Creme de la Crumb

This bakery has been at the top of my list for months simply based on the glowing reviews on the internet.  Of course the name is quite dreadful even for this pun enthusiast.
Of the two locations, only the Hamilton Street one is open on Saturdays.
It's really a bizarre shop.  Taking up the lower floor of the CBC building, it's gigantic, and totally empty when we got there.  The sign is also illegible since Creme is written backwards, so it's like emercdelacrumb, in a script font.  Fire that sign maker.  Dimly lit inside, it looked closed.  Amazingly, the place could probably seat 100 people.  One side of it is a bar, which makes no sense considering it claims to be a bakeshop, and closes at 4.  I began wondering, have there ever been any other customers?  We were there for about 30 minutes and nobody else came in.  But never mind all that, I was there for fancy scones.  They have some intriguing ones, including vanilla bean and pear, lime and coconut (wha!?), and apple and cheddar.  They all looked good but I went for vanilla bean and pear.

It was a nice size for $2.75 and the vanilla made it wonderfully aromatic.  Soft and chewy, the pastry was excellent.  You can tell it would travel well and not disintegrate, not that I gave it a chance.  It had that slightly underdone quality of the best chocolate chip cookies.  Once you bite in, almost like an apple pie in consistency.  The pears were delicious, soft and not at all grainy.  The flavours were quite subtle- not too sweet, buttery, but not heavy or rich, it was really very good.  They definitely know what they're doing and, more than that, I think are actively trying to advance the Art of the Scone.  Sadly it wasn't completely satisfying due to the unfortunate ambiance.  People watching is not really possible since Hamilton and Georgia is devoid of people on a weekend morning.  Although the coffee was fine and hot, my cup was only half full.  Who wants half a cup of cream in their coffee?  I wasn't paying attention but I think they microwaved the scones to warm them up which is sort of nice, but also sort of cheating.  I'd like to experience the place during a weekday morning rush when the scones are fresh out of the oven.

Overall: 4 / 5