Nova Era Bakery

Bloor at Dovercourt & other locations
Coffee: Canadian $1.25 Latte $2.50
Menu: Portuguese soft drinks, pastries and various sandwiches
Popular Item: Portuguese Toast and Natas, custard tarts
Environment: Bright room with long windows on busy corner, lots of faux stone and plastic ivy. Enclosed smoking room
Risko Had: Moccachino ­ chocolatey and rich
Cappuccino -- good head, real coffee flavour, habit-forming natas
Risko Went: Downstairs loos, antiseptic tile everywhere
Risko Returns : reliable neighbourhood place to relax

Café Vecchio Frak

(name is the title of an old song by Domenico Modugno of "Volare" fame.)

690 College at Montrose

Coffee: Latte macchiato $2.50, with huge selection of speciality coffee including the freddos and many liqueur combinations.
Menu: pizzas and panini, croissants, biscotti, Italian desserts, expensive wines.
Environment : Haute Milan style, dark brown, black and beige
and black leather couches, colour-coded art.
Risko had: Latte macchiato served in tall tulip-shaped glass with long spoons: deep, sandy beige, even taste with no bitterness.
Chocolate croissants with decent buttery flakiness.
Bill: $14.66
Risko Went: Washrooms on same floor, tastefully decorated with potpourri and arty twig arrangements.
Risko Rejoices: Well-sized chairs, solid and comfortable
Risko Regrets: Hot-pink finger-painting on the windows
Two stalls in the ladies, one so tiny that entry requires tum suck and stripper wriggle.
Risko Returns: Definitely to try out the personal-sized pizzas or real Italian panini.

Le Gourmand

Spadina Avenue at Richmond
Lattes, Americano, Vanilla Chai Latte
Euro-style café with sandwiches, salads, croissants and patisseries
Lattes: $3.50 Regular Coffee $1.35
Environment: Order at counter. Dark wood shelving and cabinets stock with up-market, largely Euro food products. A large railway clock, oddly with no second hand.
Risko ate: Custard tart, blueberry scone, plain croissant
Good tart, okay croissant and scone.
Risko Went: Same floor. Sterile white and black tiled, one stall, rattan wastepaper basket and rattan mirror.
Risko Rejoices: Selection of Euro chocolate bars including one with 86% cacao..
Risko Regrets: Despite prominent display of Illy Coffee, the house coffee was very bland, lacking intensity and also not quite hot enough.
Inventive and volatile spelling of Italian words on the blackboard.
Risko Returns:
Probably, nice atmosphere, comfortable surroundings, gets very busy at lunch.

Select Bakery

Donlands & O'Connor
Environment: Greek bakery, with Greek delicatessen, café area with bistro style chairs & tables, set in front of large windows, unfortunately affording only an unispiring view a Bell telephone building.
Unobtrusive Greek Muzak, Greek mass on the TV on Sundays
Risko Had: Latte + 2 biscotti $3.50, 2 Coffees, four cookies $6.38
Coffee mild-flavoured, fragrant and very reasonably priced
First visit they appeared in small retro-sized cups , but subsequent visits found equally brightly coloured larger mugs.
Risko ate: biscotti, macaroons, chocolate éclair
Buy cookies by weight, they're small. Wonderfully soft almondy macaroons. Biscotti tasted and looked "home-made".
Éclair was tasty with confectionary cream filling
Risko Went: Downstairs, heavy on the tile, bright and clean.
Risko Rejoices: Cookies are sold by weight, so you can buy one or a dozen.
Risko Returns:
Yes, to work through that cookie selection.
Not a terrifically interesting neighbourhood, but worth checking out the Mittel-Europa delicatessen next door, especially for its freshly baked bread.

The (OPERA) Cake House

Bloor Street, in the heart of Korea Town
Environment: Self-consciously modern ­ stainless steel and orange plastic, though chairs are more comfortable than they look.
Risko Had: Tapioca buns ­ very light, but with strange, gummy texture.
Small cream cake slices.
Risko Went: Downstairs. Minimally adequate, clean, but shabby, at odds with high tech upstairs.
Risko Rejoices: Real cream in the cakes, often with fresh fruit
Risko Regrets: No Gaggia, Faema, Bialetti, etc. Standard Coffee urns with standard flavours.
Risko Returns: If in the neighbourhood, but not vaut le voyage.

KONDITOR

1856 Queen E
Environment: silver grey metallic chairs and tables for about 20.
Lavish array of patisserie, including Austrian specialities and breads.
European scenes on grey walls with small display coffee tins and chocolates and bottles of Austrian Roasted Pumpkin Seed Oil
Risko Had: Lattes in solid white cups, little coloured with a tenacious froth; decent croissants ($1.45) and delicious, sharp lemon tarts.
Risko Went : World's tiniest bathroom directly in cafe, with even tinier corner washbasin. Don't bring knapsack or shopping bags in with you. Go before coming if embarrassed about public washroom usage.
Risko Returns: Only for take-out ­ place is very crowded, often with waiting line, and the crush is not conducive to relaxation

SCENE_IT Travel Café

Queen St. (West of Spadina or University)
Travel Agency and Coffee Shop, with gelato bar.
Environment: dark wood touches, with terra cotta and cream walls, travel photos and scenes and magazine rack of travel publications
Window seats and armchairs in back.
Risko Had: Mocha Latte ($2.35) Double espresso Macchiato ($1.85)
Espresso had good rich taste, but the mocha was a bit cloying half way through.
Decent almond biscotti.
Risko Went: rather funky washrooms, same level, back of café.
Risko Rejoices: All Fair Trade Coffee
Risko Returns: Easy-going, funky atmosphere, relax and flick through magazines.

 Wagamama Café

766 King Street

Environment: Bright and modern, with glass walls and silver piping, A few bistro tables outside, weather permitting. Good magazine selection for browsing. Baker's rack of pottery and some other goods for sale.
Risko Had: Kona-brewed lattes in tall glasses, regular coffee in rustic hand-thrown pottery mugs. Nicely presented and good, lasting flavour.Risko Rejoices: Tempting pastry selection, particularly as some cream puffs and scones are small --- all the taste, half the guilt!

Risko Went: Washrooms down the corridor, wide stalls with, remarkable in Toronto washrooms, posters that are actually up-to-date.
Risko Regrets: Broom and mops visible behind half pulled curtain.

World Class Bakery

St. Clair and Christie

Environment: spacious with wood-effect and yellow walls and tables, good solid chairs. Brightly lit with large windows. Wide range of food from buffet and many cookies and pastries.
Offers Organic French and Dark Roast among other choices from Seattle's Best range in urns.
Risko Had: Urn brewed regular coffee and lattes - cups had oddly thick lips.
Risko Regrets: Not Toronto's Best anyway, coffee weak and lacking punch.

Rustic Cosmo

1278 Queen

Environment: Fun & funky with high, pressed tin ceilings, wooden booths and some tables with armchairs. Sandwiches and salads, pastries.
Bright, two-storey windows looking out to an interesting section of Queen. Changing art exhibitions.
Risko Had: Lattes in tall glasses, good quality espresso with a robust, full-bodied flavour. A really tasty cranberry scone, light and not over-sweet.
Risko Went: Down two flights of steps, with clean, white-washed brick
Risko Regrets: Atmosphere suggests relaxed conversation, but intrusively loud music makes it difficult.

Akcropolis Café

708 Danforth

Environment: In the heart of Greektown, traditional style café and bakery.
Yellow and blue décor, murals of the Acropolis, including a rather hippy Poseidon. Clientele largely Greek, but draws others with freshly prepared specialities like spanakopita, galaktoboureko. and a range of Greek pastries.
Risko Had: Lattes and regular coffe in attractive blue and yellow mugs.
Lattes sprinkled with cinnamon, giving a almost Middle-Eastern flavour to the excellent coffee, both the lattes and regular remarkable for the complete absence of bitterness.
Risko Rejoices: Relaxed, easy-going atmosphere, no pretensions, secure that what it does, it does really well.
Risko Went: down steep flight of stairs to basic, clean, two-stalled, tiled washroom.