Transylvanian Traditions Bakery

Located at Davie and Thurlow, Transylvania Traditions is run and owned by Alexandru and Narcisa Stoian – a couple who are actually from Transylvania.  When Narcisa arrived in Canada, she noticed a lack of Romanian goods in Vancouver so she decided to open this bakery.   Having been open since 2008, Transylvanian Traditions’ tasty treats make them a worthwhile stop while visiting the West End.

I've always wondered about this place but it wasn't until recently that I was persuaded by a Hungarian friend to give it a try. Guided by her recommendations, I sampled kurtos kalac, dobos cake, cremes and biscuit salami. I've never considered myself much of a sweets person but they were quite good! My favourites were cremes and biscuit salami. I especially appreciated by the fact that each dessert wasn't overly sweet. Can't wait to go back and give some of the other cakes a try.

I've been quite interested in this bakery for the variety of more uniquely-flavoured cakes and pastries that they produce. For my visit there, I had their Nutella Hazelnut Bar and Amandina details below). The textures of their pastries were quite good, but I found the flavours to be overall too mild and one-dimensional. While I'm glad to have tried this place, I'm hesitant to return when there are a number of other options available. <br/ <br/ Nutella Hazelnut Bar $3.75):<br/ 3/5<br/ The texture of this cake/bar is quite unusual: it was crispy and light, and melted in my mouth. The flaked almonds on top added a nice bit of crunch. In terms of flavour, it was mildly sweet, and although enjoyable, a bit one-note and not very exciting. Being a nutella lover, I personally found the chocolate/hazelnut flavour to be lacking. <br/ <br/ Amandina $3.99):<br/ 3.5/5<br/ I really liked the texture of this cake; it was soft and extremely moist from being soaked in syrup. Unfortunately, once again, I was less impressed by the flavour. In spite of its appearance, I actually was unable to detect much chocolate/cocoa flavour apart from the layer of chocolate fondant on top The rest of the cake was just mildly sweet and, if I've been blind-folded, I'd probably be uanble to tell that it's supposed to be chocolate.

Transylvanian Traditions is located on Davie Street in Vancouver and they make delicious dessert. No vampires here. Narcisa Stoian noticed the lack of traditional Romanian sweets, which have always been a part of her childhood and her parents’ careers, and decided that Vancouver was the perfect place for her to share her love of Romanian cuisine.

This little bakery makes some pretty good desserts. Our friend highly recommended us to give this place a try.<br/ <br/ We got the profiterole, chocolate eclair and a cream cake. All of the items were pretty good but my favourite was the eclair.