7 Baker
7 Baker is a sweet-smelling bakery making high-quality artisanal breads in all sorts of creative shapes and sizes.
With a glistening exterior and a naturally-lit space, this store—which touts itself as Euro-Asian—smells as good as it looks.
7 Baker brings together several features of both Asian and European bakeries for a one-of-a-kind menu of croissants, buns, twists, and pockets, all baked fresh daily, sans preservatives.
While flavours and ingredients are mainly Asian, with exciting ingredients like matcha, taro, or salted egg, bread is baked European-style.
That means flakier, softer bread that uses less fat and sugar than, say, Hong Kong-style pastries, though you'll find a number of Chinese-inspired favourites here.
The store is also set up like Hong Kong bakery: customers can pick and choose their selection of buns using a tray, tongs, and sheets of baking paper. It will likely be the same deal at their upcoming location in the PATH as well.
In the back, a counter allows a limited number of customers to dine-in. You'll also find a mural of 7 Baker's mascot, a piece of dough named SeVII.
A small oven by the front door stores a number of warm items like the charcoal sausage bun ($3.99), a take on the Chinese classic using dough mixed with charcoal.
It doesn't taste too much different than its traditional counterpart flavour-wise, but in terms of texture, there's no doubt the baked goods here are of much higher quality.
There's also an interesting tom yum bun ($3.99), filled with a tom yum sauce, veggies, and shrimp inside.
Further along you'll find more goods in the glass cases that line the wall. A favourite is the matcha lava croissant ($4.99).
This soft and moist green croissant is spilling out with matcha custard inside. For those who prefer something even sweeter, there's a chocolate version called the Dirty Ditty for the same price.
The black charcoal-breads, which look like neolithic rocks, are the most striking items here, and come with a variety of different fillings.
The hulking, round charcoal bread ($7.99) filled with salted egg yolk and pork floss is a unique item.
If you're planning on eating in the bakery, make sure to ask them to cut this beast of a treat for you.
On the opposite end of the size spectrum are the inka bon bons ($4.99 for three) which are inspired by Japanese takoyaki.
These little pieces of charcoal bread don't actually contain any squid ink, but they are stuffed with a garlicky mix of sauce and squid inside.
But it's not only bread on the menu here: there's a whole case of mini cakes available up in the front.
In fact, the owners behind 7 Baker started off as an e-commerce cake shop called 7 Cake.
Serving the same offerings as 7 Cake, but the little versions, you can grab beautifully-made treats like the Puerto Rico cake ($7.99).
This delicate-looking thing is filled with pineapple mousse, pina colada and coconut dacqoise.
The heart-shaped Fes cake ($6.99) is perfect for any celebratory occasion, and comes with peach mousse and Earl Grey tea mousse inside.
The drinks menu is still expanding here, and soon 7 Baker will be offering an full list of lightly sweetened bubble teas to quench your thirst.
But in the mean time, drinks like the grapefruit iced tea ($4.99) make for a lightly refreshing beverage.
Hector Vasquez