Keiko Nakanishi cradles a smooth, round ball of dough in the palm of her hand and tucks it beneath a thin disc of cookie dough with the other. She rolls the cookie surface in sugar crystals, then presses a cross-hatch pattern into it, neat as a hand-stitched quilt, before gently settling the ball on the counter to rest.

“Japanese breads really need human hands, especially melon pan,” Nakanishi explains as she shows me how to make one of the signature items sold at Kanadell Japanese Bakery in East Vancouver. Melon pan (“pan” means bread) is named for its cantaloupe-like crust. “Human hands need to make every single one.”

From farmers market boot camp to a new business
Nakanishi isn’t professionally trained. She began baking as a young child in Japan. Self-taught from recipe books from her local library, she would attempt a new recipe each week. When she needed ingredients or equipment, her father would track them down for her.

When Nakanishi immigrated to Canada, she struggled to find the confections common in Japanese bakeries, supermarkets and convenience stores. At that time, only one store in Vancouver sold melon pan.

Her only option was to bake them herself. She soon learned that many others in Vancouver missed Japanese bread, so she started baking for friends and eventually opened an online store. By the end of 2017, she was renting space at a commissary kitchen in Vancouver.

That’s when she got an email that changed everything.

Keiko Nakanishi, who began baking as a young child in Japan, stands at her Kanadell Japanese Bakery, offering the ‘authentic, nostalgic food’ she long searched for when she first arrived in Vancouver.

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“The Vancouver Farmers Market asked if I was interested in participating in a boot camp in early 2018. So of course I said Yes,” she recalls.

During the boot camp, market shoppers provided feedback to help competing businesses improve and voted for their favourites. Nakanishi brought her A-game and placed second, earning a much-coveted vendor spot at the Trout Lake Farmers Market at least once a month throughout the summer.

“And that’s really a big part of why I could go for this business,” says Nakanishi. “Otherwise, I don’t think I could have gone anywhere.”

As her business grew, she needed more space.

“If I wanted to continue my business, I had to jump,” she recalls. By the end of 2020, she opened her brick-and-mortar bakery.

Sharing a taste of home
Kanadell Japanese Bakery is located across from the Kootenay Loop transit exchange on East Hastings Street. The bricks of its facade are shades of pink, yellow and green, and a window decal presents a cheerful cast of characters — baked goods with smiling faces.

Inside are round, wooden tables with simple, wicker chairs. Botanical wallpaper and potted plants envelop the space in natural tones. Cutouts of the pastry pals from outside decorate the walls along with photos of the day’s specials. Adding to gentle pop music is the rhythmic thud of a dough mixer working hard in the kitchen behind a bamboo screen.

At the counter, baked goods are arranged in cases and on cake stands of different heights. Ceramic and knit critters (frogs, cats, piglets) are scattered throughout like gnomes in a cottage garden.

At the centre of the display are mini mochi bites of various flavours piled high on a pedestal. Mochi are small rice cakes made from glutinous rice or sweet rice flour, prepared in a variety of styles and flavours. At Kanadell, you can find black sesame, matcha, chocolate, Earl Grey, coffee and red bean mochi.

They have a soft, chewy, slightly tacky texture. “It’s especially chewy compared to bread and other pastries in this country,” Nakanishi explains. While the texture may be new to some of her customers, she says their fan base is growing.

Compared to rice-based confections like mochi, wheat-based bread has a shorter history in Japan. Since the 19th century, Japanese bakers have adapted bread recipes from Europe and around the world to suit local palates.

“Japanese food is influenced by a lot of different cultures, but we usually make it our own,” Nakanishi says. “People are willing to try new flavours because we love to eat,” she says with a laugh.

These uniquely Japanese breads tend to be soft and sweet (but not too sweet), like the melon pan Nakanishi was preparing in the kitchen.

The curry pan, right, is one of Kanadell Japanese Bakery’s most popular items. It’s like a pillowy, yeasted donut, but with a crisp panko exterior and rich beef or vegetarian curry interior. Nakanishi also offers a variety of Japanese breads and treats, from soft, sweet melon pan, mochi treats, matcha and, of course, the adorable bear breads, that she began baking as a young child in Japan.

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Melon pan is a type of kashi pan (“kashi” means sweet). While buttery vanilla and chocolate chip are the most common flavours in Japan, Nakanishi experiments with other flavours found in Japanese cuisine, such as hojicha (green tea roasted to produce a toasted, nutty flavour and a reddish-brown colour). When pulled apart into two halves, the crisp cookie crust of the melon pan shatters, and the soft bun beneath tears like cotton candy.

Also behind the display case are sozai pan (“sozai” means side dish), savoury breads with toppings like hot dog, corn mayo and potato croquette. They are filling enough to serve as a meal on the go.

“When I was a high school student, I would buy these from the bakery before I went to school and eat them as breakfast,” she says.

The curry pan is one of her most popular items. It’s like a pillowy, yeasted donut, but with a crisp panko exterior and rich beef or vegetarian curry interior. Kanadell serves them warm.

Japanese milk bread (or “shokupan”) is a white loaf bread. Fresh out of the oven, Nakanishi’s version might seem softer than other milk breads. But this is the way she likes it: “Kanadell bread is my childhood memory of bread,” she says. “It’s a very soft, chewy and moist bread.” Milk bread is commonly eaten as toast or used in sandwiches, like those sold for Kanadell’s “Sando Saturdays.”

“Japanese people have a crazy love for bread nowadays,” she says, noting how tastes have shifted. “When I was a kid, it wasn’t as huge. Now, younger generations eat it every single day.”

A similar trend was observed in her own household.

“When I was a kid, [her parents] didn’t eat bread much. They were rice people. I even still like rice better…” She pauses. “I shouldn’t say that,” she says, laughing. “But as they aged, they preferred toast in the morning.”

When Nakanishi visits her mother in Japan, she always brings her milk bread.

Nakanishi wants Kanadell to be the place she searched for when she first arrived in Vancouver. “For Japanese people, we’re giving authentic, nostalgic food here.”

In Japan, rice-based confections such as mochi are more often found in specialty shops or convenience stores than bakeries. Kanadell brings together as many comforting tastes of home as possible under one roof.

She also wants new customers to have an authentic experience with Japanese baking. When customers tell her they fell in love with Japanese food through her baking, it’s her favourite compliment.

“I can feel proud of my heritage. Japanese food is so special — I’m happy that I can let people know about it,” she says. “I feel like I can let people know what real Japan is.”

While staying true to childhood favourites, Nakanishi also creates new recipes that incorporate Japanese flavours into Western-style dough.

“I found that people love yuzu, so I wanted to make western-style pastry with that flavour.” She started with a yuzu Danish, then a yuzu madeleine. Her miso Havarti and yuzu green onion cheese buns or mochi red bean hand pies are another bridge that new customers can cross on their way towards Japanese baking.

By now, Nakanishi knows her customers well. In 2022, Kanadell was featured in the first episode of Season 2 of Project Bakeover on Food Network Canada — a show that gives struggling bakeries a leg up through renovations and a menu refresh. Nakanishi kept the matcha Nanaimo bar recipe the show left behind, but with an important change.

“I wanted to have a marriage of Japanese and Canadian food and culture, for Japanese people to enjoy a famous Canadian food. But many of my Japanese friends say the Nanaimo bar is a little too sweet. They can’t even finish it. I wanted to make something they could finish,” she says.

Repairing more than a broken window
In March, Nakanishi was setting up at the Kitsilano Winter Farmers Market when a staff member called to inform her that the large store window had been smashed.

“I knew customers were expecting me to be there that day. I already had the bread that the staff had baked. It couldn’t go to waste.” So she stayed at the market while her husband met with the police at the bakery. “That day was the toughest day.”

While nothing had been stolen, the window repair came with a hefty price tag she couldn’t afford.

“The economy is already tough, and like many others, our store has been struggling with a significant drop in sales and rising expenses,” she reported on social media after the incident.

“Having our beloved shop, which we’ve worked so hard to protect, suddenly damaged by such a senseless act of violence has left us feeling completely heartbroken,” she added online.

At first, Nakanishi was hesitant to fundraise. With friends’ encouragement, she eventually set up a Go-FundMe page. “I decided to do that because I wanted to see how many people actually cared about us.”

As it turned out, many people do. “A lot of people showed me support with their precious money — it had a huge impact on me. Some people commented on Instagram saying, ‘Please don’t go, we love your bakery.’ That definitely brought my mental health back.”

“It was a tragedy,” she says. “But I could see how many people supported us… It was a bad event, but it made me happy because of that perspective,” she says. “Now, even more, I feel like I need to keep going.”

Baking and belonging
Today, Kanadell has a new window. The decal introduced by Project Bakeover, which once stretched across all three storefront windows, now only covers two. The uncovered glass now offers a clear view inside.

Nakanishi thinks she may like it better this way. “Before, a lot of people would look curiously from the outside but not come in.” She pauses. “It might help to leave it as is.”

The change feels fitting. From the start, Kanadell has been about connection, offering a taste of home for some and an opportunity to try something new for others.

“Some people start businesses because they have a passion for baking. That’s part of it, but not the main rea-son for me,” Nakanishi says. “My biggest motivation is that I want to be a part of the community and do something good for people. I want to be of value.”

And when the bakery needed help, the community gave back. But lasting support is what helps keep local, small-scale bakeries like Kanadell part of the neighbourhoods they serve.

The bakery business is tough, with small profit margins. “We need to sell a lot to make a profit and the location is not really premium, unfortunately,” she says.

Nakanishi hopes customers will continue to visit, especially on weekdays, to grab a treat or try one of the lunch specials, such as the teriyaki burger or Japanese curry rice bowl. Customers can also visit Kanadell-Ya Japanese Market next door to pick up some Japanese convenience store snacks, frozen foods or onigiri made fresh daily. The simple act of stopping by can help keep this special bakery a part of the community.

Kanadell Japanese Bakery
3596 East Hastings St., Vancouver
kanadell.com | @kanadell

Find Kanadell Japanese Bakery at the Riley Park and Kitsilano Winter Farmers Markets and the Lunar New Year Flower and Gift Fair at Aberdeen Centre, Jan. 6 to 17, 2026.

Visit the event calendar for specific dates and details: kanadell.com/markets-and-events-schedule