chocolate – Page 12 – Michael Eats

Tasty Cookies and Amazing Soft Serve at Soul Chocolate

Published on September 5, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 583 Gerrard Street East, Toronto
Website: https://www.soulroasters.com/

Soul Chocolate is a delightful chocolate/coffee shop on the east end that has some seriously satisfying chocolate soft serve. Like, ridiculously satisfying.

I also tried the chocolate chunk cookie, and that’s very good too — it has a nice chewy texture, a sweet buttery flavour, and a whole bunch of great quality chocolate chunks. It’s lightly sprinkled with just the right amount of salt to offset its sweetness.

As delicious as the cookie is (and it’s extremely delicious), it’s overshadowed by the phenomenal soft serve.

Seriously: this stuff is pure magic. It’s perfectly rich and creamy, though it’s the intense chocolatey flavour that really makes it stand out. It’s got that bold flavour that you only get from great quality dark chocolate, and it’s amazing.

It actually reminds me of the thick, rich drinking chocolate that they serve at Soma — only it’s ice cream. If you’re thinking that sounds delightful, you are correct. It is delightful. Extremely delightful.

The Truth About Milkshakes

Published on September 3, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 25 The West Mall, Etobicoke (inside Sherway Gardens)
Website: https://www.sweetjesusicecream.com/

I’m just gonna say it: milkshakes are for jerks.

Well, okay, maybe that’s not true. Milkshakes are perfectly delicious, but generally speaking, if I’m going to eat ice cream, I want to eat ice cream. I don’t need to drink it.

Still, I don’t mind a milkshake every now and then, and since I’ve tried all the cones at Sweet Jesus, I figured sure, why not?

I got the Peanut Butter, Pretzel & Chocolate Hazelnut shake, which features “vanilla soft serve, peanut butter sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream, hazelnut-chocolate sauce, salted pretzel crumble.”

Yeah, it’s a lot of stuff. And it’s quite tasty — it tastes pretty much exactly what you think it’s going to taste like based on that description.

I find a lot of milkshakes to be unpleasantly thick; if I have to struggle to suck it up through a straw, then what’s the point? Just let me just eat it with a spoon. This, on the other hand, was easily drinkable. It was the perfect consistency, though I suspect milkshake aficionados might find it too thin.

A Tasty Cupcake at Bobbette and Belle

Published on August 30, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1121 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: http://bobbetteandbelle.com/

I kind of hate going to a good bakery, because I want to eat that, and that, and that, and that, but there’s only so much room inside my stomach. It’s kind of like Sophie’s Choice, but at least she only had two children to choose between; there’s like a dozen things here that look delicious.

I wound up going with the Cookies and Cream cupcake at Bobbette and Belle, but there were so many other pastries I could have picked. Everything looked great.

I’d say I chose pretty well. The cupcake features a chocolate base topped with an Oreo-infused frosting. It’s delightful. The cake is nice and moist, with a satisfying chocolatey flavour. And the frosting is sweet (but not overly sweet) and creamy, with a nice balance of cookie chunks. It’s one of the better cupcakes I’ve had in a while.

Tasty Japanese Cream Buns at Hattendo Cafe

Published on August 21, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 13 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.hattendo.ca/

One of the things that takes some getting used to in Asia is that some countries there consider white bread to essentially be a dessert. More than once, I’ve gone to a convenience store and bought what appears to be a Twinkie-esque pastry, only to realize that it’s just a plain white bun, like a hot dog bun.

Which is to say that if you’ve never had the type of Japanese cream bun they serve at Hattendo, you might be surprised to discover that the bun itself is basically just a soft, fluffy hamburger bun. Once you get used to it, however, it’s quite tasty.

I tried three: custard, chocolate, and red bean. The bun itself is quite nice. It’s soft, fluffly, and just a little bit sweet.

The custard was my least favourite of the three flavours. It was nice and creamy, but the flavour was middling; there just wasn’t much to it.

The chocolate was much better, with a pronounced cocoa-infused flavour and a satisfyingly restrained level of sweetness.

The red bean was the best of the three. If you normally don’t like beany sweets, this might just be the perfect gateway dessert — it’s super creamy and tasty, with a really nice balance between the creamy custard and the sweet red beans.

Summer’s Ice Cream: A Toronto Institution

Published on August 2, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 101 Yorkville Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.summersicecream.com/

Summer’s is a Toronto institution. It’s been around since 1984, which makes it one of the oldest local ice cream joints (I think only Greg’s, which opened in 1981, is older).

It’s not a place that I feel the need to check out on a regular basis (I think it’s been something like a decade since my last visit), but if you’re in the area and you’re craving ice cream, it’s fine.

It’s better than fine, actually. It’s a decent step up in quality from most of the stuff you can get at the supermarket, but it’s definitely not on the level of the city’s better ice cream shops.

On this particular visit I got their classic flavour, Toronto Pothole, which is chocolate ice cream with marshmallow and chocolate sauce swirled in, with chunks of almonds and peanuts (though I didn’t notice any almonds or peanuts, and their description doesn’t say anything about chocolate sauce. Did I get the wrong flavour…?).

The flavour of the ice cream is a bit Nesquik-esque, and the texture is slightly gummy, but for the most part it’s rich and satisfying. It’s nothing too mind-blowing, but it’s certainly tasty enough.