Shakes & Co (Dessert) – Willesden

THIS PLACE HAS PERMANENTLY CLOSED DOWN!

Situated on High Road in Willesden, there’s not much competition for the newly opened dessert parlour Shakes & Co. 

And though relatively small, good planning seems to have made the most of the available space.

The place is bright and modern with a standard glass display showcasing an array of ice creams and cakes.

All their produce is suitable for vegetarians, and contains no gelatine or any alcohol.

Other small details that add up to the experience of a visit include simple, yet intuitively helpful signs, such as, “Take a menu” or “Check the Fridge.”

Strawberry (left), Jaffa (right), Pistachio (back) – 1 Scoop £1.49, 2 Sco0ps £2.49, 3 Scoops £3.49, Chocolate Dipped Basket £0.99

Not the smoothest ice cream we’ve ever tasted, but not bad either.

Although the Strawberry came through subtly, it tasted quite fruity. The pistachio, however, was fairly insipid, while the Jaffa the best of three. A little harsh on the tongue, but with bits of jelly giving it additional texture, it kept our interest far more than the other two.

As to the basket, then though crunchy, would have been better had it been coated in more of the chocolate.

Delicious Carrot – £5.29 / £2.29 per slice

Although one deemed this to be fairly dry, the other Lion considered it to be rich and moist. We were all agreed, however, that it wasn’t too heavy.

The ice cream and fresh, green slices of banana, all smothered in nuts and drizzled with caramel sauce, married really well with the cake.

The freshness of the bananas was a great foil to all that sweetness.

Banana Split Delight – 2 bananas, vanilla, chocolate & strawberry ice cream scoops with cream & chocolate sauce £4.99

Nothing to write home about here.

For us, the two green whole bananas were far too hard and unripe to allow this dessert to come together into a coherent and enjoyable whole.

The ice cream scoops were adequate.

Also, is this a case of false advertising because the two bananas weren’t exactly “split”?!

Signature Sharing Platter – Strawberry, banana, nuts, waffle bites, blueberry, marshmallow & chocolate sauce £9.99

If you’ve never come across something like this before, then the idea is certainly quite novel and inspired.

Resting atop a revolving base are five compartments filled with an assortment of fruits, waffle bits and marshmallow, while at the centre is a cup of chocolate which itself rests on top of a candle lit flame.

The idea is to use the miniture forks provided to spear your chosen snack before dunking it into the chocolate sauce.

Simple enough; except that the reality is quite different to the fantasy. In this case, the design flaw is two-fold:

1. The candle simply isn’t hot enough to keep the chocolate liquidy enough to serve its intended purpose.
2. The fork ends are far too thin to properly spear the fruits and prevent them from slipping off into the semi-liquid chocolate sauce.

The marshmallows weren’t very good either, tasting somewhat cheap.

Otherwise, while the concept could amount to Shakes & Co.’s unique selling point (the owner swears to be its inventor – an idea subsequently ripped off by others, we were told), the £10 price tag for what is, in the end, bits of fruit, cheap marshmallows, unripe bananas, and some waffles (albeit light and fluffy), seems eye-poppingly dear.

Shakes & Co. Special – Vanilla ice cream, strawberry, blueberry with strawberry & white chocolate sauce £6.99

They certainly know how to make waffles because this premium waffle base was indeed premium in both taste and texture. Soft with a crispy exterior and topped with strawberry slices and blueberries with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle, this was quite satisfying.

Drizzled with strawberry and white chocolate sauces, the combination of all the sweet along with the burst of the juicy fresh berries complemented the strawberries very well. Fortunately, the quantity of white chocolate sauce was just right without being overwhelmingly sweet.

Red Velvet#Radhawi&CoLatte Macchiato

Red Velvet – Premium Shake £4.99

The velvet flavour was barely discernible.

But what made this shake a complete right off was the addition of presumably the other half of a heavy and dense Red Velvet cake plonked on top, and this sickly sweet and artificially tasting strawberry syrup at the bottom.

The only thing good about this shake was its consistency, nice and thick, which, of course, isn’t saying much.

#Radhawi&Co – Premium Shake £4.99

Again a thick and creamy shake… and that’s all she wrote.

The white chocolate came through well enough without being overpowering. However, the garnish of white chocolate droplets was hard, chewy, and annoyingly sweet.

Latte Macchiato £2.19

An acquired taste for sure.

A strong latte; which might actually be a good idea after all that sugar and sweetness.