Light Cafe Canada is a cafe originating from Taiwan offering gourmet café food and drinks with a contemporary twist. I have been here on a few occasions, and have always liked the bright and open-concept space. The Baldwin location is their first outpost in North America, but they do have plans for expansion in the near future. I had the pleasure of being invited to a tasting late last year, and got to try a couple of new items on the menu.



The contemporary space itself is very Instagrammable with its bright background, clean white marble tables, and a backdrop of live plants sprouting from the walls. They do have several seats in the front (best lighting), and a bunch more tables in the back. It's a good place to dine for all sorts of occasions like casual lunch or dinner, date night, and catching up with friends.

The drinks menu includes espresso-based beverages (hot and iced), slow drip hand brew coffee, infused loose tea leaf, au lait, and several smoothies & Italian soda options. Since it was getting late, I didn't want coffee keeping me up as I had an early morning the next day. I ended up getting the Strawberry Smoothies ($6.25), which was a mountain high beverage.

From the salad options, I got the Smoked Duck Breast Salad ($11.95) - smoked duck breast, spring mix, orange slices, butter squash, cherry tomato, roasted cauliflower, and lettuce frisee. They have four salad dressing to choose from, which were yuzu, sesame, mustard, and house special dressing. The salad was a light starter, but there could have been a bit more slices of duck for the price.

Light Cafe pays very close attention to presentation, which I can truly appreciate. The Lobster Bisque ($9.25) was well presented on a wooden board - the soup was served in an individual sized saucepan alongside slices of garlic bread, and side salad. The lobster bisque was also available on its own for $6.25. The bisque has been tweaked to satiate the Asian palate, as it wasn't as salty or rich compared to French lobster bisque. but it remained fragrant.

My favorite menu item from Light Cafe has to be their  Lobster Roll ($15.50) - chopped lobster, crab meat & shrimp in a creamy dressing on two freshly baked soft roll. The overall composition of the lobster roll here was pretty good, as the meat to bun ratio was not disproportional. I really liked the buttery toasted bun. Overall, it was well-priced, tasty, and generously portioned.

JJ got the Montreal Smoked Beef Croissant ($12.75) - Montreal smoked beef, mozzarella cheese, beef tomato, lettuce, mayo, mustard and butter croissant as his main course. 

Crème Brûlée Three Ways ($9.75) - early grey, white chocolate, coffee

Overall, I had an enjoyable meal at Light Cafe, and do recommend the restaurant when one is looking for an affordable casual dining space. For the price point, it was a rather exemplary dining experience. I also liked that the management was open to criticism and feedback, and they do listen to what customers want/need.

Address: 23 Baldwin Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1L1

 Social Media:

Facebook || Instagram || Website

Disclaimer: The food provided in this post was complimentary. However, all of the opinions expressed in this review are of my own.