If someone told you Beavertails had arrived in the Red Sea Mall, deep fried pastry might not be the first thing that came to mind, but that’s exactly what Beavertails are. These beavertail-shaped pastries are topped with various sweets and are apparently immensely popular in Canada — so much that President Barack Obama reportedly asked where he could find one during a recent trip to Canada. So when Beavertails opened its doors a few days ago, I couldn’t help going to see what all the fuss was about.
Had I not already checked out the website (allowing me to recognize Beavertails’ black and white marketing image of a girl devouring a beavertail), I would have had to ask if I was in the right place as no signs were up that indicated this was a Beavertails outlet. However, a closer inspection of the staff uniforms revealed the embroidered logo neatly stitched on to their shirts; the sign, we were told, would soon be up.
Having browsed their menu online (sure to delight kids and adults with a sweet tooth) I ordered a chocolate and banana ‘mini’ beavertail, a trip chocolate ‘mini’ beavertail (chocolate, peanut butter and Reeses candies), as well as two drinks; a lemonade, and a strawberry daiquiri smoothie. The prices were “mall” prices, so expect to pay around SR15 for a Moozoo smoothie and SR 8 for a mini-beavertail. Prices aside, the Moozoo drinks were prepared first, the lemonade made with a combination of lemon juice and cool lemon sorbet, which was interesting to see. The taste was a sweet sherbet-like mix that was more “slush puppie” than lemonade, but still refreshing, and refreshingly icy.
The strawberry daiquiri smoothie was made with frozen yogurt, something we were also lucky enough to try — just ask the staff for a sample. It had a distinct taste of vanilla with the expected “sourness” one comes to expect from most frozen yogurt.
Meanwhile, our beavertails were on the way, removed from the fridge on a large tray, the mini sized tails should probably be called baby beaver tails’. As I imagine they are probably the same size as a small beaver’s tail — slightly smaller than the palm of your hand. These were rolled into a tail-like shape, and then put into a shallow fryer for just a minute before being smothered with selected toppings.
A quick brush of butter, and the chocolate sauce was then liberally poured on to the fried pastry, before finally being topped with the freshly cut banana and then placed in a thin paper bag. “Eat them quickly,” we were told as apparently they don’t keep very well when cold.
Looking at our Beavertails dripping with chocolate in their thin paper bags we couldn’t help wondering how we were going to eat them in public, let alone quickly without looking like the messy kid in the ads.
“Do you have takeaway boxes by any chance?’’ we asked. “Unfortunately,’’ smiled the cashier, “they aren’t yet available,” a fact that had irked some women who apparently had trouble eating the beavertails in the mall.
“They’re quite messy”, he grinned. And he was of course right. While we managed to carry ours out of the mall intending to eat them on the way back to the car, we still lost a few pieces of banana in the process. The easiest way we found to eat them was to fold them over like a sandwich.
Because of the effort, the end results are good; the dough is hot, soft and thin so not as heavy as expected, and the toppings are generous (hence the mess). Both tails were exceptional, their richness nicely balanced by the ice cool Moozoo smoothies. All in all, Beavertails and Moozoo is something you probably have to try at least once if you find yourself in the Red Sea Mall; the experience alone is worth the trip but just make sure you ask for plenty of napkins because you’re going to need them!
Opening Times: (Ramadan) 9.30 p.m. to 3 a.m. (after Ramadan, noon to midnight)
Location: Lower ground floor, Red Sea Mall, Concession stand beside fountain.
