WAFFLE HAAS: CAFE MEDINA TEAMS UP WITH RENOWNED CHOCOLATIER THOMAS HAAS, MEALSHARE TO MARK INTERNATIONAL WAFFLE DAY, MARCH 25

Waffle lovers, rejoice: Café Medina owner Robbie Kane is joining forces with internationally acclaimed chocolatier Thomas Haas and non-profit charity Mealshare to add a delicious new twist to Café Medina’s brunch menu in honour of International Waffle Day, March 25.

From Monday, March 19 through Sunday, March 25, Café Medina will offer the Vancouver chocolatier’s eponymous ‘Haaselnut’ spread — a delectable recipe blending caramelized organic Fraser Valley hazelnuts, 64% Valrhona dark chocolate, Irish butter and fleur de sel — as a limited-edition topping for the restaurant’s beloved Liège-style waffles.

The weeklong feature will culminate on Sunday, March 25, when the restaurant marks International Waffle Day by donating one dollar from each waffle sold to Mealshare — a national non-profit organization that has provided more than 1.8 million meals to youth in need since 2013.

“Beyond a reason to celebrate our signature waffles, this event gives our staff yet another opportunity to reaffirm our ongoing commitment to Mealshare and spotlight the good work that it does in our community every day,” says Kane, who has helped provide 14,825 meals and counting through Café Medina’s ‘buy one, give one’ partnership with the non-profit since 2014. “I’m also excited to be able to collaborate with an impressive culinary talent like Thomas and bring his recipe to the menu for an exclusive engagement.”

Both Café Medina and Haas have long been fixtures of the local restaurant scene, with Haas being named Vancouver Magazine’s Pastry Chef of the Year/Best Bakery since 2013 and Café Medina winning the inaugural Best Brunch category in 2017. Café Medina was also recently singled out for Best Brunch in the 2018 Georgia Straight Golden Plate Awards, marking its 10^thanniversary in fine style.

Beyond its unique brand of eclectic, Mediterranean-inspired bistro fare and connoisseur-savvy coffee, Café Medina has carved out its reputation as the city’s leading brunch destination thanks in part to its signature Liège waffles, which are made with yeast-leavened dough and pearl sugar, giving the waffles their trademark dense and delicious molten caramelized texture.

Whether enjoyed in the restaurant or packaged to go, there’s no way to top Café Medina’s waffles unless it’s via the restaurant’s selection of 11 sweet and savoury garnishes and sauces like milk chocolate lavender, salted caramel, mixed berry compote, white chocolate pistachio rosewater, fig orange marmalade and Betterwith Ice Cream.

ABOUT CAFÉ MEDINA | Since opening in 2008, Café Medina has been serving up its signature brand of Mediterranean-inspired cuisine, connoisseur-savvy coffee and sweet sustenance via the city’s best Belgian waffles. A quaint, bistro-styled restaurant replete with old-world charm and proprietor Robbie Kane’s determined philosophy of enlightened hospitality, Café Medina provides a full complement of fresh and eclectic breakfast, lunch and daily brunch alternatives and a pioneering attitude towards café culture. Since moving to its new location in Vancouver’s Library District at 780 Richards St. in 2014, the new Café Medina has continued to garner numerous rave reviews, cementing its longstanding reputation as the city’s leading brunch destination.

780 Richards Street, Vancouver, BC  V6B 3A4 | 604-879-3114 | medinacafe.com
Hours: Monday – Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekends and holidays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Available to be booked for private evening events.

Facebook: /medinacafe | Twitter: @cafemedina | Instagram: @medinacafe

ABOUT THOMAS HAAS | An internationally acclaimed fourth-generation pâtissier who received an early education in the delicate and time-honoured art of handcrafting chocolates and pastries in the kitchen of his family’s café in Germany, Haas went on to apply his classical training in Michelin-starred restaurants across Europe and North America before settling in Vancouver and opening two namesake cafés in North Vancouver and Kitsilano. Haas — Vancouver Magazine’s Pastry Chef of the Year/Best Bakery since 2013 — uses only the finest raw ingredients sourced both locally and from around the globe and, in keeping with family custom, eschews the notion of assembly lines and mass-production techniques, instead trusting in a talented team of pastry chefs and chocolatiers whose finesse and sensitivity is lovingly expressed in every handspun confection.

Twitter: @thaaschocolates | Instagram: @thaaschocolates | Facebook: /thaaschocolates

ABOUT MEALSHARE | A not-for-profit organization launched in Calgary in 2013, Mealshare partners with restaurants and designated charities in cities across Canada to provide meals for youth in need. For every Mealshare-branded menu item ordered at participating Vancouver restaurants, one complementary meal is donated to youth struggling with hunger through Vancouver-based charities Breakfast Club of Canada, KidSafe and Save the Children Canada. Since its inception, Mealshare has served more than one million meals and counting to youth in need both locally and globally.

www.mealshare.ca | Facebook: /MealshareTeam | Twitter: @MealshareTeam, @MealshareYVR | Instagram: @mealshare