I’m the first to say, I shouldn’t be eating dessert. Not on my current diet, But, come on, when someone mentions “Bangkok’s best waffles”, there’s few people would miss them. That’s what ‘Sweet Hound’, a relatively new dessert cafe in Bangkok, Thailand says they serve – just about the best waffles in the city (and a whole lot more desserts too).
Location of Sweet Hound – Sweet Hound is an extremely cute, stylish and trendy cafe situated in the famous J Avenue complex in the fashionable Thonglor area in Bangkok. You can’t miss it, as it’s right next to Greyhound Cafe – the dessert cafe’s sister restaurant. There are, however, other Sweet Hound by Greyhound cafes around, including one at Siam Paragon.
The Menu at Sweet Hound – A Thai friend and I ate dessert at Sweet Hound after we ate lunch at, Greyhound Cafe right next door. Normally, we’d have dessert at Greyhound Cafe but, when we’d been told about Sweet Hound’s waffles, there really wasn’t any other choice.
The first thing you notice when you arrive at Sweet Hound is how busy it is. Sure, we were there on a Sunday afternoon, but we’d already heard it was packed every day, the sweets were that good. Plus, when one of the co-creators of the cafe is a Cordon Bleu chef from Paris, well, it’s always going to be popular.
As for the menu, although they specialize in waffles, Sweet Hound serves around 40 other types of dessert too. Cakes, ice cream, parfaits, even some traditional Thai desserts (that are of course three times the price of any regular Thai restaurant). We deliberated over the menu for a few minutes, hard-pressed to choose between waffles and an incredible chocolate ice cream concoction. Ordering both and splitting them was finally the obvious solution.
For the waffle, we decided upon a waffle with banana, chocolate and cheese – well, my Thai friend decided on it. The thought of cheese on a banana made me a bit nauseous but, what she says goes, so that’s what we had.
For the ice cream order, I prevailed, and we ordered the ‘Chocolate Lover’. A tall glass filled with brownie, Maltezers (the British chocolate candy), chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce, and some crunchy things that looked (and tasted) suspiciously like cornflakes.
When the desserts appeared at our table, I immediately dug into the ‘Chocolate Lover’. Satisfyingly chocolately, with lots of whipped cream, all the different crunchy bits added a satsifying ‘crunch’ I really rather liked. The cheesy banana waffle, on the other hand, just not my cup of tea. Grated cheese over a banana and a waffle, with a load of whipped cream – I’m not sure what the pastry chef was thinking?
Since our first visit to Sweet Hound, we’ve been there twice since. While a bit expensive for what you get (desserts run between 140-190 baht ($4.75-$6.50), it is the current fashionable place to go for desserts, and that means a lot for Thais, and particularly with the hi-so (high-society) Thai friend I go with.
At Sweet Hound, the waffles are good enough, tasty in fact, as I’ve eaten several more since that first visit, (although nowhere near the best waffles I’ve ever eaten but, then again, I lived in America, the land of the good waffle), but the price, to me, is off-putting and isn’t warranted, not for what you get.
Still, if you enjoy ‘trendy’ and ‘fashionable’ and like Bangkok’s J Avenue, then Sweet Hound by Greyhound is a must try. For me, overall, with so many thousands of dessert cafes in Bangkok and more opening every week, Sweet Hound is a ‘take it or leave it’ place, and nothing more than that.
You’ll find Sweet Hound at J Avenue, on Sukhumvit 55, Bangkok, as well as at Siam Paragon mall.
