181 Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: 181 Bakery (181烘培坊)
Address: No. 181, Zhongshan Road, Hualien
Website: https://www.181bakery.com/
Style: Chinese, French
Price: $$ 

Let's admit that the title of "French bakery" doesn't exactly mean all that much in Asia. In most cases, you'll be hard pressed to find anything French besides croissants. However, sometimes a "French" bakery may surprise you and you can find more there than you expected. While the Eiffel Tower outside may not coincide with all the items sold in-store such as typically Taiwanese bread varieties, 181 does have a larger- and more authentic-than-average selection of rustic breads, flaky French pastries, cookies and elegant cakes. In fact, I was pretty impressed - and not just for Hualien.

Quite a number of items looked appealing, but one pastry definitely caught my eye: was that a kouign amann?! The label "焦糖奶油酥" comes out as creme brulee, but I think that might be a mistranslation or an unintended combination of characters. Literally caramel butter pastry works. Whatever. The eyes don't play tricks and I knew what I was looking at. I never pass up a kouign amann, so the caramel butter pastry ($48) it was. The pastry was rich and flaky with a nice caramelized crust on top; it was definitely one of the better attempts at French pastries in Taiwan (and believe me, I tried a lot). The major minus? While I enjoyed the top, the bottom just a thick layer of that caramelized sugar that it cracked off like pieces of candy. Totally out of proportion with the rest of the pastry, too brittle, too out of sync with the dough, too sweet. It had the potential for an even higher score and that candy bottom blew it.

Rating: ***

Copper Kettle Cafe

Bakery: Copper Kettle Cafe
Address: 312 Dundas St E #4, Waterdown, ON
Website: https://copperkettlecafe.ca/
Style: Apple Fritters 
Price: $$

A few weeks back, I had a huge craving for apple fritters. I mean, who doesn't love apple fritters? Finding new spots to try apple fritters, on the other hand, isn't that easy. Just for fun and expecting little results in return, I typed apple fritters into good old Google Maps and this undiscovered cafe popped up. Copper Kettle isn't a bakery, but it is a cafe with a difference. And that difference is their fritter station. That's right, these fritters, coming in standard apple or pear, are fried to order. Wait 10-15 minutes and you've got a box (because, really, how could you order less) of piping hot, fragrant fritters. Oh yeah!

Unlike the doughnut variety you'll encounter at bakeries, Copper Kettle's fritters ($8.75 for 6) consist of whole rings of apple that are battered in a light, fluffy dough, fried to perfection and then rolled in sugar. The warm, softened fruit is the star attraction but there's just the right amount of dough for you to also get your doughnut fix. Crunchy on the outside, soft and steaming on the inside - these were phenomenal and worthy of that highly coveted perfect score! It was rather unfortunate that the in-store experience was so unpleasant and you're thrown out the back door like a dirty leper before getting your fritters; I wish businesses would try harder to make their customers feel comfortable.... But in the end the amazing, fresh apple fritter trumps all.

Rating: ****

Hazukido [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Hazukido (八月堂)
Address: No. 100, Guolian 1st Road, Hualien (Pop-up Shop)
Website: http://www.hazukido.com
Style: Croissants
Price: $$ 

The uh, pseudo-Japanese Taiwanese way of the croissant? It is indeed the best way to describe Hazukido, a bakery chain with international aspirations (as much as I dislike such ventures, I am kind of looking forward to their Canadian opening) and a rather adorable three-croissant crest on indigo that clearly shows this place is all about the croissant. After all, it's literally all they sell: about a half dozen varieties of croissant. At least, maybe they sell more at a legitimate shop, but the pop-up stand (presuming it's pop-up simply because it's no longer appearing on their website and it definitely seemed like a novelty when I was there) had two small rows of about six croissant varieties in total. These croissant varieties mostly came in the form of a glaze or some sort of topping; some - at least according to their diagram on their website - are filled, but I wasn't aware of that on site.

Of their selection, the "raspberry croissant" ($48) definitely appealed to me the most. I love raspberries, and as I said in an earlier post, finding baked goods with fruit was fairly rare in Taiwan, so I absolutely jumped at the chance. This consisted of a classic plain croissant coated in a slightly tart, slightly chewy fruity glaze that was then topped with a dusting of matcha powder and freeze-dried strawberries?... which got me wondering if the "raspberry" label in English was completely accurate and it wasn't actually "strawberry". No matter. I loved the glaze and just the overall concept was refreshing, but for a place that sells nothing but croissants, their specialty better be good and it was there that they fell rather flat. Specifically the croissant dough itself, which was neither flaky nor buttery enough. It was good in taste, but too soft in texture.

Rating: ***

Cami Cake Shop [Mimi's World Tour]

 Bakery: Cami Cake Shop (巧味餅舖)
Address: No. 13, Taoyuan Street, Zhongzheng District, Taipei
Website: facebook
Style: Chinese
Price: $$

The title of "cake shop" can seem a bit deceiving, at least in English. Operating out of a small nook just south of busy Hengyang Rd., this stand actually sells different types of fried food, both sweet and savoury. This includes stuffed pastries, flat round 'cakes' and mountains of sugar-coated dough twists. In a sense, not quite a bakery and probably ambitious enough to be called a cake shop either.

Those candied dough twists (糖酥麻花捲) looked more appetizing than they usually do, so I couldn't resist. The label said they were $25, buy 10 get 1 free. I was pretty confused and a little concerned, secretly hoping that one $25 portion didn't mean just one dough twist. To my relief, a little plastic bag was produced and the twists were tossed inside a bit haphazardly. Suffice to say, the single portion wasn't 10 + 1 either, since I definitely didn't count even 10 going in. It was a little frustrating that there seemed to be a deliberate preference towards the smallest, most sugary dough bits too...Taste-wise, there was a lot more sugar pooling (i.e. big chunks of pure sugar stuck to the dough) than there first looked; it would have been better if it were more evenly distributed. The dough was nicely fried with an airy centre that got nice and chewy once it started absorbing liquid. Pieces were less of these clots of pure sugar were pretty tasty and surprisingly addictive, but in the end, I still wasn't sure what was going on with the pricing/portions and I never like that feeling.

Rating: ** 

Fragrance [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Fragrance (滿庭芳烘焙專賣店)
Address: No. 100 1-2A, Guolian 1st Road, Hualien
Website: n/a
Style: Chinese
Price: $$ 

While this local bakery's main location is in town, their very convenient offshoot within the train station itself is a perfect stop for those passing through Hualien. I'm always frustrated on finding that high-traffic spots such as train stations and malls are a monopoly for big bakery chains, so it was nice to see a small bakery take over some prime retail. Fragrance is in every sense a typical train station bakery: plenty of selection that includes a little bit of everything (including a few less frequent French treats like macarons, cannele and croissants) combined with good prices. Upon closer examination, they had less sweet baked goods than I expected - don't get fooled by their array of bagels!

I went with their cinnamon bun ($30). Sometimes simple is best, but I found this bun lacking in that certain something that makes a baked good well, good - both in terms of appearance and taste. The dough was a little more airy and hard than the soft, foamy bread you'll find at most bakeries, which was a nice change; however, it was also quite dry. And it simply needed some fun: a little glaze, a drizzle of icing, anything! Not bad, but nothing remarkable either. In a sense, a typical train station bakery, after all.

Rating: **1/2

Kostas Greek Bakery

Bakery: Kostas Greek Bakery
Address: 265 Ellesmere Rd, Scarborough, ON 
Website: https://www.kostasgreekbakery.com/
Style: Greek
Price: $$ 

Though the meat market and deli of the same name located right next door seems to enjoy more renown and crowds than its neighbour, Kostas is a well-stocked bakery filled with one glass case after another of both traditional Greek pastries and desserts - both perennial classics and more unique sweets you may not find at all Greek bakeries - along with a lovely array of more pan-European cake slices. Honestly, Kostas is one of these rare bakeries where you have such a hard time picking out one item, simply because everything looks good. The prices being fairly reasonable, you do have some leeway when it comes to getting more than you initially came for.

 Every trip to a new Greek bakery merits a slice of classic baklava ($2.50).  This one was oozing in honey syrup and had a nice amount of nuts in between the thin layers of filo dough. The bottom layer got a little soggy, but it was nonetheless an excellent example of what makes Greek baklava the best.

I also gave a slice of ravani ($2.50) a try. I've seen this semolina-based cake in its original variety before; it's certainly more prominent in Lebanese bakeries than in Greek, but I've never seen any different versions. This one had the same syrup-soaked semolina sponge cake with a hint of orange and it was that orange that really set it apart. There was indeed a reason why the tin was almost empty!

That should have been it had I not spotted the sugar doughnuts ($2.00) at the cash. Literally the size of a dinner plate, these doughnuts are huge! Granted the whole in the middle is larger than average, but that thinner, less puffy dough allowed the doughnuts to be nice and crispy with every bite. What a find - so glad I unexpectedly stumbled on this bakery!

Rating: ***1/2