Toastic

For anyone who has been on a late-night browse of Riyadh’s food delivery apps, Toastic Riyadh will be a familiar sight – with its colourful array of cakes, bakes and signature sandwiches a sure sign of the café craze sweeping the capital.

Yet while simple titles like ‘lemon slice’ and ‘carrot cake’ don’t give much away, a visit to the bakery itself – hidden away on a compact backstreet in the north Riyadh neighbourhood of At Taawun – reveals the menu isn’t quite giving these amazing bakes the fanfare they deserve.

It doesn’t capture the surprising moreishness of the dense and doughy babka – a sweet, soft interior hidden beneath a shell of savoury cheese with a dusting of zaatar and sumac, expertly combining the two flavours in a way only the most seasoned of Saudi bakers can.
And the simple titles can’t possibly recreate the feeling of intricate pastry flakes, melting on the tongue as you traipse back to the counter for yet another iced tea to wash away the evidence of a bakery binge.

On top of Toastic Riyadh’s pastry pleasures is a huge menu of just about everything that can be produced in an enormous kitchen by a team of busy bakers (the glass-walled room takes up more than half of the dining space leaving customers to compete for tables on the edges, particularly during weekend breakfast time).

On-trend items like jam and caramel cruffins – a fusion of a doughnut and croissant – are complemented by falafel-filled versions, offering a fun Middle Eastern twist alongside Instagrammable dishes such as simit breads, Nutella rolls and a towering ‘fondue’ cake doused in rich chocolate sauce.

Particularly popular is the carrot cake, with generous swirls of cream cheese running through the slice’s dense sponge, while the lemon option packs an authentically citrusy punch without crossing the line into bitterness.

With so many items on the menu, it’s fortunate that the Toastic Riyadh staff are patient and knowledgeable, even among a seemingly never-ending line of delivery drivers coming through the door.

With a few more tables, and a greater focus on the visiting breakfast crowd, this backstreet bakery could quickly ascend to an early-morning essential.

Go now.