LUNCH AT ALFORNO BAKERY AND CAFE - Downtown

The second leg of the birthday pig-out was to head to a bakery to find yummy delicious baked treats. There were a lot of bakeries to choose from, but I was curious about Alforno. My friend told me al forno means 'from the oven' in Italian which means I can expect a lot of baked goods. There were a lot of mixed reviews of Alforno on Zomato so I went in cautiously . The bakery cafe is located just off of the Peace Bridge as I saw it walking from the opposite direction. The place was easy to find as I was afraid it wouldn't be - just look for a white building.

Upon coming in, it was very clean, bright, and modern. There are lots of windows and sky lights. From my observations, you order your food at the counter, pay for it, and they give you a number (if you ordered food that needs to be prepped). You find a place to sit and when your food is ready, they bring it to you. It seems efficient enough - I was there on a weekday afternoon, and it wasn't very busy. You grab your own water, flatware, and napkins at the serving stations. I only found water on the upper level. When I was looking at pictures posted, I was curious of what was under the bike. It is where you get your milk and sugar for you coffee. They have different types of milk and you just pull the lever to dispense it. I thought that was pretty cool. Since it was after 1 pm, I decided to order a little lunch and a baked treat. You have to look way, way up for the menu, and you need to have good eye sight. After ordering, I noticed there were take out menu by the cash register - in case, you can't see that far.

Duck Sandwich $11

For me, this was an okay sandwich. The overnight duck confit and the caramelized onion was a good combination. The duck was tender and the onion was nice and soft. My least favourite part of the sandwich was the truffle aioli. The truffle oil in the aioli was very overpowering. I could only enjoy half of my sandwich before the favour got to me but I was determine to finish my $11 sandwich. I'm not a big fan of truffle oil. I just don't get the concept - no real truffles in the oil - and a little of it just ruin the other favours. I don't think this sandwich was worth the price.

Strawberry and Cream Dome $6

A birthday treat for me. This cake was very appealing. However, after I started eating this, the appearance was better than the taste. I can buy and make this cake similar to this - although, I don't know how to make the gel coating covering the cake but I can probably look it up. The middle is a moist white cake which is then surrounded by a strawberry mousse. To make the cake dome all shiny, they seal the cake with a thin layer of strawberry gelatin. The cake was undoubtedly strawberry favour. The decor were crunchy balls and a nice white chocolate square on top.

Macarons (1/2 dozen) $13.50

I didn't taste these macarons. They were a thank you gift for my friend. They had three different favours available when I was there. They had strawberry pepper, mango, and blueberry and chocolate.

To sum up, this place is a modern cafeteria. I don't see myself actively seeking this place if I'm in the area. Nothing about this place sticks out as I can probably get the same food at other places that are more conveniently accessible to me. I do think it is a nice addition to the neighbourhood as a place to hang out.

Alforno Bakery and Cafe
222 7th Street SW
403-454-0308