Peaked Pies

Bakery: Peaked Pies
Address: 4369 Main St #105, Whistler BC 
Website: http://www.peakedpies.com/
Style: Australian 
Price: $$-$$$ 

My next trip to an Australian bakery just so happened to be in Whistler, though these guys do have a newly opened second location in Vancouver's West End. Nevertheless, Peaked Pies is tucked into a row of smaller shops off the main pedestrian streets (ironically, on Main St) and is a fairly compact bakery featuring a small display case right upon entering and little more than that. As with any other Australian/New Zealand bakery, the pies in question are meat pies, available in about a dozen varieties, and you have the option of having them "peaked": topped with mashed potatoes and gravy -- the sweet snow capped version involves whipped cream. The selection of sweets is, however, limited -- like always. My good friends, the Lamingtons, were there along with some cookies, but I wasn't really in a Lamington mood. Unlike other places, this place actually had two, or maybe three, sweet pies, so I thought I would finally attempt an actual (non-meat) pie.

So at last, I had myself a pie, a semi-real pie for the sampling: mine was a mixed berry ($6.75). A flaky, browned shell -- really quite tasty for a pie shell -- sprinkled with a bit of sugar. Simple, but promising. Cutting it open and heating it up in the microwave, I was greeted with more apple than berries. The sauce was a dark pink, but it was difficult to distinguish what the mixed berries entailed... it was even more difficult taste-wise, since the apples had the strongest flavour. Given there was a $1 or so price difference between the berry and apple pie, I don't think it was worth it. Not to mention that I thought $7 for an individual pie (with no meat in it) a little steep... maybe I should have gone with the good old Lamington, after all.

Rating: **1/2

Old Mill Pastry & Deli

Bakery: Old Mill Pastry & Deli 
Address: 780 Burnhamthorpe Rd W #12, Mississauga ON
Website: facebook
Style: Balkan 
Price: $$

New bakery opening in Mississauga and I was so there! :) Actually, a few weeks ago someone brought it to my attention that the board along Burnhamthorpe next to Canada Computers had a new "bakery and deli" sign on it. Deli sounded Eastern European; a bit surprised since new Eastern European bakeries don't just open every day, I went to check it out. The sign, in fact, says "pastry and deli" and instantly, I knew baklava would be involved. ;) However, it was only upon including a link to their Facebook page above that I noticed the said link had "Etobicoke" attached to it... could it be? That "pastries and deli" with no name on the East Mall?!? NO, but... but I've already done this place!!!!! ;____; Have they moved or is this a second location? Either way, my bubble won't be burst just like that -- I am writing this review for the new Mississauga location and that's that!

Nonetheless, Old Mill should really be written "deli and pastry", or even, "deli, cafe and pastry", since their focus -- or at least what most people are there for -- is the small, relatively inexpensive menu of hot food featuring cevap platters, goulash, and other predominantly Balkan specialties. The "pastry" is limited to a small case in the front with familiar fixtures such as a few types of baklava, honey-soaked tulumbe and other nutty cookies, and one or two squares of unknown filling. In true Eastern European deli fashion, nothing is labelled or priced; you just have to know.... ;D

Without a doubt, the baklava did need to be tried (around $2 -- the total for three lepinja (fat pita breads), two slices of baklava and one piece of cake was $10). A large, triangle-shaped piece with nuts sprinkled on top, it was moist, saturated even, and had fantastic honey coverage and taste, just like best Greek-style baklava. Lots of nuts and certainly worth the money.

The other was some sort of caramel cake (again a little over $2). The lady started explaining it and just concluded with "caramel", so I'm not quite sure what it was, but the smell of the runny caramel alone was mouth-watering. Mmmm... the whole room was filled with it. This was a sponge cake positively dripping in a sort of vanilla milk mixture that pooled around the whole plate. Not sure what it was, but it was good. Add that caramel into the equation... I could eat half a tin in one sitting. ;)

Maybe it is the same place, but whether it is or not... it's getting the same rating! :P

Rating: ***1/2

Purebread

Bakery: Purebread
Address: 4174 Village Stroll, Whistler BC
Website: https://www.purebread.ca/
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$-$$$ 

Yes, I brought the Cake Tour to Whistler as well! At least, for a few hours, but in those few freezing hours, I managed to do two bakeries. :) Purebread, the first, is located on the Olympic Plaza and offers you a view of the snow machine blowing fake snow into kids' faces. Inside, it's a heaping, L-shaped spread of all kinds of more homey baked goods; this location (there are two more: one in Whistler Creek and another in Vancouver) gets a lot of traffic and it shows. Cakes, cookies, squares -- all in countless varieties. It's beautiful and at the same time overwhelming: do you take the brandy blondie, or the cruffin? Which slice of loaf cake will it be? And given its location, I admit I was expecting more exorbitant prices, but it's not that bad. Some items are up there, yes, and perhaps not quite bang-for-your-buck, but you can get a tasty treat for around $3-4.  No wincing necessary. ;)

Nevertheless, after a great amount of deliberation, I decided on the "Sticky Ginger Loaf" ($4), which was recommended to me by one of the workers. I love spice cake and it was one of the items I was hotly contesting anyways, so I went with it. This was a not very photogenic slab of simple loaf cake with a thick layer of icing on top. The cake itself was nicely spiced, though perhaps it wasn't as "sticky" and gingery as I imagined it. The occasional chunk of candied ginger was a nice, flavourful touch, but I wanted more ginger and fragrant spice. The icing, similar to that on a carrot cake, was slightly sour, presumably from the cheese, with pieces of ginger on top as a garnish. This was pretty tasty, but there was way too much of it. Eating it with the cake, it was overwhelming, especially since it's positioned on the plate in such a way that you can't get a whole big piece of dough. Too sweet, and taking away from the subtle flavours of the spice cake, I have to say I wasn't the biggest fan. I would probably take something else next time.

Still, it's great to have a simple bakery amidst the food chains and ski shops of touristy Whistler. ^^

Rating: ***

Malasada World

Bakery: Malasada World
Address: 33 Ainslie St N, Cambridge ON
Website: facebook 
Style: Portuguese, Doughnuts
Price: $$

When I heard that there was a (newer) doughnut shop devoted exclusively to malasadas, Portuguese doughnuts, I could not believe it. It filled me with such excitement that I simply couldn't wait to give this place a try. I love Portuguese doughnuts, these big flat pieces of fried dough, fluffy on the inside and coated with just cinnamon sugar, but it's pretty rare to find a Portuguese bakery that sell them (the highest chances of scoring one are in Portuguese-heavy business areas in Toronto) so imagine a whole store of them! *-* One regular baked good sampler envisioned this as being one of the best bakeries/doughnut finds of the year!

Essentially, I was going in with incredibly high expectations, so the risk of those expectations not being met was equally up there. Let's see what happened!

 A half-dozen doughnuts were bought (clockwise from top left): passion fruit, stuffed passion fruit, "nada"-style, the traditional plain one, and dulce de leche stuffed. Ranging in prices from $1.50 for the traditional to $2.25 for the jelly doughnuts to $2.75 for the fancy flat ones, I was most interested in the traditional; the plain ones are always a good indication and are great for comparative purposes. The first thing that I noted was that the malasadas were smaller than found elsewhere and were almost perfect circles, a far cry from the large, oblong doughnuts I've tried. The first bite was a bit deflating, literally: the fried shell contained a large air pocket and only a thin layer of dough, which was incredibly chewy, almost rice cake-like in texture. This same texture was found in all doughnuts, and was especially noticeable in the stuffed balls, which were the least preferred of the bunch. The dough was simply too dense for this kind of doughnut.

The passion fruit malasada was nice with a touch of sourness from the passion fruit, though the "nada malasada", a unique mix between two classics of Portuguese baking: custard tarts and doughnuts, was probably the one must-try with its baked top that actually complemented the chewiness of the dough.

Overall, I was left with a feeling of disappointment, simply because it didn't blow my mind as I had anticipated. They were just... good, fresh doughnuts. Nicely fried, but with too little substance.

Rating: **1/2

French Made Baking [RIP]

Bakery: French Made Baking
Address: 81 Kingsway, Vancouver BC
Website: http://frenchmadebaking.com/
Style: French 
Price: $$-$$$

[This is/was one of -- if not THE -- best bakeries in Vancouver and I'm heartbroken they've closed. Your double-baked almond croissants will be missed... thank you for your delicious work!]

Of the French bakeries/patisseries I found in Vancouver (there were more that I just didn't have the chance to review... next time, perhaps), I admit that at first I wasn't so enthusiastic about French Made. They always say that you should never judge a book by its cover, and in French Made's case, I judged it by its name and macaron-centred website, which didn't appeal to me like other places did. After all, I do like macarons, but I feel they're pretty over-hyped and I wanted something more filling; however, I had to transfer buses at Broadway and Kingsway and thought it the perfect opportunity on my way out to Squamish and Whistler (don't worry, there are still some Vancouver bakeries coming up :)), so why not? Little did I know that French Made would not only beat out all other French patisseries, but turn out to be one of Vancouver's best!

French Made is a fairly small French ("from France") bakery and cafe in Mount Pleasant with perhaps not the largest selection I've encountered. Like a great many previous tours, quite a bit of  baked goods were already sold out (though there were still many flavours of macarons and fancier tortes and pastries available) -- there was a sign and an empty spot on the shelf, though the spaces seem to be able to fit four or five of each item regardless, so it doesn't seem to be heaping at any time. While doing bakery research, I came across something being said about their double-baked almond croissants and, loving the way it sounded, I was happy to find one last one was there, waiting for me! ^^

 At $4.00 (taxes included), it was a bit pricier than the competition, but one bite transported me to French baked good heaven! This was the first time I had tried a double-baked almond croissant, which consisted of a croissant cut in half, stuffed with almond cream and topped with even more cream and slivered almonds, then baked again, and I don't think I ever imagined it to blow my mind the way it did. Whoa. This was one buttery, melt-in-your-mouth bite after another. I didn't want this delicious treat to stop.... The best French dough I had encountered in such a long time. Flaky, almost chewy on the outside; soft on the inside with all that swoon-worthy cream. Absolute perfection. *-*

Rating: ****

Thomas Haas

Bakery: Thomas Haas
Address: 2539 West Broadway, Vancouver BC
Website: http://thomashaas.com
Style: French, European 
Price: $$-$$$ 

Despite encountering quite a few busy bakeries on my BC tour, Thomas Haas certainly beat the record for the longest line and wait time -- and I was fortunate that I didn't show up when the line went out the door! Of course, that also made plans of eating there out of the question. It was December and the patio seating was overflowing, but a busy bakery renews my faith in humanity and reassures me that I'm not the only one out there who values yummy baking. :P

Thomas Haas is without a doubt the fancy patisserie on the block, and stepping inside, you get that Old World feel that is not that prevalent on these shores. Judging by their website, their focus is first and foremost on chocolate -- and in store, they have rows upon rows of it. Then come lovely cakes that can only be called works of art, and I can only imagine how they taste! Then come the individual items, which, unfortunately, were pretty much cleaned out upon finally reaching the counter. There were three types of baked goods to choose from (croissant, the fresh fruit danish, and the orange brioche -- the last quark danish was snatched up before my eyes) and a limited number of pretty individual cake slices. Even with the empty shelves and limited selection, it was a sight to behold. *-* However, while the chocolates and baked goods were labelled and priced, I didn't like that the cake slices had no prices (I later spotted a price list on top of the counter next to the cash) and had no names or explanations, which slowed things down and made it difficult to figure out what was what, especially since you were served before actually reaching the cakes, so even pointing was impossible.

In the end, I thought a baked good safer for takeout anyways and went with the fresh fruit danish ($3.50), mostly because I preferred the flaky French dough over the soft, yeasty dough of the brioche. ^^; The cylindrical shape was a little difficult to break into and made it that the majority of what you were eating was dough, and I'm not quite sure if two blueberries and a raspberries warrants the 'fresh fruit' label, but nonetheless, the dough had great texture and taste. A more than promising start before tackling those amazing cakes... o_o

Rating: ***