New Richmond pop-up puts shokupan cubes on the menu

Loaf & Co. will launch Sept. 12 at Origo Club, 6888 River Rd. #110, as a Saturday pop-up serving stuffed and topped Japanese milk-bread, or shokupan, cubes. The pop-up will operate from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Saturday through the end of the year.

Chef Dan Leung, formerly of The Rise Eatery in South Granville, trained at Dubrulle Culinary Arts, ran Danz Gourmet Personal Chef & Catering Services and managed food-service operations for The Salvation Army after the pandemic. He developed the idea after a baking-focused trip to Italy and later watching a YouTube program about Japanese breads.

Leung describes shokupan as a soft, lightly rich bread with a pillowy texture that can carry many flavours and textures. The cubes are intended either as a substantial meal for one person or to share among two or three people with coffee or tea.

The opening menu includes Uni Pasta, a return to The Rise's Uni-Versal Pasta. It places sea urchin pasta inside a charcoal shokupan cube and tops it with X.O. sauce prawns, egg yolk and tobiko.

Leung said the premium concept encompasses baking and cooking techniques, menu design, ingredient quality and service, not only luxury ingredients. The three-month gallery and event-space pop-up gives him room to test dishes, reconnect with former guests and introduce rotating flavours and possible collaborations.

Loaf & Co. is partnering with local barista Sabrina Che, who will use Grumpy Bunny Coffee beans. Pre-orders will be accepted through Instagram direct messages, where the business will also post menu details and launch updates.