iced matcha latte with oat milk and a chance to win a whisked away to japan? okay, avik, you have…read moremy attention.
stopped into avik a little after 3:00 pm on a tuesday, on my way to an appointment, and the place was packed. not exactly surprising given that this west broadway café has become known for its specialty coffee and tea, house made pastries, and all sorts of creative japanese inspired treats. it's a bright, modern space, and there's a lot going on once you start looking around.
i went with the iced matcha latte with oat milk, and it was a solid matcha. smooth, nicely balanced, and definitely enough to satisfy the afternoon matcha craving. avik describes its matcha as a high grade tea offering, alongside hojicha, chai and london fog, so tea clearly gets more than an obligatory spot on the menu.
then there's the pastry display. so. many. things.
the strawberry matcha cookie immediately caught my eye, but then there was a mochi black sesame croissant and i was basically standing there thinking, wait, what?! the menu leans into those japanese flavours in some really fun ways, and there are enough interesting combinations to make a return visit feel very necessary. the strawberry matcha cookie, for example, combines matcha, dried strawberries, white chocolate and cream cheese.
the ordering setup is also very much of the future is now variety. there's a huge tablet for self ordering, plus a sliding freezer case for chocolates and ice cream bars. because apparently a regular pastry case wasn't futuristic enough.
and then there was the little bonus dangling in front of me: the chance to win a trip to japan through the whisked away to japan promotion, courtesy of paragon. considering how much i've been thinking about japan lately, that felt like a particularly well timed bit of temptation.
i sure could use a trip to japan right about now.
between the matcha, the creative pastries, the japanese inspired flavours and the very modern ordering setup, avik is a fun stop when the usual coffee and croissant routine needs a little shaking up. even on a packed tuesday afternoon, there was plenty to catch the eye and plenty of reasons to start planning the next visit.