Foodie Diary: Two Waffles, One Love || Waffle Gone Wild & Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

I thought macarons was my true love of pastries, but I have now also fallen in love with the Belgian waffle. On my iPhone, I actually have a list of waffle places to try. During the month of August, I visited two waffle places, Waffle Gone Wild and Nero Belgian Waffle Bar. On both occasions, I had the waffles for lunch, rather than real substantial food. Oops.

So ever since I came back in London, my travelling buddies and I were hungry for waffles in Vancouver. Waffles are quite popular and easy to purchase in Europe, but in Vancouver, it’s more dispersed. One destination for waffles is Waffle Gone Wild. Waffle Gone Wild uses Liège waffles, which are most popular in Belgium.They’re my favourite too- dense, thick, and fluffy…and I love it when there’s chunks of sugar in it! The waffles at Waffle Gone Wild are baked fresh when you order- assuring that the quality of your waffle is the best. Read more about their story here.

My friend ordered the Strawberry Heaven..and she was in heaven.

My philosophy for ordering something that barely has any nutritional value..go big or go home. Decided to order their specialty…the Japanese Matcha waffle. It comes with red bean on top of the waffle, vanilla ice cream topped with matcha, whipped cream, assorted fruits, some kind of sweet cookie sticks, and a mochi ice cream ball.

This plate of waffle heavenly goodness more than enough for one person. I was skeptical at first when I saw the mandarin orange slices, since I don’t typically eat citrus fruits with dairy products, but the fruit complemented with the sweetness of the waffle. I’m technically not a red bean fan, but I am one with it comes to green tea + waffles. It seems that green tea and red bean goes together. I wasn’t a big fan of the cookie/sweet sticks sticking out of the whipped cream, so my friend ate those.

The mochi ice cream ball was delicious! It stayed frozen throughout the whole time and scooping that green tea ice cream from the mochi onto the waffle…it was a sensational waffle experience. The waffle itself was fresh and and fluffy on the inside. I don’t think there was much sugar crystals inside it, but if it was too sweet, I don’t think it would taste as good. I will definitely be back to this place to try their other waffles..including the savoury ones!

Moving on with my waffle obsession, one of the most popular and known waffle destinations in Vancouver is Nero Belgian Waffle Bar, located in the Robson/West End area. It was hard to physically see the place because it’s quite small and squishy but it was the smell of freshly baked waffles that helped me locate this place. This place is known to be truly authentic and similar to the waffles you can get at Belgium.

Funnily enough, I came here after I had a cavity filling, and my mouth was still in the midst of “unfreezing” itself from the anesthetic. But a hyped up waffle place won’t stop me from gorging on desserts.

The waffles at Nero is more pricier, the least expensive waffle costs $7.25, also with strawberries and whipped cream. A plain waffle, either Brussels or Liege, (with no topping) is $4. At Nero, you can choose what kind of waffle you want with your toppings- Brussels or Liege. I ordered the Bresilenne. It is a waffled topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, hazelnut crumble, and caramel sauce.

At first, I wanted a Liege waffle; but after I ordered, the lady came up to me and recommended me to have a Brussels waffle instead, which is lighter and crispier. She said that the sweetness of the toppings will be too much with the Liege waffle. Of course, I took the recommendation. The waffles are also made fresh when ordered, so patience is necessary!

I never had a Brussels waffle before and I don’t regret it. It’s much lighter and not as dense nor fluffy; but its warm crispiness matched the overwhelming cream and caramel sauce. The whipped cream was lighter and foamier than Waffle Gone Wild, and sadly I ate a majority of the cream… hehe. The only part I would be critical about is the caramel sauce. I feel like the dark chocolate sauce would be tastier with hazelnut crumble (like a ferrero rocher!) Nevertheless, I am itching to come back here to try the other flavours.