The first thing you’ll notice when browsing baked goods at Malina, is a lot of unfamiliar names — Pampushki, Vatrushky, Pyrizhki, Horishki and more. But no matter what you choose, the pastry is bound to be rich and generously filled with toppings — if it comes with any.
Opened this summer, the Ukrainian bakery and cafe has already become a west-end neighbourhood gem in Cameron Heights. Not only can you find the good old pierogi, cabbage rolls and even borscht here, but you will also discover a wide variety of traditional Ukrainian pastries and cakes.
Most of the bakery’s selection is made up of cakes, pies and sweet pastries, such as round vatrushky with sour cherries, apples or cottage cheese, poppy seed rolls or heart-shaped sweet plushka.
On the savoury side, you can choose from a variety of pizza buns, pampushki (buns with dill and garlic, that resemble doughnuts thanks to their round shape), or pyrizhki buns with potato, chicken, bacon, eggs or sauerkraut.
Encased by delectably sweet (yet light) dough, the cottage cheese filling in the vatrushka melts on your tongue upon a first bite. For those looking for something more filling, the strudel comes with the thinnest dough imaginable — so thoroughly stuffed with sour cherries or apple filling, it’s more fruit than pastry. Or try one of Malina’s pyrizhki with potato, bacon, and cheese — a combo that’s especially hard to refuse when it comes inside a freshly baked, soft dough pastry.
This article appears in the December 2020 issue of Edify
