Calmo Cafe & Wine Bar is a shoo-in to become the new must-visit spot on Toronto's stylish Dundas West strip.

One glance at Calmo, which has been quietly inching towards a full opening since its soft opening began in late August 2026, and it would be easy to assume the cafe-by-day, soon-to-be (liquor license pending) wine bar-by-night, would be all style over substance.

It is supremely stylish, after all. Marked in shades of baby blue and rust, it's the sort of place where you walk in and immediately feel like you're about to pay $20 for a latte. More importantly, though, it's the sort of place where you'd want to pay $20 for a latte.

Not that you'd have to, though. Calmo's prices are pretty standard for the area (a latte goes for $5.50), especially considering the quality. All the cafe's coffee-based beverages are made using beans from Montreal's Traffic Coffee Co., which are blended with top-of-the-line and often house-made ingredients.

So, with that considered, shelling out a steeper-than-Tim Hortons fee to sip a coffee in the breezy, colourful, mid-century modern space that is Calmo, hopefully with a friend who has a tact for capturing perfectly effortless candids of you, feels nominal. 

But, let's be real: the coffee and the interiors are both secondary to the cafe's real draw.

At Calmo, it's all about the desserts. Handmade in-house, the cafe's fridge and display case are stocked with colourful, meticulous confections which run the gamut from hefty scones filled with generous smears of peanut butter and jelly to light-as-air seasonal pies.

When the cafe launches its night-time wine bar offerings, owner and co-founder Jin Paik tells blogTO that Calmo will be the city's first dessert-forward wine bar, although savoury shareables may sneak their way onto the menu at some point, too.

For now, though, they're prime to be devoured alongside a coffee- or tea-based drink, or, if you're feeling adventurous, one of their signature sips, like the refreshing and surprisingly sweet Tomato Basil-ade ($8).

What you see in the cafe's picture-perfect pastry case isn't necessarily what you get, in the best possible way.

Options like the vegan carrot cake ($10) are baked in loaf form and, upon being ordered, sliced and topped with a pillowy squiggle of dairy-free whipped cream.

And if picture-perfect is what you're in the market for, it doesn't get much more so than the raspberry pie ($13), which has quickly become the cafe's calling card.

Baroque dollops of raspberry cream fill a buttery crust and are topped, to order, with tart, fresh raspberries and sprigs of rosemary that give it an unexpected, though not unwelcome, savoury side.

For people who prefer their pies on the mouth-puckering side, the key lime pie ($12) is a welcome addition — and one that's exceedingly rare to find on menus in the city.

A few menu items will switch up seasonally, and, upon my visit, the slice du jour was perhaps the best pumpkin pie ($12) I've ever had the pleasure of trying. With a filling that's light as air and spiced to perfection, I'd have a hard time convincing myself not to eat it for breakfast (and every meal thereafter) if I found it among my Thanksgiving dinner leftovers.

For a more substantial option that one could feasibly justify as a meal, the PB&J scone ($6).

Despite its looks, this decadent treat doesn't actually leave your mouth feeling like you just ate a bucket of papier-mâché, thanks to the scone's surprisingly supple and refreshingly moist texture. It may put you into a food coma after you finish it, but your dreams will be oh-so-sweet.

Calmo is located at 1227 Dundas St. W.