London: fav breakfast- My Old Dutch Pancake House

While walking around Kensington one afternoon, we passed by a small restaurant called My Old Dutch Pancake House.  We looked the place up to see if they had any other locations, and to our luck they had a spot in Chelsea, where we would be the following day.  After our mini “trek” from the tube station, we arrived at My Old Dutch Pancake House and soon found out there was nothing “small” about this restaurant. 

If you haven’ had a Dutch pancake before they are huge.  They are the size of a small pizza and are a cross between a pancake and a crepe.  At My Old Dutch you could make your own pancake and choose toppings.  I went with an apple, pear, cinnamon and honey pancake topped with loads of icing sugar.  There were toppings like caramel, nutella and other rich sauces but I couldn’t do it.  I could barely finish the one I got given the size.  If sweet is not your thing, there is also a large selection of savoury pancakes for lunch/dinner.  I have never had a dutch pancake and if I had the chance again, I would go back 100%.

London: fav bakery- Sweet Boulangerie

The next mouth-watering bakery in London that deserves mention is Sweet Boulangerie in the Exmouth Market.  On our morning walk around the Clerkenwell area, we walked through Exmouth market and stopped dead in our tracks when we got to Sweet.  It was packed in there and we were lucky to grab the last seat.  This is a typical french patisserie with macarons, cakes, cookies, tarts, and savoury items like sandwiches, pizza slices with a low key atmosphere, and a delicious aroma of baked goods.

Our macaron sample

counter display

London: Fav Bakery- Konditor & Cook

I just got back from a work/vaca trip to London and on my time off, I had the chance to explore some of London’s best bakeries.

First up is Konditor & Cook, an amazing bakery that I visited in Borough Market.  Started by ‘Konditor’, Munich trained pastry chef, Gerhard Jenne, his Konditor & Cook has grown to six locations around central London.  You find everything savoury and sweet in this bakery from mince pies, and cakes to cinnamon stars and brownies, this spot has it all, and beautifully merchandised as well. 

I was there to grab some breakfast and sampled their muesli, a cinnamon star and a cookie. Delicious!

Inside Konditor & Cook

Window display

My favourite mince pies

happy birthday

I know so many people with birthdays in September that I decided to dedicate this post to them with a picture of a really cool “cake”.

Happy Birthday friends. 

via table tonic

ice cream sandwich

Nothing says summer like ice cream.  This past week in both the Toronto Star and Toronto Life magazine, I have read ice cream sandwich reviews.  Apparently, ice cream sandwiches are getting some press and recognition in Toronto newspapers.

I love the idea of serving ice cream sandwiches at events.  Not only are they easy to eat (minus drips), they are fulfilling, fun and customizable to your guests likes.  Whether it is choosing an innovative casing like a brioche, brownie,  traditional cookie or wafer, choosing a non-traditional ice cream or customizing the outside a la ice cream sandwich rolled in gummy bears, chocolate chips, pop corn, or caramel, you can have a lot of fun with these desserts.

Here are a couple of ideas I like that I have seen in the blogsphere:

via spicy ice cream "chocolate chili spicy ice cream sandwiches" from David Lebowitz

via bon appetit "chocolate dipped ice cream sandwich"

via saucy sprinkles

via tartlette "vanilla bean chocolate ice cream sandwich"

via toronto life "ice cream brioche"

frutti di bosco

A colleague of mine at work celebrated a birthday this past week.  As a foodie and an all around general curious person, I asked what type of birthday cake she would be having to mark the celebration with her family.  Rather than your typical chocolate or vanilla answer, I was happy I asked as I learned about a new cake called frutti di bosco.  The Italian tart like frutti di bosco is part cake, filled with Chantilly cream and topped with berries.  It looks amazing. I also learned that frutti di bosco is also used to refer to things that have mixed berries in it aka, frutti di bosco gelato or frutti di bosco cheese cake.  Below is the frutti di bosco my colleage was referring to.   Looks like a great celebratory cake.

via cafe palermo

via cafe trendy

via vinoglocal.it