Epicerie Boulangerie Patisserie Russe Vova

Bakery: Epicerie Boulangerie Patisserie Russe Vova
Address: 3055 Boulevard LaSalle, Verdun QC 
Website: facebook
Style: Russian, Eastern European 
Price: $$ 

This Russian deli has a little bit of everything, including breads, baked goods and cakes. Essentially, Vova does sound much better than it really is, especially in terms of what is of most concern to the Cake Tour. In one corner of this jam-packed store, there is a shelf of baked goods, most of which are not as Russian as you'd expect. These include squares, muffins and croissants along with a few fruit and poppy seed buns. Judging from online pictures, they seem to make their own custom cakes; however, I was disappointed to find that the cake section in-store consisted of treats baked by commercial bakeries in Toronto.

Finding what little slab cakes they had to be a bit on the pricey side, I of course went first and foremost with the poppy seed bun ($2.50). Russian-style poppy seed buns (especially the poppy seed mass) are among my favourites. This one, on the other hand, was very doughy and... where was the poppy seed mass? That strip on top was pretty much all of it. Good in taste as a sweet egg bun, but it just didn't live up to my expectations.

I also grabbed a piece of "mazurka" ($1.90). This was a small square with a shortbread bottom with a layer of jam and big chunks of nuts. A nice variation on the icing-laden, doughy Polish version - definitely the highlight of the two.

Rating: **1/2