Quick Bites: Chinese Bakery, Milk & Cookies, Rosso Pasta Bar

Red bean pineapple bun from Chinese Bakery
Red bean pineapple bun from Chinese Bakery

I had a red bean pineapple bun from the very generically-named Chinese Bakery (that’s gotta be a nightmare for SEO) and it was totally fine.  Tasty enough, but probably about as generic as the name of the bakery.  It’s got a good level of sweetness, it was fresh enough, and the red bean paste is nice and chunky (though the bigger pieces of red bean were a bit too firm).  The cookie top was very soft and mostly fell off before I could eat it, and the bun itself was a bit dense, but I didn’t dislike eating it.

Chocolate chip cookie from Milk & Cookies
Chocolate chip cookie from Milk & Cookies

Speaking of fine desserts from generically-named bakeries, the chocolate chip cookie at Milk & Cookies in Kensington Market is pretty good.  It’s tasty.  It’s a chocolate chip cookie; it’s very, very hard to go wrong there.  Nothing here particularly stood out, and the level of salt was a bit overcranked, which kinda overwhelmed the other flavours, but again, it’s a chocolate chip cookie.  It doesn’t have to be the best one you’ve ever had to be perfectly enjoyable.

Rosso Bolognese from Rosso Pasta Bar
Rosso Bolognese from Rosso Pasta Bar

Quick serve pasta joints seems to be a burgeoning trend in the city, and sure, why not — it’s an easy thing to take on the go, and it’s cheap and satisfying.  Or theoretically cheap?  My pasta bowl cost $16.99; it’s upsetting to contemplate, but I guess that isn’t particularly expensive by 2026 standards??  Anyway, I ordered the bolognese (“Rigatoni, slow-simmered beef ragù, parmigiano reggiano”), and it was fine.  The fresh pasta was nicely al dente (though that wasn’t the case for everyone I went with) and the sauce was tasty enough.  I’d compare the flavour to a nicer jarred sauce, like Rao’s, though the ground beef was overcooked and dry.  I don’t think I’d come back here given what they’re charging, but I’m not mad I gave them a shot.

A Delicious Treat at Eight Cookies

Eight Cookies
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.

Eight Cookies

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.”

Eight Cookies

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.

Eight Cookies

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.

Tasty Cookies and Onigiri at Momochee’s Desserts

Momochee's Desserts
Location
: 263 Lakeshore Road East, Mississauga
Website: https://momochees-desserts.square.site/

Momochee’s Desserts is a delightful bakery in Port Credit that specializes in cookies, basque cheesecake and, oddly enough, onigiri.

Momochee's Desserts

Onigiri, for the uninitiated, is a triangular rice ball with various fillings; frequently, it comes wrapped with a sheet of nori that’s been protected from the rice by plastic, keeping it crispy.

Momochee's Desserts

It’s not something that you’d expect to find at a bakery, but yeah, I’m into it.  I’m a big fan of the stuff, but it’s hard to find a really good one in Toronto.  Usually, the seasoning is off or it’s been sitting out too long, with unpleasantly firm rice.

Momochee's Desserts

I went with the spicy mayo onigiri, and aside from being served too cold, it was just right.  The rice was fresh and nicely seasoned, it had a good proportion of creamy tuna filling (with a surprisingly pronounced spicy kick), and the nori was perfectly crispy.

Momochee's Desserts

But of course, the place is mostly a bakery, so I had to get a dessert.  I went with the classic chocolate chip cookie, and it’s quite tasty.  Nothing about it blew my mind, but the contrast between the crispy exterior and gooey interior was satisfying, and it had a nice amount of good quality chocolate chips.

Amazing Cookies at Bakery Pompette

Bakery Pompette
Location
: 655 College Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.pompette.ca/bakery

I’ll admit that I hadn’t heard of Bakery Pompette prior to Toronto Life ranking them number four on their list of the best new cookies in the city.  Which is crazy, because based on how good the cookie is, I feel like everyone should be talking about this place.  You’ve all failed me.

Bakery Pompette

The pecan caramel cookie (“pecan chocolate chip cookies topped with coffee caramel and pecan praline”) is pure magic.  It’s basically a chocolate chip cookie, but greatly enhanced with the addition of pecans and the two sauces on top.

Bakery Pompette

It’s cookie perfection, with a great crispy/chewy texture, a generous amount of good-quality chocolate chips, and a nice nuttiness from the pecans.

Bakery Pompette

You’d think the caramel sauce on top would be overkill, but the pleasantly mild bitterness from the coffee does an amazing job of cutting through the cookie’s sweetness.

Every element here just works.  It’s a seriously, seriously good cookie.

Quick Bites: La Casa Dolce, The Fourth Man in the Fire, Petite Bouchée Patisserie

Chocolate chip cookie from La Casa Dolce
Chocolate chip cookie from La Casa Dolce

I certainly wasn’t in a rush to go back after my last visit to La Casa Dolce, but I was in the area and craving something sweet, so sure, why not?  I went with the chocolate chip cookie this time, because it’s basically impossible to mess that up.  That’s one of those things where even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.  And this one: not bad!  Not great, certainly, but it had a good amount of decent quality chocolate chips (bittersweet, I think), a nice chewy texture, and it wasn’t too sweet.  It felt like something was missing, however (vanilla, maybe?), which held it back from being much better than pretty good, but I still enjoyed it.

Meatball sandwich from The Fourth Man in the Fire
Meatball sandwich from The Fourth Man in the Fire

I’ve written about the pizza from The Fourth Man in the Fire a couple of times on this blog, and in case you don’t feel like clicking on that link: it’s great.  I like it a lot.  So I decided to try their meatball sandwich this time (“Meatballs (Beef and Pork Mix), Povolone. Served on Fresh Baked to Order Bread”), and yeah, it’s good.  In particular, the flavourful, tender meatballs were actually pretty amazing, and the ultra-rich tomato sauce they come with is the stuff dreams are made of.  I want to bathe in the stuff.  Oddly, I was expecting the bread to be the highlight (I like the crust on their pizza quite a lot) and it wasn’t.  It got the job done, but I think it might have been slightly underbaked, with a mildly doughy consistency that I wasn’t crazy about.

Chocolate cake from Petite Bouchée Patisserie
Chocolate cake from Petite Bouchée Patisserie

I picked up a chocolate cake from this place after reading several references to it being the best in the city, and hey, wouldn’t you know it — it just might be.  The cake itself is delightfully tender and fluffy, and the rich and creamy frosting is crammed with a delicious, chocolately flavour.  It’s very sweet, but not in a way that feels overwhelming or cloying.  Immediately after eating it, we were all making plans to order another one.  So yeah, it’s quite good.