Far Breton

Bakery: Far Breton
Address: 1127 Rue Bélanger, Montréal QC
Website: facebook
Style: French
Price: $$

One of a couple Breton bakeries in Montreal, this small space has perhaps the widest selection of the three I've gone to, with a wider array of classic French baked goods like croissants, chaussons aux pommes along with artisan breads and a somewhat pathetic selection of cake slices (at least when I was there). Yes, that's right; a Sunday morning heralded very little in terms of variety, especially when it came to those signature Breton goodies. I would have liked to have tried the namesake, but it was nowhere to be seen and the absolutely indifferent service (no hello, not even coming up when I was ready even though I was the only person in the store, and no thank you at the end made me feel like I was invisible) didn't exactly encourage me to ask.

Luckily, I spotted the last slice of kouign amann ($2.35). One last slice, no choice. Now, I love kouign amann and I try it whenever I have the chance, so I was looking forward to it. However, it was only when unpacking it did I realize how small and burnt it was. It was pretty frustrating to have to cut off pieces of blackened dough from an already tiny piece - I was preparing myself for disaster. However, despite the totally negative start, I took one bite and... it was really good. Soft, buttery layers amid a flaky, caramelized sugar outside. Not my all-time favourite, but really close. What a shame it was burnt; it had the potential to be more highly rated than it was!

Rating: ***

The Second Most Delicious Ice Cream Melon Bread in the World [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: The Second Most Delicious Ice Cream Melon Bread in the World (世界で2番めにおいしい焼きたてメロンパンアイス 函館元町店)
Address: 10-7 Motomachi, Hakodate, Hokkaido 
Website: n/a 
Style: Japanese 
Price: $$$

The second longest name for a business in the world? :D Well, at the very least this small shop selling ice cream melon pan along with soft Hokkaido ice cream and hot melon pan (bought using the vending machine with multi-language capabilities) is still partly humble in their aspirations. I'm curious who they think takes top honours....

 I took an ice cream melon pan with matcha ice cream (450 yen); it was my first time trying one. The melon bun is cut in half and nearly toasted; then, the matcha ice cream is scooped inside. The heat from the bun makes the ice cream melt slightly and... let's admit it, the concept is a good one in theory. However, in reality I encountered quite a few pitfalls trying to eat this melon pan:

1. I did like that the bread was warm, but I didn't like it was so toasted; the outside was way too crusty and became so brittle that it just came apart in big shards. 

2. Whether it was positioning of the ice cream or there was simply too much of it, this thing was twice the size of my mouth so eating both ice cream and bread together was so messy and nearly impossible until the end, when the ice cream had completely melted, soaked into the bun and made the dough soggy.

3. The scoopy straw that's provided was very impractical, except perhaps for sucking up the leftover melted ice cream right at the end. A small plastic spoon would have been better. 

4. Because I review baked goods, not ice cream sandwiches, I wasn't the biggest fan of the actual melon pan. One reason was that it was too crusty, especially on the inside. I love when you have that crust on the outside and soft inside, but here it was more crunchy on the inside than along that melon top. In truth, on its own it was nothing special. 

In the end, if this really is the second most delicious ice cream melon pan in the world, I may be curious to try the best ice cream melon pan... but I'm not exactly running to try the third most delicious. ;P 

Rating: **1/2  

7 Baker

Bakery: 7 Baker 
Address: 3 Wellesley St W, Toronto ON 
Website: https://7baker.ca/
Style: Asian, Chinese, European
Price: $$$ 

One of a couple Asian fusion bakeries sprouting up along Yonge, 7 Baker sells baked goods that consist of rustic breads, stuffed croissants and famous - or aiming to be famous - square mousse cakes in flavours like milk tea, pineapple and double cheese cake. I found it quite expensive for what it is.

I decided to try the green tea cranberry cheese loaf; yes, that's quite the mouthful and quite the combination of flavours. However, I was surprised at how there was no real "Asianness"to it, despite the fact that the predominant flavour should have been green tea. Given how little you could taste the green tea and how intensely green it was, I'm a little disappointed that colour was used - their website states that they don't use artificial colours, but vegetable dyes, but in my opinion colour is colour. Because green tea has a direct correlation between intensity of taste and colour, using colour in green tea baked goods and desserts is a bit deceitful. Moreover, there was barely any cheese filling, especially for the price. In the end, the two aspects I'd been looking forward to weren't distinct enough and the cranberries just made the loaf feel like piece of raisin bread. So much excitement in terms of its description yet strangely boring in taste. Personally, I was a bit disappointed with the end result.

Rating: **

Espoir [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Espoir (パン エスポワール)
Address: Kiralis Hakodate 1F, 20-1 Wakamatsucho, Hakodate, Hokkaido 
Website: http://pan-espoir.com
Style: Japanese 
Price: $$ 

Pretty much the only bakery that's open late(r) in downtown Hakodate, I admit I was a little daunted to give Espoir a try because of the abysmal ratings, probably the worst I'd seen in my bakery research. Luckily for me, Espoir wasn't really that bad. This, one of its four or five locations in the area, is located in a mini shopping mall and is quite small, with just two small tables of baked goods along with many in a large, open fridge. I have to admit that, coming ten minutes before closing, it wasn't too promising to see a full array of baked goods; good for me, obviously, but by this time at least the good stuff should have been taken. Also, a lot of bakeries have a pre-closing sale and you can score some pretty good deals, but Espoir doesn't appear to participate in these kinds of promotions....

Amid the standard bakery fare, both sweet and savoury, they had a few signature items that included milk cream buns, various fruit and cream danishes (both sold refrigerated) and the subject of a big poster and colourful signs: the apple danish (216 yen). 

I'm all for bakeries having their specialty, so I bypassed some of the more "Japanese" baked goods and decided to give the apple danish a try. Flaky dough with big chunks of baked apples and a pretty lattice on top. The highlight were the apples, though some could have been a little less crunchy, but overall I found the end product a bit on the bland side. The dough had no distinct taste of its own and even the filling could have benefited from at least a little cinnamon. Honestly, something I'd expect from a supermarket; a bakery should be better.

Rating: **1/2

Pastry Chef

Bakery: Pastry Chef Bakery
Address: 380 George St, Prince George BC
Website: facebook 
Style: Canadian, German
Price: $$ 

The best bakery in this part of the province? It's right here! Pastry Chef was actually one of the last bakeries on this particular trip and it really came as a welcome change from the sparsely stocked bakeries I had encountered along the way. For one, the selection was amazing: they had a little bit of everything, all of which was generously sized and fairly well-priced. And they had poppy seed buns - finally! I'd been waiting for this moment for over a week now... That being said, Pastry Chef is an old-school bakery in downtown Prince George - it's the only bakery in town, for that matter; the counter space is pretty big and is fully stocked with an impressive, downright jaw-dropping array of cakes, cake slices, doughnuts, danishes, cookies, squares along with a few more European treats (Dutch and German) like strudels, poppy seed baked goods, "Russian pretzels" and apple cake.

Of course I had to give their poppy seed buns ($3.49) a try. It looked amazing with its thick layers of poppy seed mass and drizzle of icing - and it tasted amazing as well. Slightly flaky dough wound round a surprisingly generous amount of delicious poppy seed filling. I would liked more than just a sprinkling of crumble on top, but this really was nearly perfect and would have been the best baked good on the trip...

... Had this massive apple doughnut ($2.49) not come along and upset things. It'd been a trip a bit too heavy on the apple fritters and yet the second I saw this monster, I knew it had to be featured. This huge spiral of perfectly fried and glazed dough was dotted with chunks of apple amid the crispy, yet moist dough. Oh boy. This bakery was phenomenal.

Rating: ****

Pain Kichi [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Pain Kichi (ブーランジェリー ぱん吉) 
Address: 4 Chome-18 Kita 8 Jonishi, Kita Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Website: n/a 
Style: Japanese
Price: $$ 

The closest independent bakery to Sapporo Station, this was actually my very last stop in the city before stepping on the train and leaving Sapporo... for good! Nevertheless, amidst the grey, lacklustre skyscrapers, there's this lovely little bake shop that seems to focus on rustic breads (hence the "boulangerie" in their name) and pretty French- and Danish dough treats, featuring both sweet and savoury, more classic European and Japanese fillings.

Danishes really aren't the most common baked goods in Japanese bakeries; you'll see the croissants everywhere, but despite it not being the best thing to transport, I couldn't resist the flaky, crown-shaped creations at this bakery. Not to mention the berry one! One thing I do miss when being in Japan is the ease at grabbing some berries for breakfast; they're so hard to find and when you do spot them, they're so expensive. Kichi did get bonus points for (finally) having some real fruit!

 Simply put, I grabbed the fruit and custard danish (250 yen). It didn't photograph very well nor did it survive the jostling of train travel, but it still looked good. The dough was nice and flaky, the fruit was fresh and flavourful, though the glaze was a little too thick and gloopy for my liking. Also, though the custard was good, there was too much of it. It got pretty deep in the middle and there wasn't enough dough underneath to counteract it, resulting in a more soggy bottom. Good taste, just a little work needed in terms of proportions.

Rating: ***

Michele Cake Shop

Bakery: Michele Cake Shop 
Address: 6033 West Blvd, Vancouver BC
Website: https://michelecakeshop.com/
Style: Chinese, Cake
Price: $$-$$$

This small bakery in Kerrisdale doubles as a cake shop selling large cakes and slices along with a few pastries and a typical Chinese bakery with a small selection of sweet and savoury buns. The specialty appears to be egg tarts and various creamy cakes.

Having arrived late, I came to Michele maybe 10-15 minutes before closing and found it nearly empty except for the large cakes and some bagged items. The Chinese "corner" of the space was completely cleaned out and the individual pastries left behind consisted of two final slices of cream cake and three pieces of almond napoleon. I even asked if there was anything else and nope, that was it. 

So I grabbed the almond napoleon ($3.50). This napoleon was all dough and no cream: the layers were thick and brittle and the tiny dollops of cream in between were strangely grainy, almost chalky in texture and were so stiff and unyielding, I don't know what kind of cream this was supposed to be.

That alone would have been a 2-star - an alright bakery - had it not been for the checkout experience. I judge bakeries on taste, not on service, but coming in and buying one of the few items left at the last minute (at regular price) only to have it packed and handed to me, followed by a very obvious jingling of the tip jar as it was pushed closer to me was disrespectful and insulting. That was instead of a thank you for shopping at this bakery? No thanks!

Rating: *1/2

Patisserie Akatuki* [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Patisserie Akatuki* 
Address: 20 Chome-2-1 Minami 2 Jonishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Website: instagram 
Style: Japanese, Cakes
Price: $$

Akatuki* is a tiny bakery that specializes mostly in equally tiny cakes, though they also have ice cream and a few loaf cakes and cookies along with gourmet sandwiches. But really, you can't go into this place without being lured in by their lovely - and some of them absolutely adorable - cakes; they're also fairly well-priced.

I have to confess that I'm not the biggest chocolate cake fan, especially when there are other options like cheesecake, green tea or vanilla available, but I took one look into the eyes of this bashful little bear and I knew I had to have it. Yes, it was love at first sight when I spotted the Teddy cake (360 yen). This dome-shaped cake consisted of thick chocolate buttercream icing decoratively slathered around to make the bear's "fur" and equally rich chocolate sponge cake underneath. You could taste the quality, but, as tasty and cute as it was, I found the cake itself fairly one-dimensional. Maybe this was due to the fact that the icing was overpowering the rest of the cake? Or it needed something else on the inside - a fruit layer? Any sort of filling?

Rating: ***

Sweet-o-One

Bakery: Sweet-o-one
Address: 50 Doncaster Ave #5, Thornhill ON 
Website: http://www.sweet-o-one.com/
Style: Cakes, Russian 
Price: $$ 

Wanting to expand my range of cake shops, especially my go-to location went downhill years ago and nothing has really come along to replace it, I decided to check out some new places. One of them is Sweet-o-one, a cake shop located in an out-of-the-way industrial plaza with a very small selection of cakes and cake slices that gives the large, eerily silent space an empty look to it. Nonetheless, cakes are what I would call simplified versions of classic, multi-layered Russian tortes with an undeniable focus on meringue cakes; personally, not liking meringue cakes, there were too many and not enough variety among the non-meringue ones.

Another disappointment was that the most appealing cake for me - the Sugarplum (a.k.a. Anechka) - is only available as a whole cake if you place a custom order in advance. Why!? It's not much different than the other honey cakes which were in stock....

In the end, I grabbed the "Ideal" ($31), though I confess I was already gearing up for disappointment with the simple honey walnut cake with dulce de leche buttercream between the layers. Especially since it didn't look like a celebration cake. I feel like a little more effort could have been taken to decorate it. It wasn't a slab cake. Serving it as a birthday cake, the appearance fell a little flat. I grabbed a slice, took my first forkful and... changed my mind. Yes, it could still be improved in terms of the decorative aspect, but this was really good. I loved the honey walnut cake! This was one of the best honey cakes I've had and the dulche de leche, though rich and needing something to break it up a little, was surprisingly delicious. One of the very few cakes that I could just keep on eating without getting tired of it!

Rating: ***

Maruyama S Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Maruyama S Bakery (ベーカリー円山育ち)
Address: 20 Chome-1-1 Odorinishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Website: n/a 
Style: Japanese
Price: $-$$ 

This small, well-priced corner bakery has about a dozen types of sweet and savoury buns spread out along the window, on either side of the door, with there being (or so I thought) more savoury than sweet. Baked goods are simple in appearance and fairly doughy, with nothing too elaborate or cake/pastry-like. If I recall correctly their signature items - unique baked goods that I had yet to see elsewhere - included some sort of baked apple bread and a baked cheese melon pan.

 Neither one looking all that enticing, I went instead with a classic melon pan (140 yen). It'd been awhile, after all. It differed from other melon pan in that it didn't have the standard crisscross pattern on top and the melon crust was more a baked sugary crumble, similar to their baked cheese version, in fact. I felt like it didn't have the crunch I wanted or at least wasn't thick enough to add that much-needed texture to the soft, airy bun underneath. And a melon pan is all about that crust. Good snack, but not great.

Rating: **1/2

Bakkerij Lobelle

Bakery: Bakkerij Lobelle a.k.a. Woody's Bakery
Address: 153 Stewart St E, Vanderhoof, BC
Website: n/a 
Style: Dutch, Canadian 
Price: $$ 

I missed this bakery on the way there due to some sort of inexplicable closure, so I was glad to grab on the way back, albeit around a half hour before closing. Thinking this enough time, I was surprised at how incredibly cleaned out the place was; not only that, people were grabbing up the last remaining items as if their lives depended on it. LOL It's nice to see such passion for a bakery and, of course, it's a pretty promising sign when it comes to the baked goods, but waah, I was three people down and saw two of my top picks snatched up before I made it to the front of the line!

When it was my turn, there were three or four sweet items left. Of the ones that were left, I picked the so-called vanilla slice ($2.75) as the most well, Dutch. It is a bakkerij, after all. ;) Given it's pretty much empty at the end of the day, you at least know the pastries are fresh. And they were. The dough was flaky and crunchy, there was just the right amount of delicious vanilla cream between each layer and I loved the glaze on top, which hadn't completely hardened yet (another sign of its freshness). So good! I just wish I had the opportunity to try more from this very promising bakery.

Rating: ***1/2

Qualita [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Qualita (クアリタ)
Address: 16 Chome-1 242 Minami 1 Jonishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Website: https://sapporo-qualita.com
Style: Japanese
Price: $$ 

This takes the award for the worst bakery experience on my Hokkaido trip.

Qualita is located on the ground floor of an apartment building and is pretty easy to miss. Upon passing through the automatic door, there's barely enough room for three people and you're immediately greeted with the small selection of mostly rustic loaves of bread and savoury options. You really come to appreciate the typical tray-and-tong bakery system in most Asian bakeries when you step into a tiny space like this bakery and are faced with a small counter of baked goods, behind which you have two otherwise unoccupied workers smiling awkwardly at you while you try and decipher all the labels.... Online reviews mention the presence of danishes, but the only thing resembling danishes were the plain croissants. Besides that and a red bean bun, I had a very hard time finding anything sweet. After the fact, I see their website didn't really have all that much besides those aforementioned danishes. As such, Qualita is not the place to go for sweet baked goods. But being the only customers with two workers eagerly awaiting my order, I felt bad walking out and didn't know enough Japanese to ask which were sweet.

So I quickly read "cream" and asked for that one, located right next to the croissants. The worker announced "cream cheese pan" (194 yen) to the one at the cash and I immediately had misgivings. That was my fault though, I'll admit that. Well, sweet it was not, though it had the potential to be. Instead, it was the world's chewiest bread. The crust of the bun was simply unmanageable. I tore, I chewed, I chewed some more. I don't even understand how it could be so tough. Inside, there was simply a giant wad of cream cheese, probably enough for you to generously spread onto three bagels. It was so thick and sticky and yet it wouldn't stick to the dough around it, but remained as one big chunk of cheese. Oh, there was also a giant piece of butter attached to one end of the cream cheese ball. Three components with zero compatibility with each other. Total failure.

Rating: *

Ian Cakery

Bakery: Ian Cakery 
Address: 1100 Burnhamthorpe Rd W Unit 26, Mississauga ON
Website: https://www.iancakery.ca/
Style: Cakes, Chinese 
Price: $$$-$$$$ 

This small Chinese cake shop selling premium custom-order and wedding cakes quietly opened its doors several months ago. Though the retail space appears to be a cafe and dessert spot (with seating), there really isn't that much available for you to actually want to sit there and enjoy on location. When I decided to check it out, the single display case looked a bit on the barren side and had a couple cakes (including some sort of pork floss cake O.o) along with more Japanese-style cream puffs and cheese tarts, so the selection for a casual passerby is minimal.

I felt almost obliged to try the cream puff ($3-something), mostly because it was the only individual treat available; it also happened to be the only one that was decently priced. Cakes start at $50+. With its exclusive and overall intimidating feeling, I'll admit that I was skeptical. After all, I've been to some of these places that charge more appearance's sake but doesn't necessarily produce something that's better tasting or better quality. I still had a bitter, artificially coloured taste in my mouth from my last visit to a "higher-end Chinese dessert shop". However, these cream puffs were the real deal: that nice crunch on the outside of the light-as-air choux pastry with a delicious, slightly textured crumble topping. Inside, the green tea cream was very good; it could have used even more green tea for a stronger matcha flavour, but it was tasty. I only wish they had more selection, because they  seem to know what they're doing!

Rating: **1/2

Donguri [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Donguri (どんぐり)
Address: 1 Chome−13, Odorinishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Website: https://www.donguri-bake.co.jp/
Style: Japanese 
Price: $$ 

One of the few Sapporo-only bakery chains, Donguri has 10 locations throughout the city and is a busy, well-stocked bakery with quite a few unique treats, though not every location (I came across two) have the exact same items available.

Amid all the standard bakery fare like red bean and melon pan, there were two oversized muffin-shaped creations that caught my eye: one in chocolate and the other in cinnamon. I took the giant cinnamon one (183 yen). At first glance in store, it didn't look like anything special except for its size - for Japanese standards it was quite large. But when it was time to dig in, I noticed with excitement that the dough was slightly flaky, pastry-like, with layers of moist dough and cinnamon. The highlight, however, was the top, with its crunchy outer layer coated in icing and dotted with nuts (there were also a few inside). I really didn't expect this to be as good as it was; it was one of the best baked goods I had in Sapporo!

Rating: ***1/2 

Kam Do Bakery

Bakery: Kam Do Bakery (金都餅店)
Address: 4328 No 3 Rd, Richmond BC
Website: n/a 
Style: Chinese
Price: $$ 

Kam Do is one of the more premium Chinese bakery chains in Richmond; of course, they still have a wide selection of classic HK-style sweet and savoury buns and cookies all laid out in plastic bins throughout the large space, but they specialty here seems to be the fancier cream cakes and Chinese pastries sold either individually or as elegant (and expensive) gift boxes. After all, you don't often go to a Chinese bakery and everyone in line is buying flaky pastries and wife cakes.

Another distinction is that these flaky pastries come in a variety of fillings that you don't see elsewhere. Anything from traditional lotus paste with preserved yolk to more uncommon pineapple walnut or green tea with pine nut.

I really only came for a bun, but I thought I'd give the pastries a try while I was here. I took three: date, lotus paste and red bean ($2/each). The dough was perfectly flaky and airy with a great crunch upon biting into it. Inside, the filling was super generous and flavourful. Sometimes, all you taste in these fillings is sugar or it's so indistinct you can't really tell what it is; here, the filling was thick and pronounced. As unusual as it was, the date actually had to be my favourite: it wasn't sweet and molasses-like like I was expecting, but was really smoky. Similar to the dried/smoked plums used to make Chinese plum compote. It was so good! One of the best Chinese pastries I've ever had.

Rating: ***1/2

Boulangerie Coron [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Boulangerie Coron (ブーランジェリー コロン)
Address: 4 Chome-1, Kita 2 Jonishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Website: http://www.coron-pan.com
Style: Japanese
Price: $$

A Sapporo bakery with 4 locations, mostly within walking distance of one another, and 1 bread-oriented restaurant, Coron is a bread bakery specializing in rustic breads and their signature mini baguettes stuffed with a variety of mostly savoury and semi-sweet (since nothing can really qualify as dessert-level) fillings. In addition to this lineup, they have a few teeny tiny French pastries (croissants and pain au chocolat) and sweet "pan", but in my opinion they're not worth it. Coron seems best enjoyed on a partially full stomach (ha ha ha) since there really aren't any hearty or filling baked goods like you'll find at other bakeries.

Unfortunately, I arrived at Coron feeling super hungry. I hadn't even planned on eating it right away, but I needed to just sit down and have something. As such, I wasn't in the mood for their cookie-sized melon pan and the most substantial sweet option was one of those signature mini baguettes; I took the matcha milk (248 yen). The first bite was weird. My initial thought was whoa, this does not match at all, because not only was the bread itself not sweet at all, it had the chewy, dense texture of a fougasse or ciabatta, both of which you only really associate with savoury flavours. However, bit by bit it started growing on me; I did like the texture of the bread and even more so the matcha milk cream filling was really good. I would have loved to see it in more than just plain bread. I was a bit skeptical at first, but it turned out alright in the end.

Rating: ***

Old and Bold Espresso Bar

Bakery: Old and Bold Espresso Bar
Address: 435 Hwy BC-16, Burns Lake BC
Website: facebook
Style: German, European
Price: $$$$

The one benefit of going back the same way as you came is finding something you may have missed the first time around; this was the case with Old and Bold Espresso Bar, a German bakery/coffee shop/antique store that I have zero recollection driving past on the way there.

Despite not being considered an outright bakery, this cafe has quite the selection of baked goods that range from cinnamon buns to French pastries to slices of slab cakes. Everything in their display case looked pretty tasty, but one setback was definitely the price: I really could not understand why it was so expensive. $5.50 or so for a cinnamon bun when you could get a whole loaf of amazing cinnamon bread down the street for less seemed absurd to me. In all honesty, there was no justification for the "Vancouver prices" and, had it not been a German bakery with so many tasty options, I would have considered leaving.

 Instead I went with the mango quark cheesecake ($6.50). I'll confess I'm not too fond of tropical fruits and mango is not my preferred choice, but I do have a soft spot for quark cheesecake and there really is nothing more German than quark. ;) Digging in, I immediately noticed the "fridge crust" along the edges of the cheese mass - this thing had been sitting there for quite some time. Both taste and feel gave it away, which was such a shame, because besides the dough bottom being too thick (i.e. either less dough or more cheese to counteract the dough would have helped), it would have been a pretty good, European-style cheesecake. But as I always say: there's no excuse for selling stale treats. Not worth the price at all.

Rating: **

Pâtisserie Chocolaterie Liberté [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Pâtisserie Chocolaterie Liberté (パティスリーショコラトリーリベルテ) 
Address: 8 Chome-2-7, Kita 1 Jonishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Website: facebook 
Style: Japanese, French
Price: $$  

This charming little cake shop popped up in my search for bakeries, though it really isn't a bakery at all, but a patisserie (and chocolaterie) in the truest sense of the word. I've always gone at businesses for not using proper appellations, but Liberté appears to know what they're doing, both in terms of their name and products they sell.

Liberté is an Old World shop selling homemade chocolates and a pretty assortment of petite cakes, both individual and larger ones, and little baggies of traditional French baked goods like madeleines, financiers, etc. In fact, Liberté is probably the most quintessentially, authentically French patisserie I've seen in Japan. Prices are a little more standard bakeries, but nothing outlandish.

It was a sweltering day with the damp, typhoon-heavy air being brutal for both me and my baked goods, but I did want to try the cassis marron (460 yen). I'm surprised it lasted as long as it, with just a little damage along one side. Oh, and the gold leaf tried rolling off as well.... Often these mousse cakes taste so generic, which is why I'm not such a fan, but this one was excellent. The colour, the sour, slightly tart taste of black currants was spot on.  Not too sweet, not too foamy - the one issue was the chocolate shell which was made of rock solid cookie dough. This was close to impossible to break apart, especially with the little spoon provided in the box. For such a dainty, delicate cake, the fact that you had to pry through the shell with a sledgehammer (LOL) somewhat ruined the experience.

Rating: ***

Fortuna Bakery

Bakery: Fortuna Bakery
Address: 4240 Hastings St, Burnaby, BC
Website: http://fortunabakery.com/
Style: Italian, Portuguese  
Price: $$$ 

Amid this former enclave of Italian businesses along E Hastings, there's the long-standing Fortuna Bakery. There are other bakeries, but I mostly picked this particular bakery based on the distinction that they're actually open on Sundays. ;) Hey, sometimes simple opening hours give you an edge....

Fortuna Bakery looks like an institution on the inside with its classic, no frills display cases, though it must have changed hands somewhere along the line as it's no longer Italian-, but Portuguese-run. As such, it didn't have as many Italian baked goods and treats as I'd been expecting. That being said, it's actually more a typically Canadian hodgepodge with anything from cinnamon buns and red velvet squares to cream puffs and those famous pasteis de nata. Only select items are priced.

In honour of Fortuna's decades' long history, I did go with the cannoli as one of the few items available that were distinctly Italian. Personally, I'm not the biggest cannolo fan, but I was intent on visiting an Italian bakery that day and I was going to follow through! As one of the items that are not priced, I was amazed that they were $3 each - what? these are the mini cannoli variety that I have never seen cost more than $2! Not to mention nothing else in the display case exceeded $2.50; come on, there's nothing that special about cannoli... I also didn't really appreciate that they were just thrown haphazardly together like I'd bought some sort of 2/$1 deal too.

To the tasting now: I liked the crisp, nicely fried tubes. Could have been thinner and bubblier, but the taste and texture was there. However, there are two components to any cannolo and the chocolate chip ricotta cream filling did not deliver; this was mainly due to the fact that it was so runny! It had this weird grit-like consistency and was weirdly grainy. The chocolate chunks were too big and obtrusive compared to the watery cream and the size of the pastries. I was happy to have hit one of Vancouver's old-school bakeries, but this was not worth it.

Rating: **1/2