Neo Coffee Bar

Bakery: Neo Coffee Bar
Address: 161 Frederick St, Toronto ON
Website: http://www.neocoffeebar.com/
Style: Japanese, European
Price: $$$

Neo Coffee Bar is a European-inspired cafe with Japanese-style baked goods, made in-store by them and featuring organic ingredients whenever possible off King St E, in the St Lawrence Market neighbourhood. I read about them a couple months ago and, given the fact I'm always eager to try new Japanese bakeries -- the amount of Japanese bakeries that have opened up in Toronto in the past few years is a wonderful thing *-* -- I was really looking forward to this one.

In-store, I found that although they're touted as a bakery/cafe, their selection of baked goods is limited; the selection of "Japanese" baked goods even more so. This is limited to what I assume is their signature product: various flavours and sizes of cream rolls found in many Asian bakeries, along with cookies, cream puffs, and croissants. Did I miss something? I don't think so. The prices are certainly up there and it's not that easy to pick out something affordable for the budget-challenged.

 Many items, though not all, contained matcha and, seeing as I'm always a sucker for matcha baked goods, these were a must-try. The first was the (small) matcha red bean cream roll ($14). This was matcha green tea sponge cake dough rolled with pastry cream and whole azuki beans. The slightly sweet cream was delicious, as was the soft and fluffy green tea cake, though the taste of the cream overpowered the more subtle flavours of the cake. Personally, I didn't think the beans, tossed in here and there amongst the cream really fit the soft texture of everything else; they were a bit out of place.

The matcha and white chocolate ($2.75) cookie was a nice treat with big chunks of white chocolate and a flavourful green tea cookie; nice and buttery, which is always good. However, the butter was a bit inconsistent and some parts were very buttery and affected the taste of the cookie. Loved the combination, good taste, but I'm not sure if it's necessarily worth how much you pay versus what you get, especially in comparison to other Japanese bakeries.

Rating: **1/2 

Marco's Bakery

Bakery: Marco's Bakery
Address: 3500 Fairview St #4, Burlington ON 
Website: http://www.marcosbakery.net/
Style: Balkan, Serbian 
Price: $-$$ 

With the bakeries from the BC trip taken care of, it's getting a little slow on the Cake Tour. I miss daily bakeries, but what can you do when there are no bakeries to be done, at least not in the immediate vicinity and any sort of travel plans are... nonexistent? :( Nevertheless, I was super happy to get my hands on this bakery in Burlington -- yay!

Marco's is a Balkan/Serbian bakery with an ample selection of traditional sweets (mostly baklava or similar filo creations) and a particular emphasis on their burek, which is available in savoury and sweet fillings. On one of their photos, I spotted a poppy seed roll (!!), but didn't see any in store. *pouts* Unlike other Balkan bakeries I've visited throughout the GTA, they also have a few items for those not wanting to delve into more traditional fare, among which are chocolate cupcakes and danishes. But why not be adventurous? ;) Most items are labelled; some are priced, some are not, but in general it was pretty well-priced, with each item costing under $2. Not bad. I've certainly paid more elsewhere for the same product, so it was nice....

 Anyways, three items were purchased: a slice of baklava, a piece of cherry burek, and a... what was this called again? XD Everyone loves a good piece of soaking baklava, and this one was certainly soaking, you could probably say it was a little too soaking, resulting in a dough that became mushy upon contact. Pretty good, just unmanageable. 

The chocolate banana roll was by far the best of the bunch: a moist dark chocolate and banana mass studded with pieces of vanilla cake. This was a rich cake, but too rich on account of the bananas, which gave it the impression of being a fusion between chocolate and banana bread. Interesting, and tasty!

The least favourite was the cherry burek: thick, pita bread-like dough was dense, a bit dry, and quite bland in taste -- it would have matched a savoury burek, and most likely the juices from the meat would have been absorbed into the dough, giving it a bit of flavour, but as it was, the dough didn't match the sweet filling. I also thought the outside would be flakier, like on the pictures. Next time, I would stick to the lovely display case of cakes, cookies, and baklava.

Rating: **1/2

The Sunshine Doughnut Co.

Bakery: The Sunshine Doughnut Co. 
Address: 439 Brock Ave, Burlington ON
Website: facebook 
Style: Doughnuts
Price: $$$ 

There's a relatively new gourmet doughnut place in town, and that town is, perhaps a little unexpectedly, Burlington! It may not be easy to find; signage is minimal and you feel like you're parked at the back of a plaza, with the loading decks, but there it is, painted on the brick wall outside: "Sunshine". If you don't know, you won't know there that it's doughnuts and coffee, and nothing else. There are only a few varieties at one time, displayed on pedestals and taken from trays behind the counter. They come fresh in a lovely box with a giant doughnut splattered across the top -- love it, but I also got that this was what I was paying for, since Sunshine was the priciest gourmet doughnut place I can remember going to, with doughnuts costing round $4 and that apple fritter setting you back $5. Ouch; I wasn't expecting that. x__x

If they weren't good, that would make the rating easier, but given how it turned out, well... everyone knows I have a soft spot for doughnuts. Freshly baked, wonderfully glazed doughnuts....

As with many doughnuts of this style, the variation between each flavour is contained in the icing, while the dough itself remains constant throughout; the three types here were OG (original glazed? or are they getting witty on us?), raspberry chocolate, and maple crumble. This dough was dense yet soft and spongy. Amazing texture -- a really "meaty" doughnut -- and nice taste, not to mention very flavourful glazes on top. The raspberry tasted of fresh fruit topped with dark chocolate drizzle, the plain glaze had a subtle hint of something extra, and the maple was thick with the taste and aroma of maple syrup. Mmm, it's been awhile since I had a great doughnut! *-*

Then there was the apple fritter. Now, apple fritters are generally the best type of doughnut and there was no exception here. The dough of the apple fritter was different than that of the doughnuts: it was airier and moister. I'd almost liken it to French toast, just with apples, spice, and more delicious glaze. Yummy!

Personally, I don't think it's worth the price seeing as you can get other really yummy doughnuts for a fraction of the cost... they're only doughnuts, after all. They just happen to be great-tasting doughnuts -- see the dilemma? ;)

Rating: ***1/2

Pappa Roti

Bakery: Pappa Roti
Address: 1505 Robson St, Vancouver BC
Website: https://www.papparoti.ca/
Style: Malaysian
Price: $$$ 

Well, it's official. The BC will be over with this post. It was a long and exciting one. Over 20 bakeries; lots of stops and plenty of very yummy baked goods. *sighs* Why do good things never last? Hope to see you again soon, BC! :)

Nevertheless, having done a little research beforehand, I could not wait to try this place upon learning it was originally Malaysian. Yes! I love stumbling upon obscure ethnic bakeries and this was the first time sampling Malaysian baked goods. *-* The only thing that burst my bubble was, while writing this review, I learned that PappaRoti opened two more locations in Canada, literally two weeks ago: one in Montreal, and another in the GTA (a rather perplexing choice of location in the form of Bramalea Mall, in Brampton), so it wasn't as special and exclusive as I thought. :(

Pappa Roti is more a cafe than a bakery; however, their specialty is not their drinks, but their "roti": sweet buns that come served hot from the oven on a little wooden board and are available with various toppings (for additional cost). Another specialty is their Karak milk tea ($5 for a large), a spiced, chai-like tea with cardamom and milk... it was a little too sweet, but good. By the way. ^^

Naturally, I had the classic roti: a soft, buttery bun with a crunchy topping that has a hint of coffee in it, reminiscent of "Hokkaido" buns or Mexican "conchas". Cutting into it, it had the effect of a souffle: that is, the inside kind of settled and collapsed, revealing that there really isn't that much to it. Hot and fresh, the texture was nonetheless fantastic and the very buttery dough was tasty, but at a pretty staggering $3.75 + tax for what is essentially a plain Western-inspired, Asian bun.

Rating: ***

Main Street Donuts & Bakery

Bakery: Main Street Donuts & Bakery
Address: 18 Thompson Rd N, Milton ON
Website: n/a
Style: North American
Price: $$

Well, this is a bit of a confusing one. Seeing as I had no bakeries from Milton, I thought I would finally add one to the list. Not that easy, as there aren't that many there. One that does come up is "Main Street Donuts & Bakery", also known as "Main Street Italian Bakery". On location, there's only "Main Street Italian Eatery". No mention of bakery on the sign or store front, but this was the place. New management? Switching focus over to just Italian food? Whatever it was, I didn't get a backup bakery, so Main Street it was. Inside, it is indeed the Italian eatery, with pizza, hot sandwiches, and all those classic Italian dishes. And yet, confusingly enough, they still had a case of several varieties of doughnuts and a few North American bakery staples, but nothing else. In this sense, one of their many titles as "Italian Bakery" is perhaps the most deceiving: there isn't anything Italian about the "baked goods".

The doughnuts looked a little commercial, especially the sprinkle doughnuts, so I'm not even sure they bake anything... after all, despite the above name seen online, it's not a bakery. But people were still going for them. Anyways, just to say this place was done, an apple fritter was taken. Flat piece of fried dough with good amount of apples, this was nicely fried, though maybe a little too oily in places and unevenly glazed. Parts with the glaze were pretty tasty; nice texture, lightly spiced apples. A bit inconsistent, but fresh and pretty good considering. Still, I went away feeling perplexed and that feeling hasn't gone away yet...  O.o

Rating: **1/2

Baguette & Co.

Bakery: Baguette & Co. 
Address: 1102 Davie St, Vancouver BC
Website: http://www.baguetteandco.ca/
Style: French 
Price: $$-$$$ 

It seems like Vancouver is a (authentic) French bakery hotspot and here is the next (and last ;__;) on my list, at least for this trip. Baguette & Co. has two locations in Vancouver, one in the West End and the other in Kitsilano, on W 4th. I went to the Davie location at around 6 pm to buy something for my flight and found it pretty barren in terms of baked goods (despite being open for another 3 hours); however, out of all French patisseries visited, they had the most selection of "universal" baked goods, like muffins and cookies, but of course they also had plenty of classic French cakes, which was pretty well stocked: millefeuille, Paris brest, several flavours of macarons, lemon tarts were among the most memorable. Most items were labelled and priced.

Not quite sure what to get, I decided on the pistachio danish. The price was a little (too) high at $4.25 (especially comparing it to other bakeries), but I ended up paying $3.60 with tax. Why, I have no idea, but I'm not complaining~! ;) Maybe it was some sort of "Happy Hour" promotion like the one I spotted on their Facebook page?

This was a generous spiral of French dough with pieces of pistachio crumbled on top and then coated with a very light glaze. Unlike the other pistachio danish I had had lately, the nuts were pretty much all you saw on top. There wasn't all that much on the inside. The dough was also not as flaky or buttery as I would have liked it; it was airier and softer, reminding me more of "generic" danish dough than a French baked good. Not the greatest, but a pretty good bakery (and I think the only French one) in the West End.

Rating: **1/2

Old Post Bakery

Bakery: Old Post Bakery 
Address: 4474 Ontario St, Beamsville ON 
Website: n/a
Style: Canadian, Dutch
Price: $-$$ 

Also in Beamsville, there was Old Post bakery, which seems to be, to an overwhelming point, the local brownie destination. That's right. If there's one thing that this bakery specializes in, it's brownies. And they have several varieties of them, all in petite square-form. Similar to the selection of brownies, they also have quite a few bite-size squares along with a few tarts and baked goods -- not to mention the advertised Dutch almond cookies, though besides this they are not as definitively "Dutch" in style as other bakeries in the area.

At around $1.25 for their small squares, they're certainly a nice, affordable way to have a tasty treat, and if you want more you can always get another one. ;) The squares sampled were the carrot cake and Nanaimo bar. Canadian classics. The most notable thing about the Nanaimo bar was the great brownie bottom (obviously going back to being the brownie specialists), though the other components were equally tasty. Very good.

 As for the carrot cake, it was good, but not amazing. It had a homemade taste, which was a good thing, but I would have liked if it had more carrots in the dough, and carrot cakes always have a lot of icing, so a little more of that icing would have been nice here.

Then there was the maple tart. This was a bit of a surprise, since I was expecting the more runny centre of a Quebec maple tart, but this was more of a maple-infused almond tart with its hard icing and dough-like nut filling. I would say the most maple flavour was in the icing on top, though the filling was also fragrant and flavourful; I even think that the jam layer on the bottom was totally necessary, especially when the taste of the maple syrup was enough. Nothing was needed to add or detract from it. Overall, interesting and yummy.

Rating: ***

Sunflower Bakery

Bakery: Sunflower Bakery
Address: 38086 Cleveland Ave, Squamish BC
Website: http://www.sunflowerbakerycafe.com/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$ 

The bakery in downtown Squamish (Squamish does have more than one bakery, but cold weather and just weird town planning made getting a second one done without a car impossible :/), Sunflower bakery and cafe with a special focus on healthy and wholesome baking, especially in terms of their breads. However, they have a nice selection of simple, classic baked goods like cinnamon buns, squares, brownies, pies and cakes and healthier alternatives as well (including more homemade granola). It was one of those bakeries where I was at a loss as to what to get: I'm always a lover of cinnamon buns and date squares... or should I take something else?

In the end, still somewhat disappointed with the previous Nanaimo bar I had had in Victoria, I decided to give Sunflower's take on the classic square a try. Being December, this unique variety was the Egg Nog Nanaimo bar ($3.33 with tax)... or at least, that was what the label said. When ordering it, the worker had no idea what I was talking about and I had to point and say the white one. A bit confusing... hey, I didn't name the thing. O.o

Anyways, this was a "Nanaimo" bar consisting of a thick white chocolate top, a thick layer of cream with just a hint of egg nog, and then a dense brownie bottom with chunks of nuts and coconuts. By far, the brownie bottom was the highlight of this square: it tasted like a "healthier" brownie. Really chunky and nutty; very good. The first bite of the bar as a whole, I thought that it was pretty good. Lots of cream and a tasty top, but after five bites, I began to realize why my mom used to say Nanaimo bars were so unhealthy. For one person, the size of the bar was a bit overwhelming. This was like licking the bowl of icing... I felt guilty, a bit sick. Maybe I would stick to the healthier options next time... .____.

Rating: **1/2

Beamsville Bakery & Patisserie

Bakery: Beamsville Bakery & Patisserie
Address: 4966 King St E, Beamsville ON
Website: http://www.beamsvillebakerypatisserie.ca/
Style: Canadian, Dutch
Price: $$ 

Considering how many bakeries have been done in the Golden Horseshoe, it's pretty unbelievable that the town of Beamsville has never been mapped  on the Cake Tour -- well, that's all about to change with the addition of two new posts, this being the first. Yay! ^^

Beamsville Bakery is a bakery specializing in Dutch baked goods, with a few cakes and more Canadian classics. The selection was pretty big and featured traditional cookies, squares and tarts, along with small pastries laden with whipped cream, almond, and marzipan. But on a busy Saturday afternoon, everyone in store was going for the doughnuts, and so this time I decided to follow suit.

 So, it was another half dozen for the sampling: apple fritters, Dutchies, sugar twist and a blueberry jelly doughnut. The highlight was definitely the Dutchie -- I mean, a Dutchie at a Dutch bakery better be good and everyone seemed to know it: it was by far the top seller while there. Everyone was getting them! This one has to be one of the best Dutchies you can get. Rolled round like a cinnamon roll, it was stuffed with raisins and perfectly glazed. Fluffy dough and incredibly tasty.

Coming in at a close second was the apple fritter. More delicious fried dough, but more in the shape of a ball, slightly different than the flatter varieties. That allowed for a fluffy, yet still denser dough with more of than yummy glaze on top and filled with chunks of apple. So good! Same goes for the sugar twist: simple and tasty with just a coating of granulated sugar.

The least exciting, but still good, was the blueberry jelly doughnut, a baked doughnut with powdered sugar and just too much blueberry jam inside; I could almost say it was more jelly than doughnut.

A great find of a bakery -- these doughnuts are worth getting off the highway for and away from those rest stops. ;)

Rating: ***1/2

Peaked Pies

Bakery: Peaked Pies
Address: 4369 Main St #105, Whistler BC 
Website: http://www.peakedpies.com/
Style: Australian 
Price: $$-$$$ 

My next trip to an Australian bakery just so happened to be in Whistler, though these guys do have a newly opened second location in Vancouver's West End. Nevertheless, Peaked Pies is tucked into a row of smaller shops off the main pedestrian streets (ironically, on Main St) and is a fairly compact bakery featuring a small display case right upon entering and little more than that. As with any other Australian/New Zealand bakery, the pies in question are meat pies, available in about a dozen varieties, and you have the option of having them "peaked": topped with mashed potatoes and gravy -- the sweet snow capped version involves whipped cream. The selection of sweets is, however, limited -- like always. My good friends, the Lamingtons, were there along with some cookies, but I wasn't really in a Lamington mood. Unlike other places, this place actually had two, or maybe three, sweet pies, so I thought I would finally attempt an actual (non-meat) pie.

So at last, I had myself a pie, a semi-real pie for the sampling: mine was a mixed berry ($6.75). A flaky, browned shell -- really quite tasty for a pie shell -- sprinkled with a bit of sugar. Simple, but promising. Cutting it open and heating it up in the microwave, I was greeted with more apple than berries. The sauce was a dark pink, but it was difficult to distinguish what the mixed berries entailed... it was even more difficult taste-wise, since the apples had the strongest flavour. Given there was a $1 or so price difference between the berry and apple pie, I don't think it was worth it. Not to mention that I thought $7 for an individual pie (with no meat in it) a little steep... maybe I should have gone with the good old Lamington, after all.

Rating: **1/2

Old Mill Pastry & Deli

Bakery: Old Mill Pastry & Deli 
Address: 780 Burnhamthorpe Rd W #12, Mississauga ON
Website: facebook
Style: Balkan 
Price: $$

New bakery opening in Mississauga and I was so there! :) Actually, a few weeks ago someone brought it to my attention that the board along Burnhamthorpe next to Canada Computers had a new "bakery and deli" sign on it. Deli sounded Eastern European; a bit surprised since new Eastern European bakeries don't just open every day, I went to check it out. The sign, in fact, says "pastry and deli" and instantly, I knew baklava would be involved. ;) However, it was only upon including a link to their Facebook page above that I noticed the said link had "Etobicoke" attached to it... could it be? That "pastries and deli" with no name on the East Mall?!? NO, but... but I've already done this place!!!!! ;____; Have they moved or is this a second location? Either way, my bubble won't be burst just like that -- I am writing this review for the new Mississauga location and that's that!

Nonetheless, Old Mill should really be written "deli and pastry", or even, "deli, cafe and pastry", since their focus -- or at least what most people are there for -- is the small, relatively inexpensive menu of hot food featuring cevap platters, goulash, and other predominantly Balkan specialties. The "pastry" is limited to a small case in the front with familiar fixtures such as a few types of baklava, honey-soaked tulumbe and other nutty cookies, and one or two squares of unknown filling. In true Eastern European deli fashion, nothing is labelled or priced; you just have to know.... ;D

Without a doubt, the baklava did need to be tried (around $2 -- the total for three lepinja (fat pita breads), two slices of baklava and one piece of cake was $10). A large, triangle-shaped piece with nuts sprinkled on top, it was moist, saturated even, and had fantastic honey coverage and taste, just like best Greek-style baklava. Lots of nuts and certainly worth the money.

The other was some sort of caramel cake (again a little over $2). The lady started explaining it and just concluded with "caramel", so I'm not quite sure what it was, but the smell of the runny caramel alone was mouth-watering. Mmmm... the whole room was filled with it. This was a sponge cake positively dripping in a sort of vanilla milk mixture that pooled around the whole plate. Not sure what it was, but it was good. Add that caramel into the equation... I could eat half a tin in one sitting. ;)

Maybe it is the same place, but whether it is or not... it's getting the same rating! :P

Rating: ***1/2

Purebread

Bakery: Purebread
Address: 4174 Village Stroll, Whistler BC
Website: https://www.purebread.ca/
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$-$$$ 

Yes, I brought the Cake Tour to Whistler as well! At least, for a few hours, but in those few freezing hours, I managed to do two bakeries. :) Purebread, the first, is located on the Olympic Plaza and offers you a view of the snow machine blowing fake snow into kids' faces. Inside, it's a heaping, L-shaped spread of all kinds of more homey baked goods; this location (there are two more: one in Whistler Creek and another in Vancouver) gets a lot of traffic and it shows. Cakes, cookies, squares -- all in countless varieties. It's beautiful and at the same time overwhelming: do you take the brandy blondie, or the cruffin? Which slice of loaf cake will it be? And given its location, I admit I was expecting more exorbitant prices, but it's not that bad. Some items are up there, yes, and perhaps not quite bang-for-your-buck, but you can get a tasty treat for around $3-4.  No wincing necessary. ;)

Nevertheless, after a great amount of deliberation, I decided on the "Sticky Ginger Loaf" ($4), which was recommended to me by one of the workers. I love spice cake and it was one of the items I was hotly contesting anyways, so I went with it. This was a not very photogenic slab of simple loaf cake with a thick layer of icing on top. The cake itself was nicely spiced, though perhaps it wasn't as "sticky" and gingery as I imagined it. The occasional chunk of candied ginger was a nice, flavourful touch, but I wanted more ginger and fragrant spice. The icing, similar to that on a carrot cake, was slightly sour, presumably from the cheese, with pieces of ginger on top as a garnish. This was pretty tasty, but there was way too much of it. Eating it with the cake, it was overwhelming, especially since it's positioned on the plate in such a way that you can't get a whole big piece of dough. Too sweet, and taking away from the subtle flavours of the spice cake, I have to say I wasn't the biggest fan. I would probably take something else next time.

Still, it's great to have a simple bakery amidst the food chains and ski shops of touristy Whistler. ^^

Rating: ***

Malasada World

Bakery: Malasada World
Address: 33 Ainslie St N, Cambridge ON
Website: facebook 
Style: Portuguese, Doughnuts
Price: $$

When I heard that there was a (newer) doughnut shop devoted exclusively to malasadas, Portuguese doughnuts, I could not believe it. It filled me with such excitement that I simply couldn't wait to give this place a try. I love Portuguese doughnuts, these big flat pieces of fried dough, fluffy on the inside and coated with just cinnamon sugar, but it's pretty rare to find a Portuguese bakery that sell them (the highest chances of scoring one are in Portuguese-heavy business areas in Toronto) so imagine a whole store of them! *-* One regular baked good sampler envisioned this as being one of the best bakeries/doughnut finds of the year!

Essentially, I was going in with incredibly high expectations, so the risk of those expectations not being met was equally up there. Let's see what happened!

 A half-dozen doughnuts were bought (clockwise from top left): passion fruit, stuffed passion fruit, "nada"-style, the traditional plain one, and dulce de leche stuffed. Ranging in prices from $1.50 for the traditional to $2.25 for the jelly doughnuts to $2.75 for the fancy flat ones, I was most interested in the traditional; the plain ones are always a good indication and are great for comparative purposes. The first thing that I noted was that the malasadas were smaller than found elsewhere and were almost perfect circles, a far cry from the large, oblong doughnuts I've tried. The first bite was a bit deflating, literally: the fried shell contained a large air pocket and only a thin layer of dough, which was incredibly chewy, almost rice cake-like in texture. This same texture was found in all doughnuts, and was especially noticeable in the stuffed balls, which were the least preferred of the bunch. The dough was simply too dense for this kind of doughnut.

The passion fruit malasada was nice with a touch of sourness from the passion fruit, though the "nada malasada", a unique mix between two classics of Portuguese baking: custard tarts and doughnuts, was probably the one must-try with its baked top that actually complemented the chewiness of the dough.

Overall, I was left with a feeling of disappointment, simply because it didn't blow my mind as I had anticipated. They were just... good, fresh doughnuts. Nicely fried, but with too little substance.

Rating: **1/2

French Made Baking [RIP]

Bakery: French Made Baking
Address: 81 Kingsway, Vancouver BC
Website: http://frenchmadebaking.com/
Style: French 
Price: $$-$$$

[This is/was one of -- if not THE -- best bakeries in Vancouver and I'm heartbroken they've closed. Your double-baked almond croissants will be missed... thank you for your delicious work!]

Of the French bakeries/patisseries I found in Vancouver (there were more that I just didn't have the chance to review... next time, perhaps), I admit that at first I wasn't so enthusiastic about French Made. They always say that you should never judge a book by its cover, and in French Made's case, I judged it by its name and macaron-centred website, which didn't appeal to me like other places did. After all, I do like macarons, but I feel they're pretty over-hyped and I wanted something more filling; however, I had to transfer buses at Broadway and Kingsway and thought it the perfect opportunity on my way out to Squamish and Whistler (don't worry, there are still some Vancouver bakeries coming up :)), so why not? Little did I know that French Made would not only beat out all other French patisseries, but turn out to be one of Vancouver's best!

French Made is a fairly small French ("from France") bakery and cafe in Mount Pleasant with perhaps not the largest selection I've encountered. Like a great many previous tours, quite a bit of  baked goods were already sold out (though there were still many flavours of macarons and fancier tortes and pastries available) -- there was a sign and an empty spot on the shelf, though the spaces seem to be able to fit four or five of each item regardless, so it doesn't seem to be heaping at any time. While doing bakery research, I came across something being said about their double-baked almond croissants and, loving the way it sounded, I was happy to find one last one was there, waiting for me! ^^

 At $4.00 (taxes included), it was a bit pricier than the competition, but one bite transported me to French baked good heaven! This was the first time I had tried a double-baked almond croissant, which consisted of a croissant cut in half, stuffed with almond cream and topped with even more cream and slivered almonds, then baked again, and I don't think I ever imagined it to blow my mind the way it did. Whoa. This was one buttery, melt-in-your-mouth bite after another. I didn't want this delicious treat to stop.... The best French dough I had encountered in such a long time. Flaky, almost chewy on the outside; soft on the inside with all that swoon-worthy cream. Absolute perfection. *-*

Rating: ****

Thomas Haas

Bakery: Thomas Haas
Address: 2539 West Broadway, Vancouver BC
Website: http://thomashaas.com
Style: French, European 
Price: $$-$$$ 

Despite encountering quite a few busy bakeries on my BC tour, Thomas Haas certainly beat the record for the longest line and wait time -- and I was fortunate that I didn't show up when the line went out the door! Of course, that also made plans of eating there out of the question. It was December and the patio seating was overflowing, but a busy bakery renews my faith in humanity and reassures me that I'm not the only one out there who values yummy baking. :P

Thomas Haas is without a doubt the fancy patisserie on the block, and stepping inside, you get that Old World feel that is not that prevalent on these shores. Judging by their website, their focus is first and foremost on chocolate -- and in store, they have rows upon rows of it. Then come lovely cakes that can only be called works of art, and I can only imagine how they taste! Then come the individual items, which, unfortunately, were pretty much cleaned out upon finally reaching the counter. There were three types of baked goods to choose from (croissant, the fresh fruit danish, and the orange brioche -- the last quark danish was snatched up before my eyes) and a limited number of pretty individual cake slices. Even with the empty shelves and limited selection, it was a sight to behold. *-* However, while the chocolates and baked goods were labelled and priced, I didn't like that the cake slices had no prices (I later spotted a price list on top of the counter next to the cash) and had no names or explanations, which slowed things down and made it difficult to figure out what was what, especially since you were served before actually reaching the cakes, so even pointing was impossible.

In the end, I thought a baked good safer for takeout anyways and went with the fresh fruit danish ($3.50), mostly because I preferred the flaky French dough over the soft, yeasty dough of the brioche. ^^; The cylindrical shape was a little difficult to break into and made it that the majority of what you were eating was dough, and I'm not quite sure if two blueberries and a raspberries warrants the 'fresh fruit' label, but nonetheless, the dough had great texture and taste. A more than promising start before tackling those amazing cakes... o_o

Rating: ***