Daves' Bakery

Bakery: Daves' Bakery 
Address: 103-2266 S Island Hwy, Campbell River BC 
Website: http://davesbakery.ca/
Style: Canadian, European 
Price: $$

Yes, I'll confess: I have this thing for uncommon ethnic bakeries. There's always a bit of an extra thrill when you stumble upon something that's not your run-of-the-mill bakery, so when I read something about Czech doughnuts at Daves' Bakery I was like: Wait, what? No, not German doughnuts, not Polish doughnuts -- Czech doughnuts. That's weirdly exciting, isn't it? Maybe it isn't for you, but it is for me. So of course I had to go to Daves'; actually, it was the first bakery on my list for Campbell River!

Stepping into Daves' feels a bit more like entering a cafe or lunch spot with people waiting for their hot food and drinks. In some ways, I was a little disappointed that it was fairly standard fare including muffins, scones, squares. The most unique item was the apple strudel. Even the Czech doughnuts (which I assumed would be jelly doughnuts or something along those lines) were, well not there. The only options were two types of doughnut rings and a large apple fritter that looked very good, but I thought a bit expensive given that it was one of their priciest items. Waa-ah, and why do I see pictures of poppy seed strudels and none were there when I came!?!

Regardless of labels, Daves' sweets do look good and in that sense, my tears and laments carry very little weight. The lemon twist doughnut ($2.00), in particular, was both fluffy and chewy with a great glaze that had that perfect crackle to it; add to that a delicious hint of lemon and this was really good. A shame that I didn't grab more stuff -- next time, have those Czech doughnuts and poppy seed strudels ready for me. :P

Rating: ***

Odessa Deli and Desserts

Bakery: Odessa Deli & Desserts
Address: 372 Marlee Ave, Toronto ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: Russian, Eastern European
Price: $$ 

It's not very common to find an Eastern European deli advertising desserts right from the get-go. Otherwise, I might not have found this small Russian shop that is essentially more deli than dessert, with shelves of imported products along with the traditional cold cut and ready-made food counter. Essentially, that aforementioned "dessert" portion isn't that large; actually, you can come across an Eastern European deli and they'll have just as much, sometimes even more selection without saying anything. Still, "desserts" is definitely the right term, since Odessa isn't quite a bakery. Instead, they specialize in slices and slabs of classic Russian layer tortes and a few smaller chocolatey sweets. Some sold individually and others sold by weight. There are maybe two items not located in the display case, most notably poppy seed and walnut rolls.

I decided to try two cake slices, mostly picking these over other ones because they were already cut into smaller pieces: one smetannik ($3) and one slice of Esterhazy torte ($3.35; sold by weight). Both had layers of moist sponge cake and alternating cream layers. The smetannik isn't my favourite style, but this one was still good, with a nice proportion of sour cream in between the chocolate and vanilla cake. Even better, however, was the Esterhazy. If memory serves me correctly, this is my first time trying this other famous Hungarian cake: layers of nutty dough and cream. Fresh and flavourful.

Coming up to the cash, I noticed those poppy seed rolls ($6.00) and, naturally, I couldn't resist grabbing one. Already in store, it looked stale, but I thought I'd give it the benefit of the doubt. It was stale, unfortunately; the dough was dry and both dough and filling fell apart once it was cut. Poppy seed filling was more raisins, nuts and candied fruit than poppy seed which I wasn't a fan of. Would have been much better had it been freshly baked, but it wasn't up to the same level as the cake and I probably wouldn't take it again.

Rating: ***

Narutoya [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Narutoya
Address: 1 Chome-8-10 Shitennōji, Tennōji-ku, Osaka
Website: https://www.narutoya.net/
Style: Japanese 
Price: $

I love when I simply just stumble upon a bakery. This was the case with Narutoya, which I happened to walk past when I'd already had my daily allotment of bakeries. Oh well. Sometimes you have to make a sacrifice or two; in this case, that sacrifice entailed a few yen. :)

Like a few already done, Narutoya is an Osaka-area bakery chain with about half a dozen locations spread throughout the wards of the city. Essentially, it's your standard bakery in look and feel, with a wall of shelves of both sweet and savoury goods, along with loaves of bread. Of the sweet, there is little that differentiates itself from other bakeries and veritable stalwarts like melon and an pan looked better elsewhere. In a sense, it didn't fill me with the same excitement to try something as previous bakeries, even those I had encountered that very day.

Still, it's unfair to write off Narutoya completely, especially since it took one bite for me to change my outlook a bit. Yes, I grabbed a simple (and cheap) sugar doughnut (97 yen), but sometimes, the simple baked goods are a good indicator of the bakery itself. This little ring had the right texture for a yeast doughnut: nice and moist with just the slightest crust, slightly chewy. The super-fine, almost powdered sugar wasn't, in my opinion, the best choice, but it complemented the doughnut fairly well. Good stuff.

Rating: ***

Garden City Bakery

Bakery: Garden City Bakery
Address: 360-9100 Blundell Rd, Richmond BC
Website: facebook
Style: Canadian, Jewish, European
Price: $

I was in the area and was wondering if I could add another Richmond bakery to my list. Garden City came up and I simply made a note of the intersection, but little did I know that this seems to be the destination for well-priced poppy seed baked goods! I'm sure I would have been far more excited about this bakery had I simply read a couple reviews before coming here, but there I was, totally unprepared for the treat that greeted me!

No offence, but stepping inside this thoroughly unassuming, no-frills plaza bakery, you certainly wouldn't expect to find trays of chocolate and poppy seed baked goods along with a few other Jewish bakery staples in addition to more standard items like brownies, turnovers and carrot cake. Without a doubt, the former looks more appealing, and it certainly is a unique find.  Both the items with and without labels are very reasonably priced.

Of course, I had to try Garden City's poppy seed danish ($2, tax included). There's not much to this simple spiral but the amount of delicious poppy seed mass is definitely worth noting. Mmm... soft, semi-flaky dough, tons of poppy seed -- this really must be one of the best poppy seed baked goods in Metro Vancouver, if not the best!

Another unexpected hit was the chocolate croissant ($2 with tax). I was worried that there wouldn't be much chocolate in it, since the outside looked a little dry, but again, appearances were deceiving and this was a sweet, gooey, and decadent treat. Wow. Garden City quickly rose to my top bakery picks.

Rating: ***1/2

Perks Donuts

Bakery: Perks Donuts 
Address: 1100 Homewood Rd, Campbell River BC
Website: facebook 
Style: Doughnuts, Canadian 
Price: $-$$ 

If you follow this blog a bit more closely, you'll realize that I'm a big sucker for doughnuts and so, when coming across Perks Donuts on online searches for a bakery, it really is no surprise that I had to include this among the small list of bakeries I did in Campbell River. Taking all this into account, I was a little disconcerted to find upon driving into the plaza that Perks Donuts is really called Perks Restaurant and that it was advertising more their hamburgers, breakfasts and sandwiches than any kind of doughnuts. Thus, it can be said Perks is one of these doughnut dives; found throughout the country, they do sell doughnuts, but these doughnuts have taken a back seat to their hot food.

As such, I was pretty reluctant going in... I didn't want a burger. I didn't want to wait to be seated. I just wanted a doughnut! Luckily for me, Perks does have a legitimate bakery counter that's not only filled with a pretty decent variety of doughnuts, but also a few other baked goods such as scones, muffins and cinnamon buns, I believe. Most doughnuts were of the cake variety with glaze on top.

Of course I went for the doughnut. The raspberry jelly, to be exact. ($1.35) Looking a bit like it had been flattened, though it was simply how it had turned out, this was nonetheless a very good classic doughnut. Fluffy yeast dough that tasted undeniably fresh, not too much jelly in the middle and an equally fresh glaze on top that had that perfect crackle when biting into it. Don't let the hamburgers and sandwiches fool you -- this place has some good doughnuts!

Rating: ***

It's Wickedly Sweet

Bakery: Wickedly Sweet
Address: 187 Main St, Wellington ON
Website: facebook
Style: Canadian
Price: $

Why, yes, there's another bakery in Wellington. Located in an otherwise insignificant mini-plaza, It's Wickedly Sweet is a smaller bakery with a sit-down cafe, though perhaps the baked goods -- with a selection of all the classic standards including pies, muffins, packaged cookies and butter tarts -- are more exciting than the cafe, which serves K-cup coffee and milk in those plastic capsules.  

Nevertheless, everything is clearly labelled and all baked goods are very reasonably priced, though I always believe that bakeries should avoid saran-wrapping their baked goodies; I've seen it in more than one place and probably mention it too often... Yes, I realize it does keep things fresher, but it's just not very appealing and, especially for items with a bit of crunch like muffin tops or danishes, it kind of ruins that just-baked texture. There has to be a better way to showcase your baked goods -- br proud of your products, let them shine!

I grabbed a lemon loaf cake, which was something slightly different from the usual repertoire. This was an individually baked loaf with a generous coating of lemony icing. The cake itself was soft and moist with a good, sweet and slightly sour flavour, although it didn't taste completely fresh. Pretty good. 

Rating: **1/2

Bleclair [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Bleclair
Address: 10 Hidenincho, Tennoji-ku, Osaka (inside Tennoji MIO)
Website: http://www.realpasco.jp
Style: Japanese 
Price: $$ 

Similar to Osaka Namba and Umeda stations, there's an intricate network of underground shopping areas in and around Tennoji station. Unlike the former two, however, the Tennoji underground complex has a pretty intense concentration of bakeries and sweet shops that very nearly make your jaw drop; that is, if you manage to locate them amidst the confusing layout and hordes of quickly passing people.

The first I visited was Bleclair, which seems to be an offshoot of the Real Pasco bakery group (though I can't find anything on the website indicating this to be the case, but at the same time it's not like I can read Japanese) that also includes multinational bakery magnate Paul, which is in the Tennoji station corridor and, as such, is a hectic, fully-stocked bakery featuring many of the usual culprits along with a few unique items; some bakeries tend to focus on more pastry-like items, but Bleclair tends to leans towards doughy variations of sweet buns, many of which I didn't have the opportunity to decipher (mostly because of the constant flow of people).

One such item was the sweet butter ring (151 yen). I had it described as such in my preliminary notes as such, but was it really called that in store? I highly doubt it and yet the name is bit elaborate for something off the top of my head.... Nevertheless, this somehow looked Portuguese to me with its golden dough twisted and then shaped into a lopsided ring and sprinkled simply with powdered sugar -- all it was really missing was the coconut! ;) Ever so slightly flaky and mildly sweetened, this was like a fusion between a pastry and a sweet bread like challah. Rip-apart good and a good change from some of the more standard Japanese baked goods.

Rating: ***

Fezziwig's

Bakery: Fezziwig's Bakry Cafe
Address: 605 KLO Rd, Kelowna BC
Website: https://www.fezziwigs.ca/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$

It has taken me so long to get Fezziwig's on here, even though, with three locations, it's one of the more major bakeries in Kelowna; the reason is mostly that it's never open! I've gone by this location a few times and have never made it. Once, I deliberately made a trip to their other location on Gordon and got there 10 minutes before closing time; I found it closed, lights out with no one inside. Suffice to say, they hadn't just closed. At long last, I was going to pick up some pizza and -- lo and behold! -- Fezziwig's was actually open. I'd come around half an hour prior to closing and was a little irritated that the first words upon entering were: "we're closing soon, you know". It's not like I was gearing up to order a three-course meal or something! Wow, Fezziwig's really seems to live for closing time.

Accordingly, I just wanted to get in and out. Having take a look at their various pictures of sandwiches online and in-store as well as from local reports, I always assumed Fezziwig's to be a bakery in name only, that perhaps bakes the bread they use to make their sandwiches or just have sweets for the sake of having something to have with coffee or as a dessert. You know, a cafe; at the very least, they seem to especially cater to the lunchtime crowd. In this sense, I was surprised that they actually had quite a large display area of the store devoted to bread and baked goods. It is, indeed, a real bakery. I was more surprised at how large the selection of danishes, squares and cake slices was at so "late" in the day. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, since more often than not, I encounter empty bakeries hours before closing, not relatively full ones at closing. Bonus points for me.

I really like bread pudding and whenever I see a place sell it, it's likely to be my first pick. Such was the case at Fezziwig's. Their bread pudding ($2.60) had a baked crust for a nice crunch on top with a soft, chewy inside, just the way I like it. A delicate hint of flavour, and though the granulated sugar sprinkled on top added sweetness, it was a little excessive in places, especially as it turned into a hardened crust when warmed up prior to eating; I wasn't such a big fan of that. Pretty good. I just wish the welcome was as warm as my reheated bread pudding.

Rating: **1/2

Steiner Bakery

Bakery: Steiner Bakery
Address: 231 Dogwood St, Campbell River
Website: https://www.steinerbakery.ca/
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$

My first stop in Campbell River was a bakery, of course. Steiner Bakery, to be exact. Having already gone to another bakery earlier in the day, I swear I only popped in for one baked good, simply for the sake of the Cake Tour. I came out with three. If that's not a testament to how good the bakery is, I don't know what is.

Nonetheless, Steiner Bakery is an old-school bakery serving classic, home-style baked goods with a special focus (so their sign outside says) on allergen-conscious baking. Inside, it's not that evident, but you still have a nice selection ranging from simple doughnuts, cinnamon buns and squares to a few more unexpected items like dobosh cake squares.

Like I said, I went in for a cinnamon bun or something similar, but as soon as I saw their apple fritters ($1.50), I knew I couldn't walk out without one. Just look at that monster with its amazing glaze coverage, golden brown outside, and moist, delicately spiced inside.

There was, of course, that cinnamon bun ($2.75). This was a typical pan-baked bun with nice cinnamon taste and soft texture; personally, I wasn't really a fan of the clear glaze, which was a little too wet and resulted in a soggier dough on top. The carrot cake ($3.25), however, was very good. It was a classic version; nothing too gourmet about it with a good amount of icing on top and a fluffy, carrot-rich spice cake underneath. Both were pretty good in their own right, but it was that apple fritter that was the highlight of this bakery.

Rating: ***

Angus Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Angus Bakery
Address: 3636 W Broadway, Vancouver BC
Website: facebook
Style: Canadian, European
Price: $$ 

I love it when I just happen to stumble upon a bakery I wasn't expecting! This was the case with Angus Bakery which seemed to just pop up while I wasn't exactly on the bakery prowl, but a bakery is a bakery and I quickly swooped down to check it out. ^^

Angus Bakery is a bakery that is very proud of what they stand for, so proud they advertise it outside on a cluttered board that includes their star features: 100% rye bread, danishes and home-made pastries and sandwiches. I liked that. Inside, everything sweet is pretty much confined to two display cases  by the counter; this includes a selection of buttery pastries. Service is friendly and you have the feeling you're a regular even if it's your first time.

Not wanting to go with the more standard baked goods available, I chose the almond danish (around $2.75; there are no prices listed and I don't quite remember the exact amount I paid). This was a double-8 shaped danish with rich, flavourful dough rolled with almond mass and slivered almonds sprinkled on top of drizzles of icing that seemed to melt remarkably quickly. Good, quality taste, but I would have liked for the dough to have had a bit of crunch to it on the outside; as it was, I found it a little too soft. Maybe it was the combination of icing and egg wash for that glossy top? Not sure. A good tasty choice with the potential to be excellent.

Rating: **1/2

De Tout Painduce [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: De Tout Painduce 
Address: Eki Marche 1-1 Chome 3, Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka
Website: http://www.painduce.com/detout.html
Style: Japanese 
Price: $$ 

De Tout Painduce, an offshoot of Painduce, which is also a bakery, so what the difference between the two is I'm not sure, is a slightly elevated version of the railway station bakery with baked goods laid out quaintly along a wide counter and in baskets. Admittedly, the baked goods also look better than what you'd expect from the usual high-traffic culprits (Vie de France, DonQ, for example) and feature more unique, almost more artisan-looking products; however, with items costing 200+ yen, you also won't find the same ridiculously cheap baked goods as elsewhere. It appears to me that their specialty seems to be brioche-like buns featuring both sweet and savoury toppings in the middle.
Wanting to just pop in and out because of the fact I had my suitcase in tow, I had a hard time quickly gauging price and baked good type/flavour based on appearance. I could identify "red bean" on a few signs, there was a chocolate one and melon buns, but other than that, it wasn't that easy.

One thing I could discern was the cheese/custard tart, sold as slices from a larger cheese flan (240 yen/slice). I wanted to grab something quickly and examining it afterwards, I was genuinely wondering why I had picked it. For one, I had once tried those trendy cheese tarts and was, to put it nicely, far from impressed. Secondly, this particular tart didn't exactly look very appealing; it reminded me of a white-sauce pizza with baked cheese on top. Yes, I was skeptical and not too pleased with myself, but one fearful bite later, I realized it wasn't so bad. Actually, more than that, it was good. It really was good! Yes, the cheese mass was a bit slimy, but it tasted like a mix of pudding and cheesecake with the dough being perhaps that same brioche I had spotted on other baked goods. Maybe I would try something else the next time around, but De Tout Painduce managed to win me over.

Rating: ***

Loco Beanz Coffee House

Bakery: Loco Beanz Coffee House 
Address: 50 Meredith St, Gore Bay ON
Website: facebook 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$ 

There is apparently a real bakery on Manitoulin Island, but it was closed and leaving the island without having any sort of Cake Tour stop was unthinkable, so I decided to pop into Loco Beanz. Loco Beanz is a local coffee shop chain with three locations around Manitoulin Island that serves coffee along with hot breakfasts, light lunches, and a very few -- as in three or four -- baked goods.

 Stopping to grab something, I thought that the strawberry cheese danish would go well with my drink. It was alright with soft, slightly flaky dough, runny jelly and nice cheese, but the glaze drizzled on top tasted old and cracked off, and despite it saying homemade, there was something quite generic about it. So, in the end, maybe it wasn't the best Cake Tour, but the most important thing is that it was a Cake Tour; next time around, I'll get the real deal!

Rating: **

Billy G's Doughnuts

Bakery: Billy G's Doughnuts 
Address: 2326 Alberni Hwy, Coombs BC 
Website: n/a 
Style: Doughnuts 
Price: $$ 

Part of the Goats on a Roof ultimate tourist-trap empire is this small doughnut shop tucked along one side of the building. This extremely bustling stand sells nothing more besides doughnuts and a few drinks, with the latter prone to selling out by the afternoon -- I would know, it took two tries to find this place open! Coming in about a dozen flavours, the doughnuts feature inventive names that mask the fact that the flavours themselves are generally anything but. Rather, I wouldn't go so far as to call them gourmet doughnuts; instead, you'll find mostly classic, typical cake and yeast dough varieties at slightly marked up prices, mostly due to the location, no doubt. Most flavours, including some unique offerings, usually chocolate-oriented, cost an additional $0.50. Perennial favourite, the apple fritter is, as is usually the case, the most expensive at $2.99.

I love my yeast doughnuts and if I had a choice between yeast or cake doughnuts, I would always take the former. Fortunately, Billy G's offers both. Unfortunately, their more unusual varieties -- including various types of dough, which is hard to find in better doughnut shops like this -- are cake doughnuts, so essentially I was hard pressed to find an interesting yeast doughnut that wasn't chocolate. Sometimes, however, simple is the best way to gauge how good the doughnut is, so I picked out the cinnamon twister ($1.99). Good dough: nicely fried with a denser, rip-apart texture. I probably would have preferred glaze over the cinnamon and sugar, but a simple, tasty doughnut.

I also decided to try the Coombs Cut-Off ($2.50), essentially a Boston cream doughnut with a flatter yeast dough base, thick custard and equally thick chocolate top. I liked that same dense, sponge-like dough, but personally was not a fan of the chocolate glaze which was far too thick and sticky. Overall: not baaah-d! ;)

Rating: ***

Abundance Artisan Bakery

Bakery: Abundance Artisan Bakery 
Address: 77 8th Ave, Lilloet BC 
Website: facebook 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$ 

Someone once recommended checking out Lilloet since it was a nice town with great scenery and seeing as there was a bakery there as well, I thought why not? ;) Abundance is a busy, somewhat chaotic (especially when it comes to customers forming lines in the order they arrived...) bakery cafe with an open counter dedicated to a limited selection of rustic baked goods ranging from various danishes and sweet buns, cookies, perhaps a scone or two to simple, wholesome-looking cake slices.

 I was originally planning on something else, but when I found out that their sourdough-based doughnuts (sourdoughnuts, if you will) were a weekend-only event and it happened to be Saturday, really, how could I choose otherwise?

I grabbed the last two glazed doughnuts ($2.85 total) and ate one immediately. The dough was moist and airy with a slight chewiness to it. The thin glaze that pooled around the middle complimented it perfectly; overall, it was delicious. Mmm... I'm not sure if I'd have enjoyed the other baked goods in store as much, but I was very happy I went with that Saturday special!

Rating: ***

Cascade [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Cascade 
Address: 3 Chome-2-1 Aioicho, Chūō-ku, Kōbe-shi, Hyōgo-ken
Website: http://www.cascade-kobe.co.jp/
Style: Japanese
Price: $$ 

A great many bakeries encountered on my Japanese Cake Tour aimed to replicate a French patisserie, complete with croissants and little flags indicating the most authentic baked goods; several more adventurous bakeries had their sights set on something a little different. Cascade, a local Kobe-area bakery chain, was one such bakery; their goal? To turn their run-of-the-mill bakery into a sort of German Konditorei. Naturally, that does include the presence of little German flags here and there, though to be quite honest, I had a hard time distinguishing how a few of the items qualified as being German flag-worthy, but no matter.


Two items did inevitably catch my attention amid their large selection of baked goods: a sort of two-tone roll cake slice and the pretzel below. In-store, I just froze. Was it? Could it be? In theory, yes, that dough and darker mass should have been poppy seed, but my gut instinct was that it wasn't. More than that, of course I knew it to be chocolate!

Nonetheless, I was still not completely convinced and it did look like one of the better items for sale, so I grabbed chocolate almond pretzel (205 yen). Putting aside the fact that it was so meant to be poppy seed, this was very, surprisingly good! I started with saying I'd try a small piece and save the rest for later, but ended up eating the whole thing at once -- it must have been the combination of flaky "pretzel" dough, softer, sponge cake-like chocolate dough filling and vanilla glaze and some slivered almonds generously coating the top. A bit of crunch, some chewiness, delicious blend of flavours. Oh yeah -- so wasn't expecting that from a chain of underground walkway bakeries!

Rating: ***1/2

Doce Minho Pastry & Bakery

Bakery: Doce Minho Pastry and Bakery 
Address: 2189 Dufferin St, Toronto ON
Website: https://doceminhobakery.com/
Style: Portuguese
Price: $

It was a miserable day and I was sick, so I thought there was nothing better than to drive around and visit some bakeries I'm still missing. Doce Minho was my first stop. This neighbourhood Portuguese bakery and cafe seems to be a popular destination for those wanting to sit down for a coffee or to grab some of the many cake slices they sell.

For me, however, I actually prefer Portuguese baked goods over their cakes or famed custard tarts: give me a hearty coconut or custard bun, maybe a malasada... or two any day. In that aspect, Doce Minho doesn't exactly satisfy my needs, with many Portuguese bakery staples I've come to expect not there. It being a Saturday, maybe they simply sold out in the morning and never baked more? Regardless of the reason, I was unusually lost as to what to get. Big, flat custard pastries in the back looked appealing from a distance, but when inquiring about what it was and how much it cost, I noted that what I had assumed to be some sort of jam was actually blackened dough and the price, at $14.00, didn't exactly make sense given that they offer the same thing (so the worker informed me) as individual slices for $2.00 and the large size isn't 7 times (or more) bigger.

 I grabbed a twist bread with cinnamon and sugar ($2.00); this is one particular baked good I end up grabbing regularly so in comparison I found this version very doughy and dense, a bit like a giant cake doughnut. Stiff, lacking in either moistness or airiness.  I've had better elsewhere.

In the end, I did pick that individual slice of the custard pastry ($2.00). I really like this pastry style and, truth be told, it looked much better than the bigger version, though the right side was quite black under the coconut and you could taste it. A bit of custard piped down the middle with a flaky dough all along the bottom and up along the sides, which were then dusted with shredded coconut. My preferred pick of the two, though I think it probably should have been baked a level or two lower from the top.

Rating: **

Nanaimo Bakery

Bakery: Nanaimo Bakery
Address: 2025 Bowen Rd, Nanaimo BC
Website: https://www.nanbakery.ca/
Style: German, European
Price: $-$$ 

Several years ago, I discovered that the city of Nanaimo has created a "Nanaimo Bar Trail", a local tour celebrating the city's homegrown hero: the humble Nanaimo Bar. Taking a look at the tour with the express purpose of covering as much ground as possible, I discovered that there really weren't that many locations, and not that many bakery locations, at that. Of the two on the list that I considered close enough to group together and make a Nanaimo Bar Trail of my own, Nanaimo Bakery was my second and final stop.

Fresh with my disappointment at having not found any Nanaimo bars waiting for me at the previous bakery, I came in to Nanaimo Bakery expecting the worst. What I didn't expect was an overwhelming array of pastries, cakes, baked goods and chocolates, all laid out in a very impressive spread, so much so that I couldn't possibly leave with just one item in tow!

I was very fortunate I did, since all three sweets were delicious, starting from the famous Nanaimo Bar ($1.30), which was exactly as I wanted it to be: rich custard cream in between a dense chocolatey bottom layer and dark chocolate on top that tasted so fresh, which was a nice change from squares and bars often encountered that taste of the fridge and have kind of solidified. This is how a Nanaimo bar should taste.

Equally good was their poppy seed danish ($1.75), a unique treat that had a flaky bottom layer of dough that was topped with poppy seed mass, some crumble and an almost opaque layer of icing. I'd never thin anything in this style: very thin, made almost like a Copenhagen square. Was it ever good!

In addition to that, I tried to silly porcupine cake ($2.25): roughly the size and shape of a rum ball with a moist chocolate inside and rich taste, though maybe the poor critter's face needed a little improvement. :P Overall: a fantastic bakery.

Rating: ***1/2