The furniture giant IKEA is trying its hand at a pop-up café in downtown Toronto this month to show off its famous meatballs and frozen yogurt — with no assembly required.

The IKEA Play Café is opening Friday at 336 Queen St. W., and will combine shopping, playing and eating in the almost 8,000 square foot space through June 27.

It won’t be a typical café, however. Instead of lattes, croissants and sandwiches, it will offer frozen yogurt and Swedish meatballs, chicken balls and veggie balls, which visitors can top with different sauces and waffles, fried onions, chips, pickles or biscuits.

“For us it’s really about defying the conventions,” said corporate press officer Stephanie Harnett. “For the past two years we’ve had a really big focus on food, so life in and around the kitchen — the growing, the cooking, the storing and the entertaining, from a food perspective.”

IKEA, which has stores in Vaughan, Etobicoke and North York, has yet to open a downtown Toronto location. The company also has six pick-up-and-order points around the country that let shoppers buy items online and have them shipped to the location, which also carries some products for sale.

Last year, IKEA hosted a pop-up on King St. W., which focused on healthy, fun and affordable food.

This year’s pop-up will also carry 50 houseware items that won’t need an Allen key, from pillows and artificial plants to teacups and cutting boards.

“It starts with the food,” said head of marketing Lauren MacDonald. “All of the products you see are geared towards cooking, eating, entertaining and serving.”

There are also games like tic-tac-toe and a giant pinball machine made from the retailer’s kitchen items.

Eager passersby have been coming up to the popup since the big IKEA sign went up, trying to get in, said MacDonald.

But not everyone is thrilled about the pop up.

“It certainly doesn’t help encourage landlords to find longstanding, permanent retailers to populate that store,” said Shamez Amlani, the head of the Queen St. West BIA. “The popup doesn’t…contribute to the culture of the street. It doesn’t contribute to the city in any way.”

Amlani also expressed concern for unique mom and pop-owned stores and designer places, which could get overtaken by monoculture.

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“It’s about fostering creativity and individuality to me is always more important than celebrating the mundane,” he said.

Douglas Fisher, the president of Toronto food service consultancy FHG International Inc., called the pop-up “a marketing gimmick.”

“Their food is quite good actually and offers a strong value proposition,” Fisher said in an email. “But really, it is just a way of putting their name into the downtown core without a serious investment. It will remind the ‘downtown crowd’ that they can find good quality in the ’burbs.”

Still, IKEA is confident in its latest Toronto pop-up, and although it doesn’t have plans to open a permanent café, MacDonald said, “We won’t rule anything out.”

The store will be open Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.