Pâtisserie Ol' Sweet

Hungarian Chimney Cake Bakery Ol’ Sweet Pastry to Open in Montreal’s Plateau | Eater Montreal

"After years of doling out kürtőskalács at festivals and selling online, David Sebestyen has opened a standalone storefront, Ol’ Sweet Pastry, on Rachel Street (open Wednesday to Sunday at 767 Rachel East). Drawing on a family recipe he and his mother and grandmother perfected over six months, he makes chimney cakes from a sweet, lemony, bread-like dough spiralled on a wooden stick, left to rise, dusted with sugar, and baked until the surrounding sugar caramelizes into a crunchy, sticky shell; the interior stays soft and fluffy and can be eaten plain or filled. In warmer months the shop offers Nutella, strawberries, and ice cream in a conical variation so fillings don’t slip out, while in winter it serves hot, pie-like fruit fillings topped with whipped cream — an offering Sebestyen says he thinks they are probably the only ones doing. Sebestyen started the business after returning to Transylvania and realizing the street-dessert tradition was largely unknown in Montreal; having moved from festival tents and pandemic-era deliveries out of a Sainte-Thérèse commercial kitchen, he hopes the Plateau location will introduce chimney cake to a broader Montreal audience beyond the Romanian and Hungarian customers who made up roughly 90 percent of his early clientele." - Valerie Silva