Espresso
Pulled short and correctly. The reason to walk past three other cafés.
Coffee · Bloor West Village
Baka Gallery Cafe
Bloor West Village’s coffee bar, and the best cup between High Park and the Humber
CoffeeBloor West Village, Toronto$Details being confirmed
The review
Bloor West Village has never been short of places to buy coffee and has been short of places to buy good coffee for most of its existence. Baka fixed that quietly, and the queue out the door on a Saturday morning is the neighbourhood agreeing.
Espresso is pulled short and tastes like someone is watching. The flat white is the tell — milk stretched rather than scalded, which sounds like a low bar until you have worked your way along this stretch of Bloor. The honey cake is layered, restrained, and exactly right beside a short black.
Honest notes: it is small, the seats go early at the weekend, and it shuts by early evening. The food menu is short on purpose. This is a coffee bar that happens to feed you, not the other way round.
What to order
Flat White
Milk stretched properly, not scalded. Consistently the best in the Village.
Honey Cake
Medovik, layered and not too sweet. Order it with the espresso.
What works
- Genuinely serious coffee in a stretch that mostly is not
- Staff know the regulars and are patient with everyone else
- Pastry is made rather than bought in
What doesn’t
- Small — seats go early on a weekend morning
- Closes by early evening
- Food menu is deliberately short
Verdict
The best cup in Bloor West Village. Espresso, honey cake, and go before ten on a Saturday.