Crust Baking Company — Restaurant in Richmond Hill

Had to come and try a few of their items based on reviews.

Tried their almond croissant, apple fritter, and loaf of plain sourdough bread.

Almond croissant was burnt. Not easy to tell with the white powdered sugar on top but it was. The almond filling was ordinary in that it tastes like the lower-end quality of almond flavour/paste. It doesn't have a good pleasant, nutty, robust almond flavour, but an almost sharp unpleasant flavouring.

Apple fritter tasted really oily. It tasted as if it was either fried with bad/old oil or as if the pastry was a day or two old because the oiliness left on the pastry was no good. Very disappointed in this pastry because it was an item one of the owners/bakers highly recommended.

The plain sourdough bread tasted quite sour. I know sourdough breads normally taste more sour relative to other bread but this was really a bit too sour. It was as if the bread was made with an immature sourdough starter and/or other factors that play into making a good sourdough bread. Otherwise, it had a crisp, almost dense outer layer that is soft on the inside.

The shop is very cute. There's a small area in the shop by the entrance from yonge st where you can sit looking out the window with the view of yonge st. And more seating areas on the other entrance of the shop coming from the building where there are plants surrounding the seating area. You can also directly see what they bake and make as the workstation is visible from the purchasing counter.

They also had items like shepherd's pie, pizza dough, jams, and pickled items. Small shop that carried lots of varied items.

Parking was very tricky. Since the shop is located within a condo building on a big main street, we didn't really know where to park. Since we were only going for take out, we parked on yongehurst rd temporarily. There were a few other cars parked by this road as well. I would not recommend parking here if you're planning to dine in. You could potentially park on the other side of yonge st where there's a large parking space for the plazas...

Opening in the middle of a pandemic can never be an easy thing to do. It is also rare that a small community the size of Richmond Hill can boast a truly exceptional bakery, but Crust manages to exceed all expectations, and then some. Matt the baker/co-owner produces delicious high-quality breads and pastries that would be the envy of any city in the world. His almond croissants have the golden light flaky texture of an all-butter dough with a perfect not-too-sweet but creamy fresh almond filling. His chocolate-caramel-hazelnut tarts have a nice contrast with a creamy caramel and crunchy roasted hazelnut centre sandwiched between a salted dark chocolate top and a crispy short crust bottom. His version of a gateau Basque pastry is a delicious combination of a flaky buttery crust holding pastry crème and raspberries. All of the pastries, including his lemon meringue tart and brulee coconut and Boston crème donuts, are amazing! So too are the breads. From his baguettes to his sourdoughs, they all have a smoky crunchy chewy crust and a soft moist open crumb perfect for a bit of butter or cheese. Breads that actually smell and taste like they should! Matt was also kind enough to do a custom order for our daughter’s birthday recently, making her a Paris-Brest choux pastry with a black sesame and lychee filling, a matcha and yuzu poundcake, an Earl Grey and Chinese pear mousse cake, and a Japanese roasted tea flan. Each unique artisanal creation was as beautiful to look at as it was to eat. Many thanks, Matt! More than ever so many of our beloved local small businesses are facing financial hardship and the threat of closure because of pandemic restrictions. This as-of-yet undiscovered gem is worthy of our...

The croissants and coffee is quite good here, but I came specifically for bread and I was very disappointed.

I purchased two loaves: the potato bread and the regular sourdough. They sliced it in store and this was the biggest mistake.

The slices are SO THIN and full of air and holes. Both the loaves are unusable, I don’t understand why they did this. The bread does not hold up in your hand because it flops over. It tears just trying to separate it from the loaf. It cannot be buttered (tears), jam falls through, cannot be used as sandwich bread, cannot accompany soup, cannot be toasted because it becomes a chewy hard cracker. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with two loaves of bread that look and feel like this. It doesn’t even feel worthwhile to freeze them. I had barely two pieces of each loaf and there is nothing to chew, I could barely even appreciate the flavour. The slices needed to be at least 3x thicker and they should not be slicing the bread if it is like this.

It is such a waste that they did this to both the loaves. I tried to call the store but no...