Oma's German Bakery

Bakery: Oma's German Bakery
Address: 94 King St S, Waterloo ON (at St Jacobs FM)
Website: n/a
Style: German, Canadian
Price: $$

Note: I am not sure this is the correct name/store location of this bakery and am desperately trying to find anything to prove/disprove it. I'm searching and researching the vendors list on the St Jacob's Farmers' Market website and nothing seems to add up. If anyone knows if this is correct, please let me know!

At St. Jacobs, where I tried it, the bakery itself has no name and they have a stand both inside the Farmer's Market building (middle? aisle) as well as a tent outside near the Market Tent. In both locations, products are laid out simply on trays and all items are pre-packed and identically priced: $5.50 each or 2/$10. They have both German goodies such as strudels and mainly trays of Canadian classics such as various squares, butter tarts, etc. There are also a few breads (cheddar bread looks good) and the worker tried to talk me into buying one of their foccacia breads with various toppings.

More poppy seed!

But of course they had me at the poppyseed strudel ($5.50 each or mix-and-match 2/$10) I'm sure you could have guessed that yourself. ;) A mid-sized log with a generous dollop of icing on top; the woman in charge came up to me while I was picking it out and said it was really good and wasn't too sweet. Both comments really got me intrigued and excited; I couldn't wait!

Taking a bite, I will admit that it wasn't too sweet. Except for the icing, I would say it wasn't sweet at all, and because of that, perhaps, it lacked something such as a bit more... taste. It's a little like a review I once read for a Chinese restaurant that proudly advertised they used no MSG, but several reviewers noted that while that was good to hear, the food still needed to "make up for" it with other seasonings. Same here. Oftentimes, sugar becomes a sort of filler; many think that adding a ton of sugar will make it sweet, thus tastier (or so I conclude). It doesn't need to be sweet to be good; my mom's baking, which is generally very stingy on sugar, tastes amazing. The dough had no real taste, was thick and somewhat pasty. Similarly, the filling was quite indistinct. I feel like there should have been more poppy seeds as it was more brown than black and resembled a spice cake more than a poppy seed filling. If you got a chunk of icing, it turned out alright in your mouth. Otherwise, I am so going to have to use the b-word: it was bland. Pretty disappointed that my poppy seed expectations weren't met. :(

Rating: **