Is Kanadell Japanese Bakery Still Open? Project Bakeover Update

Kanadell Japanese Bakery opened the second season of Project Bakeover (Food Network Canada) in an episode titled “Cute Doesn't Pay the Bills,” first aired on 2022-03-31. According to Wikipedia's article on the series, host Steve Hodge and designer Tiffany Pratt help bakeries update their menus and decor, and season two ran ten episodes from 2022-03-31 to 2022-06-02. The shop is at 3596 East Hastings Street in East Vancouver. Wikipedia's episode table lists three items created for it: a matcha Nanaimo tart, fluffy Japanese pancakes and a strawberry mousse bombe. The sources reviewed for this page do not itemize the problems shown on air beyond the episode title.

Before the episode, Daily Hive reported on 2020-01-23 about a one-day Kanadell pop-up at 417 Industrial Avenue, and Create A Stir reported on 2021-10-13 that owner and head baker Keiko Nakanishi had moved into the East Hastings space in December 2020. Create A Stir described a menu of milk bread, melon pan, Saturday sandwiches and sweet buns, with a Japanese market, Kanadell-Ya, added.

Edible Vancouver & Wine Country reported on 2026-01-13 (page modified 2026-01-23) that Nakanishi kept the show's matcha Nanaimo bar recipe but made it less sweet, and that the show's window decal, once covering all three storefront windows, now covers two. The magazine noted that margins are thin and weekday sales matter, listed lunch specials including a teriyaki burger and a Japanese curry rice bowl, and listed market appearances on January 6 to 17, 2026.

Time Out Vancouver's list of the city's best pastry shops, which carried an October 7, 2026 date on the page, includes Kanadell under East Hastings. On 2026-10-19 the bakery's website, kanadell.com, loaded with an online-ordering widget, and an online-ordering storefront for the Hastings Street East shop listed items such as melon pan, curry pan and a maple cream loaf. That storefront showed ordering as closed at the time of the check, with an “Opens Oct 21” note and no year.