Riley Park has plenty of coffee shops but not one that is also a retail bakery until recently. If you live in the neighbourhood you must have seen the new French style cafe place by Main and 26th. Opened in June of 2011 by Sergio Salamonovitz, a master pastry maker the former Kris and Cris shoe store was totally gutted and industrial ovens and kitchen was installed in the former retail space.
Trafiq has a large commercial bakery in the back of the cafe where fresh breads, pastries and cakes are made daily. Racks of french bread, sour dough, multi grain and ciabatta are some of the popular choices available. Beside the fragrant breads are crowd favorites like the rich, chocolatey Chunky Monkey bread pudding made with croissants.
Daily soups and scrumptious sandwiches made daily with your favorite breads line the front glass counter. You will also find muffins, scones and danishes lining the shelves.
Of course with Sergio’s background in pastries, there is no shortage of fine pastries as you can see from the slideshow above. A changing lineup of delectable danishes, lemon, berry and pecan tarts that look like they popped out of a fancy cookbook tempt you as you walk past the front counter.
Trafiq’s French facade brings to mind a welcoming cafe along the Seine. Keeping the illusion alive that you are sipping fine coffee in France is the great small scale urban roaster, Los Beans Trading Company’s beans and hand crafted $18,000 Synesso coffee machine. Made in Seattle, Synesso machines are hand built and stamped with the craftsman’s signature and serial number. Every coffee shot can be fine tuned to exact temperature and pressure with short water for a intense coffee flavour.
Fresh squeezed orange juice, premium teas and select alcohol items round out the drinks offerings.
With free wifi, delicous eats, curbside tables and a big airy space inside, you will look forward to coming back to Trafiq again and again.
About Sergio and Shauna
Trafiq is a lifelong dream for Sergio who has always wanted a bakery with cafe in front. No stranger to Main St., since 1999 Sergio had a popular commercial pastry bakery named Absolute Sugar on 5th and Main serving hotels and restaurants. The Main Trafiq is actually his second location, the first opened in 2006 on West Vancouver.
Trafiq has been a serendipitous learning experience for Sergio. At first he thought a mostly cafe experience was what Main St. wanted but locals were telling him what they needed wanted was a bakery. “The neighbhourhood has been amazing, people were already looking for local bakery.” he says. So with the help of a new baker hired from Terra Breads he started baking more bread.
If Sergio is the baker in the background, his partner Shauna is the friendly and attentive front manager at Trafiq. She was responsible for turning the original Trafiq into a success and now brings her excellent customer service skills to the new Main Street location.
Another pleasant surprise for Sergio is that he and the neighbhourhood have matching interests. According to Sergio “People here want quality, no huge brands, it’s family friendly and they are looking for what I would look for at a place like this.”
He is now introducing a cake line and whole cakes and single servings can be seen in the front counter. As if he doesn’t have enough businsesses to run, Sergio also owns the Las Tortas restaurant where you can sumptuous mexican subs on Cambie.
