September 2014

In Canadian

Sassafraz: Lunch in Yorkville

September 10, 2014

Sassafraz is located right in Yorkville and the serve up French inspired Canadian cuisine. I came here for lunch with Flo when I was visiting Toronto for a few days. We thought it would be a great place to catch up as they have a patio area outside.

As we waited for our order, some bread and butter arrived. We took a few bites of the bread and it was good and simple.

Cucumberland Detox ($8) is a cold-pressed juice with cucumber, apple, kale, spinach, lime, and coconut water. It was good to see a variety of drinks on their menu. For a traveller, it’s always hard to get a good dose of fruits or vegetables.

Nova Scotia Digby scallops ($24) has a sweet soy glaze, citrus roasted cauliflower, forbidden rice, samphire, with a dashi broth. It was quite a small dish for $24. It barely had any rice in it. Also, the scallops looked super seared.

Ontario artisan flank steak salad ($19) is served medium with mixed greens, caramelized onion, pickled honey mushroom, and Dijon vinaigrette. This was a nice healthy lunch and it was good.

Overall, the lunch was quite pricey and the portions are a tad small.

We Rate Sassafraz:

Address:
100 Cumberland St
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.sassafraz.ca/

In Japanese

Saboten: Japanese Tonkatsu in Richmond

September 8, 2014

Saboten is the largest Japanese Chain Restaurant for Tonkatsu chain with over 500 shops across the world. They have been open since 2012 in Aberdeen Centre in Richmond BC.

I’ve passed by this place all the time, but I’ve never dined her until now. I’ve always been turned off by the huge lines, but today, there are hardly any lineups. Perhaps the hype has died down.

It’s always a busy time in the Aberdeen Food Court, the crowds can be a bit crazy during dinner time, but there are a lot of food options.

I loved looking at the display food and you are probably going to be mesmerized by how good it looks. FYI, it’s not going to be looking like this at all.

Tenderloin Katsu Curry set comes with 2 pieces of katsu soaked with the curry sauce. Then you have rice and cabbage on the other side. You also get miso soup and a small container of pickled vegetables.

Tenderloin & Loin Set has miso soup, rice, sesame seeds, pickles, sauce and the tenderloin and loin katsu.

After tasting both of these items, you really don’t get a lot of katsu. Plus, it does’t stay crispy for very long. I was a bit disappointed in the portions and didn’t satisfy my katsu cravings. I much prefer Zac Zac Curry in Downtown Vancouver.

We Rate Saboten:

Address:
4151 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond BC

Website:
http://www.saboten.ca/

In Brunch

Edible Canada: Brunch Time

September 7, 2014

Edible Canada has brunch and TaiwaneseGirl, CanuckGirl wanted to check it out and see how are their eggs bennys. We made reservations online at OpenTable just in case there was a rush of people during the weekend brunch hour.

As the space is big and does have a patio, there were plenty of seats available. Once we got seated, it was hard to get our server to take our order. We weren’t sure why it took so long, but we finally just flagged down anyone to put in our order.

Cyoni Apple Juice ($3.75)

Fish Cake Benny ($17) has poached free range eggs, halibut, salmon, true cod, hollandaise and a side of mixed greens. The eggs were not poached to medium. One was spot on and the other was just hard. The rest of the dish was enjoyable according to CanuckGirl.

Wild Mushroom Benny ($15) has buttermilk biscuit, poached free-range eggs, roasted garlic, spinach, hollandaise and a side of mixed greens. We had a similar issue with the eggs but this one was very runny and the other was hard.

They must have mixed up the eggs or something. It’s too bad they couldn’t make the perfect egg. A true test when going to brunch.

EC Breakfast ($12) has scrambled free ranges eggs, cripsy bacon, Sloping Hills Pork and apple sausage, and your choice of hash or butter potato biscuit. Instead of getting a benny like my friends, I got the breakfast because a simple breakfast is a sure way to assess their skills. Everything was good, simple and full of flavour.

Once our meal was done, one of the servers took away our salt, pepper and hot sauce to give to another table. I guess they ran out of extra sets for other tables or something. It would have been ok, but he left our empty plates on the table too. Seemed like he was in a rush to impress the other table.

We Rate Edible Canada:

Address:
1596 Johnston St
Vancouver BC

Website:
http://www.ediblecanada.com/

In Fairview

Shishinori: New Japanese Restaurant in Vancouver

September 4, 2014

Shishinori is a new little Japanese Restaurant near Broadway and Cambie. My coworker told me to check this place out as it was in her neighbourhood and went back several times. I decided to come here with a bunch of my coworkers during lunch to get their lunch a try.

The space is quite nice and simple. The space is very cozy, so there aren’t a lot of tables available during peak times like lunch. Your order first up at the counter and then find a seat to sit if you are eating in.

All the utensils are already on the table.

Smoked Wild Salmon Eggs Benedict ($9) comes with tea and salad. It’s interesting how this comes on a bagel. It seemed like she had some issues eating it, but maybe it was just her being clumsy. She seemed to really enjoy her meal nonetheless.

Hawaii Ahi Poke Bowl ($12 +$2.50) with added cold tea and coffee jello dessert.

Ahi Tuna Carpaccio Bowl ($12 + $2.50) with the added enoki miso soup and cold Iced Green tea. It was a very healthy meal!

Matcha Parfait ($6) is great if you have a sweet tooth. There is cereal, green tea jello, mochi, green tea ice cream, pocky, strawberries, chocolate syrup, sponge cake and some other stuff. If you order a meal and this, you’re gonna be quite full. Get this if you want a sweet snack.

Overall, the food here is quite nice and healthy (besides the matcha parfait). The downside is that it is pricey.

We rate Shishinori:

Address:
2328 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/shishinori

In product

Lays Canada: #DoUsaFlavourCanada

September 3, 2014

Lays Canada is back at it again for the Do Us a Flavour contest. Last year they had Creamy Garlic Caesar, Grilled Cheese & Ketchup, Maple Moose, and Perogy Platter…but in the end… Maple Moose ended up winning. This caused some online outrage because it was quite a disgusting flavour for chips. Earlier this year, the Maple Moose chips was discontinued due to low sales.

This year when submissions were open, they received more than one million flavour submissions from fans coast to coast. The 4 finalists this year are:

Bacon Poutine
Cinnamon Bun
Jalapeño Mac N’ Cheese
Tzatziki

The ultimate winner will receive $50,000 plus one per cent of their flavour’s future sales.

I bought all 4 chips from Save On Food and made myself a blind test to see how the flavours compared.

One thing different this year is how some of the chips were on different types of chips – original, kettle chips, and Wavy.

Bacon Poutine on Lay’s Original by Guillaume Lorrain from Trois-Rivières, Quebec

The taste was familiar kinda like BBQ chips because of the smokey flavours. The flavour was good but it wasn’t anything unique.

Cinnamon Bun on Lay’s Original by Gloria Melanson from London, Ontario.

This is probably the weirdest flavour of the bunch especially when cinnamon buns and chips would never mix. You definitely get a distinct flavour of the cinnamon bun, but then when the potato flavour hits, you are wondering why the chip is sweet and not salty.

Jalapeño Mac N’ Cheese on Lay’s Wavy by Randall Litman from Calgary, Alberta

This is definitely a flavour that I can see on the shelves! It is very cheesy and then you get the hint of pickled jalapeños. It’s weird how they wouldn’t have thought of this chip flavour before.

Tzatziki on Lay’s Kettle Cooked by Denise Vella from Cambridge, Ontario

Tasted like Sour cream and onion but with the hint of cucumber and yogurt aftertaste. This flavour did not get my tastebuds tingling…I thought it was weird.

Voting is now open for Canadians to decide the winning flavour by trying the four and voting for the yummiest from August 12 – October 15.

Canadians can vote once per day on each of the following platforms:

Lays.ca/Flavour
Tweet using vote and one of the flavour finalist hashtags (i.e. #VoteFlavourName)
Instagram using vote and one of the flavour finalist hashtags (i.e. #VoteFlavourName)
Text VOTE to 101010

I don’t know which one I am voting for yet, but I am either choosing Jalapeño Mac N’ Cheese or Bacon Poutine. Tzatziki and Cinnamon Bun were way too weird for me.

In Afternoon Tea

La Petite Cuillere: High Tea and Afternoon Tea in Vancouver

September 2, 2014

La Petite Cuillere Tea House is located in the Mount Pleasant area. They serve up all day brunch, high tea and afternoon tea sets. I came here with my coworkers for a team social with all 8 of us. Looking at a few of the High Tea places in town, this was definitely the cheapest.

We came here because it fit into our budget and it was very close to our office. Plus, a few others recommended we come here.

The interior is quite nice and it has a few tables and cupboards filled with saucers and cups. You also get a good view of the outside. If you have groups of 4 or more, you’ll want to make a reservation so they have everything ready ahead of time, especially for people with allergies.

The English Tea Menu has 3 main selections:

La petite cuillère Tea ($12.75 per person)
Two miniature sweets and one of our signature cupcakes. Served with your choice of tea.
The “Afternoon Tea” ($24.50 per person)
Full service of three miniature sweets, three finger sandwiches, two miniature scones, mini loaf, tea biscuit, fruit preserves, and Devonshire cream. Served on a traditional three tier stand with your choice of tea.
The “High Tea” ($13.75 per person)
A selection of two miniature sweets, two finger sandwiches, one miniature scone, fruit preserves, and Devonshire cream. Served on authentic English bone china with your choice of tea.

You can add $2 to the price if you want their premium selection instead of the standard.

We all ordered The “Afternoon Tea” and waited patiently as if arrived. While we waited, we loved looking at their little plates and cutlery.

They have a large selection of tea and i went with the Ti Kuan Yin Oolong. This tea is a semi-fermented Oolong tea, has long been one of China’s most popular teas. It has an aroma reminiscent of a Merseault wine with a creamy sweet flavour and some floral notes to it. The brew finishes with its famous cooked sugar taste.

I love asian tea! I’ve grown up with it and I can’t seem to like any other types of teas.

When the three tier stand arrived everyone started whipping out their phones to take pictures. Who wouldn’t right? It’s quite a sight when you see all the tiers appearing on the table.

The 3 finger sandwiches are on the first tier and there was a croissant sandwich, a asparagus and salmon sandwich and a veggie roll. The 3 items were decent.

On the second tier, you have the two miniature scones, mini loaf, and tea biscuit. You use the Devonshire cream and the fruit preserves from the first tier for the scones.

The third tier is the dessert. Macaron, cheesecake and a raspberry tart.

Every last item was enjoyable. Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom.

For $24.50 for their largest set, it is definitely affordable compared to some other places in town. The service is great and there is a cozy atmosphere. As for the quality of the items you get as part of the Afternoon Tea are decent. It’s not the best but you do get what you pay for. Nonetheless, I did have a great experience dining here.

We Rate La Petite Cuillere Tea House:

Address:
55 Kingsway Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.lapetitecuillere.ca/

In Brunch

Cora: Breakfast and Lunch in Coquitlam

September 1, 2014

When my relatives were still in town, they wanted more of Cora. They were here for 2 weeks and we came to Cora 3 times. They really loved this place because of their fresh fruit. It’s funny how we take things for granted some times.

We came to the Coquitlam location and they wanted to see if there was a difference with the Cora in Toronto and the one here.

The Coquitlam location is quite large and there were lots of people on the weekend.

Look at all that fresh fruit! From what I observed some dishes get all fresh fruit and some get prearranged ones that comes from containers.

Spinach and Cheddar Crepe comes with a few fruits on the side. In between the folded over crepe is more cheddar.

Samara Wake Up is a plate of freshly cut fruit and everyone else at the table ordered this. There was pineapples, strawberries, grapes, kiwis, green apple, red apple, orange, cantaloupe, star fruit, banana, grapefruit, honey dew, watermelon, and mango, and peaches.

It was a crazy amount of fruit.

If you order this, it might be a bit crazy for you to eat it all by yourself…or else your glucose levels with skyrocket because of all the fructose.

Some of their food items can be a hot or a miss, but anything with fresh fruit will definitely impress.

We Rate Cora:

Address:
3025 Lougheed Hwy
Coquitlam, BC

Website:
http://www.chezcora.com/home