Rui and I are excited to write our honest review about Sugar Marmalade today!
After having an early dinner at The Good Casserole Rice restaurant (知味煲仔饭), we decided to stop by Sugar Marmalade to share a small side and dessert.
There are many locations including one in Toronto, North York, Markham, Scarborough, and Mississagua – they seem to have covered most of the GTA!
Sugar Marmalade (糖记甜品) is also available in Waterloo, London, Hamilton, Ottawa, and St. Catherines. Seems like they have a lot of locations across Canada outside of Ontario including Montreal, Calgary, and even Winnipeg!
Rui and I tried the one at Scarborough located at the Skycity Shopping Centre in Midland and Finch. They offer a variety of appetizers, snacks, and desserts. Desserts include glutinous rice soups, sagos, grass jellies, Chinese-style egg waffles, Taiwanese-style shaved ice bowls, cakes, puddings, ice cream, bubble teas, and many more! Aside from desserts, they also serve sweet and savoury apps like fusion fries, fried popcorn chicken, toast, baked rice, Japanese-style udon, and even traditional Chinese soups!
Based on what we see many people order, we would say their more popular items are desserts, drinks, and appetizers.
The dessert we had was pretty good for the price and here’s what we thought about the place after our experience.
Durian Pancake with Sundae Supreme
The Durian Pancake with Sundae Supreme from Sugar Marmalade was really addicting and delicious!
I’m a big durian fan, so this was right up my alley. The crepe-like pancake was thin and had a small amount of real durian filling and loads of soft whipped cream in the middle. This “pancake” is very similar to Honeymoon Dessert’s Durian Pillow Dessert (满记甜品), which we thought was awesome too!
It was then topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a light drizzle of chocolate sauce.
The combination of all the different flavours and textures was fantastic! The durian pancake itself was soft and chewy, which paired nicely with the whipped cream and frozen (not fresh) durian inside. Let’s face it, no restaurant is ever going to give you real fresh durian fruit given how expensive it is. This pancake wasn’t overly loaded with durian filling but it was good enough. If you’re a durian lover, then you’ll definitely drool over this dessert.
One thing I didn’t like was the vanilla ice cream. It tastes like cheap ice cream and it didn’t seem all that fresh (Side note: Rui didn’t think it was cheap ice cream. He liked it because it didn’t taste like Chapman’s or No Frill’s No Name ice cream.).
To me, even a tub of Breyer’s or Hagen Daz vanilla ice cream definitely beats this, however, it’s not a deal breaker for me since I don’t expect restaurants to serve amazing ice cream unless you’re a specialized shop with the best ice creams in Toronto!
Plus, you can’t complain given that the price was only $10.99 for TWO durian pancakes, which is definitely shareable with two people. You can easily finish this whole thing by yourself, but it would be overkill in terms of the consumption of sugar and bad calories in one setting, haha! Just saying ’cause it is a very addicting and dangerous dessert when it’s in front of your face!
After loving this dessert, I told Rui that I’d love to come back one day to try their shaved ice or egg waffle!
Fusion Fries – Japanese Style
Since Rui and I didn’t feel that full from The Good Casserole Rice restaurant (which is considered an awesome cheap eats place), we ordered another appetizer to share here.
Because we absolutely LOVED these Tokyo Fries from Kinka, we thought the Japanese Style fusion fries might be good at Sugar Marmalade.
Uh, no.
These were some of the worst-tasting fries I’ve ever had in my life. And I’m not exaggerating – they were that bad!
Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but they are not worth ordering.
The photo looks very appetizing, but don’t be deceived by pictures. After taking one bite, we both looked at each other with the same “WTH” face. 🙄😣😖
What made them bad was not the fries themselves. The fries were actually nice and crispy, which tastes exactly like the ones from Costco. That’s the good part.
However, it was the sauce that made it terrible. The teriyaki sauce was overly salty. I know I’m the type of person who doesn’t like sodium or super salty foods but trust me when I say it was extremely salty. Any normal person would think the same.
I asked Rui if he thinks they messed up on the teriyaki sauce recipe itself but he doesn’t think so. He thinks that’s just the way they made their recipe and he wasn’t happy with it either.
It’s definitely nowhere near the Tokyo Fries we had from Kinka!
Food: 3.8/5
In all honestly, the fries would have been better if the sauce and toppings were different. The actual fry itself was nice and crispy, but it was let down by the terrible sauce with mayo. You may as well go to Costco for fries and gravy for a much cheaper price but go to Kinka for their Toyko Fries if you’re looking for some Japanese fusion poutine.
The durian pancake, on the other hand, was fantastic! It’s definitely one of the best desserts I’ve had in a while and I would highly recommend it to any durian lover out there. If you enjoy durian desserts, we recommend Daan Go Cake Lab’s durian cake and Les Chateaux Bakery’s durian egg tarts.
You can also try Honeymoon Desserts’ Durian Pillow Cake – they’ve got one in mango flavour, which is also worth eating!
Service: 3.6/5
Our server was not super friendly but she was nice to deal with. She did her job and was quick to give us our bill.
Ambiance: 3.8/5
Sugar Marmalade is a small and cozy environment to enjoy appetizers and desserts with your friends. You can also sit there and sip on some bubble tea or slushes if you’re looking for a refreshing drink. But if that’s the case, you may as well stop by the best bubble tea shops in the city like Gong Cha or Kung Fu Tea since they specialize in drinks.
Overall, the place is updated, modernized, and comfortable to enjoy a small meal or snack with a partner or small group of friends.
Price: $
Given the place is clean and updated with modernized decor, the prices are very reasonable! The fusion fries we ordered were around $9 and the durian pancake was $11 for two! For what we ordered, it came out to be $22.01 after tax and tip for two people – not bad at all!
Would I come back?
Absolutely! I would love to come back to try their shaved ice or egg waffle! And next time, I’ll definitely order another appetizer just to try it out. 🙂
Sugar Marmalade Desserts Rating: 3.8/5
I would give Sugar Marmalade a 3.8 out of 5 stars simply because the food was great – except for the fries. We saw other customers enjoying their meals happily too!
If you’re looking for a small and cozy place to enjoy some delicious desserts or appetizers with friends, then this is the place for you! And at reasonable prices too!
If you’re ever in the Scarborough area and are looking for a place to eat, be sure to check out Sugar Marmalade! They offer a wide variety of delicious desserts and appetizers that will tantalize your taste buds!
- Pros: Known for desserts, cheap prices, clean and modern environment, and a lot of different desserts to choose from
- Cons: The menu is massive and offers way too many selections, which means they are an “everything shop” that doesn’t specialize in one good thing, which is probably why the fries weren’t the best.
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