Craig’s Cookies – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Craig’s Cookies, Pink Ice Cream, Barbershop Patisserie

Published on November 25, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Dark chocolate chip cookie from Craig’s Cookies

I’ve been to Craig’s Cookies a few times since initially trying them back in 2018*, and I’ll admit that I’m not quite as crazy about the place as I was then; since then, I think the flavour of the cookies has diminished somewhat, and the sweetness level has skyrocketed. They’re very, very sweet cookies. Still, they’re far from bad, and on this particular visit I noticed that they have a dark chocolate chip cookie (made with chocolate chips from Soul Chocolate), which is clearly the way to go. The slight bitterness and restrained sweetness of the dark chocolate helps to balance out the sweetness of the cookie itself, and being from Soul, the quality of the chocolate is stellar. It’s a tasty cookie.

*It’s funny to look at my complaint in that review about there being almost no bakeries that specialize in cookies in the GTA. What a difference a few years makes — there’s gotta be like a couple dozen cookie shops in the GTA now, if not more.

Tahini walnut and pistachio ice cream from Pink Ice Cream

Pink Ice Cream is very well regarded and has some unique flavours, so I was pretty excited to try it. I had two flavours: tahini walnut (though I think they might have given me banana peanut instead, because the ice cream had an unripe banana flavour and no tahini that I could detect) and pistachio, and neither flavour jumped out at me as being particularly enjoyable. But people really do seem to love this place (it’s sitting at an impressive 4.9 out of 5 on Google as I write this), so it’s very possible that I’m wrong or they were just having a bad day (it also didn’t help that the freezer was too cold, resulting in very, very hard ice cream). Oh well. You can’t win ’em all!

Holiday cookie from Barbershop Patisserie

You know how I mentioned above that I’m not crazy about the cookies at Craig’s Cookies? Well, you know what cookie I am crazy about? The holiday cookie from Barbershop Patisserie. This has a chunk of chocolate in the middle (along with pistachios and cranberries), but mostly, isn’t particularly crammed with stuff. But the cookie itself is so amazingly good that it really doesn’t matter. Seriously: every cookie shop in Toronto needs to learn from this place. The cookie here has a great flavour, it isn’t too sweet, and it’s got the perfect balance of lightly crispy exterior and chewy interior. It’s cookie perfection.

Wacky Eats at The Ex

Published on September 1, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 210 Princes’ Boulevard, Toronto
Website: https://theex.com/

Another year, another batch of over-the-top carnival food from The Ex.

Butter Chicken Birria Tacos from Rick’s Good Eats

Rick’s Good Eats — which specializes in tasty Indian fusion — is always a safe bet, and yeah, these tacos were very good. They came looking a bit flat and sad (and small, considering they cost about twenty bucks with tax and tip), but they’re actually quite delicious, with some tasty butter chicken inside and a whole bunch of gooey cheese. Not cheap, but hey, it’s The Ex. Everything’s a bit overpriced.

Poutine Dumps from Super Noodle Company

Unfortunate name aside (I shouldn’t have to say this, but please don’t shorten dumplings to “dumps”), this was also quite good. The menu describes this as “homemade chicken dumplings, torched American cheese, coconut curry gravy, crispy shallots, garlic, fresh green onions & chili oil.” It’s not even remotely poutine-like (I never in a million years would have made that connection if you hadn’t told me), but whatever it is, it’s tasty. The combo of cheese and dumpling is vaguely pierogi-esque and quite satisfying, and everything else in the bowl is tasty.

Korean Fried Chicken Sandwich from Korean Fried Chicken

The chicken in the sandwich was pretty skimpy (it maybe filled half of the bun), but the chicken that was there was crispy, juicy, and covered in the usual Korean fried chicken sauce, which is always satisfying. The fries were a bit undercooked, however.

Rib Sandwich from Hogtown Ribs

Well, something had to be a dud, I suppose. I don’t know why I thought (or hoped, at least) that this would have actual rib meat rather than ground-up McRib-style patties, but yeah, of course it was the latter. And okay, fine, I can roll with a McRib — but the meat here had clearly been sitting in a warming tray for hours, with a chewy texture and that gamy flavour you get from pork that’s been reheated one time too many.

Chicken Nugget Cookie from Craig’s Cookies

Here’s a head-scratcher: the rib sandwich that seemed like a sure bet was a dud, and the chicken-nugget-stuffed cookie that should have been gross was… actually kind of good? This seems like it should be horrible, but it’s tasty for the same reasons that chicken and waffles are tasty — it has a very similar flavour, but in a convenient hand-held package. And the salty chicken nugget helps to balance out the sweetness of the cookie itself (which is always a bit more pronounced than I’d like at Craig’s Cookies). I was shocked by how much I liked this.

Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies at Craig’s Cookies

Published on September 28, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1537 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.craigscookies.com/

Though there are a handful of places to get delicious, freshly-baked cookies in the GTA, there are very few dedicated cookie shops. It’s actually kind of baffling; everybody loves cookies, don’t they?

There’s Felix & Norton in Markham, and apparently there’s a place called Robyn’s Cookies that I literally just discovered on Google moments ago, and… that’s about it. There used to be Moo Milk Bar near the Beaches; they had amazing cookies, but alas, they went under.

Thankfully, there’s a new contender in Toronto’s very un-crowded cookie shop field: Craig’s Cookies.

They sell nothing but cookies and ice cream cookie sandwiches. I have a lot of respect for a place that does one thing, and does it well.

And man, does Craig’s Cookies ever do it well. They have a whole bunch of really delicious-looking cookies; I went with Nutella, which is a standard chocolate chip cookie with a whole bunch of Nutella in the middle.

Pretty much anything with that much Nutella is going to be delicious, but I was actually shocked at how good the cookie itself was. It had a perfect flavour, a great crispy/chewy contrast, and enough chocolate chips to give it that chocolatey hit, but not so many that it’s all you taste.

It also had a great balance of salt, which I think is the secret with a cookie like this. You need a little bit of salt to help balance out the cookie’s sweetness, and Craig’s nails this. There’s just enough salt for it to do its job, but not so much that it stands out. Perfection.