The official guide to the city’s best
Illustration by Freyja Zazu.
A chocolate chip cookie is a classic treat that will never go out of style. Victoria is littered with amazing bakeries and cafés, and each one has their own unique take on the chocolate chip cookie. But all of these options can get so overwhelming!
Don’t panic, I got you. I have ranked the cookies at some of Victoria’s best bakeries and cafés — Working Culture, Fol Epi, Tombo, and Hey Happy — so you don’t have to.
Each cookie will be ranked on a scale of one to five that I’ll call the Choco-Chips scale, and will be judged by chocolate ratio, chewiness, crunch factor, saltiness, and sweetness. What I look for in a cookie is a crunchy exterior and a chewy interior. I love just a hint of sweetness, leveled out with semi-dark chips, and extra points for salt on top. While I love chocolate, I prefer more cookie dough than chocolate.
Because this is based on my taste buds, I expect no hate for this list. That being said, here’s my guide to Victoria’s best cookie.
Working culture
This bakery focuses on everything sourdough. They serve fresh sandwiches, pastries, and chocolate chip cookies. While this is my go-to place for freshly baked bread, will the cookie stand out?
First, the appearance is amazing. The chips were big dark chocolate, and there was the perfect amount of salt on top. My expectation was high, but the cookie didn’t quite hit like Working Culture’s bread and other pastries.
It had the chewy interior and crunchy exterior that I look for, but the chocolate-to-cookie ratio was off. The chocolate was overpowering for me. While I do like a dark chocolate chip in a cookie, I was looking for a little more sweetness to balance out the bitterness.
Overall I give it a three on the Choco-Chips scale.
Fol Epi
Founded in 2009, Fol Epi is a Victoria classic. This little bakery in Vic West packs a punch, no matter what you order. Their chocolate chip cookie looks classic. Made with both milk and dark chocolate chips, the flavour was pretty balanced.
It was chewier than Working Culture’s, and it had the perfect chocolate-to-cookie ratio. It is on the sweeter side, but not overly so. Unfortunately, this cookie did not have the saltiness I crave, but overall it was good.
In the end I give it four on the Choco-Chips scale.
Tombo
Tombo is one of the newer bakeries in Victoria, famous for their cube croissants. Created by the original owners of Crust Bakery, Tombo does not disappoint with its pastries — but do their cookies compare to their croissants?
Tombo’s was not like any cookie I have seen before — it’s much thicker! Can it even technically fall into the cookie category? I’m not too sure. Other than its puck appearance, it’s interesting. It is extremely chewy, almost like a brownie or a blondie. The chocolate is good, but blends into the cookie. I almost forgot there was chocolate in it all. It is also on the sweeter side compared to the rest.
It’s not necessarily what I look for in a cookie, and because of this I give it a 3.5 Choco-Chips on the scale.
Hey Happy
I need to make a disclaimer before I jump in, for the sake of my journalistic reputation: I am a barista at Hey Happy. Because I personally know the bakers of this cookie, I don’t want my personal relationship to interfere with this ranking … but it’s a pretty damn good cookie. It’s everything I love in a cookie; the outside is crunchy, the inside is perfectly gooey, plus the chocolate is not overpowering, and it’s tied together with flaky salt on top.
For me this is the most classic chocolate chip cookie I’ve had in a while. For that reason, it’s a solid 4.5 — an almost perfect Choco-Chip ranking.
