Arthur's Hokkaido Mille Crepe, Berjaya Times Square

Crepe is actually a thin pancake. Unless you are a constant foodie or in the F&B line, one would not have much exposure to crepes. Even for me, the only time I read about this word was while I was browsing some recipe books and there was one dessert called Crepe Suzette (thin pancake with orange+Grand Marnier liquor drizzles). However, if you are a young foodie, perhaps you will heard, or rather caught in the craze of searching for Mille Crepe, a cake made of many layers of crepe. (FYI, the word "mille" means "a thousand")

The Mille Crepe craze, mainly caused by one of the pioneers and famous Nadeje in Melaka has hit the Klang Valley. Many places serve this cake but unless you are really a keen follower, you would have a hard time distinguishing the pretty good ones from the lackluster ones. For myself, I had my first slice of Mille Crepe in Arthur's Hokkaido Mille Crepe in the Lower Ground Floor of Berjaya Times Square. There are quite a number of flavours to choose from - among them the Original, Rum and Raisin, Green Tea, Oreo, Strawberry/Chocolate derivatives to name a few.

I'm just alone so it was quite hard for me to choose the flavour for my first slice. I went for the Rum and Raisin. Its priced at RM10.50 per slice if I remembered correctly. For most flavours, the crepe layers are made from original flavour while a few will have a chocolate infused pancake layers. Fresh cream is used to sandwich all the layers together - it was 17 or 18 layers if I did not lose count that day. Actually the cream layer was thicker than the pancake itself hence 1 slice is quite jelak. It's best eaten on the spot when it's still cold even so, perfect if eaten as fresh as possible, but I hope the slice I had was fresh on that day itself. Tastewise, it was good at the first few spoonful but it is kinda jelak after you are done with half the slice. Perhaps due to the overdose of cream use. Rum and Raisin was a bit below par in terms of flavour - the raisin is present but the rum flavour lack "kick", not to mention a non-pleasant bitter aftertaste due to poor quality rum I supposed. Perhaps, choosing the Mocha/Chocolate based flavour would be better...

Just as I was about to leave, I saw two young gals posing and camwhoring with 4 slices of cake on the table! Gosh! I had a hard time finishing one slice and one of them need to eat 2 slices! I actually wanted to walk over and asked permission so snap photos with them their cakes. Well I didn't... The maiden slice was an utter disappointment and I felt the mille crepe craze is a bit over rated. I do not think I will return again for another slice considering the price and the jelak-ness...

Perhaps I will give the benefit of the doubt and try the famous ones from Nadeje. Their new branch in Dataran 32Square, Petaling Jaya just had the soft launch tonight (Photo Source: Nadeje Facebook) Good news for foodies - no need to go until Melaka to be part of the Mille Crepe craze. I will make a visit here next time.... or a relatively famous cafe called Humble Beginnings to give the Mille Crepe a second chance. :)