The raw food diet isn’t yet very wide spread in Toronto. There are only a handful of restaurants and chefs here catering to this diet/philosophy. But the appeal of this seemingly restrictive way of eating may increase with the infusion of gourmet raw cuisine into the city’s dining scene, particularly at the sweet end of the spectrum.

Raw food culinary artist Jessica Acs is hoping that the appeal of flavour and excitement will lead folks to try a healthy alternative to traditional cooking.

Continue reading The Sweet Raw Truth »

Arriving at Toronto’s first Le Pain Quotidien (508 Eglinton Avenue West) location late last month to meet the company’s chief creative officer, I had to wait outside as a contractor applied a restaurant logo decal to the front door. Dressed funny for a contractor, suit coat, Italian leather shoes.Turns out Le Pain Quotidien founder and chief bread maker Alain Coumont is a hands on kind of guy. He was in Toronto to help launch the latest addition to the bakery-café chain and its first location in Canada.

His empire began in Belgium 18 years ago and now has locations in New York, Dubai, London and Paris. The Canadian spot opens to the general public on April 9th. This is his third visit to Canada in anticipation of the launch. “I came here before to source the organic flour we use in the bread,” he said.

Continue reading The Good Kind of Pain »

Toronto’s artisanal bakeries are in for some competition.

Visitors to last fall’s Gourmet Wine and Cheese show might remember having samples of some tasty breads from a company from Montreal called Première Moisson. Run by company president Liliane Colpron and her three children, Première Moisson opened in 1992 and now sells over 350,000 loaves of bread each week through 15 of their own bakeshops as well as in supermarkets in Quebec.

Continue reading Bread Head »

Bakery18
Atrium on Bay, 20 Dundas Street West, lower level
416-979-7168

In the land populated by doughnuts, coffee, or the ubiquitous bagel, a young player rises up to open minds and stomachs with new possibilities. Bakery18 is a two-year old business run by the granddaughter of the creator of Jin Cheng Bakery Ltd. (3636 Steeles Ave E Unit 138) that originated in Taiwan nearly 60 years ago. At its helm is the youthful and bubbly co-owner/store manager, Vivian Chen, who has helped to open three stores in the family business empire.

Continue reading The Smell of Sweet Success »

Messa Bites
681 Mount Pleasant Road
416-485-5832

Every occasion calls for a cookie. That’s certainly the going train of thought in the Costa household, where wife Vera and husband Michael bake biscuits for any and all times of year. Want 200 cookies with wedding dresses or clover leaves on them? Maybe Canadian flags? Cupid? Frogs? Company logo?

The new Costa creation, Messa Bites, would likely welcome the challenge. They add personal flare and imaginative design to a batch of cookies or other sweets, made with all-natural ingredients. “Our motto is to ‘give them something to talk about,’” says Vera Costa. “That’s exactly what we want guests to do at a party. Imagine taking home an edible place card or matching your child’s invitation with a cookie favour.

Continue reading Using Cookies as Canvasses »

The Bake Shop
195 Harbord Street
416-850-8039

The first time I walked into the Bake Shop I did a double take. For a brief moment I wondered if by accident I had walked into someone’s home kitchen. The set up of this quaint bakery is not typical of a shop. There is no store front, no back of house, and no divide between customer and shop keeper. Indeed, it does look like a home.

Continue reading Baked With Love at the Bake Shop »

As a kid bread used to mean symmetrical square slices of white bread to me - I didn’t know any better. It was just seen as a carrier for the better things in life, like meat and spreads. Nowadays, artisanal breads are giving the white loaf a run for their money, with so many bakeries popping up in our city providing us with lovely bread varieties. The best part is the availability in both independent food shops and the big chain grocery stores. As I enjoy doing product comparisons, I did a head-to-head among several baguettes in town to see who can live up to the “Parisienne standard” of the ideal baguette. This was a dream for my husband (a big bread snob), as that meant he could devour artisanal bread galore for several days sequentially.

Continue reading Baguette Bounty »

Tasty Exposuer: Jewel-like crystal dumplings from Chiu Chow Boy Restaurant (3261 Kennedy Road, Scarborough) allows diners a glimpse of the sweet treasures hidden inside before breaking though its chewy steamed skins.

Snacking is a favourite pastime of mine, and like many fellow snackers, I’m always on the lookout for new things to eat. The GTA hosts a number of great establishments dedicated to the art of snacking - a fact that both my tongue and tummy appreciate. This is the second part of a series dedicated to freshly made snacks from East Asia. Part 1 focused on grilled and fried munchies that you could really sink your teeth into, while this post places focus on sweet endings. Dedicated to entice Torontonians with a sweet tooth, the following highlights features an alternative to the standard meal-enders of coffee and pastries. It’s time to ready those taste buds for more tempting treats, from dessert soups to fruity bubble tea, the options seem endless.

Continue reading Snack Time Feature: the Search for Fresh East Asian Treats (Part 2 of 2) »

Dessert Lady
20 Cumberland Street
416-924-3223

Here is a spell of winter magic: Trudging through the slush and tumbling over snowbanks in suddenly-white Toronto, cold, nose running, face wind-burnt and opening the door to the Dessert Lady. The powerful scent of shortbread slams into me like a wave. The wind turns to warmth. And winter is long gone two steps into this cozy Yorkville shop.

For three years, a sibling team has been creating artful goodies that run the gamut of everything sweet. Chef Mandy Kan, whose studies began at Manhattan’s renowned French Culinary Institute, has honed her skills in Florida (Ritz Carlton) and Toronto (Superior Restaurant, Summerhill Market). Now she’s got her own shop of innovative desserts.

Continue reading An Inspired Sweet Tooth »

Harbord Bakery
115 Harbord Street
416-922-5767

We are standing around my kitchen table with an assorted selection of baked goods in front of us. I have just returned home from Harbord Bakery and we are about to start an enviable taste test.

“There’s so much here, I don’t know where to begin,” says Thea in amazement. Thea and Rich, friends who share my love of food, have been visiting for the week from Edmonton. They are more than willing to voice their opinions on all things edible.

Earlier in the morning I got up while they were still sleeping and walked over to the bakery. The warm smell of fresh baked goods was an inviting change from the cold wind outside that has now taken over Toronto. Customers bustled around the counters deciding what they wanted to bring home for Saturday brunch. With so many people around I was able to ask some of those waiting in line for suggestions. Locals were willing to share their Harbord favourites. Top picks were wide-ranging and included fruit flan, carrot cake and tuna salad.

Harbord Bakery, officially named Harbord Bakery and Calandria, is not just a bakery. Rather, it is a well organized and stocked one-stop-shop.

Continue reading Harbord Bakery Treats »

A couple months back I had great fun writing a piece on cupcakes in Toronto, comparing a variety of the pretty little cakes from different bakeries and shops across the city. The result of that taste test determined that the vanilla cupcake from Circles and Squares bakery topped our list, winning as both our favourite vanilla cupcake and our favourite overall.

It turns out that the bakery is just a few minutes from my house and when owner David Baxter invited me to stop by, I certainly wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.

Continue reading Creating a Delicious Thing »

Madeleines, Cherry Pie and Ice Cream
1087 Bathurst Street
416-537-3131

When the weather turns hot, it’s inevitable that all my sweet-tooth cravings get satisfied by ice cream and I forget about other forms of dessert. But a trip to Madeleines, Cherry Pie and Ice Cream has changed my mind - after all, why not have your pie and ice cream, too!

With exposed brick walls, high ceilings, long white drapes and a fireplace, Madeleines, Cherry Pie and Ice Cream creates a French-country sanctuary for pastry lovers (not to mention a romantic place for dates). Freshly-baked pecan pies are being carried out minutes after we walk in the door, and it’s fun to linger over the jars of cookies and baskets of croissants that lead up to the counter.

Continue reading Fruit-Filled Pies a Summer Treat »

A lot of food served up in restaurants is compared to art, both in terms of the craft involved and the final product that appears on the plate. Nowhere is this more true than the end result of the many dedicated hours a pastry chef puts into the follies created out of flour and butter and sugar. Cakes in particular require not only the knowledge of chemistry necessary to make a tasty product, but also expertise in physics, sculpture, design and even botany.

For special events like weddings, the cake may well be the centrepiece of the whole affair, with all eyes focussed on the intricate decorative details and all mouths waiting anxiously for a taste to see if the “inner beauty” matches the pretty outer bits.

Continue reading Indie Food Artisan - Cakes on Cakes »

Ah, the cookie. A simple treat that brings delight to millions. The cookie is the choice companion to cups of tea, the pacifier of boo-boos, the financial means for Girl Guides everywhere, and the choice prize handed out by the snarkily sarcastic. But for people with food allergies, finding tasty cookies and treats that won’t make them swell up and fall down can be a difficult task, as most mainstream brands include eggs, dairy, nuts, definitely wheat, and sometimes even animal fat. What’s an allergic vegan to do?

These days, folks once deprived of the joy of simple baked goods have found new hope in Eden Hertzog’s New Moon Kitchen. This gourmet bakery started in 1997 offers a range of six types of cookies and four loaf-style cakes that are entirely nut, egg, dairy, wheat, cholesterol and preservative free. Whew! They’re also made without the use of trans-fats, and all items are certified Kosher and vegan. And the best part is - they’re all really good!

Continue reading What Do You Want… A Cookie? »

The Queen of Tarts
283 Roncesvalles Avenue
416-651-3009

Not many people can count watching Martha Stewart bite her own leg off as a hi-light of their culinary career, but for Stephanie Pick, proprietor of The Queen of Tarts bakery on Roncesvalles Avenue, it was an event that garnered her already popular shop international attention.

Someone at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia got hold of some of Pick’s gingerbread cookies decorated to look like Martha’s famous getting-out-of jail poncho, and very quickly Pick was invited to appear on the show where Martha happily bit off the gingerbread likeness of her ankle, complete with royal icing ankle monitor.

Continue reading Flour, Sugar and Art at the Queen of Tarts »