dessert – Michael Eats

A Nostalgic Dessert at Alice Marie Bakery & Coffee

Published on January 31, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 807 Gerrard Street East, Toronto
Website: https://www.alicemarie.ca/

Alice Marie Bakery & Coffee serves a cake they call “Deep N’ Nostalgic,” which is their upscale take on McCain’s Deep’n Delicious chocolate cake.

It’s been many, many years, but I actually have a good amount of nostalgia for the Deep’n Delicious cake — probably because it came with a family-sized meal KFC sold back in the ’90s called the Mega Meal, which I used to regularly harass my parents about ordering until, once every few months, they’d cave and do it. It was a pretty key part of my childhood.

The version at Alice Marie definitely nails the look, right down to the plastic-domed container it comes in.

They might have fancied it up a little too much, however (it had better be fancy, for twelve bucks for a relatively small piece); their website says they use Valrhona Satilia Noire 62% chocolate, which I’m going to go out on a limb and say is slightly nicer than the chocolate McCain uses.

It’s a tasty cake, with a rich chocolatey flavour and a restrained level of sweetness. I don’t know how much it recalls an actual Deep’n Delicious cake, outside of the look, but it’s definitely a good quality dessert.

The biggest issue is the buttercream icing that it’s topped with. They serve the cake fridge-cold, and the stuff is rock hard. The smart thing to do would be to wait maybe like half an hour for the cake to come to room temperature and for the icing to soften. But I regret to inform you that I absolutely, positively do not have that kind of patience or willpower. If you want me to eat that cake at room temperature, you should serve it that way. Put a tasty chocolate cake in front of me, and tell me it will get better if I wait a few minutes? That cake is going down my gullet immediately. Sorry.

Quick Bites: Brodflour, Corleone’s, Villa Madina

Published on January 28, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Pain Suisse from Brodflour

I’ll admit I hadn’t even heard of pain Suisse (which is similar to a chocolate croissant, but with pastry cream and chocolate chips) before seeing it at Brodflour, so I was excited to try it. And yeah, it’s good. I mean, look at it. Of course it’s good. The combo of the gooey chocolate chips and the slightly sweet pastry cream is a clear winner, and the croissant itself — as you’d expect from Brodflour — is stellar.

Veal sandwich from Corleone’s

Corleone’s sells a variety of Italian sandwiches like veal, meatball, and eggplant. I tried the veal, and it was totally fine. Nothing about it particularly jumped out at me (and the bun was a bit gummy) but it’s a solid sandwich. There are a couple of things that stand out about this place, however. One is that they offer a “junior” version of their sandwiches; most places like this sell massive gut-busters that pretty much demand that you take a nap afterwards, so I appreciated that the smaller sandwich here is satisfying without being comically oversized. The other thing I appreciated is that the spiciest version of the sandwich is legitimately fiery, with a generous amount of a legitimately hot pepper paste spread on top.

Chicken shawarma wrap from Villa Madina

Is the shawarma from Villa Madina the best you’ll ever eat? No, absolutely not. But it’s actually pretty decent, and for a eatery from a mall food court, that’s enough. The shawarma has a decent amount of crispy bits and is relatively juicy, and the wrap itself is saucy and tasty. It’s very middle-of-the-road, but it gets the job done.

Quick Bites: Tatin Bakehouse, Mi’Hito Sushi Laboratory, Breakfast ING

Published on January 11, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Custard tart from Tatin Bakehouse

I figured Tatin Bakehouse was probably worth checking out after reading about their Michelin connection in Toronto Life, and yeah, it’s a delightfully unique little bakery. I tried the custard tart, which is impeccably made, with ultra-rich custard, a delicate brûléed top, a tasty layer of chewy black rice, and a perfect crust. But between its slight salty kick and ultra-restrained sweetness, it’s right on the line between sweet and savoury, and barely feels like a dessert. To be fair, I had just blown out my palate somewhat with a garlicky shawarma wrap, so it’s possible that this was my fault, but I appreciated this more than I enjoyed it.

I actually checked out the bakery a second time a few weeks later and tried the chocolate croissant, and I will admit that it left me wondering if I gave the bakery too much credit on my first visit; it looked good, but it was dry, had almost no buttery flavour, and had such a stingy amount of chocolate that you could barely taste it.

Sushi burrito from Mi’Hito Sushi Laboratory

I’m sorry, Mi’Hito Sushi Laboratory, but your flagship product should not exist. Sushi should not be a burrito. To be fair, the stuff they serve here is less of a burrito and more of an oversized, uncut maki roll. And it was totally fine — eating it wasn’t an unpleasant experience. I ordered the Rising Sun burrito (“tuna, lettuce, cabbage, avocado, tempura crunch, tobiko, carrot, crab meat, green onions, and spicy mayonnaise dressing”) and it was tasty enough. There was a decent amount of good quality tuna, and the other fillings were solid. But it’s so fat that you can never really get a satisfying bite; sometimes you get mostly tuna, and other times, mostly plain veggies. That’s not to mention the nori, which was oddly difficult to bite into. It was all basically enjoyable enough, but I would have much rather just been eating normal sushi.

Malaysian Sandwiches at Breakfast ING

I tried a couple of sandwiches at Breakfast ING, a small Malaysian restaurant inside a bubble tea joint: the house special (“pork loin marinated with house special recipe, fried egg, cabbage, and peanut butter”) and Malaysian street style (“4oz ground beef with a taste of M’sian spice, tomato, fried egg, lettuce and sweet & spicy sauce”). Neither sandwich particularly blew me away (the third slice of bread feels superfluous in both, and only serves to dry out the sandwich), but they were both pretty tasty. The fact that they were nine bucks each for a couple of reasonably hefty sandwiches certainly doesn’t hurt.

Good Quality Gelato at Il Gelato Di Carlotta

Published on December 27, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 17 Lock Street, St. Catharines
Website: https://www.gelatodicarlotta.com/

Il Gelato Di Carlotta is a delightful gelato shop that started out in Niagara on the Lake, but has since expanded, with several locations in the area (apparently they used to have one in Vaughan Mills, but currently, the closest one to the GTA would be in Oakville).

The flavours pretty much just stick to the classics (stuff like pistachio, stracciatella, hazelnut, etc.) — this isn’t the most exciting thing ever, but hey, they’re classics for a reason.

I went with gianduia (chocolate and hazelnuts — Nutella, basically), and yeah, they know what they’re doing. The gelato is incredibly smooth and creamy, and I don’t think I need to tell you that the combo of chocolate and hazelnuts is a winner. I wish the sweetness were dialed back a notch or two, but it’s otherwise so delicious that it’s easy enough to overlook.

I should note that I checked out the Oakville location a couple of months after this visit and tried the pistachio gelato bar, and was somewhat less impressed — most pressingly, the pistachio gelato had very little pistachio flavour, and was completely overwhelmed by the chocolate exterior.

Outstanding Pastries at Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier

Published on December 24, 2025December 24, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 476 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://steventranchocolates.com/

Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier (that just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?) is clearly doing pretty well. When I visited just after 1:00pm on a recent Saturday, the place was pretty much cleared out, with just a handful of pastries remaining.

I don’t know if I would have tried the salted caramel brownie if it weren’t one of the only things in stock, but wow, I’m glad I did.

This might have been one of the best brownies I’ve ever had? It has a perfect chewy texture and a delightfully intense chocolatey flavour. That’s not to mention the salted caramel on top, which is borderline burnt in all the best ways, with a slight bitterness that balances out its sweetness.

After I finished it, I was extremely tempted to walk back into the store and order another one, which basically never happens. Seriously, seriously good.

I should note that I actually went back a couple of weeks later and ordered the brownie again, and it was just as good. If I’ve ever eaten a better brownie, I certainly can’t remember it.

Because I’m a glutton, I also tried the mont blanc, and yeah, that was stellar, too, with a nice creamy/crispy contrast from the cream and the crispy meringue, a satisfying chestnut flavour, and some nice fruitiness from the sauce (blackberry?) in the middle.

I went back one more time and tried the canele, and like everything else, it was stellar. Perfect light crispy exterior, and the interior is delightfully custardy. So, so good.