Christopher St. Cavish’s sweet tooth is tickled by a trend for crêpes, cakes, and pastries. The revolution will not be savory-ized.

Awfully Chocolate

The sweet terrain of the pastry world hardly seems the proper place to plant your moral stake. Desserts are supposed to be about nostalgic happiness, sugar highs, and indulgence. What’s not to love? Bad ones, that’s what.

Recently, the ideological cake revolution has rented a space on Xiangyang Lu, painted the exposed brick walls white, removed everything in the store, and added a marble counter, all just to sell cake – chocolate cake to be precise – as an argument against poor pastry. The purist revolutionaries’ name? Awfully Chocolate.

“We decided we would give the boot to the fancy French pastries which had invaded Singapore, and bring the humble cake back to its glory days,” proclaims the store’s website. “We don’t sell slices, and we don’t display the cakes,” says Wang Jing, Awfully Chocolate’s Shanghai partner. “The taste stands on its own, and a chocolate cake looks like a chocolate cake. There’s no need to put it out on display; it’s about the taste.”

The concept has quickly spread from its roots in Singapore to Jakarta, Beijing, and Taiwan. Wang’s genuinely amiable manner helps to ground what has the potential to be another exercise in pretentiousness. And so does the quality of the cake. It’s moist and rich, but deceptively light, and comes in just three options: pure chocolate (¥138), chocolate with banana (¥158), or chocolate with rum-soaked cherries (¥178).

Blue Chair

Just down the street, new French café Blue Chair seems cluttered in comparison. It’s the latest project from the group behind Saigon Blue, the stylish Vietnamese restaurant tucked off of Yan’an Lu. A large island occupies the center of the room, which is all creams and heavy on the woods. It follows, really, as this crêperìe/café is also aiming to be a “furniture gallerrie” (sic).

Simple French dishes take their place on the menu, but what we’re concerned about are the 90-100 potential different kinds of crêpes. As we went to press, the staff could be seen through the two story glass storefront practicing crêpe after crêpe on their round griddles. They poured, scraped, and stuck batter to them, gearing up for what may be the beginnings of a new trend in the city.

La Crêperìe

La Crêperìe, on the very eastern end of Taojiang Lu, opened (softly) a couple of weeks ago. The blue and white nautical front shows the adjacent Alldays a thing or two about how to use stripes, as does the staff’s Armor Lux shirts. Inside it’s charmingly simple, dark woods and the nautical theme carried as far as the lighthouse salt and pepper shakers. It’s all in keeping with the style of Brittany, that rocky northwest corner of France famed for its buckwheat crêpes.

As the story goes, buckwheat was the only grain hardy enough to grow in the region, and the crêpe’s humble origins began as a substitute for bread. When made with buckwheat, they’re generally called galettes, and savory. The sweet dessert ones are made with wheat flour, and lay claim to the crêpe name. Both are available here, with an extensive choice of fillings and accompaniments, but our sugar-addicted minds flip straight to the sweet ones.

All of the classics are here: jam fillings, Nutella, simple butter and sugar, as well as ones you certainly won’t find anywhere else in the city, such as almond or hazelnut cream, or salted butter caramel.

Brix 12

The unusually named Brix 12 opened last week in Hong Kong Plaza. It refers to a method used by the fruit juice, wine, and sugar industries to measure perceived sweetness, the Brix scale.

This ambitious upstart’s place on the scale (number 12) refers to the average sweetness of an apple. Like an apple, they aim to be crisp and refreshing, even if what’s inside might actually be a touch sweeter than your average fruit, around which the concept is anchored. Berries are blended into smoothies, pears are poached in red wine, and peppermint and aloe find their way into a delicious panna cotta. Lightness is the key word, applied even handedly to their primary focus, desserts, and a few soups, salads, and risottos.

A sign at the entrance lists the average Brix measurement of other common fruits, and fruit colored lights illuminate panels of latticed white material, dubbed a “woven wall.” The brightness of the outside is kept at bay with slightly dim lighting, and modern retro chairs fill the few tables. It’s more stylish than your average dessert restaurant, and soon to be everywhere – a larger store will be opening in Xujiahui in the next few months, after which they will roll them out at a sugar-fuelled pace.

Paul

Everyone in the city who opened their mouths to complain of the lack of a proper French bakery just got a loaf stuffed in their face. Paul has been around for over a hundred years in France, but has gradually turned croissants, baguettes, and millefeuilles into a hugely successful global chain, maintaining a high level of quality in the process. They’ve been open in Pudong’s Thumb Plaza for under two months, in Xintiandi for less than two weeks, and have done a solid job of promoting their countrymen’s baking prowess. Their baguettes are chewy and the croissants buttery, but not heavy, and they’ve got an admirable range of cakes and pastries.

Sugar

Also in Xintiandi is Sugar. It’s part of The Collection, which sits on top of KABB, accessible either from Huangpi Lu, or by hanging a quick left if you’ve entered from Taicang Lu. It’s not yet open to the public, but its unveiling is imminent. The second floor is Pure, a contemporary Japanese restaurant, but if you’re in the market for things with, uh, sugar, head upstairs to the dessert parlor.

There, the glassed-in kitchen is headed by Anthony Qin, a phenomenon in the world of sweets, and an award winner among people who take these things extremely seriously (in contests like the Asian Pastry Cup or the China Chocolate Master Cup). They promise the range extends from nostalgic, home-style desserts to creations that act as edible accessories to the high-fashion, sugar craving ladies sure to frequent it.

It’s a gorgeous place that lives up to its parlor status, and will be great for a mid-afternoon indulgence. At night, the focus changes. The full bar will spring to life, transforming into Sugarcube, a boutique club. Same sweetness, different time.

Directions

Awfully Chocolate, 174 Xiangyang Nan Lu, near Fuxing Lu, 6474 5336.
襄阳南路174号 近复兴路

Blue Chair, 228 Xiangyang Nan Lu, near Fuxing Lu, 6466 0482.
襄阳南路228号 近复兴路

Brix 12, G112, Hong Kong New World Plaza, 300 Huaihai Zhong Lu, near Huangpi Bei Lu, 6335 3998.
淮海中路300号香港新世界广场 近黄陂北路

La Crêperìe, 1 Taojiang Lu, near Fenyang Lu, 5465 9055.
桃江路1号 近汾阳路

Paul, Thumb Plaza, 199 Fangdian Lu, near Dingxiang Lu, 5033 5402; Xintiandi, North Block, 123 Xingye Lu, near Huangpi Nan Lu, 5306 7191.
芳甸路199号大拇指广场 近丁香路;兴业路123号北里 近黄陂南路

Sugar, 488 Huangpi Nan Lu, near Taicang Lu, 5351 0007.
黄陂南路488号 近太仓路