Soul Bagel

Bakery: Soul Bagel
Address: 3515 Bathurst St, North York, ON
Website: https://www.soulbagel.ca/
Style: Jewish
Price: $$-$$$ 

Soul Bagel... I have a bunch of mixed emotions with this predominantly bagel bakery. It's certainly one of the most conflicted ratings I had to make. Nonetheless, in addition to those eponymous bagels, this bagel also carries a smaller selection of bread and baked goods that consist of bagel bakery classics like chocolate danishes, cookies and strudels alongside more standard bakery fare like turnovers and Portuguese custard tarts (which truly are everywhere now).

Why the conflicted rating? Because their chocolate buffalo ($3.99) was excellent. Everything was spot on, from the decadent chocolate mass that wasn't too gooey (like it sometimes is) and the both crunchy and soft dough to that fantastic crumble on top, which was a perfect compliment to the harder, more cookie-like top. Two other chocolate buns from two different bakeries were also bought on the same day and Soul Bagel's was without a doubt the unanimous winner.

After that, it started going downhill... First of all, this was one of the very, very few bakeries that merited a comment regarding in-store experience/customer service. The worker was in a pretty bad mood and didn't even bother to answer my question when I inquired whether they had anything with poppy seed besides the large tray strudels (I mean, it would be easier if items were actually labelled/priced in the first place). He just tossed the aforementioned strudel onto the counter and asked "are you taking it or not?". Ouch. Even with the knowledge this was a new bakery for the Tour, I was considering just walking out.

Well, I guess I did end up with that poppy seed strudel ($10). I was in such a mood for poppy seed baked goods, after all. Removing two of those little buns, I was immediately disappointed at how little poppy seed filling there was inside. More than that, the dough had no taste whatsoever. Neither the bread nor the filling was sweet, resulting in something that resembled a dinner roll in both taste and texture. You almost want to cut them in half and serve with butter. Honestly - and I don't like being a meanie, but I'm a poppy seed aficionado - this had to be one of the worst poppy seed baked goods I've had... in a really long time, at any rate. As such: chocolate buffalo 3.5 + service 1 + poppy seed strudel 2 =

Rating: **