Lotus is well known for their crepe cakes but unfortunately, the Richmond location does not sell ice cream so I had to venture out to Burnaby. In their Burnaby location, they sell Matcha Ice Cream platters with 5 grades of matcha intensity. I have a good feeling that I will like their most intense level.
The worker there said that their normal matcha ice cream is at level 3 and most people prefer it at level 3. Level 4 has a bit more bitterness and level 5 is quite bitter. Nonetheless, I just ordered the platter to make my own judgment. My friend and I also ordered their creme brulee crepe cake on the side, the server there recommended that since it's one of the best sellers and it's on the sweeter side which was perfect for my girlfriend who has a sweet tooth. He said no one had ever complained about that. He also recommended the matcha crepe cake, but since we already had 5 scoops of ice cream on the table, we figured we should try something else.
Strategically, we tried the mildest matcha flavored ice cream and worked our way up to level 5. Here are our thoughts:
Unlike some of the famous matcha dessert stores, their ice cream is creamy and silky rather than slushy :)
Level 1: We were quite impressed with the first level. It had a pretty strong matcha flavor that already beat a lot of other well-known matcha specialized dessert stores! It's on a sweeter side since it lacks bitterness but it's not overly sweet.
Level 2: Slightly stronger but similar to level 1
Level 3: Matcha flavor was noticeably stronger with a hint of bitterness. We both liked it a lot.
Level 4: Matcha flavor intensifies and the bitterness is quite noticeable here but not unwelcoming. The sweetness also diminishes as the bitterness increased.
Level 5: Matcha flavor amplified that leaves your mouth with an aftertaste of bitterness. I also liked that the sweetness was not as noticeable. Recommended for matcha addicts but not for any average matcha lovers.
My favorite was level 4 to 5, but of course, different people will have different preferences. My girlfriend preferred level 4 and 5.
As for the Creme Brulee crepe cake, it was pretty much like a creme brulee in a layered custard crepe cake with the Brulee on top. The texture of their Crepe Cakes are similar to Lady M but shorter in height. I like that their crepe layer has the perfect thickness and not being overly thin. There's still a good mouthfeel to it with the perfect ratio of cream layers in between.
For some odd reason, the Chinese community has a thing for crepe cakes where they purse the crepe layer being so ridiculously thin that it becomes unnoticeable. The crepe cake dessert shops that the Chinese community prefers here include Berry Good (in Richmond) and Cake Bae (at Dunbar). I've tried Berry Good but I really didn't like the lack of mouthfeel. You might as well just buy a can of whipping cream and just directly spray it into your mouth in that case...
From a reliable source, Cake Bae is similar to Berry Good and it's also very expensive, so I think I'll pass.
Another crepe cake that I've tried at Lotus was the 64% dark chocolate crepe cake. It's rich and smooth and still has a good level of sweetness to it. It's good but I personally like my chocolates at 70% t0 75% dark. Whether it be matcha or chocolate, the strong bitterness takes over the sweetness which is perfect for a weak dessert eater like me. As you can probably tell by now, I don't like my desserts being overly sweet. (I'd say I have a sweet tooth that lies in between a Caucasian and a Chinese? Which is more or less having a Persian sweet tooth. East Indian Sweet tooth is out of the question. It's wayyy too sweet for me. haha. )
Next time, I'd like to come back to try their rose lychee and matcha Crepe cake. Their blue Earl grey is also interesting :)
P.S - I normally find desserts at $9 + pretty expensive here, but crepe cake is one dessert I wouldn't mind paying at this price point because it's time-consuming and labor intensive to make at home. So before you complain about their price point, try making a crepe cake at home first!
💵 Price: $12 🍰; $7 🍨 or $15 for the sampler
🤤 Taste: 4.9 / 5
🕯Atmosphere: 5
🪑Seating: 2.5
📈 Price Performance ratio: 4.8 / 5
Retention Rate: 100%
ℙ𝕣𝕠𝕤:
🍨 They’ve got a strong Matcha game going on
🍨 the strongest matcha flavored ice cream I’ve had in Vancouver. Even better than the 🍨 from Matcha Maiko or Tsujiri ☺️
🍨 the sampler has 5 levels of Matcha intensity. 1st level is the mildest and 5th is the strongest. The matcha flavor from the 1st level was still noticeable but marginally sweeter
🍰 they make the best crepe cakes in Vancouver IMO. I know some people prefer the paper-thin crepes resulting in a nearly unnoticeable crepe layer... but that’s just like eating whipping cream. You might as well just buy a can of whipping cream then.
🍰 we tried the creme brûlée crepe cake and it was delicious. Perfect crepe to whipped cream ratio. The top had the caramelized crust and it was slightly crunchy 👌🏼
🍰 I also tried their durian and 65% chocolate dark chocolate crepe cake before and they were also lovely.
🍰 their desserts aren’t too sweet
ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕤:
🍰 nothing to complain about atm
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
🍰 I find desserts at $10+ range expensive here in Vancouver but not for crepe cakes. It’s very labor intensive and time consuming to make each of those layers, so I’m happy to pay
🍰 Looks like most of you are matcha addicts and prefer the slightly bitter aftertaste from the matcha ice cream 🥰 I also prefer level 4 - 5 intensity
🍨 their ice cream reminds me of the ones from Japan ❤️
🚨🍨 Note: only the Burnaby location sells ice cream
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