Toronto' Sweet Sensation
 

TGIF!

I found a list of chocolatiers and pastries/bakeries in TO but there are so many stores and there is so little time for us (only 2 full days in TO).


Which ones of these shops are worth to line up for?=P~

Bernard Callebaut Chocolaterie
J.S. Bonbons
Simone Marie Belgian Chocolate
Swiss-Master Chocolatier
The Belgian Chocolate Shop
The Chocolate Addict

Corrina?s Cheesecakes
Dessert Trends
Dufflet Pastries
Fleurdelys Pâtisserie
Gateaux de Paris
Marish?s Boulangerie Inc.
Pain Perdu
Patachou
Patisserie la Cigogne
Schilling?s

Thanks,

K.

Go to Patachou, (a restaurant) which we believe sells Dufflets pastries, too.

Subway to Summerhill, and then walk down. There's a strip of gourmet stores, a great kitchenwares store (Embros) across the street, and a fine liquor store.

Callebout is not well located. There's a Godova store in the Eaton Centre, on the third level. That's close to the hotel.

Holt Renfrew at Bloor and Bay has a gourmet department with excellent chocolate.

And get bagels from St. Urbain, in the far back corner of the south market building, plus get a pemeal bacon sandwich from one of the retailers near the front door, too.

BAK

BAK

Go to Patachou, (a restaurant) which we believe sells Dufflets pastries, too.

Subway to Summerhill, and then walk down. There's a strip of gourmet stores, a great kitchenwares store (Embros) across the street, and a fine liquor store.

Callebout is not well located. There's a Godova store in the Eaton Centre, on the third level. That's close to the hotel.

Holt Renfrew at Bloor and Bay has a gourmet department with excellent chocolate.

And get bagels from St. Urbain, in the far back corner of the south market building, plus get a peameal bacon sandwich from one of the retailers near the front door, too.

BAK

BAK

Thanks, BAK! "a strip of gourmet stores"! We are going to need couple extra days shopping or we'll never get out of Toronto! :)


How are St. Urbain's bagels compared w/ Gryfe's (sp?) or World Bagel's? What are their best?

K.

The Belgian Chocolate Shop is my favourite. Word of warning thought - you can get drunk on their chocolates.

Thanks for your recommendation; I was eyeing on one of the Belgian chocolatiers, too. Was not sure which one to go to.


I've been looking for a good unique Belgian dark chocolate whenever I travel. The last time I had some good chocolate was in Vancouver, BC. I still miss the chocolate that I had in Brugge, Belgium. I'm not crazy about chocolate but the one I had was so divine that I stepped right back to the shop and loaded w/ 1 kg of selected goodies to munch for couple days later. The shop doesn't ship out oversea and the chocolate tastes much much better when you eat right there or within a week at room temperature.

K.

Ah, Kayla - you've stumbled into the Great Bagel Controversy. St. Urbain's are "Montreal bagels" - Gryfe's are referred to as "Toronto" or even "New York" bagels. I myself personally much prefer Gryfe's. To me, a Montreal bagel is a glorified pretzel. There - now I've thrown down the gauntlet - let the battle begin! :)

Hm... It was just an honest question; didn't mean to start a debate./:) It's interesting to know they are different styles. I was in Montreal yrs ago but did not have a chance to try any Montreal bagel.:| I may try both to check out the differences.

Thanks,

K.

I personally like Montreal bagels a lot.

But on to the question asked. If you are in the Beaches, there is a nice ice cream shop at the eastern end on the north side of Queen Street. It's near Quigley's restaurant, but the name escapes me right now. They have wonderful ice creams, and I believe they use Belgian chocolate in them (Callebaut, I think). We usually pick up a little package of 3 oreo cookies - regular oreos that are dipped in Belgian chocolate. It's totally decadent.

I'm a fan of Eitelbach's chocolates in Toronto (First Canadian Place in the financial district) and Manulife Centre (near Yonge and Bloor). Perhaps not the best chocolate for a chocolate purist (but as good as Godiva). However, they have something that others might not - wonderful shapes in dark, milk and white chocolate: tiny chocolate teddy bears, race cars, hearts and stars (for about 45-60c each). Of course, they've also got other fine chocolates (but I mostly buy the teddy bears).

Oh my goodness!

I have been crying for over a week because I was planning an England and Belgium trip for next year (my 2 favorite places!!) and realized I just can't afford it. :`(

I invested a lot of time finding just the right B&Bs etc. and dreaming of all that Belgian chocolate I was going to bring home...

But now I can dry my eyes!! :D It seems Toronto has awesome B&Bs and now I find out about the chocolate!!!! =D> (and I just realized I can bring home NY style bagels too!!)

WOW!! I am so happy!! \:D/

Enjoy! Enjoy!

K.

J.S. Bonbons is supposed to be fabulous. They have a couple of locations around the city. The best one for a tourist is located on Queen Street West (west of Bathurst). The stores there are also great to check out. Also, some small bistros and pizza/pasta places that are worth visiting (Terroni, One of a Kind come to mind).

For bakeries (just to confuse you further) Rahier on Bayview Avenue and the bakery at Celestin on Mount Pleasant Road are my favourites for sweet goodies like pain chocolat and tarts, etc.

By the way, regarding BAK's very good advice, the gourmet restaurants to which he refers on Yonge south of Summerhill are also known as "the five thieves"!

Have fun in TO.

My vote is for Bernard Callebaut. I got a huge mixed box for my birthday and they were the best I've every had.

Just got back fr. TO-stop-over Chicago for a few days. You folks makes me mouth-watering! Yes, there are so many choices of sweet goodies in T.O. We did try Patachou for lunch. It was OK; the hot chocolate is deliciously rich. My husband really likes T.O; we have to come back sometime in the future. We really had a good time; everyone enjoyed the trip, including our little 6 mo boy. He is a great tiny traveler; other passengers on the planes were amused.

Now, we need another vacation to recuperate from this vacation. I-)

Thanks for all the insider's tips!