There is a corner at the back of Richmond’s newest cafe where you take your shoes off before you sit down.
POCO RIT has quietly opened at Concord Galleria on No. 3 Road, a few minutes from Capstan Station.
We first wrote about the unit last October, when dark blue Opening Soon posters went up on what was still a construction site.
Those posters advertised spring.
It landed in late July instead, with no announcement.
Red Note found it anyway, and the app filled up with the place almost immediately.
Richmond locals moved fast on it.
Our first attempt ended at the door, because the room was packed and the counter had already sold out of everything.
We came back the next day at an earlier hour and got in.
The room is bigger than a neighbourhood bakery counter usually is.
Silver ductwork runs exposed across a high ceiling, and the walls are bare concrete block.
A long counter anchors the middle of the space, with the day’s bakes lined up under glass on top.
A shelf stacked with music stands behind the espresso station.
Another shelf runs toward the back kitchen, holding whatever stock is left and the brunch plates waiting to go out.
Seating splits three ways.
There is a communal table down the middle, small tables along the windows, and then the carpeted section at the very back.
That last one is the part people will talk about.
Two tables sit on carpet behind the main room, and guests are asked to take their shoes off before stepping up.
We ordered the pistachio cream bun and a black sesame viennese coffee.
The bun is the better of the two.
It gives under almost no pressure, and the cream inside is just as light.
Sweetness is dialled right back, which is the point.
If you came for a loud hit of pistachio, though, this is not that bun.
The black sesame vienne has a version of the same issue.
It is a pretty drink, capped with black sesame cream, but the sesame reads muted rather than roasty.
The coffee underneath runs strong.
Plenty of tables around us were working through brunch instead, egg bennies mostly, and those plates looked good on the way past.
We did not order any, so that is as far as we will go on them.
Drinks price a little above the going rate, while the buns sit about where every other design-forward cafe in the city has landed.
What matters more is that the Capstan side of Richmond has a proper sit-down cafe again.
The last one at Union Square closed and turned into a Meet Fresh, and the towers have kept going up since.
For a neighbourhood this dense, one room with seats in it is not a small thing.
POCO RIT now joins other recently opened Richmond food spots like Pika Herb, Man Ri Sung’s Aberdeen Centre food court stall, and Oakberry.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: POCO RIT, Unit 115, 3328 No. 3 Road, Richmond BC (Concord Galleria, near Capstan Station)