Located on Tremont Street across from the Boston Commons, Bakey is a bakery in the perfect hub for locals and tourists alike. I have never considered what would be the best Babka Bakery in Boston, however, after visiting this hot new bakery, I can safely say that the winner has been crowned. With a spread of sweet and savory baked goods, cold dips, spreads, and salads, and even an array of coffee beverages, Bakey has focused on one star baked good in particular: babka.
What is babka?
For those of you unfamiliar with the delectable, flakey goodness of babka, let me break it down for you.
Typically found on the dessert table during Jewish religious celebrations, babka is made by twisting a sweet yeast-based dough swathed in different fillings around itself. It's typically considered a cake-like bread whose combination of sweetness and butteriness leave the best mealtime for the pastry, breakfast or dessert, up for debate. As the dish expanded globally, the basic recipe has developed numerous variations.
To summarize, babka is everything you want in a pastry. If you're interested to learn more, Spoon has an awesome article that goes more in depth here.
Bakey's Babka
After researching the bakery, I held high expectations for the babka. It's their staple item, evident by their website being bakeybabka.com. I expected a variety of flavors, and that expectation was met.
I went into Bakey on a Saturday afternoon, and was met with an assortment including chocolate babka, apple babka, cinnamon babka, and raspberry babka. The flavor line also typically includes an almond variety.
When it comes to baked goods, I tend to favor the sweet over the savory. I tried all of the available babka spread, along with a cheese bureka and chocolate chip cookie, and I can honestly say that my sweet tooth was satisfied. Be warned- the servings are HUGE. Coming in at $4.50, you get a real bang for your buck for a filling treat. It took me nearly a week to get through my goodies, and that was while I shared with friends!
Bakey has a desire to serve fresh, top of the line quality baked goods to its Boston patrons. Pastries that are deemed "not fresh enough" to sell are pulled and donated to Women's Lunch Place, a women's daytime shelter. While a majority of this excess inventory are donated, guests have been known to receive an additional treat of the employees' choice (such as my chocolate chip cookie!).
Though the other treats were delicious, and the ones that I didn't have the opportunity to taste looked and smelled just as good, it's the babka that I would go back for. This is hands down Boston's best new babka bakery.
Overall Opinion
Overall, I found not only the babka, but Bakey itself to be a 10/10 spot for any Boston foodie.
I only sampled what Bakey had to offer, but from a babka standpoint, I was absolutely blown away. From the product turnover for optimal freshness to the wide variety in flavor assortment, whether you're an avid babka fan or are just looking for a nice baked good, I highly suggest stopping by and seeing what's behind the counter of what I have proclaimed as Boston's Best Babka Bakery.