WaffleUp: Square is the new heart

What do you think are the makings of good food? Throw out your preconceived notions of it. Hear this: whatever food satiates your craving is good food. 

Food is that one thing that we do not consume exclusively out of necessity. A lot of it is to be enjoyed as well. So, oftentimes we find one such food item that appeases our cravings how we least expect it.

WaffleUp popped out of nowhere on a street-side in Banani, road 13, some six months ago and is now doing phenomenal. Who would expect to find waffles on a roadside while passing by? Now, you can. Take our word for it.

It is unimaginable how the messy business of having waffles can be done inside a moving vehicle. But if waffles can be held on the end of sticks firmly placed in them, they can just as well be enjoyed as candies resting on sticks.

The first and only (so far) roadside outlet of WaffleUp will sensitise your olfactory senses to the most saccharine aroma as you enter road 13. Then, as you let your nostrils guide you to the source of the smell, a barrage of pink, blue, teal, brown and yellow colours will alert you of your destination: WaffleUp.

"Why must every waffle shop be themed yellow? " asked Mohammed Salman, founder of WaffleUp, as he was explaining the colour schemes of his neat little waffle shop.

Picture a Wes Anderson movie set. Then picture an episode from the cartoon show Adventure Time. Bring the two pictures together and you are standing right in front of WaffleUp. 

Picture a Wes Anderson movie set and then an episode from the cartoon show Adventure Time. Bring the two pictures together and you are standing right in front of WaffleUp.

The colours ooze out of the shop. And because they set up shop mainly after dark, bright lights and festively lit, hot pink LED light strips decorating the shop will enrapture you in a kaleidoscope of colours and tantalising food smells.

Grab a chair and sit yourself down with friends, a better half or your family. The outdoors setting might remind you of a European cafe where people can enjoy their food or coffee outside the shop. The passing traffic can, however, be a nuisance, but if you are in the presence of good company, that too can be overlooked.

The waffle-loving crowd thickens as the night gets older. Even past midnight people congregate around WaffleUp. The craving for a food such as waffles is arbitrary and can hit at, say, 2 AM in the morning, and WaffleUp has our backs. You will see others just like yourself fighting the munchies even in the darkest night.

"You will not find a Drive-Thru in Bangladesh because of space congestion issue, but you will see drive-ins for sure," said Salman, explaining further, "they (customers) come in their cars, order some waffles and off they go, enjoying their waffle while driving or simply inside a car."

It is unimaginable how the messy business of having waffles can be done inside a moving vehicle. But if waffles can be held on the end of sticks firmly placed in them, they can just as well be enjoyed as candies resting on sticks. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

It is unimaginable how the messy business of having waffles can be done inside a moving vehicle. But if the same waffles can be held on the end of sticks firmly placed in them, they can just as well be enjoyed as candies resting on sticks.

You can order a Fruity Bliss waffle, Bananutella, Nutella, Red Velvet on-a-stick-waffle or a Bangla Pizza waffle and much more.

Pizza enjoyers have frowned upon pineapple in pizza at first until a lot of them made their peace with it. Following the same logic, if the sound of a waffle tasting exactly like a pizza rattles you, give it a shot. It might grow on you. A Bangla Pizza Waffle will cost you Tk175.

You would simply relish a slice of the kiwi resting on top of their signature Fruity Bliss Waffle. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

You would simply relish a slice of the kiwi resting on top of their signature Fruity Bliss Waffle. It is up to you to decide whether you would like the kiwi slice before the ice cream topped waffle to get you in the mood or with the ice cream slowly melting and melding with the softened waffle below. It is very much up to you to decide. This waffle is priced at Tk240.

On the subject of new ways in which to reintroduce waffles, Salman commented on the shape and the serving proportions of the waffles, saying, "Waffles are mostly round. Ours aren't. And they are not unusually large that you'd lose appetite even before you're done with it."

“Waffles are mostly round. Ours aren’t. And they are not unusually large so that you’d lose appetite even before you’re done with it.” Mohammad Salman, Founder, WaffleUp

You may not want chocolates and bananas in the same bowl. It is like though dry chillies and green chillies are both chillies, mixing them together is forbidden alchemy! 

Are bananas topping a Nutella-based waffle a forbidden pleasure as well? You be the judge of that but from what we heard from our fellow waffle lovers there, Bananutella is quite the charmer. This goes out for Tk180.

The Red Velvet and the Nutella waffle-on-a-stick sound pretty self-explanatory. These two variants of WaffleUp's items are what their regulars root for. They are the most waffle-like in nature and not everyone is an experimentalist. Then there is the stick-in-the-waffle bit about them. A literal tab sticks out from one of its sides, holding which you can enjoy your waffle in bite-sized chunks, that too, on the go. They cost Tk160 each. 

Photo: Noor-A-Alam

Besides these, WaffleUp sells Strawberry With Banana & Nutella waffles for Tk175, Death by Nutella waffles for Tk170 and Very Very Strawberry waffles for Tk190. 

You could ask for extra toppings in the form of ice cream for Tk80, whipped cream for Tk60 and extra nuts for Tk40. As beverages they have Ovaltine coffee, Butterscotch Frappe, Cafe Nutella Mocha, White Mocha Frappe, Hot Nutella, Cookie & Cream Frappe and Americano in the price range of Tk120-Tk180.