Café Cadence Brings Japanese Baking and ’80s Design to Chinatown

When David Schmidt saw the ‘For Rent' sign on a then-shuttered Vietnamese herbalist just a few steps away from Fleurs et Cadeaux, he knew it was the future home for the next venture of the Elephant Group—the collective whose roster includes the likes of Fleurs et Cadeaux, Sans Soleil Bar, OSMO X MARUSAN, Marci, and Datcha.

Fleurs et Cadeaux and Sans Soleil covered dinner and nightlife for Elephant Group. The only niche missing: a place to chill and work, to grab lunch or a pastry. “Everyone has been looking for a coffee shop in the area,” Schmidt says. “Even from our own impression, working in the area, there was never a coffee shop that filled that need.”

So, they took it into their own hands. Schmidt, along with Hidekyuki Imaizumi and Kris Guilty, opened Cadence Café in May 2026, continuing the theme followed by its sisters/neighbours with a Japanese-concept café and lunch spot.

The project was a long time coming, taking a few years of the old herbalist store sitting vacant, and multiple attempts to contact its owners before finally breaking ground.

Steeped in ‘80s nostalgia

Yellow-tiled walls line the interior, decorated with Sans Soleil lineup posters and lightboxes displaying illustrations of menu items. Terracotta speakers sit on built-in shelving, while merchandise is displayed alongside a record player.

The space was imagined by Schmidt and Daniel Finkelstein (‘Finkel), drawing on a trip to Japan and the ‘80s nostalgia carried in the cafés Schmidt visited. Every detail has been meticulously considered, hence the lengthy, six-month turnaround.

According to Schmidt, the goal was to evoke the 1980s’ “economic heyday of Japan still present in the country’s diaspora,” without making it “feel like a caricature of an existing design.”

Different stylistic choices cue the era: geometric 3D-printed lights, made by Marc-Olivier Desjardins, perch over the communal table, while hyper-industrial stainless steel counters contrast the naturalistic birds-eye maple-accented tables and custom vaulted ceiling, features characteristic of 1980s Japanese high-tech modernist design conventions.

One feature the group couldn’t preserve: the herbalist’s original sign. Like Fleurs et Cadeaux’s iconic facade, they hoped to “add the Chinatown patina” to Café Cadence. To their dismay, a city inspector forbade it.

Local ingredients, traditional roots

They could, however, continue on the same ethos Fleurs et Cadeaux follows regarding sourcing.

Aaron Kawajigashi, Café Cadence’s chef, transferred over from the restaurant, along with many others on his team. For him, developing menu items is a matter of choosing traditional dishes and adapting them to make them more approachable for the Montreal population.