Bakery Sate

My first 5 star review belongs to this exceptional bakery. We tried 5 different delicacies and the total was under $ 20. Well crafted and made lovingly. The owner was in the back making the pastries himself and it shows.

Stumbled unexpectedly upon this place after dinner with friends, thank you Unilocal!
We ordered the Matcha Black Sesame, Salted Caramel and the Lavender Raspberry Chocolate cake, each cake for $ 4.95. Quite delicious, even though the chocolate in the cakes was a tad overpowering. But fortunately, the chocolate itself was the good kind of chocolate, just the right amount of sweetness and richness.

Add 1 star if you need gluten free dessert as many of their items are indicated as «GF».
We tried three cakes:
–Matcha Black Sesame ($ 4.95) GF dacquoise, GF chiffon, black sesame moussline, matcha white chocolate parfait
–Lavender Milk Chocolate Raspberry ($ 4.95) GF chocolate sponge, lavender milk chocolate mousse, raspberry mousse
–Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel ($ 4.95) GF chocolate sponge, milk chocolate mousse, salted caramel mousse
The mousse flavour is really properly tasted only if you isolate the mousse from the rest of the cake. Otherwise, one flavour tends to predominate, especially for the chocolate-​coated ones.
Still, prices are fairly good for tasty pieces, and you get «gluten free» as a bonus. Those who are very sensitive should nevertheless read the Food Allergy Warning on the counter. They do not have a separate gluten-​free kitchen area, so they do not guarantee there is no cross-​contamination.
Depending on what you get, the slice seems to be slightly smaller than par, but not by much.

Love this place. I go here at least 2 – 3 times a week. They have THE BEST americano ever in life — its almost a treat for me because it sorta tastes like chocolate –they use organic JJ bean coffee (I don’t like JJ Bean americanos from JJ Bean — so it must be how these guys make them at Bakery Sate). I also really like their gluten-​free options (brownies and sparkle cookies). When I want to treat myself I get a coconut croissant, which in essence is very much like a Chinese coconut bun (same filling). Friendly staff. My only complaint is that they aren’t open Mondays — which is when I really need my americano fix at about 8:55am (before work at 9am).

I discovered Bakery Sate by mistake on a walk with my kids, checked Unilocal and saw it had a great listing. Of course, I needed to check it out. Unilocal mentioned that the earl grey tea cream puff and matcha black sesame cake were standouts so I ordered those. I also ordered a plain croissant, a chocolate salted caramel cake and the New York style cheesecake.
The interior is small but clean and simple, with large windows facing the street so you can have a latte and croissant while enjoying the view outside.
The bakery offers a large variety of croissants (apple, almond, chocolate, etc.) and a few select breads (homestyle, mini baguette). There are also some gluten-​free choices.
The earl grey tea cream puff was a good size, and I enjoyed it. The filling was more of a custard than cream, but it was well flavoured. I particularly enjoyed the choux pastry which had a sort of crunchy sugary finish to it.
The matcha black sesame cake is layered: Sponge cake, thin layer of black sesame filling, another layer of sponge cake, and then a generous layer of matcha green tea mousse. I thought the flavours were good, and I liked the cake.
The croissant was good. I think it would be good as a dipper alongside a latte.
The chocolate salted caramel cake was also delicious, with a light chocolate ganache and layers of dark chocolate sponge cake and salted caramel mousse.
I was in particular impressed with the cheesecake because they used the quenelle technique with whipped cream. I’m not sure why, but that just tickled me pink they did that.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed my desserts (and full disclosure, I was a huge pig and had half of each dessert in one sitting), and would probably pick up a few of these again.
I’m most definitely coming back one of these mornings to enjoy a latte and croissant while sitting by the window and seeing the world pass by.

Super awesome place — delicious croissants, perfect lattes, and friendly, gentle staff. The clientele is also cool, friendly and my little guy loves the huge bakery ‘tv’ (window to kitchen). Bakery Sate has us hooked as regulars.

Heavenly! Wow, I just sampled several items and I’m in heaven! I heard a lot about this place but I’m rarely in this area so I ordered a bunch of items to go.
I came home and my daughter got to it before I had a chance to tell her to heat it up since it was such a cold day. She said it tasted great without heating/​toasting; she was right! All the croissants were well made, tasty and perfectly flaky. Each had a great flavor, the matcha croissant had a nice green tea flavor; double baked almond, hazelnut, and cheese were all very good. Puffs were nicely done and delicious. Caneles were awesome; and lastly but not least, the nutella banana croissant square was yummy (nice, different texture from the croissants)! I’ll have to go out of my way to frequent this cute bakery. I just love the owner’s story of going to France to pursue his passion; you can taste the love put into everything.

Excellent pastries and good coffee, a selection of gluten free items and a window so you can peek into the kitchen and see the heavenly desserts being prepared.
Really kind staff who are happy to answer any questions and a small seating area.

I stopped by to get the matcha croissant on a Friday afternoon… luckily there was one left! The texture was flaky, is pale green in colour (on the inside), and has a light matcha taste.
With so many temping goodies, I also purchased a variety of other items (chocolate cookie, hazelnut croissant, bacon pretzel croissant, london fog cream puff, and the matcha black sesame cake — yes, it was one of those days).
Hazelnut croissant — regular croissant with a hazelnut filling. Like a nut paste, only slightly sweet with good nutty crunch texture.
Pretzel bacon — pretzel like skin on the outside but definitely a croissant on the inside with pieces of bacon in the centre which gave it a nice smoky flavor.
London fog cream puff — strong earl grey flavor but was too sweet for me. The matcha black sesame cake was just ok.
Overall, I would come back again for the cookies and croissants — the matcha one was definitely unique.

Nice staff and delicious crossants & earl grey lattes. =) what’s not to love?

CROISSANT HEAVEN!
I’ve never seen so many different flavors of croissant in my life before! Plain, almond, double baked almond, MATCHA, bacon, coconut, etc. Ahhhhh! They’re all delicious! The cheese scone is not bad either cuz it’s not dry. They have coffee, tea and matcha latte. Yes!
Closed Sundays.

After reading the very positive reviews here we gave this place a try.
We tried the plain and the matcha croissants, as well as a corn meal muffin. All were good but not great. Our two cappuccinos were also good but nothing special.
For us, overall this was a 3.5 star experience. Good but we don’t plan to return.

On our visit to Vancouver, we stopped by this place twice in one day. It’s a very cute bakery, and their coffee was delicious. We had a plain croissant, hazelnut croissant, cream puff, chocolate lava muffin, and something else that we can’t remember the name of but it had a few layers with strawberry, white chocolate, and meringue. Everything was very good and the best part was the little window into the kitchen where you can see the chefs making everything. They really seem to put a lot of care into what they put into the glass shelves.

I was expecting more but it’s okay.
I’d say it’s pricey cause I bought matcha crossant and ice coffee and payed $ 8 normally I could get it for 5… but whatever.
It also quite far so I don’t think I’ll go there again… :(

I was so glad to have been able to try their caneles last weekend!
I tried all three flavors — matcha, rum, and orange. The orange flavor was very light, but the matcha flavor was very bold and bitter (in a good way). I liked them all. Deliciously crispy exterior, and custardy interior. Yum.
I also tried their giant raspberry lychee macaron. The lychee cream was a little bland and I wish there were more of it, but overall it was a nice treat.

I finally made it out to try this trendy little café around Commercial Drive after hearing all these good things about their Matcha Black Sesame Cake for some time now. The first thing that caught my attention walking into the shop was their beautiful display of goodies from viennoiserie to pastries, to cakes. Despite how delicious everything was described, I knew what I came for. For this visit, my friend and I shared the Chestnut Cream Puff, Orange Earl Grey Loaf, and the highly talked Matcha Black Sesame Cake.
On to the reason of my visit — the Matcha Black Sesame Cake. The consistency of the green tea white chocolate mousse was smooth and complimented the sponge cake well. However, the flavours were not as bold as anticipated. It had the sweetness of a cake but just a tad too sweet as it masked the matcha flavours of the mousse. The black sesame layer looked its part but it wasn’t very aromatic or flavourful either. What had look liked dark chocolate accents on top of the cake unfortunately didn’t taste very much like chocolate either. As you can already tell, I was sad that the cake didn’t live up to my expectations and I’m hoping this is just a one off kinda deal.
I didn’t get to try the Chestnut Cream Puff but it looked cute in size! The highlight ended up being the Orange Earl Grey Loaf. The texture was good, it was light, moist, and sweet like marmalade. I’d say the best one of the three!
Overall, I was slightly disappointed cause nothing was really outstanding but I think I’ll come back to try the traditional croissant or another loaf next time I’m around.

My friend came along and picked me up for our regular Saturday afternoon coffee meeting. She’s always picking my mind on where to go, and since it was freezing cold on this day she did not want to go too far from where I was. Sometimes the trusty app just helps when you run out of ideas, and this one was a five alarm fire and not too far away, coffee it is… here!
This place is on the non-​busy portion of Commercial Drive, where the only things that are busy are the Chongqing restaurant and the tire shop across the street. Parking is abundant around here, you just have to find it which really shouldn’t be hard. It’s a nice welcome place to walk into, with a very welcoming show of their housemade pastries staring at you. and tempting you to come ‘eat me’. On this day when we walked in, the owner greeted us while we were staring at each piece. When we told her this was our first time, she asked, «how did you hear about us?», I quickly explained that I saw this place on Unilocal and had to see for myself what was cooking up.
Many of the items here have a ‘GF’ right beside the name (gluten free for all of you that care about this), and we ended up trying two items: Strawberry Fraiser and a Green Matcha Canele. We ordered two coffees, and I asked what beans they are using: JJ Bean. On this afternoon, everyone who was in here was bundled up and sitting at a table. After receiving our orders, and waiting for our coffee, I sat down to look around the place, and there is an open window where you can see the ‘creating’ going on. From my chat with the owner I found out that the two bakers they have (one from the website who is also the owner) are graduates from the PICA baking program.
We started picking away at the Strawberry Fraiser, it was very tasty, a little too sweet for my taste buds, but it was a good mixture of flavours for your taste buds. The star on this day was the Canele, I’m not the biggest fan… probably having a few mediocre ones during my time, so when I saw my friend go chomping at the bit with her fork on this thing, I could see the inside was moist, even without trying it. I decided to dabble into this pastry, and enjoyed it, as it had a good Asian sweet (not too sweet, just right).
While we were sitting, we ended up speaking to the table next to us, close proximity and curiousity with what we ordered does that… and near the end of our stay we were offered a sample of their housemade brownie bites, very soft, and not excessively sweet. I saw a person order a sandwich, and I just enjoyed the bright light coming through the huge floor to ceiling windows.
When we were leaving, the head chef even waved at us through his kitchen, I consider that a nice touch… and I have to give them full credit, as they have been open for 4 months, and have that energy and spunk that make you feel welcome. I hope by next time they decide to try a sour dough loaf, as I would like to see how they would compare, but maybe next time any of you are around here you may want to give this place a shot.

Hot and New! Matcha Black Sesame Cake! That’s all I needed to convince me to come here as I searched Unilocal for a nearby café after my brunch.
This new café is pleasing and welcoming to the senses with its big window to its bakery, airy paint and wooden tables with rustic décor.
I had to get the Matcha Black Sesame Cake (gluten-​free) after reading about it in the Unilocal reviews. The Matcha mouse was super light and soft but dense enough to give it substance and it’s flavor was smooth and rich with green tea. The black sesame part of the cake was powerful in its flavor but mixed with the matcha the balance of flavors was delicious!
I adore London Fog/​Earl Grey! So when I saw that there was a London Fog Cream Puff I squealed with joy! The squeals were justified and echoed as I took a bite of the cream puff and the filling tried to escape everywhere. The pastry was soft and not dry with a sweet, crust on the top of the cream puff. The London fog filling was creamy and decadent in the flavors of earl grey tea. It was the perfect bite of pastry and London fog goodness.
To tie all these sweets together, the Matcha Latté was super smooth and the matcha flavor was very prevalent. It was smooth to the last drop, no bitterness or pieces of matcha at the bottom of my cup.
You’ll find it easy to get here with plenty of free street parking. The washroom is very clean and new. There are gluten-​free (GF) options available too! As I chatted with my friend, the café was always buzzing with new customers and the service was quick.
Overall, a very delicious and new café to enjoy some special delights in your day.

New pastry addiction on the drive. Did this place just open up? I’ve never seen this place before. I am on the Drive all the time, however, not really in the direction heading to Trout Lake. Now I have a reason to venture the opposite way from the skytrain. I saw a previous review posted on September 19^th by another Unilocal member which appeared on the front page. I book marked it. I am gluten free and there are a lot of GF options for me here, as well as a good place to get a decaff skinny vanilla latte (they don’t call it a «skinny», however, you know what I mean).
I walked in and had a strawberry delight cake. If this didn’t say gluten free, no one would know… it was that good. My intention was to sit and savor this, however, it was gone within literally 1 minute… it was that good.
Small slice is $ 5, however, this is a well crafted cake.
customer service was awesome and they appreciated my enthusiasm.

So I had some time before work, and decided to try this little gem, as I’ve seen pictures of all the goodies at this bakery on Instagram and Unilocal.
I’m so glad I dropped by.
I ordered the matcha white-​chocolate black sesame gluten-​free cake and a match latte to sit in and enjoy. The cake was absolutely delicious. The matcha layer had a creaminess, almost a consistency of ice cream. Rich in green tea flavour, that telltale bitter matcha was well balanced by the sweetness of the black sesame and white chocolate. As for the gluten free cake? If they didn’t tell me the cake was gluten free, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.
The matcha latte was good.
I found that the staff was friendly and attentive when I walked in, and patient as I decided what I wanted to order.
Atmosphere was nice. Clean, white, space with nice amount of tables.
I would totally come back. Especially since it’s so close by.