crown pastries toronto

Two brothers who moved to Toronto from Syria are now famous for their baklava

A Toronto bakery that uses family recipes might just make the tastiest baklava in the city—flaky and with the perfect amount of sweetness. 

Rasoul and Ismail Salha are the brothers behind Crown Pastries, a Middle-Eastern bakery they own together.

The brothers moved to Toronto from Syria in 2009 and opened Crown Pastries in 2015. They told blogTO they noticed a lack of places offering Middle-Eastern sweets in Toronto and aimed to fill the gap. 

Baking had been in their lives for years, working since they were teenagers and learning family recipes passed down from their grandfather.

They learned everything about the sweets in Aleppo, which is considered the capital of sweets in the Middle East.

Crown Pastries offers more than ten different kinds of baklava, all with the perfect amount of nuttiness and moistness.

The brothers say they use only the best ingredients in their baklava, including pistachios from Turkey and ghee butter.

After rolling the pistachios inside the knafeh dough, they let it dry for two days before cooking the treats. 

You can find Crown Pastries at 2086 Lawrence Avenue East and other locations around the city.

Want more stories like this? Make sure to subscribe to Bucket List, blogTO's show about the best of the city that premieres weekly on Snapchat.

Lead photo by

Hector Vasquez


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