Out & About #93 | Wonderland, Sweet Esc, and Dayali Beijing Cuisine

The original plan was to arrive early to avoid long lineups. We got there a bit later than expected, but managed to enter the park before noon. Somehow, it was already packed, but I suppose the gorgeous weather and extra day off played a huge part in this.

It was incredibly sunny, but still breezy enough to walk around for hours without ducking into the gift shops for A/C. The lineups gradually got longer as the hours passed, so we left just before the fireworks began airing to forage for sustenance.

Sweet Esc has been on my dessert radar for a good week now, so I was glad we had the chance to drop by after working up a sweat trying to remember where we parked.

The dessert cafe appeared quite normal when viewed from the outside, but the interior gave off a completely different vibe.

To put it simply, the cafe was small, crazy small even. Interior decor was minimal, with the exception of some triangular prism ceiling hangings; the walls were painted white and the chairs a solid dark brown. The ten tables that the cafe housed were all void of placemats and/or decor as well. Even the menus were simplistic to the point where it was just a piece of white paper with black text printed on top. Had I not seen the numerous photos posted on social networking platforms like Instagram, I would have assumed that Sweet Escape was just synonymous with "next-level ghetto".

I'm not sure if this is just a recent trend or whether the owners that run the restaurant are just trying to cut expenses in every way possible, but I've noticed that a lot of restaurants don't hand out napkins to their customers unless asked. (Or is it that they just forget?)
Either way, if any restaurant owners happen to chance by this post, I would highly appreciate that napkins be given out during my stay. Just in case you failed to realize this, the plate that my dishes arrive on sometimes happen to appear on my table when dirty/sticky, and I'm not the type to stand by this without wiping it clean.

That aside, I found it interesting that they served water in mason jars instead of regular ol' plastic cups. (I had to ask for the straw, by the way.)

There was only one waiter, and seemingly one member of kitchen staff, tending to the entire cafe. Given its size, though, more serving staff probably wouldn't be necessary.His English wasn't perfect, but, despite this, still elaborately described the Daily Specials, homemade ice cream choices, and their new featured topping ("coconut shreds", or as I like to rephrase, "toasted shredded coconut"). I felt kind of sorry for him, to be honest, as majority of our table wasn't quite listening to him due to their unfamiliarity with the English language. Nonetheless, he was friendly and didn't give me weird glances when I began my excessive photo-taking process after placing our order.

To be frank, I had wanted to go to Sweet Escape specifically for their Hotplate Waffles with Matcha Cream. I was only informed upon ordering that they had sold out of matcha for the day. The remaining choices were Chocolate and Vanilla. Both were pretty standard, so I just went with vanilla.
We ordered a Pomegranate Iced Tea, Hotplate Waffle with Homemade Earl Grey Ice Cream and Seasonal Fruit topped with Vanilla Sauce, and a Coconut Tart.

For the full album, please click HERE.

Perhaps we were just famished, but the waffle that emerged approximately ten minutes later was devoured almost instantly after photos had been taken. I admit that insufficient time had been given to properly savour the dessert, but it is highly likely that I will visit again just to try the version with Matcha Cream.
Backtracking slightly though, the concept behind the hotplate waffle was that the customers would pour their selected flavour of sauce over the waffle and watch it make its way to the hotplate and sizzle away. What I found to be even more interesting about this would be that waffle quarters resting directly on the plate would be warm, while the ice cream and sauce left at the very top would remain cool. The pineapple was an odd addition to the the dessert, but other than that, the waffle was definitely satisfactory.

We headed to the restaurant directly across from Sweet Escape in the same plaza for dinner.

If you've dined with me enough, you'd know that I'm not one to choose Chinese food if given a choice, unless it's Shanghainese cuisine. A friend of ours highly recommended Dayali, a Chinese restaurant specializing in Beijing Roast Duck, so we gave it a try.

The restaurant was packed before we even got there, but we managed to get a table in the end. We were cramped, and did not have adequate table space for the dishes ordered, but at least we had a table to sit down at.

The dishes arrived one by one, with the restaurant's Signature Roast Duck being third-last.

For the full album, please click HERE.

I actually do not know the names of any of the other dishes we ordered, as the friend that had recommended the restaurant in the first place had also been put in charge of selecting dishes. (I wanted to order dumplings, but was strictly informed that their dumplings weren't good and that they would not be ordered.)

I didn't read the Yelp reviews for this place until afterwards, but i later discovered them to be extremely accurate: wait times are long, service is atrocious, and selected items off the menu are great while others happen to be extraordinarily greasy.
I'm no Chinese food connoisseur, so I can't say much in terms of authenticity, but all the dishes were pretty average except for the Signature Roast Duck. As opposed to crispy, fried duck skin though, I would've preferred mine to be skinless and served on top of mixed greens instead.

The only dessert that we ordered were the Dayali Golden Pears, which were, in fact, neither coloured gold nor actual pears. Rather, they were fried pieces of dough with a minimal amount of sweetened ground red beans contained within them. Boasting an incredulous amount of greasiness, I would've suffered a massive stomachache had I not ingested the item with a small amount of tangy blueberry compote and a cup of warm tea.

To finish off the day, we headed to Chatime and Starbucks.

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