dessert – Around the World in 196 Plates

Country 105 – Australia (Momofuku Noodle Bar)

Published on March 22, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 190 University Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://noodlebar-toronto.momofuku.com/

Depending on who you ask, pavlova is either from Australia or New Zealand, and apparently the debate can get fairly heated. In my case, it’s an easy decision: I’ve already written about New Zealand, so Australia it is.

Momofuku is probably an odd choice to represent Australia, but it turns out that pavlova is not an easy dessert to find. I think the Noodle Bar is one of the few restaurants in the GTA to serve it — and even there, you’re not guaranteed to find it on the menu.

Well, if you see it, order it; it’s delicious.

It’s a very simple dessert. Traditionally, pavlova is just fruit, meringue, and whipped cream. The version at Momofuku subs out the cream for lemon curd, which you’d think wouldn’t work — but it totally works (to be fair, this was my first time trying pavlova, so I have nothing to compare it to).

The meringue is great — it’s lightly crispy on the outside, with a soft, slightly marshmallowy interior. The fruit in this particular version is blood orange, which is sweet and slightly tart. Combined with the lemon curd, it might have been too much of a citrusy bite, but the sweet meringue balances it out perfectly. It’s delightful.

Country 079 – Bolivia (Emporio De Los Sandwiches)

Published on October 7, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 894 Wilson Avenue, North York
Website: None.

Emporio De Los Sandwiches is a delightful little bakery right around the corner from Yorkdale Mall that specializes in empanadas and seriously tasty-looking sweet pastries. I went in intending to only get a couple of empanadas, but the desserts were transfixing. I had a hard time narrowing it down to just a couple; they all looked so good.

Don’t ask me what those desserts are, however; nothing was labeled. I asked the woman behind the counter what they were called — she told me and they were extremely Latin sounding. I felt bad asking her to repeat herself or write it down, so that was that.

I’m not exactly Suresh Doss, in case you haven’t figured that out yet.

I know what the empanadas are, at least! So I’m not completely useless. One was beef, and the other was chorizo (even my feeble brain can recall words such as “beef” and “chorizo”).

They were both good, though the beef was clearly the better of the two. The chorizo was a bit dry and underseasoned; it was fine, especially since the quality of the pastry itself was quite good, but it was pretty average.

The beef, on the other hand, had an assertive flavour and a satisfyingly saucy consistency, featuring chunks of eggs and veggies to spice things up (metaphorically — neither empanada was spicy at all).

The desserts were the same story: one great, one not so much.

The round one was seriously delicious; the pastry was fluffy and doughnut-like, and the creamy custard and sweet dulce de leche went perfectly together.

The square one was odd. It basically tasted like a ridiculously fat square of dry, plain pie crust. It was hard and crunchy and barely sweet at all (I think the sugar on top was the only source of sweetness).

It kinda went over my head. I don’t get the appeal. I’m pretty sure the woman behind the counter mentioned a caramel filling, so I’m going to assume that something was missing.

Country 074 – Palestine (Kunafa’s)

Published on July 29, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1801 Lawrence Avenue East, Scarborough
Website: http://kunafas.com/

Yes, I’ve actually written about kunafa before — they have it on their dessert menu at Tabule (which is hit-and-miss). But hey, if I can write about multiple versions of doner or noodles, why not multiple versions of kunafa?

Kunafa is great. It’s a Middle Eastern dessert that consists of a layer of gooey white cheese topped with syrup-infused pastry. I know that cheese in a dessert sounds odd, but the particular cheese they use — called nabulsi — has a neutral flavour and a pleasant gooeyness that makes it ideal for desserts.

Plus: everyone loves tiramisu and cannoli. A cheese-based dessert really isn’t as strange as you might initially think.

The problem with kunafa is the same problem with pizza; because of the melty cheese, it really has to be eaten when it’s relatively fresh out of the oven. As it sits out, the cheese starts to congeal and the pastry loses its moisture. You can reheat it (or leave it on a hot plate as they do here), but it really isn’t the same.

The version they’re serving at Kunafa’s was quite tasty, but this was clearly an issue.

As you can see, the cheese was still very stretchy, but it was also a bit too tough. If using a fork to cut through the cheese completely mangles the dessert, then your kunafa has probably been sitting out too long. The pastry, too, was more dry and crumbly than it should have been.

But don’t get me wrong — I still really enjoyed this. I’m not sure that there’s anywhere in the GTA that serves a really great kunafa, so this is about as good as it gets. Nitpicks aside, it’s still delicious.

Country 066 – Chile (Auténtica)

Published on April 1, 2018April 1, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 9 Milvan Drive, North York
Website: None

When I did Argentina for this blog about 30 countries ago, I tried a sandwich called a lomito, which I noted was served in Argentina and Chile. Well, here I am doing Chile, and yep — I ordered another lomito.

Kinda boring, but I wasn’t crazy about the first lomito I had, so I thought I’d give it another shot.

I tried this one at a restaurant called Auténtica in the Plaza Latina food court in North York. That’s a really fascinating food court that specializes entirely in Latin American restaurants.

The lomito from Auténtica consisted of sliced pork, tomatoes, avocado, and mayo. It’s served on a really interesting house-made bun that’s kind of like a cross between a traditional bun and a biscuit.

It wasn’t bad — the pork was nice and tender, and the tomato and avocado were fresh and tasty. But there wasn’t a ton of flavour here; the pork was barely seasoned, and I don’t think the avocado or tomato slices were seasoned at all. It was a decent enough sandwich, but nothing about it particularly stood out.

I also tried the completo, which is a hot dog topped with avocado, tomato, and mayo (they really love avocado, tomato, and mayo in Chile, I guess). The hot dog was smoky and tasty, but again, the other components were a bit bland. It really needed mustard or some other condiment to give it a bit more flavour. Still, it was enjoyable enough.

I finished with the tres leches cake, which was the highlight. A tres leches cake gets its name (which translates to “three milks”) from condensed milk, evaporated milk, and cream. This one also featured a layer of dulce de leche, which worked exceptionally well with the moist — but not soggy — cake. The only issue here was that the whipped cream tasted like it was actually Cool Whip or something similar, which was unfortunate.

Country 060 – Denmark (Danish Pastry House)

Published on June 25, 2017 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 487 Cornwall Road, Oakville
Website: http://www.danishpastryhouse.ca/

So I probably could have done something a bit more interesting for Denmark, but if I have an opportunity to buy a big box of pastries, I’m going to buy a big box of pastries. I don’t need much of an excuse.

I ordered six (and prepare for some seriously Nordic-sounding names): hoj snegl, spandaur, tebirkes, overskarn, æblefisk, and royal crown.

After two or three, they started to feel somewhat interchangeable. That’s unfair, of course; they’re all different enough. But they all have the same (delicious) flaky pastry base, and they all have a delightfully subtle sweetness.

They’re so different from the cloying sugar-bomb danishes that you’ll find at most doughnut shops that it’s hard to even compare them. They practically belong in entirely different categories.

They’re all pretty great, in case that isn’t clear. There’s nothing like a really good pastry from a bakery that knows their craft, and the Danish Pastry House clearly knows their craft.

Country 054 – Bangladesh (Premium Sweets)

Published on March 26, 2017March 26, 2017 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 7025 Tomken Road, Mississauga
Website: http://www.premiumsweets.ca/

One of the few nice things about being in Mississauga is that it makes doing this blog pretty easy. Ethnic food from all over the globe is readily available — including, of course, Bangladeshi cuisine.

I wanted to try the sorshe ilish — it’s one of Bangladesh’s national dishes, according to Wikipedia — but apparently Premium Sweets only have a small assortment of what’s on their menu available at any given time. So I went with the mutton bhuna, which came with rice, naan bread, and a small cucumber salad.

Everything was tasty, but not much more; it was one of those inoffensively enjoyable meals that’s good, but not memorable in any particular way.

The mutton bhuna featured chunks of reasonably tender meat in a thick, mildly spicy curry base. The mutton may or may not have actually been mutton, though; there was absolutely none of that mildly gamy, distinctive flavour that you get from lamb (a flavour that should only be intensified with mutton). I suspect that they’re using beef instead.

The sauce was tasty; it’s nothing too mindblowing, but it’s a solid curry.

The naan came tightly wrapped in foil; I really wish they hadn’t done that. The lightly crispy exterior that you get from freshly-baked naan had been completely steamed away inside the foil. It was fine, but it had none of the textural contrast that distinguishes great naan from the merely good; it was just uniformly soft and chewy.

The cucumber salad was a really good compliment to the main meal, with its vinegary crunch providing a nice contrast to the rich curry.

And of course, you can’t go to a place called Premium Sweets without trying the dessert, so I got a selection of six of their Bangladeshi sweets. I have no idea what any of them were or what they were called (quality food writing, right?), but they all had a similarly crumbly, fudgy texture and a nutty, vaguely exotic flavour. A couple were more crumbly and a couple were creamier, but they all tasted about the same. I enjoyed them, but a bit more variety would have been nice.

Country 048 – Singapore (Jackpot Chicken Rice)

Published on December 25, 2016 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 318 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://www.jackpotchickenrice.com/

This post is a bit different than usual. The whole point of this blog is to travel without traveling; however, I actually just came back from a real, no-foolin’ trip to Singapore (where I had chicken rice a couple of times), so this is the rare case where I know what the real deal is supposed to taste like.

Chicken rice, for the initiated, is an exceptionally simple dish — tender boiled chicken on rice that’s been cooked in the stock, served with a couple of sauces on the side. That’s it.

Man, it’s good though.

And the version they serve at Jackpot Chicken Rice is surprisingly close to what I had in Singapore. The rice in particular, with its addictively rich flavour thanks to being cooked with the stock, was pretty much exactly as I remembered from my recent trip.

The chicken itself, however, couldn’t quite match up. The version I had in Singapore had an intense chickeny flavour, and was almost absurdly tender. It was silky and moist in a way that was downright remarkable. The chicken at Jackpot, on the other hand, had a much more subdued flavour, and a texture that was more in line with any other well-prepared chicken I’ve had. It was tender, but not even close to the awe-inspiring degree of the Singaporean version.

It comes with two sauces on the side — a ginger scallion sauce, and a spicy chili sauce. The sauces, like the rice, were very comparable to the real deal.

You can also pay a couple of bucks and get some crispy chicken skins on the side. These are amazing. They’re pretty much like the best chips you’ve ever had. I want a whole bag.

I decided to finish things off with the Kaya French Toast. Kaya is a sweet, coconutty spread that’s typically served on toast for breakfast. The version here is significantly sweeter and richer than the toast you’ll find in Singapore; it’s lightly crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and intensely sweet. It’s really, really good.

Country 047 – Portugal (Nova Bakery & Pastry)

Published on December 11, 2016December 3, 2016 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3635 Cawthra Road, Mississauga
Website: http://www.novabakery.ca/

I really like egg tarts — in theory. They’re actually a lot like millefeuille, in that they should be amazing but very rarely are thanks to the ravages of time. That crispy, flaky crust? Maybe I’ve just been exceedingly unlucky in a lifetime of eating egg tarts, but I don’t think I’ve ever had one where the crust wasn’t soggy to a certain extent.

I wanted the one from Nova to be different, but right on the first bite — when I struggled to get my teeth through the once-crispy, now-chewy crust — I knew it was game over.

Still, the custardy filling was satisfying enough to make this worth eating regardless. Amazingly creamy, dense but not too dense, and with a mild lemony zip to cut through the richness, it was probably one of the better egg tarts I’ve had.

I’d be more upset about the sodden crust, but since I’ve literally never had one of these things where the crust was perfect, I’m just going to assume that’s a pipe dream. I’d either have to go to a bakery where they sell so many egg tarts that they’re constantly pumping out new ones (i.e. fly to Portugal), or I’d have to camp outside of a bakery and grab one the minute they open.

I don’t think either option is going to happen any time soon, so soggy crust it is.

Country 042 – Sweden (Fika Cafe)

Published on October 2, 2016 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 28 Kensington Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://fika.ca/

This is one of those things I saw on Instagram and pretty much instantly had to try. I mean, if you can look at that and tell me that you don’t immediately want to eat it, that’s good for you, but you and me are clearly two very different people.

I guess the obvious choice for Sweden would have been meatballs, but I think the Swedish cream puff is probably a bit more interesting.

It’s called a semla (or semlor in the plural — thanks, Wikipedia), and Fika Cafe’s menu describes it like this: “our take on the swedish classic – cardamom bun, seasonal jam, almond paste topped with honey sweetened whipped cream.”

It’s good (of course it’s good, look at it). The bun itself is sort of like a doughnut, but with a denser, breadier texture. The cardamom gives it a distinct, floral pop that stays in the background without overwhelming the other flavours.

It’s not as sweet as you’d expect — the bun isn’t particularly sweet, nor is the cream. Most of the sweetness comes from the jam (some kind of berry when I went, though I guess it changes). It’s a bit odd at first, though the more subtle sweetness definitely wins you over after a couple of bites.

My only real complaint is that if there was almond paste in there, I couldn’t taste it. It’s a shame, because I could definitely see it matching well with the bun’s other flavours.

Country 032 – Czech Republic (Eva’s Original Chimneys)

Published on May 1, 2016May 1, 2016 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: It’s a food truck, so check Twitter to see where they’re parked
Website: http://www.originalchimneys.com/

This is one of those things where, once you see a picture, you pretty much have to try it. I mean, come on — how can you not want to eat that?

And I’m definitely not alone in this — not since the epic Uncle Tetsu’s line of 2015 have I waited such an insane amount of time for food (or anything, really). From the start of the line to me clutching one of these cones? 90 solid minutes, which is coincidentally the exact same amount of time I waited for a Japanese cheesecake. We’ll see what novelty dessert inspires this lunacy next year.

Technically, the main attraction here — kürtoskalács (a.k.a. the eponymous chimney cake) — is Hungarian. However, the briefly internet-famous doughnut cones (that you probably saw someone share on Facebook a few months ago) were created at a cafe in Prague.

The term “doughnut cone” is a bit of a misnomer (the pastry is baked, not fried), and to their credit, Eva’s calls these chimney cones on their menu.

The chimney is essentially a hollow tube of pastry that’s rolled in a generous amount of cinnamon and sugar and then baked rotisserie-style. The freshly-baked cones are then filled with vanilla soft serve and topped with other stuff — I went with the Dream Cone, which comes with Nutella, butter toffee bits, chocolate sauce, and brownie pieces.

I feel pretty much the same way about this as I did about Tetsu. It’s good, but it’s not even remotely worth standing in that insane line.

Of course, the ice cream, Nutella, and other desserty bits are all standard issue, so the question is: how’s the pastry? It’s not bad. It’s hard to go wrong with something rolled in that much cinnamon and sugar, though really, it’s basically just plain bread. It’s also kind of dry, especially near the top. It definitely grew on me, but it’s nothing too mind-blowing — and let’s face it, if you put enough Nutella and soft serve on anything, it’s probably going to taste pretty good.