One of the city’s most sought out vendors at night markets and food festivals has just opened their first brick-and-mortar location in Riverdale. Namwan is known for their colourful Thai inspired street drinks that are served in reusable and branded zip pouch bags, which is common in Thailand.
The business was established in 2017 after friends Nan and Paul came up with the idea to introduce a different side of Thai cuisine to the rest of Toronto. This would be done through the snacks and drinks they grew up with in Thailand that are unlike your usual curries and pad thai.
After creating the brand, they attended their first ever food festival where Namwan quickly became a huge success. From then on, their unique, delicious and colourful offerings caught the eye of many at food festivals, night markets and even their pop-up at Market 707 in 2018.
A year later, Nan and Paul decided to stop operating at Market 707 and expand, which couldn’t have come at a better time seeing how the pandemic started to hit.
During that time, they did their own deliveries, and Nan moved back to Thailand temporarily where she continued to build the Namwan brand by selling drinks at Feel Good in Chiang Mai, a cafe in Thailand, as well as discover new recipes and ideas for when she would return.
As for Paul, he decided to open up Namwan’s first ever storefront in Toronto with his wife Joy, his family and his friends, which is now known as Namwan Thai Cafe.
Although Nan and Paul are planning on attending food festivals in the future, you can still enjoy their signature items as well as exciting new ones like Thai sandwiches, burgers, hot drinks and tom yum, green curry and kra pao pizzas at their location in Riverdale.
Namwan Thai Cafe is located at 713 Gerrard St E.
