Polly and I managed to get together once after the school reopened. Polly had to go to downtown Vancouver to run some errands. We took the opportunity to go for our cake meet in downtown Vancouver.

Polly suggested to try this place called Chicco at 1504 Robson St. She got a flyer from her previous visit to downtown and Chicco was on the flyer with a tagline which captured her attention. The tagline is “The one and only Japanese Dessert Cafe”.

We were rather surprised by this small cafe which has tables and chairs which looked so old fashion and worn out. Perhaps, the owner of this place likes antique. (more…)

It’s high sugar Tuesday again. Polly and I met up to satisfy our sweet craving. This time we went to Sweet William’s Dessert which is located in the Food Court of City Square. City Square is located at 555 12th Avenue, Vancouver between Ash St and Cambie St.

We were not aware that Sweet William’s Dessert is inside a food court until we were at the location. Anyway, City Square looks like a high end mall with some offices too. It is not a very big mall.

Polly and I ordered 3 items to share. We ordered two slices of cheesecakes and a slice of Pavlova cake. Sweet William’s Dessert also specializes in chocolate cake which we are sold whole. Too bad they don’t sell them in slice, otherwise, I would like to try it.

This slice of Cafe Au Leit Cheesecake costs $2.50. It is a small slice but for that price, it is reasonable. It is lightly chocolaty and not too sweet. We like it.

The next one is a Frozen Berry Cheesecake which also costs $2.50. (more…)

Polly and I resume our cake meet after a couple of weeks break. This time we visited Mix the Bakery on 4430 West 10th Avenue. Mix the Bakery has about 6 to 7 small tables but very good traffic.

I had a list of places to visit which I had researched some time ago. Mix the Bakery is one of those with awards. Mix the Bakery had been awarded first place n the reader’s choice from 2004 to 2007.

Mix the Bakery has an open kitchen where customers can actually see the bakers at work. It seems that they are popular for their Artisan bread as we saw some ladies at the table next to us bought some bread for take away.

Other than Artisan bread, Mix the Bakery also has quite a good range of cakes, cookies, scones and sweet treats. Polly and I were so enthusiastic that we ordered four items this time.

This is a Key Lime Cake. (more…)

Updated 4 June 2009: Replaced by Chloe Cafe (Vietnamese).

For this cake meet, we had Angie joined Polly and me. Since Angie lives in West Vancouver, we try to meet in Vancouver. We decided to meet at Italia Deli & Cafe on Granville St.

Italia Deli & Cafe is family owned and operated since 2004.

This is a small cafe with about 5 tables and few high seat overlooking the street. There are a few chairs outside the cafe, good for warmer weather. There are also some sofas at the inner side of the cafe with a large TV. It will be great for nights with game telecast. I like the nostalgic black and white photos of old movies stars (I presumed Italian) which decorated the wall.

Angie was late that morning, so Polly and I started off with some coffees and sweet treats.

Polly had a small Coffee Mocha for $2.50 while I just ordered regular coffee. (more…)

Polly and I revisited Trees Organic Coffee for their best cheesecake in Vancouver. It’s been more than a year since we visited Trees Organic Coffee, our first cake meet place.

Trees Organic Coffee is along the site of the Canada Line construction. The view from Trees Organic Coffee at the moment is not very nice. Nevertheless, the business is still pretty good when we were there.

Trees Organic Coffee is located just at the site where the 440 tonne tunnel-boring machine broke through into the construction site for the line’s Waterfront station. This finishes the second of side-by-side bored tunnels from just south of False Creek to just north of Pender Street on Granville.

Polly and I ordered two slices of cheesecakes and a piece of cinnamon bun to share.

This is a Banana White Chocolate cheesecake. (more…)

Updated: 3rd Jan 2015; This restaurant is closed according to Urbanspoon.com.

Polly and I met again for coffee. I found this Cafe In from a Chinese Food Magazine. It has two locations in Vancouver, one at 5707 Balsam St and another in 3335 W. 4th Ave. We went to the one on 4th Ave.

There are banners with the words ‘Award-winning Intelligentsia Coffees on the store front of this cafe. I wonder what it means?

When we walked into this cafe, we noticed there are many signs of Godiva chocolates. First of all, there are two wall shelves loaded with Godiva chocolates.

There is this gold mosaic mural on the wall which represent Godiva’s divine chocolate. The logo was inspired by the popular legend. It tells of the persistent Lady Godiva who rode naked in order to persuade her husband to abolish his onerous taxation of Coventry. This mosaic mural is also found in the washroom but in silver.

We like the simple and yet cozy interior deco. Potted plants are placed at strategic locations which brings some freshness and liveliness to the interior.

I also like these mosaic pieces of coffee art and cup and saucer. It brings out the mood for a cup of coffee. (more…)

Polly and I went to Caffe Artigiano for our cake meet. We have no idea that Caffe Artigiano is the home of the Canadian Barista Championships from 2003 to 2006 until I checked their website after I came home. Artigiano also had several medals from the World Barista Championship medals. Not quite gold but silver and bronze … pretty cool.

Caffe Artigiano has 5 outlets in Vancouver in all. They are located on Pender St, Hornby St, West Hasting St, Park Royal in West Vancouver and Kerrisdale. We went to the one in Kerrisdale.

Caffe Artigiano is a very busy caffe as there were many customers come and go while we were there. I wondered why they are called a caffe and not cafe … you have any idea why?

We were quite disappointed in the beginning as we did not find any cheese cake in their buffet. However, there were scones, biscotti, bars, sandwiches and wrap.

We ordered two scones and a biscotti to share. This is the blueberry scones. The serving is quite large. We enjoyed it with some jam.

We liked the second scone better, it’s made with nut and dried fruit. This scones is more crunchy and has lots of nuts and dried fruit in it. The biscotti is not what I expected. This is more cakey like instead of the crunchy type. The scones were $2.95 each while the biscotti was $1.95.

The best is the coffee. I ordered the Caffe Mocha for $3.39. It is very smooth and creamy. The cream formation is so creative.

Polly had the Caffe Latte for $2.99. This is the best coffee we had ever had since our cake meet. For the true coffee lover, you must visit Caffe Artigiano.

Click the link below for more coffee art. You will like some of the prettiest coffee art I have ever seen. Note that the ones below are not from Artigiano’s.

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