Courense Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Courense Bakery
Address: 1014 Bloor St W, Toronto ON 
Website: http://courensebakery.com/
Style: Portuguese 
Price: $ 

I walked here several years ago and am not sure why I didn't review this place then. Actually, I swore I either covered all bakeries in this area or they were already reviewed chains. Anyhow, I was pleasantly surprised to find a (not so) new bakery waiting for me this time around! :)

Courense Bakery, at any rate, seems to be one of the well established businesses in this Mini Portugal along Bloor St W and more or less resemble your standard Portuguese bakery with all the classics: nadas tarts, flaky cream pastries, small cake squares, etc. As per tradition, nothing is labelled or priced, so it takes a bit of guessing if you're not well-versed in Portuguese baking. Of course, a few visits is all you need to get everything memorized... and prices at Courense were, like always, very affordable and seemed to somehow incorporate taxes as well.

The mighty Portuguese Doughnut

Having already bought goodies from another bakery that day, I didn't want to go all out and instead opted for one of my favourite Portuguese treats: the doughnut. Not just any doughnut -- the Portuguese doughnut. ($1.75, taxes included) ^.^ A massive, plate-sized piece of fried dough coated in sugar and delicately flavoured with a hint of lemon. This one from Courense was big and fluffy. And I mean *big*; I couldn't fit it on my usual small plates and had to grab a platter. ;) And it actually grew quite a bit, so it was a bit hard to actually bite down on it. Crispy dough on the nice, very moist and airy on the inside. For some reason, the centre where it was most doughy was really, almost too, eggy, like there was a sudden concentration of soft-boiled egg. Not sure if the dough didn't mix well or there was supposed to be some sort of egg pocket, but I can't say I enjoyed the sensation.

Overall, it was good. Not the best Portuguese doughnut I've had, but not the worst either. Gigantic, fresh, and tasty -- and oh, did I mention it was huge? ;D *sighs* I do love these things...

Rating: ***