Papa Pastry & Cafe

Bakery: Papa Pastry
Address: 6111 Yonge St, North York ON 
Website: http://www.papapastry.ca/
Style: Persian
Price: $$-$$$

Deciding to take a somewhat spontaneous drive to Koreatown North brought to me a lovely assortment of bakeries; and seeing how fond I am of both Korean and Persian baked goods, it was tough limiting myself. Being on a budget, I also tried not to go overboard at any one location and this was even tougher, especially when any sort of Middle Eastern treats equals going bankrupt. ;D

So, I started out with Papa Pastry, a newer establishment right in the middle of the Iranian plaza (also home to another pastry shop = next time). Perhaps it would have been wiser to save it for the end and go a little more all-out, but I suppose I came away with the assurance that you can go in and not spend that much money.... if you know what to pick. Anyways, amidst Papa's phenomenal pinkness -- more intense than I like it, but pink is pink ^-^ -- there are several display cases, starting with cookies and then including various styles of baklava and honey-soaked treats. Unlike most Middle Eastern bakeries, they also had more traditional cream cakes, strudels, pound cakes (the sample for a chocolate and vanilla pound cake was tasty and homemade in feel; it reminded me a lot of my mom's "zebra" cake :)), individual, torte-like cake slices in interesting flavours such as saffron or pistachio. A little bit for everyone. However, like most Middle Eastern bakeries, there are neither labels nor prices and this is always frustrating, I find, especially since things can get expensive, very fast, and it'd be nice to actually know what you're picking (without asking about every single item).

I came out with two items: the uh, dough spirals and the pancakes.... and paid a whopping $2.50 for everything! Nice. Sure, it looks cheap (I thought it'd be more) but the "honey goods" are usually the safest bet for the budget-conscious *and* they happen to be my favourites. ;) These were quite good, although not the best either. While the spirals had a good taste and texture once in your mouth and weren't absolutely smothered in sugar like other places, they crumbled way too easily and fell apart upon trying to eat them, leaving behind little bits of pieces. That was a little annoying.

The pancakes (seriously, I do need to figure out the words for these things) are my especial favourites of Persian baking. I loove these things! *-* Upon opening the container, they had a pretty strong fragrance, but it seemed to go away, so the scent (orange blossom water) wasn't too overpowering, which is a good thing for me. I didn't really like the sesame mixed into the dough, but that's simply because I don't like sesame all that much. Besides this, these were alright, but again, it's not my favourite place for Persian goodies. I guess I'll have to see how the others in the neighbourhood fare!

Rating: ***