| rev:text
| - R Bakery is everything i love about living in the city.
Located at the midpoint of Marlee Avenue, R is a storefront in a series of strip malls, tri-plexes and tear-downs between Lawrence and Eglinton. If you drive by, you'll surely miss it-most probably because a) you're just taking a shortcut North or South, or b) from the outside, it's easy to get lost when most of the area's retail is taken up by dive bars and laundromats.
If you did drive by, you'd be making a mistake. At walking speed, you'd notice that R is almost always full of locals enjoying strong cups of coffee and delicate pastries, from first thing in the morning until well into the evening. The clientele shifts throughout the day; waves of stroller-moms and dads give way to retirees and local tradespeople, eager to crash out on overstuffed window seats, or couples on quick dates huddled at the few two-tops.
They're not really there for the atmosphere; a flat screen TV blares CP24 from open to close. They're not there for the service, which is plenty friendly, but rooted to the counter. They're there for a convenient spot to enjoy good company and to relax...and oh yeah, for the food.
The room itself is a slender band of windows, behind which you see a glass case full of pastries. Whole cakes are available, along with enough varieties of "dessertlets" to host a wedding. Maybe it's because the neighbourhood's pretty diverse, but a good swath of Europe is here in cake form. Craving a trip to Austria or Germany (Black Forest)? Italy (Tiramisu)? The Netherlands (carrot cake-seriously, look it up if you want to know why carrots are orange)? Proud West Coasters will find fudgy Nanaimo bars and Down-Easters can get their butter tart on as well. They're all cute, and all tasty-with deeper flavour than most (I often find mini-desserts to be little more than sughar bombs).
The highlight is the Portuguese custard tarts, which may best be described as what would happen if creme brulee and a mille feuille had a delicious, delicious baby. Crisp puff pastry holds wiggly custard baked to brown caramelized goodness on top. I am advised that they're not actually baked in-house, but are delivered each day by R's sister bakery. I'm docking them a star for that, but they're still awesome.
Off to the side you'll find a small bakery section; options are pretty much limited to white or whole wheat buns in round or torpedo shapes, from dinner rolls to full baguettes and loaves. They have short shelf-lives, but when eaten fresh are pillowy malty goodness. Crusts are thin and crispy, and crumb is light, lending itself to sandwichification (there's a full sandwich bar on-site, but I live close enough that I can make my own). A weekend bakery run for a random lunch has convinced my wife and I to make R's rolls the lynchpin of our strategy to bring the sandwich back. A few weeks ago, it was grilled chicken salad. Last week they held up to homemade roast chicken clubs. Tomorrow, fake crab gets the star treatment as I reinvent Subway's lost Seafood and Crab. If you're driving by, slow down; jump out of the car, and buy some bread.
Coffee suits me just fine; brewed, it's about as expensive as Timmy Ho's, but with more punch. Espresso drinks are even better. Pulled from a proper counter top machine, milk and coffee combine in different proportions for strong, sweetly-balanced bevvies. a few cents less expensive than the big chains.
Order a macchiato and a custard tart, and talk shower reno cost overruns with your contractor. Amazing how even less pleasant conversations become more manageable...
Seriously; get out of the car and go for a walk. Let your curiosity guide you into random places. Welcome to the neighbourhood. Welcome to R.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)