Phipp's Bakery, (Toronto, On)

Sweet and Savoury.

In 1986, with little fanfare, a small bakery opened in Toronto's up and coming trendy neighbourhood, Cabbagetown. Already having outgrown owner Janet Schreiber's kitchen, it would be 4 short years before Phipps Bakery outgrew those digs. An upsize to include a cafe and relocation found their new home on Eglinton Ave. E.
 Such was the success of Phipps that 10 years later further expansion would occur. Another 5 years would pass before, too busy to run as one entity, they split their retail and wholesale operations and both have thrived.
The retail store (bakery) offers great options for both the sweet and the savoury along with espresso (coffee, etc.) and a quaint little dining area in which to enjoy. 
 As I've said before, sometimes it's just better to let the place speak for itself. "At Phipps we love everything about great desserts and food. We love to make it. We love to eat it. We love to savour it.   And we especially love the pleasure that it gives to all our customers. Selling good food is not just business for us—it’s our way of expressing what we stand for and our long time commitment to our customers." 
If you see a mission statement like this, you can pretty much take comfort in the knowledge that you'll leave satisfied if not smiling like the cat that just swallowed the canary.
 
Phipps is a bit of a community anchor in the high rent, Forest Hill neighbourhood of Toronto. It's location is at once on the fringe of Forest Hill and right in the heart of the "Upper Village." Occupying a store front among the likes of pilates studios, clothing stores and other food purveryors.
 
The front of the bakery is simply that. A bakery. As far as the offerings anyway. There's, as I call it, a Trophy Case with cakes and pies and all those great goodies. The coffee bar is up here as well. It's almost it's own, separate place. You can come in, get a coffee and sweet, walk out and never know there was a tea room in back.


Back there is the hot table and salad bar. You can also find breads and sundry items. In an interesting decor plan, there's almost no transition. The dividing line between sweets and savouries is more or less marked by the Babka's.
This is also where the seating is. The small area of about 10 mismatched tables and chairs is set up like a European street cafe. Up to and including (faux) store fronts.
 
In the very back where the kitchen is and all the magic happens. So let's get a look.

There are a handful of  items on the hot bar that are supported with a salad bar and some soups. There is also Chili daily. Entree's can include Ratatouille and Vegetable Chow Mein. These dishes as with the soups are subject to change daily but from what I can tell, pretty much anything you choose won't disappoint.
The Mac n Cheese served at Phipp's is good though not spectacular. It's got good cheese flavour and it pretty creamy. For those who like their pasta al dente then you'll be somewhat disappointed. This is not the be all and end all in mac n cheese however it's a solid offering that'll get ya where you want to go.

The Lentil Stew is absolutely fantastic. My only exposure to lentils (in stew form) is the Indian dish, dal. Which is curried lentils.
Here we basically have a beef stew with a minimal amount of beef and loads of lentils. The gravy is definitely tomato based with some beefiness to it. There's not a lot of heat and make no mistake, this is not at all "Indian like." Which I suspected. I felt it benefited from some pepper on top. Enough to up the heat level just a bit and thoroughly round out the flavour.
So after saying all that I get a message from the "Twitterverse" telling me it it's vegetarian. Leaving me, thoroughly, completely, with egg on my face.

Phipps uses Mountainview coffee in their shop and I can honestly say, it’s some of the best I’ve had.

My usual order, Americano, is smooth, rich and comes with a nice crema. While I like the slight hint of bitterness some coffee delivers I find that I don’t miss it here and even prefer it.

The Espresso delivers that bitterness. They serve up a nice, chewy, creamy strong cup of Italian coffee here. It has beautiful crema, so thick it left a hefty foam on the sides of the cup when I was finished.

The a fore mentioned  Cinnamon Babka is excellent. As you know I'm a huge chocolate lover but if it's not chocolate, it better be cinnamon in my books. Oddly enough, I'd never had babka. I'm quite familiar with it's smaller sibling, the cinnamon roll so it's not like this is a new food for me. The biggest difference is cinnamon rolls are thin (ish) disks often covered with an icing, babka is the same type of yeast dough in loaf form with a streusel topping. Absolutely, thoroughly enjoyable. It would be nice to see them sell this by the slice in the cafe to drink with your coffee. It comes in chocolate as well.

The Apple Rugelah is simply fantastic. It's almost like a small apple pie. Big apple flavour complemented nicely with cinnamon. The pastry is not to be confused with pie dough but is good none the less. It's not quite as buttery or flaky as you'd find and texture wise it's maybe more like shortbread.

The cookies for the most part are very good. My lone exception to this is the Peanut Butter cookie. I should’ve known to begin with since I’ve had a hard time finding PB cookies I like. Their offering, while tasty, had a very dry, crumbly texture that I just didn’t care for. Much better is the Double Chocolate Chip which had good chocolate flavour and some really nice chew. Better still was the Cranberry, Oatmeal. Nicely chewy without a displeasing oatmeal taste but oatey none the less. The cranberries and golden raisins provide a nice amount of sweetness. My favourite though is the Chocolate Chip. A nice balance of chew and crispiness and with plenty of chocolate chips but not overly sweet. It’s just a good solid cookie.

One of the things on which non Canadian residents miss out is Butter tarts. These tarts are somewhat similar to pecan pie with it’s sugary custard. There is a base way to make them and then some will introduce pecans or raisins to the party. Phipps takes them further. Adding caramel or chocolate drizzle. They mix and match pastry and pecans to come up with 4 different varieties. First and foremost, I’d skip the chocolate ones. Chocolate and buttertart don’t mix IMHO.
The best I think is the Caramel Buttertart. They use shortbread as pastry and top it with caramel. What’s neat is you get a bite and think, mmm shortbread. Oh, there’s that filling. Then finally you get the caramel left since it’s a bit chewy. A terrific butter tart.

So there you go folks. Whether it's a just a coffee, a peace offering to your sweet tooth or a full meal. The home cooked offerings at Phipp's won't disappoint.
You can find Phipp's Bakery Cafe at 420 Eglinton Ave. E. in Toronto, On.

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You can also find them on the web, facebook and Twitter.


Well that's all for now folks, see ya next time in the food court.

Nostalgia and Whimsy

Sometimes I think it’s best to just let the place speak for itself. “The Flaky Tart is an old school bakeshop that marries nostalgia with whimsy.  Using only the freshest ingredients, Chef Madelaine Sperry creates and builds tasty pieces of art that both satisfy her creativity and her passion for the business.”
Madelaine comes from a baking background. Learning at the side of her mother as a child. From there she studied at George Brown College in Toronto and then it was off to Europe. Returning home she was Executive Pastry Chef at the very prestigious Rosedale Golf Club. From there she went into business for herself. 
Madelaine also offers up some of the most beautiful Wedding Cakes you can imagine.

Perhaps the best thing about The Flaky Tart is that the goodies aren’t cloyingly sweet. A lot of times these bakeries load things up with sugar. So much so that it tends to drown out the flavour of what it is that flavour is supposed to be. TFT’s goody’s flavours come through very boldly. I would also say that the lack of sugar (or perhaps I should say the use of exactly enough sugar) is really what makes this place so addictive. There's nothing to stop you from eating too much. There's no sore teeth from all the sugar. There's no DT's from all the sugar. Nope, there's just good common sense to tell you when you've had enough. Should you have any.

I should also point out that The Flaky Tart also offers up some savoury options like Meat Pies. But I’m just here for the sweets.

TFT is just one of a number of store fronts in Toronto’s Mount Pleasant Village. Inside the place just smells like a bakery. If you didn't already know that from the outside. Just last week I walked by and was drawn in like I was being beamed aboard a space ship. The smell of fresh ginger wafting out the front door was irresistible. Once inside you'll see a wide array of goodies from which to chose on either wall and a "Trophy Case" beside the cash register. All the baking is done in the back behind the magic curtain.

So let’s take a look at that baking.

The English Toffee Brownie is as you can imagine excellent. One look will tell you that. The brownie isn’t quite as dense as most brownies but certainly far from cake like. The thick fudge icing is quite nice. The English toffee is perfect and glued to the top with caramel drizzle. It’s missing a richness that keeps it from being decadent IMHO. So if you were looking for that, you may be a bit disappointed. It’s so good otherwise that it can be over looked. In fact, for most adults, it would be too much if it was knee buckling. 

The Pumpkin Spice Cake is ridiculously good. Ranking up there with some of the best non chocolate desserts. It has a very distinctive pumpkin pie spice flavour which was rich in clove. The whipped cream is nice and light and what dessert isn’t better with some caramel right??

The Butter Tarts are among the best in the city. Not my favourite (my moms are) but still awfully good. They have an incredible rich taste but are a bit runny and I’m not a big fan of the runniness. You may notice that there’s a fair bit of extra crust. That extra crust is there so you can break pieces off and dunk them in the ooey goodness. I do like that aspect. I think my friend is addicted to them. 
A special thanks to Jen of FoodPr0n for the use of this picture.

The Old Fashioned Fruit Tart is excellent. Sour cherries are cooked down to a jam like consistency but with a few whole cherries in there as well. The balance between sugar and tart is quite nice. It's just about right in the middle. Not particularly either. It really seems to let the fruit shine. While eating this I happened to bite it so perfectly that I got a great cross section of the pastry. It's beautiful. Very flaky. You could actually see the different layers of dough with a microscopic space between each layer.

Cupcakes are also available of course. This specimen is a Ginger Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream. Oh man this is good. Like a mild, soft, gingerbread man with a beautiful icing. I thought the vanilla could’ve been a bit stronger but it was fine as it was. I do love vanilla so maybe it’s just me.

Madelaine makes a pretty mean cookie as well. This Triple Chocolate Chip known as Jason’s Favourtie, is Milk, Dark and White Chocolate Chips in a nice cookie batter. For the most part the batter is just there to hold the chips together. You gotta love that. I’ve been told that the Ginger/Molasses Cookie is phenomenal but I haven’t tried it. Yet!

Mrs. Sippi loves her some macaroons and seeing these nice “To Go” bags I figured I’d have to treat her. The subdued sweetness really works well with these and seems to make the coconut flavour stand out even more. Mrs. Sippi absolutely loved them. They’re everything she could’ve wanted. 

You can find The Flaky Tart at 711 Mt. Pleasant Rd. in Toronto. 

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You can also find them on the web, facebook and Twitter.


Well that’s all for now kids. See ya next time in the food court.

Davwud

 

The Great Toronto Ethnic Bakery Tour

If you've been reading along you'll probably know that I live in Toronto. At least, the Toronto area that is. What you may not know is that "The Big Smoke" as it's called is as multicultural a city as there is on the big blue marble. This of course means there is ethnic food from every corner of the globe.

With our love of ethnic foods and bakeries in tow, a small group of local Chowhounders set out to sample some of the delights, both sweet and savoury which our immigrant compatriots have bless the city.
There is too much to go into great detail about everything so I'll hit the high points in terms of taste and interst. Focusing on 4 of the 7 bakeries and 2 places we got side tracked.

Our first stop was Columbus Bakery at 2931 Dufferin St. south of Lawrence.

Specializing in Columbian baked goods, it's quickly becoming a favourite of mine and some of my partners in crime.
We tried over half a dozen treats from the sweet and the savoury as well as a Columbian soft drink.

Pony Malta: A carbonated drink with a malted molasses taste to it. I found it to be okay and if I went back would order it again. I doubt I'd have it somewhere else though.

Carimanolas: Fried cassava (yucca) fritters stuffed with minced beef that make a great little snack when you're on the road. Perhaps a touch greasy for some but I love them. Perfect with or without hot sauce.

Tamales: Not the same as most tamales as they are much bigger and not wrapped in corn husk but banana leaves. A great corn taste from the massa. This particular tamale was chicken and contained some vegetables and a whole drumstick. Bone and all. I thought it was the best tamale I'd had but sadly, it's in short company. Eaten on arepas (cornmeal pancake) with hot sauce it was fantastic. (sorry the pic is a bit blurry). The white thing is the arepa.

Other samples consisted of giant alfajores (a shortbread type double decker cookie), empanadas (made with a corn meal shell that certainly need the hot sauce), chicarones (fried pork belly, skin on. Can't go wrong there) and a tamarind stuffed puff pastry (we don't know the name of but was also good).

We showed up hungry and ate a little too much for our first stop. As you can imagine, we compounded the problem at our second stop.

On we went to Doce Minho a little further south at 2189 Dufferin St. specializing in Portuguese fare.

I'm a chocolate nut but if I'm not having chocolate my favourite sweet is pasteis de natas. The famous custard tarts are simply out of this world good.

There were two things surprising to everyone. A custard filled donut (bottom right). Given that is has custard in it, it probably shouldn't have surprised. The other was a neat little boat filled with a sweet custard that was the colour of sweet potato (top left). There was a good almond tart (middle) and a nice piece of chourico (we laughed at the sausage being a palate cleanser) that was quite tasty too(bottom left). (blurry again)

We also had some savoury pasteis as well. Salt cod, shrimp, beef and chicken flavoured fritters (I mean seperately, not all meat mixed together).

Athen's Pasteries is as you can imagine, Greek. Right in the heart of Greektown.

First thing you'll notice is the goodies were right in the front window. All portioned and cut right there for the passers by to see.

If the pastries in the front window wasn't enough to convince you you were on to something, the fact that they make and sell their own phyllo is should seal the deal.

Kreatopita: Much like Spanakopita but with a meat filling. Fantastic.

Spanakopita: (right) Perhaps the most well known of the Greek pasteries, it's phyllo stuffed with cheese and spinach. Most were in agreement it was the best we'd had. Strong spinach taste without overwhelming.
Tiropita: (left)As above with Feta. Often called cheese pie it too was great.

All the above had flaky, buttery phyllo.

We also had Loukoumades. (above on the bottom) A donut like doughball drenched in honey. Unbelievably sweet and somewhat one dimensional. The addition of cinnamon turns something somewhat boring into a nice sweet treat.

Later in the afternoon we made our way to Babu Bakery and Sweets. Located in the back of a strip mall at 4800 Sheppard Ave. E. it's a take out only Sri Lankan place offering both the sweet and the savoury. Suffering from sugar shock we stuck the hot tables. Upwards of a couple dozen delicious looking a la carte offerings all of which I'd never sampled. We took our goodies and had a picnic in a local park.

Beef String Hopper: (left) Named for the string like rice noodles. At first bite it was quite good but unassuming. As a few more bites came so did the burn. Not overpowering but a nice back bite to it.
Chicken Kothu Roti: (right) HELLO!! Bang, tasty with an up front heat that'll get your attention.
Chicken Hakkah: (bottom) My favourite. I like sauce and spice which is exactly what this delivered.
An ingenious "PeteRock" slipped out to Mona's Roti (4810 Sheppard Ave. E.) and picked up, you guessed it, roti. Mona's roti was very nice, fresh and perfect with all three dishes from Babu.

A couple of us had (what I'm told is) sahlbet. A fruity drink made from a base of milk and rosewater. It needs to be stirred as the rosewater sinks to the bottom. I liked it.

The other unscheduled but well worth it side trips was to Simba Grill at 375 Donlands Ave. to pick up some Tanzanian style samosas to compare with those from Samosa King. Not a bakery but since we were driving right by it....

Tanzanian style samosas sport a phyllo type wrapper. We opted for the beef filled.
I prefer this style and these were as good as it gets. Another reason why we stopped.

The more traditional style have a more standard dough. Both are deep fried.
The Samosa King samosas were fine. The are loved by many but it's most likely because of the price. (5/$1) I've had much better.

Another goodie from Mona's was a Doubles. A sandwich of two flatbreads filled with chana (spiced chick peas). It's called doubles. As in, one "Doubles." It was excellent.

We also stopped at Lebanese Bakery for (obviously) Lebanese. I thought it was okay, nothing special. I did like the baklava.
Ponchos Bakery offers up Mexican breads. It seems none of us are into Mexican breads. For the most part we found them dry. Probably they're meant to be eaten with coffee or some sort of drink. I did like the strawberry flavoured empanada.
We skipped Fragrant Bakery (Chinese) since we were just flat out spent. Sensory overload and/or food coma were the reason.

Well that's all for now folks.

Davwud