Our next love to baking cookies, cakes, and cupcakes, are visiting bakeries that serve their own amazing delicious treats. So many bakeries in the T-dot, and not enough time to visit them all, we chose two bakeries that stood out for us which we've reviewed by judging and comparing them based on quality of the product, service/atmosphere, and pricing. Our two contenders were OMG Baked Goodness Ltd. and LeaH's.

OMG Baked Goodness

The Stats
Location: 1561 Dundas Street West
Owner: Lesley Mattina
Website: http://www.omgbakedgoodness.com/
Famous for: Chocolate Vegan Cupcake


Ann's Thoughts

I had seen this bakery a few months ago when I was walking down Dundas Street West, and what drew my attention was the quirky pink and black sign "OMG baked Goodness." I was curious to check out what this bakery had to offer, which was why Ana and I chose this one as our review, arbitrary I know, but it has received rave reviews and publicity from blogto, the Toronto Star, OurFaves.com, and many more.

The selection at OMG was disappointingly small. It had a couple of cupcakes, some biscotti, a few cookies and scones. Ana and I both selected the chocolate vegan cupcakes at $2.50 each, which is the signature item from this bakery. So how was the cupcake? It was soooooo good, I totally was not expecting it. It wasn't dry, or dense, and I definitely cannot taste the difference between a vegan cupcake versus a non-vegan cupcake. The only question is: Since the cupcakes at OMG do not have butter and eggs, does that mean it's (close to) fat-free????

Quality of Product: 10-'Nough said!
Service/Atmosphere: 7-The girl who served us was nice and didn't pester us much when we were trying to decide on which cupcake (yeah right!) we would chose. However I found the place rather sterile, with uncomfortable wooden benches, and no music, you wouldn't want to stay inside for long.

Pricing: 8-Although for some people $2.50 (+ tax) may seem a lot for a cupcake, it's totally worth it, trust me!

Ana's Thoughts

Hmm cupcakes. Who doesn't love them? I certainly do. And OMG cupcakes doesn't disappoint. They are moist, fluffy, bigger than most cupcakes out there and, according to Ann, they are healthy -vegan food does not contain butter nor eggs. I like to think she's right. Let's pretend the super sugary frosting is healthy too, ok? hehe =) Oh yeah, the frosting was the only thing I didn't like. It gives the sweetness the cake needs but I thought it was overly sweet. But this was not a surprise for me because I usually don't like butter cream frosting. FYI my cupcake is the one with the pink frosting.

Quality of Product: 9- The cupcake itself deserves a 10 but because of the frosting, which I suspect wasn't fresh - it was grainy and dry - I will give it a 9.

Service/Atmosphere: 7- I'll make Ann's words mine. And with the huge space they have some tables and comfortable chairs wouldn't hurt. A good coffee machine would be good, too. With this weather, it would help bring more customers inside but I guess they don't want people to stay long, chatting and eating their goods. Go figure.

Pricing: 8- Good value for the cupcake, but not so much for the other goods they have in store, specially for the tiny, skinny biscotti.

LeaH's

The Stats
Location: 621 St. Clair Avenue
Owner: Leah Kalish
Website: Not available
Famous for: Biscotti


Ann's Thoughts

From the outside looking in, I think this bakery is so attractive. Although small, it looks very cosy and inviting. It was on Ana's list of places to visit in Toronto, so instead of just visiting, why not do a comparative review as well?

After having bunch at CocoaLatte which consisted of waffles topped with strawberries, bananas, and whipped cream drizzled in maple syrup (oh the sugar!!!!) we briskly walked two blocks down to LeaH's for more sugary treats. In this bakery there was an assortment of baked goods such as cookies, biscotti, cupcakes, nata tarts, scones, chicken pot pie, and the list goes on, it took Ana and I a while to decide exactly what we were going to have.

LeaH is known for biscotti, which the owner, Leah Kalish sells in grocery stores around Toronto. I bought the cranberry and orange biscotti as well as the double chocolate biscotti, which cost me $1.25 each. Ana selected the lemon poppy seed biscotti, as well as her version of the oreo cookies, and a chocolate peanut butter rice crispy squares. Being allergic to the latter item, I tried all three biscotti as well as the oreo cookie. The biscotti was good. Out of the three I preferred the double chocolate. The oreo cookie did not taste like an oreo cookie (nobody can copy Mr. Christie) but they were still good.

Quality of Product: 7-The food was okay.

Service/Atmosphere: 6-The lady who served us was rather impatient (even though she wasn't doing anything.) The bakery itself was very cute, but because it was small, only a few people at a time can actually go there, and fewer can actually stay inside to eat.

Pricing: 9- I forgot the prices for the other stuff, but at $1.25 per biscotti, it's a really good deal.

Ana's Thoughts

We finally had a chance to go to LeaH's! Yay. The goods I had was a Lemon Poppy seed biscotti, Homemade Oreo cookies and a Chocolate Peanut Butter rice crisppy square. My favorite was the Lemon Poppy seed biscotti. I don't know what's considered a good biscotti but the lemon poppy seed was delicious. I will definitelly try to make it at home. The orange cranberry was my second fav. - hm, I see a citrus pattern here.

I don't know why the homemade oreos are called oreos. It tasted nothing like the store bought - of course- and the cookies were crunchy and very thin. It was good, nonetheless. I'm a huge lover of rice crispies so of course I had to have the Chocolate Peanut Butter at LeaH's. It was very good, crunchy with tiny bits of marshmellows in it. I coudn't taste the peanut butter, though. Just a teeny tiny hint of it.

Quality of Product: 8 1/2 - All the goods we had were great. Even though the Oreo cookies didn't taste like Oreos or the Peanut butter rice crispy only had a hint of peanuts, they still tasted very good.

Service/Atmosphere: 6-The lady wasn't very friendly with the customers and that's a big no no for me. What's the problem with smilling a little and making an effort to make people feel welcomed? It would make me hang out there more, even though they have such a limited space.

Pricing: 9- All the goods we had have a reasonable price.

PS: If your mouth filled with water when Ann mentioned out brunch at Cocoa Latte, here's a picture to make you drool. ;)

This week on Oh So Sinfully Delicious we've decided to change things up a bit, so instead of baking up a concoction of deliciousness, we wanted to become food critics for a day. The lucky restaurant that we've chosen to review this week is Boom Breakfast & Co, the perfect place to have brunch with family, friends, or even solo.

Ann's Thoughts

One day, last long weekend, three fabulous ladies were sitting comfortably at Boom Breakfast & Co, sipping lattes, catching up on the latest gossip, and relaxing as they watched stylishly dressed Torontonians stroll by Boom. This is how the setting was, as Ana, my friend S, and moi, got together to try out what Boom had to offer. Now, I've always wanted to go to this restaurant since the day it opened on St. Clair West Ave . It feels and looks like a typical brunch restaurant, with leather booths that give it that 1950s diner feel, and stools by one side of the restaurant for those who eating solo, or on the go.

The majority of the meals served in boom are egg based dishes, which is kind of a problem for me since I don't like eating eggs directly. Of course for those who abhor the dairy product, Boom does provide other food such as pancakes, waffles, pasta, burgers and sandwiches. I chose Boom's Blueberry Pancakes, while my friend S ordered the Strawberry and Banana Pancakes drizzled with chocolate sauce. Ana got an egg dish, which she'll give her thoughts on below. The service was great, the staff were super friendly, but my pancakes were a disappointment. I found them on the dry side partly because I didn't have any syrup with them. So why didn't I have any syrup? Because you had to pay for the syrup, which I personally don't think is fair. My friend S on the other hand received an amazing display of pancakes topped with a generous amount of sliced strawberries and bananas. It looked so good, and she said that it tasted really good too. Overall brunch at Boom was OK but I don't think I'll be going back there any time soon.

Service: 9. The staff were really nice and patient to diners despite the increasingly long line up of people waiting for a table.

Food: 6. So I'm being totally biased here cause I only ate the blueberry pancakes (without any maple syrup, or any sugary condiment at all!) but I'll take my friend and Ana's word that their meals were tasty and their lattes were pretty good.

Price: 7. The prices were pretty average.

Atmosphere: 8. Nice place to chill out with the ones you love.

Ana's Thoughts

Hmmm brunch. One of my favorite meals. I mean, what could be better than toast, eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruits, and fries, all in one meal? Nom nom nom.

As you can see from the pic above I chose the typical brunch dish. The presentation was okay and the portions were perfect. You can eat everything and feel satisfied without having to unbutton your jeans. The toasts were perfectly toasted and the fries were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. They were seasoned with oregano or another herb like that. It was a good change from the regular salt-and-black-pepper. You would think that with so many egg dishes on their menu they are experts in eggs or something like that but mine were tasteless. Nothing a dash of salt couldn't fix but still, I expected more from them. But then again, there's so much you can do with scrambled eggs, right? My pancakes were fluffy and light but with no flavour. A syrup would've been perfect. You HAVE to have syrup with your pancakes, so why we have to pay for it? No points for you Boom.

All in all, my meal was okay.The staff were very friendly and our waitress was very patient with us and didn't rush us to choose or to leave the restaurant, even though there were a line of people waiting to be seated. I would go back there again, but to try their pasta or sandwich dishes.

Service: 9. Friendly staff and fast serving.

Food: 7. Good presentation and portions.

Price: 7. Reasonable prices.

Atmosphere: 9.5. Diner look. Love it.

Boom Breakfast and Co

1036 St Clair W. (@Glenholme Ave)

Toronto