Wardeh

My Scarborough tour of Little Arabia a couple weekends ago (with Andrew H. and Besty Y.) would not have been complete without a stop at Patisserie Royale. Truth be told, I’ll take any excuse to drop by this place and eat their superb baked goods. Buttery pastry that shatters, perfectly sugared syrups, and tasty toasted pistachios. Patisserie Royale has been one of my favourite places in Toronto for a long time – longer than I’ve been shooting my food, even.

And so I was obliviously snapping away (never mind that I’d shot this place before!), when a voice off to the side asks me if I was going to write about Patisserie Royale. I look up and it’s the guy whom I’d seen countless times behind the counter throughout the years, Bilal Jamous. It makes a lot of sense that he’d be the son of the owner, but I hadn’t definitively known that fact, or his name, until recently. I give him a quick grin and said “maybe, if the photos turn out.” But in my head I thought “Haven’t I posted about this place already?”

But no! I haven’t!

Oh sure, I’ve babbled on flickr about this place (can you spot the shot from 2006 in the gallery!?), but had never sat down to post about Patisserie Royale on foodpr0n. And so let me correct this egregious error and share with you the sole reason I return time after time:

Beautiful and delicious swar

Now, most of the pastries on offer consist of the same basic blocks, but my sister and I swear by their swar as being the perfect ratio of syrup to pastry, as well as the perfect form. Biting into the tubular ring of pastry allows for a sudden burst of syrup on the tongue as the crisp texture of pastry and butter mingle in each bite. All unified by the taste of crunchy pistachio. Heaven with a cup of tea – orange pekoe in particular.

This time, with Betsy and Andrew, I tried some other pastries. Take a look at these delicious treats:

Walnut chabyate & karabiges

Baklava

Pistachio and date mammouls

Still, the swar holds my heart (stomach?). Though I may need to eat more of those date mammouls some time soon.

I’m filled with a bit of trepidation as I read that there was a second location in the works, and that it would be open maybe at the end of the year. Still, great news for them to be able to expand. As long as my swar doesn’t change!

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More Patisserie Royale

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