Gunther’s Fine Baking

Absolutely deadly Apple Strudel! You will get hooked! Great selection of rye bread too. If this was in the yuppie neighbourhoods instead of shadytown then it would be much more popular.

This is my second «I used to LOVE them, now not so much» review back to back and it saddens me.
As clearly posted in my previous review I used to genuinely LOVE Gunther’s. It’s part of my history and I have some very fond memories of going there with my dad 30+ years ago.
A recent visit had me fairly disappointed. Arrived early on a Saturday morning as usual and started placing my normal order. When we made it to the pastries the clerk (Heidi) was adding items to the box and dropped the tongs on the floor. OK, fine… accidents happen but what happened next disgusted me. Not only did she not go and put them in the sick to wash she started to pick other items from the cooler. WTF??? I said, «woah!!, thats been on the floor». To which she replied, «ya, so?» Again a WTF! I replied, «its been ON THE FLOOR», to which she said «oh, I washed the floor this morning». Really??? I know that all sorts of things that wouldn’t be considered customer friendly happen in every bakery, deli, restaurant, etc. but I don’t need to see it happen. If nothing else pretend to give a damn.
This happened about 2 months ago and haven’t been back since.

I «heart» Gunther’s. I always will.
It’s been a while since I’ve been there and I’m due for a visit… We used to order from here for our old deli way back and their muffins were the BEST. We looked so forward to our early morning delivery!
And now of course I’m sad because it’s Sunday and they’re closed! I’ll be there Tuesday that’s for SURE!

Gunther’s Fine Baking is a clean, spacious, «bare bones» bakery on 17^th Ave SE. If you get there early enough in the day, they have a diverse selection of standard bakery fare, including buns, tortes, and pastries, which go fast. But what they’re renowned for is their Austrian, German, and Swiss style rye bread. So if you’re looking for the perfect raw materials to make a sublime pastrami on rye, you’ve got to get to Gunther’s, but don’t go the without any green, because it’s a cash only operation.

Gunther’s is known around town as not only the ‘go to’ place for your holiday treats, but the place that carries THE best apple strudel in town.
As IF I wasn’t going to test that claim.
Well Unilocalers, it’s official — yes, they do make THE best apple strudel in town.
Oh but don’t worry, they don’t ONLY carry apple strudel, and to prove it, I made a list of what graces their shelves:
— Stollen
— Loaves galore (multigrain, oat loaf, whole-​grain, etc)
— Buns
— Pretzels
— Buttercream-​filled cakes
— Cream rolls
— Cinnamon Rolls
— Macaroons
— Bienenstich
— Puff pastry
— Torte
— Eclaires
— Cookies!!! (In pretty much every shape and flavour my mind could muster up)
And the list goes on and on, but I have to stop here because if I don’t, I’ll end up caving and that will lead to NO GOOD!
Moral of this review: Gunther’s is DA BOMB, so GET THERE.

So I’m in Calgary for the holidays. I travel to Cowtown during this time of year and fell in love with this city the moment my eyes met the mountains. It’s truly breathtaking out here and a nice change of pace from home. As such, being with family before Christmas day warrants a few trips to local shops and I thought I could spruce up my site with some reviews from the west! YEEE HAWW!
So here goes. My first post for this week comes from a small bakery in the South east section of the city called Gunther’s.
Very German and very gooood. You will find a very no-​frills set up (a pull out table covered with a table cloth and loads of cookies, and a gigantic display case that will make you buy many more things than just the bread on your list).
Gunther’s is run by a very friendly German family who bake everything fresh and from scratch. They are open all year round, but it is the holiday bakings that are truly over the top. They make a killer yule log with a butter-​cream centre and a sugary top. Just the thought of it makes me want to go to the fridge, and cut out a huge piece as a bedtime snack without a care to the wrath it will cause.
At Gunther’s you will also find a number of delicate chocolate treats, cakes, pies and bakery fresh European style rye breads. The prices are very reasonable and the shop is known by many as a staple in their holiday and day-​to-​day bakery needs.