49th Parallel & Lucky's Donut (Kitsliano Store)

Living in North Burnaby/Burquitlam, it's extremely hard to find a nice cafe where you can sit and chat with your friends, or to study in a nice environment. Ahhh.. Ironically, I'm a cafe and coffee shop lover who loves to discover new cafes, and relax while I sip on my coffee. Sometimes, Starbucks is just not enough!

49th happened on a Wednesday after a whole day of tests. My friend and I decided to travel all the way to West Van to explore this magical place with not only good coffee, but creative donuts. (I repeat! DONUTS! Yes, It's donut not doughnut, I'm still Canadian..)
What a lovely place!! I absolutely adore it's interiors, very refreshing and stress relieving (you would understand if you've been to this location), especially with the mint/light green coloured wall, garden plants and marble tables. Love at first sight!

Coincidentally, Hot Chocolate Festival was on! (In fact, it's still going until Feb.14th). According to other foodies, Lumberjack was a cool flavour to try out, while its other featured hot chocolate: Nanaimo Bar, was too sweet. So naturally, I ordered the Lumberjack Hot Chocolate ($6.00 3.5/5) served with maple marshmallows and a chocolate covered wafer log. I also ordered a Coffee Cruller ($3.00 4.5/5) to go with my Hot Chocolate.

The Lumberjack was spicier than I expected. I thought it'd be cool to try a spicy dark hot chocolate, but I'm not used to the weird sensation, the spice was too strong for me, however, I was still able to finish it. The wafer log was really good, but the marshmallows tasted artificial. I think I would enjoy the Nanaimo Bar more since I am a sugarholic. 

The coffee cruller saved this whole trip! The texture was nice, slightly chewy, slightly fluffy. The flavour was on point as well. The only reason why i deducted 0.5 points was because of the oil, It'd be perfect if the donut had less oil. 

Overall Experience:

I have had 49th parallel coffee at Prado Cafe before, so I know the quality of their coffee is no doubt amazing. But this hot chocolate was disappointing, I'd like to revisit and try the Nanaimo Bar if I have time. Nonetheless, A wonderful place to talk and do work, It's officially on the top of my favourite cafes in Vancouver. Many returns in the future! And make sure you ALWAYS get a donut! 

Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates&Patisserie (Kitsilano Store)

I've had Thomas Haas chocolates many times before but I have never been to any of their stores. Yesterday after lunch, my family and some of our family friends wanted to continue chatting at a nearby cafe and we all had our eyes on Thomas Haas. Damn, Friday Afternoon on a weekday, the cafe is still packed and more and more people kept coming in during our time there. We waited around 10 to 15 minutes before we had a table. The line up was pretty long, I ordered a Manjari Chocolate Cake, 5 macarons (mango strawberry earl grey lemon and passionfruit). 2 classic hot chocolates and a matcha latte. It took them 10 minutes to prepare my order.

The classic hot chocolate ($4.70 4.5/5) and the Manjari chocolate cake ($5.90 4/5) were no doubt, amazing since they do make one of the best chocolates in Vancouver. The Hot chocolates (I'd say they were about 50-60% dark eventhough we ordered regular) were rich and smooth, If you like sweet ones, simply add a pack of sugar.

The chocolate cake reached its full potentials, It was again, dark, rich and layered perfectly with chocolate mousse, soft sponge cakes and rum creme brûlé, you can feel the chunky bites and soft rum flavours melt in your mouth. The Manjari chocolate is smooth and creamy. It was expensive for a tiny slice of cake but I enjoyed it.

Matcha Latte $3.80 (3.5/5) 

Being a CRAZY matcha lover, (by crazy i mean beyond obsessed), I couldn't stop myself from ordering a matcha latte, the latte art was quite nice, but one sip and i was disappointed, the drink was bland and I could barely taste the matcha. I think it's a personal thing, since I love matcha so much, It is almost impossible to find any matcha drinks or desserts that fit my strong taste..I even have to add tablespoons of matcha powder to my matcha ice cream. So if you are an intense matcha lover like I am, take my advice and bring a pack of matcha powder if you wanna order any matcha lattes at a cafe, but if you're just a regular lover, ignore me hahaha. 

Lastly, MACARONS! $1.80/each 4/5 

Who doesn't like a colourful macaron for dessert? This little elegant, "high class" pastry is one of my favourites. It took me around 12 tries to make a successful batch of macarons, thus $2 for one is totally reasonable since they are so hard to make. Thomas Haas actually has macarons for only $1.80 so I was quite surprised. Their macarons are on the sweet side, but it's still SO much better than macarons from faubourg's (too sweet) and Thierry (too flat,expensive,sweet,not crispy enough). 

Jens Macaron Tips

Overall Experience:

Loved it! I would definitely revisit when I'm in the area, It's a nice little place to chat for you and your friends but it's never a good place to hangout in a huge group since it's always super busy. 

Random Things:

 -You can order any of their cakes full size for birthdays and parties. 

-They have spicy hot chocolates (Aztec) and Dark Hot chocolate. 

-I've heard good comments about their Almond Croissants (my mom had it and she loved it) and Champagne Truffle Chocolate Cake so I would for sure order these 2 when I revisit.