There are certain times when only a sweet fix will suffice and the end of a shopping trip around The Trafford Centre is usually one of them.
I’ve walked up the stairs inside the Great Hall goodness knows how many times, but I can honestly say that The Orient’s Haute Dolci has never really caught my eye.
It’s not that it’s small, it’s in the style of a cruise ship with a smaller boat hanging above and a sign for the ‘Captain’s Deck’, but its mostly white and beige colour theme makes it pretty understated, at least compared to the neon pink café over the bridge at Trafford Palazzo.
Read more:Primark opens Shrek cafés in two Greater Manchester stores with ogre shakes, waffles and more
The desserts in the glass display cabinet gave us a glimpse of the treats on offer here, but it’s only when you see the full menu that the extent of the many mix and match combinations available becomes apparent.
Choosing a base for your dessert is tricky enough, with everything from waffle, croffle and crepe, to pancake, cookie dough and French toast.
But when it comes to that famous ‘Dolci Drip’, there are 12 flavours in all, including Belgian chocolate, Nutella, Maple, Lotus Biscoff, Pistachio and more.
The milkshakes are a must and we opted for the Snowball, Belgian white chocolate with vanilla and coconut gelato and the Lotus Biscoff Blend, with Biscoff sauce and crumbs.
They’re around £7 each, but both were delicious and you’re getting a decent amount for your money.
In fact they’re pretty filling on their own, but we weren’t going to come to a dessert place and not try out some of the main dishes.
The three of us each chose something different from the varied menu, which starts from around £5 for smaller desserts, or from around £2 for ‘Teasers’ like Naughty Nibbles chocolate filled cones and macarons.
The kids went for a croffle – a pastry that combines the elements of a croissant and a waffle – and a cookie dough.
The Best of Both Croffle comes with Belgian milk and white chocolate, chocolate curls, chocolate and vanilla gelato.
I Knead You Cookie Dough comes as a huge slab with white chocolate chips, Madagascan vanilla gelato and that famous white chocolate drip.
I don’t need to tell you that they ate it all, the silence was deafening, although the last mouthfuls were a bit of a struggle after those thick, creamy shakes.
After being tempted by the cheesecake in the display cabinet, I decided to go for what is one of Haute Dolci’s three signature desserts.
The San Sebastian is a Basque cheesecake with a caramelised top, served with Belgian milk chocolate drip, or a drip of your choice. As a self-confessed Biscoff addict, that had to be my choice and it didn’t disappoint.
It was most certainly a sugar overload that you save for an occasional treat, but we’d earned it after our lengthy shopping trip.
This place might not shout about itself, but it really should. It’s the kind of boat trip you really want to get on board with.
