Wawel

Bakery: Wawel
Address: 5499 Sherbrooke O., Montreal QC
Website: http://www.wawelpatisserie.com
Style: Polish
Price: $$-$$$

I'M BA-ACK! :) After several weeks' absence due to icky schoolwork (which has been handed in after months of work-- yes!) and vacation (complete with a few great World Tour bakeries to add to the collection), I've officially returned with plenty of places ready to check out, tons of badly photographed pics to share, and a few to recommend to you. My first post since my return belongs to that category... actually, it would be more fair to say it's more a four star, enamoured rave than a recommendation, but hey, it's not my fault.

Nevertheless, during my latest trip to Montreal more than a month ago, I was checking out new places to try out and my brother told me that they were saying good things about a Polish bakery by the name of Wawel. More specifically, there was the general opinion that Wawel happened to make the best pączki in Montreal. Of course, considering the total lack of Polish businesses in Montreal, I kind of laughed it off to people not having tasted that much else, but man, was I ever wrong. For this, I have to apologize, Wawel.

We went here and taking a look at the first glass case, I must admit I wasn't wowed. Well, if you like opera tortes and macarons, then you wouldn't be complaining, but I was a little disappointed that they didn't have anything really Polish, except for some pretty expensive cheesecake sold by the kilo. It was then that I spotted a tray of pączki; seeing as the windows of the store were covered with cheesy, multilingual decals advertising them as the best doughnuts in the world, I thought it had be to be tried to believed.

So, we bought a half-dozen pączki ($1.25 each) and a poppy seed bun. My brother, not being to control himself because of the scent of sugary glaze wafting through the car, caved and ate his within ten minutes of leaving Wawel. His verdict: "This is the best pączek I've ever eaten." He followed that by non-stop comments of how fresh it was, how good the glaze was and the plum filling, and how Granowska's was nothing compared to this. My other brother, finding he couldn't resist, had his soon afterwards. His verdict: "This is the best pączek I've ever eaten." Not taking either of them seriously, I decided to finally bite into this relatively small ball of deep-fried goodness. I normally pick out the plum jam, because it's not something I like that much, but one taste was enough for me to know I was going to finish this. Holy crap, this *IS* the best pączek I've ever eaten! O.O The unbelievable, perfectly fried freshness of it teamed up with super-soft dough, perfect filling and glaze with a hint of alcohol in it... This was really one of two Polish bakeries that have succeeded in wowing me.  It was amazing, Polish perfection! :)

The next morning, I delved into the poppy seed bun which used the same soft, delectable yeast dough and liquor-ish glaze as the pączki, but with a fairly generous amount of poppy seed mass rolled into the dough. A-maz-ing. ^.^

As a concluding remark, all I can really say: I can NOT wait to return to Montreal, because I know that Wawel will always require a visit. I really can't believe it's taken me... seven, eight years to find this gem of a place!

Rating: ****

French Corner Patisserie

Bakery: French Corner Patisserie
Address: 1224 Dundas St W, Mississauga, ON
Website: n/a
Style: French, European
Price: $$-$$$

[I just realized that I haven't updated in ages... this is mostly due to a lack of material and well, a lack of time, since I'm now in a constant scramble to contribute to my master's thesis. Don't know if it's working, but hey! worth a try? ;D But I couldn't leave my beloved tour for too long without popping in with something ^^]

French Corner is a fairly new bakery which I didn't find to be necessarily that French in their baked goods and which also didn't have the same level of quality I've come to expect from other French establishments. :/ Their prices aren't entirely ridiculous and for a French bakery, pretty affordable (we just spent $27 at (the divine) Le Thobors, so I should know a thing or two about French bakeries and pricing ;____;): baked goods are under $2, pastries around $3, but in my opinion (everyone can differ if they want to; there's a reason I don't cross post any of my stuff :P) it's just not the same thing. But, let's go into a little more detail~

The cinnamon bun ($1.50), ended up being the best. The brothers got that one and said that it was both "okay" and "better than the croissant". Well, they said something this time around! XD Nevertheless, rolled danish dough with a few raisins and topped with glaze, this one was pretty fail-proof and definitely a lighter, tastier version of the otherwise gooey and sugary cinnamon bun. Not bad, and if there is a next time, I'll definitely to stick to this kind of stuff.

Up next was an almond croissant ($1.75) which, everyone's opinion was exactly the same, was considered the biggest disappointment out of everything, since aside from a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar and the few slivers of almonds, that was it. There was nothing remarkable about it, so this was a bit of a flop. (man, it really hurts to make a negative review... I don't like this, I feel so mean ;_;)

Nonetheless, the last pick for the day was, as is always my luck, my least favourite out of what I ended up sampling and which pretty much spurred on this negative review, since everything else was, though not super, not bad either. The cheesecake ($2.75) wasn't worth neither the cost nor the calories. Seriously, I do not like cheesecakes that taste like nothing but Philadelphia cream cheese; it's okay at home, but a bakery should be better. This one featured a graham-cracker crust, cream cheese filling and a pie-filling like glaze on top. Put simply, I didn't like it.

So, overall, French Corner Bakery is okay. Baked goods and breads are alright, but nothing we sampled was outstanding, and I found some stuff to be a little overpriced, especially considering the area.

Rating: **

Victoria's Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Victoria's Bakery
Address: 173 Roncesvalles Ave., Toronto, ON
Website: n/a
Style: Polish, Eastern European
Price: $

[Along with a great many Polish businesses on Roncesvalles, Victoria's quietly shut its doors and is no more... and it certainly wasn't replaced by another bakery (which is the only acceptable result of a bakery closure)] 

While in Roncesvalles a few weeks ago, I decided to try something different instead of resorting always to Granowska's and Benna's, so I ventured first into Victoria's Bakery, a somewhat seedy-looking place on the outside and situated exactly next door to the venerable Granowska's. In essence, unlike their next door neighbour, they're more a deli than a bakery, as they have a cold cuts counter, a small variety of Polish products and a ready food counter. Their window features all of their baked goods, from buns to squares, although, even if it is a Polish store, it doesn't -- as blogto.com states (it was the first link when I tried to find the address) -- have very many "traditional" goods typical of other Polish delis. Yes, it's pretty much a given that they have pączki, but the majority seem to be inventions of their own: almond buns, chocolate or nut cake squares, and other squares ($2/per piece) with what looked like jam covered in a whole bunch of crumble.

Considering their somewhat unique selection, I was a little wary at first of trying it out. Add to that the fact that we went there on a busy Saturday afternoon (there was a street festival going on) and no one was in the store, and I mean the workers. There was a threesome waiting before us who wanted something from the ready-food counter and after awhile of standing by the empty counter, they started yelling "Hello!" and it still took a good two, three minutes for a worker to come out of the back. Kind of made you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere... O_O

Nevertheless, I picked out for myself (of course!!) the strange looking poppy seed bun ($1.50 -- tax included), made of danish-like dough and filled with typical Polish poppy seed mass (z bakaliami, which I'm normally not a fan of ;D) and topped with sugar, whole poppy seeds and huge chunks of walnuts. It definitely wasn't your usual bun, but I really liked it. The dough was light and fluffy, the mass quite generous (other bakeries, like Sweet Temptations from Highland Farms and some other delis, are as skimpy as you can get) and the chunks of walnuts pairing up perfectly with the inside. I don't know if I'll ever be tempted into trying the other baked goods, as they don't look very interesting, but I'd be willing to get another poppy seed bun at Victoria's. ^-^;;

Rating: **1/2

Athena Bakery

Bakery: Athena Bakery
Address: 598 Danforth Ave., Toronto, ON
Website: n/a
Style: Greek, Middle Eastern/Mediterranean
Price: $-$$$

While in the neighbourhood for the Danish Pastry Shop (previous post ^^), we also stopped by at this bakery in Greek Town, simply because I once had their apple pie and needed to go back in order to review it. While they advertise "European Pastries", this place is more along the lines of Mediterranean pastries with various types of baklava and other treats all smothered in honey like their custard cakes and honey doughnuts (I don't know what they're called -- sorry). In addition to traditional Greek goods, they also have a lot of more continental cookies, chocolate cakes and doughnuts. However, I was here for the Greek stuff, since when in Greek Town, you buy Greek (duh!). :)

Of course, I myself came here for the apple pie ($1.95), since I'm personally not the biggest fan of Greek baking (while, as you'll see, the other testers of the household adore it): a super generous slice of apple cake with a thick layer of apples and spices in the middle of two layers of dough, the top of which is soaked in honey, but in such a way that it's almost turned into a glaze. This honey layer with the apples is perfect, although the weather wasn't gentle to it and by the time it came it for its photo session, it had been smushed and jostled and overheated, but it was still so good, although a tad soggy because of the heat. ^^;

The other two items were purchased for my brothers. First off, I picked out one of several baklava ($1.50/each), this being with pistachio and just coated from every angle with honey. Not capable of wordy reviews or in-depth comments as to taste (you know, not like I can do the same... my reviews also suck just on a whole different level XD), but I think their one comment will suffice: "best baklava ever". There you go.

The third item I took because of the Greek-ness of it: a Bougassa Thessaloniki ($2.50), which is a rather big chunk of filo dough which somewhat resembles a strudel, especially with the powdered sugar and cinnamon on top. Cracking into this thing, the brothers found it to be similar to the large custard cake available for purchase, except without the honey. This was said to be "really good, but not as good as the baklava". Okay. :/

Overall, their single serve items are definitely worth it, and if you're in the area, definitely try their various baklava. Both are at an amazing price, especially for the quantity and quality you get. And well, it's delicious, so you can't go wrong. :P Be wary of the items sold by weight (the honey balls and various cookies), since, having experience with the former, it gets pretty pricey, pretty fast.

Rating: ***1/2

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