The art of the tart is a serious thing. Some people spend years trying to perfect the balance of buttery flaky pastry with sweet filling. Others just look for the best place to buy one. Here are a few of our favourite Toronto bakeries serving up tasty tarts.
San Remo Bakery is one of Etobicoke's best kept secrets. This Royal York Road bakery does everything well, but truly excels at making butter tarts. The melt-in-your-mouth pastry is filled with a gooey centre that isn't cloyingly sweet. This tasty tart is totally worth the trip to the end of the subway line.
Patisserie Sébastien is known for its incredible croissants, but if you can tear yourself away from those, you will discover an incredible array of home made tarts. With the perfect marriage of tart and sweet, its lemon meringue tart is the best in midtown.
Andrea's Gerrard Street Bakery is becoming legendary in Riverdale for its delicious butter tarts and chocolate peanut butter tarts, among other confections. Andrea herself is a third generation baker, and opened her shop after 20 years of experience in the food industry. The bakery uses local, fair trade or organic ingredients whenever possible.
Courense Bakery makes only one tart, but they make it so spectacularly that it earns a spot on this list. The delectable pastel de nata, or Portuguese custard tart, will have you shouting Obrigado! The creamy custard centre is lightly torched to create a sweet caramelized top. This Bloorcourt bakery makes about 4,000 by hand every day and provides them to many other bakeries across the city.