Flourist Milling Inc. — Restaurant in Vancouver

Long lines, limited availability, French bistro decor complete with white enamel tile, bread sold in linen bags, and flour packaged in brown paper bags carefully sewn closed and stamped organic. The perfect recipe for another classic Vancouver trap.

Every other Sunday, we bake pies. We bring pies over to friend’s homes and serve pie when friends come over. We’ve made classic apple pies that never disappoint and adventurous pies that we have opted not to make again. The one thing that remains true about baking is that it is a science and time and time again, Flourist flour has produced not only pies crusts that are tough, dense, and not at all flakey but also pancakes that are as fluffy as a brick and cakes that are better suited as door stoppers and paper weights.

We live close to Flourist and had wanted to try an assortment of baked goods. To beat the crowds, I ran over bright and early because if anything remains true, it’s bakers rise early because baking takes time. Perhaps this is why there is such a limited supply of goods because Flourist does not open till 10am.

On another occasion, we had run out of flour and I ran on over to reluctantly grab a small bag to be turned away: sold out.

We continued to watch lines grow, still not able to obtain the ever elusive Flourist flour. That is until a dear friend, knowing we love to bake, gifted us a gift certificate.

To avoid lines, we visited their website to purchase flour. The gift certificate will not work. Perhaps it was not loaded correctly. Walk over to Flourist, make our way up the line and ask if they could look into our gift card. It doesn’t work to purchase flour because it is a gift card that can “only be used for the bakery.”

“Is the bakery separate from this location?” “No but you can only purchase baked goods here with this card. We can however transfer this gift card to another that you can purchase flour with.”

The individual comes back with our flour purchasing card and we ask if we are able to purchase some flour and if they could let us know the amount on the card. Not only could they not tell us the amount but we would also have to go back home and pre-order our flour. Foiled by Flourist again!

Not wanting to waste our friend’s gift, we went back to the Flourist site to preorder our flour. Sifted Red Spring-sold out, sifted red fife- sold out, sifted marquis wheat-sold out, organic whole grain marquis wheat-sold out, whole grain red spring-sold out, whole grain red fife-sold out.

After daily checks for availability, we return to the impossible task of ridding ourselves of this gift certificate and purchase flour that is best for baking pies and cakes. We spend the entire 100.00 with the goal of never having to return again which amounts to 6, 2kg bags.

We cannot get rid of this flour fast enough and in the meantime enjoy an array of tough, dense, and dry baked goods. My sister’s birthday cake was a real hit when we surprised her with a hockey puck covered in cream cheese and marscapone icing. Our pie’s crusts are more similar to breadsticks or pretzels and after eating three of our pierogis, you’ll sink straight to the bottom of the pool.

Morale of the story: Just because it’s expensive, doesn’t mean it is good. Sometimes it’s really worth supporting sustainable, local and/or organic initiatives like Nada, Lupii Cafe, or a CSA like Fresh Roots or Fractal (all of which I strongly recommend). But other times it is simply good marketing and branding that convinces you to line up and purchase a single cucumber for 7.95, one red onion for 3.95, 35.00 for a linen bag, 105 dollars for a rolling pin, and a bag of 25 dollar Einkorn flour.

Catch you on the flip side. I’m off...

Went to Flourist one Saturday at 3pm, didn't expect there to be much left-there were only pastries. Went at noon another Saturday and all sold out. I hope that means business is brisk, especially during Covid. I ordered on the website for next day pick up.

Just a comment about the website. When you go to your cart a pop up with tip will show. You have to choose an amount. Before you check out you can remove the tip. Odd order of steps to me, but Flourist wanted to give people the choice to include a tip or not. As well, you have to put in your address details even for pick up, and the site will still say deliver to (your address). I called Flourist to confirm and they said that was a limitation of Shopify and they get many calls about that. *So no need to call to confirm re pick up.

Back to the good stuff. Got the baguette ('The only baguette in Vancouver with no white flour') and the Seeded Pan Loaf. The car smelled so nice on the way home. Then when I opened the bag at home the aroma of the loaf came out. Fantastic. Easy to slice both breads. Nice to see pumpkin and sunflower seeds both on the crust and inside as well. For the loaf, I tried it first with butter. While good, to me the creamy taste of the butter actually masked the bread. Then I dipped the bread in my favourite olive oil. Oh my! The bread, the seeds, and olive flavour was so delicious. I also tried it with olive oil and an espresso balsamic. While the additional fruity taste was nice, I one hundred per cent preferred it with just olive oil. So try some options to find your favourite. Onto the baguette. Made with 100% 'Sifted Red Spring Wheat Flour' this is now my favourite baguette in BC. The flavour is so different. The crust, taste, smell, and texture all combine to make one heavenly bread. I can't wait to try this in our 2021 Christmas fondue.

By the way, I signed up for Flourist's newsletter (one of the few that I do). I think they might all be from things that they sell. For example, their yummy Butter Tart Bars. More recent recipes were Rhubarb Crumble Bars and Jam Streusel Cookies. We make our own jams and preserves each summer so will definitely try those. If you love reading recipes like I do, and baking/cooking, they send some great ones.

Tried the Sourdough Boule loaf as well. Amazing. I ate it fresh and toasted. For me, nothing can compare to toasted as you get the combination of a crispy crust with a tender inside, and the heat seems to bring out more flavour. The flour they use has a very clean and even taste. I ate it as usual with olive and vinegar, but we had some ripe avocado-with little smoked salt it was...

Let me start with a short conclusion at the beginning of the review.

This coffee shop is great except parking condition in the neighbourhood.

I came here to try their coffee and pastry because the rating was very high. It was a right decision to do so! I loved their latte and pastries such as cookies, brownie and buttermilk scone. The customers and I could clearly see all the food right at the glass transparent food shelves.

The most interesting part was the bread area at the front of the coffee shop. I went here a couple of time. They were serving bread samples of different type of bread, so I could try different bread with different flavours. All of them were great! There was a fridge that I or customers could buy a dough and bake the bread at home. Very cool!

The menu is not high but has plenty of options for beverages and food. They use Apple Pay too. Pretty good and convenient. Waiting for the coffee was fast.

One more special area was that I could see how they made the dough in a room with glass windows. The machine was made with wood. Very very cool that you may want to stand there and look at how a staff there makes the dough and bread.

The seating area was very comfortable and there was plenty of seats and tables. There was a long countertop table with magazines or books for people to read. Very good ideas!! The owner of the coffee shop must hire an interior designer to design everything well in the coffee shop.

I love coming here for coffee and pastries or food. The only one thing that I didn’t like was looking for parking in the neighbourhood. The streets were full of cars. We had to park far away and walked to the coffee shop. If you were going to take a busy, probably this would be a better way to get to the coffee shop. There was a skytrain track near the neighbourhood but if you were going to take a skytrain, it was a long walk. I felt this coffee shop was more for the people who live in the...