Charlie's Restaurant & Bar - Desserts

Restaurant: Charlie’s Bar & Restaurant

Cuisine: Pizza/Mediterranean/Italian
Last visited: March 9, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Yaletown/Downtown)
1265 Hamilton Street
Price Range: $20-30

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4
Service: n/a (Media dinner)
Ambiance: 5
Overall: 3.5 (Food is generally good, but just not worth it)
Additional comments:

• Chef Brian Ritchot
• Chef from Montreal, one from Spain
• DJ’s/live music on weekends
• Contemporary, sleek, posh atmosphere
• Great for drinks, appies
• Specializes in gourmet pizzas
• Mediterranean/Italian options
• Longue like atmosphere
• One large projection screen TV
• Open late
• Pizzas available for take out
• Dinner service only

**Recommendation: Short Rib Pizza, prosciutto di Parma 18 Month, Duck Pizza, Banoffee Pie

I was invited to a media dinner at Charlie’s Bar & Restaurant so the food served this evening was complimentary. However there were no expectations from Charlie’s Bar & Restaurant and the review represents my true and honest opinions.

This review focuses on the dessert for the evening. All the desserts are made in house from scratch which I really appreciate it…and quite frankly expect from a restaurant like this. However I don’t think any dessert here should exceed $8-9 because I’d be paying the same for desserts at slightly more expensive restaurants like Lupo Restaurant + Vinoteca down the street.

I get confused between Charlie’s Restaurant and Bar being a gourmet pizza place and being a finer Mediterranean restaurant. The desserts got me more confused…some are traditional British and some seem more French...but it's a Mediterranean/Italian/Pizza place...right?...regardless I’ll tell you what’s good…

The dinner & drink portion of the review.

On the table:

Chocolate Ganache 2/6

• Pistachio, chocolate wafer and mint sorbet $11
• A bit unusual to see at a restaurant/bar serving gourmet pizzas. It was a bit refined for the style and I couldn’t figure out how it fit in.
• The dessert was quite good and basically a twist on mint chocolate ice cream. It was a deconstructed version with gourmet execution.
• It was very rich dark chocolate ganache slices sprinkled with cocoa powder and topped with thin dark chocolate wafers.
• There was some pistachio and skor graham cracker crumbles around the plate that aided in the presentation rather than the flavour.
• The mint sorbet was refreshing but bitter. The after taste was significantly bitter.
• I wouldn’t want the whole thing to myself, but I’m not a big fan of chocolate mint ice cream. 1-2 of the small squares is enough.
• $11 for this portion I would feel ripped off…but apparently they usually serve it with another piece. (The size of the biggest one in the photo)

Banoffee Pie 4.5/6

• Banana, dry caramel and coconut ice cream $10
• I really liked this! You don’t see this traditional British dessert served at many places so I enjoyed it here.
• I loved how they served it with coconut ice cream. A gourmet twist on traditional pub food…wait is Charlie’s a pub now?

• I don’t think the tart shell was made in house, but I’m not sure. It was a crumbly shortbread like cookie crust, but it didn’t taste homemade. It was filled with bananas, dry caramel and topped with cream.
• The “dry caramel” tastes like dulche de leche – it was like caramelized condensed milk and very thick.
• It was creamy and very sweet with lots of caramel so I'm glad there was ice cream to break it up.
  
• It was served with 3 warm caramelized bananas.
• I'd pay $10 for it, but I still think it's reaching a bit. Especially since most people would be use to seeing it at pubs for half the price. I did like it more than the chocolate ganache.
  

Diplomat Bakery

Restaurant: Diplomat Bakery

Cuisine: Desserts/Bakery/Coffee

Last visited: February 23, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

6111 London Road (Steveston)
Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4.5 (based on the 3 items I tried)

Service: 4

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Location in the middle of nowhere (industrial)
• Near Steveston Village
• Popular to locals
• European bakery
• Popular for cakes
• Whole cakes available
• Wedding cakes available
• Very reasonably priced
• Quality ingredients
• Some savoury café foods available
• Great for quick lunch/coffee/dessert
• Spacious, clean, contemporary
• Self-serve/pay at cashier
• Seats 20
• Eat in/Take-out

**Recommendation: Napoleon, Spinach and Feta Cheese Brioche

I’ve only tried a few things here and based on those I gave it a 4.5/6. However I think it could easily movie up to a 5 if I tried more things – I still need to try more of their cakes.

It’s basically the True Confections (cake café) of Richmond. The style, look, and choices at Diplomat Bakery are similar to those offered at True Confections, but not quite as refined. I can’t say 100% because I haven’t tried enough, but True Confections I think is better. On the other hand Diplomat bakery is half the price of True Confections. All Diplomat Bakery cakes are $3.50 a slice so it’s very affordable compared to the $7-8 you would pay in downtown.

Overall I enjoyed everything I had and would go back to try more. However it is a little out of the way and not so convenient so I would really have to make it a plan to go again. I don’t think they’re an open late kind of place, but they were very busy in the late afternoon with lots of locals stopping for coffee and dessert. They also serve a small selection of savoury foods like muffins, quiche etc.

On the table:

**Napoleon 4.5/6

• $2.75
• Every bakery has their interpretation of the Napoleon.
• It was layers of flakey crisp pastry and butter cream sprinkled with icing sugar.
• It was sweet, but not overly sweet. It’s sweeter than the Saint Germain’s Napoleon though.
  

• It was very fresh and you could taste the quality of ingredients. I loved the layers of flakey pastry and the ratio of cream to pastry was great.
• However the layers of butter cream were really buttery and I could taste it – it didn’t melt as well as I would have liked. It was a denser butter cream, not the fluffy whipped kind. It was almost like pastry custard, but it tasted buttery. I prefer pastry cream or custard in Napoleons.
  

• 

White Chocolate Baileys 3.5/6

• $3.50 for a slice $40 for 9 inch cake
• This was a pretty cake. It was white chocolate cake with a layer of white chocolate Bailey’s cake and a layer of dark chocolate cake in the middle.
  

• This was a dense cake and although the middle layers look moussey, it’s not. It’s an actual cake, but it does have a slightly creamy texture…almost like cheesecake does, but it’s not cheesecake. It was thickend with butter instead of cheese but it was still a cake. I liked the texture of cake and the denser middle layers of cake though.
  

• It had white chocolate shavings all around the edges, which was a nice touch.
• It actually wasn’t that sweet and I thought it would be since it was white chocolate.
  

• I could taste the Bailey’s and it’s not overwhelming or too heavy on the liquor but carries a light coffee taste. It’s mixed into the middle white layers.
• I think they the dark chocolate layer could have overpowered the white chocolate layers a little bit. The white chocolate cake layers came off as regular white cake and it was a tad dry. Luckily it had the middle layers to keep it more moist.

**Spinach and Feta Cheese Brioche 4.5/6

• $3.25
• This was huge and a really good price.

• I enjoyed mine with a fried egg for breakfast and my friend enjoyed hers with tuna. It was very enjoyable with these extras although it tastes good on its own too.
  

• It’s not soft and fluffy, but the crumbs are tight like brioche should be. It’s egg and butter based bread, so it’s rich in texture and flavour. It’s a bit dry, drier than brioche should be though, but it was ok because the filling kept in moist.

• It’s stuffed with spinach and Feta cheese mixture and the Feta was actually quite strong and stood out. There are some ‘fillers’ in the mixture, but it just made it even better so it didn’t bother me one bit.
  

• They add some mashed potato and onions into the mixture so it’s almost creamy and hold lots of flavour. You can bite into small pieces of minced potato so the texture is great.
• I kind of wanted a bit more egg wash on the top though – I like my brioche to have that slightly sweetened and baked egg wash.

Ganache Patisserie - Bakery

Restaurant: Ganache Patisserie - Bakery

Cuisine: Desserts/Bakery

Last visited: February 14, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Yaletown/Downtown)

1262 Homer Street
Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4.5 (but I think there's better I haven't tried)

Service: n/a

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Opened December 2003
• Pastry chef and owner Peter Fong
• Gourmet/high-end Parisian bakery in Yaletown
• Creative/exotic/posh cakes
• Modern French cakes (w/twist)
• Quality/seasonal ingredients
• Chocolates
• Menu changes, seasonal cakes
• Whole cakes/mini individual serving cakes
• Wedding cakes
• Baked goods to go/gifts
• Take-out only, very few seats if any
• Croissants available Friday-Sunday
• Tues-Fri. 11am-7pm
• Sat. 11am-9pm
• Sun. 11am-5pm
• Closed Mondays

**Recommendation: Caramel-Chocolat, Chocolat-Banane (popular choice, but haven’t tried this one)

I’ve heard so many great things about Ganache Patisserie, I haven’t come across one person that doesn’t love it. Visually they are masterpieces, but taste wise…I’m not so sure. I would rather have Bakery Nouveau. I can’t say I was disappointed by Ganache Patisserie, but I also wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be. Since it is a gourmet/high-end bakery my expectations are higher than usual…as it should be for places like these. It really reminded me of Kreation Artisan Cake – classic French cakes and pastries with a contemporary twist.

My friend brought them over and I indulged in all of them with 2 of my girlfriends. We all felt the same way about each cake…and we’re good judgment of desserts. They’re good, but not OMG sooooo good…except for the caramel-chocolat. When my friend asked the staff what she recommended she actually listed the more traditional items rather than the exotic cakes. I guess I just need to try the less original items next time because I was a little underwhelmed by the exotic ones. So I would still go back to try more but I wouldn’t crave anything because nothing was too memorable either. I do recommend it, but I've been really spoiled with great desserts...so I have had better...not necessarily in Vancouver though...so this is still good!

I didn’t have the descriptions while trying them so I was relying on my taste buds to pick out all the flavours. We each had a 1/3 of every cake so it was a decent sample and representation.

On the table:

Blanc Fraisier 4/6

• Vanilla cake, vanilla sablé Breton, white chocolate black pepper mousseline, strawberries, passionfruit meringue $5.50-5.75
• They say that this is everyone’s favourite and it’s one of their best sellers.
• It tasted like strawberry shortcake to me. The cake layers were drier and very much like shortcake cake.
• It was almost like custard or layers or pastry cream with fresh strawberries in between the shortcake layers. There wasn’t much strawberry though.
• It was creamier then it was mousse like. I couldn’t taste the black pepper or any sort of spiciness. I couldn’t tell it was white chocolate either.
• I also couldn’t tell it was passionfruit meringue although it was fluffy and marshmallow like. I liked the texture.
  

Guava Exotique 3.5/6

• Strawberry guava mousse, lychees, pineapple financier sponge $5.50-5.75
• This one reminded me of an Asian cake. It was mousse like and the mousse is the light airy mousse they make at Chinese bakeries.
• I definitely couldn’t taste the pineapple and didn’t know it was in there until reading the description.
  

• It was nice and moist and the lychee really stood out. There were little pieces of lychee throughout the cake and I liked the texture eating it with the mousse.
• I could taste the guava and it was a very floral and fragrant cake.
• I’d order it again, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. I’d rather try something else before ordering this again.
  

Matcha-Exotique 3/6

• Green tea mousse, mango-passionfruit gelée, lychees, black sesame biscuit joconde $5.50-5.75
• I was very excited about this one! One of my girlfriends had tried it as a whole cake and apparently it’s better that way because they make it in layers instead of a bomb cake where the flavours didn’t mesh together as well.
• This one is too bitter. They use so much Matcha and black sesame that it became bitter. It was definitely fresh and quality ingredients, but the flavour became overpowering rather than complementing.
  

• The black sesame cake was a bit dry and crumbly in texture too. It made the whole cake taste a bit powdery especially with the green tea mousse which is also made with Matcha powder.
• The mango passionfruit was almost like a jello but denser. It was made with frehs puree and it was very tangy and also sweet. The cake tasted much better if you ate it with the jello, but it was hard to portion because there wasn’t much of it. The mango and passion fruit helped to break up the bitterness.
• There were also little bits of lychee in this one, but I lost the flavour because of the Matcha and sesame. I only knew because of the texture.
  

**Caramel-Chocolat 6/6

• Milk chocolate caramel mousse with hazelnut croquant, raspberry gelée, 75% Tanzanie dark chocolate mousse, praline crunch, chocolate biscuit $5.50-5.75
• This is another one of their popular cakes. It’s more traditional and I usually go for exotics so I wasn’t too excited about this one…little did I know it would be the best of the 4. It was all of our favourites.
• 

• It was moist, creamy, moussey, rich and perfect in texture.
• There was a great combination of chocolates and levels of sweetness. The hazelnut was obvious and the raspberry was so little, but so potent.
• It was chocolatey, nutty, and tangy – I would order this again for sure.
• It was the sweetest of all the cakes, but since it was dark chocolate it wasn’t overly sweet. It was definitely most indulgent and I was happy to at least end off on a good note.

Patisserie Lebeau

Restaurant: Patisserie Lebeau

Cuisine: Bakery/Dessert/Cafe

Last visited: February 1, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Robson Street/West End/Downtown)

1728 West 2nd Avenue
Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: n/a (didn't try enough)

Service: 3

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 5

Additional comments:

• Family owned
• Famous for waffles
• Authentic Belgian waffles
• Made with butter/natural ingredients
• Unbleached flour, pure vanilla
• No additives/preservatives
• Savoury foods available: quiche/sandwiches etc
• Pay at cashier
• Fresh baked breads
• Baked daily
• Homemade/home baked
• Ready to eat or sold frozen
• Seats 20-30
• Located around industrial area
• Available for wholesale

**Recommendation: Any of their Belgian waffles or Leige waffles (several flavours)

My friend had first introduced me to this bakery by bringing me some waffles from the store. However I managed to discover the actual location quite randomly. I noticed it while driving around that area and I took a quick stop to check it out. I saw the “Authentic Belgian waffle” sign outside and as soon as I walked in I noticed the display case full of them. I put one and one together and was really pleased that I had found it. It’s kind of located in a small industrial/office area on West 2^nd so It’s not an obvious location people would know about. It’s one of those word or mouth places that you would feel lucky to find.

It’s a great place for a quick lunch or coffee break. They have some sweet and savoury baked goods and sandwiches and a nice café set up in the front. It was actually decently busy from local businesses during lunch but the line-up goes fast and there’s actually a lot of seats inside.

They are most known for their waffles obviously. The website claims that they’re a “healthy snack” because it’s made with natural ingredients…but I highly doubt they are healthy or recommended for a healthy diet…even if they’re all natural.

I’ve been to Brussels before so I am very lucky to have tried the real deal…these are quite close to the real deal, but they're not as moist. I would go back to try more stuff because I believe that they can do better then what I had. Let's go in detail...

On the table:

**White Chocolate Lemon (Liege) Waffle 3.5/6

• $2.80
• I would give a 5.5/6 (a bit dry) to their original leige waffle, but not for this white chocolate lemon one.
• There was no white chocolate...at all. I was expecting white chocolate chips throughout the batter but there wasn't. I'm not sure if they melted the white chocolate right into the batter but I couldn't taste any so I doubt it.
• It smelt like lemons though and I could taste the fresh lemon zest and see it.
• The best part of these waffles is the sugar crystals which they call "pearl sugar" - a sugar that's made in Belgium. I call them sugar crystals - they're basically tiny clumps of sugar that's all natural. Some of them melt into the dough and some of them stay clumped and create "crystals". So when you eat it you bite into little clumps of sugar that are delicious! They're not hard like rock sugar, but they're slightly crunchy like little balls of sugar soaked in sugar syrup.
  
• The sugar crystals that do melt during the baking process end up coating the outside of these waffles and make them crispy.
• It sounds sweet and it is, but not overly sweet at all.
• It's really dense and heavy and it was almost bread-like because they're made from yeast. It was like a dense lemon cake.
• As good as these waffles are they could be better because they're a bit dry.

Peach and Custard Waffle 2.5/6

• Brussels waffles stuffed with peach and custard $3.55 (I think)
• I was actually pretty disappointed by this. It’s their most popular stuffed waffle so I had high expectations.
• The biggest disappointment is because they used canned peaches.

• It’s actually a pretty heavy and dense waffle. My friend had bought them that afternoon and they're baked fresh daily. We were eating them about 6 hours later and by then they were already a bit hard, stale and quite dry. I don't think that should have happened that quickly...I don't know though maybe it's because they're "all natural" that they go stale so quickly as well.

• The custard is almost like a pastry cream. It's super thick and almost like a pudding. It's light tasting though because it's not that sweet. I wanted a stronger vanilla taste though. I couldn't see any vanilla bean seeds so I think they just use pure vanilla extract.
  
• There is a lot of stuffing in the waffle, but I just wish it was real peaches...it cheapened it.
• This one has no sugar crystals, it's more bread like.

Chambar Restaurant - Dessert Review

Restaurant: Chambar Restaurant - Dessert Review

Cuisine: Belgian/French
Last visited: February 12, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Gastown/Downtown)
562 Beatty Street
Price Range: $30-50 (Closer to $50)

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 6
Service: 5.5

Ambiance: 4.5

Overall: 6

Additional comments:

• Specializes in Belgium/French food - fusion
• Innovative/exotic/creative menu
  
• Going on 6th year
  
• Casual fine dining
• Lively atmosphere
• Busy on weekends/late nights
• Husband and wife owners
• Chef Nico Schuermans and his wife Karri
• Parent to Cafe Medina next door
• Just opened Dirty Apron Cooking school (couple stores down)
• Fixed menu available
• Event nights
  
• Extensive wine list
• Great for drinks/cocktails/appetizers
  
• 18% gratuity for groups of 8+
• Ocean Wise
• Open 5-12am daily
• Reservations recommended
  

**Recommendation: Mushroom Soup, Mussels & Frites, Le Canard aux Epices, if you can order Stilton croquettes as a side - do it! Vanilla Pear Cake for dessert.

Chambar has always been one of my favourite restaurants...and it still is one of my favourites. I rarely ever say I have a “favourite restaurant” but this one has yet to disappointment me. I usually have certain dishes I like and that’s what I will recommend rather than the restaurant itself…however everything here is more or less amazing.

It is a Belgian restaurant, but the food is more contemporary with slight French and West Coast influences. It is more or less a fusion restaurant.

A bit steep in terms of price, but in the category of casual fine dining. The portions are reasonable although they look smaller until you start eating them.

They really let the ingredients speak for themselves here and they don’t go overboard by trying to enhance every single item with seasonings and spices. It’s simple, but tastes so complex. That’s the magic of Chambar.

To see my dinner review for Chambar Restaurant.

On the table:

Dessert Sampler - La degustation des desserts 4/6

• Dessert Sampler: Chef's selection tasting platter $20
  
• Vanilla Bean Pot de Cream 5/6
• This was the best of the sampler. It was pretty much a vanilla panna cotta. The vanilla was very strong and the texture was very rich and creamy.
• The bottom layer of this is almost pure vanilla bean seed puree. It was delicious, but I wish they had used it for the top or maybe throughout the panna cotta. I just felt like it was such a waste of vanilla bean seeds to leave them at the bottom. The bowl was square so it was hard to scrape up too.

• Espresso and Kaluah Ice Cream 3.5/6
• This was a very icy ice cream so it was almost lighter than regular ice cream. It was very refreshing and not too strong in flavour. It wasn’t too sweet and it was quite simple, but still good. No surprises here…except for it being icy in texture.
  

• Sour Cherry Phyllo Purse 2/6
• I’m not sure if that was the exact name, but that’s how I remember it. It's the triangle between the chocolate mousse and the panna cotta.
• There was too much phyllo and too little cherry. I was very crispy and flakey with a sweetness and tang, but the phyllo was distracting.
• It was topped with a whipped marscapone cheese I think...or goat's cheese? (I don't quite remember) It was very mild in flavour and added a creaminess that offset the tang of the cherry...I just wish they had given more cherry.
  

• Chocolate Mousse 4/6
• This looks A LOT sweeter than it really is. It’s not that sweet at all actually…and that’s because they’re using a dark and good quality chocolaote. The texture is actually quite rich yet still frothy but the sweetness is very natural so it doesn’t tastes too heavy.
• The decor they used was a thin chocolate brittle that tastes like there wasa quite a bit of espresso in it. I liked it!
  

• Truffles 3/6
• These aren’t truffles…these are chocolates. They’re good, but just not truffles.
• Dark chocolate truffle 4.5/6
• Amazing. I love dark chocolate. This was like a homemade Ferraro Rocher. There were nice big pieces of hazelnuts on the outside and then the inside wasa chocolate ganache. It wasn’t that creamy and was actually quite thick.
• White chocolate truffle 1.5/6
• No. I don’t like white chocolate so this was much too sweet. Even if I did like white chocolate I still think it was too sweet. Not for me.

Plateau de trois fromages - Plate of 3 Cheeses 5/6

• Trio cheese platter with spiced blueberry compote, fruit & nut bread. $18
  

• Brie, Aged White Cheddar and Stilton or Blue Cheese?
• The bread is fantastic! It’s house made hazelnut and rasin bread and they give you a lot! There’s huge pieces of hazelnuts and lots of them!
• They toast them up so it’s nice and nutty.
• They serve it with a spiced blueberry jam/compote with real whole blueberries in it. It’s actually noticeably spicy and I think it's from ginger and maybe some cinnamon.
• The cheese are generous servings and this is definitely worth it. I like the added pear and apple slices as well. It went great with the compote.

Le Gateau Poire - Vanilla Pear Cake 6/6

• Vanilla cake baked on top of pear compote served with raspberry creme anglaise & lemongrass ice cream. $11

• I had to save the best for last. Well the best out of what we ordered.
• Delish! They changed the raspberry cream anglaise to a coffee espresso cream anglaise. I think the raspeberry cream would have been even better although this was still good. You pour the coffee espresso (centre glass) in the middle of this soufflé and eat it together.
• It’s soft, warm, sweet, slightly bitter from the espresso, not too sweet and just the perfect flavour of everything. I was suprised the espresso didn't overpower the pears.
• The pear is so ripe and yet not overcooked so you can still taste the pieces and bite into them. I loved this!

• They serve it with ice cream and a little brown sugar decor...and drool I want it right now! I don't recall it being lemongrass though...so they either changed the recipe for that or the lemongrass flavour wasn't as distinct and overpowered by the espresso and pears. Now I want to go back and try it again...:D

To see my dinner review for Chambar.