Ray’s Haus, Fenwick Street, Halifax

Ray’s Haus European Cafe and Bistro, opened earlier this year in the bottom level of Fenwick Tower.

I ordered the Belgian dessert waffles ($4.89). The owner Ray, who served us, recommended the waffles over the pancakes. Out of the options of strawberries, wild cherries, blueberries, chocolate, caramel and I think maybe one other choice, I chose wild cherries. I figured the strawberries would probably be frozen and that the wild in the wild cherries sounded promising.

They were obviously from a can which I normally wouldn’t mind but the name wild cherries led me to believe they were more than jarred and super-sugared up cherries. I was thinking something along the lines of my dessert from that place in Corner Brook. The waffles were made right behind the counter, in a waffle press. Which was cute and unexpected. The waffles were good but nothing amazing. I found the cherries far too sweet and by the second waffle quarter, was wishing I had asked for plain waffles.

My boyfriend ordered a slice of cheesecake ($4.89), a pecan and chocolate slice, from a cheesecake maker in Bridgewater (I think that’s where Ray said?).

It was a good cheesecake, but I wasn’t very interested knowing it wasn’t made on-site.

I also ordered another sweet. When I asked the gentleman serving me (not Ray) what it was called, he responded with ‘a cookie’ ($2.59). I knew it was a cookie-like dessert but was hoping that if they went through the trouble of making it in their own kitchen they might have a name for it.

Not that it mattered because I would not recommend it. It was all base pretty much and the caramel and nuts on top barely registered. The cake was overwhelming and not in a good way. But in a dry, crumbly, lacklustre flavour way.

However. The coffee was great ($1.95 a cup). Ray was eager to showcase his brews and even gave us little tasters in espresso cups, which was a nice touch. I ordered Ray’s Haus Grogg, which was sweet and really, really good. My boyfriend ordered the darkest one possible and really enjoyed it.

One negative point was lazily staring out the window, hunched over my giant mug of coffee, and seeing Ray and the other gentleman working behind the counter go outside and smoke. I know people smoke. But I was not a fan of seeing the guy that had just toasted up my waffle, outside smoking.

Ray’s had a unique atmosphere and was cosy and welcoming, with piles of old textbooks lying around. Ray’s has a large patio area at the front of the restaurant which is being wasted. There are pallets and pieces of wood lying around, which I soon learned was there as stages for his open mics, but it looked messy.