Gram Cafe & Pancakes is now open in Richmond serving up the popular souffle pancakes. People go nuts over these in Japan with long line ups for a taste of their fluffy pancakes.
There are 4 Gram Cafe & Pancakes set to open in Metro Vancouver – Robson Street, Kerrisdale, The Amazing Brentwood and Richmond. The Richmond location inside Aberdeen Mall is the first to open and we came during their soft opening to check out the space and the unique menu items. No date is set for the Grand Opening yet as they are still working out kinks.
Interior
The space is large and lots of space. If you are in a large group, it might be hard to get a spot unless you come early.
Kids
The seating is comfortable and the tables are spaced a distance from other tables, so if you bring in strollers, there is plently of room to move around.
There are also high chairs available inside. Changing tables are a short distance away and since it’s in Aberdeen Mall, there is changing tables outside.
We did notice a few kids dining here as well when we were here.
Menu
Premium Pancake Line Up
Something you might not know about Gram Cafe & Pancakes is that there is a line up for their Premium Pancakes. They are open 11am-9pm daily and serving three time slots of Premium Pancakes at 11am, 3pm, 6pm with 30 orders at each time slot.
As most guests want the premium pancakes instead of their regular items, you will need to go ahead of time to get a token and come at at the next time slot available.
It is suggested to come 1 hour to 1.5 hours in advance to get the token. Best to grab it, then walk around the mall until it’s your turn. Of course with more locations open, lines may die down.
Taste Test of Premium Pancake
We had our tokens on the table with ’08’ and ’09’, so we had to wait till they served the people ahead of us. It wasn’t a long wait once all the pancakes started coming out. The servers are quick and have to balance the pancakes very well so it doesn’t topple over. It’s very delicate.
Once it’s at the table, it should be eating very quickly within minutes as you can see it starts to deflate.
There are 3 premium soufflé pancakes stacked on top of each other with a scoop of butter and a small jug of syrup. There is also whipped cream on the side.
It has a good flavour with a bit of butter, syrup and whipped cream. It was a touch dense, so I wished it was a bit more airy. I haven’t been to their Japan locations, but some have said the ones in Japan are more airy than the ones here.
$16 for each dish is a bit steep, but it is slightly above par with other cafes in town that do something similar.
Cool Premium Pancake Take Out
If you absolutely have no patience to line up, they do offer a limited amount of Cool Premium Pancake for take out only. This takes their premium pancake, cut in half and filled with whipped cream for $3.75.
It’s much more affordable than the Premium Pancake which is $16 for 3 pancakes.
Taste Test of Cool Premium Pancake
It is served cold and the height of the pancake has deflated as some of the air has escaped as its not fresh off the griddle. It has a generous amount of whipped cream in the centre. Some say its too much whipped cream, but I do love whipped cream. It was alright.
Tiramisu Pancake
Between the three pancakes is mascarpone tiramisu cream, cocoa powder and a piece of milk chocolate. The pancakes are thinner and for this sweet pancake option, it is served cold. This makes sense as the other ingredients are cold and won’t melt because of the temperature.
That mascarpone tiramisu cream is really good and addictive.
Chili Bean Pancake
There are 3 pieces of pancakes with chili sauce, maple breakfast sausage, potatoes, salad, and cheddar cheese. This is your savoury dish and it’s interesting that they serve this as it give guests more options.
The chili had a nice kick of spice to it. I’m not a sweet and savoury person, so I didn’t gravitate towards this dish. The other people I dined with did enjoy it.
Chocolate Banana French Toast
This has their thick cut of french toast and topped with chocolate sauce and 4 slices of banana. There definitely could have more banana in this dish.
It was alright but nothing special.
Coffee
They have an assortment of drinks on the menu, but we went with coffee to pair with the pancakes. They do offer coffee in medium or dark roast.
Final Thoughts
It’s great that Gram Cafe & Pancakes has finally arrived in Vancouver with much anticipation. Plus, more locations to come in 2020.
They have some kinks to work out, but the location is great inside Aberdeen and diversified the soufflé pancake offerings in Metro Vancouver. I thought these were a touch dense and I would like a bit more fluffiness to them.
Address:
4151 Hazelbridge Way Unit1360, Richmond, BC
Website:
https://www.gramcanada.com/
