July 2015

In product

The Good Bean: Chickpea Snacks

July 12, 2015

The Good Bean creates chickpea based snacks like chips and energy bars. I saw this big bag of salted chickpea snack and wanted to give it a try. You can find it at most food stores.

The chickpeas are roasted until they are crispy and crunchy. It is gluten-free, nut-free, vegan, kosher and non-GMO.

They have these in other flavours too:

Cracked Pepper
Smoky chili and lime
Sweet cinnamon
Mesquite BBQ
Thai Coconut
Chocolate

Once I popped a few in my mouth, I couldn’t stop eating. Even though it is salted it isn’t overly salty. I found that it is very filling, so have a small bowl to the chickpeas got me full.

Instead of grabbing a bag of chips at the grocery store, give The Good Bean Chickpea snacks a try.

Website:
http://www.thegoodbean.com/

In British Columbia

JJs Trucketeria: Filipino Food Truck

July 11, 2015

JJs Trucketeria was outside one of our offices during the lunch hour, so we decided to devour their amazing Filipino BBQ meats. You can’t go wrong with anything from their menu. For healthier options, they do have a market bowl or salad.

JJ’s Signature Panwich ($7.50) has your choice of either Filipino BBQ pork or Lemongrass chicken. It is served on top of pandesa, which is a Filipino bun. Mags and Anne got theirs with BBQ pork.

It’s a sandwich with great value for lunch for so much delicious flavour.

Garlic Fried Rice Big Plate ‘The Halfer’ ($10.50) is huge. It has Filipino BBQ pork, lemongrass chicken, garlic fried rice, fried egg, and JJ’s dipping vinegar. It was massive and I could only finish about 60% of this. The garlic rice is subtle and not too pungent.

Overall, one of the best food trucks with good value plus delicious meats. You can find them at most food truck festivals around town. Just make sure to check the Vancouver Street Food App to see where they are located.

We Rate JJs Trucketeria:

Location:
Varies

Website:
http://jjstrucketeria.wix.com/jjs-trucketeria

In Contest

[Giveaway] Win 1 of 3 $50 Vouchers for the Food Cart Festivals

July 10, 2015

Vancity is the presenting sponsor of 3 different food cart festivals this summer – Vancouver Food Cart Fest, Surrey Food Cart Fest, and Columbia StrEAT Food Cart Fest. The different food cart festivals in Vancouver, Surrey and New Westminster showcases our community’s cultural diversity and talented chefs from the top food carts in the city.

Free admission at all of these festivals for Vancity members!
Showing your Vancity member card or Vancity Visa and you’ll get access to all three food cart festivals for free.

Want to win 1 of 3 $50 vouchers for the Food Cart Festivals?

Only open to residents of British Columbia. You do not need to be a Vancity member to use the vouchers.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The vouchers are redeemable at the 3 different food cart festivals from the following food carts:

Good Money™ helps local entrepreneurs to grow and expand their business

Vancity is proud to support our local businesses in the community. With the help of Vancity’s Microloan Program, many food cart vendors have been able to launch and expand their business. Vancity is proud to support Vancouver’s thriving local food scene, because through it we’re supporting the local economy and food security.

In Bakery

Elysian Coffee: Coffee Shop in Mount Pleasant

July 9, 2015

Elysian Coffee has 3 cafes in Vancouver and I made a trip to their Mount Pleasant location with J for a morning coffee before work. Their space looks fantastic with lots of natural light coming into the cafe. No wonder there was already a few people on their laptops this early in the morning.

They opened this location near the end of 2014 taking over CocoaNymph. It’s a neighbourhood gem and it really caters to the hip offices in the area. They also have a roasting room and bakery in the back.

Cappuccino ($3.75) was very enjoyable. Great to kick off the morning with a strong coffee and fluffy foam.

Chive and Cheddar Scone ($3.25) was pretty awesome It has a crispy cheese exterior with so much chives inside. Very delicious!

Overall, I was impressed by Elysian Coffee and the beautiful space. It’s a hit hidden as it isn’t on a main road.

We Rate Elysian Coffee:

Address:
2301 Ontario Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://elysiancoffee.com/

In product

Jack Links: Small Batch Beef Jerky

July 8, 2015

I was at the grocery store and saw that Jack Link’s has a line of Small Batch beef jerky. M and I love jerky, so it was a no brainer to give it a try. We got them for around $5.99 per pack, which is a bit pricey considering there isn’t a lot inside the package. Only about 2.5 oz.

For the Link family, it all started with jerky recipes passed down from generation to generation & perfected over time. Among those early recipes a select few stand out, including Original #11. We’ve brought back this family heirloom in our Small Batch product line, using the same time honored traditions we did long ago.

The ingredients include beef, soy sauce, water, salt, sugar, flavourings, msg, sodium nitrate, and potassium sorbate.

All the pieces were either small strips like the picture above or small bits. This is probably the best flavour out of the bunch, but it is quite salty with a lot of smokey flavour.

The peppered recipe #15, is slightly different with more pepper seasoning on top.

The ingredients include beef, water, salt, sugar, flavourings, msg, sodium nitrate, and potassium sorbate.

You can really taste the pepper in the jerky, but for this package, we didn’t find a lot of larger pieces, mostly small bits.

The ingredients include beef, brown sugar, soy sauce powder, water, salt, sugar, flavourings, msg, sodium nitrate, and potassium sorbate.

There is a slight sweet taste, but the dominance of the salt and smoke really mask the teriyaki flavour.

Overall, all of the flavours were very salty and smokey in taste. I wouldn’t purchase these again as there are a few place in Vancouver that make outstanding beef jerky that far surpasses store bought jerky.

Website: www.jacklinks.com

In product

Yonanas: Weird Name, Awesome Healthy Ice Cream Maker

July 7, 2015

Yonanas is a healthy ice cream machine that will turn your frozen fruit into a dairy-free healthy soft-serve treat. I’ve seen these types of machines at tradeshows, but was always skeptical until I tried it myself.

The machine easily churns the ingredients to produce a treat with the texture of frozen yogurt or soft-serve ice cream. Yonanas does a better job than a blender or a food processor.

Amazon.ca Widgets

Inside the box, you will find that machine that is already assembled. Just plug it in and you’re ready to go.

You will also find a recipe book, instructions, and a guide to prepare the bananas.

You want to start preparing your bananas when it has the black cheetah spots. I found the best way is to peel them, chop them up into quarters and then freeze them in a zip lock bag.

For myself, I prepared some of my own fruit and some others I just bought frozen bags of fruit from the store. Do whatever is easiest for you.

Your throw in the fruit into the chute.

Push the plunger down into the chute to help the fruit go into the chamber with the blades to do its magic.

Then, out comes the ice cream. It comes out like ribbons, so its definitely hard to make it look pretty.

You should alternate your bananas and fruit, so you don’t end up like what we did. You probably want the flavours to be combined a bit more.

On our second try, we managed to do this a lot better.

It’s not very appealing when it comes out straight from the machine into the bowl, but it sure tastes good.

Yonanas Recipes

[tabs tab1=”Basic Fruit” tab2=”Cookies & Cream” tab3=”Mint Chocolate Chip” tab4=”PB&J with Waffle”]

[tab id=1]

2 frozen over-ripe bananas
3/4 cup of frozen fruit

To make this, insert the banana and frozen fruit in alternating order into the Yonanas machine to have a smooth consistency of flavour.

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[tab id=2]

2 frozen over-ripe bananas
2 chocolate sandwich cookies

To make this, insert the banana and sandwich cookies in alternating order into the Yonanas machine to have a smooth consistency of flavour.

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[tab id=3]

2 frozen over-ripe bananas
1 oz frozen mint chocolate chips

To make this, insert the banana and mint chocolate chips in alternating order into the Yonanas machine to have a smooth consistency of flavour.

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[tab id=4]

2 frozen over-ripe bananas
3/4 cup frozen mixed berries
1 tbsp room temperature peanut butter
1 toasted waffle

To make this, insert the banana and frozen fruit in alternating order into the Yonanas machine to have a smooth consistency of flavour.

Then in a bowl mix in the yonanas mixture with peanut butter and serve on the toasted waffle.

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It works with any fruit, so the next batch I tried was with mangoes.

I think I didn’t thaw my mangoes long enough, so I got inconsistent ice cream, so I threw it back into the chute to make it more smooth.

I think this definitely make it a lot better if you want to avoid random chunks of fruit or ice.

When you’ve finished pushing everything through the Yonanas machine, take it completely apart and use a spoon to rescue the creamy banana goodness that will still be hiding inside the machine. There’s a good amount of it in there, so make sure you don’t waste it.

Overall, the machine is pretty easy to use and does a great job transforming the frozen fruit into healthy ice cream. Since it has the special blades inside, it really creates the smooth ice cream consistency. Clean up is also easy as you only take the black part and you can leave the silver base on the counter. No need to unplug the machine and move it around.

It’s great for those who are lactose intolerant or want to have a healthier alternative to ice cream. Great item if you have kids to get them involved in making the Yonanas especially in the summer time since its so hot outside.

They retail for $50 CDN or less. The cheapest price I’ve seen for the Yonanas was at Walmart in Canada.

Website: yonanas.com

Amazon.ca Widgets

In Gluten Free Options

Aqua Sushi: Sashimi Brown Rice Bowls

July 6, 2015

Making a revisit to a restaurant is always great as I always discover new things on the menu. The food at Aqua Sushi has always been of great quality and I’ve been making a lot of trips there recently for lunch. My office is close by, so it’s a great alternative to the other restaurants close by.

I recently noticed their Sashimi Brown Rice Bowls that were pretty substantial for a lunch hour meal.

Spicy Tuna and Negitoro Brown Rice Bowl ($11.50) has all the sashimi mashed up with pickled ginger, veggies, wasabi on a bed of brown rice. What I liked about this rice bowl is that you can mix up the rice, tuna and negitoro all together so every bite tastes delicious. The brown rice by itself is also very delicious.

It’s a good gluten-free alternative, but don’t forget to ask them for gluten-free soy sauce! They also have less-salt soy sauce.

Wild Salmon and Tuna Brown Rice Bowl ($11.50) has 3 pieces of tuna and 3 pieces of salmon with the wasabi, pickled ginger, greens and on top of the brown rice. A beautiful and healthy lunch. I always take a wasabi lump out as I find its too much.

Overall, great spot for lunch with super healthy options.

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 Chinese

Green Lettuce: Chinese and Indian Fusion

July 5, 2015

Green Lettuce is an amazing hole in the wall restaurant with Indian Style Chinese food. It’s busy every evening, so make sure to get a reservation or come here right at the beginning of dinner time. They also have another restaurant in Surrey.

Green lettuce brings the best flavours of Chinese and Indian cuisine and bring it together.

Vegetable Pakora with Chutney Sauce ($7.24) is a must order item. They are more dense because of all the chickpea flavour but it’s so good! I couldn’t stop eating this.

Pili Beef ($13.95) was ordered for medium spicy and it did pack a punch of heat! The beef was tender and the sauce was great. You will want to eat this with some rice to balance out the heat.

Spicy Chili Garlic Eggplant with Shredded Chicken ($12.95) was also medium spice, but it did pack a punch too. Lot of good flavours in this dish.

Manchurian style chicken chow mein ($11.95) was good as well but the noodles seemed to just have been plopped on the side.

Bombay Garlic Prawns ($15.95) has the deep-fried prawns smothered in the bombay garlic sauce. This is one of their popular items on the menu. It is served with fried shrimp crackers.

Masala Chicken Fried Rice ($9.95) was a good fried rice. Mix this with a bit of the pili beef and your taste buds will come alive.

At the end of the meal, they give everyone a fortune cookie. It was fun reading the fortunes inside. We probably had the most defective fortune cookies since ours had 2 -3 fortunes each. That means its extra luck right?

None of the dishes at Green Lettuce disappointed. I loved it all! I would come back here again.

We Rate Green Lettuce:

Address:
1949 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.greenlettucerestaurant.ca/

In Chinese

Hakkasan Bistro: Modern Chinese Bistro in Richmond

July 4, 2015

Hakkasan Bistro Cafe is located in a very obscure area in East Richmond close to Ikea and the International Summer Night Market. They are a family-run establishment opened in 2007 by a mother and her two daughters. Renowned for their tasting menus, Hakkasan aspired to refine and elevate the Chinese dining experience. After 6 rewarding years, Hakkasan underwent a big renovation in 2013 and recently relaunched with the re-opening of what is a now a trendy bistro cafe that offers a new diverse menu selection in addition to tasting menus.

I wouldn’t have thought this restaurant would be located here. There’s nothing but warehouses and furniture stores nearby. Since there is no other food alternatives close by, they do draw a crowd during lunch from the stores around it. They even have grab-n-go meals for those in a rush. A taste of home without cooking anything.

I came here to dinner with the Chinesebites crew to indulge on a customized tasting menu for us. You can find these items on their regular menu.

They can cater to large groups and smaller groups. It’s always good to make a reservation since you never know if they will be very busy or not.

Honey Roasted Pork Cheeks were so good! The sweet honey sauce enrobes the tender and fatty pork cheeks. This is probably one of my favourite places to get pork cheeks now.

Chef’s Signature Whole Coconut Pork and Snow Fungus Soup is doubled boiled for over 3 hours in a the beautiful young coconut. It comes steaming hot and stay hot for a while. It serves one person or you can split with someone else but why do that when it’s so good. You need to reserve this soup a day in advanced.

The reason it needs advanced preparation is that the slow cooking method allows the coconut meat flavour to infuse into the soup creating the unique aroma and taste.

Inside you will find pieces of pork and snow fungus in the delectable chicken broth infused with coconut. It was one of my favourite dishes here. It is pricey at $22 per soup, but if it was a special occasion, I would get it. You also need to reserve this a day in advanced.

Ancient Style Salt Baked Chicken is a specialty item that needs to be reserved in advance since they need to take time to prepare this item.

The chicken is marinated with a blend of 10 different Chinese herbs and spices, then the free-range chicken is wrapped in parchment paper, place in the clay pot with a mound of coarse salt.

Once it’s open, you will see the delicious chicken hiding inside the parchment paper. It’s like Christmas, but all you get is a chicken. This slow baking technique ensures the chicken stays tender, moist, and flavourful when its done.

They prepare the chicken and portion for everyone at the table. Because of the baking process, the chicken is tender and flavourful. Of course I loved the dark meat.

Steamed Specialty Odorless Garlic Lobster is served on a bed of jasmine rice. Our table agreed that there needed to be a bit more flavour in the rice. The rice was more oily than flavourful. Perhaps if it was fried rice instead of jasmine rice, it would be a bit more enjoyable.

Braised Pork Hock is pretty massive and I drooled over this. It was nice and fatty and so much flavour. Mmmm Mmm Mmmm. Everything just really melts in your mouth.

This is another item that needs advanced ordering.

To balance out the flavour are bao/bun that is served with it. You can make some mini braised pork hock sandwiches or just dunk it into the sauce.

Hakka Homestyle Steam Egg with pork with duck yolk is a very smooth like custard. The salty duck yolk balanced out the steamed egg.

Stirfry fish with pickled cabbage was ok, I didn’t really love this dish as I felt the star of the dish was masked.

Mui Choy Stirfry was ok. I found it was quite oily and hard. I would have preferred some other steamed vegetables.

Steamed Milk Egg White Custard was the dish to end the evening. It was an ok dessert, but it didn’t wow me. I thought their dessert would be a little bit more elaborate like some of the dishes we saw tonight.

With their renovations and a revamped menu, they have some pretty good food but it is pricey. Lunch here is definitely more affordable, but dinner is a whole other experience.

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

We Rate Hakkasan Bistro:

Address:
110-2188 Number 5 Road, Richmond

Website:
http://www.hakkasan.ca/

In alcoholic cocktails

Bombay Sapphire East: Summer Cocktails

July 3, 2015

Bombay Sapphire East is Bombay Sapphire’s next offering with taste of Thai lemongrass and Vietnamese black peppercorn flavours into the original Bombay Sapphire flavour combination – juniper, citrus, angelica, orris root, coriander, liquorice, cassia bark, almonds, cubeb berries and West African grains. You sure get a gin that reflects the spices of a lot of Asian countries.

This gin packs a punch at 42%.

I’m usually pretty boring and ask for a gin and tonic, but today I got to try it in some awesome summer cocktails – Loosen the Know and Eastern Crush.

[tabs tab1=”Loosen the Know” ]

[tab id=1]

one serving

0.5 oz simple sugar water
0.5 oz freshly squeezed lemons (lemon juice can be substituted)
1 oz Bombay Sapphire East
2-2.5 oz of sparkling wine
a scoop of lemon ginger sorbet gelato

In a serving glass or a pitcher, mix in the simple sugar water, freshly squeezed lemons, and Bombay Sapphire East. Then top it off with sparkling wine and the gelato.

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It’s very refreshing and I would have never thought gelato and gin would go well together. The sparkling wine pairs nicely too to add the carbonation.

[tabs tab1=”Eastern Crush“]

[tab id=1]

one serving

3 chunks of watermelon or 2 oz watermelon juice
pinch of cilantro
0.5 ounce of sugar
¾ oz of freshly squeezed lemons
1 oz Bombay Sapphire East
a sprinkle of grounded black pepper
ice

In a shaker cup, muddle the watermelon, cilantro, sugar and lemon together. Then, add in the Bombay Sapphire East, black pepper, ice and shake away. Then, strain out the mixture into your cup of ice and then garnish with cilantro.

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I just love watermelon, I can’t get enough of it in the Summer to just cool down.

You can pick up Bombay Sapphire East at your local liquor store. If you’re looking for a different type of gin to try out this summer, definitely give it a try.

In Contest

[Giveaway] Hagensborg Chocolates Gift Basket ($65 value)

July 2, 2015

Hagensborg Chocolates produce high quality All Natural European chocolate truffles right in Burnaby, BC. Their chocolate truffles have a soft ganche centre with a hard chocolate coating around them. Chocolate truffles are usually round in shape to resemble a truffle mushroom, but they take it a step further and have it shaped like a piggy.

Since it is the summer, it’s a fun time to sweeten the world with kindness. Tell us in the comments below how you would pay it forward and sweeten the world with kindness. For additional entries, there are a few other things you can do below.

Want to win a Hagensborg Chocolates Gift Basket?

Only open to residents of British Columbia.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In Cafe

Brews and Bites Cafe: Open on Main Street

July 2, 2015

Brews and Bites Cafe open on Main Street near 2nd last Monday. Despite what you initially think, they do not brew beer, but they do brew coffee. My coworkers noticed this place a few weeks ago and we made it a mission to come give it a try. Since we work in the area, we basically have had coffee and eaten at most places in the area. When something new comes to the hood, we’re on it. hahaha.

The interior is beautiful and has a good amount of seating. There is free wifi and is a comfortable space to work.

Cappuccino was delicious, nice and foamy. A good start to the day. I would be a nice touch if they had customized the to-go coffee cups rather than the generic ones.

Croissant was pretty bad. It was dense and didn’t taste very fresh.

My other coworkers got breakfast sandwiches and they all didn’t like those either and said it was too salty.

I had higher expectations for this place as the space looks really nice. Coffee is decent, but the food really needs to improve if it wants to survive in this area. They definitely have a lot of competition since Starbucks, Terra breads, Tim Hortons, McDonalds and Matchstick Coffee is a few blocks away.

We rate Brews and Bites Cafe:

Address:
1635 Main Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.bandbcafe.com/

In Japanese

Zipang Provisions: Hipster Japanese Restaurant on Main St

July 1, 2015

Zipang Provisions integrates east and the west, a fusion of Vancouver with the best of Japanese cuisine. From the exterior, it doesn’t seem like a Japanese eatery. It looks more like a hip bar. They really try hard to mix the two together, but it doesn’t work very well.

Don’t get me wrong, the place looks fabulous, but you wouldn’t think they serve up Japanese food. Plus, they have a patio.

Their interior has a lot of reclaimed wood furniture and awesome looking chairs.

You can’t stop but love the interior. Everything is so beautiful.

Mason jars! So hip! So hipster.

Kale Gomae is a spin on the traditional spinach gomae. It has a delicious sesame sauce surrounding each leaf. It was an interesting concept, but we think we would have preferred it with the traditional spinach. The steams were hard and crunch.

Nasu Dengaku is a miso glazed eggplant. It’s very delicious. It may not look appetizing, but it is yummy.

Ebi Mayo looks pretty sad but that is only because we asked for the mayo on the side. I felt that the ebi could have used more seasoning and the batter could have been more crispy.

Chawan Mushi is so delicate and delicious with a strong dashi broth and mushroom flavour.

Nanban Chicken wasn’t very good. It is deep fried chicken with their nanban sauce, which tastes like tartar sauce. To balance it out, it came with a salad.

Saikyo Black Cod was a bit over cooked and wasn’t as moist as we thought and it wasn’t good.

Chicken Karaage Poutine really is a truly fusion item at Zipang Provisions. The crispy chicken, cheese curds and gravy all lay on top of a bed of crispy fries. It was enjoyed by all of us dining here.

Mille-Feuille Pork Cutlet is served with a cabbage salad with a plum dressing. On the side, there is also tonkatsu sauce. The cutlet was different since there are a lot of thin pork slices inside.

Okonomiyaki wasn’t very good at all. The pancake was dense and not flavourful, then it was topped full of sauces. Best to avoid this item.

Sashimi Salad was a good size to share with everyone at the table. A good amount of sashimi, but they were a tad heavy with the dressing.

Salmon Sashimi comes with 9 pieces since we ordered the larger size. The quality is there and it was enjoyable.

We ordered a bunch of sushi from their menu and we found that they were not executed very well. It was missing a bit of care and attention. All of the rolls could have been improved. It was quite sad to see.

Their cooked items are pretty good but there are a few misses in there. Their sushi rolls could use a lot of improvement because when the owners ran the original Zipang, the rolls were a lot better.

We Rate Zipang Provisions: