Dazzling Cafe in Toronto

For months I could only see a glimpse of the distinct pink and white front signage for Dazzling Cafe from afar but never confirmed what it was till recently.  In Taipei, Dazzling Cafe is well known for it's desserts and specifically honey toast.  When they first opened, line ups would be so long that on my last visit to Taiwan, I didn't attempt to go.  But upon realizing they have opened a Toronto location just down the street from where I am, I decided it was time to try this dessert cafe.

The decor is very cute and feminine; typical of some places in Taiwan where girlfriends love to gather for brunch or dessert.  It definitely makes you feel quite "girly" and although I'm past the age of baby doll dresses and reading ViVi magazine, I still love the dining experience of something so cute.

Chairs with bunny ears :)

We had gone for dinner despite knowing the food options were not going to be plenty nor were portions going to be large.  I figured we'd make up the calories with dessert!  :)

Ordered popcorn chicken, came heavily seasoned with five spice powder and pepper, not bad.

I had the bacon and poached egg pasta which looked and tasted good but portions were small for North America.  Very normal for Taiwan though.  You also don't get much in the way of bacon but the egg was poached well.  The pasta wasn't very heavy, if you're used to rich sauces you may not enjoy it as it was more light and pleasant.

My partner had the pork jowl baked rice.  Tasted good as well but very small portions.

We each got a milk tea which tasted fine, nothing spectacular though.  We did ask for reduced sugar and ice.  Too bad they didn't have any special set meals where the drink is at a discount.

Dessert...

Hazelnut chocolate honey toast was a mountain of bread, ice cream and whipped cream.  It was good but definitely lacked enough ice cream and had too much whipped cream to really make it an extraordinary dessert.  And I think I was disappointed that the ice cream was vanilla.  They cut the inside of the toast into cubes and the hazelnut choocalate part was a small amount of nutella piped into each cube.  In the end, we had quite a bit of the toast shell left over.  If they made this with even just one more scoop of ice cream it'd be much better.

Service was great which always makes the experience better.  They have a small upper level and I noticed a few high chairs were available for those bringing little ones.  Overall, it is expensive for what you get, but I'd consider coming back again for a bubble tea and/or dessert with friends.


Dazzling Cafe

37 Sheppard Avenue E
Toronto, ON M2N 7K1

T:  647-723-7300

http://dazzlingcafecanada.com/

Scribbles in Taiwan: Oolong Tea Ice Cream, It's So Good!

So, it's taken me a really, really long time to post this and I was contemplating not posting at all but, I recently made ice cream inspired by this place (which is still a work in progress unfortunately) ...and this place is WORTH blogging about!  One of the most unique ice cream shops opened up in Taichung, Taiwan a few years back offering an amazing selection. Taichung is the 3rd largest city in Taiwan, known as the origin of bubble tea, and having climate like Los Angeles.  On my trip to Taiwan last year I knew I had to go just to try out the ice cream!! Yes, call me a bit crazy but I spent a day out of my vacation time solely to try the ice cream (thanks for indulging me AT!).

This ice cream shop is part of a larger store and restaurant called the Miyahara Ophthalmology Department or Eye Clinic (宫原眼科). What?! Yes, Eye Clinic. It is a reference to the eye clinic the building housed during the Japanese occupation.  After renovating, it became a pastry/gift shop with a restaurant, and an ice cream shop. The pastry shop is very photogenic, looks like a beautiful library and some liken it to a Harry Potter-like setting.

Gifts are stacked in these "bookshelves", how cute ^-^ 

The packaging is quite nice, perfect for gift giving.

A variety of goods available

The highlight for me was the ice cream, which did not disappoint!!  In Asia, sometimes you get ice cream that just doesn't have the right texture or creaminess, but not here.  The flavours were pronounced and the texture was smooth and thick!

Prices are on the right, 1 scoop = NTD90, which is about $3 CAD.

They have so many variations of chocolate ice cream it was amazing, I mean chocolate with different percentages of cocoa, from different parts of the world (single origin chocolate)!  Twenty to be exact!!  I wanted to try several but we opted for only two.  We got a scoop of the 68% cocoa Nyangbo and a 64% smoked chocolate from Costa Rica.  The Nyangbo cocoa one was really good and had a nice light nutty flavour (as it indicated) but the smoked one didn't have much smokiness.  It did have a good chocolate flavour to it though with slight bitterness.  If you're a chocolate fan, these ice creams are a must try!!

Chocolate and tea flavours

Another reason I was excited, they also had a selection of ice cream made from tea!  Tea is a major commodity in Taiwan and if I haven't mentioned this before, tea is one of my passions. The flavour of the one we had called "Oriental Beauty" (東方美人 dong fang mei ren) was stunning!

Oriental beauty is an oolong tea that is highly oxidized.  It's origins are quite unique as the tea was discovered by chance.  These tea leaves are prone to bites from the jassid insect, which thus contribute to the oxidation.  You can read more here at the Tea Masters blogspot.  The taste is a lasting sweet taste, with some notes of caramel.

++ Chocolate ice cream (+ a few fruit ones)

Range of toppings.  The more scoops of ice cream you buy, the more free toppings.  We got 3 scoops so you are entitled to 4 toppings.

Our massive ice cream in a waffle bowl!!

Aside from the huge selection of chocolate and tea flavoured ice creams, they also offer about 20 different fruit flavoured ones (looked like sorbets) and some Miyahara specials.  From the specials list Hakka lei tea and brown sugar longan would have been interesting.  It appears all the ice creams except the chocolate ones don't contain colourants, egg yolks, cream, or stabilizing agents which is interesting to note.

One negative, no seating!!!  We had to stand outdoors which made it difficult to eat and it was blazing hot that day!!  The ice cream luckily didn't melt as quickly as I thought...or maybe we just ate really fast, lol!  (So, this is a warning to all slow eaters.)  But despite the lack of eating space, anyone travelling to Taiwan and making a stop in Taichung, this place is a must go for the ice cream lover!