Introducing: Wind Up Bird, a new café, restaurant and community hub from the owner of Yakitori Bar in Baldwin Village
Name: Wind Up Bird Café (the name alludes to the Murakami novel) Neighbourhood: Harbord Village Contact Info: 382 College St., @WindUpBirdCafe Owners: Claudio Gaudio, Yumiko Kobayashi and Sang Kim, who also owns Yakitori Bar and Seoul Food Co., both in Baldwin Village Chef: Yumiko Kobayashi
The Place: A café, restaurant and community hub that hosts a raft of food-related programs for kids and adults (Comfort Food for the Broken Hearted, for instance, is a singles club for chefs, writers and musicians). The space is bright and cheery, with chartreuse booths and framed illustrations from popular kids’ books on the walls. There’s a small stage at the back for recitals, lectures and poetry readings.
The Food: Comfort dishes with some unconventional twists, like boeuf bourguignon with tongue instead of regular beef, and a sausage pot-au-feu with lotus root. During the day, Laptoppers can sip lattés and snack on house-baked muffins, pies and savoury snacks.
The Drinks: Signature cocktails include a kombucha cosmo with cointreau and lime, and the Beet It, a blend of ginger liqueur, beet juice and Johnny Walker Red.
The Numbers: • 120-year-old joists from an Annex house used to make the bar • 40 per cent of the patio will be converted into a children’s learning garden • 34 framed children’s book illustrations • 20 unique alternative programs that promote child food literacy, social environmental justice, culinary arts and literary arts • 4 menus: breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner • 3 restaurants opened by owner Sang Kim in the last year • 1 TEDx Talk given by Sang Kim this year
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Caroline Aksich, a National Magazine Award recipient, is an ex-Montrealer who writes about Toronto’s ever-evolving food scene, real estate and culture for Toronto Life, Fodor’s, Designlines, Canadian Business, Glory Media and Post City. Her work ranges from features on octopus-hunting in the Adriatic to celebrity profiles.
