What’s on the menu at Cafe Belém, a new Portuguese café, bakery and bottle shop in Kensington Market

Name: Cafe Belém Contact: 546 College St., @cafebelem.to
Neighbourhood: Kensington Market
Owners: Carlos and William Oliveira Chef: William Oliveira Accessibility: Not fully accessible

Carlos Oliviera, co-owner of a new spot for Portuguese-inspired baked goods, wine and gifts at College and Euclid, immigrated to Toronto from Portugal in 1975. “When my parents arrived here, my grandparents—who came over the year prior—had settled in Kensington Market. I’ve had a connection to the area ever since,” says Carlos. He and his family eventually moved to Brampton but would visit the market every Saturday to pick up vegetables, fresh eggs, poultry and salt cod. “On the way back home, we’d stop at a Portuguese bakery on Ossington for custard tarts and sweet bread.”

When Carlos was 17, his parents decided to move the family back to Portugal. “Toronto just never felt like home to them,” he says. Almost a decade later, in 1999, after his son, William, was born, Carlos had the opposite feeling. “I was on a trip to New York, and I was standing on the top of the Empire State Building looking out to the skyline, and I thought, I want to go home.” For him, home was Canada.

Related: Alice Marie, a new Leslieville bakery and coffee shop with a cult following

Two years later, Carlos; his wife, Luisa; and William moved to Toronto. Carlos got a job as a waiter at Peri Peri, a Portuguese restaurant on Dupont. Within six months, he became the manager, and he worked there for the next 18 years. Then, in 2019, he and Luisa decided to venture out on their own and open a modern Portuguese restaurant, Mercado Negro (now just Mercado), with a focus on more traditional dishes like stewed chicken gizzard and morcela (Portuguese blood sausage).

Meanwhile, William, who had worked part time in the restaurant from day one, was rethinking his career path. “I was in university during the pandemic and had logged far too many hours in front of a computer screen. I thought, Do I really want to be isolated as a researcher for the rest of my life?” As it turned out, the answer was no.

Related: Full of Beans, a Little Portugal café with its own 115-year-old roaster

William had started baking during the pandemic, and the hobby soon became a serious passion. “Our kitchen became a lab for his breads,” says Carlos. In 2021, William moved to Portugal to study bread-making and pastry. “I had always been very fascinated with food and cooking. Baking seemed to be the perfect way for me to meld my passion for science and all things culinary. I became obsessed with exploring food and its transformation through fermentation,” he says.

When he returned to Toronto, he got a job at Noctua Bakery in the Junction, where he worked for two years. “I had been gently trying to convince William that he needed a place of his own where he could shine,” says Carlos. “By Christmas of 2023, he was ready to partner up.”

The Food

Classic Portuguese pastries are given a glow up as William applies a variety of global techniques to his recipes. For example, his take on Portuguese croissants—typically made from a brioche dough rolled in the shape of a croissant—lean toward a more traditional French version: the dough is rolled and lightly buttered before being shaped and glazed with port wine and lemon syrup. There’s a tosta mista on house-made milk bread, but also Italian-leaning focaccia sandwiches. “Portuguese cuisine in Toronto very much exists in a vacuum—it’s not an accurate reflection of present-day Portugal,” says William. “The food at Cafe Belém, I believe, is a lot closer to what you’d see there today.”

The Drinks

The café side of the enterprise offers the usual espresso-based beverages as well as a selection of Portuguese juices and Solly’s craft soda from Henderson Brewing Co. An on-site bottle shop focuses on Portuguese wines plus a few other favourites. “I don’t get tied down to a certain wine because it happens to be from one place or another. I drink it if I can afford it and if I like the taste,” says William, who is also the household’s unofficial sommelier.

The Space

The room is Carlos’s tribute to old-world Portugal—mosaic tiles, vintage clawfoot bistro tables, Bordallo Pinheiro ceramics, and copper pots and pans. The space feels quietly and elegantly rooted in European history, just like Carlos himself.