Waterfront treat at Leonidas

For my third expedition during the Hot Chocolate Festival, I headed to Leonidas with a friend. With a beautiful waterfront location just outside of the Vancouver Convention Centre West, you can’t go wrong. What I didn’t know about Leonidas is that it’s an international brand. The selection of chocolates and other desserts alone is enough to make you drool.

My choice of decadence was the Tosca, a dark chocolate and pistachio flavoured treat. For about $7.50, the drink came with a choice of chocolate or belgian waffle. I figured it was tastebud sabotage to eat chocolate upon chocolate, so I went for the waffle instead.

I had to get an aerial shot of the “meal” because it shows how much attention they pay to presentation –  on top of the chocolate froth is an “L” as well as in chocolate sauce on the waffle plate. The server also told us that the whipped cream was white-chocolate flavoured. That, with some fruit on the side…well you just can’t ask for a better afternoon snack.

The waffle wasn’t heavily sweet, which was great because the sweetness of the whipped cream and fruit was a good pair… and then the taste of the hot chocolate – mmm. The drink wasn’t very rich and tasted a bit on the milkier side to me than dark, but that hint of pistachio was real nice.

As for the location, there are about 5 tables for two, so during peak times it could be full… also since it takes about 5 minutes just to make a purchase decision, the traffic by the door can pile up. But all for good reason, I suppose. With such an ideal location, there’s no excuse to visit again and try out their chocolates.

Leonidas
#29-1055 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC V6C 3T4
604-647-7559
chocolat@leonidaswaterfront.com
leonidaswaterfront.com
Twitter @leonidaschocola (They’re definitely Twitter friendly)

Hours:

Mon-Fri 10am-6:30pm
Sat-Sun 11am-6pm

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Pop-Up Holiday Miracles in Gastown!

With just 11 more days until Christmas, I know everyone’s feeling the pressure. Me? I’ve got only two presents to go so I’m on the home stretch. If you’ve been keeping up with this blog, you’ll know that I only shop locally. So when I stopped by the Local-E pop-up shop in Gastown to see what they had in store, I discovered within the same block that there was The Found and the Freed. So now I get to blog twice! It’s a holiday miracle!

Local-E features ONLY local designers, which is so awesome. There’s lots to see, but I’d say it’s heavier on the women’s side of things. Lots of accessories, apparel, and jewellery. If I was Santa, picks for myself might include the following:

Shibang Textiles Clutch – $70
More colours and sizes available!
Does anyone else think of William Hung from American Idol when you see this name? 

Bianca Barr Design Earrings $58

Bianca Barr Designs Necklace – $88

Baby Hoodie by Superfly Lullabies – $38

Local Grain wooden ornaments – $5

Little Houses coat – $90 (also available in purple, grey, brown, and grey)

Little Houses is an amazing designer line I’d never heard of. This photo doesn’t do the brand justice, so you’ll just have to check them out online or go to Local-E yourself.

Amanda of Mara Gottler showed me a few of the pieces in the collection, a few of which she was sporting herself in-store:

Triple-Pleated top (Black wool gauze) $125
Harem Pant (Black vintage silk crepe) – $175

Two panelled top (Knit jersey with black wool gauze) – $75
Harem Pant (Black vintage silk crepe) – $175

Mara Gottler shirt $125
Bianca Barr Designs necklace $58

Show-stopper outfits! There is much much more to see including show favourites like Jola V. Designs recycled leather bags, and Daub & Design. So check out Local-E before they close doors on Sunday December 18!

The Found and the Freed‘s third pop-up shop in Gastown is on until December 17, 11am-7pm daily. The shop specializes in found vintage objects and antiques similar to what you’d see at Stepback in Kits. Definitely not the items you want to grab and go for that Secret Santa gift you forgot about; more for the wise collector. Some of the cool items I liked:

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local-E Vancouver Designer Pop-Up

The holidays are turning out to be good this year. In addition to all the craft fairs going on around town, the brainchild behind Daub & Design, Lexi Soukoreff, has built an army of local designers and is putting on local-E, a pop-up retail space starting tomorrow until the 18th. According to the website, the designers will be offering jewellery, apparel and leatherwork. I’ll be checking it out and seeing what catches my eye, so I’ll post that later. local-E is yet another reason to avoid the crazy malls this year!

local-E
December 2-18, 11am-7pm
235B Cambie St. & Cordova (Gastown), Vancouver BC
http://localevancouver.wordpress.com
vancouverlocale@gmail.com
Click here for the Facebook Page
Twitter.com/local_E

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