Wednesday 24 / April / 2024
Whenever I pass by a bakery or cafe and I get a whiff of nutty, cocoa-scented air, I remember the line from the movie “Grown Ups” when the kids shout, “I wanna get chocolate wasted!” And, earlier this year, my desire to indulge was pushed to the absolute limit when Dipndip, a Canadian café and chocolatier franchise, opened in Oman Avenues Mall.
Located on the basement floor of the Oman Avenues Mall, Dipndip’s sporty “outside” lobby seating area stands out with its eye-catching, flashy red and cocoa shades, while the main restaurant is bedecked with tiny circular mirrors on the walls, which add an elegance touch to the place. Its dark, minimally lit ambiance, set the mood for the ecstatically indulgent, and often messy, dining experience.
The extensive menu features waffle, crepes, ice creams, fondants, fondues, pancakes, and frozen, iced, and hot drinks, all slathered in premium Belgian chocolates or made with pure cocoa butter. And the dessert portions are enormous. That said, these treats are best consumed with a buddy; sharing is caring after all.
For me personally, I know from the get-go that when I visit Dipndip, I’m going to need boxes (and boxes) of tissue to properly enjoy all this drippy, sweet goodness without messing up my Dishdasha, so my first order is always to ask the kind staff for a massive stack of napkins so I’ll be ready to get down and dirty with the cocoa feast.
I’ve tried more of their luscious creations that I ought to admit, and the best of the bunch, hands down, is the brownie crepe. The crispy crepe is stuffed with soft chocolate brownies, and entirely covered with an artful lashing of Belgian white, dark, and milk chocolate. It is ethereal.
Another life-changing treat is the chocolate fondant cake. The warm, liquid-centred, molten chocolate cake, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (or any ice cream flavour of your choice), might look like a typical chocolate lava cake, but trust me, it is the bomb. A trembling spoon of warm, tender cake; hot, melted chocolate, and a small sliver of cool, vanilla ice cream creates a sensation of pure, sweet, hot, cold, creamy, chewy sensory overload that excites me anew every time I try it. The high quality chocolate and other premium ingredients used at Dipndip, take this already incredible experience to the next level.
There is no bad order on the menu, and some other interesting choices include the fettuccini crepe — a crepe cut into ribbons resembling fettuccini pasta, served with your choice of ice cream in the centre and dressed with a sauce of melted chocolate. The lollipop waffle stick, a snack-sized waffle-on-a-stick, dipped in a chocolate sauce of your choice is a perfect “lighter” option. (They also offer full-sized waffle plates). The chocolate mousse and brownie verrine, a glass filled with layers of dark chocolate mousse, white chocolate glazing sauce, and mini, sugar-iced, brownie cubes, is basically a grown-up, amped-up pudding cup.
Compliment your sugar-rush with fresh-squeezed juice, an espresso-based drinks, or go all out with a chocolate beverage, like the hot chocolate or cafe mocha.
Dipndip, with its all-things-cocoa theme, is the ultimate restaurant for chocoholics, like myself. It’s a place to feed your inner child with wild abandon. What keeps me coming back is this blissful, whimsical, over-the-top feeling, as well as the friendly staff and the cool ambiance. But mostly, I come to get “chocolate wasted”. —[email protected]
What to Order
Brownies crepe OMR3.250
Fettuccini crepe OMR3.950
Chocolate fondant cake OMR3.500
Lollipop waffle stick OMR2.250
Cafe mocha OMR2
Turkish coffee OMR1.250
Dipndip
Oman Avenues Mall, Bousher
+968 2462 6774
dipndip.com
Hours:
Sunday-Wednesday 10am-11pm
Thursday-Saturday 10am-1am
