Dulcinea Chocolate Cafe

Not just any ol' chocolate cafe...

Location: Vancouver (Downtown)

Food:

We first started with a nice, hot cup of Chocolate Chai. Prior to coming upon that decision, we had sampled their signature hot chocolate - the 1528 - and wasn't too fond of it. It was rich, and thick, but not too sweet (in fact, I think it could've been a lot sweeter.) It literally tasted like drinking a piece of melted milk chocolate bar (minus the sweetness factor.) I don't know how sweet the Spanish like their chocolate but we choose to stray away from the overly thick hot chocolate and thus, ended up with the Chocolate Chai. It was a good choice - nice and relatively lighter. Topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, it paired well with the sweets.

After minutes of indecisiveness, we finally decided on the Crema Cantalan, as well as the Churritos Con Chocolate.

The Creme Cantalan (Spanish creme brulee) was solid, although a lil' too eggy for my liking. The Churritos Con Chocolate came with 4 pieces of decently-sized churros, with a cup of chocolate fondue (which was essentially the 1528 that I had sampled earlier). The churros were excellent - fresh and tasty, although I wish the chocolate fondue was just a tad sweeter! I don't usually have a crazy sweet tooth, but mind you, even my dining companion thought it lacked the sweetness factor - big time.

Service:

Friendly, although it took (at least) a good 15 mins. for the creme brulee to arrive (which was already made to order, no idea why it took so long) and another 5 more mins. for the churros...(although this was more understandable since they were made fresh to order.)

Value:

It was about $15 for the three items - which isn't too bad. Not worthy of any praise or complaints, given the quality of their products and the location of the place.

Ambience:

The pleasant-sounding, soft, Spanish tunes in the background suits the ambience of the cafe well. They also offer free Wi-fi service.

Overall: 7.5/10

Yay: A great deviant from the usual dessert locales people often frequent, e.g, True Confections, Death by Chocolate, Cheesecake Etc. Dulcinea also offers an extensive array of varied desserts - chocolate cheesecake brulee, apple and cinnamon bread pudding, sugar cookies...even a cheesecake wrapped in fried tortilla!

Nay: I don't know if it's in the culture, but I think they have to make their chocolate just a tad sweeter. I know, it sounds silly, but the chocolate here just lacks the sweetness factor that you would minimally expect!

** Interesting note: Dulcinea is pronounced as "Dool-See-Nay-Ah" meaning something-along-the-lines of "sweetness" in Spanish

Posted by: J