Venchi Cioccolato e Gelato

Okay, here is the situation.  We've been walking for over 3 hours and although there was a lot to see, we were thirsty and tired.  Luckily we missed the heat wave in July, but that didn't mean the Summer ended in August.  We had just checked out the Pantheon and suddenly had a craving for gelato.  Naturally, anything located near touristy areas are hit and miss; mostly miss.  But we decided to give Venchi a shot since the gelato appeared to be good.  Famous last words right?  We waited in a short line and ended up with the following...

For myself, I had the Mango Sorbetto and the Crema Venchi.  With a small cup, we were able to pick 2 flavours.  I liked how the sorbetto was smooth and almost creamy (despite having not milk products).  It was purposefully sweet with a natural mango taste.  However, it was a touch bitter for some reason.  Despite this, I still enjoyed it.  The gelato had a creamy texture and it melted pretty easily (which is a good thing, no added stabilizers).  I thought the crema was pretty sweet with an aromatic finish.  Probably not my favourite flavour though.

Viv also went for 2 flavours including the Limone and Fruitti Bosco Sorbetto.  The limone was more melty than my mango sorbetto and it was very tart.  We love tart, so it worked for us but for others, it just might be too tangy.  Due to this, it wasn't very sweet because it hid behind the tang.  As for the mixed berries, it was on the sweeter side, but did taste good with a melody of fruitiness.  It was a rather refreshing combination with the limone.

My daughter went only for one flavour in the Strawberry Sorbetto and it was similar to the mixed berries except being less tangy.  It was predictably more one-note due to only having strawberries.  It was sweet but not overly so.  We found it to have a natural taste though.  With that being said, I thought the mango had more impact than the strawberry. Like all of the cups, it came with a Venchi's dark chocolate coin. 

My son had the 75% Chocolate Gelato and it was very dark.  However, he loves his dark chocolate and it was right up his alley.  This was not very sweet at all and in fact, was fairly bitter.  Perfect for dark chocolate lovers.  In terms of texture, this was a bit thicker and richer than my crema.  This was expected due to the addition of dark chocolate.  We also picked up some chocolates too as that is what Venchi is known for.  Pretty solid stuff.  Overall, the gelato and sorbetto were solid too and this was a good first experience in Rome.

The Good:

- Flavours were impactful

- Textures were good

- Their chocolates are even better

The Bad:

- There is usually a lineup

- Good but not great

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

Afternoon Tea @ Wild Sweets

By now, I'm sure everyone is familiar with High Tea or Afternoon Tea.  Yes, there is the traditional type with the 3 tiers consisting of scones, clotted cream, cucumber & salmon finger sandwiches and some sweets to end things off.  There is also some modern interpretations which include macarons, some savoury seafood items and the sort.  Now we see a completely reinvented version that features deconstructed treats allowing people the opportunity to play with their food.  I was recently invited to try this "out-of-the-box" high tea at Wild Sweets.

To start, we were served a Chocolate Husk and Orange tea that was subtle, yet I could definitely taste both elements.  For our first course, it consisted of pickled Cucumber  with cocoa nib, pecan & cranberry bread, goat cheese gelée, puffed peas crunch and mint oil.  The bun itself was firm and crunchy while the goat's cheese was creamy and tangy.  There was more crunch from the bright and lightly acidic cucumber slices as well as firm pops of mildly sharp wasabi from the peas.  Next, we had the Biscuit with Tuscany ham and Jarlsberg cheese accompanied by mustard oil, twice pickled onions and crème fraîche.  I found the biscuit to be firm and dense, but flavourful nonetheless.  There were a multitude of flavours that did not interfere with each other.

Onto something that was a bit more constructed, we had the Coco-Air sporting dark chocolate & hazelnut praliné "air", foamed Chantilly cream and puffed rice crunch.  To me, it felt like I was digging into a dry malt.  It was definitely chocolatey with a background bitterness that gave way to a purposeful amount of sweetness.  I thought the cold temperature of the cream was appealing while the puffed rice added some pops of crispiness to each bite.  Back to constructing our eats, we had the whipped Egg Salad with cocoa nibs bread, sous vide egg shavings, crispy shallots, salsa verde and chive oil.  The shaved egg reminded me of a fluffy tamago.  When put together, the crunchy bread added a firm texture.  The salsa verde provided brightness while the shallots were aromatic.  I thought the chive oil was obscured by the salsa verde though.

When presented with the grape Tomato confit with cocoa nibs bread, pesto pulled mozzarella and crispy back bacon, my eyes were drawn to the heart-shaped bacon (hey, I love bacon no matter what type!).  When constructed, the star of the show ended up to be the tomato confit as it was sweet (kicked up by red pepper puree) and thick with acidity from apple vinegar.  The thinly sliced back bacon ate more like a chip and was salty enough to accent the soft mozzarella.  Looking like molecular gastronomy (but not), the Interlude consisted of citrus chocolate consommé, lemon vodka, semi-candied Kalamata olives and olive madeleines. The madeleines were a touch dry, but when eaten with the sweet consomme, it was fine.  There was no conservative squeeze of the vodka as we needed all of it for full effect.

From the interlude, we went straight back into constructing things (a la Maestro Fresh-Wes style...) with the chocolate and dried cherry Scone with red fruit confit, crème fraîche Chantilly, Kirsch mist and lemon zest oil.  Since the berry confit contained less sugar, there was a more pronounced tartness that was balanced off by the light and purposefully sweet Chantilly.  I found the Kirsch to be rather strong while the lemon oil added a mild bitterness.  Consisting of many elements including almond streusel cookie, créme brûlèe, lasagna of apples with caramel powder, French Brandy mist and apple chip crunch, this ultimately became a Tarte.  Interestingly, I thought there needed to be more tang.  Other than that, the whole thing was lightly sweet and full of crunch.

Moving away from apples, we went to pear with the Cheese & Fruit featuring biscuit sablé, pear panna cotta, pear vanilla bean confit and crunchy cheese chip.  Although aromatic and naturally flavoured, I found the panna cotta to be slightly gritty due to the pear.  The confit was sweet and smooth and once again emitted pear aromatics.  All of this was kept in check by the salty Jarlsberg chip and crunchy cookie.  Onto another fruit, we had the Merveilleux with caramel bananas, crispy meringue, dark chocolate thin, white chocolate Chantilly and almond banana crunch.  Normally, banana desserts do not interest me, but the bananas here were fresh-tasting and I loved the cold temperature of the caramel.  The meringue was airy while the white chocolate wasn't too sweet.

We finally made it to our last 2 courses beginning with the Cream Puff with textured pâte à choux, crispy praliné, orange caramel compote, milk chocolate Chantilly and orange zest oil.  I thought the choux pastry was good being soft with a crispy exterior.  The creamy filling was just sweet enough that was accented by a light orange aroma.  The crunchy praline added a mouth-pleasing texture to the puff.  With hot chocolate poured on top, the Grand Marnier Hot Truffle was slowly dissolved.  With tart hits of passion fruit juice, the hot chocolate drank a lot lighter than it appeared.  There was a nice rich smoothness that was slightly bitter and not sweet at all.

To go, we were all given a small box of cocoArt 'Spring' Limited Edition Chocolates consisting of liquid cassis caramel & Cassis reduction ganache,
pistachio nut praliné & Cherry caramel ganache, peanut butter praliné & Banana caramel ganache and liquid strawberry caramel & Dulce de leche ganache.  These were visually striking and tasted exactly like their descriptions.  In general, the entire afternoon tea experience at Wild Sweets was definitely different, fun and worth the price tag of $39.99.  If you are looking for a unique and interactive way of doing afternoon tea, I suggest you give this a shot.

*All food and beverages were complimentary*

The Good:
- Well-priced
- Interactive
- More than enough food

The Bad:
- Some repetitive ingredients
- Setting is at the back of their store, so it's all about the treats      

Chez Christophe

I'll get this out-of-the-way first - I have a personal bias when it comes to Christophe Bozon.  His passion and dedication in crafting quality products is unquestioned in my mind.  I got to know him before he opened his store in North Burnaby with his wife Jess, so I had confidence it was going to be a success.  Lo and behold, a few years afterwards, he moved across the street into a newer and bigger space that now sports actual tables so one can enjoy his wares right there comfortably.  Nora, Diana, Amy and myself recently visited Chez Christophe for some treats, but also to get a sneak peak at his holiday creations (which are available now).

Rather than going for the basic butter croissant, we had the Hazelnut Pain au Chocolate.  This featured a crispy exterior that produced plenty of shattering pieces.  Inside, there was a decent amount of buttery layers encasing a sweet and nutty filling.  The aromatic hazelnut added a more complex flavour than a regular pain au chocolate.  We also sampled their version of a Creme Salee made with brioche dough.  I found the bread portion of the tart to be on the denser side, but the creamy filling was sweet and silky.

Onto some patisserie, we were presented with the Paris-Brest featuring choux pastry with almond hazelnut praline buttercream and kalamansi gel.  This was light and airy with an equally light cream (relatively as it was buttercream).  It was aromatic and only purposefully sweet.  The tart gel provided a nice brightness.  Continuing with the same tartness, the Kalamansi Chocolate Tart sported a sweet zingy curd on 70% dark chocolate ganache all encased in a chocolate crust.  Again, there was a nice balance between tart, sweet and a light bitterness.

Moving onto some savoury items, we had the Croissant Sandwich with Irish ham, provolone, arugula and aioli.  Now this may not seem like anything mind-blowing, but it was a good croissanwich nonetheless.  This was mostly due to the crispy and buttery croissant itself.  That was good, but the Beef Brisket Multigrain Croissant was even better!  Slightly smoky, the tender and moist brisket was on point.  The garlic aioli was aromatic while the caramelized onions added a rich sweetness.  This was so good, I bought an extra one to take home for Viv to try!

Of course, we also sampled his wonderful Chocolates (that is really what he is known for) and Macarons.  I didn't actually eat any of these this time around since I was pretty full.  But from my many past experiences, these truly represent what Chez Christophe is all about.  Furthermore, his whimsical Christmas chocolate creations are available now for order.  But if those aren't your fancy, I'm confident you'll find something you'll like there.  In fact, I was truly surprised I enjoyed the sandwiches as much as I did.  Usually, these are available "just because" and are generally afterthoughts.  Not here, as I'm still thinking about my next brisket sandwich.

*All food and beverages were complimentary*

The Good:
- Quality crafted treats
- Surprisingly good sanwiches
- Now with actual tables for your eating pleasure

The Bad:
- On the higher end for North Burnaby, but well worth it