Bake Code

Bakery: Bake Code
Address: 4910 Yonge St, Toronto ON
Website: http://bakecode.com/
Style: Taiwanese, Chinese
Price: $$-$$$ 

For those wanting to try something other than a cookie-cutter clone of a Chinese bakery, there's Bake Code, a newish, Taiwanese bakery chain that one could call an upscale take on Westernized Chinese baking. As far as I know, there's no place in the GTA like it and worth a visit for that point alone. I myself was really intrigued when looking for a bakery in North York that I haven't tried yet (as with other areas, this is getting more and more difficult! ^^) and found out about this place.

However, those fond of more traditional fare such as bean-filled pastries and classic egg tarts will find such items replaced with flaky, European-style danishes and rustic Asian variations of  breads (like taro, red bean, etc.); add to that mix slices of cheesecake, cream rolls, and other cakes. Their website calls it European fusion... and while I'm a little more skeptical of the claim (there was actually very little "fusing" going on; items tend to be either purely European like said danishes or simply more rustic Chinese baking), both sweet and savoury products look good and are of a quality you wouldn't expect to find at your standard Chinatown bakery. The one drawback is the price: Bake Code doesn't only qualify as "not cheap", I would consider many products expensive. Expect $3+ for single buns and $4+ for anything behind the counter. In many cases, this is pricier than Japanese bakeries, which are the universally the most costly of the bunch and... I will always take Japanese baked goods over anything else Asian. .__.;;

Uh, with that being said, one amazing thing is that Bake Code does offer samples of nearly everything in store, which is appreciated. ;) For my first pick, I took one of their sweet buns: a matcha red bean bun ($2.90) that perhaps seems sweeter than it was in reality. Bread-like dough with a nice amount of green tea powder throughout and whole red beans mixed right in. Certainly different than the red bean paste you'd expect inside; in some ways, it was almost savoury in feel. I thought it would be more exciting, but it certainly looked and tasted better than run-of-the-mill Chinese bakeries.

Of course, I couldn't resist a slice of their Japanese cheesecake ($3.90)! If one has not yet figured it out, I am a sucker for cheesecake in general and especially fond of the Japanese variety; rather, fond of good Japanese cheesecake and angered by lousy imitations. This belonged to the former: a nice glaze on top and a fluffy, light-as-air dough. It was a small one though, and tasted more like a "milk cake", condensed milk to be exact, than a cheesecake. Add to that the fact that for twice the price (with taxes), you can get a whole cheesecake at Uncle Tetsu's and yes, no one can beat Uncle Tetsu. *-* Bake Code, however, comes in second. It's a good one.

Overall, I was hoping Bake Code would wow me more than it did. It certainly takes Western-style Chinese baking to a whole new level, but at the same time, I was envisioning something more... creative/thrilling/innovative? And then I suppose you do have to keep in mind it is still a franchise.

Rating: ***