A three-shelf glass case of ensaymada at Friends & Family Bake: ube-frosted buns on top, cheese-topped classic ensaymada in the middle, purple ube cream cheese ensaymada below, each shelf labelled with a yellow tag

Everything on the shelves, in the shop's own words.

There is no printed menu here. Every tray carries a yellow tag saying what it is and how it is best served, and most of them end with the same advice: fifteen to twenty seconds in the microwave would do.

The warmer, by the counter.

Classic Pandesal

Classic Filipino plain bun rolled in bread crumbs. Best served warm.

Cheese Pandesal

Classic Filipino plain bun rolled in milky cheese crumbs. Best served warm.

Spanish Bread

Soft and rich sweet bread roll filled with special butter cream and rolled in bread crumbs. Best served warm.

Close-up of purple ube ensaymada buns in paper wrappers, each topped with pale cream cheese frosting and a generous heap of shredded cheddar

Ensaymada, three ways.

Classic Ensaymada

Filipino sweet dough based bun frosted with margarine and topped with grated cheese.

Ube Ensaymada

Filipino sweet dough based bun frosted with ube (purple yam) cream, and topped with ube crumbs.

Ube Cream Cheese Ensaymada

Purple yam flavoured sweet dough bun topped and filled with cream cheese, plus cheddar cheese.

A larger Special Ube Ensaymada and Special Ube Cheese Ensaymada sit on the rack by the window: pull-apart loaves frosted with ube and topped with ube crumble.

A single soft bun crowned with a thick disc of purple ube cream and scattered ube crumbs, served on a black plate

Ube is the house flavour.

Ube Kalihim Bread

Soft and sweet purple yam flavoured bun with a hint of savoury taste.

Ube Loaf

Soft sweet dough based bread filled with creamy ube halaya, or purple yam jam.

Ube Cheese Rolls & Ube Spanish Rolls

Two of the seven things the shop listed by name the last time it posted a fresh tray.

Pande Ube

The purple pandesal, from the same list.

A white wire rack by the shop window stacked with bagged loaves and rolls, each row tagged in yellow, with tubs of nuts on the bottom shelf

Loaves and rolls off the rack.

Tasty Bread, 400 g

Filipino style white loaf bread made from wheat flour. Perfect for toast, sandwiches, or extra plain.

Panderosa Bread

Plain sweet dough bread with a creamy, milky flavour.

Dinner Roll

Soft, buttery, golden plain bread.

Sausage Rolls

A regular on the fresh-from-the-oven list, kept in the self-serve drawers.

Snacks, and the sweeter end of the case.

Bicho-Bicho

A twisted doughnut, rolled in sugar. The shop posts it plainly: bicho, for snack.

Nutella Roll

Swirled rolls in the lower case, beside the ensaymada.

FFB Garlic Bun

Announced by the shop as a new product, in threes, on a wooden board.

Leche Flan, Sapin-Sapin & Cassava Cake

Filipino delicacies the shop has carried alongside the breads and pastries.

I actively crave the ube crinkle cookie on a regular basis.

— Heather Jarvie-Laidlaw, in a Google review the bakery reprinted in its own first-anniversary poster.

Best served warm 15–20 seconds in the microwave would do Tongs are inside each bread box Pull gently please

Those four lines are printed on the tags and drawers themselves. Availability changes through the day, so call ahead on (587) 439-1788 or email friendsfamilybake@gmail.com to ask what's out.

The self-serve cabinet.

The self-serve bread cabinet: nine drawers of rolls and pastries, each labelled with a yellow tag, with branded mugs displayed on top

A glass case with a tray of cheese-topped ensaymada above and a tray of swirled Nutella rolls below, each shelf priced on a yellow tag

Warm cheese-topped breads in the top drawer and glazed rolls with a red filling stripe below, beside a yellow tag for ube kalihim bread

A plate of ube-topped buns and powdered-sugar filled doughnuts on a white table

Two glossy golden loaves of freshly baked bread cooling on a wire rack