604 Joyee's Fave: Hiel Cafe (Burnaby)

Updated: Sep 1, 2021

Finally, I've found a cafe that makes souffle pancakes that are on the same level as the ones I had in Japan!!!!! You guys can forget about Fufu Pancake or Gram Pancakes here. Even though Gram Pancakes is from Japan, I wasn't a fan of their pancakes when I was in Japan. It's denser compared to Happy Pancakes or Flippers. I like the cloud-like-texture from Happy Pancakes. They were moist, airy, and light. Dreamy!

The location of Hiel is in between the border of Burnaby and New Westminster on 10th Avenue. It's a big cafe with outdoor patios, and the inside is quite roomy. They have a vast food selection ranging from cheesecakes, cookies, bars, souffle pancakes, drinks, and lattes etc. We ordered the two recommended souffle pancakes by the barista, which were the original and creme brulee.

I was timing them for fun and we waited about 20 minutes for the pancakes, which was the average time to make a souffle pancakes. While we were waiting, I enjoyed the jazz music playing in the background.

When the souffle pancake arrived, we were both surprised by the size of the pancakes. They were as big as my head. But coming to think of it, they only offer 2 pieces of pancakes, instead of the usual three, so I guess it's the same amount of batter used compared to the industrial standard.

First thing first, we had to test to see if it jiggles and it passed the test via boomerang. When we jabbed the original pancake with our knives, we already could feel the softness.

The first bite took me back to Asia in a split second. It's airy, it's pillowy, it's moist, and it's soft. The topping was just whipping cream whipped in soft peaks and has a lot of berries decorated around the plate. This would be suitable for all my Chinese friends since it's not too sweet.

The creme brulee was a little sweeter which I am more fond of. The topping is made with French custard and was torched with sugar to create the brulee top. It was harder to divide this up as the top was hardened by the caramelization. The bananas on the side were also caramelized. They were fantastic.

What I especially liked about their pancakes is that they both had a bold eggy taste to them. As you know, eggs in Canada have no flavor so I'm not sure what eggs they've used, or if they've added extra substance to the batter to bring out the flavor. Their pancakes are 95% similar to the ones from Happy Pancakes or Flippers, and this is probably the closest thing I could find here in Vancouver that resembles a real souffle pancake. In fact, their pancakes are very similar to my homemade souffle pancakes where we both use the undercooking technique to create these soft and moist pancakes. The bottom to the middle layer of their souffle pancakes is just cooked through and the top layer has a creamier texture since it's slightly undercooked. While the Japanese use the ultra slow cooking method to make a perfectly soft souffle pancake under low heat, and this method yields a perfectly consistent texture throughout - soft and airy. Personally, I prefer the undercooking method because it's easier to control the texture, and it's faster to make. I'm impatient. I also like the slightly undercooked gooey batter that gives the pancake more moisture, but the drawback with this method is that you would have to sacrifice the height and it's not as airy.

How do I know all this? I've probably read 100 articles on making souffle pancakes and learned all the science behind it. All I can say is that the Japanese are really good at Science...

The cost of these pancakes is $16 per plate, which I find very reasonable considering the time required to make these. It's cheaper than FuFu pancake too!

What are you waiting for? Head over there now!!!!