This past weekend Grayson and I went to the beautiful Azure Play Cafe! A special cafe where the owner, Ivan combines his love of baking with his love of parenting. Azure Play Cafe is place where parents can hang out with each other WHILE their little ones play in the children area.
Cafe interior
This cafe is meant to be a space for all ages. They do this by integrating a play space into the cafe and offering S.T.E.M. and cooking workshops for kids! This allows parents to come to the cafe without having to worry about their children getting bored during their stay.
Azure Play Cafe put a lot of time and energy into their cafe menu design because they really wanted it to reflect the cafe’s theme. They designed it to look like a magazine to make it unique and match the relaxing atmosphere of the cafe. It’s really worth the look because all the photos in it are incredible!
Azure Play Cafe menu
If you prefer to look at all their menu items at once, they have a list menu on their front door. They offer a variety of items including fruit salads, sweet soup, jiggly pancakes, waffles, shaved ice and vitamin C fruit drinks!
While Grayson and I visited, we were told that their Super Vitamin C drinks and homemade cakes are one of their features. The owner and his wife went on a soul-searching trip to China and on this trip they discovered how to make these items under trained professionals. This allowed them to learn about how to combine ingredients to make the perfect creation.
Super Orange Vitamin C Fruit drink
If you’re down on Vitamin C, this is the drink for you! This was similar to an orange juice in that it had a bright and refreshing taste but had the lightness of the tea infused. We were surprised as to how much it tasted like fresh orange juice because we didn’t expect it to be like this at all!
Berries & Lychee Vitamin C fruit drink
This drink was much sweeter than the Super Orange drink. If you have a sweet tooth this is the one for you! The combination of berries and lychee were the perfect pairing as both of them are quite mild fruits. We enjoyed how they had real fruit floating in there as well because it added that extra pop of welcome colour.
Matcha red bean roll cake
This matcha roll cake had the perfect balance between earthy and sweet flavors. As a baker, I find it difficult to find the right amount of matcha to add to a batter for ample flavor without it being bitter. This sponge cake highlighted the earthiness of the matcha and allowed the red bean to add sweetness to the cake. The whipped cream filling added creaminess to mellow the flavours out to create a wonderful harmony. Delish!
Mango roll cake
This roll cake was the complete opposite of the matcha version. The sponge cake was light and fluffy with vanilla flavours throughout. Usually when I have roll cake, the contents are usually chopped up but they cut the mango into long strips here which made it a bit difficult to have a chunk of mango in every bite. We did notice that the mango roll cake had more sponge cake in the roll in comparison to the matcha red bean version which had more filling. Grayson liked this one better and I liked the matcha one more. It really depends on your personal taste preferences but both were great!
Earl Grey Almond Jiggly Pancake
Last but not least we tried their jiggly pancakes. Jiggly pancakes are unlike regular pancakes in that they are made by whipping egg whites to add air into the batter which results leaves you with incredibly fluffy pancakes. This is one of the items that the owner mentioned as one of the specialties of the cafe. He said that when he usually goes for souffle style pancakes elsewhere, they are simply served with syrup. He wanted to make the jiggly pancakes here different by enhancing them with different toppings. Waffle lovers beware, you might switch to team pancake after this!
The earl grey almond jiggly pancake came with the most velvety earl grey cream ever. I’ve never had anything like it! It was silky smooth and packed with bergamot flavour. It also came with syrup but it really didn’t need it because it was already incredible with the earl grey cream! Grayson loves his earl grey tea and could easily have eaten this all day! I on the other hand was more interested in the textural contrast between the slivered almonds and the pillowy pancake! Just look at how fluffy they were! We’ll definitely be back to try some of their other ones!
If you’re looking for something refreshing and unique give Azure Play Cafe in Richmond a visit. You won’t regret it!
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I was invited to try the items at Azure Play Cafe. All opinions are honest and my own.