B-S [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: B-S
Address: 16 Rue Ste Anne, Paris
Website: n/a
Style: Japanese, French
Price: $

This was the bakery I missed reviewing from my Parisian cake tour, so I thought there's no better time than the present. ^^

Anyways, nestled right in the heart of Paris' version of a J-town, which is along the Rue Ste Anne and a few of the intersecting streets and comprises tons of Japanese restaurants, a book store and supermarket, is Boulanger - Patissier B-S, a bakery that either caters to the Japanese passers by or does indeed have a Japanese baker... or both. ^^ Nonetheless, if I remember everything correctly, in addition to traditional French baked breads, a standard cafe featuring stuff for lunch and some pastries, the bakery also has quite a bit of Japanese baked goods, both of the savoury and sweet kind. Of the latter -- because that's really what matters ;D -- I remember seeing quite a bit with Japanese staples like red bean, etc. It certainly wasn't Sadaharu Aoki in terms of the goodies, but more simple and home-baked (and, as such, considerably cheaper), but I am NOT complaining: I love baked goods!!

So, yes, I purchased myself a super cheap "pain au citron" (lit. lemon bread), which was a plain, slightly sweetened bun with two strips of candied lemon on top. Very simple, nothing fancy. Actually, I only took it because of the 'chef's suggestion' and all the Japanese writing around it. ... It was good, so good that I came back a few days later and bought myself another. ;) Great stuff!

Rating: ***

Solbrød [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Solbrød
Address: Småstrandgaten 2, Bergen (in Xhibition shopping centre)
Website: http://www.solbrod.no
Style: Scandinavian, Norwegian
Price: $

I believe this is my last stop from well, last year's vacation. Yes, that's very sad and pathetic, but hey! at least I didn't take as long as I did with my Parisian ones. (and if I recall correctly, I forgot the Japanese bakery too -- utterly scandalous) Seeing as I didn't take a location shot (it was in a shopping mall -- this shot is courtesy of their website ^^;;), it took a bit of detective work to actually figure out what this place was called seeing as Google Maps didn't have a good street view of it. Nonetheless, I did it! :)

Solbrød is a bakery chain with around a dozen locations in and around Bergen. Like other bakery chains in Norway, they offer quite a few of the standard, Scandinavian favourites like cinnamon buns and other sweet goods with custard-y centres. In general, I can't quite say that I was lured in by Solbrød's offerings and, in fact, I had stepped into one the day before and hadn't found anything that I was really interested in trying. However, if you can't get me in by your selection, it'll be by the price. XD Doing the last of our shopping for our last night in Bergen at the Rema 1000 in the same shopping centre, I noticed a deal printed on the window of the bakery: these buns (they had some sort of name, I definitely don't remember now) for 110kr. Seriously, does *anything* cost 110kr in Norway? O_O It was unbelievable! How could I possibly resist the cheapest piece of food I'd come across? It was probably 50% off, which is indeed a deal.

Bringing it back to the uh, cabin (feel free to check out my travel blog for the details on that..) I kind of noticed for the first time how... not exciting this creation was, though the same bun can be found in bakeries across Norway and I came across them in Iceland and no doubt, they'll be there in Denmark and Sweden as well. Sweet yeast dough coated with an outer ring of coconut flakes and a generous dollop of custard cream in the centre, which somewhat hardened by the next morning. As to the taste, well, I can like coconut and custard in Portuguese baking, but this... I'm not quite sure who invented this, especially that squishy yellow centre and just way too much coconut with nothing really to eat it with... I guess it just wasn't my thing, so I can't say I was particularly satisfied with this place.

Perhaps, if I ever return to Bergen, I'll give it another try and certainly get something else next time. And next time, I'll try not to settle for just the great price. :/

Rating: **

Moisan [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Moisan
Address: 2 Rue de Bazeilles, Paris (3 other locations)
Website: http://painmoisan.fr
Style: French, Organic
Price: $$

[...and with this post, I officially *gasps* conclude my Paris Cake Tour. It's taken a good two years to get up here, but they're all up, though not nearly as much as I had hoped to find. Maybe next time I'll be able to get all the big names on here ^-^ And now I can focus on getting last summer's bakeries on here!]

Moisan is a certified organic bakery with a few locations throughout Paris; being a bakery more than a pastry shop, they don't have much in terms of sweets and baked goods as their specialty is more rustic and artisan breads with a few croissants and well, baked goods. ;) They do have a few tarts and one or two cakes, but these are fairly expensive and don't look too exciting in comparison to other pastry shops (though, to be honest, this was one of my very first bakery purchases in Paris *sighs* Oh, the memories!).

The clafoutis (cherry or black currant, I believe; I don't really remember after so long...) looked the most promising, but seeing as I'm not really a fan of clafoutis, I settled for the Kouign Amman, a fairly dense, super buttery yeast dough rolled like a cinnamon roll, but stuffed with... butter with a bit of citrus (at least, so says my travel post XD) and then topped off with an hard crust of... butter and sugar that, once broken into, was super tasty. Maybe it was a little too buttery, but it made the dough super moist (even on the next morning) and well, given the price of organic butter (at least here), it was probably worth the price! :P

The choice isn't too huge, but team up quality and tradition and it's pretty good! :)

Rating: ***

Baker Brun [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Baker Brun
Address: Bryggen, Bergen
Website: http://www.bakerbrun.no/
Style: Norwegian, Scandinavian
Price: $-$$

Like Baker Hansen, Baker Brun is a Norwegian bakery chain, but this time with locations across the country and with several in Bergen and in Oslo. Oddly enough, I never saw a single one while in Oslo, so the time I tried it ended up being in Bergen.

Nonetheless, Baker Brun has the typical selection of Norwegian/Scandinavian goodies, with simple sweet buns and several breads. The Bryggen (that is, old town Bergen) location is more of a petite cafe and doesn't really offer much in terms of baked selection. Unlike all other bakeries I visited in Norway (and in Europe, for that matter), nothing was priced and so it was a little scary, especially with those Norwegian prices ;DD and the fact that anything in Bryggen might turn into a tourist trap, taking the risk, but both buns were well under 250kr, I do remember that, though I can't quite recall the exact price.

This time around, the brother took something as well, so his was the glazed bun (both taken after getting smushed), which turned out to be yet another cinnamon bun, at least I believe so. (lol, I've had so many on this site that it should have its own tag: "scandinavian cinnamon buns" ^-^) He liked it, but he's never much help there... I got this spiral bun with cinnamon and dusted with sugar. According to the cash register as I was paying, someone ended up with the "prinsessekake" but I can't figure out who... especially when I associate 'princess cake' with marzipan-covered cream balls (at least, that's the Swedish equivalent... mmm, prinsesskaka *-*) I would have liked it if it were mine, just because of the name, heh heh heh. Anyways, it was quite good, though the "filling" of the spiral, or at least the alternate colour, could have used a bit more cinnamon, since the bun didn't have much flavour and tasted just like plain dough.

Overall, it was quite good, but not the greatest. And as to Norway, I think I have to say I still preferred Baker Hansen... though it would have been nice to find some non-chains somewhere. *pouts*

Rating: **1/2

Minto Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Minto Bakery
Address: 5 Glen Cameron Rd, Thornhill ON (available at P.A.T. Central/ Koreatown)
Website: n/a
Style: Korean
Price: $

This was a very hard place to find online, so I'm gathering from Google street view is that Minto Bakery's headquarters are in the PAT Korean supermarket at Yonge and Glen Cameron (~2 blocks south of Steeles)? This assumption makes even more sense considering that Minto baked goods can be purchased at other PAT supermarkets around the GTA, specifically the one in Koreatown (that is, Bloor and Christie Koreatown ;P). They sell bagged individual buns or larger loaf-like cakes, typically Korean in style with such flavours like red bean, green tea and various creams and at pretty good prices, with buns costing $1-something and the larger loaves under $4 (if I remember correctly... it's been awhile .__.;;). As with all Korean baking, the dough itself is just super, super fluffy and cushion-like. ;) I'm not sure with the original location, but the others aren't at their optimal freshness, and given that everything is simple and yeast-based, one day does make a difference.

For testing purposes, I caved and got probably my fave Korean creation: crumble-covered, cream filled buns sometimes labelled as 'doughnuts'. Seriously, you can't resist these things. ^.^ Totally delicious! However, like I said above, they weren't super fresh and in my opinion, I've had better at go-to bakeries, like Fauchon for example. I mean, it's a great option while popping into the supermarket for other stuff, but it's not really worth a separate trip, especially when there are other Korean bakeries in both Koreatowns, south and north. ((PS. Sorry about that horrible photo... bad lighting yet again -__-))

Rating: **1/2

United Bakeries [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: United Bakeries
Address: Karl Johans Gate 37-43, Oslo (+ a few other locations)
Website: http://www.united-bakeries.no/
Style: Pan-European, Norwegian
Price: $$

United Bakeries is yet another Oslo-based bakery chain, although they only have a few locations; in comparison to Baker Hansen, they're clearly trying to be a chicer, cafe-style serving more continental baked goods versus strictly Scandinavian... one reason why they ranked as the lowest on my bakery hunt in Norway; at first glance, their total hodgepodge of goods, from French croissants to cookies to foccacia to brownies, all not cheap (and even more so for people not used to Norwegian prices -- I bought a slab of tomato and olive foccacia for my brother's lunch and that was ~450kr (which is equal to a staggering $9 ;___;)) made me kind of want to turn around and uh, leave, since I was more on the lookout for tasty, Scandinavian goodies. Then again, I realized that I had seen only one other bakery (already reviewed), and so, for the sake of the cake tour, I remained.

After some deliberation, I settled for the cinnamon bun (something like 280kr?), although like other baked goods, was more an updated version with a bit of glaze and then a barely there smear of icing... all on a park bench at Akershus. ;) It was alright, but at the same time, I've had much more delicious versions during my Scandinavian baking hunts (aaand I still need to find out a way to get to The Beaches Bakeshop ;-;) in Toronto, which came as a bit of a disappointment. Maybe they do make the best croissants in the city (something which seems to be universally agreed on) or their huge patio is the place to be seen by people who want to see and be seen (lol, like that girl in the lower right who seems to be posing for the camera!), but personally, when in Oslo, I'm more of a Baker Hansen girl. :3

Rating: **1/2