Pastel Creperie & Dessert House

Pastel Creperie & Dessert House is an adorable little place nestled in the Finch and Yonge area. Parking can be a pain around this part of town, so I really appreciated that Pastel offers free underground parking at the rear. Just make sure you figure out how to get to that lot!

In addition to sweets and pastries, savoury crepes are also offered if you're looking for something more substantial.

Pastel sources their cakes from Rahier. This is their cappuccino cheesecake ($5.49), which I had a taste of. It was very rich and I'm not quite sure I could finish the whole serving on my own, in spite of my love for cheesecakes.  

I opted for pistachio buttercream cake ($5.49) with pistachio buttercream, praline buttercream, pistachio dacquoise, milk chocolate praline crunch. Personally, I thought the cake was great! Although the the pistachio component wasn't as intense as I'd like it to be, the overall flavour was super nutty. The praline crunch and pistachio dacquoise were also delightful.

My friend had the same cake, but paired it with two scoops of almond mocha ice cream (+$2.60). The sizes of the scoops were pretty small, in my opinion, but the ice cream was oh-so-delicious! It complemented the nuttiness of cake perfectly.

Jeremy had the green tea crêpe ($9.29) with red bean, sponge cake, and home-made green tea ice cream and whipped cream. For one, the crepe was presented beautifully and simply looking at it made me smile. The intensely green home-made green tea ice cream looked promising, but unfortunately didn't quite measure up to the almond mocha ice cream. That said, the rest of the crepe features a classic favour combination that almost always works well- green tea + red bean + whipped cream! I also liked that the ice cream scoops were placed at the side, rather than inside crepe. It melts a lot slower this way. Next time, I'll be eager to try some of their other crepes.

My verdict? Definitely will be back for more desserts! Free parking is just a bonus!