries resemble miniature versions of their larger cakes, although they lack the more interesting flavours of the full-sized counterparts. The cakes (and pastries) all seem to be based on the same premise of a single layer of sponge cake smothered with mousse and then decorated on top. As far as cakes go, they're rather... short and quite expensive for the size -- an 8-inch? cake was $30.  Most are chocolate or a combination containing chocolate; while ordering, the most popular choice was their individual tiramisu.

Two people not being chocolate cake fans (myself included), we ended up with the vanilla cake with a jolt of red currant sauce on top. The dough inside was vanilla sponge cake and then the mousse was likewise vanilla. Seeing as all cakes are based on this same formula, I'd say that they lacked complexity, both in terms of texture and taste. If you were lucky enough to get some of that red currant, you got some yummy sourness in there, but otherwise it was pretty boring. The dough was nothing special and pretty run-of-the-mill sponge cake, but the thing that really set it apart from your usual supermarket mousse cake was the mousse with its pieces of vanilla beans which was really tasty, especially with that aforementioned red currant sauce. Mmm... that was some fantastic mousse! I personally think some sort of flavoured sponge cake would have made this more exciting. Yes, it was good. And yes, it mostly likely beats 80% of cakes out there, but it somehow didn't live up to my expectations of cake glory and everyone agreed that in the end the cake was just... meh.

Rating: **1/2

Jubi [Mimi's World Tour] [RIP]

Bakery: Jubi
Address: Laugavegur 70, Reykjavík
Website: n/a
Style: Polish
Price: $$-$$$

[Note: Jubi is no more and has most likely been replaced by a tourist shop (didn't bother checking; you just know at this point) However, there is the newish Euro Market just down the street at one of the intersecting streets at Hlemmur that sells Polish baked goods -- reivew to come!!)]

Well, this is certainly an exciting find! Actually, this is one of the first "ethnic" bakeries on the World Tour; more than that, it was my first time trying Polonia (i.e. Polish people living abroad) baking outside of North America and the need to know if they made better pączki (the signature Polish doughnut) overcame any sort of unease I had at walking into this place. I just couldn't resist. :P

Passing this little semi-basement deli on Reykjavik's main shopping street is inevitable, especially if you're making use of the Bónus across the street, but more likely than not you'll walk past it without remarking its presence. I noticed it on my first visit to Iceland, although it was only this year that their window display of loaves of bread and a plate of cheese danishes and those delectable doughnuts arrested my attention. They now had baked goods! (Unless, that is, they simply rearranged their products) I could hardly believe it and just could not wait for the opportunity to poke my head in and come out with a pączek!! :) Disregarding the small plate of baked goods, the deli really is pretty pathetic and features a few shelves and one fridge of a few Polish imports. It's probably the least welcoming and most daunting store on the shopping strip and service is well, with a frown and annoyed sigh, but if you're craving Polish baking while in Iceland....

Selection is, however, very limited. In fact, there are only two baked goods: cheese danishes (299kr) and pączki (189kr). I was secretly hoping for some poppy seed buns tucked in somewhere, but no. Given it's pretty no frills and not a bakery, I found the prices a little steep, especially as you'll get more elaborate pastries for the same price at nearby bakeries.You serve yourself, though I didn't quite like how the only option was a plastic bag, since 10-15 minutes later the bag had already got stuck to the glaze and there went my beautiful photo. The doughnut, however... was a wonderful thing. *-* The problem I always have with pączki here in the GTA is that they're, 9 times out of 10, stale. The dough is hard and the glaze is crackled and flaking. Big no-no. There's something so good about biting into a soft, fresh doughnut and such was the case here! Moist dough, yummy strawberry filling (I was pleasantly surprised since I was expected the traditional plum, which I don't like), and delicious glaze with what seemed like a little extra kick. Mmmm... I wasn't really expecting to find great pączki in Iceland, but life is full of surprises. :P

I'd like to say I recommend this place -- based on baked goods alone I would -- but scant, not cheap selection and a somewhat daunting 'what are you doing in here?' feeling makes this a hard sell for the casual passerby, local and tourist alike and will probably only appeal to Poles (and kids of Poles) craving a taste of home.

Rating: ***

Boulangerie Sibuet

Bakery: Boulangerie Sibuet 
Address: 306 Route de l'Eglise, St-Jean Port Joli QC
Website: n/a
Style: French Canadian 
Price: $$ 

The last day, rather last night, of my Maritime trip (and thus beginning of my Great Canadian Cake Tour ^^) was spent in the small town of St-Jean Port Joli, in Quebec. Not only did this prove to be a fantastic conclusion to the trip, but it offered me one more chance to try some baked goods.

 Naturally, I hadn't had enough already. ;) Driving in from the highway, this was one of the first businesses you encounter once in the town itself; well, if you choose to disregard the supermarket, restaurants.... Okay, it was the first business *I* noticed and you can guarantee I vowed to go first thing next morning to try it out. They also happened to be in the tourism booklet at our bed-and-breakfast room, advertising sandwiches, baked goods and what seemed to be their signature item: cream and maple sugar tarts. I have to say I was a little devastated to find they had neither.. or I certainly couldn't find them anywhere. I was really looking forward to it. :( Nevertheless, with the appellation of boulangerie, you can expect that the majority of items were breads (in addition to lunchtime meals) with only a few, artisan baked goods in the form of flaky viennoiseries and nothing in the way of more elaborate treats -- this, however, was not a problem for me. There were several empty spots in the display area, so I'm wondering whether everything was already sold or they didn't bake any that day? In addition to the two items I got, there had to be only one or two others. What I did take, though, was very tasty.

Both, essentially, were based on the same idea; perhaps they had different names and fillings, but they were more or less flaky, buttery turnovers generously stuffed with their respective fillings. ($2.75, if I remember correctly) One was pear and chocolate and the other was raspberry almond and both were wonderful. Delicious dough; flaky without going to pieces (which happens) and well, there's nothing like butter. *-* Top that off with fantastic stuffing; ground almond paste mixed with raspberry jam. Or how about the pear sauce (as in apple sauce) with chunks of dark chocolate? Pop it a little into the oven to get it warm and mmmm... you begin to understand why viennoiseries are such wonderful, wonderful things. Lol. A pleasant, fitting end to this leg of the Great Canadian Cake Tour. :)

Rating: ***1/2

Niagara Home Bakery

Bakery: Niagara Home Bakery 
Address: 66 Queen St, Niagara-on-the-Lake ON
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian, English
Price: $$-$$$

I've officially surpassed 300 bakeries... and still going strong! :)

A little more than a month ago, the brother went to Niagara-on-the-Lake for some reason. Seeing as I don't go there very often, I commanded him to bring back some baked goods. And he delivered, for once. :) This is one of two stops that day.

Niagara Home Bakery is right in the heart of Niagara-of-the-Lake and is more or less your typical, run-of-the-mill English-Canadian bakery with a few more unique and noteworthy treats such as the ones the brother picked out. Think pies, squares and cookies; in a word, simple, old-fashioned baking that's pretty tasty, although it didn't manage to beat the guys across the street (look out for that one in a future post). Given the location, high prices seem almost a given; if he remembers correctly, he paid over $7 for two, not too elaborate items. Still, to the sampling we go~~

He picked out, as he said, the two most 'interesting' offerings: the first was the apple dumpling (which he can never resist taking whenever he gets sent out for baked goods), which could also be considered a baked apple: entire apple coated in a fairly thin layer of piece crust-like dough and topped with a smattering coarse sugar. The concept was a good one -- and sometimes it succeeds; in this case, we encountered a very common problem: the apple was uncooked in the middle. Too hard and crunchy in texture, this was very difficult to eat as the centre made cutting into the thing with a fork pretty much impossible. The dough flaked off and the apple was downright unmanageable. Good idea, faulty execution.

Better than that was, well, this thing. :P Yes, no one exactly knows what this is supposed to be, but I think cream-stuffed baklava can get the idea somewhat across. Folded filo dough wrapped into the shape of a cone and then stuffed with nut-encrusted pastry cream. Yup, it probably tastes as exciting as it sounds; it was certainly an interesting find; perhaps the filo was a bit dry in places, especially in the areas with no more filling, but it was a great concept. One brother likened it to a Purdy's ice cream bar -- in case you're wondering. ;) It was definitely the highlight from these guys; perhaps the bakery didn't necessarily blow anyone's mind, but it was still worth visiting. Of course, in my quest for bakery domination, it had to be done eventually. :D

Rating: **1/2 

Kaffi Kvika [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Kaffi Kvika (@ Jarðböðin við Mývatn [Mývatn Nature Baths])
Address: Jarðbaðshólar, Mývatn
Website: http://www.jardbodin.is/en/kvika-restaurant
Style: Icelandic 
Price: $$$-$$$$ 

Although I've run through my more orthodox selections from this year's trip to Iceland, there are still two places deserving notice (and providing more cool-factor for my map of cakes toured ^^); the first of which is the cafe located inside the MývatnNature Baths, a few kilometres east of Lake Mývatn itself. I actually went on a day tour of the area and the last stop was this hot-spring complex where tour takers had the option of shelling out an additional 3000kr to go to the hot springs. With that kind of attitude, you may guess correctly that I didn't take them up on the offer and instead spent the generous 90 minutes hiking outside the complex and taking in those deliciously sulphuric odours on the outdoor patio. ;D The smells and little flies chased me back inside, where, feeling a little guilty at sitting at the tables without buying anything, I wandered around the cafeteria-like cafe with its small selection of soup, pasta, and salads when the sight of cakes gave me an amazing idea: I'd make a Cake Tour of it! Mwa ha ha 90 minutes were no longer wasted!! XDD Yes, their sweet selections were a little pathetic, with only three varieties of cakes and two or three unexciting specimens of baked goods, all at ridiculous prices, but such is the sacrifice one has to make in the name of the Cake Tour. ^-^;; 

As mentioned above, the cafe offered a couple baked goods (it must not have been worth it or exciting enough, since I disregarded them almost immediately) and a total of three cakes for the trying, most likely not made by them; one was chocolate, another was the Daim cake available at Ikea (chocolate on top and some sort of low mass of nuts -- this seemed to be the most popular), and the third was an apple cake. I went with the latter (700kr; add a whopping 300kr for the chocolate milk and that's one third of the hot spring admission ;-;). Apple cakes are a Scandinavian classic; not only that, but I'm a total sucker for them, so I just couldn't resist. On top of that, it would be one of my first actual cakes in Iceland... and probably not the greatest example of one. In a sense there was nothing too wrong with it: nice layers of soft apples on top and a rather tasty, very moist, almost too moist, sponge cake. As you're grabbing yourself a slice, you don't notice that there are these pockets of thick caramel sauce inside. Not particularly fond of caramel, this was one of the minuses. That it was not worth it was another drawback; I can't say it was that big nor anything over-the-top delicious. But it makes a Cake Tour. :)     

Rating: **

Boulangerie Santé Nicole Bourgoin

Bakery: Boulangerie Santé Nicole Bourgoin
Address: 1330-B ch. Tobique, Drummond NB
Website: n/a
Style: Acadian, Canadian
Price: $$-$$$

As we were taking the semi-scenic route through New Brunswick to Quebec, we drove past a bakery in the small, predominantly Acadian (or judging so by the amount of flags), town of Drummond. Actually, we almost drove past it entirely -- the unassuming sign and white house makes it easy to miss -- and had to do a U-Turn to get back here. After all, this was a real find and I couldn't pass up the occasion of trying something outside the more bakery-friendly urban areas! ^.^ ((Actually, this place is nearly impossible to find online as well and it took some effort to get a hold of the address...)) Ha ha it was a little awkward, to be sure, since I assume this is one of these places where one knows all the locals and locals we weren't. Nevertheless, service was very friendly and, although nothing at all was either labelled or priced (a little daunting, to be quite honest with you), the lady (owner?) was helpful with her explanations.

The bakery itself is, I'd say, more of a lunchtime place with ready meals -- this is, after all, what's advertised outside, and only a few loaves of bread. Sweets are all kept behind the glass and wrapped in saran wrap, making it kind of difficult to discern what anything is. They had cinnamon buns (that I remember) along with a couple of squares; in a sense, pretty standard, Canadian baking fare (pies, carrot cake, maybe there were brownies in there, etc)

Seeing as one of the items advertised outside were the pies, I thought that picking up a pie ($8) wouldn't be such a bad idea and it wasn't. Not only that, but it was pretty exciting to find out that one pie variety was the rather unique raisin pie and this is something you won't find in your standard pie places. So the raisin pie it was. I myself don't like raisins, but I still really liked this pie. Wonderfully flaky, made-from-scratch pie crust with no real embellishment other than that R right in the middle. The filling was made up of soaked raisins that were so moistened they were nearly as plump and juicy as grapes and cooked to make a thick, flavourful mass. Well, so I can't exactly describe it, but that's nothing new. :P Anyways, it was indeed a great find! And just when I was beginning to think I wouldn't be able to find another bakery in New Brunswick!

Rating: ***

Goodness Me! Natural Food Market

Bakery: Goodness Me! Natural Food Market
Address: 720 Bristol Rd, Mississauga ON (plus other locations in Hamilton/Guelph area)
Website: http://www.goodnessme.ca/ 
Style: North American 
Price: $$ 

Well, it looks like there's a new health food store in town. Located at the corner of Bristol and Mavis, not only is Goodness Me! of impressive size, they also advertise they have a bakery. And whenever someone's advertising a bakery, you know a certain someone's not far behind. ;)

The bakery itself isn't particularly large and although it's not exactly Whole Foods, probably their closest competition, this (Canadian) chain is most certainly better priced and, while the goodies are simple, they're also good. For those concerned about gluten, I also liked how these guys pretty much had a gluten-free equivalent of all their baked goods, from muffins to cookies to cupcakes. There are a few fancier pastries (mostly from the yummy Dufflet) but the selection isn't that impressive. Wanting to try something original, I laid off the Dufflet and went for the small counter of more modest baked goods; that is, mostly muffins in about half a dozen varieties as well as a couple of cookies, from the more "healthy" options with every seed in the book (^^;;) to some more exciting (lol, yes, I don't want my sweets healthy) varieties such as the ones I took.

First of all, I decided to try the strawberry streusel muffin ($1.99). I'm not the biggest fan of muffins, I have to say, but this one resembled more a coffee cake with tasty streusel on top and a delicately spiced dough. To be quite honest, I'm not sure what happened to the strawberry portion... I think I found one piece of strawberry in the whole muffin. At the very least, they didn't put in nasty gloop or fake red dots like some places. x_x Still, a tad more fruit would have been appreciated.

My favourite item, however, has quickly become their ginger molasses cookie ($1.89). Not only is it one giant cookie with a bit of granulated sugar on top, it's so fragrant and spiced with plenty of ginger. What's more, it has the perfect chewy texture that I love: not too soft and far from hard. I went back again to pick up something that was advertised and walked away with another cookie. I don't think I can get enough of these -- I love gingerbread/spice cookies!!! :P

Although it's nothing too impressive, the baked goods are nonetheless quite tasty and worth trying. Especially seeing as there weren't that many people there on either visit, I think this place deserves a little more love... after all, I need to ensure my supply of ginger cookies. ;D

Rating: **1/2

Gamla/Old Ísland [Mimi's World Tour] [RIP]

Bakery: Gamla / Old Ísland
Address: Laugavegur 72, Reykjavik 
Website: n/a 
Style: Icelandic
Price: $-$$

[Note: this place has gone from a cafe selling modestly priced hot food and cakes to a full-fledged restaurant, so gone is pretty much everything mentioned down below. Not sure if they have pancakes still, but it won't be at those prices and isn't exactly the kind of place you can pop into for pancakes on a rainy afternoon. There goes another one to the tourism boom...] 

This was my final Icelandic Cake Tour of the year (unless, that is, I suddenly win something and find myself back in Iceland in the autumn ;__; Or, perhaps someone needs a worker... I'm still available for hire!) and came about solely because I believed I deserved a little treat on my very last day. :) Having taken care of every bakery in Reykjavik proper, I've vowed to take on the many cafes in the city offering promises of delicious cakes and this is the first in what I hope to be a lengthy project of mine.

Gamla Island is actually one of the few, if not the only, cafes in the city advertising traditional Icelandic home cooking and while it's not really purely sweets, they have a few cakes and having dessert here seems to be a highlight. It's not fancy, but for a place in the heart of the shopping district (and on trendy Laugavegur at that) it's well-priced and the food is good.

Not that I went here for the food, but for the traditional pancakes (490kr) which had been trying to lure me for a couple of days. I've had Icelandic waffles (and oh boy, what an experience that was! *-*) before, but never the crepe-like pancakes, made on a special cast-iron pan (the lady in charge was explaining the process) and served with, according to the menu, jam and whipped cream. In reality, it should have read whipped cream and jam. ;D This was positively bursting with whipped cream! Cutting into this thin pancake with a bit of rhubarb jam and sprinkled with caramelized sugar, you get a wonderful eruption of whipped cream which you just can't help but scoop onto your fork, even if you run out of dough. After all, one must indulge every now and then. ;) Mmmm... this was scrumptious! Top this off with a pot of Icelandic moss tea (300kr) on a quiet, rainy day and your love of Iceland forces to the brink of tears. At the very least, that's how I felt. It was a very bittersweet moment and yet I had plenty of whipped cream to help me cope. :D

Rating: ****

MacAulay's Bakery and Deli [RIP]

Bakery: MacAulay's Bakery and Deli
Address: 375 University Ave, Charlottetown PE
Website: http://www.macaulaysbakery.pe.ca/
Style: North American, Canadian
Price: $$ 

I came upon this by chance; it was on the street we parked the car, and it was a lucky thing I did, since it saved me the trouble from scouring the streets of Charlottetown for at least one bakery -- because I simply couldn't go to Charlottetown without finding a bakery for the Cake Tour! ;) And here it is. MacAulay's Bakery is tucked away in the corner of a more or less corporate office building and has a bit of both sweet and savoury -- such as that potato salad advertised in the window. The selection of sweets is quite large, but at the same time, if you simply want a single item for individual sampling, your choice becomes pretty limited as almost everything, from pies to cookies to squares, are made for the sharing and sold on pre-packed trays of six or eight identical items. All are priced and labelled, but at $6-7 for one tray, it's not the cheapest, most convenient option if you just want to try something new. There were a few squares (any sort of spice cookies also manage to excite me ^^) that seemed interesting, but I'm not sure I was that intrigued to buy a whole tray of them. Some variety would have been nice.

In addition to the numerous shelves of cookies and squares, they had a small rack of individual items near the counter, such as (if I remember correctly) turnovers or danishes, maybe a cookie. At any rate, the thing I picked out looked the most unique. It looked a bit like an Eccles cake or something like that; the red resembled the strawberry rhubarb pie, but it turned out this was cherry. Anyways, my selection turned out to be, for lack of a real name, a pocket pie. (around $1.50) You like pie, but hate the mess? Then this is for you! Flaky pie dough with a simple egg wash on one side and just the right amount of fruit filling inside so it was neither too dry nor too messy. It would have been better if the pie filling didn't taste so commercial and gloopy. You know how fond I am of that...

In the end, however, it was quite good; perhaps it was nothing special nor anything stellar, but it was the only bakery I ended up finding during my brief visit to Charlottetown and that, of course, gives it a special spot on the Cake Tour (and eventually on my Google map, which will look so, so incredible when I've plotted all my points!!!! *-*)

Rating: **1/2

Stari Grad Food Boutique

Bakery: Stari Grad Food Boutique 
Address: 3862 Bloor St, Etobicoke ON (two other locations in GTA)
Website: www.starigrad.ca
Style: Balkan, Serbian
Price: $$

Stari Grad is, in the traditional Eastern European sense, more a deli than anything else, with a hodgepodge of items from all ex-Yugoslavian countries along with a few Polish items thrown in there as well, but they do have a smaller selection of individually priced cake slices and a few items either priced by weight (cookies, tulumbe, etc.) or wrapped simply in saran wra. At any rate, they have poppy seed strudels. :D If you want something more resembling baked goods than creamy confections, your choice is pretty much limited to either the poppy seed or walnut "roll" ($6.49) or the cherry strudel, made with flaky filo and sold in tins ($6.99, I believe)

But, we all know what I ended up taking. :P The poppy seed strudel was one heck of a poppy seed strudel with more poppy seed mass than the dough could handle. The proportions were a little overwhelming and at certain points towards the middle, I'd even go so far as to say there wasn't enough dough for the amount of poppy seed. However, it was nonetheless a delicious mass, wonderfully black and full of poppy seeds. Dough in itself wasn't overly remarkable, but still good. A Balkan-style poppy seed roll as it should be. Mmmm... it was a good thing. *-*

I'm really curious now to try some of their cakes or that cherry strudel. Anyways, the Dundas and Kipling area has a few "ex-Yugoslavian" delis and bakeries and this is certainly one place to keep in mind.

Rating: ***