Monday, April 18, 2011

Crepes and Waffles at Spin Dessert

Thank goodness for Spin Dessert, I no longer have to rely on Demetres for my dessert fix in the west end. In my opinion, Demetres has gone down in quality over the last several years: presentation is sloppy and depending on what location portion size can be drastically different too. Oh yeah, some locations really need a renovation as well. All in all, I just don't feel like I'm getting my money's worth when I get a crepe or waffle at Demetres. In all honesty, I think crepes and waffles are never worth $8-$12, they are essentially a rip-off in in a sense considering they consists of just batter and ice cream or some fruits and other toppings. But nevertheless, I'd rather be walking out happily ripped-off than walking out feeling all bitter about it.


The one thing that bothers me the most about Demetres is the presentation of their crepe. This is just purely personal preference but I like my crepes to be methodologically wrapped with ice cream on top of the crepe, unlike this crepe from Demetres, where the crepe was simply draped on top of the ice cream and then sprinkled with toppings and syrup with two randomly placed blobs of whipped cream. I personally find this crepe really ugly.

Photo credit - Tummy Points


On the other hand, look at this crepe from Café Crepe; this is how I would like my crepe to look like.


Photo credit: UTTSA


Pretty, right? I know not every place will, or want, to present their crepe exactly like that which is fine, but all I ask is the following: serve people something that look like you put some effort into making it.



OK now that you know how I feel about Demetres, let us go back to Spin Dessert ^_^


When you walk into Spin Dessert, you will see the crepe / waffle station to your right.



And the cakes and all the other stuff on the left.
   

My friend and I went on the Friday before Valentine's Day so they had all those balloons on the ceiling. This shot was taken before we left Spin Dessert. When we first got there all the tables were filled so you wouldn't have been able to see the decor much if I took the picture then. I really like the color scheme at Spin Dessert, it is cozy with the dark chocolate brown yet a bit chic and flirty with the pink. The huge circular booth in the middle is also very different and unique.


There was live music that night which was pretty cool. I think it's a Friday / weekend thing only.


We sat at a table in the center where all the balloons were. The strings were actually quite annoying since they draped all the way down to my shoulders (even when sitting down). I had the biggest urge to take my swiss army knife out and snip off all the strings around me (yes I carry a swiss army knife in my purse wherever I go).


Regular Hot Chocolate & White Hot Chocolate 

I had the white chocolate and my friend had the regular. I never get anything white chocolate but felt somewhat adventurous that night. Loved it! Not overly sweet but still distinctively different than your normal hot chocolate. 


Molten Lava Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream 

The cake was moist and warm, very ooey-gooey. Perfect for chocolate lovers like myself. 


No shortage of chocolate here for sure.  A spoonful of vanilla ice cream with a bit of this moist chocolate cake was pure bliss.


Featured Waffle: Chocolate Batter Ice Cream topped with Ice Cream, Strawberries with Hot Fudge on the side 

Spin Dessert has a featured waffle & ice cream every month, and for February the featured ice cream was the Chocolate Batter ice cream. I had this waffle and it was just incredibly yummy and also incredibly huge.

I couldn't really tell the difference between normal chocolate ice cream and this Chocolate Batter ice cream. Strawberries were big, fresh and sweet, brownies were perfect in size and moist (I've had really dry brownies at Demetres before), presentation was also very pretty. I love the chocolate / hot fudge sauce on the side (standard for every crepe / waffle at Spin Dessert). 


Crepe with Hazelnut Ice Cream and Bananas 

My friend had this. He wasn't too crazy about the Hazelnut Ice Cream (he now knows he doesn't like hazelnut) so he can't say that he likes the crepe because of the hazelnut element. Although the ice cream was not wrapped inside the crepe here, I still like this crepe far better than the one from Demetres shown earlier since it looks like effort was involved in assembling this one.


I've been to Spin Dessert several times now and each time it was has been great. The desserts there have been consistently good. However, the service was a bit slow the last two times I went so make sure you're not in a hurry. I hope that will improve though.

I really wish Demetres would revamp their menu; it has always been the same as far as I remember. I want some variety sometimes, you know? Spin Dessert has new features every month. 

Below are two more pictures of waffles from Demetres:



Can you say *YAWN*?


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