Rideau Bakery

Met up with my fiancée here for a little bite to eat. We loved the atmosphere of the place. It’s been serving up coffee, donuts, cakes, cookies ‘n bread since about 1934. The reviews on here about the place are pretty spot on, so I don’t have to repeat much of that. It’s not a new place and it doesn’t pretend to be. This is simple food and simple yet delightfully tasty baking at its best.

I wouldn’t say that everything there is amazing, but for certain things it is unbeatable (certainly in Ottawa). It has excellent rye bread, great jelly donuts and the cheese bagels are out of this world, its more of a pastry than a bagel but its epic. If I am driving by I often have to stop the car and run in to get a cheese bagel.
Everything else about the place is simply background noise. It’s not trendy, some of the staff can be a bit gruff (although some are great) and it will never be confused for a high end donut or cupcake lounge, but truthfully I’m totally ok with that.

Walking by and decided to drop in — the smell on entry took me back to times past. It was late in the day on a Saturday, so selection was not at its peak — but still lots to choose from.
This is the kind of bakery my mom used to take me to — think 1960’s — when I was very young, as a treat for being a good girl at the doctors, or after shopping. So it seemed fitting to order an éclair, something I don’t see too often these days. Hubby got the Black Forest cupcake and The Boy got raisin bread and sticky buns.
The éclair was exactly as an éclair should be. I didn’t hear any feedback from hubby — but his treat disappeared rapidly, so I have my assumptions. The sticky buns were excellent, or so said The Boy who provided the magic trick of making 6 sticky buns disappear in the blink of an eye. (Hubby and I did not stand a chance.) I did manage to finagle a slab of raisin bread — and oh my — best raisin bread ever, even though it was a day old!
So based on our first visit, glad we stopped in. As Arny says «I’ll be back».
Would I recommend: Yes, with the clarification that this is an old-​style bakeshop
Would I return: Yes. Raisin bread is on the permanent buy-​list.

Judging by previous reviews, Rideau Bakery is very polarizing. If you’re someone drawn to old world charm and Jewish nostalgia such as myself, you’re probably willing to overlook its flaws. Yes, the pastries go stale. That’s what happens to bread products baked without preservatives. The coffee will not taste like what you would get at an espresso bar, but that’s because it’s cheaper, made by at a one-​woman lunch counter and probably topped with palm oil pareve creamer.
That’s right paerve creamer. Rideau Bakery is one of a small handful of kosher establishments in Ottawa, which is another reason why some consumers will continue to patronize it. All products are pareve or milschig and supervised by Ottawa Vaad Hakashrut. For this reason, do not expect fresh baked good on weekends. Like many bakeries, the baker doesn’t work Sundays and the bakery skirts Jewish law by having employees selling but not baking on Saturdays.
So, nu. On to the goods. I personally recommend the rye bread and prefer the buch challah over regular challah. Their black and whites are more cookie in texture than the cake-​like NYC variety, but I still enjoy them. Vegans and those with allergies can also benefit from the kosher production, as Rideau Bakery offers dairy-​free products such as paerve tofu cheesecake and all ingredients are labelled clearly.
In addition to baked goods and the weekday lunch counter, the back of the bakery has a small selection of kosher and Israeli dry goods, a refrigerated section (cheapest Sabra hummus in town!) and a Judaica products section with Shabbat candles, Yahrzeit candles and Kedem kosher grape juice. They also offer seasonal things like fresh hamentaschen and latkes, plus Hanukkah coins, dreidels and groggers.
Take note that in addition to closing for Canadian and Jewish holidays, the bakery shuts down completely over Passover for at least a week.

I sought this bakery out based on the 5 star rating. Not sure what the people who rated 5 stars got that I didn’t on my visit. The service was terrible even though there were three people working and I was the ONLY person in the establishment. My first bagel was burnt to a crisp so they inquired if I wanted another. YES! The second one wasn’t toasted justed warmed up. Also had the chocolate croissant and cinnamon croissant. The chocolate one had little flavour the cinnamon was much better. Coffee was mediocre.

Get yourself to Rideau Bakery if you haven’t already. Places like these are true gems. Unpretentious quality with no need for overly fancy breads with overly fancy titles, this place has bread, rolls, donuts, coffee cakes, croissants and a host of other specialities at their Rideau location.
Here you can find tasty, and one could even say, heirloom recipes that lend what is becoming an increasingly rare authenticity to bakeries in general.
On top of that they have a homey and pleasant coffee bar that serves a kosher breakfast (ie, no bacon or other meats).

This is one of Ottawa’s last strongholds of times gone by i.e. frozen in 1950’s/60’s glamour. To me, the dated décor is part of the charm.
It’s your basic 1950’s bakery with an assortment of pastries and cakes, with an old time breakfast bar (diner stools!).
Rideau bakery makes some reportedly mean rye bread, so much so that I know of people who are asked to bring «a rideau rye» when they visit former Ottawans. There is a small selection of deli staples like pickles, milk etc., but this place is known for their bread.
The bread is available in a lot of local supermarkets, but if you’ve never been, it’s worth the trip down (albeit surreal) memory lane.
Note: Kosher, and closed on Saturdays.