Bomou Artisanal Bakery Bayview
Bomou is a French pastry shop that specializes in buttery croissants, mousse, bread, and house-made jams.
The name is a portmanteau of two French words: boulangerie and moulin, essentially labelling itself as a mill bakery.
Sisters Negar and Azar Sabzevari run Bomou together. Negar, who runs the kitchen side of things, says she's been baking since she was four years old.
Taught by her mother and influenced by the region where they grew up in Iran — Hamadan, a city known for its jams — Negar eventually came to Canada to study French pastries, which led time in France to learn the art of pastry-making.
Bomou makes jars of honey with walnuts ($17) or pistachios ($12), and a seasonal quince jam for $12.
Bread is baked in several batches throughout the day, with the first one around 4:30 a.m. There's a focus on sourdough, and Bomou sells full sourdough loaves for $7 or sourdough baguettes for $4.50 each.
There are also rounds of olive fougasse for $4.50, and full loaves of rye ($9), spelt ($7.50) and a seeded white sourdough variety ($7.90).
In the glass counter, the bakery sells bon bons filled with ganache in flavours like orange whisky for $2.75 each, or in boxes of 5 or 15, and decadent vanilla strawberry croissant sandwiches.
They also have mango and blueberry tarts, cookies, canales, and housemade chocolate bars.
Pistachio is a main ingredient here. The Shahzadeh (which means 'prince' or 'princess' in Farsi) is their signature mousse, $8.90.
Light and airy, this pistachio mousse is made with fresh rosewater, raspberry, rose petals, and edible gold leaf.
Their Cube Du Chocolat mousse, $8.90, is equally light. It's made with Alunga milk chocolate mousse, 64% guayaquil chocolate ganache, and sits on a chocolate biscuit.
The standouts at Bomou for me are their ridiculously buttery double-baked croissants.
The pistachio croissant, $4.50, is crumbly and rich.
Same goes for the raspberry croissant, $4.90, a flaky creation that falls apart as you rip it open.
Bomou also has a menu of cold and hot drinks, like tea from Sloane. A latte is a perfect accompaniment for sweet treats.
An iced strawberry lemonade is the ultra refreshing, with housemade strawberry syrup and some sweet lemonade.
Fareen Karim