On a recent trip to Central World Plaza, a Thai friend and I came across a brand new cafe. Billed as a “one-stop dessert cafe”, Parferio by Sfree is a Japanese-style ice cream, parfait, cake and dessert cafe that’s already one of the most popular spots in Bangkok.
Although we had just eaten lunch, at Parferio’s door we were soon won over by the smiling and friendly staff begging us to come in, along with the fact that half of Bangkok was already sitting there. So, to find out what we were missing we strolled through Parferio’s doors, a mistake my hips will regret for a long time as they’ll soon be expanding from all the luscious goodies I’ll be eating.
Location of Parferio by Sfree – Parferio by Sfree is a new “one-stop dessert cafe” chain with eight locations dotted around Bangkok. They bill themselves as a healthy place to eat dessert as many of their desserts are sugar and fat-free and include fresh fruit imported from overseas.
Their newest store is on the 6th floor of Central World Plaza, Bangkok’s biggest mall. They’re around the corner from Isetan, the Japanese department store, and right next door to Hachiban noodles. There’s no way you can miss them though, as the smiling staff standing outside their door will have pulled you in before you stand a chance of walking by.
What is Parferio by Sfree? – As they advertise, they’re a “one-stop dessert cafe”. In essence, what this means is Parferio by Sfree serves a huge menu of designer coffee and tea drinks (both hot and iced), ice-cream and ice cream sundaes, frozen yoghurt, parfaits, many different types of cake and a whole list of fresh fruit smoothies. In all, they have more than 150 choices of dessert.
What Does Parferio by Sfree Serve? – If you dream of dessert, you’ll walk into Central World Plaza’s Parferio and feel like you’re entering Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
Everything they serve is laid out before you in its colorful, creamy and delicious finery. Shelves of ice cream sundaes, a huge refrigerated cake case oozing with chocolate cake, cream cake, carrot cake, cheesecake, brownies, fruit slices and gateaux. In fact, there are so many desserts you’ve never ever seen before, you’ll spend half an hour trying to choose as there’s nothing on the menu you won’t want.
My Thai friend isn’t a huge dessert eater and I love everything, so after much deliberation we finally decided to share an item they call the Wafu Bento. It’s a bento box (the red and black lacquered box Japanese restaurants serve food in), that has a different Parferio dessert in each small boxed off section.
There are two small crepes with a red bean filling and also stuffed with cream, a green tea ice dessert, a thick caramel pudding, a waffle cup stuffed with ice cream and a green tea sauce, and a section of fresh fruit. A wonderful selection of Parferio desserts and a lovely thing to share.
The box arrived and let’s just say there was a lot of dessert but, oh, it looked so beautiful. Oddly too, as much of what Parferio makes is so light, creamy and not too sweet, we didn’t leave the cafe feeling full or as if we’d overdosed on sugar. In fact, the Wafu Bento box was a perfect amount of dessert for two and everything in it was absolutely divine.
Much of what Parferio sells too is either gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan or vegetarian so you don’t feel anywhere near as guilty as you would eating at Dairy Queen or Baskin Robbins. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
Price-wise, Parferio by Sfree is not cheap. Desserts begin at 80 baht and go up to 160 baht or more ($2.80-$5.25), which is definitely on the high side for Bangkok. But, it’s quite healthy, it tastes and looks delightful and with such smiling, charming and helpful staff, in my book, it’s well worth the extra money.
