December-Eve has opened, and with it, a new take on the café experience has been revealed to Wuhan. Tucked away on a quaint pedestrian street in the midst of small quirky art shops, coffee shops, restaurants, and a small park, this cafe is the perfect place to relax and spend a quiet afternoon with friends.
The café is the result of the combined efforts of an incredibly diverse group of friends, including a barista who trained in the art of coffee making in Shanghai, a fashion major who studied in London and designed the interior of the shop, and an extremely skilled chef who trained to create desserts in the south of France, as well as Paris.
With welcoming staff, soft ambient music and a bright clean decor, the café boasts a very relaxed atmosphere. As such, December-Eve is a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of Wuhan.
December-Eve selling point is in it’s menu. It’s unique menu concept, offers the customer a choice of flavour combinations rather than specific items. So when you order, you look for a number on the menu that includes flavours you enjoy, and the staff help you find a corresponding dish. It allows you to try desserts you may not have chosen previously.
They also specifically don’t show pictures on their menu, as you may assume a flavour from a picture that is not accurate for the taste – for example, the strawberry and kumquat dessert looks more like a strawberry, but tastes more like kumquat.
This idea was completely new to me, and I enjoyed the willingness of the owners to sit and discuss what kind of flavours or dessert they could recommend based on my own personal preferences. The dessert flavour combinations you can choose from are:
- Lotus, cheese, sticky rice wine, osmanthus, almond rice cake.
- Lime, apple, vanilla, Japanese grapefruit, hazelnut, caramel.
- Strawberry and kumquat.
- Chocolate milk jelly, coffee mascarpone, caramel, hazelnuts, oranges.
- Matcha, brown rice, tangerine, aloe gel.
- Apple, puff pastry, vanilla milk jelly, apple ice-cream.
- Original croissant.
- Banana and chocolate (Chocolate-banana croissant).
As a big fan of the flavour of green tea, I was first opted to try the Japanese-inspired Matcha Cheesecake. The cake itself was moist, flavourful and delicious, and was perfectly complimented by droplets of aloe gel which added a lovely coolness at the end of each bite.
I also tried a dessert that was originally designed by their chef. It was a kind of lotus cheesecake, and was created using a variety of subtle ingredients that, when put together, create a taste sensation! It was made with Osmanthus flowers, sticky rice wine, cheese, lotus root, and vanilla, and was given a truly unique texture by the base – a sticky rice cake flavoured with rice wine and almond. The combination of the crunchy base, smooth fragrant flower-covered shell, and soft cheesecake-style centre made it a truly exceptional dessert experience.
As well as desserts, also they sell a variety of drinks – notably real grounded aromatic coffees! In addition, the owners plan to introduce a wine menu, and offer advice on wine and dessert pairings.
Though it is a little more expensive than most dessert places, if you want to splash out on something new and have some really tasty treats, it’s well worth it! The café is open from 11am to 10pm Tuesday-Sunday.
Address: Lihuangpi Road and Luo Jiashan Street – 黎黄陂路珞珈山街3号