Serano Greek Pastry

Bakery: Serano Greek Pastry
Address: 3185 W Broadway, Vancouver BC
Website: n/a
Style: Greek 
Price: $$

Serano Greek Pastry is most likely the destination for Greek pastries in Kitsilano. Small and well-established, Serano is old-school Greek bakery that focuses on various types of baklava and other syrupy, nut-filled filo pastries along with a small selection of slightly more pan-European cake slices and cookies. Though not a priority of mine, they also happen to make their own pita bread.

 Naturally, trying the baklava ($2.25/each) was a must. As opposed to other styles of baklava, Greek baklava tends to be soaked in honey syrup; in some cases, it's positively oozing and Serano certainly doesn't disappoint on that level with moist, juicy layers stuffed with a delicious nutty filling. Great texture that's neither too soggy nor too dry and great taste -- this is some good baklava!

Rating: ***1/2

Isuzu Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Isuzu Bakery 
Address: 1 Chome-11-18 Motomachidōri, Chūō-ku, Kōbe, Hyōgo-perfecture
Website: http://isuzu-bakery.jp/
Style: Japanese 
Price: $$ 

The hostel I stayed in during my trip to Kobe had a series of homemade folders and maps on what to do and where to eat in the city. These went from fairly standard attractions and Kobe beef restaurants to something a bit more interesting; one of these leaflets just happened to be the best bakeries in Kobe! So a few of the stops I went to came from this list. :)

According to the author, Isuzu Bakery is *the* quintessentially Kobe bakery and whenever those native to Kobe return, a trip to one of Isuzu's several locations is an absolute must. Is this all purely sentimental or is it more to do with taste? After all, there were a lot of award-winning baked goods on the three walls of shelves, though I found that most were savoury, including a big chunk dedicated to sandwiches, croquettes and other light-lunch items. The sweet selection is, however, fairly standard and typical of many Japanese bakeries with a few unique items like tarts and some sort of muffin-shaped treats.

This time, I passed by the stuffed buns and cinnamon rolls and opted for something that wasn't available everywhere: a sort of coffee cake with fruit (183 yen). Honestly, I'm not quite sure what the fruit was: peach? It wasn't mango or orange.... The taste was rather indistinct, giving the heftier sponge cake a bit of flavour and moistness. That being said, it actually was quite good. I liked the texture of the cake dough (reminding me a lot of Asian "cupcakes"); it had a nice amount of mystery fruit -- ha ha! -- and the sugary streusel bits here and there were a tasty touch. Maybe it wasn't *the* bakery for me in Kobe, but it's a good choice nonetheless.

Rating: ***

Jo-Anna's Bakery

Bakery: Jo-Anna's Bakery and Cafe 
Address: 212 Main St, Thessalon ON 
Website: facebook
Style: Canadian
Price: $$ 

Jo-Anna's bakery and cafe is located in a big white house in the heart of Thessalon. From the outside and given the bakery-cafe title, you'd almost expect it to be more cafe than bakery; you know what I mean, a few homemade baked goods at the counter made for the express purpose of going with that hot drink you're enjoying on-site. In this sense, I was pleasantly surprised, since Jo-Anna's is indeed a bakery as well, with loaves of bread on shelves next to the cash along with a selection, albeit small, of classic baked goods like butter tarts and squares.

I decided to try the cinnamon bun ($2.50). Maybe a bit clumsily built, with big chunks of dough that didn't really stick together, but it was quite good with a slightly crunchy crust and sticky filling that was loaded with cinnamon flavour. A good, definitely above average classic cinnamon bun.

Rating: ***

Columbia Bakery

Bakery: Columbia Bakery 
Address: 2151 Bowen Rd, Nanaimo BC 
Website: http://columbiabakery.ca/
Style: German, Canadian 
Price: $$

Several years ago, I discovered that the city of Nanaimo has created a "Nanaimo Bar Trail", a local tour celebrating the city's homegrown hero: the humble Nanaimo Bar. Taking a look at the tour with the express purpose of covering as much ground as possible, I discovered that there really weren't that many locations, and not that many bakery locations, at that. Of the two on the list that I considered close enough to group together and make a Nanaimo Bar Trail of my own, Columbia Bakery was the first.

This long-standing European bakery in a relatively industrial area has a fairly impressive, almost deceptively lengthy array of cakes, baked goods and other treats that goes from simple cookies to marzipan sweets. I say deceptively, because upon further examination, many non-sweet items are located within this wall of display cases. One thing, however, they did not have was my star attraction: where were the Nanaimo bars? Can you believe it? They happened not to have any(more) that day. I couldn't believe it! My Nanaimo Bar Trail was going up in smoke before my very eyes...

Really, I would have been angry had it not been for the poppy seed square I had spotted. Yes, everything was right again! This classic poppy seed square ($2.99) had a delicious, generous poppy seed mass with a fragment of lattice and a thin layer of glaze on top. Yummy shortbread crust and overall fresh and flavourful. Would have liked to add a Nanaimo bar to this, but oh well... I'm happy as is.

Rating: ***

Esther & Sons

Bakery: Esther & Sons
Address: 652 Cook Rd, Kelowna BC
Website: http://www.estherandsons.com/
Style: North American
Price: $$$

The number of outstanding bakeries to review in Kelowna (and the Okanagan, for that matter) is quickly diminishing, so I was very excited when a quick online search had this "bakery" in the Mission pop up for me. Looking through the website, I spotted a certain southeast Asian inspiration behind many of their advertised products and was immediately intrigued. I love pandan cake, but have a hard time finding it anywhere; the Black Forest cake with Okanagan cherries or madeleines were also something I'd be willing to try. In fact, even their chicken congee with dough stick was right up my alley.
 
That being said, it was a good thing I didn't plan on going for lunch too, since stepping into the bright, airy space with minimalist decor and even more minimal counter space, I realized that the website clearly didn't reflect what was available in store. Esther & Sons really shouldn't even have been labelled as a bakery. Yes, they make their own treats, but isn't that how it should be with any cafe? The thing is, there simply isn't enough for it to warrant a special bakery tag: a few scones and muffins, one loaf cake and a carrot cake in the fridge. Moreover, there were no "southeast Asian" influences in anything, so had the cafe changed owners or management? Had they switched over to a more boring ahem, standard array of products? Expecting something unique, I was disappointed.

Not wanting to come for nothing, I went with their most unique item up for offer: the blueberry earl grey loaf ($4.05 with tax). Filled with whole, fresh blueberries, I could definitely see and taste those with every bite. The lemon icing was a nice touch, and certainly flavourful. The Earl Grey part... not so much. Pretty good in taste and texture, a bit dry without the fruit; it was too pricey for what it was and just not what I was expecting.

Rating: **

Pain de River [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Pain de River 
Address: 8 Chome-7-9 Shimoyamatedori, Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture
Website: http://www.painderiver.com/
Style: Japanese  
Price: $ 

This somewhat tucked away, yet popular bakery has the distinction of selling everything for 100 yen. Of course, that's what their window says, but inside, there is a table of exceptions and tax is added after that initial 100 yen, so there is a bit of a catch. Nevertheless, the 100 yen selection is ample, with the same kind of sweet and savoury buns going for over 200 yen at other bakeries, including sweet buns, doughnuts and flaky pastries both Japanese and European-inspired. When it comes to baked goods, though, cheaper doesn't often mean better or tastier. So how did Pain de River fare?

I wasn't quite sure what to pick out; unlike some bakeries I'd been to, I had a few picks; for the price, I was almost tempted to stock up on more items, but in the end thought it wouldn't be wise since I would be the only one eating it. Having been in the mood for a doughnut for the past few days, I decided to try their simple sugared ring (108 yen).

That particular day was an absolutely miserable, cold and grey rainy day and biting into this super moist, slightly oily dough with a golden brown crust on the outside and an uneven sprinkling of sugar was exactly what I needed. Probably my favourite pick in Kobe.

Rating: ***1/2