VanFoodies.com

I think I’ve always enjoyed fondue for its name, fondue. Try saying it a few times, fondue, fondue, fondue; maybe drag out the “due”, fonduuuuue. It’s fun word to say isn’t it. However up until this particular instance, I’ve never had fondue of the cheese variety: the way how it first came to be.

Overview

Originated in Switzerland, fondue is a dish of melted cheese, often mixed with various spices, wine, and corn starch (to stabilize the mix), that you dip pieces of bread into. It came a long way from a Swiss national dish to being served in a bubble tea house on Robson. A few things have changed since then, but in the end, you are still dipping stuff in melted cheese.

Menu Cover

From the colourful walls to the simplistic IKEA style furnishing, Capstone Teapresso looks and feels like a run-of-the-mill bubble tea place. The menu is a little different though, with sections that are dedicated to herbal tea and fondue.

What went in

We went for the “Fondue Lovers Set”; pretty cheesy name (oh god I’m hilarious), but it has a bit of everything they serve. Ours came with a cheese fondue set, a chocolate fondue set, ice cream balls for dipping, ice cream toppings, and bottomless bread. I won’t go into too much detail of what was there, feel free to have a look at the picture.

Fondue Lovers Set

According to the website, they use high quality emmental cheese for the fondue base. For those of you that don’t know much about cheese (like me), this is the kind of cheese that cartoon mice are always after, the kind with holes (air pockets) in them. I don’t know what kind of spices they put in it, but it was awesome. It was especially savoury with the bread; my mouth waters just thinking about it. The cheese worked well with everything, with the possible exception of gummy bears (that belonged to the chocolate fondue pile).

I’ve had chocolate fondue a few times before, so I knew what to expect. It was fun dipping things meant for the cheese pot (like carrots and tomatoes) in the chocolate pot. However the best part was the ice cream balls. If you are anything like me, and I’m sure you are (because otherwise you’d just be wrong), you’d like Purdy’s ice cream. Yeah I know they make chocolates, but what I really like is their ice cream bars. They’d dip that frozen bar in a pot of melted chocolate, and as the chocolate quickly cools, it hardens on the bar. Somehow that process amplifies the awesomeness of an ice cream bar, making it 10x more delicious. With the ice cream balls, you can do the same thing yourself with the chocolate fondue. Just make sure you ask to have the ice cream balls brought up at the end. If you got them at the beginning with everything else, they will melt.

What came out

The set was $35, not bad considering how much stuff there is, but not great when you realize you are basically eating dip—delicious dip, but still dip. They do have a lot of menu items that are better deals, like AYCE chocolate fondue for $8 a person.

Service

The service was very good considering it’s a bubble tea place. The server was pretty helpful and actually came to refill water without being asked.

Conclusion

As simple as this “meal” was, it’s quite a lot of fun. I may not have gone in with the highest expectations, but I walked away full and happy. After all, what else could you ask for?

Rating

(Max Score: 10; Base Score: 5)

What went in (+/-2, 0) = 1.5
What came out (+/-1, 0) = 0
Service (+/-1, 0) = 1
Mr.’s Bonus (+/-1) = 1

Total Score – 8.5/10

Capstone Teapresso
1429 Robson Street
Vancouver