Jun. 30, 2010 - Issue #767: The Bestest of Edmonton 2010
Profile
Sweet as sugar
Belgian waffles causing a stir on the street
Edmonton's street food scene just got a little classier. If you've noticed a van around the WCB building every morning for the last three weeks, you've witnessed Edmonton's latest addition to its street-food offering: Eva Sweet, purveyors of authentic Belgian waffles.
Eva Sweet is the creation of Bamir Basha, an Albanian immigrant who lived in Belgium for five years working as a waffle vendor. "It's quite a familiar street food in Belgium," notes Patricia Foufas, Basha's wife. "We decided that we don't have it here, and it might be a good thing for us to take on."
Eva Sweet sells Liege waffles, which are sweeter than Brussels waffles—the standard type of waffle that most North Americans are familiar with. "We have adapted them to more of a Canadian palate," notes Foufas. "When we first started testing it out, we found that people thought they were a little bit too sweet. So we cut the sugar back just a little bit."
The traditional flavour of Liege waffles is vanilla, though Eva Sweet also sells them in cinnamon and maple. As for toppings, it offers the standard whipped cream, and occasionally ice cream, depending on the weather. "Actually we encourage people to try them by themselves," Foufas notes. "The plain waffles have a lot of flavour to them." Eating them plain also reduces the mess factor, something that's quite important for street food—juggling a plate loaded with waffles, whipped cream and fruit is a little impractical.
One of the features of Liege waffles is the addition of pearl sugar; little crunchy beads of sugar that caramelize as the waffle cooks. Eva Sweet imports its pearl sugar right from Belgium.
Eva Sweet is currently set up in front of the WCB Building downtown, from about 7 am in the morning to 2 pm in the afternoon. The van will also have a spot at Heritage Days, selling waffles on a limited basis at the Dutch pavilion. It probably won't be at too many other Edmonton festivals this year, however: "We thought as a start-up business, we'll keep it simple and stick with our street food for a while," explains Foufas. "Maybe next year we'll worry about the festivals."
Eva Sweet does have plans for covering more ground, however—the owners plan to add more waffle vans as they are able, and maybe even open a storefront at some point. "Come October, street food in Edmonton comes to a close. By then we hope to be selling to cafés and restaurants." But with the summer only just beginning, you still have ample opportunity to venture downtown and try one of these delicious waffles for yourself.
Of course, one real question remains unanswered: what would a Fat Franks hot dog taste like, served between two crisp Eva Sweet waffles? I dare you to find out. V
Eva Sweet Waffles
107 St & 99 Ave
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