What’s better than cake? Having cake, then walking over to the neighbouring vintage arcade machine, and then taking on your daughter in Street Fighter and Tecmo World Cup?
When my family and I walked into Phatbar, which opened on Whyte Avenue earlier this year, we immediately sensed that this was a place that emphasizes fun. Sure, you could get coffee and a sweet square and discuss global geopolitics, but there’s the retro video game to obsess over, a nook filled with action figures to admire, and a reading room filled with graphic novels. There’s eye candy everywhere, and the cakes in the display booth are beautiful, too.
We went for sugar overload; we went through two very generous slices of strawberry shortcake, had a rainbow cheesecake, a coconut lime square and ordered a lemon-curd tart. The tart is something; it looks like a Pop-Tart, but it’s filled with a light lemon filling. There was also a wildberry variety in the display case, but I made the hard choice. Part of it was driven by the fact that I knew that if the filling leaked onto my clothes, the lemon would be a lot easier to clean.
The cakes were moist, with a really great strawberry cream, and we barely had enough room to tackle the squares. But, valiantly, the kids put forth the effort, and there were thumbs up for both the cheesecake and the lime-coconut offerings. I mean, we had a full-on dessert luncheon, the kind of afternoon that would make a dietitian scream. And, you know, sometimes, you need to buckle up and go for the sugar overload. It’s good for the soul, right?
We were told a Street Fighter tournament is coming. Ryu FTW — you know what I mean.
Phatbar
Queen Alexandra | 10813 82 Ave NW, Edmonton | phatbarbakery.com
