Market Fresh

Bakery: Market Fresh
Address: Royal Plaza, 10 Paisley St, Guelph ON 
Website: http://www.marketfreshguelph.ca/
Style: North American, European 
Price: $$-$$$ 

On a recent trip that went through Guelph, I was brought back baked goods. Nice. :) Market Fresh is, in fact, not exactly a bakery; instead, they are more of a gourmet food store bordering on independent supermarket with a baked section that looks like they get their goodies from various bakeries/individuals or there's a hodgepodge of people baking within the store, as items range in style from unique cakes to Portuguese custard tarts to home-style cinnamon buns. The impression, however, was that most items were brought in from elsewhere; whether that's wrong or right, well, I don't know about that.

Nevertheless, all items (apparently around $2/each -- of course no one ever makes a note of these things except me -_- -- though other products can get a little pricey) were, as the name states, fresh and tasty. Certainly Market Fresh does set itself apart from your average store bakery and this was a welcome surprise, especially since I was skeptical while doing research that this place would have any baked goods at all.

My favourite had to be the Dutch apple square, large slices of apples folded between a pie shell-like bottom and an amazingly rich and delectable crumble. Upon taking it out of the box, the whole bottom was saturated in apple juices and I was getting concerned it would be a soggy cake; however, I popped it into the oven for a little bit. Not only did that dry up the bottom but brought out the flavour of the apples and made the top a little crunchy. Yummy. *-* I'm not sure if I'd call it a Dutch apple tart, but it had this rustic and rich Mennonite baked good feel to it -- this, of course, is a very good thing!

Perhaps equally tasty was the cinnamon bun with flakier dough, cinnamon paste wound right around, and (according to the (second) cinnamon connoisseur -- I'm the first) an "amazing" thick, cream cheese icing on top.

Not to mention the rum ball which was soaked and heavy with the good stuff and featured large dark chocolate shavings, almost bark, instead of the run-of-the-mill chocolate sprinkles. Rich and decadent like a chocolate cake, this was certainly one for the chocolate lover.

Last but not least, there was the Portuguese custard tart which might have been baked by the same source as the cinnamon bun, as both had a multi-layered flaky dough. Browned custard on top. Very good.

Don't let the idea of it being a supermarket detract you from trying some of the pretty tasty goodies at this place!

Rating: ***