Chicco Japanese Dessert Cafe – Overpriced Parfaits

1504 Robson Street, Vancouver

Food: 3
Service: 3.5
Price: Cheap (overall)

Ice cream and cake are what I refer to as a "happy combination" :) Can you think of another food pairing that has that special ability to rush all your fond childhood memories back? If you can, okay...but I can't! And even as an adult I can't say, "No," to an opportunity for some 'happiness'.
A real treat that's been brought to my attention in the last few years has been an ice cream and cake plus combination called 'parfait'. It's a delightful mix of ice cream, cornflakes, cake, and other treats, which in my experience range from jelly squares to little mochi. Although I loved my first experience of it at a dessert parlour in my neighbourhood, I heard through the grapevine that the parfait
mecca in Vancouver is a little place down on the Robson strip called Chicco. I've walked past this place a few times over the last year, but always caught it during closed hours. I took a chance to see if it was open on a Saturday night, and was pleasantly surprised to see it was opened at 10pm.

The restaurant is a tiny hole-in-the-wall establishment, with very little seating and a narrow walkway that takes you to a dessert display and the cash till. It has lack-lustre ambiance, except in the bright yellow and grass green colour scheme it has going on, so my assumption lay that this place made 'killer' desserts to pay the rent. I could not wait to try its parfaits.

What to expect:

·    a selection of 8 Parfaits available: Very Berry, Tiramisu, Cheesecake, Green Tea, Chocolate, Cream Caramel, Black Sesame, Anmitsu

·    other menu items include assortments of: hot or iced Coffees, hot or iced Teas, very cute Cakes, Gelato, and Slush desserts

·    to order to-go, because there’s very little seating in there

·    to pay cash ONLY

I ordered the Cheesecake Parfait, while my friend Y. ordered the Tiramisu Parfait. Both

were served in plastic cups and with plastic spoons.

Cheesecake Parfait, $7.50

·    vanilla gelato, red-orange jelly cubes, sweetened cornflakes, sponge cake, Japanese cheesecake with a strawberry drizzle on top

·    the cheesecake had a regular sponge cake  texture; it was unlike the silkier Japanese cheesecake I’ve had in the past

·    the jelly was flavourless

·    when mixed altogether, the gelato, cornflakes, and the cake stood-out

·    couldn’t distinguish the jelly texture while eating it in combination with everything else

·    had the jelly been cut into larger cubes, maybe they would’ve had more presence in the dessert

Tiramisu Parfait, $7.50

·    hedgehog gelato, vanilla gelato, strawberry jelly cubes, sweetened cornflakes, sponge cake, and tiramisu on top

·    this was the better parfait of the two, mainly because there were two gelatos and the tiramisu was yummier than the cheesecake

·    this tiramisu was more cakey than creamy...maybe the Japanese make tiramisu differently?

·    like the cheesecake parfait, the gelato, cornflakes, and the cake stood-out, while the jelly was unnoticeable

I walked out of Chicco with a dose of ‘happiness’, but wanted to be happier. I wouldn’t say these parfaits are worth the $7.50 we paid. I thought they were quite small, and the okay quality of the ingredients couldn’t make up for their size. Needless to say, this did not turn out to be the mecca for parfait I had hoped it would be.