Bomou Artisanal Bakery

Baguettes and viennoiserie, baked every day

Bread comes first at this Toronto boulangerie. The baguettes and the daily viennoiserie set the terms, with pastries and chocolates arranged around them, all made fresh each morning in the French artisanal manner the bakery was built on. The original shop is in Bayview Leaside, and a second opened in Rosedale in July 2022, carrying the same bakery-first identity into a different neighborhood. The croissants are what the reputation rests on, and the case beside them takes a more decorative turn: this is a bakery that finishes its sweets carefully, down to a flower-shaped garnish cut from creamy white chocolate.

A counter built around the case

The visit is a counter visit, decided by whatever is in the display that morning. At Bayview Leaside you can eat in or take it away, so it works as a pause over a pastry or as a practical stop for bread on the way home. Rosedale is the more direct version of the same shop, built for buying and leaving. What the bakery makes its case on is food rather than a drinks list. No roaster is named and no espresso program is advertised, and the bread, viennoiserie, pastries and chocolates are strong enough to carry a shop without one.

Order the croissant, then bread or chocolate

A croissant is the natural first order, since the reputation rests on viennoiserie made fresh daily and it is the quickest read on the lamination. From there the visit splits. If bread is the reason you came, take a baguette, the item the bakery is most specifically known for. If it is not, stay with the pastry case for the more decorative work, including the white chocolate flower that turns a simple pastry into something more deliberate. Chocolates belong to the same range and travel better than anything else in the shop. When something sweeter is wanted, the strawberry soft serve sundae, finished with a wafer and a generous drizzle of homemade jam, is the order that closes a visit.