July 2014

In British Columbia

Bard on the Beach: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

July 31, 2014

I know this is a food blog, but you’re probably wondering why I’m writing about Bard on the Beach. Well, this year’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was hilarious and I don’t even like or understand anything Shakespeare has ever written. The days where we were forced to remember his plays in high school was a painful memory.

I came with my in-laws to see the show and got tickets for $47. A Midsummer Night’s Dream lasts for 120 minutes and there is an intermission as well.

Once you get into the lobby area of Bard, there is a free pre-show talk called ‘In a Nutshell‘ sponsored by Global TV. It occurs 50 minutes before the show starts and they go through an informal preview of the story and characters in the play. It was definitely very useful to listen to this before the show started or else I would be confused during the performance.

There is a concession stand and you can find:

wine
beer
cider
chocolate bars
sandwiches
Popcorn
baked goods
fruits and nuts
water
soft drinks
tea
coffee
hot chocolate

The prices are fair, but you will always be paying a bit more at venues like these.

Pinot Gris Sandhill Wine ($8) was what I had during the show. It’s a hot summer, so might as well enjoy some cold wine.

Once inside the BMO stage, you will see there is a giant cut out that leads outside. It’s a pretty cool stage that works well for the performance.

The theatre wasn’t too big either, so it’s not the worst thing to have seats in the back. Do note that the higher you get, the more you might get distracted by boats or people in the distance. From our mid row seats, we could see people tanning on the grass, geese walking by, and boats passing by.

Popcorn ($4) came in a plastic ziplock bag. Good munching food for the show.

I couldn’t take pictures of the actual show, but believe me, it was hilarious!! If you are planning to go to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, you’ll have a pretty awesome time full of laughs.

Website: http://www.bardonthebeach.org/

In product

O.N.E. Coconut Water: Rehydrate for the Summer

July 30, 2014

Coconut water has become quite popular over the past few years for it’s natural rehydrating properties. It is high in magnesium and potassium to quickly replenish your body. But for prolonged exercise, I think they body needs carbohydrates and sodium according to my biology classes in high school.

O.N.E. Coconut Water is one of the brands in several stores right now.

M and I were quite torn about their Plain Coconut Water. I didn’t like it because of its strange taste that didn’t seem to resemble coconut. M on the other hand liked it. We both couldn’t figure out why we had such differing opinions. Personal preference I suppose?

They just released two new flavours – Mango and Pineapple. They Also have Pink Guava flavour but I didn’t try it this time.

Pineapple Coconut Water kinda tasted like Pina Colada because of the coconut and pineapple. The flavour was subtle and worked well together.

Mango Coconut Water was ok, but M felt it was a little too sugary. They do add sugar to the flavoured drinks, so that explains the sweetness. The Mango coconut water is flavoured with mango puree, so perhaps more sugar there too?

Drinking coconut water is refreshing, but it’s still not the same as having a Young Thai Coconut. When you compare it to drinking the young green coconuts that are bottled, it’s definitely not the same taste.

What are your thoughts on Coconut Water?

In Canadian

Ulla Restaurant: Best Restaurant in Victoria

July 29, 2014

Ulla Restaurant in Victoria has some pretty amazing food. Mags and I came here after visiting the Victoria Chinatown Night Market. The market wasn’t impressive as it was their first week opening, but at the end of the night market, we decided to go to Ulla since it looked like a pretty good place and the menu sounded yummy.

They have won several awards – 2011 enroute Canada’s Best New Restaurants, Van Mags Best of Victoria 2013, and several more.

The interior is beautiful and has a night bright and simple decor.

Plus, the light fixtures are pretty cute.

They have fresh local ingredients, with delicious classic flavours and has great techniques in preparing their food. They have a strong commitment to use local organic products whenever possible and aim to serve only ethically raised proteins.

It’s even on the back of their menus. You can see where their produce comes from on their map.

Each dish is balanced, well thought out and will leave you feeling perfectly satisfied. The menu truly offers something for everyone; from lighter seafood dishes to hearty and flavourful meats to exciting vegetarian dishes. Everything is stunningly presented and offers great value.

Complimentary Bread arrives with some olive oil. The bread was fresh and was quite delicious.

They have a good selection of virgin drinks here along with alcoholic drinks.

Kombucha is a fermented drink of tea. Some people claim there are health benefits by drinking it, but who knows if it does. Kombucha tastes like vinegar basically.

Whipped tuna belly, sriracha, squid ink crisp, charred onion relish ($6) was an interesting dish and we didn’t really know how it would be presented on the dish. These bite size treats were very delicious!!!!

Qualicum scallop mousse sausage, carrots, confit potato, pumpkin seeds, nasturtium ($15) was pretty awesome. The scallops had a texture similar to tofu. The flavours were really great. Magz and I really enjoyed it.

The dish I don’t remember what it was called or what was in it. But it was a pork filled dish with crackling, puffed pork rind and a croquette-like item with pork belly inside.

Island Beef, potato roesti & puree, mushrooms, cipollini, creamed chard, cubeb pepper sauce ($27) was delicious as well! The beef was tender and cooked right till medium rare. So good!

Chocolate Cake, cherry, chocolate soil, aerated chocolate, vanilla ice cream ($9) was a nice end to the meal. It’s best to share this dessert as it is quite rich and sweet.

Overall, all the dishes were pretty good and we were quite happy and glad we dined here for our last dinner in Victoria. I would definitely come here again!

We Rate Ulla Restaurant:

Address:
509 Fisgard St
Victoria BC

Website:
http://ulla.ca/

In Four Beakers

Red Fish, Blue Fish: Amazing Fish and Chips

July 27, 2014

Red Fish, Blue Fish is an outdoor waterfront eatery in an up-cycled cargo container on a wooden pier in Victoria’s Inner Harbour. It’s a unique, fresh, and sustainable approach to a fish ‘n’ chip shop. It’s probably the most popular eatery in Victoria.

Before it opened on a Saturday, there was already about 20 people waiting in line. You definitely want to get here before 11:20am. We got here at 11:10am and we were the 5th people in line.

Once they opened at 11:30am, people were excited!

Once you put in your order, you can wait at the other window for the order to come out. They will call your name if you want to grab a seat first. It does take a bit of time for the order to come out.

San Pellegrino Aranciata was what we ordered to drink to go with our fish & chips and tacones.

1 piece salmon and 1 piece halibut fish and chips has a crispy tempura-batter and its served with tartar sauce, slaw and Kennebec chips. When it arrives, you know you are getting a quality product. All the fish is locally sourced and OceanWise certified.

When I cut through the fish and chips, there is a lot of meat in here. This is hands down my favourite fish and chips! Highly recommended. Halibut was M’s favourite.

Tacones are hand-rolled tacos. It has grilled flour tortilla with slaw, pea shoots, and lemon-pickled onions.

There are 7 flavours of tacones, but I just got 2 or else I would be crazy full.

Grill-Seared Albacore Tuna ($6) has a spicy Spot Prawn mayo with the grilled medium-rare tuna.

Grilled Fanny Bay Oyster ($6) has a Million Island Dressing.

I really loved the grilled fanny bay oysters, lots of great flavour from the oyster and the grill. The Grilled-Seared Tuna was ok, but the cooked parts were a bit dry.

Overall, we really enjoyed our meal, but the only downside is the price. You definitely get quality and their food does taste amazing. I would definitely come back again!

We Rate Red Fish, Blue Fish:

Address:
1006 Wharf St Victoria BC

Website:
http://www.redfish-bluefish.com/

In Late Night

Ferris Oyster Bar: Oysters in Victoria, BC

July 25, 2014

Ferris’ Oyster Bar is located in Victoria, BC. When I was here for a work trip, I wanted to check it out as it was one of the most talked about places in town, plus very high reviews. It is more upscale compared to the Ferris’ Oyster Grill on the first floor. Mags and I came here once we wrapped up work.

The interior is nice and cozy with cool art on the walls.

Baked Oysters (one of each $18) has 6 different flavours you can choose from. Since Mags and I wanted to them all, we opted to try them all.

The flavours were:

Cornelius – corn flakes, butter, fresh thyme
Bottecelli – pecorino romano, cracked pepper, lemon and breadcrumbs
Original Rockefeller – spinach, green onion, butter and Pernod
La Truffe – Creamed Leaks, crispy prosciutto, truffle oil
Sea horse – horseradish, butter, lemon
Catalan – romesco, bread crumb, olive oil

When it arrived to our table, I thought it was strange it wasn’t baked in the shell. The only flavor we enjoyed was the Botticelli, but everything else was quite strange.

Virgin Seafood Caesar ($6.50) has freshly shucked oyster, chilled mussel and tomato juice with spicy picked green beans, piparras and fresh horseradish. It was a beautiful presentation and tasted great!

Chicken Liver Pate ($9) is served in a mason jar and topped with a pedro ximenez gelée and served with crostini. We did not like this dish because we like to keep our pâté separated from the jam. It really was drowning in the jam and masked a lot of the pâté taste. I would never order this again.

Ceviche ($12) was served with local seafood, aji amarillo, and spicy leche de tigre. This dish was also very disappointing because it did not contain any acidic notes in the sauce. It tasted more like mango juice with tuna sitting inside.

Overall, Mags and I were not very impressed with Ferris’ Oyster Bar. Nothing tasted right and the service was atrocious. Our server dropped some of our crostini on the table, while she was placing it down. She just said ooopps and put it back onto our plate with her bare hands. The only thing good was the Virgin Seafood Caesar. There’s a lot of other Oyster bars that are better than Ferris.

We Rate Ferris Oyster Bar:

Address:
536 Yates St
Victoria BC

Website:
http://www.ferrisoysterbar.com/

In British Columbia

Nectar Juicery: Pop Up Shop at Holt Renfrew Skybridge

July 23, 2014

Nectar Juicery is a local juicing company and they currently have a month-long pop-up location at the Holt Renfrew Skybridge for July.

They sell 100% Organic & Formulaic Cold Pressed Juices. I was passing by Pacific Centre and I noticed this cute little juice bar. They were giving out samples and they all tasted pretty good. As I was a bit thirsty, I had to have one to quench my thirst.

You can find the Nectar Juicery juices at the pop-up shop, YYoga, and several special events around town. They also do juice cleanses too.

All their cold pressed juices are $10 and their medicinal water is $7.

I got the Chlorophyll Water and it has alkaline water, lemon, raw honey, chlorophyll, blue green algae and Himalayan Rock Salt. The benefits of this drink is for energizing, anti-inflammatory and hydrating. The bottle that it came in looked beautiful, plus the drink tasted great too.

A nice change to the juices and drinks out there in the market.

Website: http://www.nectarjuicery.com/

In Canadian

Rosemary Rocksalt: Bagels and Montreal Smoked Meat

July 22, 2014

Rosemary Rocksalt is a great place for bagels with Montreal smoked meat. Rosemary Rocksalt is the sister restaurant of Seigel’s Bagels. They have one location in North Vancouver and recently opened a new location on Main Street in Vancouver. They serve up Montreal-style bagels and they delicious!

The interior is nice and simple. All items are under $10 and makes for great snack or lunch.

They also have Rugolach, which is a Jewish pastry in the form of a crescent by rolling a triangle of dough around a filling.

Boylan Black Cherry Soda is sold here and M loves his cherry sodas.

Morning Bagel ($6.50) has Montreal Smoked meat, cheddar and egg. I chose it on the everything bagel.I like the texture of all the nuts and seeds on top of it.

You can see the cross-section of the smoked meat, cheddar and egg. Great for breakfast.

Montreal Smoked Meat (Reg – $9) on a Rosemary Rocksalt bagel. It also comes with a pickled.

It was delicious! The Montreal smoked meat bagel was great, tender and full of flavour.

Fries were ordered too. M needed some extra carbs since he was really hungry. The fries were ok, but nothing special.

Overall, the bagels are great and that Montreal Smoked meat is mighty delicious. Highly recommended.

We Rate Rosemary Rocksalt:

Address:
2515 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.rosemaryrocksalt.com

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=2515+Main+St&sll=49.2625553,-123.1009902&sspn=0.0053772,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=2515+Main+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5T&z=16 “]

In Canadian

The Keg: Great for Birthday Celebrations

July 21, 2014

The Keg is one of my favourite restaurants to go to. I am not ashamed to say it because I have many fond memories of this place for celebrating milestones. This particular occasion was my little sister’s birthday. She loves steak and it’s the only thing she will eat mass quantities of.

We made reservations on Canada Day and celebrated here. This particular Keg is located beside BestBuy.

Filet Mignon (7oz – $32) is one of the specialty cuts they have to offer. The tenderloin is wrapped in applewood smoked bacon. It has the ultimate tenderness and cuts through like butter. I got the roasted garlic mashed potatoes for my side. It also come with beans, red pepper and a sauce.

It was delicious and now I always get the filet mignon in medium rare.

Filet Mignon (7oz – $32) was what my little sister ordered. She ordered mixed vegetables for her side and she got sauteed mushrooms, peppers, zucchini and asparagus.

Atlantic Lobster ($41) has two succulent Atlantic lobster tails served with hot butter. My dad ordered his side of baked potato with the works.

Prime Rib (10oz – $25) with the twice baked potato as the side. The prime rib is aged for extra flavour and tenderness, rubbed with a blend of spices and slow roasted. It is served with horseradish and red wine herb au jus. There’s also crispy onions. This was ok, but we felt there was a lot of fat and tendon in the cut. Wasn’t as good as previous times.

Overall, the food is good and you can’t go wrong with filet mignon

We Rate The Keg:

Address:
130 – 2991 Lougheed Hwy
Coquitlam BC

Website: http://www.kegsteakhouse.com/

In product

Kinder Chocolate: Beyond the Egg

July 18, 2014

Kinder has more chocolates than just the Kinder Egg Surprises. As a kid, I would always love getting a few Kinder Surprise Eggs and discovering the toy inside. While I was shopping recently, I decided to pick up their original Kinder Chocolate and Kinder Bueno.

Kinder Bueno is a hazelnut cream filled wafer with a milk chocolate covering. The bar that I got has 2 bars inside. This was originally released in the 1990s in Canada. I remember at first, it seemed like a weird creation, but it’s not too bad. It reminds me of the ferrero rocher with that hazelnut taste.

I like the way the bar is structured, so you can break a piece off and is easily sharable. Sharing is caring.

Kinder Chocolate is a fine milk chocolate with a milky filling. Similar to the Kinder Surprise but just in a different form and no toy.

Similar to the bueno, it has grooves so you can break it apart and share.

There is definitely a lot better chocolate out in the market, but this is just a taste of childhood.

Website: http://www.kinder.com/en

In Chinatown

New Town Bakery: Go for the baked goods, avoid the lunch menu

July 17, 2014

New Town Bakery is one of the must-visit places in Vancouver’s Chinatown according to CNN. They have won multiple awards for their baked goods. New Town Bakery has been around since the 1980s serving Filipino and Chinese pastries. Their original location is in Chinatown, but they also have locations in Surrey and Richmond.

The front of the restaurant is the bakery section and this area is very busy. They even have a numbering system just to keep things organized when people order.

There’s a lot of options but most people order the egg tarts, steamed buns, pineapple buns, and their apple tarts.

At the back of the restaurant is the dining area where you can order full meals instead of the baked goods. Mags and I came here for lunch and ordered off their lunch menu.

Sui Mai ($4.25) comes with 4 pieces and consists of pork and shrimp. There’s a lot more pork than shrimp in these dumplings. It was ok, but not the best.

Iced Milk Tea ($1 extra with purchase of set meal) pretty standard taste.

Soy-Fried Flat Rice Noodles with Beef ($7.75) was a good portion size for lunch but it was super oily. The beef was tender and had a good flavour. You can probably share this among 2 people if you wanted to.

Curry Fish ball with Squid ($7.50) was a bit disgusting. The squid was not fresh and was very chewy. I struggled for a while trying to chew through the squid. The onions, peppers and carrots tasted fresh. The fish balls was very bouncy and tasted ok. The sauce was a bit gelatinous and a tad salty.

The entire meal was disgusting. This was everything that was leftover. I was so disappointed.

Overall, nothing was good about this lunch. Stay away from the meals and stick with the baked pastries.

We Rate New Town Bakery:

Address:
148 East Pender Street Vancouver BC

Website:
http://newtownbakery.ca/

In Cafe

Pazzo Chow: New Italian Restaurant in Chinatown

July 16, 2014

Pazzo Chow is the newest restaurant to open up in Chinatown. They serve up Italian food in their cosy little restaurant.

You can expect home-cooked Italian food for takeout or eating in the restaurant. They also serve espresso, homemade focaccia bread, salads, snacks, Brown Paper Packages Ice Cream, etc.

I came here with my coworkers – Janers and Mags to check this cute place out.

The space is really small. So there is one table inside and 2 table outside. It’s not a place for large groups.

The menu changes daily, so you never know what will be featured on the menu.

While you wait, there are a few items you can purchase from their grocery section.

They have carefully selected range of local and Italian-made and inspired goods that allow them to share their love of good food and great products with their customers.

The owners select fine quality products that have rich history and are not easily, if at all, found elsewhere in Vancouver. Many of the products are used in their menu too.

Fresh Focaccia with Nutella ($2) we got them to cut it up into 3 pieces since Janers and Mags wanted to share. It was a good decision to share since there is only so much Nutella we handle for lunch. They did not skimp on the nutella and there was tons of it! Yum Yum Yum!

We found that the salt on the focaccia balanced very well with the sweet nutella.

Bowl of Fresh pasta with focaccia ($8) had a few sauces to choose from. The pasta was al dente and was a good size for lunch.

Spinach with BBQ Pork, walnuts and water chestnuts ($7.50) was one of their featured salads. It looked amazing, but I felt there was a but too much sauce for the salad, so at the bottom, the leaves were drenched.

Salted Pistachio ($4.25/scoop) the ice cream was very smooth and the addition of the salted pistachio were delicious.

Janers and Mags didn’t want me to write about Pazzo Chow because they feared this little gem would be packed at lunch. But, in true blogger style, I had to share this little restaurant with my amazing readers. Pazzo Chow is a nice place to stop for a quick lunch if you work around this area.

We Rate Pazzo Chow:

Address:
620 Quebec Street Vancouver BC

Website:
http://pazzochow.com/

In product

Vitae Juice: 3 Day Juice Cleanse

July 15, 2014

In May, I purchased a Social Shopper deal for a 3 day juice cleanse from Vitae Juice. 18 bottles of juice, plus 3 bottles of their Vitae Clear drink for $99 down from $180. Since its Summer, M and I are trying to go to the gym daily and eat better. Why not kick it off with a juice cleanse?

We had the option of choosing between 3 3-day cleanse options:

Restart (Great intro to cleansing)
Revamp (experienced cleansers)
Reform (Heavy veggie-based for expert cleansers)

M and I chose the Revamp because it was the option with the least ginger. We were just afraid of ginger because of our past juice cleansing experiences. But, little did we know Vitae Juice cleanses taste amazing.

The Revamp cleanse contains:

Spring Greens x2
Crimson Rush
Brisk Yellow
Dark Greens
Dark Cocoa
Vitae Clear

Spring Greens was one of my favourites! Even though it has the ginger, I found the apple and lemon to counteract the bitter taste of the leafy vegetables.

Brisk Yellow was another sweet juice. The only ingredient that turned me off from this drink is the mint. It is quite subtle, so I didn’t mind it too much.

Crimson Rush is is a deep purple color because of the beet. If your poop is red, you know it was because of this drink. The beet give a very earthy taste to the drink, but it is sweetened a but by the apple.

Dark Cocoa is the most filling drinks out of all of them.

Dark Greens was pretty good too! A little bit similar to the Spring Greens.

Vitae Clear is supposed to bring consumed throughout the day to keep you hydrated. It looks super green but it tastes like water.

Overall, I was super surprised by the taste of all the juices. I usually don’t look forward to consuming drinks on a cleanse, but I craved the next drink day after day. If you are looking for a juice cleanse that doesn’t taste bad, take a look into Vitae Juice!

A juice cleanse isn’t for everyone. I usually find that I get headaches easily when doing a cleanse. I did the juice cleanse because I wanted to become healthier. I wasn’t in it for weight loss because it takes more than drinking juice sustain the weight loss. If you’ve seen the gross amount of things I eat, you know I need a good cleanse.

Website:
http://www.vitaejuice.ca/

In American

Prohibition Tasting Bar: New Restaurant in Yaletown

July 14, 2014

Prohibition Tasting Bar is owned by their parent company – Prohibition Brewing Company, which is located in an old distillery on the outskirts of Kelowna in British Columbia’s Okanagan Region. They are 100% B.C. owned and operated and strive to bring clean, crisp and refreshing traditional beers while supporting local suppliers and communities.

They feature five different Prohibition beers, cocktails and small pairing menu. It’s a fantastic spot for lunch or after work drinks.

The interior is quite beautiful with their elegant black and red colour scheme. It’s a great place that can handle large groups.

The 5 beer they feature are:

Bootlegger Amber Ale
Lawless IPA
Getaway Lager
Smuggler Scotch Ale
Hideout Honey Lager

They also have a cider that is off the menu.

Flight of Four ($8) is a great way to sample most of their beers. I loved all the beers except for the Lawless IPA, but I never really liked IPAs anyways.

Moonshine Sour ($9.50) is served as a double and has moonshine, walnut butters, citrus and whites. The drink was sweet and refreshing.

Charcuterie Board ($16) has a selection of their market meat and cheese. It is served with some nuts, crostini, mustard, dipping sauce, and pickles. It’s a good dish to pick at while having drinks.

Duck Wings ($11) has a pound of the wings and you can get them hot, lemon pepper or BBQ. We got the lemon pepper and it was delicious! Highly recommended. TaiwaneseGirl and I couldn’t stop raving about these. It’s easy to eat and theres so much flavour.

Prosciutto Sandwich with Chips ($9 +$6) the chips are very addictive! It’s thick cut and super crunchy. Great flavour too.

Look at that meat.

The proscuitto sandwich contains tomato, balsamic, brie, lettuce, and proscuitto inside the bread. It tasted ok, but I wasn’t too impressed.

Pretzel Knots ($8) has ale cheese, dijon and pickles on the side.

You must dip the pretzel into the cheese and make it taste really good. Can’t go wrong with cheese right?

Overall, the drink selection is great and the food that accompanies it is also yummy. I would definitely bring my coworkers here after work for a few drinks. The staff were also very knowledgeable on all their drinks, so I definitely learned a lot. Great service!

We Rate Prohibition Tasting Bar:

Address:
1269 Hamilton St
Vancouver BC

Website:
http://www.prohibitionbrewingco.com/

In Gastown

Taishoken Ramen: Newest Ramen Shop in Vancouver

July 13, 2014

Taishoken Ramen is the newest ramen join in Vancouver. It is located right across from Tinsel Town. During their soft opening, they were offering ramen up for $5. Sadly, I don’t like lines so I never ended up trying it in it’s first week. Once that deal was over, there are rarely any lines and there’s always a spot to sit. The ramen is around $9 – $14, so it is a bit pricey for the ramen they have on the menu.

Taishoken is a Japanese chain and is best known for their tsukemen. They have a small variety of ramen, but you can find the usual – miso, shio, and spicy.

The interior has a communal table in the centre and more seats on the side for groups of 2 or 4. I’ve been here twice so far for lunch and dinner, but it’s not too busy.

On the table, you have pepper, chili oil, soy sauce and vinegar to add to your meal.

Special Spicy Ramen has 6 pieces of pork belly, a soft egg, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, scallions, and seaweed. I got the least spicy version and it was quite spicy. They give you a jug of unseasoned broth to add, so you can adjust the flavour. The pork belly was delicious and fatty. Yum.

The special size gives you extra soft boiled egg, extra chachu, and extra nori.

The egg was soft but not too oozy.

Special Tsukemen was what M ordered and he chose the pork shoulder. It is more lean than the pork belly. The noodle is cold and in a separate plate so you dip it into the broth to eat. I find that most people order this item. It’s really good and addictive. M always orders this now.

Overall, it’s decent ramen but there are still better ones in Vancouver. The Tsukemen is pretty good and its one item you should order when you’re here.

We Rate Taishoken Ramen:

Address:
515 Abbott St
Vancouver BC

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/taishokenramen.vancouver

In British Columbia

McDonald’s Canada: Spicy Buffalo Poutine

July 12, 2014

Last year, McDonalds Canada introduced the poutine. Now, they have poutine 2.0 – the Spicy Buffalo Poutine. This got me curious because I would not expect spicy buffalo sauce and poutine to ever mix together.

The Spicy Buffalo Poutine ($4.99) has fries, cheese curds, gravy, green onions, chicken and the spicy buffalo sauce. You can get the chicken grilled or crispy. We went with the crispy chicken because we might as well indulge.

The poutine doesn’t look attractive, but once you dig in, you get a mouthful of the buffalo sauce and it is similar to Franks Red Hot Sauce. The vinegary taste from the hot sauce compliments the richness from the curds and gravy.

It’s not bad at all.

Website:
http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ca/en.html

In Bakery

Cafe Joie: Shaved Ice, Coffee, and Waffles

July 11, 2014

Cafe Joie is an independent cafe near Metrotown. I came here with Gastrofork and FoodQueen to catch up over some coffee and treats. You can easily take the Skytrain to Metrotown and then walk a block away from the mall.

Cafe Joie has coffee, tea, macarons, coffee buns, waffles, shaved ice and some other sweet treats.

The interior is quite beautiful, spacious and adorable. It’s a great place to do some homework or just catch up with some friends.

Cappuccino was what I ordered. Nice, strong, and delicious. A definite winner if you want to just slowly sip away and have some pastries with it. Too bad it didn’t have nice art this time.

Green Tea Matcha Latte was what Dee ordered and it has a cute spiderweb art on the top.

Milk Shaved Ice with Fruit was made in-house with their shaved ice machine. Instead of using ice to make it, they pour in milk to create the shaved ice, giving it a delicious taste when paired with the fruit and corn flakes. Highly recommended!

Green Tea Ice Cream with Waffles and Fruit was not impressive. The waffle was quite bland and has a soft texture. It was a good size for sharing but it just didn’t taste good.

Chocolate and fruit waffle was the same as the green tea waffle. The waffle batter just isn’t good. It would be nice if it was more crispy.

Overall, great coffee, pastries and shaved ice, but stay away from the waffles.

We Rate Cafe Joie:

Address:
110-6125 Sussex Ave
Burnaby BC

Website:
http://www.cafejoie.com/

In Brunch

Kessel&March: Brunch Time

July 10, 2014

Kessel&March is an awesome restaurant on Powell Street. They do have brunch! TaiwaneseGirl, CanuckGirl, and I headed off on a Saturday to have our usual brunch get-togethers. The menu looked great and you can get brunch between $9 and $13. Pretty decent price point and also the food is high quality.

Brunch is available Saturday and Sunday from 10am till 3pm.

Kessel&March isn’t a large restaurant, but it’s still pretty quiet during the weekend as it’s not very close to any skytrains.

The upstairs of the restaurant is pretty cool as you can see their huge shelves of food.

The upstairs is a nice cozy space. Great for large groups!

Fisherman’s Eggs ($12) has 2 poached eggs, tuna, cod, clams, bacon beer broth, fiddleheads & a side of toast. MMMmmmm Mmmmm good! If you love seafood, this is a dish you should get. I didn’t expect this combination to be good, but it tasted great. Very healthy! The toast was beautifully toasted and its the best toast I’ve ever had.

The poached eggs were beautiful too.

Chorizo Hash ($11) has 2 poached eggs, rainbow swiss chard, rapini, potatoes, romesco sauce & toast. You can also turn this into Smoked Tofu Hash for the same price if you are not a meat eater.

Meat Skillet ($13) has 2 baked eggs, ham, breakfast sausage, potatoes, baked beans, tomato, mushroom & toast. CanuckGirl was amazed at how healthy this dish felt because it was not greasy at all!

Overall, the brunch was pretty good and the quality is there. No matter what you get, it tastes great and that toast is addictive.

We Rate Kessel&March:

Address:
109-1701 Powell Street Vancouver BC

Website:
http://www.kesselandmarch.com/

In Downtown

Fat Duck: Sinfully Delicious

July 9, 2014

Food trucks are mighty delicious and one of my favourites are Fat Duck Mobile Eatery. They are now outside Waterfront station, but can move around during the week. If you do happen to pass by, make sure to stop and have a sandwich.

They serve up sandwiches and tacos.

Le Cochon ($10) has pork belly, braised pork, cabbage, scallions, spicy pickle slaw, swiss cheese and chili mayo. This sandwich was dripping in fat and flavour. Really good! It a bit messy to eat, so make sure to have lots of napkins.

With the sandwich, you get chips! The chips are thickly cut and very very crunchy! Yummmmmmy!

Duck Confit Philly Style sandwich has marinated mushrooms, pickled red onions, scallions, swiss cheese and truffle/parm mayo. My coworker loved it. It wasn’t great for her diet, but sometimes its nice to indulge.

Since last year, they have changed up their bread and menu items. One thing they still do well is making mouth-watering sandwiches with a punch of flavour. Follow them on Twitter or check them out on the Vancouver Street Food App to find out where they will be next.

We Rate Fat Duck:

Location:
Varies

Website:
http://fatduckmobileeatery.ca/