Open every day of the week, Tre Mari has been in business since 1960, offering Italian pastries, cookies, and bread, which are baked non-stop throughout the day. The bakery also features a full service hot table with lunch and dinner specials such as pasta, veal, sausage and meatball sandwiches, most plates for less than $10. The barista makes a great coffee, too.
Whenever I visit the bakery, I always follow the same pattern, taking a quick look around the bakery for an interesting find, and then stopping in front of the large display case, admiring the delicious confections. On my last visit, there were cannoli – crispy, light golden shells filled with a smooth and sweet ricotta cheese filling, millefeuille – ever so thin and light pastry layered with thick, creamy custard and icing sugar on top, lobster tails – deep fried pastry goodness in the shape of a lobster tail, and filled with crème fraiche, and chocolate marzipan logs, using a chocolate that is more bitter than sweet, which blends nicely with the almond. On this particular visit, I was torn between the cannoli and the chocolate marzipan, so I bought both. I sat down in the café and ordered an espresso, thick and earthy and not too strong. Pure heaven.
There are other Italian bakeries in the neighbourhood, some of them a bit more high end with fancy espresso machines and tablecloths, but I love Tre Mari for its simplicity and old world charm. There’s something really nice about sitting in this bakery, watching generations from the same family – grannies and grandkids – enjoying food and their time together.

www.tremaribakery.ca
1311 Saint Clair Avenue West
Toronto, Canada
+1 416 654 8960
Google map: bit.ly/GINYVa

* Giulia is our Been there local for Toronto. You can see her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/places/canada/toronto/index.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/GiuliaFalsetti

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St. John’s Bakery provides much more than delicious, organic bread. This business is
owned and operated by St. John’s The Compassionate Mission. With strong values and a focus on using only organic, natural and mostly local ingredients, St. John's provides training opportunities and employment to people struggling with poverty, mental illness and other issues.
While the bakery specializes in handmade organic sourdough breads made in the traditional French method, other types of bread, such as rye, baguettes and spelt are also made. All sweets – scones, tarts, croissants, cookies, and cakes – are also handmade from scratch.
My favourite is the olive boule. This round sourdough loaf is crusty on the outside and soft in the inside, and packed with pieces of black olive and hints of cilantro. I’m also a big fan of the rosemary breadsticks, but if I don’t get there by Saturday morning around 9am, they’re all gone.
St. John’s bread is very well-known and their products can be found all over Toronto at organic food suppliers and farmers markets.

www.stjohnsbakery.com
153 Broadview Avenue, Toronto, Canada
+1 416 850 7413
Google map: bit.ly/ArMoP8


* Giulia is our Been there local for Toronto. You can see her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/places/canada/toronto/index.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/GiuliaFalsetti

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