June 2015

In Chinese

Shiang Garden Restaurant: Fourteen Course Meal

June 30, 2015

Shiang Garden Seafood Restaurant is an authentic Chinese restaurant featuring Cantonese dim sum and live seafood. They are located on No. 3 Road close to Parker Place. This is a popular location for weddings as they can seat a large amount of people, plus the layout is ideal for a large banquet wedding.

The restaurant is on the 3rd floor, so you have to go through the parking lot. Their other entrance is currently under construction.

Surprisingly I haven’t been here yet. I came here for a ChineseBites dinner with a few other bloggers to eat through this 14 course meal. I’ve been balancing weekly hikes with these dinners.

They have about 15 chandeliers in here as well as lots of round tables. In the centre of the room is even a visible dance floor.

Prawns Salad with Papaya has half a papaya filled with fruit, mayo and 2 plump prawns. I’m usually not a fan of mixing savoury and sweet items, but its a strange combination that works. It makes a great appetizer since it is refreshing.

Tremella with Chicken & Crab Meat Soup and topped with tobiko. You can add a little of the red vinegar to add a tad more flavour. Soups are definitely essential to a good Chinese dinner.

Whole Chicken in Abalone Sauce is decorated like a peacock with the veggies and cherries. It even comes with its head. They really don’t waste any part of it…but you’re not supposed to eat the head anyways.

The chicken was very moist and went great with the abalone sauce.

Diced Beef Tenderloin in Honey & Pepper Man, the beef is really tender and I could eat this all day! So good! Also, whoever cut those cucumbers has mad knife skills and a super sharp knife.

Specialty Layer Pork with bok choy. A slab of oh so delicious pork belly cooked slowly till pure perfection. It was moist inside with a great deal of flavour. Well executed as the bok choy balanced out the fattiness of the pork.

Lamb Chop with Honey & Pepper reminded me of the diced beef tenderloin. Perhaps similar sauce and both were uber tender. So good!

Whole Tilapia in En-Ping Style is deboned and the flesh is quite delicate. Also comes with head, which can be a freaky thing.

Lobster in Salted Egg Yolk is not a very common flavouring for lobster in a restaurant. It is very delicious and unique. I would still prefer it tossed in a lighter sauce. They did cook the lobster very nicely.

BC Dungeness Crab in White Wine Sauce is always a little bit more difficult to eat since you need to open up the legs and dig for the meat. Definitely not for everyone, but it is a Chinese staple in a large dinner like this.

Steamed Spot Prawns in Garlic were prepared in a unique way. I have never seen prawns sliced down the middle. It made picking at the meat difficult. I really love them whole and I can peel them apart with my bare hands like a beast, but of course thats not very civil in a restaurant setting.

As it is closer to the end of the Spot Prawn season, these were on the small side.

Sauteed Mixed Seafood on a bed of snow peas and beautifully cut cucumbers and oranges. I love seafood and this dish has a good variety of it.

Buddha’s Feast Roll with Cabbage is a vegetarian dish. They did a good job putting together the rolls as they did not fall apart. It was cooked well and I also enjoyed this dish even though it has no meat.

For dessert, we had Baked Durian Pastry and Osmanthus Flower Cake Pudding. I had half a durian pastry, but it just taste like onions to me. Some people love this stuff. As for the cake pudding, it has a very subtle taste and its a nice way to end the meal.

Overall, all the dishes were well executed and tasted fabulous. No wonder people have weddings and go crazy over dim sum at Shiang Garden. Definitely try to make reservations ahead of time. I wasn’t disappointed by any dish. I’ll be back!

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to dine at Shiang Garden and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Shiang Garden:

Address:
Empire Centre
4540 Number 3 Road, Richmond

In British Columbia

Vancouver Food Cart Fest: Every Sunday, All Summer Long

June 29, 2015

Food Cart Fest is Vancouver’s biggest celebration of street food and they are returning for a fourth year with more food carts and expanded entertainment programming that includes a live-music patio.

It goes on every Sunday during the summer from June 28th to September 6th, 2015 during the hours of 12pm -5pm.

The Food Cart Fest is located between the Cambie Bridge and Olympic Village. It’s easily accessible by transit.

Admission is $2.50, but there are ways to get in for free:

Free for Vancity Members
Free with a non-perishable donation to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society
Free for children 13 and under
Free for seniors 65 and over

Travelling on a bike and not sure where to keep it secure? There’s free bike valet so you don’t need to worry about your bike being stolen.

Food Trucks and Food Vendors

Every week the food truck vendors do switch up, so keep an eye out for which ones will be there.

The list includes:

There’s probably others that aren’t on this list.

Be ready for lineups! The most popular food carts like Mom’s Grilled Cheese and Tacofino will constantly have long lines. Especially during the hot summer weather, make sure you have sun screen on or a really big hat.

The Food

Lets be real, food is really the main attraction and everyone needs a bite of the Vancouver Food Cart Scene. I love food carts and summer is a great time to see them out and about at special events.

Mogu Japanese Street Eats serves up Japanese inspired burgers and their famous chicken karaage. You can also find them at the Richmond Night Market as well as their usual location in Downtown during the weekday.

Ebi Katsu has a breaded deep-fried prawn patty, house made Japanese tartar sauce, and lettuce. That patty is loaded with shrimp! Definitely try it out.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Karaage has marinated deep-fried chicken topped with their house made sweet chili sauce. A crowd favourite!

Dougie Dog serves up all-natural gourmet hot dogs. You may have heard of them because they made an unsuccessful pitch on Dragons Den.

La Mexicana Hot Dog has guacamole, salsa, bacon, jalapeño peppers, and topped with cheddar cheese. It was pretty spicy because of the hot dog and the jalapeño peppers, but the guacamole balances it out a bit more to cool off the initial spicy taste.

Johnny’s Pops is always a popular option for awesome popsicles! Make sure to grab some quickly because they sold out before 3pm on opening day. I waited too long and wanted it to be the last thing I ate here, but I was too late.

Don’t forget to take a photo of it first! Photo first! Eat second!

Don’t forget to stay hydrated. They have their odd booth called “World of Drinks”. Drinks range from $2 – $4.50.

Summer Patio

New this year is the summer patio with live music and alcoholic drinks. It is 19+, so make sure you have ID. They try to showcase the best craft beer and wine the province has to offer.

There are lots of tables and seats available in the area.

You just need to buy drink tickets to be able to sample the drinks. They are around $5.

While I was here, there was Maui Brewing Co, Laurelwood Public House & Brewery and Redhook Ale Brewery. Also Summerhill Pyramid Winery, River Stone Estate Winery and Bombay Sapphire.

I’m sure there will be a rotating selection of craft beers, wine and liqueurs.

Activities

Of course there is more to the food cart fest than just eating. They have included a few fun activities to keep you occupied like life-sized connect 4!

Super-sized checkers game.

They have big jenga too! These 3 games are all located inside the huge shady tent.

Ping Pong

An imitation beach with a live DJ.

The East Side Flea

They were here for the opening weekend. There are a variety of vendors selling some pretty neat stuff.

I’m not 100% if they will be back again, but you can check out their future locations on their Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/eastsideflea

The food cart fest is a zero waste event and they try to divert as much waste away from landfills as possible. With the amount of garbage generated, it’s not great for the environment if we just chuck it all away. Last year the festival was able to run for 11 weeks, diverting 93% of the waste generated onsite. Thats pretty damn awesome.

I was actually quite confused how to separate my waste, but there’s usually someone around to guide you.

Overall, it is a fun Summer event in Vancouver. It’s a great way to hit a bunch of food carts at once all in one place. I did find on the opening day that the line up to enter the food cart festival was long and also certain line ups to the popular food trucks were also long. Paying an entrance fee and then paying for food seems a bit off since food trucks are all over the city on the weekday. Luckily, there are options for free entry.

This event isn’t for everyone. If you hate the sunny weather and hate lines, this isn’t the event for you.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by the Food Cart Fest organizers for a media preview to sample some food and also I am an employee of Vancity. I ensure you that all thoughts are my own.

Address:
215 W 1st Ave (between the Cambie Bridge and Olympic Village).

Website:
http://www.foodcartfest.com/

In Harrison Hot Springs

Circle Farm Tour: Self-Guided Farm Tours

June 28, 2015

When you’re in the Fraser Valley, don’t forget to take a look at the Circle Farm Tour. It is a self-guided farm tour and it is available in 5 different regions:

Abbotsford
Agassiz + Harrison Mills
Chilliwack
Langley
Maple Ridge + Pitt Meadows

Depending where you are passing through, make sure you make a few stops at the farms or wineries. Each farm is unique in its own way and you can really go grocery shopping at the source of it all – the farm. Just make sure you pack a cooler so nothing spoils.

It’s free and you can go at your own pace. Especially if you have kids, you know sometimes they can’t be kept on a schedule. The only requirement is that you need to travel in your own car.

Make sure you have a GPS or a map to navigate your way around. Even though we have Google Maps on our phones, we did manage to get lost a few times.

We actually didn’t mind because the drive is very nice! Mountains in the background, lots of trees, and even some animals.

I made a long stop at The Farm House Natural Cheeses as it was one of the highlights on our tour. It’s a family farm near Harrison Hot Springs

Right before the barns, you will see a shop where you can purchase a variety of their dairy products.

I even got myself some cheese curds! Who says you need to go all the way to Montreal to get squeaky cheese.

Besides buying cheese, you can go into their barns and check out their animals in the area. We saw a few cats and man, these cats were nice and friendly. Very chill cats and they just were enjoying the nice summer weather.

You need cows to produce milk to make a lot of dairy products, so we caught a glimpse of their cows. These cows looked happy, they had lots of space to walk around and were not crammed together.

I really admire that. You gotta keep the animals happy in order to make high quality products.

Then there were the goats. They had a lot of goats that were so vocal and curious that we were on the farm. I think they wanted to jump out of the barns to check us out. Very cute and beautiful.

There were also horses!

Every farm is a little bit different and may have other activities or special events happening.

Be sure to check out the Circle Farm Tour to see which farms works for you and if it is worthwhile making a stop.

The tour can be short if you only want a day trip out of the city. I enjoyed making a few stops at the farms since it’s good to really take a day and spend it away from the city. There’s a lot we take for granted and BC farms make some awesome produce.

Website:
http://www.circlefarmtour.com/

In Fast Food

Chop n Toss: Healthy Food Court Options

June 27, 2015

Chop n Toss is a newer addition to the Metropolis at Metrotown Food Court located near The Bay. It’s hard to find a somewhat healthier option at the mall. Most items are deep-fried or reheated. When I saw Chop n Toss, I thought I would give it a try.

They started off as Garden Fresh Salad with Style in 2004, which was a salad bar. The owners transformed it into Chop n Toss that is different that the usual salad bar. They have wraps, panini’s, salads, noodle boxes, rice boxes, and juice.

You can design your own salad or wrap by picking whatever ingredients you want.

You can also choose their already designed salads, noodle box, rice box, panini’s, and wraps to make the picking a lot easier.

Thai Chicken has peanuts, iceberg lettuce, mangoes, tomatoes, carrots, green peppers, sesame seeds, and tossed with their Thai vinaigrette dressing.

Overall, I did enjoy it. Much better option that getting a burger. It’s summer, I gotta be healthy or at least attempt to be.

We Rate Chop n Toss:

Location:
Metropolis at Metrotown, Food Court, Upper Level,
4820 Kingsway, Burnaby

Website:
http://chopandtoss.ca/

In Cafe

Che-Licious: Bahn Mi and Vietnamese Dessert in the West End

June 26, 2015

Che-Licious is located in the West End close the English Bay. They serve up Vietnamese classics like bahn mi, salad rolls, skewers, and of course their speciality – Che – Vietnamese dessert.

I’ve seen lots of pictures from this place on Instagram and on my Facebook feed, so I decided that I would take a trip out here during lunch to catch up with Wongers and of course eat.

There are a good amount of tables in here. It may be hard fitting a large group, but 2’s or 4’s would work well.

Chè-Licious Special ($6.50) is filled with pandan jelly, agar jelly, pom pearls, toddy palm, jackfruit, longan, coconut milk and ice. What I love about Che is that its so colourful. I remember going to pho restaurants and this would be every kids dream.

With each slurp and spoonful of Che, I really had no idea what I was eating. You get the dominant flavour of the coconut milk and then the textures of all the jellies. They are really generous with the amount of jellies.

They have a good variety of che ingredients as you can see from their list. Not bad at all.

Saigon Signature ($6.50) has various cold cut meats, BBQ pork, pork floss, pate, served with pickled veggies, cucumber, cilantro, house made mayo with optional jalapeño.

The best part was the bread! Crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. As for the ingredients inside of the sandwich, I wish there was more pate. I love me some good pate.

Ducking Good ($6.75) has roasted duck, ginger, scallion with pickled veggies, cucumber, cilantro, house made mayo with optional jalapeño. The ingredient to bun ratio seemed a bit off for this sandwich, but the duck was pretty awesome and it had it’s skin intact.

Overall, the bahn mi is a bit more expensive compared to other places, but that bun is delicious. What makes this place stand out are their varieties of che, you don’t see it anywhere else. Most places just have one option.

We Rate Che-Licious:

Address:
1120 Denman Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.che-licious.com/

In South Burnaby

Boiling Point: Personal-Sized Hot Pots in Burnaby

June 25, 2015

Boiling Point is a Taiwanese hot pot soup specialty restaurant with 2 locations in BC and 15 more in the USA.

They are best known for their personalized hot pots and bubble tea. I was invited by ChineseBites and tried all their hot pots with a few other bloggers. I’ve been here before, but its always nice to revisit restaurant to see what has changed.

There is booth seating, so its good for groups of 4.

There’s also one larger table if you have a big group like us.

Boiling Point has 10 different hot pots and you can do add-ons to them.

You can choose your level of spiciness for each hot pot:

None
Mild
Medium
Very spicy
Flaming spicy

House Special Hot Pot has napa cabbage, fermented tofu, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, kamaboko, pork balls, clam, quail egg, pork blood, pork intestine, nira, preserved vegetables, tomato, and cilantro.

I wasn’t a big fan of this hot pot since it has a lot of odd ingredients like the fermented tofu, pork blood and intestines. It always has this weird taste that I dislike.

Seafood and Tofu Hot Pot has Taiwanese bok choy and under all of that is shrimp, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, frozen tofu, baby octopus, clam, cuttlefish ring, fish fillet, fish ball, vermicelli, egg, and green onion.

Kimchi Hot Pot has napa, vermicelli, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, egg, kamaboko, meat ball, clam, fuzhou fish Ball, kimchi, firm tofu, fried tofu skin, imitation crab stick, and green onion.

This is one of my favourites. The kimchi isn’t very spicy and when it is cooked, it has a very nice savoury flavour. A good balance of ingredients.

Beef Hot Pot has napa, vermicelli, sliced angus beef, enoki mushroom, tomato, firm tofu, tempura, corn, pork ball, kamaboko, fried tofu skin, imitation crab stick, green onion, and cilantro.

Lamb Hot Pot has napa, vermicelli, sliced lamb, enoki mushroom, Imitation crab stick, kamanoko, pork blood, rice cake, organic maitake mushroom, clam, pickled mustard greens, firm tofu, tempura, fried tofu skin, egg, green onion, and cilantro. This was a decent hot pot and you can’t go wrong with it.

Curry Fish Ball Hot Pot is only available in Canada and Washington location. Inside the hot pot is napa, vermicelli, slice pork, enoki mushroom, imitation crab stick, fish ball, fried tofu skin, corn, tempura, mountain yam, Chinese string bean, egg, and green onion. It was a good hot pot and the flavours were good.

Taiwanese Spicy Hot Pot is served flaming spicy. Man, this was SPICY. Don’t get it if you’re not able to handle spicy. Also in this hot pot is cabbage, instant noodle, sliced angus, enoki mushrooms, clams, fish balls, cuttlefish ring, pork intestine, pork blood rice cake, fried tofu skin, maitake mushroom, frozen tofu, green onion, and cilantro.

Japanese Miso Hot Pot has cabbage, udon, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, clam, fish ball, fish fillet, organic maitake mushroom, crab, fried tofu skin, soft tofu, egg, and green onion.

Thai Flavour Hot Pot has cabbage, taro stem, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, cuttlefish ring, fish ball, clam, crab, baby octopus, organic maitake mushroom, shrimp, and cilantro. I didn’t really like this hot pot. It’s hard to eat the crab without getting too messy.

Tomato Veggie Hot Pot has nappa, vermicelli, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, tomato, firm tofu, corn, tofu skin, string beans, and king oyster mushrooms.

Organic Tofu Hot Pot is not a veggie dish as it has sliced pork and lobster ball.

Each hot pot comes with a bowl of rice. You would scoop some of the items into the rice bowl to cool down before you eat it.

They also have 3 sauces that you can mix together to dip your hot pot items into – Chili oil, garlic soy sauce, and chili bean sauce.You can also purchase bottles of these to take home.

You mix a little bit of each into your sauce dish.

Spicy Fermented Tofu is evil in disguise. It’s not for everyone and has a stinky feet odor to it. Some people love it, but I wouldn’t want to eat this again.

Udon is an extra item you can order if you need more substance to your hot pot.

Original Wok Noodle is their own specialty noodle that they have in packages.

Spinach Wok Noodle is similar to the one above but with spinach, thus the slight green color. Good al dente texture and it was enjoyable.

Fresh Milk Tea uses real milk instead of powder. When it arrives, you can tell the difference between the two densities of liquid, so the tea is on the bottom half and milk is on the other half.

I mixed it around and then it looked a lot more like milk tea. It was good but I would have preferred it half sweet.

Snow Cubes come in six different flavours:

Strawberry
Sesame
Matcha
Chocolate
Taro
Hokkaido Flavour with Brown Sugar Konjac

They look cute and is a nice refreshing dessert after the hot pot, but it was pretty difficult eating them. If you have sensitive teeth, biting into these cool blocks will cause you discomfort. The flavours were ok, but everyone hated the strawberry one as it tasted a bit artificial.

You can even take some home, but they can melt within 15 minutes. Especially during a hot summers day…it may not make it home in one piece.

Overall, the hot pots were ok, but some flavours were not very good. I would stick with the beef hot pot, kimchi hot pot and the curry fish ball hot pot. When it comes to the ingredients inside the hot pot, I don’t really like fermented tofu, blood, or intestines.

The menu has changed since the last time I came here in 2013, but I still don’t like how you can’t control the heat of the hot pot. I don’t like eating my food crazy hot in temperature. Everything keeps cooking until the flame underneath goes out. By that time, if you still have stuff in the hot pot, it gets over cooked.

I understand the appeal with personal hot pots, but I like the traditional hot pots because of the interactive experience and the ability to pick and choose everything that goes inside.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to dine at Boiling Point and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Boiling Point:

Address:
5276 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.bpgroupusa.com/home.php

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=5276+Kingsway+Burnaby,+BC&t=m&hnear=5276+Kingsway,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5H&z=16″]

In Brunch

Lakeside Cafe: Breakfast at Harrison Hot Springs

June 24, 2015

Lakeside Cafe is located on the second floor of the Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa. We came here around 8:30am to partake in their breakfast buffet. It starts at 7am and goes on till 11am on the weekdays or 12pm on the weekends.

Lakeside Cafe offers dinner too and it’s much more casual than the Copper Room.

The interior is a bit dated, so sitting inside really reminded me of a 90s buffet. We opted to sit outdoors on the patio.

The view is stunning on the patio. If you aren’t too afraid to be a tad chilly, definitely sit outside.

After we were seated, the servers offered us coffee and tea to start off the breakfast buffet. They also give us a pot of coffee so we can refill it at any time.

You can alternatively get some juice if you like. You can’t go wrong with orange juice.

Their most popular feature is their omelette bar. The man that takes care of this area is hilarious! He’s great to chat with and makes all the guests laugh. You can also have plain eggs too if you don’t want an omelette.

You can choose from a variety of toppings.

Once everything is in the pan, you can wait till it cooks. It does take a while and the line is a tad long, but its worth it.

There is a cereal area with oatmeal and different toppings like nuts and dried fruit.

There is also a section for yogurt and fresh fruit.

There is a bread and toast area. When you use the toaster, be ready to catch the toast as it likes to fly out of the toaster.

There’s also the heated food area that I didn’t take pictures of. They have, waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, etc. A decent amount of options, but we all know that bacon and sausages are the most important.

I got the omelette packed with a bit of everything. Smoked salmon, sausages and a pile of bacon.

They have fresh fruit, but the fruit was a bit mushy like it’s been siting in some sort of liquid for a while. Definitely could have been more fresh.

M got a little bit of everything, but we both agreed that the quality was pretty average. The options are a bit limited in the buffet and could used more protein options. It was around ~$20 for the breakfast buffet, which is pricey because no one really needs to eat huge portions for breakfast. If you are a huge eater, maybe this is for you.

After we had the breakfast buffet, we took a stroll around the lake. In the morning, you’ll see a lot of wildlife around.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Lakeside Cafe:

Address:
100 Esplanade Ave,
Harrison Hot Springs, BC

Website:
http://www.harrisonresort.com/Lakeside-Cafe.aspx

In Dessert

Icepik Shavery: Flavoured Shaved Ice

June 22, 2015

Have you seen this adorably cute penguin on Kingsway near Joyce?

Icepik Shavery just opened last April and they serve up flavoured shaved ice with yummy toppings. It is similar to Frappe Bliss in Aberdeen Mall. It’s a great addition to the Collingwood area and we can never have too many dessert shops.

Foodobyte, FoodQueen, EatingwithKirby and I came here as we kept seeing so many delicious pictures on Instagram. We do what we do best – eat!

There are 4 steps to creating your Icepik creation:

Pick your size
Pick your favour
Pick your toppings
Add any sauces on top

If you find it too hard to choose what to put into your dessert, choose their combos so you don’t have to make that decision. Sadly, you can’t make any substitutions on these.

They make the dessert by shaving up the blocks of flavoured ice, then all the toppings go on top.

Fresh Pik’d Fruit (Regular $5.85) has mango snow cream with mango, strawberries, house made rice cakes, and mango jelly.

It’s a good combination of toppings and they really pile it on top. Looks like a snow mountain. I love fruit, so I gravitated to this option. Its half way between traditional shaved ice and frozen yogurt.

Emperor’s Pik (Regular $5.85) has green tea snow cream, house made rice cakes, grass jelly, mango and lychee jelly.

Penguin Pik (Regular $5.85) has black sesame snow cream with house made rice cakes, oreo crumble, grass jelly, and tapioca pearls.

We thought all 3 needed a generous dose of condensed milk on top. It really enhances the flavours! Just stick with condensed milk, no need for the other syrups. With the hot summer heat making its way to Vancouver, this will be a popular spot to have dessert to cool down.

We Rate Icepik Shavery:

Address:
3377 Kingsway, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.icepikshavery.com/

In Harrison Hot Springs

The Copper Room at Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa

June 22, 2015

The Copper Room is located in the Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa. It’s a bit hidden, but just make sure you follow the signs. They serve up food from the West Coast, so expect some good seafood and steaks.

The restaurant is like a throwback to the 80’s with a live band and dance floor. From Sunday to Monday, Patsy B. And The Lefties play live and then from Tuesday through Saturday, The Jones Boys play. This restaurant isn’t for everyone, you will notice the age group is a little bit older.

There is a minimum dress code, so make sure you don’t wear t-shirts, shorts or sneakers. I made all of those mistakes and felt embarrassed. I should have done my research ahead of time to figure out there is a minimum dress code. Long story short, we ended up getting all their dishes sent to our room.

Complimentary Bread arrives with butter.

Ahi Tuna Sashimi ($18) has pickled ginger and a wasabi dressing. The dressing was subtle and did not have a strong wasabi taste. The cut of tuna wasn’t that great and could have been prepared a bit better. The slabs were quite large and when we used our knives to cut into it, it just ended up mushing the sashimi up. I would have preferred smaller bit size pieces so we didn’t have to cut it like a steak.

Mushroom Ragout ($16) is a sauteed bouquet of wild mushrooms, white wine, and fresh herbs. I love mushrooms, so it was a great dish to accompany an entree. It didn’t work very well as an appetizer because its a lot of mushroom to eat. It can be shared amongst the table.

Buffalo Mozzarella ($15) is wrapped with prosciutto and a sweet fig dressing. The star of the dish was really masked by the prosciutto. It was still a decent dish but I just wanted more of the mozzarella taste.

Rack of Lamb ($52) has veggies, mashed potatoes with a black currant thyme demi sauce. It was our favourite entree of the evening. Lamb had great flavour and was cooked to a perfect medium and the demi sauce paired very well. The vegetables were a nice compliment but the mashed potatoes weren’t as fluffy as we imagined.

Lobster Newburg ($49) has shrimp, white wine, and a sherry and creamy lobster bisque. The lobster was prepared nicely with the creamy sauce. Risotto was good too. The shrimp seemed like it was plopped onto the plate with little thought. It could have used a tad more seasoning or had it integrated into the dish more.

Bone-in Rib Eye ($56) with wild mushroom demi. The steak was cooked to a medium rare and it was nice and large. We had the same thought about the mashed potatoes. It wasn’t that fluffy and was quite solid.

Mascarpone Tart ($12) has dried figs , ricotta cheese, pastry and a citrus butterscotch sauce. The dessert looked pretty but the crust of the tart wasn’t very impressive.

Chocolate Pot au Crème ($10) comes with rich chocolate pudding and ice cream. The dessert was pretty average. Nothing too exciting about it. It does look pretty.

Overall, I was sad that I couldn’t experience the full service at the Copper Room. M and I didn’t mind that we had to eat our whole meal in our room, but at least we could look at the beautiful view from our window and also watch the Food Network. This review is based solely on the food. The price is quite expensive for what you get, but we found their entrees to be pretty good. It’s a very traditional place, so you won’t find a modern flare in the food.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate The Copper Room:

Address:
100 Esplanade Avenue,
Harrison Hot Springs, BC

Website:
http://www.harrisonresort.com/dining.aspx

In Four Beakers

The Black Forest Restaurant: German Cuisine in Harrison Hot Springs

June 21, 2015

M and I spent 2 days at Harrison Hot Springs. Sometimes it’s nice to just get away from the city and enjoy some more nature. The first thing that we did here is eat. M always talks highly of the German restaurant called The Black Forest Restaurant.

The Black Forest Restaurant serves up authentic German cuisine. I was super excited to come here since I miss my University days backpacking through Western Europe. Germany was one of my favourite countries to visit.

The interior is dated and you can tell this place has been her for a long time.

Krombacher Pilsner is what M ordered to go with his schnitzel. I was suprised he ordered it since he rarely orders beer to go with his lunch. It’s a great light beer that has a bit of a citrus finish. Great German beer to go with German food.

Bratwurst is served on a bed of SauerKraut, topped with fried onions and peppercorn sauce. It is served with pan-fried potatoes, steamed vegetables and dijon mustard. Very delicious!

Schnitzel is pan-fried till it’s golden brown and crunchy. It is topped with mushrooms and a peppercorn sauce. It is served with red cabbage, steamed veggies and pan fried potatoes. M loved it.

Overall, our quick lunch here was delicious. I’d definitely be back again. The decor here isn’t very nice, but we were really drawn by the food. It’s pretty hard to find good German food in Vancouver.

We Rate The Black Forest Restaurant:

Address:
180 Esplanade Street,
Harrison Hot Springs, BC

Website:
http://www.blackforest-restaurant.com/

In British Columbia

McDonalds Canada: Chocolate Nanaimo Sundae

June 20, 2015

Throughout June, McDonalds is featuring 5 different ‘Canadian’ menu items for a limited time. It’s supposed to show off the flavour profiles of Canada.

I swear, this will be my last post about McDonalds this month ok? I finally finished trying all 5 items for their Summer promotion.

Chocolate Nanaimo Sundae has the soft vanilla ice cream base, with fudge and the Nanaimo crumble on top.

It really reminds me of the Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake because of the different textures and it has similar ingredients. Not bad at all. It was a pleasant surprise. The crumble is a tad sweet, but it still is missing that classic yellow cream thats part of a Nanaimo bar.

Being from British Columbia, I thought it was weird how it represents our province.

In British Columbia

McDonalds Canada: McLobster

June 19, 2015

Throughout June, McDonalds is featuring 5 different ‘Canadian’ menu items for a limited time. It’s supposed to show off the flavour profiles of Canada.

It’s finally here! MCLOBSTER! I’ve been waiting years to get my hands on this because I didn’t want to travel to the East Coast. It costs $7.49 for only the sandwich, but if you want the combo, it is around $10. Definitely more expensive than their other menu items.

The McLobster represents the Atlantic provinces. In the soft buttery roll is shredded lettuce and the lobster/lemon/sauce/celery mixture. I’m not exactly sure whats in it, but there is a dominant lemon taste.

What I found with the sandwich is that it is VERY inconsistent when it comes to the amount and quality of lobster.

I went with about 10 of my coworkers to McDonalds and the group consensus was that it was decent, but they wouldn’t order it again. It was fun to try and tell others they tried it.

This one didn’t have large chunks but it it had lot of smaller pieces. More like a mush.

This one had 2 huge pieces but the middle was quite sparse. I’m sure they have some sort of quality control, but it’s really not seen. When I went on Instagram, the amount of filling varied so much.

In Bubble Tea

Express Bubble Tea: Smoothies at Deep Cove

June 18, 2015

I’ve gotten into hiking in the last few weeks. Vancouver is just so beautiful that I need to soak up as much sun as possible before the rain comes back in the Fall. I can’t eat out all the time. I have to balance out all the eating somehow right? Deep Cove for the Quarry Rock hike is my favourite since it’s short and there’s a great view. It’s no Grouse Grind, but it will do for now.

We wanted to grab a juice or smoothie after the hike since we were thirsty and hot. Looking at the limited options at Deep Cove, we decided to check out Express Bubble Tea.

We saw that they sell fresh fruit smoothies, so we made this our stop.

They have a loyalty program, so you can see all the stamp cards on all their walls. I thought it was also weird how they were storing the fruit in the boxes on the floor.

Pineapple Strawberry smoothie ($5.49) wasn’t exactly fresh as they advertised. They did use real strawberries, but their pineapples were canned. You know, the ones that are preserved and dunked in syrup. I could taste the canned pineapple taste. It’s quite distinct to me since I hate them on pizza.

My friend ordered a Gyros Sandwich and they just microwave the meat to get it warmed up. I had a look of disgust on my face, but I felt like they were not pass a food safety test. He didn’t get sick, but it weirded me out.

My other friend got the peach and mango smoothie and requested no sugar to be added. The person at the shop didn’t listen and put in a few pumps of liquid sugar. Also, all her fruits were canned instead of the fresh fruit as advertised.

Perhaps I’ve grown to have higher standards for smoothies? I think I was just more mad that the fruit wasn’t 100% fresh for the smoothies.

We Rate Bubble Tea Express:

Address:
4377 Gallant Avenue,
North Vancouver

In British Columbia

McDonalds Canada: Western BBQ Burger

June 17, 2015

Throughout June, McDonalds is featuring 5 different ‘Canadian’ menu items for a limited time. It’s supposed to show off the flavour profiles of Canada.

Western BBQ Burger represents Alberta because they are best known for their beef. It has a quarter pounder patty, BBQ Sauce, crispy onions, bacon, and white cheddar.

The bun is the same as the Cottage Country Chicken with the sesame seeds and poppy seeds.

It tasted like a quarter pounder with BBQ sauce. There could have been a bit more onions to it too. It didn’t seem like anything special. I probably wouldn’t get this again. But then again, since it’s only available till June 16th, I can’t get it in the future anyways.

In British Columbia

McDonalds Canada: Maple and Bacon Poutine

June 16, 2015

Throughout June, McDonalds is featuring 5 different ‘Canadian’ menu items for a limited time. It’s supposed to show off the flavour profiles of Canada.

I’m not sure why I’m so compelled to try these all, but I find the new items pretty cool especially the McLobster.

Maple and Bacon Poutine is similar to their poutines in the past, but it has bacon and maple gravy on top. The Poutine is supposed to represent Quebec for their love of poutine and maple syrup.

When I opened the box, it smelled insanely sweet. The taste was actually ok, but I don’t like sweet and savoury mixing in my meals. I wouldn’t order this again.

In Cafe

Take Five Cafe: Stopping for a Beverage

June 15, 2015

Inside the main entrance of Pacific Centre in Downtown Vancouver is Take Five Cafe. It’s been here as long as I can remember. They have about nine locations in the Lower Mainland.

There’s plenty of seats in the area as its in the Pacific Centre atrium area.

I came here with M as our friends were getting married in the Four Seasons. I needed a coffee to cure my headache and Take Five Cafe was closest.

Chocolate Frappini is perfect for a hot day. Imagine it like a frappuccino. M said the beverage was ok, but it had a lot of chunks of ice in it. He had to stir it around until it melted to slurp up some more.

Cappuccino was great. Light frothy foam up on top. No complaints here.

They definitely have a lot of competition since there are a handful of coffeeshops in the area like Starbucks, Cafe Artigiano, Blenz, etc.

We Rate Take Five Cafe:

Address:
Pacific Centre,
700 West Georgia Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.takefivecafe.ca/

In Malaysian

Tamarind Hill: Malaysian Cuisine in North Vancouver

June 14, 2015

Tamarind Hill is located in North Vancouver and serve up Malaysian food. Their top items are Rotis & Satays, Green Papaya & Mango Salad, Hainanese Chicken, Rendeng Beef, Kari Lamb, King Prawns with Indian Black Peppercorn and Garlic Butter.

After hiking, I came here with a few friends to eat some dinner. We came to this place because it was highly recommended by people who live in the area.

Roti Canai (2 pieces -$7) is their signature Malaysian soft bread with pan-fried golden crust, served with a spicy curry dip. We ordered 4 pieces, so the pictures has double the amount. There was 5 of us, so we wanted to make sure there was enough.

Satays (5 skewers for $7) comes in either chicken, beef, or lamb. We got one of each for everyone, so we ordered 15 in total. These bite size meat skewers marinated with lemongrass, turmeric, onions and coriander with a delicious peanut sauce dip.

Boneless Hainanese Chicken with Hainanese Chicken Rice ($15.95) is steamed to perfect tenderness, topped with light sweet soy, served with grated ginger green onion dip and sweet chili dip. I love how it’s boneless! The dish is served warm rather than the traditional cold.

Char Kuey Teow ($10.75) is stir fried flat rice noodle with spicy sweet soy, egg, bean sprout shrimp, fish cake & cuttlefish. This totally reminds me of a Chinese dish. Tastes very familiar but a tad spicy.

Nasi Goreng ($10.75) is a popular Malaysian style fried rice with beef, shrimp, egg, tomato, onion & green beans. I thought it was a decent dish.

To go with all this food, we had some Tiger Beer from Singapore. It’s another light beer that pairs nicely with this food.

Overall, the food was decent but the flavours didn’t wow me. That might just be me since I found Malaysian cuisine is very similar to other South Asian cuisine.

We Rate Tamarind Hill:

Website:
www.tamarindhill.ca

Address:
1440 Lonsdale Avenue,
North Vancouver

In British Columbia

McDonalds Canada: Cottage Country Chicken Sandwich

June 13, 2015

Throughout June, McDonalds is featuring 5 different ‘Canadian’ menu items for a limited time. It’s supposed to show off the flavour profiles of Canada.

For the first week, we went to grab the Cottage Country Chicken Burger that represents Ontario’s Cottage Country. I’ve never been there, so I really have no idea what it’s like there. One day I’ll make my way there, but in the meantime, I’ll eat this burger.

Inside the toasted bun is the fried chicken patty, lettuce, tomato, and smokey Muskoka sauce.

Overall, the Cottage Country Chicken Burger was pretty good. The chicken is moist, the cheese and that Muskoka sauce is awesome. M could eat that sauce with everything.

I can’t wait to try the McLobster! It’s always only been available on the East Coast, but finally I can give it a try without flying all the way there.