Embe Bakery

Bakery: Embe Bakery 
Address: 174 Fulford-Ganges Rd, Ganges BC
Website: http://www.embebakery.com/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$

I had entered new and undiscovered bakery territory in the form of Salt Spring Island. It was truly a thrilling experience: three bakeries in one semi-compact place -- yay!

Coming from the Fulford Harbour ferry and driving towards the main town of Ganges, you can't miss Embe Bakery. Perched atop a hill overlooking the town, with its big block letter sign, it really is the first thing you see when you enter and what a warm, fuzzy idea that is! Inside, the long space is filled with well-stocked display cases and shelves that start with the more savoury and then trickle down into the sweet corner: pies, squares, muffins, pastries and Salt Spring Island's best, and probably tastiest, selection of doughnuts! Many were already empty or on their way, which is a promising sign; after all, they did look good.

Of course, I thought in my best interest to uh, not have a doughnut every single day of my trip, so I passed up on the glazed treats and settled instead on one of their many unique varieties of muffins: the raspberry streusel muffin ($1.90; available in regular and jumbo size). As a rule, I'm not the biggest fan of muffins. The dense dough, the overall lack of flavour except on top, the difficulty in photographing them. Embe Bakery seems to take muffins to a whole new level; really, with its moist, spongy dough dotted throughout with tart bursts of raspberry and a generous heap of streusel topping right in the middle, the raspberry streusel was more a coffee cake in muffin form than an actual muffin. Unlike most muffins, it had plenty of flavourful fruit right down to the bottom. So good -- my favourite bakery from Salt Spring!

Rating: ***1/2