Crown Pastries
It was eight years ago when brothers Ismail and Rasoul Alsalha were rolling phyllo dough in the barebones basement kitchen of their Crown Pastries dessert shop at the Wexford Heights Plaza in Scarborough, introducing Torontonians to the delicate baklava that’s been in their family for generations (their grandfather used to have a bakery in Aleppo, Syria).
“I remember when a customer came, we’d have to stop everything, wash our hands, cover the dough and go upstairs to help them,” recalls Rasoul.
The baklava — which goes easy on the syrup, letting the flavours of the flaky pastries and pistachios shine through — was an immediate hit. Around this time, in the mid-2010s, other ventures such as Soufi’s in West Queen West and Newcomer Kitchen in Brockton Village popped up, which created a bigger appetite for Syrian flavours throughout the GTA. The brothers opened a second location of Crown Pastries, then a third and a fourth. In April 2023, a flagship 14,000square-foot production kitchen opened at 1279 Kennedy Rd., not too far from the still-standing original location.
During Ramadan, the bakery makes special items like walnutstuffed atayef, a folded pancake-like dessert eaten at the end of the day; ma’arouk, a date-filled sweet bread; and machabak, a crispy spiral of fried dough, dipped in syrup.
While the brothers have locations in Vaughan, Scarborough, Oakville and Mississauga, it’s only at the flagship location where they also serve breakfast and brunch. There are Turkish pides, falafel, hearty dips like hummus and mutabal; waffles and crepes; cheesy kunafa; and bowls of foul that come with housemade pitas and pickled vegetables. The Alsalhas’ favourite is the fatteh: crispy pita chips with cashews and chickpeas, smothered in a lemony garlic tahini yogurt.