What8ver Cafe

Finals are over. Finals are over. Finals are over. If I had to name one thing I learned in school that I would always remember it will be to never take a class with a final at eight in the morning. I walked out that classroom listing Hilary Clinton as the current governor of the Bank of Canada. Don't ask. Anyway. Yesterday night I took sometime out of my busy schedule of doing nothing to give What8ver Cafe another try because J has never tried their Ice-cream Toast before and Facebook did a really good job at advertising. This time however, I was smart enough to make a reservation beforehand and good thing I did - we were aiming to go around 10 but they did not have a table until 11.

The reason I say this is because last time we wanted to try What8ver, they were packed like usual. The server told us it was a fifteen minute wait when in reality, it was going to be more than that because there were already plenty of other people waiting ahead of us. We saw tables being turned over and over, and each time it wasn't ours. When we finally saw an empty table that was just sitting there waiting - we asked our server if it was ours and only then did she mention that there were a lot of reservations and we would have to wait longer. When I asked her how much longer, she couldn't even tell me an estimation. I had to ask her several times before she just uttered another "maybe fifteen minutes?" guess. So yeah, whatever. We left with a bad impression. This time our service was a lot better and more attentive - it was so much better that I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that J and I were both carrying DSLR's. I have noticed that when you walk in to a restaurant with a fancy looking camera, you get treated a lot better. Maybe next time I should be more discrete about taking my pictures - like bringing the food to the washroom or something.

I really liked their menu design. It's clean, simple, and has a few nice floral accents. Of course, the appearance of the menu isn't as important as the items itself. What8ver is a small Taiwanese Bubble-tea type cafe that sells snacks and a nice array of dessert items like shaved ice, toast and waffles. K and T shared a Icecream toast, while J had his own. I've tried the toast before so this time I chose the Ice-cream waffle with a Calpico Green Tea with Green Tea Jelly; K had the Japanese Matcha with Pearls, T usually orders a slush and this time it was a Passion Fruit slush with Pearls, and J had Ovaltine Milk Tea with Tapioca noodles.

I really like What8ver's Calpico Green Tea. It's really refreshing and I would describe it as a light kind of drink; not too sweet and with just enough flavor. I've never had green tea jelly before and I actually really like it. It toned down on the sweetness because it adds a bit that bitter accent you get with tea. Every one else seemed to enjoy their drinks as much as I did with mine. Not too long after I got my waffle - which was more or less the size of the plate with an equally proportionate tennis ball sized scoop of ice-cream on top and chocolate sauce drizzle. The waffle itself was dense and a bit tough - almost bread-like. Taste wise, it was alright - nothing amazing and it got really sweet near the end. I probably would not order it again and just stick to toast and/or bubble tea. While in appearance and taste, the waffle was nothing special, the ice-cream toast was pretty impressive. The bread-box was filled with toast sticks coated in sugar, topped with vanilla ice-cream and then decorated with a strawberry, bananas, strawberry and chocolate sauce, an Oreo cookie and Pocky sticks. From what I remember from my first visit, the toast sticks were nice and crunchy. With no syrup or anything, you might get a sense that it'll be very dry, but that's where the ice-cream comes in!

Ice-cream Toast!

Overall, I like What8ver. I'm not very sure about the service because at the moment it seems like a hit-or-miss kind of thing, but their prices are fair and cheap compared to other places like Estea (our bill came to about 36$ for four). What makes What8ver stand out really is their Ice-cream Toast. I believe their the only one in this area that has that - actually, it isn't even on their menu, you have to ask for it specifically.

P.S. I re-created What8ver's Ice-cream Toast with a bit of a twist to suit my liking. Check it out on my Kitchen blog, or click here.