The Prague Cafe

Bakery: The Prague Cafe
Address: 102-250 Marina Way, Penticton BC
Website: http://www.thepraguecafe.com
Style: Czech, European
Price: $$

I always love stumbling upon these unique destinations for sweets and baked goods, and while it's not a dedicated bakery, I certainly didn't expect to find a Czech cafe along the Penticton waterfront. I actually wasn't even initially here to check out the sweet selection; with my top picks all weirdly closed, I was looking for a place to have lunch and was hoping The Prague Cafe would have fried cheese. They didn't. But they did have a small selection of traditional desserts, along with tacky souvenirs from Prague Old Town. Three items, to be exact: slabs of fruit cake (available in peach, plum and blueberry; $3.25 per slice), marble baba, and apple strudel. The fruit cakes, sitting beside the counter on giant cookie sheets, looked the most enticing and a slice of plum cake had my name on it from the very beginning, but no one else must have gotten that memo. It looked so simple, very homemade; it must have been good...

Standing at the counter, I waited to be served. And waited. Maybe five minutes in, I was finally acknowledged with a hurried explanation that I would be served next, once everything else was taken care of. Another five minutes later, what I assumed to be the owner (or perhaps a worker) rushed behind the counter from his waiting car, grabbed the whole darn slab of plum cake with a quick glance, and just as quickly drove away. Uh, what!? O_O But that was mine!!!! This was... a first for the Cake Tour. I really did just want to walk out in protest, but I didn't want those ten minutes of waiting to be for nothing; besides that, I really did want this Cake Tour, as it just oozed cool factor.

I went with peach. I really like peach too, after all. I almost hate to say it, but this was very good. Nothing fancy and reminiscent of my mom's baking (this is probably one of the best compliments a Cake Tour can get), this had delicious cake dough that was spongy and moist and was topped with just the right amount of sliced peaches, neither too mushy nor too dried out. Add to that some crumble strewn here and there. Mmm... why did it have to taste so good when all I really wanted was the plum!?

Rating: ***