Quick Bites: Slow Jams, Cotolet, Bakerbots Baking

Smoked pork sandwich from Slow Jams
Smoked pork sandwich from Slow Jams

Slow Jams is a Filipino pop-up shop that you can find at various street festivals.  I previously tried their fried chicken sandwich, and between that one and the smoked pork sandwich (“tamarind & sweet soy sauce, spicy pickled cabbage”), they clearly need to get their own location ASAP.  The sandwich features a very generous amount of pork that’s meaty, tender, and satisfyingly smoky.  The slightly sweet, squishy bun suits it perfectly.  Between the strong vinegary punch of the sauce and the cabbage, it’s kinda acid overload, but the pork is tasty enough that this is only a minor complaint.

Pork loin katsu with brown demi-glace sauce from Cotolet
Pork loin katsu with brown demi-glace sauce from Cotolet

You can’t go wrong with a good pork katsu.  I mean, you can’t go wrong with basically anything that’s breaded and fried, but there’s something about katsu that’s particularly magical.  And the version at Cotolet?  Quite good!  The pork was maybe a bit on the dry side, but the panko-breaded exterior was perfectly crispy, and the brown demi-glace sauce (“made with various fruits and vegetables”) has a very nicely balanced fruity sweetness that’s a bit different from any katsu sauce I’ve had before.

Pecan sticky bun from Bakerbots Baking
Pecan sticky bun from Bakerbots Baking

Yep, Bakerbots is still chugging along, serving some of the tastiest baked goods in the city.  I’ve written about them a few times before, so I don’t need to dwell here, but I do feel like it’s my duty to tell you that their sticky bun is very good.  Sweet but not too sweet, nice texture on the bun itself, gooey but not complete mush like certain national chains that sell sickly sweet cinnamon buns… it’s very tasty.  But then I’ve never had anything that was less than delicious here, so I guess that goes without saying.

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.

Tasty Cheesecake in a Jar at Laila’s Cheesecake Co.

Laila's Cheesecake Co.
Location
: 855 Browns Line, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.lailascheesecake.com/

It’s hard to go wrong with cheesecake, and Laila’s definitely makes a tasty one.  Which is good, because it’s literally all they serve.

Laila's Cheesecake Co.

You can get whole cheesecakes, slices, or individual jars of cheesecake, which seems to be their specialty.  The jars come in two sizes: four ounce or eight ounce.  I found the four ounce serving to be a perfect amount, but eight is there if you really want to cheesecake it up (or if you’re sharing).

Laila's Cheesecake Co.

They have a variety of flavours like salted caramel, blueberry, and cherry; I went with caramel chocolate pecan.

Laila's Cheesecake Co.

It’s really good.  It’s sweet but not too sweet, with a nice balance of flavours between the chocolate, caramel, and tart cheesecake (with another nice dose of texture and flavour from the graham cracker crust at the bottom).  The NY-style cheesecake base is just the right amount of dense and creamy.  It’s a satisfying dessert.

A Delicious Butter Tart at Kate’s Town Talk Bakery

Kate's Town Talk Bakery
Location
: 206C Queen Street South, Streetsville
Website: https://www.katestowntalk.ca/

It’s always a good sign when a bakery puts one of their pastries in a paper bag and it becomes translucent with buttery goodness.  If the paper bag looks pristine?  Sorry, that pastry probably sucks.  I don’t make the rules.

Kate's Town Talk Bakery

Though they have an assortment of sweet and savoury pastries, the specialty at Kate’s Town Talk Bakery is clearly the butter tart, which you can get with pecans, raisins, raspberry Nutella, or on its own.

Kate's Town Talk Bakery

I got the pecan variety, and oh man, it’s good.  The sign outside says that the butter tarts here “rival the best you’ve ever tasted,” and you know what?  They’re not wrong.  I wish the filling were a bit gooier, but other than that it’s basically butter tart perfection: the crust is perfectly flaky, the filling has a great toffee-like flavour, and it’s got those great crispy caramelized edges that are pretty much irresistible.

Kate's Town Talk Bakery

I’m not sure that it’s the best best butter tart that I’ve ever had, but it’s right up there, that’s for sure.

Nani’s Gelato: Still the Best Gelato in the City

Nani's GelatoLocation: 6 Charles Street East, Toronto
Website: https://www.nanisgelato.com/

I wrote about Nani’s Gelato a few times before this blog went on hiatus; back then they were operating out of a truck, and I mentioned that I think they might serve the best gelato in the city.

They upgraded to a permanent location near Yonge and Bloor last year, and there’s no longer any “might” about it.  It’s easily the best gelato in the city.

Nani's Gelato

The combo of delightfully unique flavours (they come up with a new assortment every couple of weeks) and top-notch quality ice cream is irresistible.  On this particular visit I went with salted olive oil candied pecan and toasted coconut, and both flavours were perfectly creamy and intensely delicious.  Some of the flavours here sound odd in theory, but always work — you never, ever get the sense that they’re odd just for novelty value.  The flavour combos are as tasty as they are unique.