Bernard Noir

Bernard Noir is a fairly new chocolate boutique, located in Downtown Vancouver. The boutique offers three of the ten most popular chocolates in Europe which include French brands Michel Cluizel and Richart, along with German brand Lauestein. Moreover, Bernard Noir carries their own chocolate made by a certified chocolatier. 

Asides from chocolate, Bernard Noir offers housemade pastries and dessert by Chef Yutta. The selection changes daily from a variety of croissants, scones and brownies, along with Belgian waffles to cakes and cupcakes. In addition, the boutique offers gourmet baguette sandwiches.

I was invited to sample some goodies and met the owners behind Bernard Noir. Bernard handles the business aspect while his wife Chef Yutta, does the baking. The owners are a strong believer in "fat makes you fat" and only use real ingredients for their pastries such as butter, cane or coconut palm sugar. Furthermore, the owners also believe in using less fat because "fat makes you fat".

Crackle Crème

Crackle Creme is a one man operated dessert shop that is located in Chinatown, serving creme brûlée and waffles. I only know of Crackle Creme because a few months ago, photos from the dessert shop were popping up on my Instagram feed almost every day! I was more interested in trying their waffles than the creme brûlée though. So after finishing up at The Fish Counter with C'est la vie a Maggi, we decided to make a dessert stop and headed to Crackle Creme.

The interior of Crackle Creme looks clean, tidy as well as simple, and the space is properly maximized. There are seating arrangements along the walls and a few seats outside of the shop. During our visit in the middle of the afternoon, the shop was not busy so fortunately we had no issues grabbing a seat. If the shop is full however, Crackle Creme offers creme brûlée to go in disposable tin cups.

On our visit, the flavours of creme brûlée included Bailey's, Madagascar Vanilla Bean, Cream of Earl Grey, Salted Caramel, Black Sesame, Pandan Coconut and Durian. In addition, there was some sort of event(?) that the shop created more flavours for which included Spiced Pumpkin Pie, Matcha Green Tea, Ferrero Rocher, Honey Lavender, Lemon Basil, Guinness Espresso, Maple Topped with Walnuts, Bourbon Butter and Chai Tea. Basically, there is a large variety of flavours available! 

Belgium Place

RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED

Belgium Place is one of the newer cafes that serves authentic liege waffles; the ones with pearl crystals throughout the dough which caramelizes the exterior and results in a nice golden color. Walking in, one of the cashiers was having lunch and he immediately got up to greet us and take our order. We were very pleased with his friendliness along with his patience as we browsed through the four screen television menu.

The cafe is very spacious and there is a fair amount of seating arrangements along with a few patio seats. I like the spaciousness because during busier times, both the ordering and picking up line ups would not be cramped. There is nothing worse than bumping and nudging the next person beside you when in a long line up!

Other than waffles, Belgium Place offers croissants, quiches, panini and baguette sandwiches. About the waffles though, there are sweet as well as savoury choices and everything is housemade. There is also a choice of almond, chocolate, as well as chocolate and almond waffles for those who want to skip on the plain ones.

As for the accompaniments, there are fruit compotes which include apple, apricot, blueberry and strawberry. On top of that, gelato (vanilla or chocolate), sauce (chocolate, caramel, maple syrup) and caramelized nuts (almond or walnuts) are also available as toppings.

Zestea

Zestea is a bubble tea restaurant and the newest addition to join the Lonsdale strip in North Vancouver. The restaurant offers both Belgium and Hong Kong style bubble waffles, bubble tea, fresh fruit juice, milk and yogurt smoothies as well as slushes. Walking in, the waitress asked if we were looking for something to go or for here. For those grabbing take out, there is a menu posted at the counter.

The restaurant is newly renovated, clean, looks bright and has a welcoming atmosphere. There are comfortable seating arrangements and although another table could have been squeezed in (which would be too tight), I am glad the restaurant chose not to. Also, there are a few seats outside as well. As for the service, the people here are friendly. Every one of them.

Bubble Waffle Cafe 雞蛋仔餐廳

There is always someone I know that wants to try Bubble Waffle Cafe, but I rarely crave for bubble tea. However, since C'est la vie a Maggi and I were in the area, we decided to make a visit. Our first choice was actually Icy Bar but the restaurant was randomly closed for the day. Also, I thought Milk & Sugar Cafe (which is located across the street) was Bubble Waffle Cafe! Maggi wanted to go to Milk & Sugar Cafe too but it was my fault because I got the restaurants mixed up.

Bubble Waffle Cafe is located near Kingsway and Joyce, and is in the same plaza along with Honolulu, London Drugs, Papa John's and Gold Train Express. The restaurant appears to be a franchise and there are three locations in Richmond as well as one in UBC.

As for the interior, the restaurant is fairly clean and there is a good amount of seats. Every table has three types of menu which includes noodle combos, Japanese paper hot pot, teppanyaki, snacks, rice rolls and drinks. Since we spent the whole day eating already, we decided to try only the bubble tea and bubble waffles. As for the service, the owner is quite friendly. I put my purse on a chair next to the table beside us and she pushed the chair towards me. Although her English was not the best, she was friendly.

Bubble Queen

Bubble Queen is located in Richmond and is known for serving fresh mango drinks and chocolate slushes (such as Ferrero Roche and Kit Kat). The bubble tea joint has less than fifteen seats available and the tables were quite dirty (spilled drinks and garbage left). Considering there was only one family ordering, the slow period and two staff members at the front, it would have been nice if the place was a bit more clean (although I probably forget how bubble joints are considering I do not visit frequently them anymore).

Nero Belgium Waffle Bar

I like Neros. I think they are always consistent (maybe I am just lucky?). Some of my friends say they have had stale waffles here before. I came here with my sister and boyfriend.

We ordered the blueberries with added ice cream, mocha, and bresilienne with an extra ice cream.

This is my boyfriends first decent experience (third time here). He ordered the blueberries with whip cream on the liege waffle and added a scoop of vanilla ice cream ($2). The second time he ordered the banella on the liege waffle ($6.95), it was just a banana and nutella on the side. It looked pretty boring and dry. I would personally ask them to drizzle the nutella on the waffle to make it better, unless you prefer it on the side. He enjoyed it this time and was surprised his blueberries were all pretty big! I told him to add the ice cream and it is probably because of the ice cream he enjoyed it a lot more.

My sister ordered the mocha on the brussels waffle ($8.90) which comes with vanilla ice cream, 60% dark chocolate and espresso infused whipped cream. She enjoyed it and says it is impossible to finish it all by yourself. But for people like me, I can eat 2 to myself.

I always get the bresilienne on the brussel waffle ($8.90). It comes with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, hazelnut crumble and caramel sauce. I added an extra vanilla scoop this time ($2). I did not think it was too much ice cream at all, but I felt like the scoops were smaller to fit the waffle. So I think next time I would not add another scoop.

Overall this place is pretty good. I always order the bresilienne and it has always been consistent. The first two times I came here there were no line ups, but the third time there was a long line up. Is it worth the wait? I guess if you are craving it, have nothing better to do, or want to try it. I came here before dinner so the 45 minute wait did not seem logical at that time since I was starving! It pretty much ruined my appetite before dinner too, but I enjoyed every bite of it.

This is from my first time.

Bresilenne on the brussels waffle ($8.90) and the fruity on the liege waffle ($8.75)

My boyfriend hated his first experience. Some of the fruit was sour and the waffle would be really dry. If he added ice cream or whipped cream, I am sure it would have been better. He kept saying eggo waffles were better. My mint tea was meh and his cappuccino was not that great either, I would stick with waffles.

Food: 4/5

Service: N/A