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: ***