Mink Chocolates & Cafe (South Surrey)

Fresh off a satisfying and extremely filling meal at Afghan Kitchen, we were debating whether to order dessert or not.  Whilst in discussion, I quickly did a search on my phone for nearby dessert options.  Unbeknownst to me, Mink Chocolates had opened up a location within The Shops at Morgan Crossing.  That was music to Girl Smiley's ears as she has been dying for something other than the usual dessert options (ie. fast food spots) in the area.  So after paying the bill, we made the short jaunt over for some chocolate treats.

The kids were most interested in the S'mores prepared table side.  I'm not sure how safe it was to do this, but the kids had a blast roasting the marshmallows and then squashing them into the supplied graham crackers.  The proverbial icing on the cake was the smooth 38% chocolate served on the side.  It was creamy and quite sweet, but that was what we were aiming for.  We did have to wait for a bit for the chocolate to warm up as well as the burner for the marshmallows.  For the adults, we opted for the Chocolate Fondue served with a variety of fruit and cubes of pound cake.  We decided on 70% dark chocolate and it was an excellent decision as it wasn't too sweet with an appealing bitter finish.  Once again, it took awhile for it to heat up.

That wasn't all that we got as we tried the both the Tutti Fruiti and Belgian Monkey Waffles.  If I had to choose, I personally enjoyed the tutti frutti more since I like lighter desserts.  The waffle itself was pretty good being crispy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside.  We thought the amount of whipped cream was excessive and frankly messy to eat, but that could be rectified by a custom order.  Naturally, the drizzle of chocolate was probably the best part, especially the 70% in my opinion.  Since it was on the menu, we also had the Seasonal Fruit Parfait and well, it was a pretty much what we expected.  It wasn't bad, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary.  Good mix of fruit, oats, bananas and chocolate.  Again, we chose the 70% and it kept the sweetness level to a minimum.

Of course we couldn't get out of there without a Hot Chocolate.  We had both versions including the 38% and 70%.  My daughter insisted on the 70% and I completely agreed with her as the chocolate really came through with a pleasant bitterness at the end.  Sweetness was of course muted and it came with a little chocolate square for good measure.  Overall, Mink is a great addition to the area and no, they don't have the most outstanding desserts, yet there isn't much competition nearby.  Chez Christophe opened up shop nearby recently and they offer more refined options, but they aren't open as late though.

The Good:
- Something different for the area
- Lots of chocolate options
- Open late

The Bad:
- Desserts are not particularly creative, but decent for the area