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By Kaori Fujishima

One block west from King and Bathurst, you’ll find WAGAMAMA Pastries & Cafe. WAGAMAMA, which in Japanese means selfish, opened in 2000 and has been a local favourite for all that time.

Before opening the cafe, owner Miwa Yamada went from one cafe to another all over Japan sampling various kinds of food. It was there she found her dream of owning her own cafe in Toronto.

“There are many cafes in Japan where customers stay with relaxing and communicate with cafe staff members. I wanted to open a cafe like that,” Yamada said in an interview.

Regular customers account for 80 per cent of all her customers. Some come to WAGAMAMA two or three times a day. People working around WAGAMAMA come in on weekdays and WAGAMAMA’s neighbors come into the shop on weekends. WAGAMAMA has staple menu items  including a soup. One time Yamada put more leek into the soup and customer noticed it right away. WAGAMAMA has many customers who really love it. In this way, the quality of WAGAMAMA’s taste has been kept for a long time.

This year, the cafe is also offering a Holiday Catering Menu.

Wagamama’s Holiday Catering Menu

Their recommended specialty is Holiday Assortment composed of four different kinds: Gingerbread, Sugar Cookies, Coconut Macaroons, and Chocolate Swirl. If you try them with their crispy and slightly sweet taste, you won’t be able to stop eating cookies. Gingerbread cookies are commonly found during the holiday season, and contain ginger powder and cinnamon. WAGAMAMA’s is softer than usual kind, so people like it.

WAGAMAMA also started to sell gluten-free products, cookies and muffins from this year. So it is a great pleasure for a person with food allergies.

We recommend Bûche de Noël. Strawberries, raspberries, and cranberries put on Bûche de Noël decorated Christmas holly will make you feel Christmassy.

A taste of WAGAMAMA’s cake is close to that of Japanese ones. Yamada adopted chiffon cake as a sponge part, and use a lot of fruits. Cream is made from scratch with half amount of sugar. Especially a strawberry sponge cake called “Shortcake” in Japan is used 100 % whipped cream and no butter cream. Japanese must be happy to hear that.

Bread & Butter Pudding is served with toffee sauce. Moist bread is entwined in this sauce. It’s very tasty and delicious.

There is Chocolate Creme Brulee other than Vanilla one. Chocolate one created by Yamada is made of Extra Bittersweet chocolate made by Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut. Therefore, it is light on the sweetness, retaining the original flavor and rich taste of chocolate. This is awesome.

If you have WAGAMAMA’s holiday sweets, you will spend more great time with them. But we’d like you to be careful about one thing. Holiday Cakes, Bûche de Noël, Dessert Trays need to be made a reservation. For a cake on Christmas Eve, you should make a reservation by 5 p.m., December 22th.

If you don’t decide your Christmas desserts yet, please visit WAGAMAMA, taste their food, and feel their homey atmosphere.

“I have met a lot of people coming to WAGAMAMA, and made friends. It’s rewarding,” Yamada is proud of her cafe. Connections with people tend to be lost in a big city such as Toronto, but you can make them strong at WAGAMAMA.

-WAGAMAMA Pastries & Cafe-
Website: http://www.wagamamapastries.com/
Here is the menu: Wagamama Holiday Menu
Address: 766 King W, Toronto, ON M5V 1N6
Tel: 416-603-0369
Email: info@wagamamapastries.com

-Holiday Hours-
December 24th               7:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
December 25th – 26th   CLOSED
December 31th               7:30 a.m. – 16:00 p.m.
January 1st                     CLOSED