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Bernice Chan

Stephanie Wong believes it is destiny that explains why she ended up in Vancouver, Canada, opening a bakery cafe.
The Hong Kong-born chef, who used to have a restaurant called Roots, in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island, is now selling sourdough and viennoiserie such as crispy croissants, salted caramel canelés and matcha strawberry madeleines to eat with coffees and matcha lattes.
Named after Wong’s four-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Jack’s Spot in East Vancouver is a space with plenty of natural light.
“He very much enjoys my bread,” she explains.












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Wong moved from Hong Kong to the western Canadian city in 2023, taking with her Jack and her sourdough starter. He adapted very quickly to the change in scenery. She saw how much he enjoyed his time, and was inspired to see the world through his eyes.
“He takes joy in the day,” Wong says. “He takes joy in food. It’s just the little things that make him happy.”

Originally, Wong had no plans to move to Vancouver after she closed Roots in August 2022 – she just knew she wanted a breather after operating her vegetable-forward restaurant for four years.
“I didn’t even know if I would still continue [operating Roots], I was really half and half about it,” she says of her decision. “I mean, it was just that [Covid-19] period in Hong Kong was just a lot of exhaustion, so I really questioned whether it was a sustainable lifestyle. So I was just taking a break.”

After the Covid-19 pandemic, Wong – like many around the world – did some revenge travelling, heading to places such as San Francisco in the United States and Toronto in Canada to visit relatives, and then Europe, where she sampled cafes and pastry shops.
By this time her parents had moved from Hong Kong to Vancouver, and Wong followed, not sure if she would settle down long term.
In the meantime, the sourdough starter she had taken with her was still going, and so she began making bread for her parents and relatives.

“The climate [in Canada] is good for it. It seems to work out, and I think Vancouver people really like cafes and sweets and bread and stuff.”
Still, Wong says she was initially unsure about continuing in the hospitality industry. Eventually, her mindset shifted.
“But there was no rhyme or reason. It was just like one day, maybe I had recharged enough,” she says.

The slower pace of Vancouver, coupled with its leisurely lifestyle, was also a change that Wong warmly embraced. It was a place where she “found joy in the everyday life”. The idea of opening a cafe developed organically, much like her trusty sourdough starter.
“Every time I wanted to go somewhere to pick up [baked goods], it wasn’t to my taste. And I’m already making this stuff at home,” she says, explaining that it helped that her cousins really enjoyed eating the things she made.
Eventually, she thought about turning her baking into a business. “I just want to make things I want to eat,” she says. “That’s really the same sentiment [as I had at] Roots, and I guess it never died down,” she says with a laugh.

When it came to finding a location to open Jack’s Spot, Wong says it was the space that found her. After looking at numerous places she was willing to renovate into a bakery and cafe space, in the end she succeeded in leasing a former bakery that had practically all the equipment she needed.
Wong is getting better at managing her sourdough starter; in the week Jack’s Spot opened it snowed in Vancouver, which resulted in a batch of croissants that didn’t rise. She had to take to social media to apologise for the fact that none would be available.
“It seems like making bread is like a blank piece of paper, because it’s just flour, water, yeast and salt, four ingredients,” she says. “But every day, there’s a nuance to it.”

When it comes to wild yeast, for example, “You can’t say [to it] ‘You need to perform today.’ Sometimes, honestly, I think that the bread will be OK, and then it completely fails.”
She says the viennoiserie at Jack’s Spot are not complex; the twists are in their flavours.
Her canelés have the typical caramelised shell, but a salted caramel flavour that complements coffee well. Meanwhile, the matcha flavour of her madeleines balances the sweetness of their layer of white chocolate ganache.












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There have also been some happy accidents – a failed batch of croissant dough was not thrown away and instead turned into a crispy brioche filled with sambal, pesto and some bacon. The slightly spicy creation was a hit with customers.
For Wong, this is the main difference between running a restaurant and a bakery: with the former it is all about perfection all the time, whereas with making bread it is accepting the situation.
“There’s a lot of mistakes along the way, and you learn to roll with it. You dust yourself off and you carry on the next day making bread. Don’t carry the same sentiment into the new bread. It’s interesting,” she chuckles.
Jack’s Spot, 3615 Kingsway, Vancouver, Canada


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Chef Stephanie Wong presents her salted egg yolk tart served at Roots in Wan Chai. Photo: Dickson Lee

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Lifestyle

Food & Drink

When Stephanie Wong shut her Hong Kong restaurant she needed a breather. Now she is back in the kitchen, having opened a bakery in Vancouver


When Stephanie Wong shut her Hong Kong restaurant she needed a breather. Now she is back in the kitchen, having opened a bakery in Vancouver.


Canada

Asian diaspora

Hong Kong

Hong Kong chefs

Vancouver bakery opened by ex-Hong Kong restaurateur who couldn’t find pastries she liked

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}When Stephanie Wong shut her Hong Kong restaurant she needed a breather. Now she is back in the kitchen, having opened a bakery in Vancouver

When Stephanie Wong shut her Hong Kong restaurant she needed a breather. Now she is back in the kitchen, having opened a bakery in Vancouver