Anderson Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Anderson Bakery (安徒生精緻烘焙屋)

Address: No. 73, Yanping South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei

Website: n/a

Style: Chinese

Price: $$ 

This quiet side street doesn't get nearly as much pedestrian traffic as all the roads around it do; I never actually noticed there was a bakery right next to Zhongshan Hall until doing my research. I don't seem to be the only one, because Anderson Bakery was a quiet place with no one really there. The selection was fairly standard, the focus being what I would call subs and sandwiches, but my first impression was that it was all very similar. It's almost as if they used the exact same dough for every baked good made, both sweet and savoury. Everything kind of just looked like a golden yellow, mildly crusty pineapple bun, some with toppings, some filled, some plain. 

Looking for something a bit more unique, I got the coffee pineapple bread ($25). Um, yes, it too was a variety of pineapple bread. See, I wasn't joking! The concept was actually a good one: take the fragrant coffee topping of a coffee bread and make it all crusty like a pineapple bread. It smelled really good, but I was disappointed that it wasn't as crusty as it looked. Also, it was a bit of a ripoff because there was this big air bubble under the crust, so that when you bit down on it, the crust kind of chunked off on its own. The bread underneath was a bit lacklustre with that slightly foamy texture I'm not too fond of.

Rating: **1/2

饅天香手作饅頭 [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: 饅天香手作饅頭 (Man Tianxiang Steamed Bread)

Address: No. 59-20, Section 1, Zhonghua Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei

Website: facebook 

Style: Steamed Bread, Chinese

Price: $$ 

Conveniently located right next to exit 2 of Ximen MRT station, this may not be entirely worth of a Cake Tour. I initially checked this steamed bread stand out while on the hunt for a quick, not necessarily sweet snack. After all, my apartment may not have had a microwave, but for whatever reason it had a rice cooker with a steamer attachment, making it possible to warm, freshly steamed bread. This particular stand sold around 18-20 different varieties of steamed bread, most of which includes some sort of pasty filling, and a few breakfast items like sandwiches. Since my visit, they seem to have introduced a selection of cute characters. How come I couldn't have a bear, cat or Pikachu bun? *pouts* 

I'd previously developed a sort of soft spot for the rather unusual fusion of steam bread and cheddar cheese, so I tried it here as well. For my sweet selection, I didn't want any sort of bean/lotus paste, so I went with the simple brown sugar ($20). This was a nice and fluffy, delicately sweetened bun, but the burnt sugar smell was pretty off-putting; it wasn't a caramel or molasses smell, it was simply burnt. Sugar gone wrong. It was almost weird because the bread didn't taste burnt, so if you got past the smell, it wasn't bad, but it was it ever hard to get past that smell! Suffice to say, the cheese was my favourite. 

Rating: **

Hartmanns Bakery

Bakery: Hartmanns Bakery

Address: Westgate Public Market, 2090 10 Ave SW, Salmon Arm BC

Website: http://hartmannsbakery.ca/

Style: German

Price: $$$ 

 

I don't know if it's because I never really go this way when in Salmon Arm or this is a newer bakery, but I remember driving down the highway and wondering if that bakery sign was there before. It can't be so old, can it? Disregarding its age, Hartmanns Bakery is certainly busy. I don't remember the last time I had so many people in front of me at a bakery, and those being particularly voracious, buying out every single thing in sight until it was my turn... and I was greeted with an empty display case. It's not often I have to ask that dreaded question: are those the only sweets you have left? 

I asked to no avail: I was left with two remaining cookie varieties, both with about three or four cookies left each. What in addition to those two cookies and the chocolate pastry the man in front of me bought out Hartmanns sells is a mystery. Do they have more sweets earlier on in the day? Or are they a bread-focused bakery and don't bother with more baked goods and sweet treats? All I remember is empty shelves.... 

I'm not the biggest fan of buying cookies at a bakery. I prefer baking my own and find that they're too expensive for what they are. It doesn't cost me much to bake cookies, even with butter and all the good stuff. These I found very expensive. I had the apricot shortbread ($2.40) and a "bobbes" ($3.20). The shortbread was good and had a homemade feel to it, but again it was something I could have made myself. The star of the show had to be the bobbes: a sort of layered shortbread monstrosity (LOL) with marzipan and nuts. It didn't look like anything special at first, but mmm, this was delicious! 

Rating: ***

Astoria [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Astoria (明星西點麵包)

Address: No. 7, Section 1, Wuchang St, Zhongzheng District, Taipei 

Website: facebook

Style: Chinese  

Price: $$$ 

Quite a few posts back I mentioned that I didn't have any bakeries that got points docked for service in the foreseeable future. So I totally forgot about Astoria. Astoria has been around for a long time and its interior seems to evoke the Old World, yet at the same time there is something indescribably Soviet about it - they run a Russian cafe upstairs as well. 

I was doing research beforehand and read something about Astoria's cakes. While they do have a more unique selection of cookies, marshmallows and cake slices in addition to a small variety of standard baked goods you'll find anywhere, the prices are a bit steeper and the staff certainly leave something to be desired. To wordlessly snatch my tray from my hands and ask "what do you want" when the lady afterwards could pick everything herself, I'll never forget that. I'm surprised they at least threw my cake in a plastic bag, though they did it rather harshly. Ouch. Every time I walked past Astoria after that, I felt angry and upset just looking at it. 

I still did take a cake slice, though. The honey cake, to be exact ($60). The cake had a very good aroma and a honeycomb look that outwardly reminded me a little of cannelé. I thought this would make the cake moist and give it a great texture, but it was very gummy, almost as if they'd added rice flour. Not to mention it had no distinct flavour. Honey cakes are usually more subtle, but this tasted like nothing. To tell you the truth, it wasn't all that good - and don't forget that minus half a point for in-store experience. 

Rating: **

Lucky Gift [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Lucky Gift (喜之坊)

Address: No. 422, Guangfu South Road, Da’an District, Taipei 

Website: https://lucky-gift.waca.tw/

Style: Chinese

Price: $$ 

The one thing I associate Lucky Gift with is being totally drenched and waiting under their roof, hoping for the downpour to stop. Why, my umbrella is even in the location shot. -_- Nonetheless, the bakery itself doesn't really sound like a bakery. Somehow I picture some sort of shop for buying money envelopes and lucky cats.... the fact that their front window shows various gift boxes (and a TV) further heightens this idea of it being a souvenir store or some sort of gimmick; however, beyond that front window, this business is indeed a rather standard bakery and everyone there is loading their trays with green onion or pineapple buns just like every other cheap bakery with a large variety of bread. Maybe somewhere along the way they have a section dedicated to gift boxes, but really, no one seems all too interested in that. 

That, of course, is not to say that this bakery was bad. On the contrary. I got the custard bun ($23) because it seemed to be particularly popular that day and I was pleased by my decision. Outwardly, it didn't look any different, but the dough was fluffy and soft with a nice, tasty cream stuffed in the middle. Not too much and not too thick in consistency (I really don't like when the cream filling gets a little too snotty for my liking), it was simple yet good. Nothing fancy and perhaps it's not worth getting a gift box from this place, but I liked it. 

Rating: ***

Fika

Bakery: Fika

Address: 28 Kensington Ave, Toronto ON

Website: http://fika.ca/

Style: Swedish, Scandinavian

Price: $$$ 

 

I have actually know about Fika's existence for many a year but never really thought of it as more than just a coffee shop. Somehow, whether it was through reading an old review or casually checking out the chalkboard outside in the good old days, I knew this lovely Nordic-style cafe had sandwiches (open-faced, of course) and had to have some sort of sweets (it being Fika, after all), but never expected anything beyond their ginger snaps and brownies. Turns out they sell a few more pastries than I expected; many aren't necessarily super Scandinavian but the classic Swedish cinnamon buns (your only destination for them in the GTA since the sole Swedish bakery closed its doors too long ago) were, though a pleasant surprise, still relatively understandable, but I never expected to find *that*. 

I actually didn't buy this in person, but was instead greeted with a small package and "I got you a cardamom bomb". At first, my mind didn't register what exactly a cardamom bomb was, but I soon knew. It's a semla... wait a minute, FIKA HAS SEMLOR!!? One of the best Swedish baked goods, this is a cross between a fluffy sweet bun and a doughnut. Add to that an extra delicious helping of cardamom and whipped cream and you've got an amazing baked good. I feel like this one couldn't beat the first semla I had, but despite being a bit unmanageable in terms of the amount of whipped cream, wow. 

Rating: ***1/2

Oma's Deli Deli German Bakery [Mimi's Cake Tour]

Bakery: Oma's Deli Deli German Bakery

Address: No. 406-1, Section 4, Ren'ai Road, Da’an District, Taipei 

Website: http://oma-de.com/

Style: German 

Price: $$-$$$ 

Let's all admit that you have to greet any "European" bakery in any country in Asia with a certain degree of skepticism. You can't be prepared for anything remotely authentic, but sometimes you can be surprised. Oma's falls into the surprised category. I don't know about the restaurant portion of their business, but I was rather impressed with their small bakery counter, though most of the selection was bread, rolls and more savoury items. Perhaps it didn't all scream German, but there was certainly a European aspect to everything. Yes, it may have been amplified by the fact that the customer in front of me was an older German lady (who tried - and failed - to address the staff in German XD), but it wasn't bad in terms of authenticity. Items are labelled in German, Chinese and English.

Honestly, I just wished they had more sweet selections! Some poppy seed buns or cake? ;) There was something I really wanted, but it was sold out... and I don't remember what it was. Instead, I felt like I almost had to take the cinnamon bun ($50) by default; there wasn't that much else I could have picked from. However, I was very impressed by the texture of the dough, both hard, a little crusty along the edges and soft and cinnamon-loaded towards the inside. Excellent icing on top. This was flavourful and delicious. Most importantly, it wasn't European-inspired, it didn't have the same fluffy dough you'll encounter at every single bakery - it was the real deal and it was good! 

Rating: ***1/2

Your Sun Bread & Cake [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Your Sun Bread & Cake (優仕紳烘焙館)

Address: No. 22-1, Gongyuan Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei

Website: https://www.ussbakery.com.tw/

Style: Chinese

Price: $$ 

 

Despite its fancy website and logo, Your Sun is an independent bakery with just this one location in "downtown" Taipei. Based on personal experience, I would have sworn it at least had two or three more locations. Nonetheless, it's particularly well-stocked and one of the items that stood out for me was their impressive array of sliced coffee cakes and full-sized cakes. Without a doubt, this is a cake bakery, though of course they have all the typical sweet and savoury bread you'll find at any bakery along with a few gift box options. 

I was personally lured in by their selection of what I call coffee cake. I couldn't figure out which was which, so I simply went with... the cake with the biggest slices ($50). XD They were all identically priced, so maybe the others were more interesting? There was a chocolate one and not sure about the others; however, I was quite pleased with mine. It was simple, fresh, with a good taste and texture. I always like finding something unique or different in a Taiwanese bakery and I was satisfied with my choice.

Rating: ***

European Bakery & Deli

Bakery: European Bakery & Deli

Address: 515 17 Ave SW #160, Calgary AB

Website: https://www.eurobakerydeli.com/

Style: Balkan

Price: $$ 

 

I have to confess I'm always a bit wary of Eastern European businesses that consider themselves a bakery and deli, because chances are they're not really a bakery. Sometimes they don't even actually bake anything at all and in the case of Balkan bakery-delis, they make their own burek, but little or nothing else. Taking all that into consideration, I was pleasantly surprised that European Bakery & Deli (originally from Kosovo) does actually sell baked goods and bread in addition to their homemade burek. There's not a lot of selection, that's true, but there's more than I expected, such as strudels, danishes and more Canadian products such as cinnamon buns and cakes. 

By far the most interesting and tasty baked good was the apple strudel with its flaky outer dough, though I'm actually not sure if I really liked that bottom layer or not. It definitely makes the pastry less soggy, but at the same time detracts from the taste of simply flaky dough and apples.

Similarly, I found their cinnamon bun and most certainly their apple danish too doughy. It was a stiff, airy dough and this kind never seems to retain its fresh-baked texture for long. Out of the three baked goods I ended up getting, the latter certainly didn't live up to expectations: too little fruit and too much dry dough. I guess you have to stick to the flaky dough. 

Rating: **1/2

双福食品 [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: 双福食品 (Shuangfu Food)

Address: No. 150 Minsheng West Road, Datong District, Taipei

Website: n/a

Style: Chinese

Price: $$ 

Quite a contrast from Shun Chen less than a block away, this bakery has none of the cram-packed coziness and commercial gimmicks of the former. Instead, it comes across as especially empty. Is it the fact the bakery itself is so big in comparison to the number of customers (at the time one, that being myself) and staff (for the most part none, but she came out eventually...)? Is it the total silence? Is it the pathetic amount of baked goods, pushed into one corner onto any leftover trays, that simply can't compete with the number of shelves and sheer vastness of the space? Whatever it was, I had the distinct impression - and that almost immediately upon entering - that this bakery, with its outdated chicness, has seen better days. 

For me to not have picked a baked good is rather telling, but I noted they had a quite the selection of cream cakes/rolls and I hadn't yet tried this triangular layered cream cake ($38; another bakery I went to with English labels called it a honey cake), so this was my chance. The first thing I thought of when seeing this cake slice is those crust-less stacked sandwiches Taiwanese people seem to love (why..... x_x), so it's not a good first impression. Buttered white bread sandwiches. But it was better than I imagined: the delicately flavoured sponge cake was moist and fluffy and the cream broke it up nicely; I liked that it was barely there so it didn't feel like a cream cake. I liked it! 

Rating: ***

Shun Chen Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Shun Chen Bakery (順成蛋糕)

Address: No. 60, Minsheng West Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei 

Website: https://www.bestbakery.com.tw/

Style: Chinese

Price: $$ 

 

This was the first time I encountered this  bakery and, assuming it was a one-off location, I was a little disappointed that this same bakery (rather, its sunshine logo) just kept reappearing everywhere I went in Taipei. Okay, maybe this local bakery chain isn't as prominent as I make it seem, but it does appear to be more on a commercial scale, but I guess I should have been suspicious in-store with their fairly large selection of fully-stocked trays (labels also include English on selected products), mostly of savoury buns, loaves of bread and big doughy creations - and don't forget all those posters advertising cake. To tell the truth, all their promo images aren't really an accurate depiction of the fairly standard, unexciting goods available for purchase. 

That being said, despite having a hard time picking out something that didn't just look like a baked good clone from every other bakery, I was actually surprised by the coconut butterfly bun ($29). After all, it's the taste that matters and there was something that set this particular bun apart from the rest: the fluffiness of the dough, the generous amount of coconut (and it was so rich and flavourful, not this dry pasty stuff you sometimes find) with a little browning on top to get it a little chewy - it didn't look like anything special, but I was impressed with how good it was. Shows that you never know until you try!

Rating: ***1/2

Italiabakery

Bakery: Italiabakery

Address: 2828 E Hastings St, Vancouver, BC

Website: http://www.italiabakery.ca/

Style: Italian

Price: $$$

Italiabakery (yes, one word) also operates Cannoli King out of one corner of the bakery; since you can mix and match and pay together, I don't really understand the need for having the separate cannoli business instead of just selling cannoli at the pastry counter, but some things never make much sense. Nonetheless, the specialty here is the wide array of cakes and all the characteristic Italian pastries you expect from a classic bakery such as this one. Such as cannoli. Actually, the one thing not classic about it the cannoli are available in about half a dozen more traditional as well as totally unique flavours. 

However, before I made it over to the cannoli zone (see the downside of having it separate!), I spotted one item that surpassed cheese/cream-filled pastry tubes: rum babas. Available in both the classic ($4) unadorned version and a cream-filled ($5) variety, they looked so good I took both. In my opinion, though, it's not worth paying more for the cream one; it didn't look as exciting, but the plain one was so much better. Not only was the dough moister and more flavourful, the pudding detracted from the subtlety that makes the rum baba so great and made it resemble more a fruit and cream cake than anything else. 

Rating: ***

Hokkaido Keki [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Hokkaido Keki (北海道ケ-キ) 

Address: No. 130, Zhongyuan Street, Zhongshan District, Taipei 

Website: n/a

Style: Chinese, Japanese

Price: $$ 

 

I have a blip on the map/address for this business, but no concrete information which makes me think that it no longer exists... Which is a bit surprising because when I was there it was fairly busy, though at the same time I wasn't very impressed with the goods and maybe others agreed? Hokkaido Keki is a Japanese-inspired bakery that sold gift boxes, cream rolls and individual baked goods that could just as well be found in any nearby bakery, Japanese or not. In addition to this, they had my destination: a small stall in the entrance dedicated to selling "Hokkaido crispy doughnuts". 

Now, I toured Hokkaido from top to bottom (unless Hokkaido here is indirectly referring to milk and not the island?) and never encountered what I like to call quintessentially Taiwanese crispy milk doughnuts. Actually, I didn't even find these outside of Taipei... You know which ones I'm talking about, crispy and golden brown with a dense dough and powdery topping. They can be pretty good, by the way. ;) 

This uh, "Hokkaido crispy doughnut" ($28), on the other hand, instantly disappointed. Most importantly, it wasn't crispy! The outside was soft, almost soggy; inside, the dense yet not that soft dough heightened that stale feeling. However, it was that overwhelming powdery topping that got to me. In some places it was so heavy that it became more compact and pasty. Actually, for lack of a better word, it was pretty gross. What a dud.

Rating: *1/2

原味香古早味蛋糕 [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: 原味香古早味蛋糕 (Original Flavour Cake) 

Address: No. 135, Zhongzheng Road, Tamsui District, New Taipei 

Website: n/a

Style: Castella

Price: $$ 

 

I'm not sure why (perhaps Fort San Domingo has something to do with it?), but one of Tamsui's signature foods is castella cake. The shopping street is lined with several cake stands selling nothing but giant slabs of the stuff and you don't have to look far to see someone toting a cake box. I first noticed this strange castella craziness while wondering what on earth all those people were lining up for. Coming closer, I saw a man take out the biggest slab of cake and start slicing it up. You can expect I wanted a piece of the cake, to so speak; however, the stall with the long line only sold big "full" chunks. There was no line next door, but they sold half-chunks, which is more manageable for a single person. I went next door. 

And I'm glad I did! I got a half portion of the original castella ($50). As I kept walking, I saw a girl take the castella she had just bought, tear open the box and start gorging herself on the stuff. Now, my intent was to eat it later on, but the warmth of the cake emanating through the box, the aroma wafting through gap in the handles... I couldn't resist. I sat down by the water, cracked open my absolutely adorable box and dug right in. 

Moist and fluffy with a strong eggy taste (definitely more pronounced when I ate it warm upon purchase as opposed than at room temperature), this unassuming cake was delicious! I never would have expected it to be that good... so fresh, so flavourful and the texture was incredible. It wasn't as good two hours later, but I was still so impressed. Hands down the best castella I've ever had!

Rating: ***1/2

Bread and Salt Bakehouse

Bakery: Bread and Salt Bakehouse

Address: 3455 Semenyk Ct, Mississauga ON 

Website: http://www.breadandsalt.ca/

Style: Middle Eastern

Price: $$ 

This newer bakery appears to be related to the Afghan restaurant on Dundas. It has the same name and logo, so it's a bit of a given and yet the bakery offshoot comes across as more Lebanese with its zaatar- and pita bread-heavy selection as opposed to something like barbari bread which I would associate more with Afghan baking. I was a little confused. Nonetheless, despite it being located in an industrial area, this unique bakery is an upscale fusion of Middle Eastern and European styles and flavours, especially in their sweet assortment that ranges from buttery French pastries to creamy cakes. 

Starting with the more traditional European pastries, I took the chocolate croissant ($2.99). The French dough was nice and flaky, with a great crunch when you bit into it and a good amount - not too skimpy which is sometimes the problem - of chocolate. 

I spotted honey cake in the cake section and... said opera cake when it came to ordering it. Not wanting to correct myself after such a silly blunder, I stuck to my opera cake ($5.99). After all, I like opera cake as well and this was a pretty one, with multiple layers of alternating dough, chocolate and vanilla cream. The problem was, in my opinion, that the chocolate slab on top in addition to the thick chocolate cream in between made simply taste like chocolate, to an overpowering degree.

Without a doubt, however, the highlight had to be the double-baked pistachio croissant with mulberry jam ($3.95). I love double-baked croissants as it is and this pistachio version was delicious: nutty with a sweet jam filling and a chewy texture, though it could have been more buttery and had more of that amazing pistachio topping. An excellent and interesting addition to the Mississauga bakery scene. 

Rating: ***1/2

Ta Pu Mei Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Ta Pu Mei Bakery (大普美藝術蛋糕)

Address: No. 199, Jinzhou Street, Zhongshan District, Taipei 

Website: http://www.tpm-bakery.com.tw/

Style: Chinese

Price: $$ 

 

For a somewhat dingy back alley bakery, this is one crazy busy place! And they have it all; as a matter of fact, this bakery had one of the widest selections I'd encountered: bread, traditional pastries, gift boxes, a wide assortment of cakes and cake slices. 

And out of all that, why on earth did I pick this? Okay, it did look good in the store and I never like people pushing and shoving me; I can't think under pressure and I wanted to just pick something up and go. Once I got in the super long line to the cash, I noticed items on the other side that I would have preferred, but is it proper to put back something you put onto your tray? I definitely didn't want to start piling more stuff onto my tray... it's just me eating it. Anyways: the pineapple bun with almonds and taro paste filling ($38) looked like it would have some great texture on top and I found it softer/soggier than expected. I think one part of that was the overwhelming amount of taro inside (can I just admit I didn't know it would be stuffed with taro?), which weighed down the dough. It was the only thing you could taste. If that were the case, I would have preferred an actual taro pastry or cake... Bad decision, big disappointment. 

Rating: **