Fort Langley Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Fort Langley Bakery
Address: 9110 Glover Rd, Langley, BC
Website: n/a
Style: Canadian
Price: $$

There are actually two bakeries in downtown Fort Langley. Fort Langley Bakery is the old school one - to an almost overwhelming extent - with its slightly drab interior and no frills display cases  filled with a classic array of typically Canadian baked goods including sqaures, cookies, Nanaimo bars, rum balls, etc.

 Amid all those bake sale-style squares and cookies, I picked out a Copenhagen square. It was one of the few actual baked goods they had. This was exactly what I expected and wanted: flaky outside with a soft moist inside. Maybe the occasional raisin wasn't needed in my opinion, but it had a good glaze for the perfect sweet finish and, most importantly, great taste and texture. Moral of the day: don't underestimate the classic old-school bakery!

Rating: ***

Aoi Tori [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Aoi Tori
Address: 8 Wausan-ro 29-gil, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Website: n/a
Style: Japanese
Price: $$

I'll admit that during my trip to South Korea, I did have moments where I did miss Japan. While I'd encountered quite a few amazing bakeries in my first few days in Seoul, there's nothing like the daintiness and delicacy of Japanese baking. Aoi Tori, somewhat on a back street in Hongdae, is an authentic Japanese-run bakery and cafe. With a couple tables and some "sushi bar" seating on one side and a few shelves of sweet and savoury baked goods in the other corner, it's a  bit on the small side compared to others in the area. What it lacks in size, however, it makes up in overall ambience and - of course - their assortment of buns, sandwiches, French breads and pastries. Their signature items appear to be their melon pan (specifically their green tea ones) and yakisoba sandwiches.

 I am definitely a melon pan fan, so I wanted to test out Aoi Tori's "famous" version. Unfortunately, coming later in the evening, the green tea melon pan was sold out. The only ones available were either original or the seasonal sakura melon pan. I went with the latter (2,800 won). I'll admit, I instantly had doubts and was lucky that someone butted in front of me at the cash, because as I was holding my plastic-bagged bun, I noticed the entire bottom was wet. Running back for another one, I realized that many had the same problem: did they pack them in baggies when they were still too hot?

With its pretty pink outside, it definitely looked pretty, but the melon "shell" was soft and not as crunchy as I liked it. Again, maybe from being bagged too soon. Inside, I was surprised to find it stuffed with a sakura flavoured cream. I had quite a number of melon pan in Japan and never encountered a stuffed one... umm, I wasn't too impressed. I liked the texture and flavour of the bun; again, the top could have been crustier, but there was too much of that cream filling, resulting in a more soggy dough along the bottom. If I returned, I probably wouldn't get another melon pan....

Rating: **1/2  

Boulangerie Patisserie Wellington

Bakery: Boulangerie Patisserie Wellington 
Address: 3990 Rue Wellington, Verdun QC 
Website: n/a 
Style: French, Algerian 
Price: $-$$ 

Along Verdun's main street, there are quite a few bakeries among the other commercial businesses. Boulangerie/Patisserie Wellington is one of them and while it may not exactly have a very creative name, it has the distinction of having, in addition to baskets filled with classic French baked goods and quite a few full-sized and individual cakes, an impressive array of, I believe, Algerian or at least North African/Middle Eastern pastries including several types of baklava along with more unusual sugar syrup-soaked sweets that have been elaborately twisted, folded and piped to form a wide variety of pretty shapes.

The fried dough clusters ($1.50) definitely had to be tried... except if I knew they'd be so cheap, I would have bought more than just one. I only realized once I'd left how little I paid! According to personal research, these are known as "griwech" and consist of several strips of airy dough that have been fried and lightly coated in an orange water-scented syrup and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Unlike their cousins jalebi/zalabia, these were lighter and less sweet, less candy-like; I did like that texture. Very good and a nice discovery on my tour of Verdun!

Rating: ***1/2

Pourtoi [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Pourtoi
Address: 201 Donggyo-ro, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Website: n/a 
Style: Korean
Price: $$

I will admit that given this bakery's less stellar online reviews, especially in comparison to other independent bakeries in Hongdae, made it not a priority on my must-visit list; however, I walked past it purely by chance and thought I might as well just step inside.

Unlike the many quaint or chic bakeries in the area, Pourtoi is nothing fancy; it's a classic Korean bakery that, though it may perhaps resemble bakery franchise giants Paris Baguette and Tous les Jours with its no-nonsense decor and utilitarian shelves of plastic-bagged baked goods, has quite the large, fully-loaded selection of Korean Western-style sweet buns with a few French-inspired surprises here and there. One unusual thing about Pourtoi is that only maybe 25-30% of their baked goods - both sweet and savoury - are labelled. That means no names, descriptions or prices. Which was frustrating, especially since Korean bakeries are normally great with this.

Not wanting to end up with something too extravagant, I took this monster of a cream bun (2,500 won). It was a classic Korean cream bun and I had yet to try one on my trip, so here was my chance. A simple, soft hot dog-shaped bun with some crumble topping and a bit too much powdered sugar cut in half and generously stuffed with choux cream. Maybe there was too much of it at times, but it was delicious: creamy and fluffy, with the soft texture and crumble topping of the bun acting as a perfect complement. Sure, the service was a bit... no-nonsense as well, but Pourtoi proved to be a pleasant surprise. It may have the same vibes as Tous les Jours, but Tous les Jours it certainly is not.

Rating: *** 

Andy's German Bakehaus [RIP]

Bakery: Andy's German Bakehaus 
Address: 935 Commercial Dr, Vancouver BC 
Website: facebook 
Style: German  
Price: $$-$$$ 

This fairly small German bakery on Commercial Drive doesn't seem to have much in terms of size: with their focus seeming to be on various types of, mostly rye, bread, the counter space doesn't have that much room left for the sweets. 

Despite this, Andy's does have a limited selection of probably the most famous examples of German baking; while that may not include Bienenstich or anything along those lines, they do have strudel, Black Forest cake, European-style cheesecake and poppy seed cake. Actually, it's pretty much everything listed on the blue sign outside on the sidewalk.

Naturally, the poppy seed cake (above average price; not expensive) had to be tried. The mass was filled with lots of poppy seed; it was moist and fresh so that it was easy to just take a forkful: mass and cake in one go. The cake itself wasn't too sweet, which was nice, and the dough on the bottom had good texture. A pretty good German classic - after so many years in business, Andy's does indeed know what they're doing! 

Rating: ***  

Deux Copains [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Deux Copains 
Address: 31 Donggyo-ro 27-gil, Mapo-gu, Seogyo-dong, Seoul
Website: n/a 
Style: Korean, European
Price: $$ 

At first I thought this bakery/cafe was perhaps new, seeing as I could find barely any information about it, but turns out it's actually quite a few years old (rather unusual for the very young Hongdae) and is also listed online under its hangul transliteration "듀꼬뱅" (Dyukkobaeng). Nonetheless, Deux Copains - would have loved to see this pun made use of - is a small business that seems more cafe than bakery, judging by how few items they sell... except their cafe pretty much consists of one or two tables, so it's not quite a cafe either except for the fact they have drinks. On both visits, the small selection of baked goods (amounting to a total of about a dozen sweet and savoury treats) was almost cleaned out. The first time, I bought nothing, hoping another attempt would offer me more selection than the bread loaf-shaped cinnamon pastry. The next time, there were a few more savoury items, but among the sweet I had a choice of two items: a plain croissant and that bread loaf-shaped cinnamon pastry.

I took the latter (2,800 won). Perhaps it's not the most promising sign if it's the lone leftover pastry, but I like cinnamon baked goods, so I didn't mind. This was made from flaky French dough wound round with a gooey cinnamon mass and chunks of walnut. I liked the buttery taste and soft texture with the slight crunch of the outside and the nuts were an unexpected surprise. The cinnamon mass could have perhaps used a bit of work given it was dry in some areas and a bit too marmalade-like towards the middle. Definitely a bakery that was worth checking out - despite needing several attempts to actually find something in store.

Rating: ***

Sweet Lee's

Bakery: Sweet Lee's Rustic Bakery 
Address: 4150 Wellington St, Verdun QC 
Website: http://www.sweetlees.ca
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$ 

Amid the refined pastries that fill Montreal's vibrant and delicious bakery scene is this almost unexpected underdog from Verdun; regularly appearing on best-of bakery lists, Sweet Lees is a colourful and eclectic bakery where rustic isn't just in the name alone. Unlike a lot of Montreal bakeries, Sweet Lee's is also not aiming to be a French patisserie. They sell cookies and fruit-loaded muffins. Their baked goods are far from delicate and dainty; on the other hand, they're almost hearty with their golden brown exteriors, fillings stuffed to overflowing or oozing out from the bottom. They're not perfect. They're not pristine. But they do look good.

Granted, the bakery does appear bigger than it really is, with baked goods and cake slices just at the front and an independent cafe operating in the same space along the opposite wall. Their specialty seem to be their cinnamon buns and croissants. At any given time, they have several unique flavours of croissants.

I had the pumpkin and maple ($3.75). These flavoured croissants consist of a croissant that's almost splayed flat and stuffed in the middle with the respective filling. I'm a fan of pumpkin - real pumpkin - so I was looking forward to this. Perhaps I didn't exactly distinguish the maple part in the description, but the pumpkin was delicately spiced and the flaky croissant was a nice complement. The one thing I thought needed improvement was that the filling was pretty much relegated to the middle and there wasn't enough of it for you to enjoy the pumpkin with every bite. A few bites with the pumpkin and the rest was just a standard croissant.

Rating: ***

Wood & Brick [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Wood & Brick 
Address: 170-2 Dangju-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Website: n/a 
Style: Korean, European 
Price: $$ 

Wood and Brick is European-inspired bakery with what appears to be three or four other locations in the area. Stepping inside is like stepping into an Italian bakery and deli with imported products lining the shelves and rustic baked goods scattered here and there with prominently English signage along the walls and on the labels for each item with smaller Korean explanations located alongside Westernized price notation. If Wood and Brick has succeeded in one thing, it's the impression that you've been instantly transported outside Korea. Only the whole grab a tray and tongs ruins that illusion and reminds you that you're in an Asian bakery. XD

Wood and Brick wowed me from the get-go with the fact that they were the first (but not the only) bakery I spotted on my Korea trip that sold kouign amann. As I've said in previous reviews, any time I see a bakery selling kouign amann, I get it. It's a great testament of a bakery's skills. This was no exception. Their kouign amann (3,500 won) came in the most common spiral shape with ribbon-like layers of pastry dough. Excellent crunch with a sticky, sugary bottom, golden brown exterior and buttery taste. The inside was particularly delicious; you could definitely taste the butter there and I liked the both soft and flaky texture. Mmm... so good. The top (pictured) was a little dried out compared with the rest, but what a find!

Rating: ***1/2

Fratelli's Bakery

Bakery: Fratelli Authentic Italian Baking 
Address: 1795 Commercial Dr, Vancouver BC
Website: http://www.fratellibakery.com/
Style: Italian 
Price: $$

Fratelli's (or Fratelli, depending on whether you go with online or in-store signage) is an - authentic - Italian bakery that has a large selection of cakes, pastries, and sweets you'd expect from your Italian bakery. Of course, the addition of not so authentic items like brownies, cupcakes, flans, cookies and loaf cakes make it more an Italian-Canadian bakery (especially when I think the latter far exceeds the Italian pastries in-store), but let's not get into the particulars.

Going with that Italian theme, I chose the tiramisu tart. This was a unique take on the tiramisu, with a cheesy filling inside (and on top) a tart shell. It definitely got bonus points for appearance; it's quite nice. However, the tart was a bit pasty and the cheese cream swirl lacked the traditional tiramisu liquor punch. The coffee and dusting of cocoa still gave it that typical tiramisu flavour, but that paired with a lack of those cream and soaked savoiardi layers made the tiramisu one dimensional. Good, but not fantastic... or should I say fantastico. ;) 

Rating: **1/2

Padoca

Bakery: Padoca
Address: 1440 Rue Amherst, Montréal QC
Website: https://padocapatisserie.com/
Style: Brazilian 
Price: $$-$$$ 

It's been mentioned a few times, but I'm such a sucker for more obscure ethnic baking, so you can imagine my excitement and impatience at getting to try a bite at Padoca. However, despite its self-appointed attribution of "Brazilian patisserie", I really can't dispel the impression that they're more cafe than patisserie: the kind of cafe that also happens to have a decent, not large selection of homemade sweets (slices of cake, chocolate treats and other bite-size snacks) that go great with a coffee or hot chocolate or as a dessert after a meat sandwich/platter. Yes, they even have savoury, meat-stuffed croquettes and fried turnovers so it is indeed quite the meaty place for a patisserie. ;)

Going back to that small counter of sweets, it seemed to revolve around three main ingredients: banana, chocolate, dulce de leche or a combination of the three. The "pastries" are, with a few exceptions, fairly simple and resemble pound cakes. Not being an especial fan of banana bread or anything baked with bananas, I have to admit I felt like my options were very limited.

One of the more elaborate items they have for sale was this nut cake with dulce de leche ($3.80), a downright decadent spice cake with a layer of caramel in the middle and oozing on top with big chunks of nuts. The two paired together as well as the taste was so good. I didn't expect to enjoy that dulce de leche as much I did; however, there was just too much of it and the cake - literally - collapsed under the pressure of all that caramel. Was it because of that middle layer? Personally, the dough was really good. I really would have liked to enjoy more of it.

Rating: ***

Songsabu [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Songsabu
Address: 49-18 Sinchon-ro, Nogosan-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Website: http://www.songsabu.com 
Style: Korean, Croquettes 
Price: $ 

While technically not a bakery, Songsabu is a chain of croquette shops. You know, panko-encrusted, dough stuffed with a variety of mostly savoury fillings. Most operate as stalls in what looks like department stores and high-traffic areas like bus stations (at least one in Seoul South was spotted), but they do also have a few standalone stores, like this one by Sinchon station. As mentioned, Songsabu sells mostly savoury items and their sweets are few; however, they do indeed have some sweet buns and they also happen to have twist doughnuts. Items are very well priced at around 1000 won each and seem to always come fresh, fried and extra crispy.

 Like these golden brown twist doughnuts (at a can't-be-beat 800 won). They may not be the most sugar-coated, especially compared to their competition, but these positively crackled upon biting into them. The outside had amazing crunch! Inside, soft and slightly chewy made this one of the best twist doughnuts (taking the silver medal, in fact) on the trip - because, yes, many were sampled. So glad I looked past the croquettes.

Rating: ***1/2

Savary Island Pie Company

Bakery: Savary Island Pie Company
Address: 1533 Marine Dr, West Vancouver BC 
Website: http://savaryislandpiecompany.com/
Style: Canadian, English 
Price: $$$$

I recall driving past this pie shop once, but I was unable to find parking and just wrote it off for another day. For one, I do like pies, but I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan; I also find that, in comparison to other baked goods of various styles, pies are generally overpriced and I prefer spending that kind of money on other types of goodies. This is especially true of Savary Island, whose pies are expensive. Very expensive. $34 for a whole is a record that I don't think can be beat. $7.50 turns a slice of pie into a bit of a luxury (especially if you want to top it off with ice cream). However, for those not into pie, this pie company also has a small selection of bread and other, thoroughly old-fashioned English baked goods like scones, brownies and muffins. At $11 for a loaf of bread and $6 for a butter tart, it's just as jaw-dropping as the pies, though.

I took a cinnamon bun ($4.50) from the hot zone. Once I got the chance to eat it, the icing had solidified a bit, but there was lots of cinnamon and it was gooey. The dough was soft and the bun was pretty good, overall.

I guess the thing is that a warm pie is comfort food; it's a simple, everyday treat and overcharging for it so it becomes out of reach for normal people kind of defeats the purpose.

Rating: ***  

Melina's Phyllo Bar

Bakery: Melina's Phyllo Bar
Address: 5733 Park Ave, Montreal QC
Website: facebook
Style: Greek 
Price: $$$

No, it's not a bakery - it's a phyllo bar! Melina's is a small, hole-in-the-wall snack bar and cafe with seating for just a few people that specializes in flaky, layered dough in any shape or form. And everyone knows some of the best stuff to come from Greece involves phyllo dough; naturally, though they have savoury items such as spanakopita and tiropita, I'm specifically referring to the sweet side of things: most famously baklava along with kataifi and honey syrup-soaked pies. Some even come warmed up and cut up into bite-sized pieces for your convenience (because it's not easy breaking off phyllo, after all).

It being a cold, rainy and thoroughly miserable day, I went with the only sweet served warm: the bougatsa ($4.30). Bougatsa is a sort of flaky pie stuffed with custard. Melina's version was rich and comforting with thick, decadent custard and layers of crunchy and chewy dough. Not too much custard (which is sometimes the case), not too much dough: just right.

Rating: ***

Tarr Tarr [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Tarr Tarr 
Address: 21 Wausan-ro 29-gil, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Website: n/a 
Style: Korean, Cake 
Price: $$$

Among the ridiculously many cafes scattered through Hongdae, there are a number of dessert cafes that serve homemade cake and pastries. One of these is Tarr Tarr, a more upscale cafe and cake shop that sells pretty little individual cakes and tarts in unique flavours; labels do include an English description. Unlike many dessert cafes, Tarr Tarr has everything laid out on two counters and you pick it yourself: bakery style. Prices are definitely up there and they do happen to be quite expensive. I guess pretty doesn't come cheap.

 The matcha chocolate tart (6,700 won) sounded like a good flavour combination. In truth, it was probably more cupcake than tart with the cake bottom and swirl of green tea icing that was studded with chunks of cake - I guess you don't see it when it's in its little cardboard square. Biting into it, I found the dough very dense, very much resembling a brownie. The green tea topping, with its fluffier, more whipped texture, was very good; I was definitely happier with that than had it turned out to be frosting, which I didn't want. The two components together were tasty. I'm just not sure if it was necessarily worth paying that much for what was, in truth, green tea brownie.... It didn't feel all that special in the end, though it was one of the trip's "splurges".

Rating: ***

Lisboa Bakery and Deli

Bakery: Lisboa Bakery and Deli
Address: 735 Twain Ave, Mississauga ON 
Website: https://www.lisboabakeryanddeli.com/
Style: Portuguese 
Price: $$ 

I always feel like any Portuguese bakery and deli that sells hot chicken ends up shoving all the baked goods to the back seat, but Lisboa, despite having a bit of everything (including imported products, hot food, and bread) does still have a decent bakery section with rows of cakes and pastries behind the counter along with a rack of larger coconut rings and coffee cakes by the door and some baked goods right at the cash. Perhaps you can't expect the same selection as a full-fledged bakery, but at the same time, Lisboa is a great option for the area...

 And they have malasadas! ($1.50) Oh yeah! The humble Portuguese version of the doughnut is actually not that easy to find in Mississauga. Believe me. There are quite a few Portuguese bakeries, but no one makes them - and definitely not on a regular basis. This was a nice and big doughnut, golden brown with slightly chewy dough and an almost hollowed out centre (not sure if it was intentional or not) that made the underside a little more crispy - yummy!

Out of the very few other baked goods they had, I also tried their custard pastry ($3.00). I would have liked the other styles of custard or coconut pastries Portuguese bakeries usually have, but they didn't have those. Layers of flaky dough with plenty of custard filling, it's personally not my favourite one, but it was good. Maybe not worth it in comparison to the malasada, but I do love my malasadas. ;)

Rating: ***

Faubourg

Bakery: Faubourg 
Address: 2156 W 41st Ave, Vancouver BC
Website: http://faubourg.com/
Style: French 
Price: $$$

If you're craving an extra dose of  glitz and glamour with your pastry and coffee, there's always Faubourg. Faubourg is a French patisserie and cafe that may not really be from Paris (don't let them fool you!), but they do have four locations throughout Vancouver. With their bags à la Louis Vuitton, Ladurée-inspired decor and perhaps a hint of phonetically similar Fauchon thrown in for fun, Faubourg aims to take you to the pinnacle of cake and pastry... and despite outwardly trying a bit too hard, they do succeed, and to great effect. Just be prepared to be pay for it.

Amid their fancy French standards such as choux pastries, lemon tarts and croissants in addition to savoury sandwiches, I picked out the coffee operette ($6.50). Well constructed and paired, the caramel crisp bottom went well with the smooth and decadent creamy fruit layers, all with an extra bit a chocolate on top of the cake. The jelly top was refreshingly sweet and a little sour with a strong punch of blueberry flavour. It's been awhile since I'd had something so exquisitely put together with delicate, complex flavours. Simply very refined. This was highly recommended, though a bit expensive. 

Rating: ***1/2

Gordes Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Gordes Bakery Cafe
Address: 32 Yonsei-ro, Sinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul
Website: n/a 
Style: Korean 
Price: $$ 

Right in the heart of Sinchon's shopping area is Gordes, a smaller bakery and cafe (seating is upstairs) with a limited selection of both sweet and savoury baked goods (with both Korean and English labelling), though I feel like the sweet was somewhat lacking. This may also be because I came here at around 7pm. Nonetheless, given the copious number of trays, their signature item seems to the red bean bread: a ciabatta-style bun cut in half and filled with red bean jam and a (very) thick slab of butter. I was thinking of trying this somewhere along the road and never got around to it, and I passed it up here.

Instead, I got the lemon pastry (2,700 won): a sort of flower-shaped bundt cake/pastry made from slightly flaky dough rolled with some jam and dusted with icing sugar. Not too sweet and with just the right hint of lemon, this was soft and moist on the inside with that slight crunch on the outside. It looked pretty in store, but I didn't expect it to taste as good as it did.

Rating: ***

Croissant Croissant

Bakery: Croissant Croissant 
Address: 2270 Mont-Royal Ave E, Montreal QC
Website: facebook
Style: French 
Price: $$ 

I was sure I'd already covered all the bakeries I needed to cover until I crossed the street and there was Croissant Croissant, a quaint, slightly quirky cafe with an old world vibe that also happens to bake their own small selection of baked goods. Yes, in some ways, despite the name, Croissant Croissant doesn't really qualify as a bakery as they don't bake bread and they don't really make any sort of cakes either for it to count as a patisserie, but what they do make is their croissants and other French dough-based goodies. The appellation "cafe & viennoiserie" is indeed quite apt.

Among their limited selection were several unique varieties of croissants - without a doubt their signature item - along with classic French bakery staples and a few slightly more inventive pastries. Croffins, anyone?

Having never seen one before, I grabbed an orangine ($2.80). Identical to the chocolatine situated right next to it except for the orange sprinkled along the top, I'll confess that I was expecting a lot more orange and a lot less chocolate. Do you remember Terry's chocolate oranges? Those ball-shaped chocolates that you smash to form "slices"? Essentially, it was a Terry's chocolatine. Perhaps it was my bad for not asking beforehand, but logically, a chocolatine contains chocolate, an abricotine contains apricot and an orangine... orange, right? For someone thinking it was an orange pastry, not a chocolate pastry, it was a bit of a disappointment. Dough was fantastic, though, flaky and flavourful with that unmistakable crunch. I just wasn't planning on chocolate that day.

Rating: **1/2

Guschlbauer

Bakery: Guschlbauer 
Address: 690 Yonge St, Toronto ON
Website: https://guschlbauer.ca/
Style: Chinese, Asian 
Price: $$$$ 

Guschlbauer, a newer bakery along pretty bakery-barren Yonge St, is a bit of a head scratcher. Really, the whole Austrian story is bit... not necessarily far-fetched, but superfluous. The only thing that needs mentioning is that Guschlbauer is one of those "European" bakeries operating in Asia and featuring westernized, but not quite western baked goods. Transplanting this pseudo-European franchise to downtown Toronto, Guschlbauer loses all that western influence and turns into an upscale Chinese bake shop selling a small number of select item, much of which involves some sort of cheese filling. Irrespective of that, there's another issue that needs to be addressed: why is Guschlbauer so expensive!? You can get some amazing stuff at other bakeries and patisseries for the same price or even less; honestly, I don't see cream cheese stuffed buns and chocolate pastries being worth that much....

 I tried the matcha cheese tart ($2.20). This was surprisingly reasonably priced and had a slightly chewy crust with a thick and sticky dollop of cream cheese inside a tart shell. The matcha was definitely lacking; the colour alone was enough to see that. Personally, I was not a fan. I couldn't dispel the impression that you just took a giant wad of cream cheese from a bagel counter and slathered it in a shell, both of which weren't sweet enough to make it feel more like a dessert... more bagel than pastry.

The messy chocolate bun ($9.80) was essentially a pain au chocolat underneath a thick dusting (hence messy) of cocoa powder. There was nothing worth mentioning regarding the quality of the cocoa and chocolate used. Dough had nice amount of layers with good flaky texture, but the taste simply couldn't compare to a good French bakery. Um, why on earth is it $10 before tax!?!

Rating: **

Patisserie Graz [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Patisserie Graz
Address: 181, Euljiro 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
Website: n/a 
Style: Korean 
Price: $$ 

Located in an underground passageway on the way to Euljiro 1-ga metro station, Graz was a hard one to find afterwards. I was surprised it had almost no online presence besides one Korean website reviewing it since it's in a pretty high traffic area and seems to get a constant flow of customers.

Maybe it's not the coolest bakery in town owing to its somewhat dated feel, but they have a fairly wide selection of baked goods (Korean only signage), European-style tarts and cakes and chocolates, though to tell the truth, it appears most people are here for their sandwiches. Despite this high traffic and homey decor, I also found it a bit on the expensive side with some simple buns costing ~2000 won more than I'd seen them elsewhere, which I thought excessive.

If I was going to pay more, I thought I might as well go all out... okay, not exactly all out, but beyond the bun. The name for this treat was "chocopie" (4000 won). No, not that Chocopie. It wasn't coated in chocolate and stuffed with a fake marshmallow filling, but it was a slice of pie. Chocolate pie. I'll admit, it was a pretty novel concept. Biting into it was even more novel. The darker, saucier swirl which I took to be chocolate syrup at first was actually blueberries interlaced in the chocolate dough. This dough wasn't as chocolatey as it seemed; in truth, it tasted like a blueberry chocolate chip muffin inside a pie shell with slivered almonds on top. This muffin-like taste and consistency also made this not as it overwhelmingly sugary as it appeared. It was nice - and quite good. Still not really worth the price, to be quite honest, but a tasty, wholly unique treat nonetheless.

Rating: ***