Askews Foods

Bakery: Askews Foods Uptown 
Address: 2701 11 Ave NE, Salmon Arm BC 
Website: http://www.askewsfoods.com/
Style: Canadian 
Price: $-$$ 

Why yes, maybe I am getting a little desperate (though I do have pages of pending reviews still needing to be written, never fear) but no bakery - or bakery department, for that matter - will be left unturned when I'm through! Askews is an independent supermarket operating in the Shuswap valley, with two locations in Salmon Arm, and another two in Sicamous and Armstrong, respectively. Seeing as they advertise having an in-store bakery outside and that independent stores generally have pretty good bakery departments, usually a far cry from their large-scale, national competitors, I was curious and wanted to see how they'd fare. Not knowing whether all locations have identical bakeries, this review is for the location listed *points* above.

Askews Uptown bakery is located in one corner of the supermarket; actually, I believe they were advertising something like a "bakery cafe" outside, and while there is seating available, there weren't any special treats near the tables, I'm assuming you have the option of taking a baked good from the bakery department (paper plates provided) and eat it there. That being said, the selection and overall appearance suggest that this is a fairly run-of-the-mill bakery: mostly shelves set out with multi-packs prepared by them and standard, ready-to-go cakes in the fridge. They also have a very well priced self-serve area with doughnuts (were those two types of apple fritters?), muffins, and a small selection of other sweet buns: danishes, a butterhorn, and cinnamon buns.

I had the cinnamon bun ($1.29). It didn't look too bad with its big spiral shape, thin layer of clear glaze and swirl of icing. Picking it up, I found it strangely weightless; the dough didn't have much substance and could have used more cinnamon; that way, it would have been less dry and would have had more flavour. I really like the store as a whole, but the bakery didn't turn out to be anything special.

Rating: **