Pender Island Bakery Cafe

We visit the bakery once or twice every summer, and I’m a fan. These are the best things we had this year:
–A delicious and beautiful chocolate birthday cake (we ordered ahead)
–Pecan scones, incredibly flavourful and loaded with pecans
–Falafel wrap — super tasty with a nice (tzatziki?) sauce
I wasn’t super excited about the breakfast sandwich I had, it had very little flavour.

They say that Pender Island is like the Salt Spring of 30 years ago — dirt roads, untouched land, no *real* jobs to speak of – you know, rustic-​like. As we pulled up to Driftwood Centre, I was so elated to see this little bakery /​coffee shop perched on the edge. I imagined big loaves of misshapen bread, floppy tops of muffins sneaking their way out of the pan, the waft of fresh coffee and cookies would permeate the air as a sweet island-​y kind of owner would smile at the stranger (me) who just walked in the door.
Meh, I was wrong. Maybe I set the bar too high (as I’ve been known to do), but this was just not what I wanted it to be. I mean, it was *fine*, just not really… original. There was no sweet owner behind the counter, the air didn’t really smell like the rustic bakery I expected of an island shop, the food (salads, soups, sandwiches), was okay. It was all fine. Just a bit… why did the person behind the counter have to be so sour on life?
Sigh.

Located in Pender’s Driftwood Mall, this bakery/​coffee shop is a definite «hub location» on the Island… savour their croissants, pies, home style bread, slices, tarts… plus they do lunch/​deli items, too. Great coffee! Computer terminal, too, for diehard email checkers… supposed to be on holiday, right? Walk up from the marina at Browning Harbour, to the Driftwood Mall. Loved the jazz playing when I popped in, at 8 a.m. opening, after the red eye ferry off Salt Spring to Pender… three cheers for this one!

* Letdown *
My image of a bakery on a small Gulf Island is of a homey place with nice comfort inducing freshly baked items.
I was letdown. Taking a look over the offerings things seemed kind of commercial looking — kind of like a supermarket bakery. Boo.
You know, cupcakes with those supermarket baking aisle coloured stars?
You know, bread that looked like those rolls you buy at the Walmart «bakery»?
We needed a snack and took the only commercial style item that seems ok — a rice krispy treat. But it was a bit mushy!!! Oy… A letdown!