Danish Pastry Shop

Bakery: Hansen's Danish Pastry Shop
Address: 1017 Pape Ave., Toronto, ON
Website: http://danishpastry.ca/index.html
Style: Danish, Scandinavian, European
Price: $-$$


[EDIT: A few months ago, this bakery discreetly changed hands. I came here and immediately smelled something fishy (and it wasn't the herring...) with new workers taking out cookies from Hot Oven Bakery boxes and a slightly updated interior. From afar, the baked goods looked the same, but when getting ready to eat the goodies I've been taking for years and years, it wasn't the same. The dough was too bready, not flaky, and just off. I'm devastated! The Hot Oven labels all over the place makes this feel like some sort of franchise takeover with just the window featuring deceitfully similar goods as before --I wouldn't go across half the city for Hot Oven Bakery! What happened!?! ;_;]

I absolutely loooooooove the Danish Pastry Shop. In addition to being the only Scandinavian bakery in Toronto (unless someone would be really kind and inform me of any others; I'd love you forever. ;P), these guys know how to make amazing baked goodies, using their signature "Vienna bread" treats (which are called danishes for everyone here) and really, I think this place can do wrong. It's a total pain to travel here, especially from the other end of the GTA, but in the end, it's always worth it: fresh strudels, the best almond tarts I've tasted and just yeah... *-* Let's go into details!

I found out about this place from a show my brothers were watching about Scandinavian goodies in Toronto and although we're never in the area, we decided to make the trek to Greek Town a few years ago and it's been a not very regular, but must-stop. Behind the giant awning, you've got heaven even before you walk in: tons of danishes and cookies and tarts all laid out in front of the window. The first time I went, I nearly fainted on the sidewalk. ;DDDD But of course, I needed to control myself if I wanted to actually taste something.

This time around we took our tried-and-true favourites and a cinnamon bun (around $1), which I'd never seen there before on my very few earlier visits. This was what I'd call a typical Scandinavian cinnamon bun (which will beat the icky, sweet ones here any day!) : soft, yeast dough with not-too-sweet cinnamon and raisins folded in the layers and topped off with a little dollop of icing. Sadly, it was so hot when we bought it, so by the time we brought it home after bus, subway and car ride, it had begun to slowly but surely melt. :/ Still, this was (like everything else) super delicious, although I wouldn't have minded if it were a little bigger. ^.^

Next up were the almond tarts ($1.25/each, or thereabouts), which were for my brothers as well. I guess they weren't so wowed by them, but I love these delectable little tarts filled with almond mass made of powdered almonds stuffed in a super buttery and flaky shell (which they make themselves; you can buy the shells empty as well) and coated with a layer of icing and then topped off with a candied cherry. The sell these things as well at the Swedish Christmas Market (Harbourfront Centre, late November) for double the price and they tasted pretty stale last time; I wasn't impressed. These, however, are perfect; your fork just breaks past the icing and into the soft almond filling and just mmmmmmm.....

Finally, we also bought a full apple strudel ($7.95/whole; $3.95/half -- there's also cherry and almond varieties) which is the size of cookie tray (it doesn't fit in a box whole, so the workers cut it into thirds and that's a small portion on the plate, just because it couldn't hold more XD) and is the best thing ever. *___* Flaky dough with apples in the middle and a bit of custard piped on either side (unless it's marzipan; I can't figure it out, but I'm almost sure it's custard) with almonds and rock sugar on top. You bite into this and it's just superb; the sides always remain nice and flaky and the moistness of the apple 'filling' and then... Trust me, make the investment and get yourself a whole one, even if you've never tried it before. ;)


By the end of my silly reviews, I run out of adjectives for some of these places, but the Danish Pastry Shop is perfect. Even if I do find another Scandinavian bakery (the impossibility of this happening is huge), I think I won't be able to stop coming here, inconvenient location, long drive and all.^-^

[And by the way, the super corny Denmark flags are -- naturally -- courtesy of yours truly (made with toothpicks, red cardboard from junk mail we were recycling, and a white-out roller)]

Rating: ****

Richtree

Bakery: Richtree Market Restaurants // Open Kitchens by Richtree
Address: Square One Mall, Mississauga, ON (5 other locations in GTA and Ottawa)
Website: http://www.richtree.ca/
Style: European
Price: $$-$$$

The Richtree chain of market restaurants have changed their names a few times. In the beginning, they were owned by Swiss super chain Mövenpick (under the name Mövenpick Marché), and then they turned into Richtree, which has, in certain locations, turned into Open Kitchens, complete with a full "modern-style" renovation which I don't particularly like. Personally, I like the "old country" feel of their original markets, but that has nothing to do with the food. As the name may suggest, this is more of a cafeteria where you can buy hot and ready meals like pizza, pasta, and rösti, but which likewise has a pretty good selection of baked goods, which look pretty good, although some (at or over $4) can be a little steep, price-wise.

As corny as it may sound, I have to admit that I'm just a big fan of their muffins ($1.59 each) in particular, which are just so good. I'm pretty sure they're all baked with oats and with a variety of flavours such as the standard blueberry, carrot, and chocolate chip as well as more unique varieties that appear regularly. My personal fave is their peach muffins, which are super yummy, though a tad scant on the actual peach part. Another popular one with the household is the coconut... and I'm sure there was something else in it too (pineapple, banana??). I think the third one on my pic is apple, but I don't remember. Nevertheless, the cheapest option at Richtree in the sweets department definitely does happen to be the tastiest as well. :)

For Cake Tour purposes (bad excuse, I know ^^), I went this week to Square One and popped in to try their apple strudel again. I had it years and years ago, back when it was Mövenpick Marché, and we bought a half strudel for $4.99. Nowadays, it's $3.69 for an individual piece and all half/whole strudel purchases don't exist. That being said, the slice was fairly generous and I ended up having to split it with my youngest brother. Unlike German/Austrian strudels made of thin layers of buttery flaky dough, this one is more of a "shell" of denser, pretty flavourless dough dusted with the usual powdered sugar. The filling was chunks of apples cooked in a caramel-like sauce flavoured with cinnamon and nutmeg. The apples, however, were fresh and quite hard; this was something that really bothered me. They could have been a lot more cooked, to the consistency of more apple pie filling minus the mushy sauce. Even a little bit more would have made a difference; like this, it detracted from the feeling that you're eating a baked good, not pieces of cinnamon-coated apples. My opinion anyhow. Suffice to say, either I remember wrong or I recall liking the apple strudel a lot more the first time I had it. This.. I think I'll stick to the muffins, or maybe try the peach cake ($3.99) if they weren't so expensive! ;P
Rating: **1/2

T&T Supermarket [Updated!]

Bakery: T&T Supermarket
Address: 715 Central Parkway West, Mississauga, ON (multiple locations across Canada)
Website: http://www.tnt-supermarket.com
Style: Chinese, Asian
Price: $


For those who aren't aware, T&T is a chain of Chinese/Asian supermarkets nation-wide. Of course, the majority are in the Vancouver area and around here in Toronto. Oddly enough, despite my not being the biggest fan of Chinese baking, T&T also happens to take home the silver medal for best supermarket bakery (Whole Foods, if you recall, won bronze)! It can be somewhat hard to believe, but T&T, with their sweet and savoury bakery department put other big chains to shame. Most goods may not be to my taste (and you really have to watch out with ingredients-lists here, as some items are pretty loaded with preservatives (especially the on-counter goods like coffee cakes), artificial colours and flavours, and other very delicious sounding chemicals) but their variety is was amazing, with goods ranging from store-baked baked goods like Chinese buns, coffee cakes, cookies, tarts to products from other bakeries, including mainly Korean and Filipino stuff.

T&T also sells a whole bunch of cakes with varying levels of tastiness; if you're curious, definitely try the Asian flavours: green tea (the best is by far their Japanese Green Tea), taro (aka purple yam), mango, durian, etc. They do venture into more "European"-inspired cakes (as well as some occasional baked goods), but I recommend staying away from these, unless you love that "bombarded by Cool Whip" feeling. My brother once bought a "fruit cake" for someone's birthday and it was disgusting -- I haven't bought any cakes from them ever since.

However, I do still keep coming back for the tasty variety and the amazing prices, with single buns around one dollar and larger baked goods for more people never being more than $4, with the exception of their Japanese cheesecake. *see below* Plus, at least in the Mississauga location I shop at, if it's not freshly baked, they often have products reduced two-three days before the due date, so you can snag stuff (like the aforementioned cheesecakes) even cheaper. ;D

Here are a few highlights/past purchases:

It's hard going here with the intent of buying something different for Cake Tour purposes, since I adore this first item so much and have to get it every time I do ^^. The English name being "Steam Cake" ($1.49) and with the little bear stamped onto the top, I was a little sceptical at first and thought it might be meant for little kids. It does have this digestive cookie-like taste to it, but that's what makes it so good; they occasionally have mango or chocolate flavoured as well. It's so light and fluffy, the sweet dough being steamed just like a Chinese bun (available at the Dim Sum counter, btw :)), and just super yummy! *-*

Another recommendation is their similarly light and fluffy "Japanese cheesecake" ($1.69 for a single//$6.49 for a large -- I'll have to back and verify this to make sure. I forget. -__-) I'm not sure how they make this, but I believe they make a sort of dough and mix the cheese directly into it, so you actually just have a hunk of cheese. This is amazing, and especially in comparison to N. American cheesecakes (which I personally cannot stand), really worth it if you want a nice, tasty cheesecake without feeling like you just ate a tub of Philadelphia cream cheese. :| Highly recommended.

You can also snag yourself a cupcake ($1.09), which is a Chinese bakery staple that T&T makes pretty well, although they sometimes do the mistake of packing them too soon and they get really mushy. It's not the best I've tasted, but it's a hard thing to screw up, seeing as it's just dough. ^.~

You can, of course, head over to their wall of packed buns and pick up yourself ($0.99) one from a whole variety. Sweet buns are usually flavored with coconut or pineapple. The one pictured at the very top is a pineapple bun. It's definitely another regular item at bakeries and well, it's a pineapple bun. ;) (yes, I'm so failing here....)

For the purposes of putting something more traditional or interesting up, I also picked up this strange, flat "Red Bean and Black Sesame" cake ($1.09) for my more adventurous brother. Expecting it to be stuffed with red bean paste, it was actually a denser, sweet dough baked with full red beans; he really liked it though, so I guess T&T really can do no wrong with their Chinese and Asian goodies.

Overall, this is a great place to sample a whole bunch of Chinese baked goods; with a majority being baked constantly in store, the T&T bakery is really a bakery that other supermarkets (it's pretty laughable, for instance, that Loblaws now owns these guys) should take notice of and, maybe, try to emulate a little more. And while there, you can buy yourself a small tub of chili chicken for $3.99 at the hot food counter. ;DDDDD

[EDIT] As you may have noticed, T&T used to possess the silver medal for the best supermarket bakery. This, however, I've decided to take away, simply because even looking up at my post makes me realize that the bakery section (the supermarket as a whole, in fact)  has gone really downhill in a fairly short amount of time. Actually, in my usual T&T location in Mississauga, 80% of what was mentioned in this post is no longer available. The bakery section has been reduced; selection is down and so is the amount of filling in things like coconut or red bean buns. Individual buns are vacuum packed (doubtless so they don't need to be freshly baked every day??), don't feel fresh and don't even look appetizing. With all the other little and big changes in store (like hot food now sold by weight), I can't say I want to go to T&T anymore, at least not until I really need to buy staples. Take that, Loblaws. :/

Rating: **

Rischart [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Rischart
Address: Marienplatz 18, Munich, Germany (plus many more around the city)
Website: http://www.rischart.de
Style: German
Price: $-$$

Ahhh, it's been a while since I did a "World Tour" post, so here goes. I went back to my travels several years ago to Munich *weeps* and was surprised that I didn't chronicle my sweets purchases as much as I thought I did. On top of that, I have ZERO location shots and I can't find a street view of it, so I've had to steal them.. (I have the Merkur online won't be visiting this site XDDD I didn't have the heart to steal from individual sites) :/ There's only a few from my second and none from my first trip, so this will have to do. Oddly enough, just looking at the pic is enough to get my memory triggered as to the taste. ;D

Rischart is just everywhere important in Munich, so you're bound not to miss it: there's one in the Hauptbahnhof (central station) and another in the pedestrian zone next to the Marienplatz and another one further down the street, and yet another along the Viktualienmarkt. Yup, you can't run away from these delectable sweets and freshly baked breads. Even if you're just visiting the city, you've probably seen at least one, though you may have not bought anything (because you're dumb obviously XDDDD). Their signature is plum cake, with the plum slices stacked nicely and either covered in glaze or powdered sugar. On my first trip, I had the former, but no pics of it. It was a pain in the neck to cut into it, but well, you know I do love plum cakes, so it was worth the effort. ^-^

The last time I went (I don't want to count how many years ago because it makes me depressed; Munich is my favourite city in the world. I love it to bits... and yet, no one wants me to teach English there ;___;), I took two items on separate occasions, both, I believe, from their Hauptbahnhof (my travelogue is helping me a lot here XD). The first was their apple strudel, which I can't remember how much it cost... sorry. The prices are always reasonable though, 1 something, 3 euros tops, but yeah, I got a pretty generous slab in the traditional German style: layers of thin dough surrounding a mass of apples and raisins. Just looking at this reminds me of my verdict: the dough was super buttery. I think it was a little overwhelming; I mean, I'm happy they use butter, but it's not necessary to use so much, in my opinion. ;P It was so delicious though, and definitely better than the Austrian one I bought, just so I could say I bought an Austrian apple strudel. ^_~

The highlight was definitely what was then called the Jubiläumsartikel (anniversary item; 1,25 euro) which was being offered at a special price to celebrate Rischart being 125 years old. I thought that cute. Of course, I also found that totally amazing!! 1,25 for a beautiful, heavenly slab of... GERMAN POPPY SEED CAKE!!!!! ... Yes, can you not tell I *adore* these things; aside from poppy seed buns (Russian-style), I could eat these things all day. It's just so good: nothing more than a tiny sliver of dough, superb poppy seed mass and a little crumble and icing on top. Heaven in a cake. *-*

Rischart ended up being my fave konditorei in Munich and I definitely can't wait to return to go and try if they continue to live up to their reputation (this is, of course, a rhetorical question ;D), especially in regards to those delectable poppy seed goodies. ^^;;

Rating: ****

BnC Cake House [RIP]

Bakery: BnC Cake House
Address: 631 Bloor St., Toronto, ON
Website: n/a
Style: Korean
Price: $-$$

[And with this, all Korean bakeries-proper in Koreatown have died. ;__;  There is still the walnut cookie place (a future CT post; be sure of it... I'm here once a month and I still haven't reviewed it, which is shameful, but it's coming.), but the only place you can still get Korean bean or cream stuffed buns is inside the supermarket; sorry, guys, no more cakes, though]

This is the original/alternate location of BnC Bakery in Mississauga (the review I did of it can be found here), although I'm not at all sure why they don't list this address on the latter's website, nor do I understand what makes one a Bakery (though I'm sure they do actually have baking facilities in Mississauga) and the other a Cake House (which is then listed under BnC Patisserie); the most confusing of all is that both have exactly the same products. However, the experience was slightly different, so I thought I'd review both separately and well, I do need some more under the "Asian" category as well. :P The Korean bakery I once had a few years ago closed down, since I couldn't find anything else except another bakery which had nothing baked on Saturday morning. *pouts*

Just like the first location, the Koreatown location features a bunch of baked goods, individually packed, cakes (like that delicious green tea one) and various individual cakes and cookies. We wanted to try something different, so yeah:

First off, because I really liked it the first time I bought it and didn't get a pic of it, I bought a slice of Opera cake (99 cents/piece), although was a bit disappointed, since in the Mississauga location, you could buy a coffee-cake slab of this strangely delicious cake for, I believe it was either $2- or $3.99. Seeing as the sliver of an individual piece is a dollar, I didn't find this great value, despite the fact that they were advertising this as a "special sale". The cake itself was pretty tasty, although pretty dry (maybe special sale referred to reduced before due date??) and didn't want to stick together. Still, I really like this taste with the alternating chocolate and vanilla cakes with a layer of crumble on top; I definitely don't need the extra calories, but it could have used a wee bit more cream between the layers. Good, but again, not really "bang for your buck" as my brother always says. ;P

We then scoured the store for something decidedly more "Korean"; the vast majority were savoury baked goods, so I had a hard time. I finally settled on a, so the sign said, "red bean doughnut" ($1.49). It was deep fried, so what else could I think it was? I brought it home and divided it up amongst the guinea pigs.. err, the brothers and lo and behold it was far from being a red bean doughnut, but rather it ended up being a giant "croquette", the outside resembling a large tempura, with potato and egg salad in the middle. I'm not sure if someone dumped this in the wrong section (there were other savoury goods in the deep-fried bin) or there were no red bean doughnuts at all, but I just got super disappointed. Seeing as there was more than one when we bought this, I'm assuming they didn't take down the label when the red bean ones disappeared and just slid the rest over. For what it was, my youngest brother claimed it wasn't bad and would make a pretty good lunch. Apparently the egg and potato were separated, since my other brother took a bite and gave the rest to the other, who then found it too eggy and pretty gross. :/ Suffice to say, it definitely isn't what I was expecting, so I'm a little unwilling to return. Sadly, with this and Cobs Bread several blocks away, the bakery scene isn't that great in the Koreatown/Annex area, although I'm really intrigued in seeing if Kensington Bakery, an organic one, has any sweets... Next time, perhaps.

Rating: **

What a Bagel (Richmond Hill) [Updated!]

Bakery: What a Bagel
Address: 9330 Bathurst St, Maple ON
Website: http://www.whatabagel.com
Style: Jewish, Russian
Price: $-$$

[Update: What a Bagel recently changed locations. Actually, I thought they'd closed down for good and, purely by luck, I found they'd simply moved to nearby Bathurst/Rutherford Rd; however it's a far cry from "one of the best bakeries in the GTA", as I called it many years ago. Most products have disappeared as of the most recent update, many aren't very generous at all in terms of fillings, and the cakes -- without a doubt the highlight of any trip -- are trying to look the same, but it's clear they're not made by the same person nor are they of the same quality. They're lacklustre, at most. Dry, mismatched layer and all uniform in appearance with the same sticky, unpleasant coating. I didn't enjoy the latest one at all and I'm not sure if I'll be returning to this new spot] 

Get ready for this one: What a Bagel is probably one of the best bakeries, in the Toronto area. Keep in mind that, although this is a chain of several locations, I'm only referring to this location in particular. I discovered this place purely by chance (we were actually hunting for the new Korean supermarket that had opened, H-mart, and popped into this place in the same plaza for some bagels... and I was blown away. Really, it's tragic that the majority of people that shop here come here exclusively for the bagels, because their wide selection of Eastern European baked goods is... amazing!


In this little place (they did expand a short while ago) you have everything, and on top of that, their on-site pastry chef makes the tastiest, most beautiful cakes. If you won't come for anything else, try a stunning cake ($27). This isn't your supermarket cake with layers of vanilla cake, cool whip and disgusting icing on top. Actually, this is pretty much as far as you'll get from that: multiple layers of nutty doughs, whole pieces of fruit, delicious mousse and creams, topped with soft, meringue-based or rich, flavourful icing. Sadly, I've been taking these pics for years now, so I'm not sure which is which, so you're treated to a gallery's worth. ;)
Besides this, I highly recommend all the baked goods, and are definitely worth a try, especially if you don't want to invest in the cake. My fave, which you might have expected, is their gigantic, extra generous poppy seed bun ($2.20, pictured); the best I've ever had. Period. :) Places are usually super skimpy on the poppy seed, but this is completely slathered in it and the buttery mass is perfect! Waahhh, I love it! ^__^ ... Which is why I'm so devastated to find that this, more than any other baked good, has just taken a big turn for the worse. Not only is it a third of the size, it's so sloppily rolled and really doughy. Still generous on the poppy seed, but not as much as in the past. I wish they would just raise the price. Seeing my photo and the one I had today, omg, I'm pretty disappointed!!! :(

Other special mentions include their Berry Ring ($9), which I'd been waiting forever to try and it was worth it: flaky dough folded in with oodles of homemade berry jam and dusted with powdered sugar.

My brothers' favourites include Kefli (~$2.25, pictured), which doesn't look so photogenic, but is apparently very good (I've never tried it) and weighs a ton. It's dough rolled with nuts and fruit jam, I believe, with a bit of crumble on top. This is the thing both of them every time we come here, and even when you propose to them something else, they refuse and take the kefli anyways. O.o

On a recent trip, my youngest brother decided to try their baklava ($1.99?/each; ) and took one of each shape, excluding one or two. Supposedly, they were also very good.

Anyways, just GO to this place and try something, anything, everything! You won't regret it, I promise you. ^__^v

[NEW! NEW!]  So What a Bagel! renovated a while back, though it took me a long time to actually update this and share the news. Sadly, with the latest renovation (including table service at the seating area) things just seem to wow me less and less. Many baked goods have changed or disappeared. To my absolute despair, the poppy seed bun is gone. Vanished. Nonexistent. ;___; Fillings in the larger items (the poppy seed cake is still there, but I think the berry one is likewise gone) have gotten a tad skimpier. As one may expect from most renovations, prices have gone up on everything. The cakes (the ones sold in the case) are still as amazing as ever, with the outside constantly evolving -- if it weren't for these stunning cakes -- the best "cakes" I've ever had -- I don't know how willing I'd be to still keep this "best bakery" honour. I'm a little saddened with the changes this place has through in the years I've been going to it. :(

Rating: ***