Hi everyone,
Welcome back to my sweet blog!! This is my official 1st blog post of the year and can’t believe it’s been this long I been away. It’s been a busy first half of 2024 for me as I have updated you guys with more details on my “Update Blog Post” as I been busy during the winter months at my temporary Administrative work and then my amazing and beach trip to St. Petersburg & Tampa, Florida in May.
Can’t believe it’s the beginning of August already, where did the summer go? There has been some wild weather in Toronto this summer so far with lots of rainstorms, floods and then our humid to heatwaves weather. I hope everyone is still enjoying and surviving this crazy Toronto summer…☀️
HaleLife Bakery & Bistro
I’m excited to finally share with you my fave vegan bakery in St. Petersburg, Florida – HaleLife Bakery that I discovered last year 2023 when I first visited St. Pete and absolutely love this welcoming and local community in St. Pete and Tampa where there are lots of vegan and dairy free food options from savoury to sweet. Besides the St. Pete & Treasure Island area of their beautiful white sand beaches and tropical atmosphere that I love here is also for their delicious vegan and dairy free foods and desserts. That’s why I returned to St. Pete and Tampa this year.
HaleLife Bakery was created by a mother-son duo, Laura and Taylor where Laura was diagnosed with celiac disease and her son, Taylor too along with other food allergies. What started out as a gluten-free blog that Taylor did turned into a business on focusing on sharing the best gluten-free, vegan and allergy friendly products. So in 2018, Laura and Taylor decided to open the first ever gluten-free, vegan and allergy friendly bakery in the Tampa Bay area. With the help of a professional pastry chef, Jackie who is the head pastry chef for HaleLife Bakery who is the one that creates the delicious and creative menu for the bakery.
HaleLife Bakery currently has 3 locations – 2 in the Tampa area (North and South areas of Tampa) and their newest location in St. Pete, which is North of the downtown of St. Pete. They used to have a location downtown St. Pete by the Pier which is where I went last year, which is now closed. But some good news to share as they are opening a new downtown St. Pete location more details below.
I’m so excited to have checked out their new location at St. Pete as it is more than just a bakery it’s also a Bistro where they serve healthy breakfast, lunch and even dinner with mocktails, beer, wine and drinks as well as speciality coffee and tea during the day. I love their new Bistro concept for this location adding more variety and options for their customers.
They did an amazing work with the interior of this bistro bakery as it is stunning and elegant with the modern look with the tropical nature atmosphere as they had plants inside and it felt cozy and warm at the same time. I loved it!! It is spacious with lots of tables and even high top tables as well and a section with cozy couch area and an outside patio to enjoy your delicious baked goods and savoury foods too.
HalfeLife Bakery & Bistro is a gluten-free, vegan and allergy friendly bakery that offers a variety of safe allergy friendly foods & of course baked goods from sandwiches, pizza, tacos, fried donut holes, cupcakes, donuts, pancakes and more. I love the variety and options to choose from and so when I was there it was hard to decide what to eat as everything looked so good.
I ended up getting their personal size Beyond Basic pizza with vegan pepperoni, vegan mozzarella and basil, which was simple delicious and the perfect size for lunch. I also got their Strawberry Cheesecake donut and their new fried donut holes pack of 6 of the Strawberry Lemon flavour with their cream cheese dipping sauce on the side. I am so in love with their fried donut holes, it was delicious I loved the strawberry drizzle on top and it was a good size and soft texture inside and the perfect bite. Highly recommend their fried donuts holes!! I can eat more than 6 lol 😂
It was so worth the trip to their new Bistro bakery North of St. Pete even though it wasn’t as easy to get to and not transit friendly but there was a bus that you can take to get there from downtown St. Pete. If you are driving it would be easier to get to. I took the local bus but it was definitely worth it as I simple love their baked goods and savoury bistro foods.
New 2nd Bistro Location at Downtown St. Pete
I’m so excited to share their good and exciting news is that they just opened a 2nd bistro location downtown South of St. Pete in the Warehouse Arts District, which is close to the Tropicana Field and in the area of St. Pete Pier. Their Grand Opening was on August 3, 2024. Yay!!! If you missed out on their Grand Opening day, they will be fully open with limited hours Monday – Sunday, please check their Instagram account for full details. This would definitely make it easier for me to check out their 2nd bistro location when I’m there next year as I always visit the downtown area and maybe this time planning to stay downtown instead of the beach area to be closer to restaurants and shops. I can’t wait to check out their 2nd bistro location and will definitely be sharing it with you guys.
For more exciting news, they even have plans opening a bistro location in the Tampa Bay area in 2025. That’s great news to hear they are expanding!! So for those living in Tampa Bay and don’t want to come all the way to St. Pete (but worth the trip to me), they will have a bistro location soon enough in Tampa.
If you are planning to travel to Tampa & St. Petersburg, Florida or my Tampa readers, for those who haven’t checked out HaleLife Bakery & Bistro, I highly recommend you visit the best gluten-free, vegan and allergy friendly bakery and bistro in Tampa and St. Pete. You will definitely won’t be disappointed!! You are missing out if you haven’t stopped by their bakery yet as they are not just an ordinary vegan bakery as they offer more than a typical vegan bakery with their bistro food selection of sandwiches, pizza and cocktails along with their dairy free and vegan baked goods, it’s a safe place to be with those living with dietary restrictions to enjoy and hang out. Their baked goods and bistro food are excellent quality type of foods that I enjoy and will keep returning.
Stay Connected With Me
Hope everyone enjoys the last official month of summer in August with our humidity and rainy days as soon enough Fall is here and maybe those who loves Fall better with cooler weather not as humid is looking forward to it. I love both summer and Fall as I love all things apple flavour desserts when it’s Fall time so usually you see a lot of apple desserts on my Instagram lol 😂🍎
Don’t forget to continue to follow me for my blog updates, my travel adventures, my summer adventures, my foodie desserts cravings and my Food Network tweets on my social media networks,
Twitter @TheSweetFoodie3 | Instagram @thesweetfoodie3
Stay tuned later this month or beginning of September for my late summer post as you don’t want to miss out on my new fave frozen dessert spot in Toronto this time for my Toronto readers. You can enjoy this delicious frozen dessert any time not just in the summer perfect also for the Fall weather.
Until then stay cool and sweet…🍩🧁🍨🌤️💧
💜 The Sweet Dairy Free Foodie
(That’s me at HaleLife Bakery & Bistro)
Info on HaleLife Bakery & Bistro
Website – HaleLife Bakery & Bistro – www.halelifebakery.com
Their menu is also on their website if you are interested to see what they offer.
Bistro Locations
North St Pete (1st Bistro one I went to) – Address: 11270 4th St N, St. Petersburg, FL 33716
Warehouse Arts District/Downtown St Pete Area (2nd Bistro) – Address: 2462 5th Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33712
For their Hours please check their website in case they change from time to time.
For the other Tampa locations, please check their website.
Social Media Networks
Please follow their Social Media Networks for their latest baked goods and location updates,
They have 2 Instagram accounts one for their bakery and one for the bistro:
Instagram @halelifebakery & @halelifebistro | Facebook @HaleLife Bakery
The Sweet Dairy Free Foodie Cravings 