Bel Café

Hot Chocolate Festival 2016 — «The Onyx»
–Thin-​tasting and lukewarm drink. Nothing particularly interesting about this hot chocolate. Maybe try stirring in the cream.
–Pretty lukewarm «hot» chocolate.
–TIP: If it’s too busy, try taking it into the Hotel Georgia lobby and find quieter (and more comfortable) seating there.

I came here to taste their offering for the hot chocolate festival, and was disappointed.
First, at 8. for an 8 oz. cup– that’s $ 1./ oz! it’s a little steep, and what you are getting in it is essentially 4 oz. of hot chocolate, 4 oz. of dark chocolate whip and caramelized cocoa nibs with more chocolate on top, a tiny portion of mint, and served with a chocolate truffle.
By the time the whip and all the mise en place was applied, the ‘hot’ chocolate was tepid, and the taste itself? one single note of chocolate on top of chocolate, leaving the mouth craving for some sweet, some acidity– something to break up the baritone in the mouth.
Looking at the pastries, some things appeared burnt, and one or two caught my eye as something to try at a later date; their mocha appears a much better deal– I may even try one of their house made syrups!

I came here because the location was convenient. Food was pricey, but it seemed like it would be a good place to catch up with a friend. Haven’t had a chance to try the food yet.
Twice I had a latte. It was ok. Would only go back out of convenience, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here.
Staff were always lovely though.

I came here for a business meeting this morning, and I ordered a pan au chocolat because I heard that is something they are known for. They had run out by 10am! Ahhh! But they said they would check their secret stash…(seriously…), and that was depleted too! So instead they gave me a croissant and an espresso cup full of thick melted chocolate. Took me back to Spain, where they have churros con chocolate which is very similar.
Ok point of this story, is that it was AWESOME! The croissant was flaky and delicious as they come, and dunking it in high quality chocolate was fun. Not great for a business meeting, I was a bit embarrassed… but you only live once. Might as well get your dunk on. And I did.

I only got one item and it was delicious
Valrhona Dark Chocolate Chunk cookie –excellent for those who love dark chocolate

3.75 out of 5.
Bel Café is a strage entity — It strives to be a high end café with delicately crafted drinks and dishes to high specifications. Sadly the décor and service (often very slow) don’t quite match up to that aspiration.
Saying that there are some lovely menu items that are very tasty and more affordable than you may think for a café within the Hotel Georgia. The Steel Head Trout salad for example is delicious, and under $ 10 for a small (which isn’t that small at all).
It can get very busy, especially on weekends with shoppers trying to avoid the Georgia street and Pacific Centre crowds. Because of that, tables for two or more can be hard to come by. With that in mind, I tend to visit here when I’m flying solo as I can always get a seat at the high communal table.

Can you taste art? If you can then you’ll taste art from Bel Café. This coffeshop can be found at the ground floor of Rosewood Hotel Georgia. I’ve been here many times but didn’t feel like doing a review until now.
You have to wait to be seated if you want to get the full service or just head straight to the coffee bar if you just want coffee and treats to go. I wanted the full service so I waited.
It took 30 seconds until someone greeted me and gave me a table. I came at non-​peak hour. There’s usually a line up here. The server took another 30 seconds to come back with the menu and a glass of water.
I browse through the menu. I actually came here today for dessert and coffee. I decided to get the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Vanilla cake and the Bel Café cappuccino. When my dessert and coffee came they were breath taking. (Checkout the pictures) How can I possibly destroy these pieces of art?
As hard as it is I took the first bite of the glossy cake. It’s so delicious. It’s layers of mousse cream filling of raspberry, dark chocolate, vanilla, hazelnut and wafer. You can melt it in your mouth or chew the crunchy goodness of the wafers and hazelnuts. It’s just so good. And the Bel Café signature cappucino, it tastes like dark chocolate! Its foamy and creamy. I can still taste it even after I got home. No wonder why this is one of my favourite coffeeshops. I will keep on coming back! You’re a five star!

This is a cute little café that’s located inside of Rosewood Hotel Georgia! My review is based off of their macarons! Having macarons here makes me want to update my macaroon reviews for all other places lol.
Anyways, I believe that Hawksworth somewhat lives up to its hype. His macaroons are one of the best I’ve ever had! They’re very soft, filling, and flavorful! You’re able to taste the flavor very well without it being entirely too sweet. See my thing is with macarons… if I eat more than one at a time in one sitting… my stomach really hurts. Like they’re super sweet and makes my belly ache! Not the ones at Bel Café! I had 5 of them and my stomach didn’t hurt at all! I guess it’s a good and bad thing lol.
Downfall is that they only have 9 flavors… they need more than that! I was hoping to find the typical match, earl grey tea, jasmine, pistachio, salted caramel and other flavors like all other typical macaron shops out in van city! I tried all 9 and I can tell you which ones I love the most and which ones I didn’t care for.
Carrot cake: I’ve never had a carrot cake macaron before and this one was dead on your typical carrot cake! They even have little nuts on the outside of the macaron!
Key lime pie: blah! I didn’t care for this one at all! It was very sour! Not the like sour but very tarty! Just something I didn’t expect.
Passion fruit: I’ve tried multiple passion fruit flavored macarons from all over and this one was very different. It was def. highly concentrated in passion fruit flavor! Also a bit tarty. At first I thought it was a lemon flavored but don’t recall getting or them having a lemon one.
Coconut: this is your typical coconut! What I like most about this one is that you can taste the actual coconut flakes in every bite.
Vanilla bean: hmmm this one didn’t taste like vanilla bean. It lacked in its flavor. Maybe more of just plain vanilla.
Cassis: OMG the best cassis I’ve ever had. Words cannot explain. Very rich in flavor. At first I wasn’t sure if it was cassis or something else. But it was sure dang good!
Cookies n crème: this does not taste like cookies and crème at all. I have no idea what it taste like but deff not what it’s suppose to be.
Dark chocolate: taste more like regular chocolate. It’s very lite! Not your typical dark rich flavor.
Raspberry: very fruity and tarty!
The ones I would purchase over again would be coconut, carrot cake, cassis. At 2 $ each. They’re very reasonable. Especially for the location and the size of the macarons.
I’ve had many macarons from all over before and you bet these were 100% fresh! Very moist and unon drying! Like I mention before only downfall is lack in flavors. If their selection wasn’t so limited I would make this place a 5 star review!

I really wanted to like this place more since Hawksworth is one of my fave restaurants. Over the weekend, we were having a super late lunch (past 3pm) and Bel Café wasn’t too far away so we decided this was our chance to try it out. I love sandwiches and I love desserts, and they happened to be opened and not busy so we were able to get a table with enough space to fit the baby stroller (tight squeeze for the small café but doable when not busy). Our server was friendly and personable. All good.
But then we tried their sandwiches: the Albacore Tuna Sandwich and the Roast Beef Sandwich. They were… Ok. In fact, I’ve probably had better. The Albacore Tuna was flavorful but not the good kind, the Roast Beef was just bland. The buns they were served on weren’t memorable– I must remember not to order sandwiches from non-​bakery places, I’m often disappointed. At $ 10.6, the sandwiches came with the tiniest pinch of a salad and 3 little pickles. It wasn’t worth it.
I gave them another shot and tried their Dark Chocolate, Raspberry, Vanilla dessert ($ 6.2). It was rich and decadent, and satisfied my sweet tooth perfectly! It saved our meal & gave me a reason to return. I just wished they were opened past 5:30pm because such a rich dessert is usually enjoyed after a dinner, for me anyways.
So 2* for sandwiches, 5* for dessert, 3* solid service and location.
Also, the macarons served at Bel are the same ones served at Hawksworth and Reflections Lounge in Rosewood Hotel. We’ve had them before and its always just been OK, not really worth the $ 2/​pc.

–Coffee served very hot!
–Too busy, too small. U can’t count on it and invite people. That is why I come by myself.
Friendly staff.
Good food.
Cute postcards.

I was going to this place right after it opened and I think that’s why I was having issues with the consistency of the quality.
A few years in and this place runs like a well-​oiled machine. The coffees come out fast and without errors, the quality of everything is top notch and everybody on staff is delivering service that is appropriate for a luxury hotel such as this.
Not an every day lunch spot (at least not with my budget) but an excellent choice for when you feel like something special.

Walked by this place on Sunday and was interested in having lunch with the girls here today. The place is busy and really small. I felt squished, but I got over it. Must mention, the bathroom was very clean and I loved the tiles they used. I want them! Ok, moving on. The girls ordered tea. They loved it-​no surprise there. I had the hazelnut cappucino. It was super pretty and great tasting-​but not hot :-(But, I got over it. I ordered the chicken banh mi. Hella good! So fresh! Teen got the eggplant sandwich-​loved it! Youngest got the tuna! Gobbled it up, and that child is picky. For dessert, teen had the tiramisu. She said that was soo good. Baby girl had macarons. She loved them! I had the vanilla shortbread cookie. Fabulous! Service was good-didn’t feel rushed– even with how busy it was. If you’re thinking about trying this place-​just do it.

We were guests of the hotel and stopped in here for a snack on a Saturday afternoon. They had a decent selection of pastries, lots of macaroons which looked beautiful. It was busy which is a good sign. The counter staff however seemed a little uninspired and lackluster — nothing offensive but they seemed quite indifferent to us as new customers. The café seemed cluttered and a bit messy too.
The snacks we got were tasty but nothing to write home about. I think this place is more of a convenience rather than a destination

New menu items and increased prices. Time to update this review!
The House Roast Beef sandwich features superbly tender, most perfect beef. The mushroom duxelle — beauty — but too little of it, and the thick slab of Fontina cheese is just too thick for this exquisite sammy. Slide the cheese out, it’s a nice side dish with the gherkin! Priced at $ 10.60 Cdn.
The Bel is very popular with both locals and tourists, so be prepared to perch at the counter while waiting for a table. Fortunately, a table was soon available, as I was planning to have a robust red wine with the beef sandwich. I wouldn’t want to slide off the high stools in a déclassé move after the wine. All the wines have price increases served by the glass. Average price is now $ 15. Cdn.
Service good, on a very busy Thursday mid-​afternoon! This was a solo dining visit, and I can recommend solo women travellers make this a lunch stop while downtown!
Tip-​the ladies’ washroom upstairs (through the hotel lobby) is great for a pit stop!

In love with their Raspberry Vanilla Streusel Muffins! They are so amazingly good that I postpone going too early so that they will sell out and I can’t eat them every day.
Haven’t tried much else. The only turn-​off for me is they always have a bunch of fruit flies in one of their display cases with all the macarons and some of the pastries… This still doesn’t deter me from coming back for the muffins! I have also tried the Apple Custard Tart when the muffin was sold out and it wasn’t bad. Get the muffin.

If you want a Croissant or a variety of cakes, scones and ‘patisserie’ that are close to the Parisian standard, and coffee to match — go to Bel Café at the corner Georgia and Howe.
For a similar price point to Starbucks, I found the quality of the ingredients, their prep and presentation — makes you kick yourself for not figuring this out sooner.
A new morning ritual on Robson Square.

Had high hopes walking into this café due to location, hotel affiliation, and Hawksworth. Perhaps that was my pitfall as pastries was disappointing and like another review mentioned as well, flies! I had apricot coffee cake served cold, hard, and tasted dry, like it was previously frozen. Blech! Hard to imagine a café like this with steeper pricing and mildly pretentious air serve a cake of this ‘quality’. Coffee and tea mediocre. Service average. Flies unwelcomed. With choice of cafés around this area, I won’t go back.

I love the food served at Hawksworth and I expect no less of Bel Café, which is pretty much David Hawksworth’s bakery, located right across the hall. Anyways, I’ve only sample a few items at Bel Café and I’ve never actually sat down here for a meal.
I can only review their cookies, cakes, pastries and macarons so perhaps I’ll update my review when I get to try their sandwiches and soups someday! Anyways, I would say that Bel Café serves extremely high quality baked goods and many of their items are my favourite in their corresponding categories.
First of all, I would say that their Valrhona Dark Chocolate Chunk cookie is probably one of the best cookies that I’ve ever had in my life! It’s definitely the best dark chocolate cookie that I have ever eaten and I would probably order it more often if it weren’t almost three dollars. Their Hazelnut Breton cookie is also excellent and their macarons are superb.
Their desserts are also very indulgent but they are also light enough to eat after a heavy meal. My favourite would be the dark chocolate raspberry cake, which is a very simple but delicious cake made out of very high quality ingredients. The mousse like dark chocolate inside is perfectly complemented by the tartness of the raspberries, and is made with the perfect amount of sugar and cream so it isn’t too thick nor too sweet.
In general, I feel like the quality of all the products served at Bel Café is extremely high quality except that they could probably work on their croissants a bit more. The first time I ordered their chocolate croissant, I was actually not too impressed and ended up focusing on my dark chocolate cookie. I gave the croissant a second chance and I still was not very happy with it, but it was still good! I still feel like nothing can beat the croissants at L’Opera Patisserie in Richmond, but that could just be me! I also love Faubourg’s pistachio croissant! :)

Always a great place to stop and relax with some hot chocolate, coffee or snack. The usual crowds are the business people working around there so me in my lululemon hoodie and jeans, I stick out a little. But that’s alright, I’m just being me.
I went here for the hot chocolate festival and had the peppermint patty. It was good, not too sweet and just enough mint flavour. Some places overpower the chocolate with mint but Bel Café has it just right. I did go just before lunch so I also ordered the Grilled Chicken Banh Mi. It may be a bit more expensive ($ 10) but it was delicious. The chicken was moist, the sauce was flavorful and the jalapeño gave it just enough kick that I would have ordered another.
The staff are great: very polite, smiles on their face, and seems to always be having a good time. Chad (I think the manager of Hawksworth) was there and is super friendly and will chat with you if him and you have time. Not the fake chat that you might get from other places but you feel like he’s interested and he will joke around with you.
If I worked downtown, I would definitely go there for lunches and coffee.

The Bel Café is located in the Rosewood Hotel Georgia. It is operated by Chef David Hawksworth, the proprietor of Hawksworth next door. This is a real coffee shop: They offer patisserie-​style baked goods, coffee served in real cups and food served on real plates.
I had honey muffin and ordered 8 macarons for Sleeping Beauty. The vote from my Sleeping Beauty: She said the macarons are as good as Bottega Louie, but not as good as Laduree in France. I have never been to France, but I have had the Laduree macarons at Charles de Gaulle Airport and they are excellent. I didn’t get to try these macarons :-(The muffin was pretty good. It was moist and flavorful: Both 4 Stars.
The ambiance was buzzing @ 8 am on a Fri. There were business types, workers grabbing a quick café & breakfast item, or tourists like me. There is good people watching because the café is on the corner. My server was friendly and efficient: Both 4 Stars.
I would definitely come here again regardless or not if I was staying in the hotel. Bel Café offers good quality food, friendly service and nice ambiance.