40-year-old bakery opening first downtown Toronto location
A bakery founded in Vancouver that's been a hit for 40 years is about to open its first-ever location in downtown Toronto.
When it comes to Hong Kong-style bakeries in Canada, few measure up — both in terms of quality and notability — to Vancouver-based chain, Saint Germain Bakery.
Founded in B.C. in 1986, the bakery specializes in its own unique take on Hong Kong-style baked goods, crafted by a team of pastry chefs from France, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia, whose influences have all steeped into the offerings at Saint Germain.
Ostensibly, this approach absolutely worked, with the bakery going on to win a number of awards, including gold medals at the Culinary Olympics in 2004 and 2008 and gold and silver awards from Lindt Chocolate in 2001 and 2002.
The chain opened its first-ever location in the GTA back in 2019 with a location in Markham, and has since gone on to open a number of locations in Richmond Hill, Newmarket and Mississauga, as well as Toronto locations in Scarborough and at Fairview Mall.
In the 6 years since Saint Germain first made landfall on Ontario, though, downtown Toronto has been left out of the equation. Until this month, that is.
The bakery recently took to their Instagram account to announce they'd soon be moving in to the Eaton Centre, joining the ranks of other new kids on the block like %Arabica, Craig's Cookies and, soon, Eataly.
While an official opening date has yet to be announced, the Instagram post did state that the new location would be coming in March, so the wait can't be much longer.
You can expect to sink your teeth into everything from traditional Hong Kong baked goods like Moon Cakes and Pineapple Buns, to French options like Almond Croissants and their own distinct offerings, from too-pretty-to-eat slices of cake to activated charcoal buns.
Saint Germain Bakery currently operates 15 locations across Ontario and B.C. Their Eaton Centre location will be situated in the north end of the mall near the Dundas Station subway entrance.
