There have been a number of restaurants and food businesses that have opened in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic or a few weeks before. In lieu of proper “opening alerts”, Boozy Burbs will share many details about these new businesses as possible in a post — though things may change fairly quickly as they maneuver through the public health crisis.

Florentina’s, a specialty bakery and cafe, has been operating in Northvale since February. Formerly known as GMK cakes, it was purchased by Jaelynne de Guzman who has begun renovating the space while operating.

The bakery is a special ode to Guzman’s grandmother Florentina (or Nanay – mom in Tagalog). She opened this family run bakery hoping to share that same feeling of hospitality and care to customers that she instilled by serving a fusion of Filipino-American baked goods and other classic pastries and sweets.

At their core, they offer customized cakes and baked goods in a nut free/tree nut free facility and cater to those with special diets or food restrictions. They are incorporating organic/natural ingredients whenever possible and in ode to their Fil-Am heritage,  they also utilize traditional Filipino ingredients like ube (purple yam), calamansi (Filipino lime) and pandan leaf.

Renovations are underway for in-house seating where we will be serving coffee and individualized pastries and sweets. The cafe opening has been delayed due to COVID-10, however they are still taking custom cake orders as well as carryout orders for cupcakes, cake pops, and more.

Florentina’s will be hosting baking classes for children and parents in the future and they also plan to have live jazz and acoustic performers in the 900 square foot space – there will be seating for up to 20.

Bakery hours are currently Tuesday thru Saturday from 10am-6pm. Sunday by appointment, and closed on Mondays. Stay up to date on changes at their website and social media.

Florentina’s Bakery
125 Paris Avenue
Northvale, NJ
Website

[photo source: Florentina’s]