Coffee Monster is only a short walk from Lougheed Skytrain station and various other establishments on North Road. There is free WiFi, including Shaw Open, and big windows to let in light.

Interior of Coffee Monster

 I didn't try any desserts this time around but there was a good selection.

Desserts

I ordered the passionfruit mango iced tea. On the menu it read "Iced Tea (real fruit)" so I imagined the drink would be seeped tea made cold with slices or cubes of real fruit in it. Turns out it was a well blended concoction of real fruit that didn't taste much like tea at all. I really enjoyed it because it was refreshing with slight tartness to balance out the sweetness.

Overall this is a great place to hang out or study, which we observed many of the other customers doing.

We arrived early for the 3:30pm high tea seating at Patisserie Fur Elise but were quickly seated. It is located in a Vancouver heritage home and the ambiance is clean and quaint. High tea seatings are two hours long and include tea, savouries and sweets.

I went with darjeeling for my choice of tea. It is a black tea that is slightly bitter with floral undertones. We were frequently asked if we wanted to refill hot water in our teapots which was great as I like my teas hot.

After the tea came the blueberry panna cotta adorned by a piece of gold foil. I enjoyed this cooling dessert with the creamy texture and sweet blueberries on top. 

Blueberry Panna Cotta

Next came the salad. Usually when people say "salad in a cup" they're alluding to green juice, the blended smoothies with green veggies. This is probably the smallest salad I have ever had but it looked so adorable in the tiny glass. The mixed greens were accompanied by candied walnut and a cherry tomato. I think I would have preferred this salad to be completely savoury (aka regular walnuts instead of candied) because the high tea portion contains many sweets.

Mixed greens with candied walnut

 This is our two-tiered high tea with savouries on the bottom and sweets on top.

There were four types of savoury items of which only three were sweet-free. Starting from the right in the square shape is the avocado and egg sandwich. It was a one, possibly two-biter between white bread without much taste.

Next to the egg sandwich is the prosciutto, brie, and basil croissant sandwich. I liked that the croissant was freshly baked, warm and flakey. This was my favourite of the savoury items as the salty prosciutto provided enough flavour and I personally love brie.

The salt and pepper shrimp with a piece of dill was underwhelming. The shrimp wasn't especially fresh and the bread underneath was slightly soggy, which is understandable but would feel more pleasant if the bread stayed dry.

The last savoury item is a scone with almond streusel served with strawberry confiture. It was also freshly baked and buttery but I enjoyed the strawberry confiture much more than the scone itself.

Right to left: Avocado and Egg Sandwich, Croissant Sandwich, Shrimp with dill, Scone with Almond Streusel

I enjoy desserts so I was looking forward to the sweets tier. To be honest, none of them wow-ed me. They weren't bad but there are many amazing patisseries in Vancouver to compete with. The sweets included a honey madeleine, a small lemon tart, a strawberry macaron, a cube of strawberry mousse cake, and a petite chocolate cup.

At the bottom level of Patisserie Fur Elise there were rows and rows of colourful macarons on display so I expected their macarons to be good. However, the shell was not crispy but soft and the inside lacked any chewiness.

Right to left: Lemon Tart, Honey Madeleine, Strawberry Mousse, Chocolate Cup, Strawberry Macaron

Overall, the ambiance and friendly service made the visit pleasant. It is a place to have good conversation with friends but not one where you find the best desserts in town.

Honey Lavender and Salted Caramel Ice Cream

Durian Creme Brulee

Apple Fritter Donut

Cheesecake

Whiskey Hazelnut

Matcha latte

Assorted baked goods

Tuna tataki set lunch with broccoli soup

I came to Butter Cafe hoping to try high tea for the first time but turns out they discontinued it already! I immediately liked the ambiance of Butter Cafe with its pastel green and floral scheme and small round tables. My first impression was that it reminded me of La Duree but much friendlier. La Duree gives off this feeling of being fancy but Butter Cafe gives off a friendly vibe.

So instead of high tea we each got some treats to eat. The baked goods were $2 to $5 a piece and tea was $3.50. They also serve breakfast and lunch like croque monsieur and quiche.

I tried the Coney Island Bar and the Cookies n' Cream macaron . I chose the Coney Island Bar because I wanted to try the house-made marshmellows on top. It was a deep fudge with crushed up walnuts and fluffy marshmellows on top. House-made marshmellows are much spongier than store bought ones and I definitely like the texture better. The fudge portion was very filling with rich chocolatey goodness.

Left: Coney Island Bar ($3); Right: Cookies n' Cream macaron ($3)

This is the largest macaron I've had and quite sweet. The cookie part was crunchy but wasn't chewy like how I enjoy my macarons. The filling inside was very creamy and sweet with small pieces of chocolate cookie bits which was interesting. If I were to go back I'd want to try the cookie sandwich!

Cookies n' Cream macaron

Below are what my friends ordered which they also enjoyed very much.

Raspberry cake ($5)

Left: The Dunbar ($3); Right: Vanilla bean macaron ($3)

Convenient bus stop outside Butter Cafe

Overall Butter Cafe is easy to access by transit with a bus stop right in front. I would like to visit again and try the other treats.

Cumpari's Gelato and Caffe is across the street from Lougheed Mall. The interior is bright with round glass tables well spaced out on one side and an assortment of gelato and cake on the other. I don't drink coffee so I can't really comment on it but Cumpari's seemed to serve a good variety.

There were many cheesecake choices from mango to strawberry to pistachio. I finally chose a slice of Nutella cheesecake. The cheesecake was topped with a thin layer of chocolate and chopped hazelnuts. There was a graham cracker base and in between was the fluffy cheesecake. I enjoyed the texture of this cheesecake because it wasn't too heavy but you will definitely feel full after.

All in all it's a good place to enjoy dessert and catch up with friends, which many of the other customers were doing.

Macarons are some of my favourite things to try because they're small and difficult to make. We went to Leonida's at Waterfront and was pleasantly surprised. The small shop only has a few small tables. They sold an assortment of macarons, baked goods and chocolate.

Each macaron is $2 each and they were chewy, not overly sweet and contained the same flavour as the name. I've tried some macarons at other places that didn't taste anything like their name before.

Light pink: rose water; brown: hazelnut; cream: coconut; blue: earl grey; purple: cassis; green: green tea. My favourites were the coconut, rose water and green tea. These had the freshest flavour to me and made for a great dessert snack.

Overall Leonida's is a good location looking out on the cruises docked outside the Pan Pacific and their macarons are delicious!

A friend found this place and invited me to come along to try and I'm glad I did! When I first entered Waffle Gone Wild I immediately compared it to Nero Belgian Waffle Bar in my head. The physical space was similar in size (small with the kitchen area at the store front and a few small tables further in). However they are not directly comparable because WGW has a more Asian twist.

The menu at WGW is less expensive than Nero and includes matcha waffles and drinks like bubble tea. You can see from the photos below that the presentation of the food is different too with WGW being more "cute."

We shared two waffles ($7.99 each): Japanese matcha waffle and Okonomiyaki waffle.

The Japanese matcha waffle came with a green tea ice cream mochi, strawberry, mandarin orange, red bean, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with matcha powder. The waffle itself had a sweet exterior and chewy interior. I thoroughly enjoyed this waffle because I love matcha and the bunny decoration was too cute!

Japanese matcha waffle

The Okonomiyaki waffle is something new that isn't common. The waffle was sweet and topped with crab meat, okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed, and bonito flakes. The side is a potato salad and three thin slices of apple. It was very yummy with a more solid texture than traditional okonokiyaki.

Okonomiyaki waffle

Overall highly recommend checking this place out! Service was prompt with refilling water and getting our order. I look forward to trying the other waffles on their menu!

Mimibuloveme is a very small dessert place only a short walk from the Oakridge 41st Skytrain Station. There are only four tables indoors and two outdoors so be prepared to wait for a table to free up, especially on weekend evenings. 

Matcha Parfait: There were layers of cream, cake, red bean all topped with a scoop of matcha ice cream. It is a filling dessert but overall I enjoyed the matcha flavours with a good mixture of more neutral flavours like the cake.

Black Sesame Parfait: The black sesame parfait is similar to the matcha one with a scoop of ice cream on top but this one had grass jelly and vanilla cream on the bottom instead of sesame flavoured cream.

Strawberry Waffle: The waffle was very sweet and typical of Japanese waffle where it is coated in sugar. It tasted closer to a doughnut than a waffle. However there was a generous amount of strawberries and a large scoop of strawberry ice cream on top. It's a good dessert that is again quite filling.

L to R: Matcha Parfait, Strawberry Waffle, Black Sesame Parfait

Overall, Mimibuloveme is a solid dessert joint for after dinner. However it is not a place for a large group. Two to three people would be the ideal number to enjoy dessert here or else it might take awhile to wait for seats to open up.

I have a pretty big sweet tooth, especially for pastries and cakes so I was excited to finally try L'Opera after reading so many food blog posts about it!

The ambiance here is quiet and sophisticated. I had my order to go so I didn't spend a lot of time looking at the decor but it gave a good first impression. My phone immediately synced to the WiFi there so L'Opera can be an alternative option to coffee shops.

L'Opera from back door of parking area

The packaging was so cute and reminded me of a cross between La Duree and Thierry logo and colour scheme. This is great for gifting this holiday season!

This pretty lavendar macaron is cassis flavoured. The shell wasn't very crunchy and the inside was chewy with a fragrant filling. I would say that macarons here are between the textures of Faubourg and Thierry in terms of chewiness. I liked it.

Cassis macaron, $2

The cake I chose was named Paris and was delicious! There was a strong rum scent and smooth layers of chocolate and cream.

Paris cake, $5.8

Sorry this photo isn't very pretty but I wanted to show you the inside of the cake. The very bottom layer is chocolate sponge cake with a white cream layer on top and then a chocolate mousse layer. The outside is coated in almond flakes. Each bite was creamy, thick and satisfying without clogging your throat. Definitely enjoyed it but for a small piece of cake it sure is filling.

All in all, can't wait to try more of L'Opera goodies. Perhaps a croissant next time?

If you're shopping at Metrotown, take the extra 5 minute walk and eat at the Crystal Mall food court instead! There is a good variety of food that is better value than the Metrotown food court.

Wang's Shanghai Cuisine: The past few times I ate at the Crystal Mall food court, I ordered the xiao long baos (steamed soup dumplings) from Wang's Shanghai Cuisine. You can see the ladies making these dumplings from scratch to ensure freshness. There is a lot of juice inside the dumplings and the skin is thin which is why I like them so much. For the food court price, these xiao long baos are great value and comparable to ones sold at restaurants.

Xiao long bao

Cherry Fruit Juicy and Ice Bar: The dessert on the left is the Mango and Strawberry shaved ice topped with vanilla ice cream and the dessert on the right is red bean with tang yuan (glutenous rice balls). The shaved ice dessert was pretty good with its fresh fruit and ice cream. The dessert on the right was good too but personally I prefer more thoroughly cooked red bean. I've also had their bubble tea before which I like!

L: Mango & Strawberry Shaved Ice; R: Red Bean & Tang Yuan

Overall, I don't ever go to Crystal Mall to shop but to eat then YES!

I don't think I have ever left the Granville Island Market Place without trying some type of dessert! This time I went to Stuart's originally intending to try their blueberry cheesecake but saw this French Opera Cake which I've never had before.

Stuart's cake box

The cake was too sweet for my taste and had layers chocolate, almond sponge cake and coffee buttercream. However, I can see this as a favourite for chocolate lovers.

French Opera Cake

Next time I'd probably try Stuart's cheesecakes, tarts or macarons instead!

Trees Organic is known to some as the best cheesecake place in Vancouver which enticed me to try when I passed by it while in Gastown. The little shop's tables were all full with customers all eating their cheesecake.

I tried the blueberry cheesecake with high hopes and Trees Organic did not disappoint. This was a cheesecake texture that I have not tried before. It was more dense than Cheesecake Etc. but less firm than the typical New York Cheesecake. It was like firmer mousse cake which made it easy to consume. The cream cheese flavour was just right but the crust could be improved as it was too delicate and crumbled when the spoon hit it. Just personal preference that I like crust that supports the cake and stays together.

Blueberry cheesecake

Overall, although a bit pricey for one piece of cake I do like the cheesecake here and would visit again when I want to treat myself :)