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Thomas Haas Patisserie is known for their decadent pastries and treats. The owner- Thomas Haas has been recognized as one of top 10 chocolatiers in North America and have also won numerous awards.

I’ve been here a few times and it’s always tough to get to the North Shore, but its a treat thats worth the drive. The location is in the middle of nowhere, but it still draws a large crowd on weekdays and weekends. Amy, Angela, Anita, Kathy and I decided to stop by here after our Tomahawk adventure.

This place was super busy and packed!

Macarons are one of their specialties. One of the better macarons in Vancouver. Angela was a bit upset because even though she ordered 4 different flavours, they ran out of one of the flavours. They just give you any other random flavour. Nonetheless, she did enjoy it and you can read more about it on her blog – Muchkie’s Munchies.

The same thing happened to me too. I ordered Pistachio and coffee macarons, but the passionfruit and coffee came instead. I was sad because I didn’t quite like passionfruit but I ate it anyways. The texture and consistancies of the macaroons are top notch.

Lemon Tart ($5.50) has a shortbread crust, lemon cream on top of the light lemon custard.

Milk Chocolate with Passionfruit and Almond ($5.50) has a light milk chocolate mousse, passionfruit cream, soft
almond cake and crispy hazelnut wafer. Check out TheFoodQueen to see what Amy thought of this dessert.

Tiramisu au Chocolat ($5.50) has light mascarpone cream and soft almond cake with amaretto, coffee, and milk chocolate mousse. It was delicious and I love how you can see the whole cross-section of the cake. Tasted awesome too.

Butter Croissant ($2.50) has a lot of flakey layers to the croissant. It was good, but I wishes it was more crispy on the outside.

Look at all those layers.

Double Baked Almond Croissant ($4.45) was so good. There are no words to describe how good this is. *Drools* *DIES* It’s so savory and has so many almonds. Definitely a must get item! Tastes the best when it’s just fresh from the oven too!

Oh like at that. SO good.

Overall, Thomas Haas has some solid treats and even though the locations are so far away, it’s worth the trip.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Few free parking spots out front
  • You kinda need a car to get here, unless you like to walk
  • Recommended: Macarons, Double Baked croissants, and Tiramisu
  • Can be a bit pricey
  • Busy with people and might be hard to find a seat for large group
  • Outdoor seating (great for summer)

We Rate Thomas Haas:

Address:
998 Harbourside Dr
North Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thomashaas.com/

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Fleuri is inside the Sutton Place Hotel on Burrard Street. According to National Geographic, they have the World’s Best Chocolate Buffet. The buffet is $28 per person and you can reserve for either 6pm -8:30pm or 8:30pm- 10pm. If you have dinner here, you can add the chocolate buffet on for $18. You get access to a crepe station, chocolate fondue, cakes and other pastries.

The chocolate table is just one long table. I expected a bit more than one table, but there is a good selection.

There are tuxedo cakes, nanaimo bars, mousse, and profiteroles.

There’s more cakes, brownies, pecan pie, and macarons.

There’s also warm apple crumble too. You must try this, it’s really good!

In the middle of it all is a 3-tiered fondue machine with cantaloupe, honey dew, pineapples, strawberries and grapes to dip.

The best way to tackle all the cakes is to grab a few varieties for your table and split it all. Our group did the opposite and started eating whole slices of cake until we decided to share amongst each other.

The crepe station is located on the lower level of the restaurant near the entrance.

The chef makes the crepes fresh to order right in front of your eyes. You can add many topping to it or even ice cream.

I decided to add some raspberry sorbet which was delicious! Then I added whipped cream, chocolate sauce and raspberry sauce. The crepes were good.

The cakes were alright, but you get too much of a chocolate dose.

The profiterole on the left was so good and it had a chocolate mousse filling on the inside. I don’t know what was on the right, but it was good .

The fruits were fresh and quite plump for the fondue. I kinda wish they had dark chocolate to dip into, but they only had milk chocolate.

The chocolate mousse cup was also good, but after eating all that cake and then this, it didn’t taste as good. Clearly I was starting to have chocolate overload.

The macaron wasn’t good at all since it was too hollow on the inside. The pecan pie, apple crumble, profiterole, and fondue was also good.

At this point I was so chocolated-out that I needed tea. My mouth felt so much better! We sat there looking at other tables and their delicious entrees…streak has never looked so delicious in my life. I also had a craving for salty McDonalds fries too.

To end it all, I got some passion fruit sorbet, it was also good, but it was a bit sweet compared to the raspberry sorbet.

While we were dining here, we caught a few glimpses of the ‘Once Upon a Time’ cast. We know for sure we saw ‘Grumpy’ and ‘Snow White’ (Ginnifer Goodwin). I don’t have pictures since we were too busy guessing if it was them. Plus, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to be disturbed during dinner by a mob of asian girls. We also asked the waitress what other famous people have dined here recently and she said that Justin Bieber was here too but had to leave because a bunch of fan girls were creeping outside.

Overall, the chocolate buffet is okay and a bit hyped up. Since the chocolate was so rich and sweet, it really made us full fast. I would have liked to see more varieties of chocolates than those usual items. We probably got super full after 1 hr of eating, so we sat and chit chatted till 9pm. Service was good.

Words of Wisdom:

  • $28 per person, $14 per child, or $18 with a dinner
  • Thursday, Friday and Saturday Only
  • Available during dinner time 6pm – 8:30 pm or 8:30pm – 10pm
  • Can get full quickly off the rich chocolate

We Rate Fleuri’s Chocolate Buffet:
Website:
http://www.vancouver.suttonplace.com/Chocoholic_Buffet.htm

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Thierry Patisserie is located near Alberni and Thurlow and sells some unique treats! From croissants to cakes… they have the tasty treats you want. It’s a great place that is open late and perfect to chill with friends.

The tables are very cramped together inside, but it’s usually hard to find places like this that are open late. I usually come here with friends when we just want a coffee and a snack to talk. Girls like to talk.. sometimes too much, but that’s what we do.

Latte was good as usual, but sometimes it can be a bit more milky than it should be. But, it’s up to your personal

Chocolate Succe Cake was quite hard to eat. It has hazelnut meringue, chocolate mousse and 70% chocolate ganache. The chocolate covering the cake was very thick and was hard to break through it to get into the ganache later inside. It still tasted good, but it was frustrating to eat it.

Chocolate trio was my favorite! It has white, milk and dark chocolate mousse and chocolate sponge. For a chocolate lover, this was my favorite item. It is very easy to eat and is filled with soft creamy deliciousness.

Lemon Tart was really good and best for those who like something more sweet and tangy. AdventureTimeGirl said this was her favorite out of the bunch of pastries.

Overall, Thierry Patisserie is a good place to chill with your friends over coffee/tea and pastries. Spiked Tea is good too if you like something new and different. It is a bit pricey than usual, so do be aware that it might cost you a bit.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Large variety of pastries
  • Can be a bit pricey, $5+ per dessert
  • Lots of tables
  • Beautiful decor
We Rate Thierry Patisserie:

Address
1059 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC
Website:
thierrychocolates.com
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Leonidas is a Belgian Chocolate shop inside the Convention Center near Waterfront Station. They sell lots of signature chocolates, macarons, waffles, drinks, and other chocolate goodies. The interior is quite small, but can fit a few small groups.

M and I were in the area and we wanted to redeem our Social Shopper deal good for 2 waffles, 2 hot chocolates, 2 chocolate covered strawberries and a box of 6 chocolates. Since it was Valentines Day, it seemed like a good day to redeem it.

Dark Hot Chocolate was good! It was very smooth and had a nice rich chocolate taste.

Leiage Waffles were not good at all. The waffles were pre-made and reheated. I found this very strange since I’ve heard lots of good things about their waffles. Perhaps they made them ahead of time since they knew the shop would be busy during Valentines Day. M and I really thought the waffles were hard and bland.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries were good. The strawberries were big, plump and juicy with a good coating of milk chocolate.

The chocolates you can choose any 6 from their display case. I chose anything with dark chocolate and they were really good!! If you have no idea what to get, you can always ask them for advice. They have tons of choices to choose from.

Overall, the chocolates are the best items here. I would go back just for those. As for this experience, M and I felt that the service was quite poor. Some customers were ignored when there was no line up, so they just left. Our table was left dirty for a long time and as I went back to get the chocolates, they forgot I was already dining there. Granted it was a busy Valentines Day, I can understand the staff was flustered by the amount of customers. Since they are still quite new, I am sure they will improve on their service.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Delicious Dark Chocolates!
  • Under $10
  • Closest Skytrain: Waterfront

We Rate Leonidas:

Address:
#29 – 1055 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://www.leonidaswaterfront.com/

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Bel Cafe is beside Hawksworth in the Georgia Hotel. They serve up sandwiches, pastries, coffee and other delicious goodies.

Rose and Raspberry Hot Chocolate (~$7) with Valrhona Ivoire White Chocolate, rose oil, vanilla, and freeze-dried raspberry.
It comes with Vanilla shortbread.

The hot chocolate was really pretty, but I found this to be too sweet for my liking. The sweetness overpowered the taste, but that might just be me.

Vanilla shortbread was ok, but I thought it was also sweet since it was coated in sugar. It came with the hot chocolate. I think it would go well with tea or a coffee.

Macarons ($2) are one of their specialties, so I was excited to chomp down on these! Yummm.

Black Sesame Macaron ($2) was a really unique flavour and I just had to try it. I really liked the black sesame flavour.

Pistachio Macaron ($2) looks electric green, kinda radioactive in a way. Besides the color, the macaron had a good texture and tasted really good.

I honestly didn’t like the hot chocolate, but the cookies and macarons were delicious! Perhaps you will find this experience a bit different from I did.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Hot Chocolates are not that great
  • Macarons are good
  • Gets pretty busy around lunch

We Rate Bel Cafe:

Location:
801 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.belcafe.com/
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Soirette Macarons & Tea is a new little cafe that opened up near Pender and Broughton St. Flo bought me here since she really wanted to try out their macarons. She heard about them from an article in the Vancouver Sun and then bought a few Social Shopper deals.

We came too early to use the deal, but since we were there anyways, we decided to grab some macarons without the coupons. Since we heard good things from this place, we kinda knew we would be back in the near future.

The interior is very cute and cozy with mostly white and clear interior decor with a blue wall at the back. It’s definitely a place for the girls to just kick back and relax with the macarons.

There is very limited seating, so most people we saw just did take out. Definitely not a place for large groups.

They also have a large selection of specialty teas and drinks. I didn’t get a chance to get one, but tea does sounds like a good pairing with tea.

We came an hour before closing, so they were running out of macarons. We didn’t mind since there were still some great flavours.
Don’t let this picture discourage you from going since Flo and I just came late after work.

Macarons ($2 each, 6 for $11.50 or 12 for $22). Flo and I just got 6 macarons to snack on. We got the raspberry, cappuccino, matcha, Salted Caramel, Chocolate and pistachio.

All of them were equality as good as the next one. They are well made and had great texture and flavours.

Overall, one of the better macaron places in town! It seems to be the new fad, which everyone loves.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Great as gifts!
  • Priced similar to other places with macarons
  • Beautiful decor

We rate Soirette Macarons & Tea:

Address:
1433 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC V6G
Website:
http://www.soirette.com/
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Bel Cafe is participating in the Hot Chocolate Festival thats happening till February 14th, 2012. Since I work in the area, I thought it would be nice to grab a hot chocolate to go and sip it back in the office. What I like about it is that you get a cookie with your hot chocolate too.

The hot chocolate and the cookie will cost you about $7, but all proceeds raised goes towards food services programs of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre in Vancouver.

70% Valrhona Guanaja Dark Chocolate, orange oil, orange zest, roasted green cardamom 

The initial taste of the hot chocolate was really good since the orange and cardamom taste really shined through. One thing I really didn’t like about the hot chocolate is the gritty taste, which didn’t make it very smooth. When it comes to hot chocolate, I am quite picky on the texture.

Valrhona dark chocolate fudge cookie 

I really enjoyed this cookie.

Bel Cafe is featuring other flavours till February 14th, so check it out.

  • CITRUS AND GREEN CARDAMOM
    70% Valrhona Guanaja Dark Chocolate, orange oil, orange zest, roasted green cardamom
    Served with: Valrhona dark chocolate fudge cookie
    Available: January 14 – 24
  • ROSE AND RASPBERRY
    Valrhona Ivoire White Chocolate, rose oil, vanilla, freeze-dried raspberry
    Served with: Vanilla shortbread
    Available: January 25 – February 3
  • ORGANIC FILBERT AND SWEET SPICE
    36% Valrhona Caramelia Milk Chocolate, organic hazelnut, hazelnut oil, chai spice
    Served with: Hazelnut breton
    Available: February 4 – 14

I honestly didn’t like the hot chocolate, but the cookie was delicious. Perhaps you will find this experience a bit different. It is still expensive for just a drink, but the money goes towards a good cause.

Location:
801 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.belcafe.com/
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Scoop! is a Frozen Yogurt place on West 4th. They have frozen yogurt with some amazing toppings.

After an event Downtown, a bunch of us headed here since Wongers insisted we go! It’s probably because its good and I’ve never been here. She raves about this place and now I know why.

The interior is quite homey with a few seats at the front and some more in the back.

Their most popular items are the frozen yogurts, but they also have smoothies and juices.

Their frozen yogurt machine pumps out their original flavour, so if you want green tea, mango, raspberry or chocolate hazelnut, they manually blend that together. You can choose 2 flavours and combine them together.

After choosing your size and flavour of the yogurt, you can then begin adding toppings. Its an additional $0.93 per 50g.

The best topping that they have are the Mochi! It’s made in-house and out of all the frozen yogurt places I have been to, it’s is really the best. I do also love all the fruits!

You can also add different syrups on top such as white chocolate, chocolate sauce, hot fudge, condensed milk, dulce de leche, and many more.

Small Original ($3.29+additional topping cost) goes best with fruit. It’s the best way to enjoy your froyo!

Small Original and green tea ($3.49 +additional topping cost). The green tea was mushed up at the bottom and the original was put on top. It was good and I liked the toppings!

If you do order the blended flavour, it looks more flat and melts faster than just the original.

The fun doesn’t end there! They have a lot of board games to play! They have a few classics such as Monopoly, Battleship, Jenga…etc. It’s really a great place to just hang out with a few friends. They also have this puzzle game called “Vortex”, I dare you to play it! I spent the whole time trying to solve it…but we couldn’t. If you figure out the secret, do let me know!!

They also have a Fooseball table! How cool is that? This little frozen yogurt place is cooler than some peoples houses.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Lots of games to play
  • Original flavour is best
  • Blended favours melt faster and not as pretty looking
  • Decent prices
  • Pay street parking

We Rate Scoop!:

Address:
2050 W 4th Ave
Vancouver, BC
Website:
scoopyogurt.com
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French Made Baking finally opened up their store on Kingsway and Broadway. I’ve been waiting for them to open for a while and I finally made a trip down to check out their store for the Hot Chocolate Festival. They are one of the many vendors participating in the month long festival. They feature new flavours everyday till February 14th!

Since I had lunch with Angela from Munchkie’s Munchies , we decided to come here after to chill over desserts and hot chocolate!

Their flavours of hot chocolates change everyday, so do keep an eye on their schedule.

  • Praline – Milk chocolate | January 14, 20, 26, Feb 1, 7, 12
  • Yuzu – Dark Chocolate | January 15, 21, 27, February 2, 8,
  • Vanilla Chestnut – White Chocolate | January 17, 22, 28, February 3, 9,
  • Passion Fruit – Milk Chocolate | January 18, 24, 29, February 4, 10, 14
  • Earl Grey – Milk Chocolate | January 19, 25, 31, February 5, 11

Once you walk into the store, you can look through into their kitchen to see them hard at work creating all their cute pastries.

Praline Hot Chocolate ($5.25 with Macaron) had a beautiful smooth texture with little bit of praline integrated into it. This is probably one of the better hot chocolates I’ve had.

I’m generally not a big fan of hot chocolate, but I did enjoy this. The price is pretty good too since other vendors can charge up to $8  for a hot chocolate.

Pistachio Macaron I thought were really good! One of my favorite places for macarons!

Le Caneles ($2.50) is a small pastry that originated from Bordeaux, France. It has a soft tender custard center with a dark caramel crust. I’ve had it in the past, but this time it tasted alright, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was different.

Creme Brulee didn’t have the nice “crack” when you break into the toasted sugar top. I don’t think Angela took much of a liking to it either. We did notice that it was toasted ahead of time, which may have contributed to that.

Another thing we noticed was the use of the paper plates and cups, since we were eating it all in the store, it probably would have been better to have real cups and plates. ** UPDATE: They have now plates, mugs, and cutlery! **

Since they are still in their soft launch of their store, I am sure they will improve on their products in the near future. Nonetheless, the macarons and hot chocolate are super good!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Can be found at a few local farmers’ markets
  • Must get the macarons and hot chocolate!!
  • Some items can be a hit and a miss
  • Under $10
  • Limited seats
  • Gluten-free

We Rate French Made Baking:

Address:
81 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://frenchmadebaking.com/
Twitter:
@FrMadeBaking
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Back to Pinkberry again since I just can’t get enough of their frozen yogurt. M hasn’t been to Pinkberry yet, so he really wanted to try what all the fuss is about.

Small Size with toppings ($5.55) + Peanut Butter Crunch ($0.50)

M got the chocolate frozen yogurt with chocolate chops, chocolate crisps, chocolate sauce and the peanut butter crunch topping. I suppose he was in a very very chocolate mood. Strangely enough, he loved it and didn’t find it too sweet.

Small Size with toppings ($5.55) + Peanut Butter Crunch ($0.50)

I went with the original frozen yogurt with mochi, some fruit and the peanut butter crunch topping. I am a peanut butter lover, so I loved the addition of the topping. By having the premium toppings, it does make your yogurt a bit more expensive. It’s worth it if you love peanut butter.

Overall, we were pretty satisfied with the frozen yogurt. Better quality than the other frozen yogurt stores in the mall.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Peppermint Flavour tastes like toothpaste…and looks like toothpaste
  • If unsure of flavour, you can ask them for samples before deciding which flavour you want
  • Must try swirl pearls since they can only be found at Pinkberry
  • Peanut Butter Crunch topping is worth the extra $0.50 if you love peanut butter.
  • Small or medium is a good size

We Rate Pinkberry: 
Address
F142 – 4700 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC V5H4M1
Website:
pinkberrycanada.com
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Last time I came to Thierry Patisserie, I found it a great place to chat with people over some delicious treats.

Since I was meeting up with CanuckGirl after work, I thought it would be a great place to just chill.

Everything is quite cute inside and it’s usually packed with people. Sometimes seating can get a bit cramped, but they do have heated patio seating if you wanna go outside.

They have lots of little cakes.

They also have a variety of different chocolates.

Also, they have their famous macarons. The flavours change every season, so it can vary from visit to visit.

Latte was really cute. Some pretty stellar latte art too.

Caneles is a small pastry that originated from Bordeaux, France. It has a soft tender custard center with a dark caramel crust. It tasted alright, but it could have more a vanilla taste to it.

Overall, Thierry Patisserie is a good place to chill with your friends over coffee/tea and pastries.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Large variety of pastries
  • Can be a bit pricey
  • Lots of tables
  • Beautiful decor
We Rate Thierry Patisserie: 

Address
1059 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC
Website:
thierrychocolates.com
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Miura Waffle Milk Bar is located on Davie and Howe St. they are best known for the waffle sandwiches in sweet and savory flavours. This has been on my “To Eat” list for a long long time, but I seldom visit this area.

Since a few of us from my High School were meeting up again, I wanted to take them somewhere unique so I thought to myself, waffle sandwiches are unique!

The interior is not too large, but it fits a few parties of 2s and 4s. Sometimes more if you are able to put chairs together.

You can watch them create your waffles as you wait. They don’t have a ventilation machine, so, if they accidentally burn something, the whole place smells like burnt waffles.

Latte (12oz – $3.29) was not very good. It was very milky and could have had a stronger coffee taste.

Strawberry Flavoured Milk ($3.29)

Blueberry Yoggy Milk ($3.29) it’s a thin textured yogurt-like drink that’s slightly tangy.

HEC Savory Waffle Sandwich ($5.99) has ham, omelette and mozzarella cheese between 2 waffles. Sunny really liked it and it was quite cute.

BELT Savory Waffle Sandwich ($4.99 Tuesday Special) has bacon, egg, lettuce and tomatoes. What is awesome about this is that the bacon is cooked right into the waffles. You know no one is gonna steal your bacon cause it’s hidden in the waffle.

Wasabi Salmon Savory Waffle Sandwich ($7.99) has soy cured salmon, lettuce, wasabi ranch sauce and some herbs. Look at how flakey the salmon is inside the waffle. It complemented the wasabi sauce nicely and I would definitely eat it again!

Tiramisu Sweet Waffle Sandwich ($5.29) has cream cheese custard cream, coffee jelly and chocolate sauce. It clearly has no resemblance to a tiramisu, but it tastes good. It’s the same size as the sandwich, but they can split it into 2 so it’s easier to share. Tasted delicious!!

Overall, one sandwich was good enough for lunch! The prices are decent and you will leave with a smile on your face. Then, you can go on Facebook and brag to your friends you had a cool waffle sandwich. hahaha.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Weekday specials
  • Very unique and memorable sandwiches
  • Under $10

We Rate Miura Waffle Milk Bar:

Address:

829 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://miurawafflemilkbar.webs.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miura-Waffle-Milk-Bar/115874321771418

Twitter: @MiuraWaffle
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Godiva is a chocolate shop that opened up at Metropolis . They have another location on Robson Street too. They are known for their decadent chocolate creations.

I’ve always been a bit turned off to go into Godiva because of their expensive chocolates. I’ve never had their chocolates, but I heard they were really good.

They have lots of chocolates to choose from, but I came in for their Godiva Shakes.

Dark Chocolate Decadence Godiva Shakes ($6) was good, but I prefer drinks elsewhere. It did have a good rich chocolate flavour with lots of chocolate chip chunks, but I didn’t like the chunks since it would get stuck to my teeth.
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East Village Bakery is an artisan bakery specializing in artisan bread, pies and french pastries. I honestly thought it was just an asian bakery, but when M and stepped inside, we were just amazed by the amount of little ornate treats. Everything looked very fresh and the smell inside was just amazing.

They had a lot of delectable treats available! I’m sure you can come in to find lots of inspiration too if you love to bake.

They all looked picture perfect! From the scones to the gingersnap cookies. Pretty good prices too.

Palmiers AKA Butterfly Cookies are nice and crunchy with good layering. Not too buttery.

Doesn’t that look so delicious. It is one of my favorite cookies as a kid.

White chocolate blueberry scone ($2.35) was a really good scone. It was different that the usual scones since it was not very hard and was quite delicate. I wasn’t originally going to purchase this, but the owner suggested it. Good decision indeed.

Spinach Cheddar Scone ($2.35) is for the people who love savory baked goods. It wasn’t very flavourful, but it does taste better with some tea or coffee. The inside texture was quite light and fluffy similar to the other scone.

Sour Cherry Chocolate Truffle Tart (2 for $3.50) was surprisingly really good. Good balance between the sour cherry and the chocolate.

Callebaut Chocolate Banana Cake with Marzipan ($2.95) was good, the inside had a really cool texture and had some chewy bits inside. M liked it a lot.

Ginger Crackle Cookies ($1.95) was not that good since it was really tough and hard to eat. M likes his ginger cookies a bit softer and sweeter.

Overall, it’s a good place to grab a few treats and bring them back home.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Call in for special orders to ensure the item you want
  • Fresh and baked daily on site
  • Very very limited seating, mostly for take out
  • Some items can be a hit or miss
  • Good affordable prices
We Rate East Village Bakery: 

Address:

2166 East Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC V5L

Website:
eastvillagebakery.com

Twitter: @eastvillagebake
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La Chocolaterie is the best chocolate store in the Lower Mainland. I really mean that because I have never been so excited and addicted to chocolates until now. Ever since my first bite at the Bakers Market, I have not been able to stop myself. They are my version of Willy Wonka. The owners – Taka & Kayoko have really dedicated themselves on making quality chocolates!

Their store is inside Izumi-Ya Japanese Marketplace. Its a small space, but thats where all the magic happens.

They are best known for their Ganache Chocolates. Really smooth chocolatey texture with amazing balance of flavour. I’m pretty sure they have over 30 flavours. Really unique flavours like blueberry, mango, green tea, black sesame, sake, red bean and even wasabi.

They also have chocolate bars too! These may look normal, but they are truly amazing. Earl Grey and the matcha bars are really good!

These ganache chocolates part of their coconama collection are really the gem of it all!

Favorite Pack ($5) contains 6 of the most popular flavours. You can’t go wrong with this since these are tried and tested flavours.

The green tea is quite strong, so if you aren’t familiar with the taste of green tea, it will be quite bitter.

Adventurers Pack ($5) is not for all. Judging by the flavours, it won’t appeal to everyone. The flavour is very subtle and acts as a secondary flavour to accompany the chocolaty ganache taste. The wasabi is not spicy at all, but you do get the faint flavour of wasabi.

I know some people may be scared of it, but it’s not bad at all.

6 pack of Tarts ($8.80) is assorted and you can choose what flavours you want inside. I initially thought the the tarts were a bit weird, but the tart make the ganache not as sweet. It makes for great presents…but in this case….I ate them all.

I also got Gift Basket A for $30 and it had a good assortment of everything in their store, so my coworkers really enjoyed it.

My all time favorite flavours:

  • Blueberry, mango, earl grey, coffee, black sesame, strong matcha and lemon basil.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Great Unforgettable Gifts (especially for the office)…step aside Ferrero Rocher!
  • Get a gift basket if you want to try a little bit of everything but can’t decide
  • Can be found at the Vancouver Bakers Market

We Rate La Chocolaterie: 
Address:
7971 Alderbridge Way (Inside Izumi-Ya Japanese Marketplace)
Richmond, BC
Website:
http://www.lachocolaterie-vancouver.com/
Twitter:
@TKChocolate
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Faubourg is a cafe offering Parisian baked goods and other delicious goodies in the Kerrisdale area. I’ve heard they had some amazing desserts and bread, so FoodQueen and I headed off to Kerrisdale to try it out. It wasn’t a quick drive for either of us since we both live so far.  Oh the things we do to try delicious food.

The interior looks really nice and has a good amount of seating.

They even have another area too.

All of their items are baker fresh daily and I hear their croissants are really crispy and delicious. Since it was nearing the end of the day, there wasn’t too much to choose from. Best to go early!

If you don’t have a sweet tooth, they also have a few savory items too.

Cafe Latte (Grande $3.85) was good and compliments well with some of their pastries.

Individual St. Honoré has a base of puff pastry with tiny pastry cream puffs covered in chocolate and whipped cream on top. I loved this dessert since I am a huge from of profiteroles-type of desserts.

Overall, good place to stop by for a quick treat and coffee.

Words of Wisdom:

  • They also offer breakfast, bunch, lunch and afternoon tea
  •  Lots of unique items
  • Lots of seating
  • Best to go early before some items are sold out

We Rate Faubourg:  
Address:
2156 W 41st Ave
Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://www.faubourg.com/
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Pinkberry has opened their newest location at Metrotown. I was really looking forward to this since its always a pain to drive all the way to North Vancouver to get my fix of froyo. I came here with a CCK, Gmoney and Jewels to get some frozen yogurt.

Inside Metrotown, there are also 2 other frozen yogurt stores – Yogen Fruz and Qoola. I personally prefer Pinkberry due to their variety of yogurt flavors and fresh unlimited toppings. The Pinkberry location is beside Nandos near the Food court.

The interior is very nice and accommodates more of take-out rather than sitting down and chatting. They only have 3 tables that sit either 2 or 3 people, so it’s not an ideal place to come with friends to chill. Perhaps grab it to-go and head downstairs to stare at some puppies and kittens at Pet Habitat.

They have 6 flavours to choose from, but if you are indecisive, you can combine flavours together without any extra charge.

They have many sizes available, but either a small or medium will be a good size for the average person.

You can choose as many toppings as you want, as long as it fits comfortable in your cup.

There’s a lot of toppings… from chocolates to sour candies…..to even cereal.

I personally gravitate towards the fresh fruit section since I think fruits are the perfect compliment to frozen yogurt. The mochi is really good too. Soft and chewy.

Swirl of original and green tea (Medium with Toppings -$6.55). I put in all the fruits – watermelon, kiwi, pineapple, strawberry, blackberries and oranges. I also added mochi and the two types of swirl pearls. With the combination of flavours, the original flavour overpowered the green tea flavour since the original flavour has more of a a sweet and tart taste.

The swirl pearls reminded me of salmon roe on sushi. As you bite into the pearls, the ball pops and you taste the sweet liquid. Don’t get too many or else it’ll just get annoyed to pop them. Its still quite fun.

Mango (Medium with Toppings -$6.55) is fruity and sweet.

Original (Medium with Toppings -$6.55) is sweet and tart. You can’t go wrong with this unless you really hate tart taste.

Overall, we were pretty satisfied with the frozen yogurt. Better quality than the other frozen yogurt stores in the mall.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Peppermint Flavour tastes like toothpaste…and looks like toothpaste
  • If unsure of flavour, you can ask them for samples before deciding which flavour you want
  • Must try swirl pearls since they can only be found at Pinkberry
  • Small or medium is a good size

We Rate Pinkberry: 
Address
F142 – 4700 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC V5H4M1
Website:
pinkberrycanada.com
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Thierry Patisserie is located near Alberni and Thurlow and sells some delectable treats! From croissants to cakes… they have the tasty treats you want.

I came here with a few of the SFU Food Bloggers – FoodQueen, ImBusyEating and GoodEat. We weren’t planning to go here, but since it was so close to where we were…we just had to try it out! The interior is just beautiful and has a lot of seats! It’s open till late as well, which is a big plus!

Their macarons vary every season. They can be quite colorful and packed full of flavours….or in some cases food coloring.

Chocolates chocolates… and more chocolates. They have a variety of different chocolate from fruit ganches, flavoured ganache, pralines, marzipan and many others.

Thierry also has an assortment of cakes for sale as well. Perhaps for someone’s birthday or any special occasion.

If you are looking for an individual sized cake, they have those too.  They have so many kinds…so good luck choosing one. I was tempted to eat all of them.

Croissants are available too…they have ham, original, almond, and chocolate.

Latte tasted alright. It goes well with the desserts!

Chocolate Eclair was awesome! I just love the custard filling with chocolate on top! It might be because I have a secret love for profiterole type of desserts.

Chocolate Croissant has chocolate inside of its golden flaky exterior.

Pistachio Chocolate Cake ($5.75) has Chocolate cake with mousse and pistachio mousse on top.

Macarons (7pack – $11.95) were alright. I really didn’t like the texture of the macarons compared to other places in town. Tasted a bit cake-like to me.

Overall, Thierry Patisserie is a good place to chill with your friends over coffee/tea and pastries. It’s open late at night, so it’s the perfect after dinner spot (assuming you aren’t too full from dinner).

Words of Wisdom:

  • Large variety of pastries
  • Can be a bit pricey
  • Lots of tables
  • Beautiful decor
We Rate Thierry Patisserie: 

Address
1059 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC
Website:
thierrychocolates.com
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