Stuart's Bakery

Bakery: Stuart's Bakery
Address: 1689 Johnston St, Vancouver BC
Website: facebook 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$$-$$$$

I will admit that I usually avoid market bakeries, or bakeries that are in high-traffic areas where customers are not necessarily regulars, but just want something, often anything at all. In this case, Stuart's falls into a bit of both: located in busy Granville Market, long-standing Stuart's doles out tons of sweets, all lined up in masses: from tarts to cakes to neon-coloured macarons to "healthy" granola that resembles brittle. Pricey for what you get and, with their apparent love of food colouring, it doesn't look like stellar quality or taste.

 Two of the more home style items were purchased: the cinnamon "record" ($4.25) and a slice of carrot cake. And at $9.00 for the two, two cakes or pastries from other local stops (like some Japanese cheesecake from Chicco) would have been better value. One of the more interesting items, like giant Eccles cakes, were snatched up before making it to the counter.

The carrot cake was good, but far from the best. It was a little too on the cupcake side with swirls of thick icing and a sweet cake. The 'record' was a disappointment: way too hard and crunchy, this cut the gums and lips and was, in fact, very difficult and unpleasant to eat. It was an experience I wouldn't want to repeat.

Overall, this was one of my least favourite stops on my Vancouver cake tour; there were a few other disappointments, so can't say it was the worst, but it was one of many that I thought could have been much better.

Rating: **