How can you not love a bakery?

 

 

I love bakeries.

 

I’ve always loved the scent of yeast, which reminds me of my Mum baking bread when I was a child. My parents would fight over the heels of the loaf, while I was looking forward to the warm slice with butter melting into the crumbs.

 

Everywhere I travel I try to find a bakery – and I’ve not been disappointed. From the elegant patisserie and boulangerie of Paris to the bun shops of Chinatown, all bakeries are a lure to me.  

 

 

France is currently the leader in display etiquette of a bakery – the shops of pastries and bread are done in the same belief as a clothing boutique or a jewellery store. Beautifully arranged and lit so precisely, if not for the sweet scents, you wouldn’t think these objet would be edible.

 

Recently I discovered a bakery in Cabbagetown – Bake Shop. It’s a small narrow space with a bank machine in the entrance thanks to its former life as a bank. There’s no adornment on the walls, a basic glass display case. But the scent wafting from the back is warm and sweet. The family that owns Bake Shop are Sri Lankan, so there’s a unique offering of savoury Sri Lankan treats and traditional sweet treats like poppy seed danish, pain au chocolat, almond croissant and cinnamon twists. Cookies, bread and cheese danish call out to you as you try to decide with sweet scents permeating your sense. Its become my local haunt.

 

When I’m in Kamloops, I always make my pilgrimage to Swiss Pastries. It opened when I was in highschool and is run by a Swiss family who immigrated to Kamloops to live in the mountains, similar to the Alps of their homeland. A traditional European bakery, with fresh bread, pastries, cakes and sandwiches, everything is done well. The cake trolley that revolves in the window is like a siren to anyone walking down the sidewalk. And in the summer, although it’s in a small spot downtown, its filled with locals and travelers having breakfast, indulging in the muesli and warm from the oven scones. My parents used to try to time our visit to Swiss P when we would go on a weekend to get bread fresh from the oven.

 

I try to be strong but every time I’m in the vicinity of a bakery I have to go in, and at least buy one thing. Although my waistline won’t appreciate it, my tastebuds are cheering.

 

 

photo: Swiss Pastries, Kamloops BC by WH

~ by Waheeda on April 11, 2008.