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
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
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. ;)
