Jelly Modern Doughnuts

March 21, 2013April 27, 2013Leave a comment

After Tubby Dogs, we decided to head down a few streets to grab some desserts! Jelly Modern Doughnuts is a chic yet casual little shop offering creative gourmet doughnuts in Calgary.

They also seem to have a Jelly Food Truck, which sounds really cool. I’m not sure where they are located though, so any Calgary foodies out there can let me know!

When we arrived, most of the doughnuts were already sold out! The place isn’t packed, but they have a steady amount of customers coming in and out. Look at that kid trying to decide from all the delicious flavours!

Lots of customers buy boxes of their doughnuts for take out as well. If you choose to eat in, you still order and pay at the counter.

I love the atmosphere in the shop. It is girly but also family oriented. They have low sofas and wooden chairs with pink lanterns and couches. If I lived in Calgary, this would totally be a cute place to hang out and chat with friends during the day.

S’mores Hand Filled Doughnut

The customer in front of us actually bought the last ones by the time we got in line, but luckily the baker came out and we asked him if there would be any more. Luckily, he had just made another batch! A few minutes later, he brought us a large S’mores Doughnut! Surprisingly, it wasn’t as sweet as I had imagined. I loved the marshmallow at the top though. The doughnuts are quite big though, so one is already plenty.

Maple Bacon Doughnut

The second doughnut we ordered was the Maple Bacon Doughnut. It was glazed with a maple glaze and topped with some bacon. Sweet and salty at the same time, but it totally works.

Doughnuts are $2.45 each if you purchase singles, but if you purchase more, I believe there are bulk discounts. Of course, they are more expensive than Tim Horton’s doughnuts, but they are gourmet! However, I actually think that Cartems Donuterie in Vancouver are much better! Their bacon doughnut was much better and the general doughnut dough tastes more fresh. I guess this is their go-to place for gourmet doughnuts in Calgary though!

Bel Cafe (Take Out)

February 11, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

I’ve gone to Bel Cafe for some desserts before, but I have to say their menu is quite pricey! Around $6 for each dessert…but it’s the sister store to Hawksworth, so what do you expect. Even their boxes and take out bags are so much nicer! I guess your money goes towards that stuff.

Dark Chocolate, Raspberry, Vanilla

This was some good chocolate goodness, but it wasn’t too sweet! I loved the little chocolate crunches on the side. The raspberry wasn’t very strong though.

Double Lemon Tart

The lemon tart was way too tart and sour for my liking. I much prefer the one I had at Oru. I did however like the little lemon slices at the top which were like candied lemons.

Crispy Choux Milk Chocolate Orange Ganache

I’ve had the orange ganache before, and it is one of my favourite desserts here. It’s basically a cream puff topped with a chocolate cream, a few slices of chocolate and orange slices. Yum!

Edible Flours

September 8, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Cookie Crumble – chocolate ganache dipped vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and chocolate chip cookie crumbles

Cookie Sandwich

Caramel Donut

Continuation of adventure time with K and J! After grabbing lunch at Tera V Burgers, we continued along Broadway to our next destination – Edible Flours! Edible Flours is claimed to be an organic vegan bakery, and the ratings and comments I have seen are above exceptional. The store was modern and clean-looking and we were greeted by a young man. All the baked goods looked dainty and were presented nicely. Taste wise – we were extremely disappointed…

I got the Cookie Crumble Cupcake, which looked so delicious! After my first bite, I was like, “oh, this is just alright”. But after taking a few more bites, it was too much to take. It was the sweetest cupcake I’ve ever had, and I already have a sweet tooth. But no – this was like SWEET. The icing tasted like I was just eating sugar, and I always thought the icing was sweet at Cupcakes, but no! These were beyond sweet. My cupcake batter also tasted extremely weird, having a weird flour taste to it. I swear the cupcakes I made in foods class were better than this. So I thought to myself that maybe it was because these were vegan cupcakes, and clearly as a non-vegan, I probably had a different liking to the taste of food…Maybe I just wasn’t used to the no egg or dairy baked goods. But K, who is also a vegan, thought her Cookie Sandwich was terrible. The filling between her cookies was also extremely sweet, and she ended up just eating the cookie. If K admitted it wasn’t good, I guess it wasn’t just my own problem! J also didn’t really like his Caramel Donut and thought it was too sweet as well. It was such a disappointment that I barely even finished half my cupcake, and I always finish my desserts! It was so sweet, it made me feel sick. Definitely not going back again.

Piroshky Piroshky

August 29, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Beef & Cheese Piroshky

Off we continue with our Seattle foodie adventure. So after lunch at Thoa’s, we decided to head back to the Pike Place Market to explore. Still full of people, but most of the lineups at the food shops had definitely died down. On our way to Thoa’s, we had actually walked by a bakery. We actually didn’t spot the place originally, but the aroma was so strong that it attracted us to walk closer. And then we knew it was of course a bakery! A bakery named Piroshky Piroshky that had a massive line up too… Since we were starving, we obviously didn’t wait, but luckily, the line had shrunk by the time we got back after lunch! Okay, we were still pretty full to be honest, but hey, this place must have some good stuff with that long line up from before! So we lined up behind the others, excited to try a “piroshky”. So what exactly is a piroshky? I honestly had no idea, and was still pretty clueless after eating it.

We were quite full from lunch, so we decided to just share one piroshky, since they were quite large. So many choices! But a Beef & Cheese Piroshky seemed pretty safe. It was a bun filled with beef, cheese and some spices. The dough was soft and warm, and the filling inside was not overflowing or too little. Just the perfect amount. It actually sort of reminded me of a curry beef bun you can get in Asian bakeries, so I didn’t think it was THAT amazing. Maybe I had just expected much more seeing those line ups. They’re decent, but I didn’t find them too special. Perhaps next time, I would try some of their other unique fillings.

For those of you who want to know more about piroshkys, I went home and googled them up. So they are basically Russian baked goods – usually in the form of a baked stuffed bun. They are usually filled with meat and vegetables, (usually onions), so the meat and cheese piroshky was actually quite close to the traditional piroshkys! Other variations include savory fillings, such as fish, and also sweet fillings, such as apples. These were all offered at the shop as well!

Cartems Donuterie

August 12, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

On our way to Nicli Antica Pizzeria, we drove by Cartems Donuterie, which is said to be one Vancouver’s best donut shops. S and I knew we had to stop by after desserts, and so we did. And of course we had a little adventure while heading over. We left the car at our paid street parking near the pizzeria, and started heading towards the donut pop up shop. It’s literally only 2 blocks away, and short blocks too, but did it ever feel like the longest walk ever… I have to remind you this is on the edge of Gastown, and not to be judgmental, this area is full of homeless people. And so S and I began to speed walk. Or more like run. We were so desperate for these donuts that we sped down that block to avoid all the sketchiness. We were literally panting when we got there, or at least I was. Shows how much I exercise…

Anyways, we were greeted by a friendly man, whom I’m guessing was the owner. S and I were just staring at all those donuts behind the window. So many choices! But we had just ate. So we decided to choose two! The man saw that we were kind of confused staring at all those donuts, so he offered some help. We told him it was our first time, and asked what were the most popular donuts, and he said the Earl Grey and the Maker’s Bourbon Bacon. And so we got those two. He was really nice, and actually gave us two Earl Greys. He said that he had made a batch of them that were smaller than usual, and so he gave us two of those instead. But when I looked at them, they were still pretty big! So nice of him. Anyways, I forgot to take pictures of them, since I was too excited to eat them, but you can see what they look like on their website. We basically ran back to the car again…excited to try these donuts.

The Earl Grey was oh so delicious! It’s a cake donut infused with organic earl grey tea, topped with earl grey glaze and a sprinkling of rose petals. I’m a fan of earl grey or green tea when I go for high tea so this was perfect for me! The earl grey wasn’t too strong, and I liked that, and the rose petals on top were perfect with the hint of floral aroma. Floral teas are also one of my favourites, so this was like full of goodness!! Next up was the Maker’s Bourbon Bacon. Bacon? Yes Bacon on a donut. (I’m still waiting to try Bacon Gelato by the way…) But yes, bacon on donut is now one of my favourite donuts! The donut was glazed with the Maker’s Mark bourbon glaze and topped with double smoked house cured candied bacon. So delicious! I love how it was sweet and salty at the same time, but it just worked all so well! Another note to keep in mind: these donuts are gourmet and expensive. They use local ingredients, and are priced at $3.00 a donut! Yes, that’s triple the price of the donuts and Tim Horton’s…

So worth the sweat and run to get these donuts though…

Mancakes Bakery

July 31, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Night 6 Pack

Buffalo Wing
Breakfast
Tequila Pineapple
Rum & Coke
Whiskey Lime
Chocolate Red Wine

Day 6 Pack

Buffalo Wing
Breakfast
Pink Peppercorn
Apple Brie
Bacon Chili Chocolate
King Kong

Steph knows I’m always up to try new food, and so for my birthday, she ordered some Mancakes! Two boxes…Day and Night. Definitely too much cake for my birthday this year! So what exactly are Mancakes? Well they were created by a few Vancouver guys who decided that cupcakes didn’t have to be all frilly and pretty with cute frosting decorations. They decided to create cupcakes with unique flavours that were catered to men. And although I’m not a guy, I definitely wanted to give these cakes a try! And yes, these bold cupcakes are not restricted for guys! I believe they only have 10 flavours currently, and they are packaged in either the Day or Night box. You have to buy the whole box, and you can order them online. They provide free shipping if you order 3 packs, and I believe there’s a small charge if you order less.

Sadly, I was not able to try all the different flavours, which was what I intended on doing! I left the cakes in the fridge and when I came home, many of them had been devoured by my parents already! They sure seemed to enjoy them! I did however get to try the Chocolate Red Wine, which probably was my favourite (well from the ones I tried). It came with a wine jelly, and the center of the cake had some nice chocolate filling. That was definitely a surprise, since I expected it to just be a full solid cupcake. Other than that, I also tried the Buffalo Wing, which I have to say was….quite interesting. This is their signature cupcake, which is why it’s in both the day and night pack. Honestly, I thought this bad boy was kind of weird. The cake itself was fine, but I didn’t like the flavour of the frosting. Even the bacon on top was fine, but something about the frosting’s flavour wasn’t satisfying. I also tried the Tequila Pineapple, which didn’t taste too special. It had a slight pineapple taste to it, but not strong in alcohol. Not too bad!

Overall, Mancakes are definitely worth a try. It’s something that I’ve never had before, and who would think that savoury cupcakes could taste great too!

Outpost Mini Donut Co.

July 25, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Vancouver weather has finally been more pleasant and a sunny day meant heading over to the Steveston Village for a walk. Everyone has been talking about these donuts at Outpost Mini Donu Co. for a while, but I never even noticed this donut shop although I walk past it almost every time I’m there. The interior is really cute and cozy, and you can see the making of donuts coming fresh out of the oven. I got half a dozen of a variety of donuts, including chocolate, vanilla, pink lemonade and cinnamon to name a few. Although they have all these flavours, my favourites are still the original cinnamon sugar coated donuts. Overall, great fresh donuts in a lovely area!

Soirette Macarons & Tea

April 7, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Tried all 21 flavours with a double for matcha, lavender and rocher 🙂

Rocher

Lavender Earl Grey Tea

Lavender Earl Grey Latte

Bought another box home 🙂

Matcha Macaron

Soirette Macarons & Tea has been so talked about around Vancouver as one of the newest and top macaron shop in town! I had it on my wishlist on Urbanspoon and can definitely check that off now! And yes, I’ve got to agree with all those bloggers out there. It seems like they have the largest selection of macarons, and they are really specialized in them, as they only sell a few desserts on the side. I got a sneak peak in the kitchen when I was on my way to the bathroom and also saw the owner of the shop. Pretty cool! Soirette is located near the Coal Harbour area, and the store is furnished so that it feels extremely clean and bright. Everything is white and modern, and the colours of the macarons totally steal the spotlight. It can seat around 10 people max, but many people get them to go.

Seeing all those different flavours, my friends and I wanted to try all of them, and we ended up getting all 21 flavours and cutting them into quarters! Yes, quite small pieces, but I don’t think we would’ve been able to finish all 21 individually on our own… The 21 flavours included: Matcha, Lavender, Cappucino, Rocher, Chocolate, White Truffle, Raspberry, Passion Fruit, Black Rose, Vanilla, Guinness, Orange Blossom, Malibu, Pistachio, Earl Grey, Violette, Maple, Lemon, Pink Peppercorn, Jasmine, Rose, and Caramel. So let me tell you which ones really caught my attention, and which ones I disliked! I left with another box of 6, so let me tell you which were my top 6! In order beginning with my favourite would be: Matcha, Lavender, Rocher, Pistachio, Cappuccino, Raspberry, Chocolate. Matcha is one of my favourite all-time flavours for almost anything…but I loved how this macaron had just a hint of matcha flavour and it worked really well against the white chocolate cream. Lavender surprisingly wasn’t too flowery and had just the perfect amount of flavour so it wasn’t too strong. Now let’s go on to the ones I disliked the most. Number one would have to be white truffle. The flavour was way too pungent and although it was supposed to be a savory macaron, I didn’t like it. Black Rose also had a very weird flavour to it, and pink peppercorn had a spice that I wish wasn’t paired with a macaron. Surprisingly, Passion Fruit and Vanilla really let me down. I thought they would be very original flavours, so should be quite typical, but I found Passion Fruit to be too sour, and Vanilla to be really bland and lacking even vanilla flavour. Both beverages were also very good with a lovely hint of lavender that I loved! Overall, this is the place to be if you want to try the most talked about macarons in Vancouver!

Macarons are $2 each, or you can purchase them in boxes of 6 or 12 at a discount.