Sutherland's Bakery

Bakery: Sutherland's Bakery
Address: 1701 George St, Enderby BC
Website: n/a
Style: Canadian 
Price: $ 

Sometimes things seem to go against you when you're out hunting for bakeries. I had two in nearby Armstrong: one was inexplicably closed and another simply could not be found, even after circling the street a few times. Had it closed down? Was it an outdated listing? Nevertheless, the next one on my list was Sutherland's Bakery, the only one in the small town of Enderby. Driving by, I discovered it was actually inside a gas station. The two together certainly didn't whet my appetite. I pictured pre-packaged factory cream cakes and everything either boxed or sealed in plastic baggies. I mean, that's usually what you find at the "baked good" counter at gas stations; I was so sure it would be a disappointment that I was reluctant to give it a try.

Finally, I did, and to my surprise, I found one corner of your typical gas station convenience store transformed into a sort of a deli with a cold cuts and cheese counter with loaves of bread lining metal racks and two display cases of treats, not to mention styrofoam trays of cookies and other treats. I couldn't believe it. With fantastic prices, the only thing was that the doughnut half of the display case had been cleaned out except for one or two stray ones. Judging by the stacks of doughnut boxes behind the counter ready to be filled, I'm guessing this is their specialty.

 Disappointed nothing was really left, but intent on trying one, I took the maple doughnut ($1.39). According to Wikipedia, the maple bar/long john is a Western Canadian regional doughnut. Um, okay? (The same article claims that Canadian variations of the doughnut include Timbits, so...) Whatever it is and is not, this was one good doughnut. Thick maple glaze on top that crackles ever so slightly and yet holds its shape. Perfectly fried dough, golden brown on the outside, fluffy on the inside with a nice amount of flavourful glaze with each bite. Delicious!

Out of curiosity, I also grabbed an eccles cake ($1.79). It's been a while since I've had one. This was a flatter variety, almost like a big, slightly puffy cookie with flaky dough and a sugary top. Inside, I found the filling too mushy and indistinct. I like when you can tell what is what; this was just a brown mass, and in parts, there wasn't enough compared to the dough and it turned brittle. Good in taste, but not at the same level as the doughnut above.

In short: don't let the whole gas station convenience store stop you -- I for one am happy and satisfied I went for it!

Rating: ***1/2

あさの [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: あさの (Asano)
Address: 110-4 Rokurocho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Website: n/a
Style: Japanese
Price: $$ 

[Well, well, well look at this! Mimi's Cake Tour has crossed the Atlantic, it's gone coast to coast in Canada, it's crossed the Arctic Circle, but now it's crossed the Pacific and added a new continent to its belt: Asia. That is right. Mimi's Cake Tour went on a trip to Japan and is bringing back a whole bunch of bakery reviews, most of them stellar. Yes, so many delicious baked goods...]

My very first morning in Japan, I went to the supermarket literally 30 seconds away from my apartment and directly across the narrow alleyway was this bakery stall... actually, I hope this is the right name for this tiny bakery outlet; at first I thought it was Oyatsudo (六波羅おやつ堂). It points to the right place, but some photos show a fancier exterior. This bakery is under the red roof and that roof says "Asano". Nothing came up at first, but there is a Asano bakery in north Kyoto and they have buns that look eerily similar. Have my detective skills solved the puzzle? Ha ha I'm sure no one will help me out on this one. Still....

Really, this is more a street vendor than an actual bakery, with all goodies lined up on covered trays on a table and barely a roof over your head to examine them, but the selection is lovely and features both traditional sweets alongside Western-style treats like petite cookies, cream roll cakes and individual sweet buns. With only select items labelled and priced, it's a bit of a guessing game trying to figure out what is what.

I took a wild guess and just picked this bun (183yen). It turned out to be a cinnamon streusel-like bun. Biting into it, the top had a yummy crunch to it underneath that dusting of powdered sugar -- it was delicious! The inside was soft and fluffy with a more delicate cinnamon-butter mass wound throughout the dough. Mmmm... Not only had I made the right decision, but this looked and tasted really good. My Japan tour was off to an amazing start!

Rating: ***1/2

Fous Desserts

Bakery: Fous Desserts 
Address: 809 ave Laurier E, Montreal QC 
Website: http://www.fousdesserts.com/accueil.html
Style: French 
Price: $$$-$$$$ 

I've been in on the Montreal baking scene for awhile now, so the name Fous Desserts isn't unfamiliar to me; I've heard it mentioned here and there, always in the most positive light, but I never really got the chance to try it out myself. Until now, that is.

Fous Desserts is part-chocolate shop and part-patisserie with limited selection and a focus on chocolates and elaborate pastries. The store isn't that small, and yet you have a feeling that not that much is really for sale. There is the chocolate counter on the left, right when you enter and then pastries and baked goods on the right, down the wall. Appearance-wise, it doesn't scream upscale and yet Fous Desserts is pricey; actually, it's one of the priciest patisseries I've encountered in Montreal and I've been to fancier ones or ones in generally overpriced Old Town. I was a bit surprised and somewhat at a loss as to what to take. The tortes and pastries were out of the question; they would come in at nearly $10 with tax for an individual one! The baked goods were limited to three wooden bins: one for croissants, one for croissants aux amandes and the third a hodgepodge maybe three or four chocolate baked goods in addition to the classic chausson aux pommes. My favourite, the chausson aux pommes, was over $4. Quite frankly, it was too much.

So I somewhat begrudgingly decided to go with the almond croissant ($4 + tax); after all, this Montreal trip seemed to be dedicated to this traditional baked good and I had to give this one a try. With a golden brown croissant still retaining its plump shape and smothered in slivered almonds, I'll admit it did look promising. One bite and I got that crunch, that flaky texture, decadent almond filling, and rich buttery taste. Darn it, this croissant aux amandes took the gold medal -- it was the best one of the trip; actually, it might be the best one in Montreal! The moral of the story is: yes, in this case, you do indeed get what you pay for.

Rating: ***1/2

Yummy Market

Bakery: Yummy Market
Address: 4400 Dufferin St, North York ON
Website: http://yummymarket.com/
Style: Russian
Price: $$

I was so certain that I did this review already that I just couldn't believe when I didn't find it on my list of posts. Yummy Market, with two locations in north Toronto and one in Montreal (still?), is a smaller supermarket specializing mostly in Russian products. It's like the Russian version of Polish supermarket chain Starsky. That being said, as a rule supermarkets never really have an impressive bakery section or most products are shipped in from industrial bakeries, thus making them not that fun or tantalizing. In this sense, Yummy Market is a bit of a game changer. I really didn't expect to find racks of in-store bread and baked goods and then to turn the corner and have a lovely array of cakes either baked by them or brought in from local bakeries. Of course, the commercial bakery goods still line the shelves, but there is something undeniably appealing about the doughnuts and sweet buns on wooden racks and all that cake.

The reason I was there in the first place was for cake. That usually means a trip to Richmond Hill, but I wasn't in the mood to make the trip so I decided to try this place out. In some ways, the selection is big, but the variety isn't. The vast majority of cakes are available both as individual and large-size cakes. Then many cakes are based on the same premise and most are a chocolate variant, which is always a little annoying, because I'm not that big a fan of chocolate cake. Perhaps half of cakes are not made by them, but brought in from, for example, Amadeus. The most interesting of the bunch are sold by weight as slabs, and aren't really celebration cakes... but taking a look at this I could not resist. I grabbed the Anechka ($25 piece, turns out slightly cheaper than buying a chunk by weight, $20 per kilo), a gorgeous multi-layered honey cake with prunes and walnuts and covered with dark chocolate shavings. Oh boy... this was an amazing cake! *-* The honey cake, the sour cream-based cream, the chocolate and biting into a nice chewy piece of prune... mmm, it may not be aesthetically appealing or look like a classic birthday cake, and that was the idea, but who cares when it tasted so much better?

 The cake alone would have garnered Yummy Market a higher rating, but as it stands, the racks of baked goods proved not to be to the same level. I took one poppy seed bun, but upon examining it later on, it looked a little familiar. Was it coincidence or was it indeed Empire Bakery? A dry, stiffer dough with an equally dry poppy seed filling that wasn't cohesive enough to form a real mass... I wonder. The pictures don't lie and I know my poppy seed (especially since I wasn't really a fan of Empire Bakery's version).

I also wanted to try some ponchiki, the classic Russian doughnut. I never quite realized they would be so dense and not fluffy. This is purely stylistic and ha ha I was a little disappointed nonetheless, despite it not being Yummy Market's fault. For the size, I'm not sure why they cost so much -- almost $2 per doughnut.

With the exception of that stellar honey cake, Yummy Market proves to be... another supermarket bakery, just with bonus points for having so much selection and interesting/unique goods.

Rating: **1/2

Marvelous Munchies Bakeshop

Bakery: Marvelous Munchies Bakeshop
Address: 7383 A 2nd St, Grand Forks BC 
Website: facebook 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$

NOTE: This bakery has moved downtown! Please take note of the address above. ;)

The first time I drove through Grand Forks, this bakery wasn't open yet. Given the fact that I wasn't that early (well, it was a special circumstance since otherwise I could still be getting out of bed myself), this was pretty unusual; sure, I'm often too late for a bakery, but I can't remember the last time I was too early. Nonetheless, Marvelous [sic] Munchies is a bit off the main road and may not look like much from the outside, but inside it features a pretty nice selection of classic baked goods with a definite focus on doughnuts, with most of the display case devoted to them, and cookies taking second place. In addition to this, there are some sort of danishes, classics like butter tarts, scones, and I believe cinnamon buns. There was, suffice to say, lots to choose from.

One of my favourite "doughnut" varieties (or is it a baked good in itself? a deep question indeed) is the apple fritter and I'm always eager to try them, especially when they come fried golden brown and glazed -- as did the one from this bakery ($2.25 each). Chunky and golden with plenty of grooves for the glaze to get in and that slightly crispy outside and soft inside that's a sign of peak freshness, this was one good apple fritter. Really good.

It was certainly worth making a return trip to see if this place was open!

Rating: ***1/2

Shuswap Pie Co.

Bakery: Shuswap Pie Co.
Address: 331 Alexander St NE, Salmon Arm BC
Website: http://www.shuswappiecompany.ca/home
Style: Pie, Canadian
Price: $$

I love putting new towns on the cake tour map and it's a really great feeling knowing how impressive my BC leg of bakeries is coming along. Yay! ^^

There are two bakeries in downtown Salmon Arm and both operate as cafes as well. The first of the two, Shuswap Pie Co., is certainly the busier of the two. As the name indicates, these guys specialize in pies. They're available whole fresh or frozen, or as individual pies, or racks of fresh baked pies are sold a single slices. They come in sweet and savoury and a chalkboard behind the counter reveal an impressive ten or so flavours, from classic/traditional varieties to more unique combinations. Besides that, they do sell a few other baked goods like cinnamon buns. Not much, however. Without a doubt, the focus here is on pies.

Saying that, I was actually debating between the cinnamon bun and a slice of pie, simply because I always get so frustrated with generic pie in cookie-cutter crust and canned filling, even in "pie places". I did opt for the pie in the end, especially since it's not often they're sold by slice. I'm glad I did. :)

I went with the raspberry rhubarb  ($4), which was an unusual pairing; it's always strawberry rhubarb. This worked in my favour. I love raspberry and I love rhubarb, and with big chunks of rhubarb, plenty of raspberries and a bit of tanginess from both fruits, the filling was very good. As was the flaky, golden brown crust. Now that was a tasty slice of pie!

Rating: ***