Ottawa's bakery scene has been quietly excellent for longer than the city's food reputation suggests. A combination of French-Canadian influence (Quebec is right across the river), a skilled immigrant baker community, and a customer base that takes bread seriously has produced a range of bakeries that rival much larger cities.
Art-Is-In Bakery
The benchmark. Art-Is-In's Hintonburg bakery is responsible for what many consider the best croissants in Canada — laminated with precision, buttery and shattering in the right way, and available in plain and filled variations that demonstrate the same care. The bread program is equally serious: sourdough loaves, country-style boules, rye breads. The café menu is excellent. Come Saturday morning and accept the lineup as part of the experience.
Bread and Sons
In Centretown, Bread and Sons does serious sourdough and naturally leavened bread alongside a focused selection of pastries. A smaller operation than Art-Is-In, with the personal character that smaller bakeries can maintain. The whole grain loaves are particularly good.
La Maison Conti
A French patisserie in the ByWard Market area doing genuine patisserie work — Paris-Brest, éclairs, tarts, and seasonal specials that reflect classical French training. If you want to see what a professional pâtissier can do, this is where to go in Ottawa.
Moulin de Provence
A ByWard Market institution making French bread and pastries for decades. The bread is good, the croissants are reliable, and the location in the heart of the market makes it an easy stop. More accessible than some of the newer spots.
Kettleman's Bagels
Ottawa's contribution to the bagel world: Kettleman's has been making wood-fire-baked Montreal-style bagels on the corner of Preston Street (and multiple other locations) since 1993, 24 hours a day. The bagels are excellent — denser and smaller than commercial bagels, properly chewy, with a slight sweetness from the honey-water boil. An Ottawa food institution.
D'Lish by Tish
Sutton's Bakehouse and D'Lish by Tish round out a solid mid-city baking culture that prioritizes scratch baking and rotating seasonal specials over Instagram aesthetics. Both worth seeking out for cakes, tarts, and afternoon treats.
Tips
- The best Ottawa bakeries sell out of their most popular items by mid-morning on weekends — arrive by 9am or accept whatever is left
- Many Ottawa bakeries do pre-orders for bread and pastries (particularly Art-Is-In) — worth using for weekend pickup
- The French-Canadian influence on Ottawa's baking culture means butter croissants and baguettes are held to a higher standard here than in most English Canadian cities
