Gerrard St. Bakery — Restaurant in Toronto

Please step inside and just breath in the great buttery scents that just hangs in the air. While I was there, they were baking the quiche and all I could smell was butter and the bubbly baked cheese. What an intoxicating scent.

Andrea's bakery is a bit unique to the area. It sits right in the heart of Chinatown East right beside boxes of bok choi, rambutans, and litchis. I wouldnt have realized it's here but my yelp search yielded 3 gems in a small area of Gerrard and Im glad I found it. The place itself is quite plain and not a lot inside. It almost feels like a country grandma's kitchen with its wood paneling and that faded robin egg blue shade on the walls. It's mostly a take out spot but there are a few tables for you to sit down and it is clean. The windowed glass enclosures show a lot of sweet and savoury baked goods but it seems the sweets take centre stage.

Service here is efficient and patient ... they need to be as it's really to make a decision. There's a lot of great choices in the cases. If sweets are not your thing, there's a bunch of savoury options as well. Seeing how there's at least 3 people in this small bakery working AND they're all ready to pause their work to come help, you're never really left waiting.

Spicy Chicken Hand Pie - I think Andrea's bakery definitely got the buttery crust down. This was fairly flakey and tender with a good dose of butter flavour. I liked how the crust was a nice bronze... nothing is more sad than a pale beige crust. The filling was plentiful with a good amount of cubed chicken. The sauce was also nice and coated every piece. My only reservations was that it wasn't even mild. Maybe if they called it Spiced Chicken, it would be more accurate. Definitely not spicy! Still tasty though. 3.5/5

Cherry Frangipane Tart - Another winner with the butter crust. This one was a bit more softer and tender. The filling was to the top and when you sliced through the tart, you can see all the cherries inside. I would say the fruit filling was good and not overly sweet... I liked how some of the natural cherry tartness came through. Nothing is worse than sugary filling that covers the fruit. As for the frangipane, this was interesting. It really added to overall creaminess of the tart. It was almost custard like but had a bit of soft jelly texture. I found the flavour a bit light... I was expecting more of a pronounced almond. Still a nice fruity bite. 3.5/5

Strawberry Rhubarb Galette - the rustic pie ... looks humble but it has a nice burst of flavour. Strawberries and rhubarb are tender and the fruit spilled a bit out to just give a hint of the red juices that make the filling. Similar to the Cherry Frangipane tart, it's not overly sweet but just enough to give it a dessert feel while highlighting a natural flavour. This one was a bit more tart than probably most bakeries ... I actually like that as it authentically showcases the rhubarb without hiding it under a mountain sugar. Similar crust to the others except this one soaked up a lot of the juices so it was more tender and softer. 4/5

Buttertart - Wow, this was good but also a warning that you will not need sugar for the rest of the day ... or the next. I liked how the filling flavour wasn't a typical sugar but rather a deeper caramel maple. It made me enjoy this much more. I have to admit that I love when the buttertart filling spills out and caramelizes a bit. The tart edges all had that nice crispy bruleed like detail. And the top crust of the tart is like a thin sliver of ice on top of a lake and breaking through with your fork is kinda...

Came back again, with fingers crossed, hoping that they still make that Buttertart-Nanaimo bar thing that I loved so much years ago. I didn't see it right away and my heart sank.

But then, all I had to do was ask, and there it was! I just hadn't seen it. My beautiful, delicious baby.

And, it's maybe even better than it used to be.

Staff are amazing, baked goods are awesome, butter tarts are the best in the area. I'm so glad this place is still around. It deserves that 5-star now.

Original review (2020), 4-stars:

Decided to check this place out and they sure have some good sweets! The atmosphere is a bit odd (it feels bare and a bit dark inside?), but no ones really coming here for ambience. We got every kind of tart, plus the Eh! Bar and a chocolate cake. I'm not entirely sold on the raspberry or apple crumble tarts, but I do appreciate the different tart crust than usual. The chocolate cake is flourless so once you get over the slightly different texture/dryness, the flavour is great. The lemon tart is deceivingly lemony and it's great too. The butter tarts are different than I'm used to but that's a good thing, it turns out! I loved the bit of crunch, and the distinct flavour. It's got such a perfect texture and flavour balance. My favourite however is their Eh bar, a mix between a Nanaimo bar and butter tart! Fantastic!! And awesome prices too! Only $3 for a good sized Eh bar! I am definitely going to come back.

I recommend it if you're in the area, and even if you're not but looking for a good buttertart or to try...

Today was my first time trying out this bakery. I bought a butter tart and empanada. Before leaving the store, I put both items in my backpack. After my walk home, I took out my butter tart to eat and half of the filling had leaked into the paper bag it was in. I guess the filling is not the traditional gelatinous type filling you see in typical butter tarts and is more on the liquid side. Though most of the filling had leaked out, the tart was still very good! It is definitely on the sweeter side so have a cup of tea or milk ready. Even though I mostly just ate crust, I'd go back to try a complete one. It's on the slightly pricey side for me ($4/tart), so I'll have to wait before I return to treat myself.

Again, be warned that the butter tart does not travel well. I wish I was warned, but learned the hard way. I'm thankful the sticky filling didn't get all over...