Today we were in Burnaby for a different kind of happy hour. This is Sugar Lab, a Chinese cafe and dessert shop. They specialize in crepe cakes and offer a variety of teas and traditional Chinese style desserts to go with it.
It was our first time visiting, but they have been around for 10 years now. During our visit we saw many folks coming in to specifically pick up cakes, packaged delicately in round hat boxes.
These would be their crepe cakes and we would get to try a couple of them as slices. These are available as a combo along side your choice of tea for $15.99. This deal is available Monday to Friday from 2-6pm.
However for their more creative crepe cakes it is best to visit them during the weekend. Chocolate, rose lychee, pineapple, and chestnut.
Considering that I smelled it coming in, I decided to get their durian crepe cake. Fruit this fragrant I knew it would be good. But be warned, for those who don’t like the scent of durian there is no avoiding it. Although at the same time, if you sit long enough, you will forget that it’s there.
My guest went for their most popular flavour: mango. I love how thin the layers of crepe were, just as light as the layer of cream that separated them. And in every other layer was real fruit pulp intermingled. Chunks of mango and strands of durian flesh. The first few bites were the best, but the amount of cream did eventually bog me down. Overall, it was still a lovely flavour and one that wasn’t too sweet or bold that you couldn’t enjoy it with some tea.
I was impressed with the tea presentation. My friend got a cold version with fruit. The jasmine green tea that I ordered was served in a glass tea pot that sat atop of a glass stand. This held a lit tea light keeping all the liquid within warm for the entire duration of your visit. The cups matched and were smaller, meaning that you were regularly pouring hotter liquid into each, always sipping warm tea.
We also tried one of their seasonal Chinese desserts. The Special Treasure dessert was a condense milk sweetened mountain of shaved ice with a mix of red bean, coconut jelly, tapioca pearls, and a variety of gummy mochi topping it. This was more my tastes for its textures, and we ate most of it, before the ice melted into a pool.
In short, this makes for a lovely cafe to grab a treat and get caught up with a friend at.
Sugar Lab Pancake House
5376 Grimmer St, Burnaby, BC V5H 2H2
(604) 451-9149
sugarlabcake.ca
