Bakeries – Michael Eats

Delicious Sandwiches at Dear Grain

Published on November 4, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 175 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://deargrain.com/

I’ve written about Dear Grain a few times on this blog, so on this particular visit, I sort of figured I might not bother to blog about it at all. But everything was very tasty, and I was like, okay, fine, I guess I have to blog about this? I guess I’m obligated??

(Don’t even try to get inside my brain and find a justification for why I’m still blogging after all these years, despite everyone moving on to your newfangled “social media.” I don’t know. I have to, and I don’t know why.)

I tried a couple of sandwiches. First up: To The Max Brekky Sandwich (“bacon, egg, ham, cheddar, scallion aioli, tomato jam”).

This was a quality sandwich. All the sandwiches here are pre-made and then heated up to order, so you don’t get a gooey yolk, which is a shame. But everything else was seriously tasty, with a really nice balance between the salty bacon/ham, rich aioli/egg/cheddar, and a nice bright sweetness from the tomato jam to balance things out. And of course, it’s a bakery that specializes in bread, so the bun is stellar.

Up next: Sourdough Grilled Chopped Cheese (“braised ground beef chuck, caramelized onions, pepperoncini, mustard mayo.”).

This one kinda blew me away. The description doesn’t mention cheese, for some reason (I guess they figure it’s already in the name?), but this was quite cheesy, and the combo of the gooey cheese and flavourful beef is a big winner. That’s not to mention the sweet caramelized onions, the zippy pepperoncini and mustard-mayo, and, of course, the perfectly toasted sourdough.

It all works so well together. It was maybe the best chopped cheese I’ve ever had? Actually no — not maybe.

A Delicious Treat at Eight Cookies

Published on October 17, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 983 Dovercourt Road, Toronto
Website: https://eightcookies.ca/

I’ll admit that I didn’t have the highest of hopes for Eight Cookies. They serve big fat chunky boys, like at Crumbl or Andrea’s, which I’m generally not crazy about. I find this type of cookie to be one-note soft, and I’m not a big fan of how underbaked they tend to be.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I found that the cookie here was not underbaked at all, but still managed to be delightfully soft and chewy, with a nice level of crispiness on its exterior.

Like at Crumbl, they have a rotating menu of eight different cookies, with several of them featuring various toppings and icing. I like to go simple when I’m first trying a place, so I went with the milk chocolate and sea salt: “A delightful balance of sweet and savory, these soft cookies feature rich milk chocolate chunks, finished with a sprinkle of sea salt for that perfect touch of flavor.”

It’s a top-notch cookie; it’s buttery and rich without being overly greasy, the chocolate is obviously very good quality, and the cookie itself is quite tasty. It’s a bit sweet for me, however — I think a darker chocolate would be perfect here, but then I tend to like my dessert to lean a bit less sugary.

Still, the salt does a solid job of (mostly) balancing out the cookie’s sweetness, and other than that, I liked this a whole lot.

A Creamy Dessert at 6 Cloud

Published on October 2, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3236 Yonge Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.6cloud.co/

6 Cloud serves what they describe as “Cold Souffle Cream Sandwiches.” Basically, it’s Japanese-style souffle pancakes stuffed with a whole bunch of whipped cream.

I like souffle pancakes. I like whipped cream. So yes please, cram the two things together. I’m into this.

And yeah, it’s good. They have several flavours, but I went with the most basic, Hokkaido Milk: “Our signature fluffy souffle stuffed with rich, creamy Hokkaido milk cream.”

It’s very tasty. It’s actually pretty interesting — the level of sweetness is a lot more restrained than you’d expect, and there are no other flavours to distract from the cream. There’s a bit of egginess from the pancake, but otherwise, this is all about the flavour of the dairy. It’s satisfying.

It’s also less messy than you’d think. I was afraid that all the cream would immediately squish out of the sides when I ate it, but the pancakes are soft enough and the cream is dense enough that it totally holds together.

A Delicious Pastry at Cho-Kwok-Lat

Published on September 25, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 79 Wellesley Street East, Toronto
Website: https://chokwoklat.com/

I went to the original location of Cho-Kwok-Lat in Markham a few years ago and found it to be thoroughly delicious. They opened a second location downtown last year, and yeah — they’re still cranking out some really stellar pastries.

Sometimes ordering at a bakery is a real struggle, because everything looks so good. That was definitely the case here. I wanted to try everything.

I eventually settled on the cherry berry pistachio pillow, which is filled with a decent amount of tasty jam and gooey pistachio cream in a croissant-like base.

I think that this style of croissant — with the dozens of tiny lines on top that crackle into crispy strips when you eat it — looks stunning, but is less satisfying to eat than the traditional, flatter presentation. Still, they do a great version of it here, with a great contrast between the crispy shell and the fluffy interior.

And the combo of the fruity base and the nutty pistachio cream works very, very well. It’s delicious.

Like when I visited the Markham location, they heated it up a bit first, which I think is such a great idea — it livens up the pastry and amps up the external crispiness, which definitely enhances things.

Tasty Pastries at Barburu

Published on July 12, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1000 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/barburu_bakery/

Barburu is a delightful little bakery and coffee shop in Yuan Ming Supermarket’s food court. They mostly specialize in various filled croissants, though they have a few other types of pastries as well.

I went with the pistachio croissant, and it was quite satisfying. In particular, it’s got a very generous amount of pistachio filling that has a tasty pistachio flavour.

I know it seems odd to complement pistachio filling for tasting like pistachio, but the pistachio flavour just isn’t quite there in a lot of croissants like this. This one definitely doesn’t have that problem.

There’s also a sweet, creamy pistachio spread on top of the pistachio filling, which is a nice touch.

My only real issue here is that the layer of croissant surrounding the filling is quite thin. It’s got a nice crispy exterior and the whole thing is certainly very satisfying, but I would have liked a bit more croissant and a bit less filling. The ratio is off. It’s tasty enough that I’m not going to complain too much, but it’s still a shame.