Kadalima's Pattisserie (4)

Kadalima's
Oak Bay Avenue
2009
coffee - **** (Illy)
goodies -++++++

There used to be a nice Dutch bakery here, but then they closed, or sold out, and Kadalima's emerged.  As far as I know they are the BEST bakery in Victoria. I never stopped by for coffee, but today I checked it out and their biscotti is absolutely fabulous.  i am going to try and emulate it in my own kitchen.  Full of lovely chunks of ginger, and just perfect for dunking in the coffee.

 

Kadalima's on Oak Street yet again 

October 10, 2009

I simply can't stay away from this place.  However they have stopped making their fabulous biscotti.  It's a good thing I have perfected my own ginger biscotti... but there is always room to make it even better.

It's a gorgeous sunny, autumn Saturday, so Zoe and I walked down to Willows Beach.  One nut was swimming in a wet suit.  It may have been warm out of the water, but the North Pacific is cold cold cold at this time of year.  We watched a lady raking up buckets of seaweed for her garden as fertilizer.  Lots of people come down to the beach at this time for this.  Of course I had to pass Kadalima's on the way home, and stop for my coffee.  I am now just ordering Americanos, and am enjoying it much more.  I begged them to start making biscotti again, but they said the ginger was too expensive. ???  I buy bulk ginger and I haven't noticed any change in price.  Oh well.  So i tried their ginger squares, dipped in dark chocolate..  It was good, but not as good as their biscotti.

Kadalima's on Oak Bay.
August 31, 2009
coffee**** (Illy, Italian)
goodies - ++++++

It appears that I haven't been to a coffee shop since April.  Not true.  I just haven't done any drawings.  It seems like coffee shop blogging is a winter activity.  Today is a bright, crisp pre autumn day, perfect for a walk with Zoe, and of course i ended up here.  The urge to record it came over me, probably prompted by this woman's incredible red hair,  but I only had a pen.  So I recorded the colours, and just sketched this couple.  This is undoubtedly one of my very favorite places.  The coffee, while not fantastic, is definitely 'worthy', albeit it is the commercially produced Italian coffee, Illy.  But the pastries.... oh the pastries.  And the biscotti, especially the ginger biscotti full of chunks of candied ginger.  I have been working on developing my own ginger biscotti recipe, and have been doing better and better.

Kadalima's sadly has closed, and is no more
coffee ****
goodies - ++++++

So it was Monday, and sunny and warm, and I was lusting after gelato.  But sadly Ottavio's was closed.  So i headed here instead.  This was one my last visits to one of my favorite patisserie.  I turned up for coffee one day, and it appears that overnight the bakery disappeared, leaving a notice on the door saying that they had defaulted on their rent.  They made some of the very best pastries in Victoria, that I often described as tasting as good as they looked.  Too often, commercial pastries LOOK good, but virtually all taste similar.