La Tana Italian Bakery
101-3 Fan-Tan Alley
Chinatown
Victoria, BC
(250) 920-6213

La Tana is a bakery located a few doors away from Fan Tan Alley‘s south side entrance and when I was crossing the street from Market Square to head to Triple Spiral, I was detoured away by the luxurious smells that emerged out of here. The lunch time crowd was fairly sizable, and when the sandwiches are made out of fresh ciabatta bread, I can understand why this place is popular.

Not only is the owner raised on traditional values when he was growing up in Italy but also he gave up a more brilliant career (he was to be a computer programmer) to focus on his love for bread. I can see why with the scents that drew me in like a mouse to cheese, and with plenty of baked snacks lining the displays, I was tempted to get more than just a sandwich on this visit. Each day presents a different variety of baked sweets and I thought about grabbing some Lingues and Pizza Blancas.

There were cookies, brioches and cannoncinos too and I could not decide. Maybe next time, as all I wanted was a sandwich – I went for a carpaccio, which consisted of cured beef dressed with simple ingredients, like feta cheese, cherry tomatoes and lettuce. It’s simplicity in the design that made this sandwich great. It was lightly dressed and I should have asked it to be toasted. That’s my mistake since I feel heating the bread up adds crispness to the taste. Most of the cured meats range from pork to beef and perhaps next time, I’ll try the Italian cured bacon (pancetta).

While I realize it may be heathen to ask to pile several different varieties of ham onto one sandwich, I wonder if that can be requested? I could go for a combination meal of different parts of the pig. I won’t know until I ask, as I find some of my personal designs can be crazy, but I like a double dose of meat than single to help fill me up. Perhaps next time, I’ll ask. The service is great here and personally, I find that its great that there’re at least two bakers in town servicing the area for picky lunch eaters. These days, Wonder bread just will not do.

4 Blokes out of 5