Cafe Joie

freshly baked pastries, hot chocolate, and sweet + savoury crepes. do I need to say much more?

Location: 1610 Cook Street

Monday - Tuesday: 9am-5pm

Wednesday - Sunday: 9am-8pm

On a Sunday morning in the middle of January, me and my mom drove to Cook Street in North Park to the french casual Cafe Joie after reading a rave review in Victoria's EAT magazine.

Atmosphere + Service

The brick exterior and outdoor patio was very welcoming, and set the cafe apart from the numerous other shops on the street. The atmosphere inside was no less welcoming, with subtle calming instrumental music, natural lighting, and families and teenagers sitting near the windows eating delicious-looking crepes and sipping coffee. As soon as we walked in, the owner, Laurent, had a huge smile on his face and came over to say hi. "Long time no see!"

he said to my mom, who then laughed (she had been in the other day), and immediately introduced himself to me (and in a french accent !!!!) , and told us that whenever we were ready to order to just tell him. There was no long line, and once we ordered we could sit wherever.

(yes that is a tiramisu crepe on the menu!)

Flexibility:

As I couldn't see any dairy or gluten free and vegan options, I asked the Laurent if there were any options for dietary restrictions, and he said that if a customer calls ahead of time and makes the cafe aware of any allergies that it is possible to make arrangements. But if a customer doesn't call ahead, unfortunately there aren't any options available for them.

Affordability:

• decaf americano - $4

• strawberry + chocolate sweet crepe - $11.48

• portobello + spinach savoury crepe - $11.48

• grab + go pastries - $4.50

Wait Time, Food Presentation, + Food Quality:

I ordered the strawberry and chocolate sweet crepe and water, and my mom ordered the savoury portobello mushroom spinach crepe and a decaf americano, and after about 10 minutes our food was at our table!

The food presentation was simple, but nice and aesthetic. The portions were big, so you were definitely getting your money's worth, and the taste was amazing! It was sweet but not too sweet, and it was packed full of strawberries and chocolate (which is a heavenly combination). The spinach and portobello crepe was so different, but it was also delicious! The crepe was a bit thicker than the sweet crepe, and also had a sauce on the inside.

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But you can't go to a french cafe and not grab some fresh, homemade pastries to go, especially if from your table you can see Laurent putting them in the oven.

croissants and chocolate pastries going into the oven!

They had an available selection of cinnamon buns, apple pastries, and apricot pastries, and I already knew I was getting a cinnamon bun, as apricot isn't something I would consider, until another customer told us:

“the apricot pastry tastes like sunshine!”

and how could I not get it after that?

cinnamon bun + apricot pastry

The cinnamon bun was delicious, with a gooey center and perfectly flaky outside, and the apricot pastry was to die for! It really did taste like sunshine.

Laurent said that there aren't a ton of teenagers who come into the cafe, but he would be absolutely ecstatic to have more teenagers as customers, and that they would be welcomed with open arms.

Bonus!

• wheelchair access!

• free wifi!

• free filtered water!

• reasonable hours!