Kensington Natural Bakery

Bakery: Kensington Natural Bakery
Address: 460 Bloor St W, Toronto ON
Website: http://kensingtonnaturalbakery.ca/
Style: European, North American
Price: $

I've been walking past this bakery for years and never went in. I once poked my head in the window and found that it looked quite empty and didn't have much there in the way of baked goods, so I did some online research and found opinions quite mixed, with some very vocal negative reviews, so I still walked past and didn't go in. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Greektown (on the Danforth) and popped into the Big Carrot health food supermarket to check it out. Passing through the bakery section (a couple of shelves of baked goods from various reputable bakeries), I was downright amazed to find a poppy seed bun. Had to blink a few times. ;D Yup, it was a German-style poppy seed twist bun, in a health food supermarket from a natural bakery. And it turned out to be from these guys. At first I wasn't sure if this was indeed the place, but it turns out it was. After all that time, I've been walking past poppy seed buns... unforgivable!

In addition to these goodies, they have various other French dough baked goods such as danishes and croissants, made with butter and other simple ingredients. They likewise have brownies, squares, and cookies, with a great many vegan (no dairy) options. The selection is little more limited at the Big Carrot, but the bakery itself has quite a few choices. What else is notable is that everything is super, super affordable! Buttery baked goods at $1.60, tax included -- what an absolute steal! Cookies are $1.25 as are the still soft day-old breads.

So, I got the poppy seed bun ($1.60; $1.99 at the Big Carrot). Honestly I was a little wary because it was a little more complex with a maple syrup glaze and sesame seeds; I prefer my poppy seed buns simple and classic, but it took just one bite to win me over. Fantastic buttery dough that's soft and chewy with this pooling of golden buttery dough on the bottom... *melts* Delicious maple syrup glaze and just enough poppy seed for the kind of bun it was, though I could have liked a little more. This was so good; it's like the perfect combination of flaky, buttery French dough and German poppy seed bun innovation. :D

In fact, I was so impressed, I walked by the bakery again this afternoon... and went out with three of them. :)

Rating: ***1/2