Specialty Bakery

Bakery: Specialty Bakery 
Address: 16-150 Hollywood Rd, Kelowna BC
Website: https://specialtybakery.ca/
Style: Canadian, German
Price: $$ 

When I was doing preliminary bakery research for Kelowna way back in June, Specialty Bakery was one of the foremost bakeries I wanted to visit. Yes, they lured me in with their signature item: the Kelownut, a croissant-doughnut (the cronut, alas, makes a bit of a return) stuffed with pastry cream. O.O Oh yeah, count me in! So I waited patiently to have a taste of it myself.

One day, I popped into this location on Hollywood Rd and found void of well, anything sweet. There were definitely no Kelownuts to be found. It being a weekend, I thought I would have higher chances on a weekday and at their main location on Finns Rd. So I braved the traffic (requiring lots of patience, believe me) and went there approximately three hours, possibly more, before closing... and found the shelves empty except for a couple loaves of bread -- unbelievable! Fortunately, their other location isn't *that* far away and so I decided to take the risk and return... luck was on my side and there they were: Kelownuts, a few other doughnuts, and cinnamon buns. Not a lot of selection, but more than I'd ever seen before. Do they even have any more?

 Nevertheless, at last it was mine! The Kelownut ($2.19). A towering doughnut ring of layered dough stuff with cream. It was a grander achievement in theory than in reality. The dough, though layered, was far from flaky and was more chewy than anything else: it didn't really have the crunch of a fresh doughnut. This chewy texture and the incredible height of the doughnut made it difficult to bite into and grab a piece. With the cream, which resembled a thick custard, it tasted very Portuguese, so much so that I didn't really find it that distinctive. I came in with way too high expectations -- after all, I thought this would knock my socks off -- and came away feeling a little disappointed.

Even more so considering that the cinnamon bun ($2.19??) was, in my opinion, better than the Kelownut. Fluffy egg dough rolled with plenty of cinnamon mass (a bit too much in the middle) and a nice coating of glaze on top. As always, it could have done without the raisins, but this was still a tasty cinnamon bun. An underwhelming experience, perhaps, but the results were still pretty good.

Rating: ***