by Andrew Morrison | I looked in on the construction of the upcoming Chinatown location of Matchstick Coffee today with owners Annie and Spencer Viehweger (and wee little Abraham, all of six months old). If you need a refresher, the exact address is 213 East Georgia, which puts it on the same block as Mamie Taylor’s, The Brixton, East Of Main, and Phnom Penh.

It looks like a tiny little spot from the street, but inside it’s a voluminous 2,800 sqft! That’s enough space to accommodate 70 seats, an office, a glassed-in bakery, four communal tables (3 made from the same birch tree, the 4th being maple), and a coffee bar as long as – if not longer than –  the original Matchstick at Fraser & Kingsway. It’s big, and I expect it will be beautiful when it’s finished off with its polished concrete floor and reclaimed wood wall panelling.

The real kicker is the bakery. It sounds especially awesome. They’re going to be baking all of their own stuff in house, including rustic country loaves, croissants galore, and maybe even a rye. The oven is an 8 foot high, four deck, steam injection Bassanina beast from Italy that weighs a whopping 20,000 pounds.

Though it looks a bit of a dusty shambles in the shots above and below, they’re on track for a late January or early February opening. We’ll take a look again when the time is ripe.

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS