Saunders Bakery

Bakery: Saunders Bakery 
Address: 104 Main St S, Rockwood ON
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $-$$ 

Working my way up to a definitive doughnut guide to Ontario (it will happen one day! *-*), there's Saunders, a somewhat off-the-beaten-path home-style bakery serving well, doughnuts but also classic Canadian goodies like cinnamon buns, pies, and tarts.

Many items, it seems, are coated in their thick yet fresh glaze and their cinnamon buns are no exception. Tightly coiled, soft airy dough with plenty of cinnamon filling -- this was very good, with the glaze or even on its own. Perhaps it didn't knock one's socks off like the doughnuts below did, but it was still a fantastic cinnamon bun and I'm always happy for one of those!

But what does everyone seem to be talking about? That's right: those jelly doughnuts. Uniquely rectangular in shape, these have the appearance of classic jelly doughnuts, the kind that are getting increasingly more difficult to find, with their golden brown exterior and simple coating of granulated sugar. And guess what? They taste amazing! Ever so slightly crispy exterior, soft and fluffy on the inside with the right kind of jam in the right proportions -- this was seriously up there with one of the most memorable doughnut stops in the province. Will it make that hypothetical definitive guide? You bet! ^^;

Rating: ****

Plaisir Sucré

Bakery: Plaisir Sucré
Address: 2668 Arbutus St, Vancouver BC
Website: facebook
Style: French
Price: $$ 

Another tour in the Kitsilano area led me to this authentic French patisserie on Arbutus. Plaisir Sucré may not be the largest or fanciest bakery in the neighbourhood, but the wonderful display of tasty, reasonably-priced baked goods and pastries is not to be missed -- to be quite honest with you, I can't understand why there weren't line-ups to the door like other bakeries I had gone to nearby. O.O In terms of selection, there was enough for me to have trouble deciding what to get; with tarts under $4 and buttery viennoiseries at around $3, I just couldn't resist finally getting something a little more special, but even then that left me with countless choices: do I get the raspberry tart, my perennial favourite? Or try something else? Everything looked so good!

Given the fact that my touring on foot had only just begun, I also wanted to pick something that wouldn't fall apart upon transport, and so, in the end, I went for the almond tart ($3.65), which was a delicious shortbread shell filled with a moist and spongy almond mass and a few slivered almonds sprinkled on top. The glazed top kind of had the look and feel like it had been pressed with saran wrap and the larger version seemed more exciting with some sort of fruit added to the almond mass, but it was nonetheless a delicious treat and a welcome break from the same old buns and danishes. :)

Rating: ***

Terra Breads

Bakery: Terra Breads
Address: 2380 W 4th Ave, Vancouver BC (+3 locations)
Website: http://www.terrabreads.com/
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$-$$$ 

Terra Breads has four locations throughout southern Vancouver and, as the name indicates, they specialize in more rustic breads along with homemade granola and several varieties of focaccia. Their selection of sweets is a little less gourmet artisan and features mostly classic cookies, muffins, and scones with a few "surprises" in the form of fruit tarts, croissants, and biscotti -- nothing too crazy or extensive. Actually, I stumbled upon this bakery in Granville Island and thought that maybe their other locations would be a little less... pricey. So, on a miserably rainy day when going outside was not in any way fun, I decided to keep my day's Cake Touring close to where I was staying, so I could at any time run a few blocks to my room and dry off. That meant W 4th and that meant the very busy Terra Breads. ;)

Somewhat to my disappointment, the prices were unchanged, as was the selection: the identical array of tarts and cookies, but I was intent on grabbing something. It was this or nothing but getting wet -- and there had to be a silver lining to that giant rain cloud! XD

The most unique and appetizing product at a reasonable price was the cinnamon brioche with pecans ($3.50), a muffin-shaped buttery bun with a flakier top coated in salted caramel icing and big chunks of pecans. I microwaved it a little to soften the dough, melt the sauce, and bring out amazing aromas -- the whole kitchen smelled like freshly baked buns! This rich, tasty treat, however, reached its peak with the photographed top. Peeling away those sticky, nut-laden layers, I was left with a plain, pretty uneventful sweet bun that still tasted good, but had lost its excitement. A little more cinnamon and sugar rolled in with the dough would have done wonders....

Rating: **1/2

Patisserie Lebeau

Bakery: Patisserie Lebeau 
Address: 1728 W 2nd Ave, Vancouver BC
Website: http://grababetterwaffle.com/
Style: Belgian, Waffles
Price: $$

In a pocket of small shops strangely sandwiched in between luxury car dealerships and industrial businesses, there is Patisserie Lebeau, a Belgian bakery specializing in -- you guessed it -- authentic Belgian waffles. With an impressive selection of both ready and made-to-order waffles, both sweet and savoury, I can definitely say that I've never seen anyone with so many types of waffles. I didn't even think it possible. O.O Costing $3.00 and upwards, there's chocolate dipped, jam stuffed, topped with powdered sugar or fresh fruit.... Of course, there is also an ample selection of classic French pastries like croissants, danishes, brioche; there before Christmas, they also had German stollen.

Despite the above, I did not get a waffle. .___.; I have to say I've never really had a great Belgian waffle and so it didn't appeal to me, though while eating my treat on the spot, I did eventually regret my choice due to how many people popped in for waffles; perhaps, after all, it would have been smarter (maybe even more enjoyable?) to have grabbed a waffle. Oh well...

Advertising that this was a new addition to their repertoire, I went instead for the pistachio danish ($3.65 + tax). This was a nice big pastry with flaky dough rolled with not that much pistachio, though there was more than was on top, and then brushed with glaze on top. Maybe it wasn't as buttery and flaky as I like it, the glaze being the most flavourful, but this was a nice, tasty treat on an insanely rainy day. :)

Rating: ***

The Boss Bakery

Bakery: The Boss Bakery & Restaurant
Address: 532 Main St, Vancouver BC
Website: n/a
Style: Chinese
Price: $ 

My second stop in Vancouver's Chinatown, I found The Boss, like New Town, more restaurant than bakery, with most customers going directly to the booths in the back. The bakery portion was all either inside or on top of two display cases; there was very little selection and, with the exception of a few mousse cakes, products were limited to sweet and savoury buns. No cookies, no pastries; no black bean or red bean anything. I had a hard time deciding on what to take, simply because there was so little to choose from; essentially, the only reason I didn't just give up on the trip was because I was the only one at the bakery counter and felt bad walking out on the friendly worker. :/

So, though I don't usually get this, I thought the most promising sweet bun was the coconut bun ($1.35; the price tag said $1.00, which doesn't correspond to added taxes or anything O.o) This was a tasty bun with soft, moist dough with tons of shredded coconut rolled in, which is hard to find, so you had flavourful coconut with every bite; nevertheless, the dough was fresh and had nice texture, so it would have been alright had there been dry areas. A simple, pleasant treat that managed to redeem Chinatown bakeries (a little). ;)

Rating: **1/2

New Town Bakery

Bakery: New Town Bakery & Restaurant
Address: 148 E Pender St, Vancouver BC (+2 locations)
Website: http://newtownbakery.ca/
Style: Chinese, Filipino 
Price: $$$ 

Somewhat in the area, I thought of popping into a few Chinese bakeries while in Vancouver's Chinatown to increase my bakery count without spending a lot of money. ^^; Chinese bakeries may not be the greatest, but they are good for cheap eats. New Town, like some bakeries, is a bakery at the front and a restaurant serving "fast food" in the back of the space. The first thing that struck me was the full-serve counter with numbers, crowds fighting for those numbers, and signs warning of pickpockets -- certainly not the best atmosphere. :/ The selection is larger than usual, though this is mostly limited to savoury goods; after all, their specialty is meat-stuffed steam buns. There was also an increased variety of coconut and pineapple buns, along with different types of fried dough, both sweet and savoury, but little in terms of more traditional, "non-bun" baked goods.

Having already bought a coconut bun elsewhere, I thought I'd try one of their "fritters"; these are generally well executed. From bakeries to supermarkets to restaurants, they're usually nice and crisp on the outside, fluffy and soft on the inside. I've tried "ox tongue" and "oil strip" varieties elsewhere, so I was intrigued by their "Chinese cinnamon fritters" or "sweet cinnamon fritter" (something along those lines) -- the tray was almost empty, so they seemed to be a popular choice.

At $1.75 + tax (plus tax... what? when was the last time that happened!?), they ended up being pricier than I expected and were definitely not worth it (I also didn't appreciate the nasty look and annoyed attitude I got for buying one item...). In short: worst bakery of my BC Cake Tour, and quite possibly the worst Chinese bakery I've ever tried. :( This fritter was dense and stale; the outside was too brown and badly fried, with all the old oil, which tasted of salt and pepper pork chops, soaked up by the dough instead of creating a nice crisp outside. And where was the cinnamon? O.O This was super salty, and just plain... gross. I don't know how I managed to eat this! Cheap treat failure. ;_____;

Rating: *