January 2014

In Cafe

Miura Waffle Milk Bar: Relocated to Main Street

January 9, 2014

It’s been a while since my last visit to Miura Waffle and Milk Bar. They were previously located on Davies and Howe, but have now moved to their new location on Main street close to Broadway. They serve made to order sweet and savoury waffle sandwiches.

During lunch, I came with my coworkers to indulge in some savoury sandwiches.

When you enter the restaurant, you have to go up to the counter to order first. The interior isn’t very large but it is still larger than its previous location. Most of the tables are in 2s and 4s, but if you have more people, just combine more tables.

Mango Passion Yoggy Milk was ordered by my coworker and it wasn’t very good. It did not have a substantial amount of texture to it and was runny and thin.

Strawberry Yoggy milk is like a strawberry milkshake but more tangy. This is probably the best out of all their flavours for yoggy milk. The texture was nice and thick like those YOP yogurt drinks.

Bulgogi Sando is their top flavour for savoury sandwiches apparently. It has beef, egg sauce, kimchi & bulgogi sauce in side the waffle. my coworker liked it but it was a tad messy to eat. You eat it like a normal sandwich with no forks or knives.

Hoisin Sando has hoisin pork sausage, cilantro, cucumber, pickled radish & carrot in the waffle. The pickled vegetables reminded Magz of a Bahn Mi sandwich. She liked it so much she came back a few days later.

Wasabi Salmon sando has salmon, lettuce, herbs & wasabi ranch. The wasabi was subtle and doesn’t really make you cry. It’s a nice balance between the salmon and wasabi mayo. It wasn’t too messy to eat and nothing fell out of the sandwich while eating.

One thing that I did notice is that the salmon was baked into the waffle. HOW COOL IS THAT? The reason why the salmon didn’t fall out was that it was there stuck in the waffle batter.

All of the sandwiches come with Deep-fried Nori chips on the side. They are crisp seaweed pieces. It tasted ok, but need a little something extra. I’m not exactly sure what, but it sure needs some improvement.

Overall, they have a really cute concept of waffle sandwiches. The food was alright, but there are a few kinks they need to work out.

We Rate Miura Waffle Milk Bar:

Address:
2521 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://www.miurawafflemilkbar.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2521+Main+St+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=2521+Main+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5T&z=16″]

In Japanese

Aqua Sushi + Organic Juice Bar: New Restaurant in Olympic Village

January 8, 2014

Aqua Sushi + Juice Bar is a new addition to the Olympic Village. They serve up all their sushi with brown rice and all their fresh juice is made to order with the freshest ingredients possible. They also only use wild sockeye salmon instead of the usual salmon you find at other places.

Magz and I came here during lunch to find a nice light and quick lunch.

The place is small and doesn’t have too many seats.

All menu items are $10 or under. Still, the items are pricey since it’s just a roll.

Quench Fresh Pressed Juice ($6) has cucumber, pineapple, coconut water, pear and lime. It was strange how it came out pink with the ingredients, but the juice tasted pretty good. The pineapple really sweetens up the drink.

Spicy Salmon Roll ($5) has crunchy green beans, kale, wild sockeye salmon, spicy sauce, brown rice and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The crunchy texture of the beans and kale really complimented the salmon. I was really surprised! The quality of ingredients is fantastic. Yeah to eating healthy.

Rejuvenate ($6) has carrot, orange, grapefruit, ginger and cayenne.

Aqua Roll ($5.50) has salmon, avocado, mango, green bean, and brown rice. Another great roll that didn’t disappoint. THe mango was perfectly ripe and not sour.

Overall, we were impressed by the rolls and juices. We didn’t have high hopes in the beginning, but when we took the first bite and slip, we liked it. The prices are expensive for what you get compared to other sushi places around town. You’re paying a lot more for quality ingredients. Also, everything here is really healthy, which is good if you are on a diet.

We Rate Aqua Sushi + Juice Bar:

Address:
1764 Manitoba Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://aquajuicebar.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1764+Manitoba+Street+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=1764+Manitoba+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5Y+1H9&z=15 “]

In product

Tassimo T20: Tetley Green Tea and Caramel Macchiato

January 7, 2014

I got a Tassimo T20 last year at Wal-Mart when it was on sale. A year later, I probably have only used it less than a dozen times. It is a single-serve brewing system that makes coffee or tea with a touch of a button. Really good if you want to make a hot drink at home without thinking too much. Like most people, we aren’t really awake until we have our daily dose of caffeine.

This model is the cheapest of all the other Tassimo models. It retails for about $79.

Tetley Pure Green tea pods was what caught my eye at the grocery store. I’ve only had tea made with pre-packed tea bags or loose leaf. I thought this would be interesting to try out. This pack came with 14 pods and cost about $8.

The tea tasted just fine and I like how I didn’t have to wait for boiling water to get a cup of tea started. I am a tea guzzling machine, so I could go through a lot of cups of tea a day. The pods are definitely expensive at a little bit over $0.50 a cup. The tea bags are much cheaper.

The Tassimo has a decent amount of tea varieties developed. There is Chai Tea Latte, camomile, black iced tea, orange pekoe, Earl Grey, Peppermint, and peach iced tea.

Another item I picked up at the store is the Gevalia Kaffe Caramel Macchiato. It has 8 disc of the caramel espresso and 8 discs of sweet milk, so you only get 8 cups of coffee for $12.99.

I put the milk disc in first and then the caramel espresso disc.

A short while later, the caramel macchiato is done. It obviously does not compare to the ones you can get at Starbucks, but I liked the frothiness of the milk. I wish I had a clear cup to show you the different layers. My only complain with this flavour is that it was a tad sweet, but thats just a personal preference since I usually don’t take my coffee with a lot of sugar.

Website: https://www.tassimo.ca/en/

In Gastown

Sushi Den: Bento Boxes in Chinatown/Gastown

January 6, 2014

Sushi Den is a newer Japanese Restaurant on the border of Gastown and Chinatown. It’s located close to Stadium Skytrain and Tinseltown. I came here during lunch with my coworker for something fast. I can see them being popular for take out.

I have come here a few times and I usually get the same bento box.

Nigiri Bento Box ($12) comes with agedashi tofu, salad, assorted tempura, miso soup and 5 pieces of nigiri. The bento box is very large and easily fills me up for lunch.

Miso soup came fairly quickly and tasted good. It had bits of tofu and green onions inside.

There were 5 pieces of nigiri – 1 ebi, 2 tuna and 2 salmon. It tasted fresh good and no problems.

The agedashi tofu is very hot, so you need to wait a bit before eating. When you leave it in the sauce for a while, the skin around the tofu gets very gummy and slimy. Weird texture, but I still liked the tofu inside.

Assorted Tempura was heavily battered and was very crunchy. It stays crunch for a long time and doesn’t get soggy.

Overall, the food is average and in a very good location. The service is not very good. You won’t find anything amazing here, but the prices are fair.

We Rate Sushi Den:

Address:
609 Abbott St
Vancouver, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=609+Abbott+St+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=609+Abbott+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B&z=16 “]

In Afternoon Tea

Patisserie Für Elise: Afternoon Tea in Downtown Vancouver

January 5, 2014

Patisserie Für Elise is a pastry shop and tea salon in Downtown Vancouver. It’s quite a cute location since its located in a house instead of a larger building. You know once you lay your eyes on this place, you just are curious to take a peak inside.

I came here with some of my bridesmaids to catch up, since it’s hard to get us together since half of them are on the east coast.

I heard of Patisserie Fur Elise a few years ago at the Vancouver Bakers Market before they opened up their shop. It is great to see the owners dream become reality with their new store.

When you enter, the first floor is their retail space with a few pastries, teas and little trinkets to buy.

There’s macarons on the left and pastries on the left.

There’s tea sets too.

On the second floor, the tea salon is located there. There’s one main room and another room in the back.

They do all their baking on the first floor in the kitchen and they set up all the tea sets in this area.

It costs $30 per person for a 2 hour seating and you get the following:

Your selection of tea
a layer of savory items
scones
Chef’s choice starter
a layer of sweet items

The items do vary, so its hard to say what exactly you get since they like to switch it up. I found the items listed on their website to be less accurate. The menu that you get here is pretty accurate.

On the right page, you have all the teas to choose from.

Shortly after, our tea sets arrived.

A little while later, out pots arrived. You get a little timer and you can wait for the time to count down.

You have a bird to strain out the tea leaves. You pour your tea through this, but we found that some tea leaves did not get caught.

I ordered China Jasmine Premium tea and I found that it needed more than a minute to steep. My other friends got the Blue Earl Grey tea and they didn’t need to steep for very long, unless you want it strong.

Our settings didn’t come with milk and sugar, so we had to ask them for it. Usually it comes with it already on the table, but we found this strange.

After about 40 minutes since we got here, we got our tea set. It seemed a bit long for them to put it together especially when are can only have a 2 hour seating. Nonetheless, we dug in and chatted about life.

Chef’s Choice starter is a blueberry panna cotta it was really good! The panna cotta had a lot of yummy vanilla beans and the blueberry compote on top just paired perfectly. There is also a little gold leaf on top.

We began with the bottom layer of scones and savouries.

Prosciutto brie and fresh basil sandwich
Cucumber dill finger sandwich
Asparagus and mushroom quiche
Scone with cheddar and pancetta
Scone with almond streusel

Cucumber dill finger sandwich was simple but very good. The position on the cucumber threw us off, so we just moved it to the other side and began eating away. I really liked the creaminess of the center.

Asparagus and mushroom quiche was a tad small, so it was hard to really taste the depth of flavour.

Prosciutto, brie and fresh basil croissant sandwich was my weakness. I can’t resist prosciutto and brie. The croissant wasn’t crunchy, but it was a bit limp. It would be nice if it had more of a crunch to it.

Scone with Almond Strusel is best with their housemade jam. We asked them for some clotted cream and it makes the scone much enjoyable.

Scone with cheddar and pancetta was good. Every time I bite into some pancetta, I would be in heaven. I really like meat.

Next, we devoured into the sweet tier.

Maple Pecan Daisy Tartlet
Tiramisu
Mini Fur Elise
Honey madeleine
Macaron

Maple Pecan Daisy Tartlet was very cute and not too sweet. The texture of the pecan with the maple was nice.

Tiramisu was bit size and had some chocolate balls on top.

Mini Fur Elise was like a strawberry mousse. It was really good and hidden inside is a slice of strawberry. Good flavours and this was my favourite dessert.

Honey madeleine was topped with powdered sugar. My friends liked it, but I didn’t really enjoy it.

The macarons were were tough and chewy. They looked pretty, but no one liked them. Very disappointing since we were looking forward to devouring these.

Some of us couldn’t finish, so they gave us boxes to pack up our goodies. We wanted to pack our items ourselves since we knew the service would take a while to help us pack it. Even when we asked for the boxes, it took them a while to get them too.

Overall, the ambiance is very nice and perfect for high tea or any special occasion. The food items included in the afternoon tea was decent and will fill you up. Unfortunately, the service was slow was annoying. There is definitely room for improvement.

We Rate Patisserie Für Elise:

Address:
847 Hamilton street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.patisseriefurelise.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=847+Hamilton+street+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=847+Hamilton+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B&z=15″]

In Cafe

Les Faux Bourgeois: French Cuisine in Vancouver

January 3, 2014

Les Faux Bourgeois has been on my list of places to eat for a long time. I just never had the right group or occasion to come here. MedicalGiraffe brought together a few of my friends for an intimate engagement party. Just the right occasion right? We made a reservation for 9 and was just 1 person shy of trying their prix fixe menu for 10. This worked out fine since not everyone was very hungry. The only time available was 5pm, so that explains why we were not hankering for lots of food.

Les Faux Bourgeois is a French restaurant, I suppose you can guess that by their name. They have had rave reviews and have won many awards over the past few years.

We were not seated in the bistro area, but we were seated in their cafe area. It was definitely intimate and we took up most of the space except for the bar seating and a table for 2.

Complimentary Bread arrived at the table with some butter. It wasn’t heated up, so it was cold and boring.

I enjoyed my dinner with a beer. Their wine menu has a good selection, but their beers are quite limited.

Escargots de Bourgogne ($9) are snails. Thats right, SNAILS. They aren’t that scary, but they have a chewy texture and drowned in the garlic butter/parsley combo.

Ris de Veau ($12) has seared sweetbreads, rémoulade, watercress and pickles. Just so you know, sweetbreads are glands of a lamb. No carbs here.

Soupe a l’oignon grantinee ($9) has caramelized onions, smoked bacon, Gruyère, and Mozzarella. I think I was anticipating this dish way too much and it just tasted ok. M said it was ok too, but he still prefers the french onion soup at Chez Meme Baguette Bistro.

Pleurotes ($17) has grilled oyster mushrooms, parsnip purée, brussels sprouts, squash, kale, hazelnuts, and brown butter. MedicalGiraffe likes this dish and it was sure yummy.

It was a perfect mesh of winter vegetables. Squash was soft and sweet, brussel sprouts crispy, kale still had their crunch and mushrooms were delectable.

All the flavours blended together well while still maintaining their own texture and taste

Moules Marinieres ($17) or best known as mussels and fries. The mussels are cooked in a white wine, garlic and parsley sauce. The pommes frites are on the side and you can dip them into the aioli sauce or into the broth.

The mussels were quite large and absorbed the delicious sauce but Chambar still knocks the socks off mussels and fries.

Queue de Boeuf ($19) has braised oxtail ragout, king oyster mushrooms, kale, carrot, pommes purée, and crispy leeks.

Le Steak Frites ($19) has Hanger steak served with fries. M chose to have his rare and it came out perfect. He chose to have the green peppercorn cream sauce and he likes it. You get half a plate of meat and other other half of the plate is piled with fries. If you aren’t into fries, you can swap it out for salad.

Filet De Boeuf Grille ($23) has tenderloin with potato gratin and glazed vegetables. You can have your choice of sauce – red wine shallot jus, herb butter or green peppercorn cream sauce.

Overall, we had a good time at Les Faux Bourgeois some of the food was a hit or a miss, but most were average. French food isn’t my favourite cuisine, but it takes a certain type of person to appreciate French cuisine.

We Rate Les Faux Bourgeois:

Address:
663 E 15th Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.lesfauxbourgeois.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=663+E+15th+Ave+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=663+E+15th+Ave,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5T+2R6&z=16″]

In product

Presidents Choice: Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Lollipops

January 2, 2014

I was browsing the grocery store the other day. M and I were in the frozen food section and stumbled upon President’s Choice Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Lollipops. I’ve never really been a fan of cake pops, but it was interesting to see cheesecake lollipops. Sometimes I have a sweet tooth for certain desserts, so this item went into our cart easily.

Each box comes with 10 cheesecake lollipops and retails for $6.99.

The cheese cake pops have mini chocolate cheesecakes coated in semi-sweet chocolate and covered in mini chocolate chips.

Before devouring into them, you need to let it thaw in the fridge for about 30 minutes. M made the mistake of eating it right from the freezer and it was very hard to bite into it. Plus, all the chocolate chip coating cracked off and dropped all over the table.

After thawing them, we tried it again and it was delicious! The cheesecake was very smooth and full of chocolate flavour. I didn’t think the mini chocolate chips were necessary for this treat since they kept falling off and didn’t add too much to the overall taste of the lollipop.

Website: http://www.presidentschoice.ca

In Chinese

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓: Holiday Dinner

January 1, 2014

It was the holidays and the family gathered for some yummy dinner. My sister chose to go to Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant on Marine Drive. We made many jokes about their name since what if it doesn’t “taste good”.

There is ample parking right outside, but if all the spots are taken, there are some spots on the street. The interior has space for large groups and ideal for hosting. We went on a Saturday and there wasn’t too many people, but we still made reservations ahead of time.

Deep Fried Tofu is always a delight to devour. The smooth soft tofu inside is piping hot and the outside is very crisp and crunchy. A lovely combination of textures that match perfectly. Highly Recommended.

Sauteed Prawns with a satay sauce and green onions. Another ok dish. What I didn’t like about these types of dishes is how you had to peel off the shell before eating. Sometimes I get lazy and eat it with the shells. The shells are edible but some people don’t prefer it.

Fresh daily fish with seasonal vegetables. When we were ordering, they basically up sold us since we wanted some other fish dish, but they informed us the other dish is made from frozen fish.

The dish tasted fine and fresh. Nothing amazing or anything.

Deep Fried Crispy Chicken with Sticky Rice

It was a very interesting dish with layers of sticky rice and crispy chicken on top. I thought it was alright, but was a unique dish. Even the chicken wing is boneless and stuffed with the rice.

You need to order this dish ahead of time when you make a reservation. You won’t be able to get it if you don’t reserve.

The way my family described this dish was like chicken and rice nigiri. It does have the resemblance, but no Japanese influence at all.

Beef Brisket Hot Pot has lots of large chunks of the beef brisket. It wasn’t like the usual hot pot I was expecting, but it was a nice addition to the meal. I didn’t really drink the soup since it was a but salty.

This was some fish dish with tofu and vegetables. I can’t remember the name of this dish, but it tasted alright.

Red Bean Soup is always the classic item that ends off any Chinese meal. It had a thick consistency with hints of orange.

Overall, the place was alright and had a wide variety of dishes to chose from. My parents liked this place and the prices aren’t bad at all.

We Rate Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓:

Address:
620 SE Marine Drive
Vancouver, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=620+SE+Marine+Drive+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=620+SE+Marine+Dr,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5X+2T4&z=16 “]