Muffins!!!!

(5150 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)

Unsatisfied with my recent muffin experiences, I sought out baked goods from other locations. 

Inside the North York City Centre, not much was open on a Saturday afternoon. I managed to find a Second Cup that was open and La Prep.

Not much was on display for La Prep, but there were three sad looking chocolate chip muffins. One looked like someone had picked a chunk out of its top. Luckily, I got the other one.

It looked so promising. It had the proper mushroom shape, and the top did not look soft at all. Turns out that the edges were crunchy, but the muffin had a bit of a staleness to it. Nevertheless, after so much searching, I was just happy to be eating a real muffin.

It took waking up at early morning hours to finally find a satisfying muffin. On a weekday morning, around 7:45 a.m., I tried North York City Centre again, hoping for some warm, fresh, awesome muffins. Since I had already tried La Prep, I decided to go for Café Palma P.A.M.'s Coffe and Tea Co. 

[Update: The actual place is called Café Palma. They just use P.A.M.'s Coffee & Tea Co. bags.]

As I grabbed the paper bag, I was instantly excited because I immediately noticed the the heat emitting from my breakfast. Yes! Warm! Would I finally get my fresh, crunchy top chocolate chip muffin? YES!!!! I was too anxious to eat it up, so most of the top was eaten before I took this picture:

I can assure you that it looked like the definition of muffin before I hacked at it.

It was everything I could ask for in a muffin: crunchy top, warm, fresh, chocolate chip flavoured, and affordable ($1.25). Though the inside tasted as though it had already been buttered for me, it was awesome. Discovering this shop that sold real chocolate chip muffins was like finding a unicorn. 

Would I return? Heck yeah! Café Palma is my new favourite place ever. 

[Update: Went back again today. Did a little better on the picture.]

The inside has that somewhat translucent look as if it had been dunked in melted butter. There's a coconutty taste to it. The top was still marvellously crunchy, and it was still served warm. It's a little hard to find an intact chocolate chip.

Would I return? I just did. It's even more likely now that I know when the muffins are consistently fresh.