At a barbeque recently, someone brought dessert to the party in a familiar yellow box and I immediately wondered why they’d reuse a pastry box from another city. Because the Japanese chain Beard Papa’s had many locations all around the world – but not in Toronto. UNTIL NOW. There’s always been a fascination with Beard Papa for me. During a visit to San Francisco years ago, it happened to be the first thing I would eat after 15 hours of travel. I ordered two (vanilla and matcha) with a large cup of Earl Grey tea and got down to business. At that point, I had gone past hungry to being not-hungry, so I slowly enjoyed my first meal of the day sitting on a cool metal chair in the breezy coastal air. It was quite lovely. So with some too much giddiness, I discovered that Beard Papa had opened a location in Pacific Mall. Serendipitously for me, I already had plans to visit this Markham mall the very next day. Didn’t take much to locate their shop on the 2nd floor in the North food court and notice the small crowd along its perimeter. A crowd that had greatly increased by the time I had my very own box of cream puffs in vanilla, matcha, and banana. I took-off with my haul and a mental triumphant “squee!”. Vanillia is a classic and my favourite. Creamy and not very heavy – it’s perfect. Green Tea is a close second with the faint bitterness of matcha (which I like) on the tongue. The banana I tried had a very fresh banana taste, but I would get the vanilla over the banana any day. While I know this isn’t the pinnacle of cream puff-ery, I enjoy eating these not-too-sweet treats nonetheless. Light and airy, this is a lovely afternoon (or after breakfast, or after dinner…) snack.
My favourite: Vanilla.
Coincidentally (RFD must have known about my love of Beard Papa… and that I’d post today!), today’s (Oct. 20, 2010) Deal Of The Day over at Redflagdeals.com is $10 for a box of 2 vanilla, 2 green tea, and 2 “feature flavour” puffs, as well as 2 cheese cakes and 2 fondue chocolate cakes. I’ve already snagged my coupons!
- Beard Papa’s, 2nd floor, Pacific Mall, 4300 Steeles Ave East, Markham
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More Beard Papa’s
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October 20, 2010 at 11:31 am
brilliant….I’m all over this.
October 27, 2010 at 2:25 am
awesome! I had my first beard papa cream puff a few months ago in Vancouver. I’m surprised T.O only got it now. Hope Mazazu Crepe opens up here as well =)
October 28, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Oh my…these look absolutely wicked! I will be in north Markham on Monday and may just have to drop by PM on the way home!
October 31, 2010 at 6:37 pm
I used to eat Beard Papa while in NYC. Excited that we now have an outlet closer to Toronto.
November 7, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Exploded Daniel Oh, as was I! Though.. haven’t made it back yet….
MochaNutz I haven’t heard of Mazazu Crepe, but I Have had something like it in Osaka. That whole crèpe-cone thing is quite popular there. It’d be interesting to bring that here!
Gary Grant I am both lucky and unfortunate that PM is so far away… I haven’t decided which yet.
@Tonya yeah, it’s really accessible now. Don’t have to go to the West coast or cross the border anymore!
December 7, 2010 at 12:29 am
Gasp! How could I have missed this place when I was at Pac mall the other day? I will make sure that does not happen again!
Thanks for the review and pics!