[Images by Nathalie]

Nathalie and I recently had the pleasure of checking out Tarts Bakery on Granville and Broadway. I thought it would be fitting to visit a sister-owned bakery with my own sister.

Lisa and Shawna Coan are bakers and intelligent business women who have taken their love of their mother’s baking and turn it into a great business.

Nathalie and I got to chat with the two for a while on various topics like Lisa’s pet toad, feminism and some flack they’ve been getting for their retro 50s pin-up girls outside the window. Really, that’s still a thing? I think it’s a perfect throw back and quite classy myself! I understand that everyone has their own opinion though.

There are 3 sizes of tarts depending on your need and hunger. Tartlets are 2.25″ in diameter, Tarts are 4.75″ and Big Tarts at 9.5″. Today Nathalie and I tried a mix of Tartlets and Tarts.

We started off with our Tartlets – Classic Butter ($1.89), Butter Pecan, Lemon, Raspberry Macaroon (all three are $1.99 each). The Butter Pecan was my favourite of the bunch – being buttery and crunchy. The Classic Butter was good too, but I think this would taste better as a bigger tart. The Lemon tartlet was not too tart but refreshing and had a nice dollop of meringue on top. Nathalie’s favourite was the Raspberry Macaroon which fulfilled our sweet tooth without being too sweet.

Up next, the bigger Tarts. We had the Strawberry Cheesecake ($7.49) and the Apple Tart ($7.49). I definitely loved the Strawberry Cheesecake one! It was rich with lots of strawberry flavouring. It was interesting having a cheesecake in tart form but the crispy crust was a good change from the ordinary! The texture of the crust is not super buttery and is flaky.

The Apple Tart has a nice presentation (however, I kind of picked at it before Nat could take a picture – whoops!) – and the blend of cinnamon in the apple reminded me of home made apple pie but the custard reminded me it was a tart! Yum. Could I have eaten these tarts in two or three bites myself? Most likely!

This cute cafe is a little limited in seating (with just two tables), but you can take your tart to go with no problem! They are looking into delivering lunch time tarts starting around the neighbourhood and then expanding. They are also thinking up great flavours and pairings for their tarts – one of which is the Chocolate Mousse which they have brought back recently! I didn’t get to try any of the savoury tarts but I’ve heard that the Jalapeño Poppers are very popular!

Thanks for chatting with us and we wish you success in your tart-making adventures, Lisa and Shawna! They will be participating in the Vancouver Foodster Cheesecake Challenge with their Hot Fudge Brownie Cheesecake Tart (which sounds ridiculously good).

Food: 

Service: n/a

Value: 

Ambiance: 

OVERALL: 

Visit their website here.

Tarts Bakery on Urbanspoon