47 replies to this topic

[G-Man]

Having worked in many restaurants in Vic I will concur that rats are ubiquitous unless of course they were just following me around. I didn't work anywhere that didn't at one time have a mouse or rat on premise.

[victorian fan]

I just baked some cupcakes today from from scratch. They are probably smaller than bakery ones.

[hotdoglegz]

Oh great, just what the neighbourhood needs, a snobby wannabe food critic. I wonder if she will continue providing restaurant reviews on her local competitors.

I also hope she doesn't bring her rodent problem with her from downtown.

http://www.healthspa...F2?OpenDocument

I think somebody has already pointed out in this forum that rodents are a part of Victoria. No restaurant is safe. I still work in the industry and in a very clean space and I can tell you there are rodents around.

Who reads those reviews the littlepiggy writes? No better/worse than any review web site such as UrbanSpoon, Dinehere.ca, Victoria Burger Blog, etc where anyone can submit a review and have it published on line.

[jklymak]

Who reads those reviews the littlepiggy writes? No better/worse than any review web site such as UrbanSpoon, Dinehere.ca, Victoria Burger Blog, etc where anyone can submit a review and have it published on line.

There is a pretty vigorous discussion of Little Piggy reviews in this thread. For what it is worth, I personally found her reviews very spot on, and we consulted her write ups quite a bit when we first moved here.

As for cupcakes, I'll be curious how that goes. We had some cupcakes at the Moss St. Market on Sat, and they were tasty, but not something I'd walk out of my way for. But people said the same thing about espresso drinks 15 years ago...

[Bob Fugger]

Who reads those reviews the littlepiggy writes? No better/worse than any review web site such as UrbanSpoon, Dinehere.ca, Victoria Burger Blog, etc where anyone can submit a review and have it published on line.

I think it's disingeneous for a working chef and business owner to write reviews on what are essentially competitors. It's like a magician deconstructing another magician's tricks.

Like most critics, she poo-poos most places she goes to. But what's her motivation? I don't think it's a coincidence that her reviews are hosted on the same website as her bakery and catering business. If she doesn't have the sense to see how icky that is, then I'm really not going to put a lot of stock in what she has to say.

Ask her new neighbours in Fernwood Square how they feel about her moving into the 'hood. Unlike other recent additions (Fernwood Inn, Stage, Lucy's and even Twee, which is not a restaurant) she brings nothing.

[julienne]

Icky, yes. And unprofessional. Perhaps it's time for sometime to do a review of Little Piggy.

Even though restaurants do have problems with rodents, it is their responsibility - not only for themselves but their customers - to deal with those issues on a regular basis. Cleanliness and pest management is essential.

[Bob Fugger]

The new cupcake bakery in the 700 block of Fort is now open and was apparently very busy at lunchtime yesterday.

A friend on Facebook was complaining that Groupon wasn't returning her emails about refunding her Pink Sugar Groupons now that they've gone out of business. Anyone else hear that they'd shuttered shop?

[Matt R.]

A friend of mine noticed that their shop had a 'for lease' sign on it the other day and mentioned it to me. I think that niche of the market is too much of a niche.

Now, maybe if they sold doughnuts and whoopie pies as well ...

Matt.

[Bob Fugger]

Did you ever have any of their cupcakes? They were OK - for vegan, I suppose. I guess they tried to mine a further niche (vegan) in an already niche market (cupcakes). Oh La La on the other hand, are just really, really nice and buttery. I hear that they also opened up another location or two?

[spanky123]

A friend of mine noticed that their shop had a 'for lease' sign on it the other day and mentioned it to me. I think that niche of the market is too much of a niche.

Now, maybe if they sold doughnuts and whoopie pies as well ...

Matt.

Always wondered how many cupcake shops a city the size of Victoria could support. I guess the answer is 1 less.

[G-Man]

+1 for the doughnut shop suggestion.

[Lorenzo]

Did you ever have any of their cupcakes? They were OK - for vegan, I suppose. I guess they tried to mine a further niche (vegan) in an already niche market (cupcakes). Oh La La on the other hand, are just really, really nice and buttery. I hear that they also opened up another location or two?

Goldstream at Veterans Memorial Parkway, in the little strip mall beside the May Gold Restaurant.

[Mike K.]

Wasn't Pink Sugar one of if not the first cupcakery in downtown, perhaps even the region?

[Bob Fugger]

Wasn't Pink Sugar one of if not the first cupcakery in downtown, perhaps even the region?

I'm pretty sure that Oo La La was around before Pink Sugar opened up in Fernwood. It'd be interesting to know the circumstances around the closure. Their website looks like business-as-usual and they have no social media presence of which to speak.

[julienne]

Pink Sugar also opened an outlet at 619 Broughton. Is that closed as well?

[Mike K.]

You might be mistaking Pink Sugar for Sweet Nancy's, a maternity wear retailer. I've made that mistake myself a couple of times

I had no idea Pink Sugar had a place in Fernwood. Did they close it when they moved to Fort? There's no mention of a second location on their website.

[Bob Fugger]

You might be mistaking Pink Sugar for Sweet Nancy's, a maternity wear retailer. I've made that mistake myself a couple of times

I had no idea Pink Sugar had a place in Fernwood. Did they close it when they moved to Fort? There's no mention of a second location on their website.

Yes - the Fernwood Sqaure shop was their original location. They were where Little Piggy's was before Little Piggy moved to Esquimalt. (NB: now it's a tea & hookah lounge).

[bluefox]

I'm a former colleague of the owner of Pink Sugar. From what I know, business was steady at the cupcake place. She's recently gotten married and they decided to close the shop in favour of launching a wedding publication called Love Well Styled.

Best of luck to her. Being lactose intolerant, I certainly appreciated her treats!!

[Mike K.]

Thanks, bluefox.

I was surprised by some of the comments I'd heard elsewhere that they had gone "bankrupt" as the place tended to sell out of its fare before most days were over. They were priced in accordance with the cost to run the business, I'm sure, so the story of her leaving due to personal/career reasons seems much more fitting.

[bluefox]

Thanks, bluefox.

I was surprised by some of the comments I'd heard elsewhere that they had gone "bankrupt" as the place tended to sell out of its fare before most days were over. They were priced in accordance with the cost to run the business, I'm sure, so the story of her leaving due to personal/career reasons seems much more fitting.

Exactly. When Adrienne launched her "Man Cakes" lineup a couple of years back, which had flavours like bacon and peanut butter, and tequila and lime, the shop only got more popular.

She was incredibly creative and engaged and her products were affordable and looked and tasted great. A lot of people couldn't believe that her cupcakes had no dairy, egg, and usually no refined flours or sugars, and yet still tasted the way they did.

I disagree with other posters who said it was a 'niche within a niche' she was serving. You're right in that she was sold out most days before the shop closed. Pink Sugar wasn't just designed for "vegans"; in dairy and egg free products being vegan friendly is just an extra benefit.

There are plenty of lactose intolerant and/or gluten-sensitive people in Victoria faced with compulsive label-checking of desserts, who LOVED being able to scarf down those cupcakes without a worry. As we all know, most desserts, especially 98% of the baked good kind, have some sort of milk product in them, or flour.