Hawaii Bakery

Bakery: Hawaii Bakery & Tea House
Address: 1100 Burnhamthorpe Rd W, Mississauga, ON
Website: facebook
Style: Chinese 
Price: $ 

In a sense the name "Hawaii Bakery" is a bit deceiving because while they do have a very small selection of typical Chinese sweet and savoury buns, their focus is their breakfast/lunch restaurant which serves your classic breakfast platters and budget lunch combos. Why am I there then? Because someone told me they have the best pineapple buns in the city. Thing is, it seems a bit of a challenge to score one; I've come to empty shelves more often than coming out with one of these classic HK-style buns.

When you do get lucky, these pineapple buns ($1.20, tax included) are fresh with a characteristic crunchy top. The bun is fragrant and the dough is slightly on the chewy side. Is it that much better than its competition? Well, truth be told: not really. Maybe that's just me not being much of a HK-style pineapple bun connoisseur... and yet, I do sometimes have the urge to just turn into the plaza and grab a bun on the go.

Rating: *** 

Coco's Bistro/Cowboy Coffee

Bakery: Coco's Bistro - Cowboy Coffee 
Address: 255 Vermilion Ave, Princeton, BC
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$

When the bakery in town is already closed, sometimes you have to think outside the box. Okay, okay, in truth, I'd given up reviewing bakeries for the day and was just in the mood for something hot to drink.

Along came Coco's Bistro/Cowboy Coffee (not sure what to do with the dual name; one is listed as a restaurant while the other is the coffee shop, but they do operate from the same space and orders are all taken at the same counter), which not only had a nice selection of tea, but display case(s) of... baked goods (the sign outside advertising bakery treats also helped)! Several types of well-priced squares, slices of coffee cake, cookies - not bad for a cafe/restaurant. Granted, they don't look the most visually-appealing all hermetically sealed in saran wrap.

Of the squares, the apricot cranberry square ($2.50) sounded the most interesting. Sure, it does look a little worse for wear, but biting into it was enough to remove all preconceptions regarding appearance: a unique sweet and tart blend of fruit atop a delicious shortbread crust. It was definitely worth pulling over for this one!

Rating: ***

Farine & Vanille

Bakery: Farine & Vanille 
Address: 5000 Park Ave, Montreal, QC 
Website: https://www.farineetvanille.com/
Style: French, Canadian 
Price: $$ 

Making it a priority to cover the city's most top rated bakeries and those that consistently appear on "best of" lists, I started my latest Montreal tour with artisan bakery Farine & Vanille, who seems to have the distinction of having very good Mexican conchas. That being said, the bakery seems to be more "flour than vanilla" in that their bread selection far outnumbers their sweets, which consist of a couple baked goods (croissants, pains au chocolat, cinnamon brioches and those aforementioned conchas), one type of pound cake and some cookies, I believe. Prices are a bit high and I thought the cost of the conchas in particular a bit steep given they don't entail the same amount of work as, say, French pastries.

Taking all this into account, I went with the cinnamon brioche ($3.75). This golden brown pastry featured a flaky, flavourful dough wound with a nice amount of cinnamon in the form of a drier rub-like mass. Good taste and crisp texture; I liked the glaze on top, but felt that there could have been more of it.

Perhaps Farine & Vanille doesn't necessarily make my quintessential best of, but it's still a solid bakery with a smaller selection of tasty pastries.

Rating: ***

Sushi Bar Nagomi

Bakery: Sushi Bar Nagomi 
Address: 1-280 Gower Point Rd, Gibsons, BC
Website: http://www.sushibarnagomi.com/
Style: Japanese 
Price: $$$

I never have dessert at restaurants. Most of the time it's not even a question worth considering: I'm full and directly after dinner simply isn't my preferred time for dessert. Beyond that, there's nothing really that appealing about the dessert offered and it's definitely not anything worth blogging about. Of course, there have been a few rare exceptions that I wish I could have shared: mandarin cheesecake or sake tiramisu. Faced with a sign on the table at Sushi Bar Nagomi, an authentic, Japanese-run restaurant in Gibsons, advertising homemade "Japanese baked cheesecake", I recalled all those past desserts and thought this was my chance.

Telling myself I would get it if it was $5 or under, I hit a slight roadblock when it turned out being $7. That was my first sign to back out. I didn't. I received a slice of cheesecake with a cheese mass atop a graham cracker crust and embellished with a dollop of whipped cream and ice-encrusted frozen fruit that weren't exactly the most visually appealing choice in terms of decoration....

The cheesecake itself was well, not very Japanese. This was a NY-style cheesecake through and through: from that graham cracker crust to the thick, super dense pure cream cheese filling. And I am not a fan of NY-style cheesecake. I was devastated. The food at Sushi Bar Nagomi is excellent, but the dessert... I'll practice what I preach next time around!

Rating: *1/2

Kuze Fuku & Co. [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Kuze Fuku & Co. 
Address: Inside Tokyo Narita Airport, Terminal 1 
Website: http://www.kuzefuku.jp/
Style: Japanese, Doughnuts 
Price: $$

A bakery at the airport? Really good doughnuts at the airport? The idea is almost unthinkable, but amidst the corridor of stores within Narita Airport's Terminal 1, there it was. And to think that I was convinced I had no more cake tours left to do in Japan! Granted, Kuze Fuku & Co. is actually a chain of small food stores/delis selling gourmet and traditional Japanese food like pickled items, dry fish, seaweed.... They also sell gelato and, whether every location has them or it's just the airport, soy milk doughnuts!

Soy milk or tofu doughnuts seem to be a mainstay on the shopping streets leading to major temples, but in this case, Kuze Fuku & Co. takes these plump, moist, super fresh doughnuts one step further and offers them in about half a dozen unique glazes on top, both classic flavours like chocolate and more traditional Japanese ones.

I was debating between the matcha and the yuzu (Japanese cirtus) tofu doughnuts... and just took both (160 yen each); after all, these were my last few hours in Japan! Biting in, I found the, just as moist and fluffy as I expected them. Maybe they weren't hot from the fryer with that amazing crispy edge like other places, but they were fresh nonetheless and a hot doughnut wouldn't be able to handle the thick glaze on top. The matcha was a thick, flavourful glaze that smoothly coated the doughnut whereas the yuzu was more like a jelly. The winner? The sweet and sour yuzu marmalade was amazing! Tofu/soy milk doughnuts, I will miss you....

Rating: ***1/2

The Bakery Ymir

Bakery: The Bakery Ymir 
Address: 206 Fir St, Ymir, BC
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$ 

As you may already know, I lovely stumbling upon bakeries in the smallest and most unlikely of places. Well, perhaps I shouldn't say unlikely, because in theory every town should have a bakery, but in my travels through Canada, anything the size of Ymir won't have a bakery. And yet Ymir does. It's a wonderful thing, indeed.

The Bakery (also The Post Office?) is housed in a fantastic Gold Rush-style building; inside, the theme is kept up with the sourdough bread, along with more breads and savoury items like spinach and feta pies. Unfortunately, it's not really the place for sweet baked goods, as, in addition to the croissants, they have one item: their cinnamon buns, which are available in large and small.

I grabbed a small. These were freshly-baked and fragrant, though the style was on the dry side, resembling scones, which is not my preferred kind of cinnamon bun. It did have some sticky sections which was nice. Good, but not great with service needing a bit of improvement (or at the very least customer recognition skills...).

Rating: **1/2

Pâtisserie Cocobun

Bakery: Pâtisserie Cocobun
Address: 1500 Atwater Ave, Montreal, QC
Website: http://cocobun.com/
Style: Chinese
Price: $-$$

I was so convinced that I'd already done this bakery that I almost didn't take any pictures! Nevertheless, Cocobun is a small Montreal chain of Chinese bakeries, with four locations in high-traffic underground walkways in or near metro stations (which only seems to up the Asian factor). Every time I walk by this location in Alexis Nihon mall or any others, they're always busy, either with people lining up with trays of sweet and savoury buns, ordering drinks, or workers setting out another fresh batch of baked goods, whether that's Chinese classics like egg tarts and HK-style pineapple buns or a few more 'Western' ones along the lines of chausettes aux pommes and danishes. Despite this lightning-fast turnaround and some of the most reasonably-priced hot and cold tea drinks, Cocobun isn't actually the cheapest Chinese bakery on the block when it comes to those baked goods. Expect to pay on average a "whopping" $3 per item.

Montreal Chinatown used to have these amazing skewer doughnuts - the best I'd ever had - but the bakery closed and, since then, I haven't found another bakery to satisfy that greasy, freshly fried skewer doughnut fix. Sure, I could have easily picked from about a dozen other sweet buns, but at the same time... any place with skewer doughnuts will be tried for that item alone. ^^;;

 The skewer doughnut it was ($2.50). Outwardly, it brought back fond memories with its golden brown, sugared exterior and three big, puffy balls, but biting into it, I didn't find it as crispy on the outside and soft, almost moist on the inside as I wanted it to be. Of course, it was still quite good and the urge to pop into Cocobun whenever you spot one is almost irresistible, but I do have to add that it's not exactly... worth the price. Montreal has an amazing doughnut scene and for that price you could get some really, really good stuff. Fills the need for something sweet on the go without necessarily satisfying any cravings.

Rating: ***

Roggen Meyer [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Roggen Meyer 
Address: 7 Chome-1-1 Kumoidōri, Chūō-ku, Kōbe
Website: http://www.roggenmeyer.jp/
Style: Japanese 
Price: $$ 

Roggen Meyer is another one of these big bakery chains found so easily in Japan; like a great many of these chains, you'll most likely find this bakery in the food zone in department store or station mall basements. The fairly large selection includes many typical sweet and savoury buns along with a couple of more flaky pastries (though the croissants didn't really look that flaky) and of course I spotted some Anpanman buns as well! However, I found the price a bit up there compared to other bakery franchises; in some ways, I would prefer paying that little more and buying something from an independent bakery, but those are a bit more difficult to find, especially in the downtown core....

Wanting a bun for my plane trip, I wanted something that wouldn't get too smushed or messy in transit. The downside is that it wasn't very photogenic either, but I took a classic cream bun (172 yen). It'd been awhile, after all. Despite its simple appearance, the taste was quite good: I liked the fluffy, lightweight texture of the slightly sweet bread and the nice amount of the rich butter cream in the middle. A tasty treat!

Rating: ***

Flaca's Bakery & Bistro

Bakery: Flaca's Bakery & Bistro 
Address: 509 Harold St, Slocan BC
Website: facebook
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$-$$$ 

Hey! There's a bakery in Slocan and it didn't show up at all during my online research, which makes this one a definite lucky find. Located in a small cabin, this teeny tiny cafe has a limited hot food menu, drinks, and -- most importantly -- a very small selection of home-style baked goods and treats (with a few items for those with dietary concerns) like squares and cookies. Not expecting another bakery en route, it was fairly late in the afternoon when I showed up, so from the looks of it, they seemed to have had more earlier in the day, though it couldn't have been that much more, seeing how small the counter space is.

One item that was intriguing was Flaca's unique take on carrot cake ($4.25). There was definitely no icing carrot on top of this generous slice with shaved coconut sprinkled on top of a thick layer of icing. Underneath, the dough was chunky and textured. It's so hard to find these more wholesome, almost granola bar-like carrot cakes, but when you do, they're usually really good; Flaca's was no exception. Not too sweet, super flavourful, and that hint of coconut was an unexpected nice touch. A place that deserves more recognition.

Rating: ***1/2

The Sawdust Bakery

Bakery: The Sawdust Bakery
Address: 3185 Via Centrale, Kelowna, BC
Website: https://www.thesawdustbakery.com/
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$ 

Initially I thought that I'd covered all proper bakeries within Kelowna when I noticed there was one more, waiting to be done. That was The Sawdust Bakery. Fairly out of the way in terms of retail businesses in town, which is always nice, Sawdust Bakery is located on the ground floor of a newer hotel. In some ways, I feel like they're more cafe/bistro than dedicated bakery; I can't help but say that whenever pizza and/or coffee is the headlining feature, so while they do have a small selection of baked goods and cake, I was at the same time a bit disappointed that it had more coffee shop vibes than expected and that a bit of online research beforehand made it seem much more impressive than the saran-wrapped treats that awaited me.

 I had a slice of their carrot cake. I did like that you could see the bits of shredded carrot throughout the dough; it's good when you can say for certain it is indeed a carrot cake and not just any general spice cake. However, a huge fan of that cream cheese icing, this one was definitely lacking, especially given how tall the actual loaf was. The icing should always be a nice thick layer. Personally, I didn't really like how that icing was also flattened by the saran wrap covering the cake slice; luckily, none of that icing stuck to the plastic!

Overall, a bit too much focus on pizza and soup for my liking, but a nice, out-of-the-way spot for those tired of heading downtown or dealing with plazas.

Rating: **1/2

Chai-kobskii [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Chai-kobskii Piroshiki-ya
Address: 8 Chome-1-8-B1F Onoedōri, Chūō-ku, Kōbe (inside Sogo Kobe)
Website: https://www.fs-osakaya.co.jp/piroshiki.html
Style: Russian, Japanese
Price: $$  

If someone told me that there's a Russian pirozhki chain churning out freshly fried stuffed buns with classical music blasting through the speakers, I'll admit the first country that comes to mind isn't Japan. And yet there it is: Chai-kobskii. The Gothic font. Ballet dancers in folk dress. That blasting waltz, making even shouting your order difficult, and walls decorated with musical notes. The line of factory-efficient workers dressed as though they were the head chefs at a Michelin star restaurant. It's brilliant!

In truth, I'd already reached my bakery quota of the day, so I didn't need to stop here, and yet I so did. Despite being featured on my site, Chai-kobskii only offers two types of sweet pirozhki: sugar and red bean. The others are either plain or stuffed with a variety of savoury, meaty fillings.

I had the sugar (130 yen). The assembly line is constantly producing these, so freshness is pretty much guaranteed. Crispy and golden brown on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. This was so delicious -- what a great way (at least one of the sweet ways...) to wrap up my Japan trip!

Rating: ***1/2

Loonie Bin & Bakery

Bakery: Princeton's Loonie Bin & Bakery
Address: 248 Bridge St, Princeton, BC 
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $

Ah, I am such a sucker for puns and "loonie bin" for a dollar store is pure genius. In terms of store combinations, I'm not sure if the first thing that comes to mind is a dollar store and bakery, but with the dedicated in town already closed (before 3!?), I had to take a look.

The Loonie Bin is your standard independent dollar store with a bunch of random stuff that doesn't exactly cost a dollar anymore. It even smells like a dollar store. So, it is a little weird and exciting to turn the corner and find a display case featuring a small selection of baked goods. Everyone online seems to be raving about the fresh doughnuts, but there were none at all in sight. Actually, the shelves looked a bit... barren. Where were the doughnuts when I'm in town? -___-

Amid those empty shelves, there were sausage rolls, some sort of cake, as well as turnover and pastry sticks. After having read those aforementioned online reviews about fresh doughnuts and homemade baked goods, I was genuinely disappointed, especially since the latter two had an undeniably commercial look to them. Kind of like they'd been bought at Superstore as a pack, had been opened and were being sold individually. That fruity filling, that sugar-encrusted puffy dough... in all my bakery visits, I hadn't seen baked goods from a bakery looking so mass-produced in a very long time. I was getting really suspicious....

But it's not a review without the goods. That good was the raspberry stick ($1.50 each). Biting into it brought back memories of grabbing supermarket baked goods as a kid: it featured that typical, not-too flavourful pastry dough with the sugar on top. The notches in the dough were a little too evenly spaced and the two together were a little too identical. The raspberry filling was gloopy, not fruity and the presence of cream cheese (no, please, not cream cheese!) seemed to seal the deal for me. I'd love to give any small-town, local business the benefit of the doubt, but there didn't seem to be any "homemade baked goods" here.

Rating: *