August 2015

In British Columbia

Lay’s Canada 2015: #DoUsAFlavourCanada

August 12, 2015

Every year Lays Canada does their annual Do Us a Flavour contests where fans can submit their unique flavour inspired by their favourite foods and the different Canadian regions.

After receiving almost 950,000 flavour submissions, Lay’s Canada has revealed the four finalist for this year’s Do Us a Flavour Tastes of Canada contest:

Cowboy BBQ Beans on Lay’s Wavy, inspired by Western Canada
Brenda Boghean from Calgary, AB
Butter Chicken on Lay’s Original, inspired by Ontario
Darryl Francispillai from Mississauga, ON
Montreal Smoked Meat on Lay’s Original, inspired by Quebec
Zdravko Gunjevic from Waterloo, ON
PEI Scalloped Potatoes on Lay’s Original, inspired by Atlantic Canada
Jordan Cairns from Burlington, ON

Do you remember last years finalists – Bacon Poutine, Cinnamon Bun, Jalapeño Mac N’ Cheese and Tzatziki?

Or the year before that – Creamy Garlic Caesar, Grilled Cheese & Ketchup, Maple Moose, and Perogy Platter

Even Lay’s in America has had a few odd choices – Chicken and Waffles, Sriracha and Cheesy Garlic Bread.

Lots of weird flavour combination have been seen in the past few years. I’m hooked every year to try them all and do a review.

Cowboy BBQ Beans uses the Lay’s Wavy chips. It remind me of BBQ chips. I couldn’t pin point any other familar flavours to these chips.

Butter Chicken flavour was pretty spot on. The spices were pretty good and fragrant. It wasn’t too strong, but do able.

Montreal Smoked Meat definitely had a unique taste to it, if you didn’t know it was smoked Montreal meat, you will be wondering what flavour this is. You can taste the smoked taste and a sour after taste.

PEI Scalloped Potatoes have a distinct cheese, chive and butter taste. I ate a good amount of scallop potatoes, so I could really pin point those flavours.

Which flavour will I choose? I would have to give it to the PEI Scalloped Potatoes. The flavour was most accurate and I’m sure you could make scalloped potatoes with those potato chips. That would be quite funny to make. Butter Chicken was a close second. It will be interesting which flavour will win this year.

If you have tried them and decided which flavour you like, you can vote once per day on each of the following platforms from August 11 until September 30, 2015:

Lays.ca/Flavour
Text VOTE to 101010
Tweet using one of the flavour finalist voting hashtags
Instagram one of the flavour finalist voting hashtags

Voting hashtags for Twitter and Instagram are:
#VoteCowboyBBQBeans, #VoteButterChicken, #VoteMontrealSmokedMeat and #VotePEIScallopedPotatoes.

In Dessert

UYU Ice Cream: Soft Serve Ice Cream in Gastown

August 11, 2015

UYU Ice Cream is soft serve ice cream parlour using only organic milk and ingredients. We came here during their soft opening last week. It’s located near Tacomio and Prado. This area has really changed up in the last few years.

UYU means milk in Korean.

Their 2 main items that you can purchase are soft serve ice cream in a cup or ice cream bars.

They offer a variety of toppings to their soft serve and ice cream bars ranging from freeze dried strawberry to the unusual black sesame powder.

Their ice cream has been crafted to ensure the perfect balance resulting in a flavour that is never too sweet or creamy and tastes fresh and delicious.

Original soft serve with 3 toppings – freeze dried strawberry, roasted sunflower seeds, and black sesame powder with Black Currant drizzle. It was pretty good and the topping were very unique.
I’m sure a lot of people are wondering how it compares to Soft Peaks, which is also in Gastown. We found that UYU has slightly sweeter soft serve and we like the variety of toppings and drizzles to choose from.

We Rate UYU Ice Cream:

Address:
433 Abbott Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.uyuicecream.com/

In British Columbia

Lululemon x Stanley Park Brewing: Curiosity Lager Review

August 10, 2015

Lululemon and Stanley Park Brewing collaborated to create the limited edition Curiosity Lager just in time for the 2015 SeaWheeze Half Marathon and Sunset Festival in Stanley Park. It comes in 500ml cans and 4.6% alcohol.

I’ve never done a half marathon and I’m not likely to start, getting it at the SeaWheeze Half Marathon wasn’t an option. Luckily, beer-drinkers can get this at public and private liquor stores in Alberta and B.C.

There are only 80,000 cans that will be available through the Fall, so who knows, maybe one day it will be a collectors item.

I went to the BC Liquor Store and got this all access pack of 8 Stanley Park beers for $17.

2 x Curiosity Lager
2 x Windstorm
2 x 1897 Amber
2 x Noble Pilsner

Not too bad since I wanted to try their other beers a well. For this review, I will stick with the Curiosity Lager.

You can also purchase them in individual cans, but the store I went to didn’t have it.

When poured, it is clear, bright medium golden yellow colour to it. It is made with chinook and lemon drop hops, to give it its citus hop nose with a taste of bready malt, subtle fruit notes, and slight crisp and clean finish.

It pairs well with BBQ meats, rich seafood dishes, spicy Vietnamese or Thai.

The beer was ok, but it wouldn’t be my top pick of beer. I tried it out for curiosities sake. I much prefer lighter and fruity beers. Just a personal preference. I think if I had this with a spicy pepperoni pizza, I think it would taste amazing.

http://www.stanleyparkbrewery.ca/our-beer/curiosity-lager/

In Cafe

Groundswell Cafe: DTES Cafe with a Large Heart

August 9, 2015

Groundswell Cafe offers a space to meet, mix, socialize with our neighbours and friends, strategize the democratization of the economy, collaborate and create – and get caffeinated! Being right in the Downtown Eastside right by Oppenheimer Park is not the nicest area in town, but Groundswell Cafe is making a difference in the community.

I was on my way to the Powell Street Festival and I saw this small wooden sign pointing towards a cafe a few meters away. We kept following it and ended up at Groundswell Cafe.

They took over the space of Fat Dragon BBQ, which was open a few years ago.

The space is quite large and you can even rent the space for special events. Lots of seating too.

They support people to contribute meaningfully to their community and work together to create a more just economy by:

fostering entrepreneurial and community building skills
providing mentorship
bridging sectors
supporting an ecosystem of change making individuals and projects in here in Vancouver
collaborating with movements around the world

My main goal coming here was to get caffeinated. Everything on the menu is reasonably priced. It’s not a large menu, but it’s just what you would want to see in a cafe.

Latte ($3.50) had a good balance of espresso and milk. I’m not exactly sure where they get their beans from, but it does have a slight sour taste to it.

Overall, my friends and I thought this was an awesome place in the neighbourhood. Good addition as it’s not just a cafe. They hire people from the area and offers a lot of resources to those who need it.

We Rate Groundswell Cafe:

Addresss:
566 Powell Street, Vancouver

Website:
groundswellcommunity.ca/cafe/

In Kid Friendly

Prata Man: Singapore Cuisine in Richmond

August 8, 2015

Prata Man Singapore Cuisine is located in Richmond in Oak’s Plaza on Capstain Way and Garden City Road. A lot of people have been telling me to come here to check out their Hainanese Chicken.

This place is cash only, so make sure you have some before coming here. Typical Richmond right?

The interior is alright, but not easy on the eyes. Very basic, but it will do. The service was quite bad when we were here, but we really focused more on the food. One of the neighbouring tables helped us flag down a waitress to get us some plates and utensils to share the food.

Single order of Hainanese Chicken with soup and rice ($7.25) was a pretty good sized meal for one. The chicken was nice and cold. When it’s dunked into the ginger and green onion oil, it’s so damn good. We didn’t really use the other sauce as it’s really all about the other sauce.

Curry Beef with Prata Bread ($7.95) was pretty good too. I liked the curry sauce and the huge chunks of beef.

The prata bread was pretty flat and dense like a pancake and not flakey all. It was ok, but i have no idea what prata bread is supposed to be like.

Mee Goreng ($6.50) was very different than what I usually would think it would look like. Either way, it was delicious and one of our favourite items from the menu.

BBQ Satay Skewers (half dozen – $7.95) we asked them for 2 chicken, 2 beef and 2 pork. These were ok but a bit on the drier side. I’ll probably pass on this next time.

Overall, I was impressed by the Hainanese Chicken, Curry and the Mee Goreng noodles. The prices are quite good and we all left with a very good impression. We were able to overlook the bad service since it is a family run restaurant. It’s all about the food right? I’m sure the food here isn’t 100% Singaporean cuisine, but good food is good food.

We Rate Prata Man Singaporean Cuisine:

Address:
Oak’s Plaza, 9060-9020 Capstan Way, Richmond

In American

Freshii: Juice, Wraps, Salads, Bowls and Froyo

August 7, 2015

Freshii has opened their newest location at the Broadway Tech Centre near Renfrew Station. It’s a convenient spot for those who go to school at the Art Institue or work in the office building surrounding the area.

It’s a great spot for lunch as they have salads, wraps, burritos, soups, smoothies, juices and even frozen yogurt. They are open for breakfast and dinner times too. There are Freshii locations in over 60 cities and 12 countries worldwide.

They have lots of tables inside for larger groups or single diners.

Mighty Detox Juice ($5.99) has pineapple, ginger, apple, celery, and cucumber. I wanted a drink that was refreshing an not too sweet, so the mighty detox was a good option. The pineapple and apple help sweeten the juice so it’s not a chore drinking it.

Banana Nut Crunch Smoothie ($5.99) has banana, walnuts, almonds, and low-fat frozen yogurt. M quite liked this drink as it had a nice thick texture and it wasn’t too sweet. A great cool drink for the hot summer.

You can eat in or take the items to-go. It’s very convenient to bring back to work.

Kimchii Bowl is a special item only in the summer. It has brown rice, kimchi, edamame, carrots, purple cabbage, mushrooms, hard-boiled egg, sesame seeds, nori, teriyaki sauce, and sriracha. It was a big filling bowl. A good mix of protein and vegetables. The kimchi was surprisingly good, so they really know how to source their kimchi.

M had chicken with the bowl and thought it was a bit dry.

Ninja salad with tofu ($7.79 + $1.49)has spinach and romaine, cabbage, edamame, carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, crispy wontons, and asian sesame dressing. We added tofu to it for extra protein. I thought it was ok, quite healthy but I would have preferred dressing on the side, but thats just a personal preference.

Sushiito is their sushi burrito, but not to confuse you with Sushiritto because those are two different type of sushi wraps.

They have two kinds of Sushiito – Kimchi Tofu and Chicken Teriyaki. No very sushi-like flavours.

Kimchi Tofu Sushiito ($8.99) is wrapped in nori and stuffed with brown rice, kimchi, tofu, avocado, carrot, cucumber, purple cabbage, and lemongrass sauce.

Chicken Teriyaki Sushiito ($8.99) has the nori, brown rice, chicken, edamame, mushrooms, carrot, cucumber, purple cabbage, and teriyaki sauce.

I found that the Sushitto needed a bit of work as the nori became quite tough and limp that it would actually be very difficult to bite into. Also, its a bit more expensive than the other items on the menu. The salads, wraps and bowls are better deals.

Low Fat Froyo ($4.99) comes in a huge cup for one flat price. It has a low fat probiotic frozen yogurt with your choice of two toppings.

You can choose from almonds, blueberries, chocolate chips, cinnamon, dried cranberries, green apples, honey, mango, oreo, or strawberries.

M and I love fruit so we naturally loaded it up with whatever fruits we can get them to pile on top. He had the mango and strawberries. Of course I like to be somewhat different, I got blueberries and pineapple. The frozen yogurt is more creamy like ice cream.

Overall, it’s a good place for a good quick and cheap lunch. The prices are fair too. It’s a better alternative than some other fast food places close by.

We Rate Freshii:

Address:
2 – 2920 Virtual Way, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.freshii.com

In Brunch

L’Abattoir: Weekend Brunch

August 6, 2015

L’Abattoir offers up a delicious weekend brunch in the heart of Gastown. Of course their dinner menu is stellar as always, but with their brunch menu, the mix comforting staples with hearty, unique entrees.

Always try to make reservations in advance since L’Abattoir is one of the hottest restaurants in town. You can still walk in without one, but it’s always nice to not have to wait. When we were here, we didn’t see it pick up until around 12:30pm.

We were seated upstairs and there is plenty of room for hungry weekend brunchers and probably the severely hungover too.

Thirsty brunchers can sip on creative cocktails, as well as different daily features. They also have non-alcoholic options like their daily bottled house made iced teas.

Their menu isn’t too large but it is still difficult to figure out what to order.

French Press JJ Bean Coffee comes in a small pot, but it was plenty enough for the both of us. They also do free refills, so if you are a coffee guzzler, you’ll be overjoyed.

Delicious and you really can’t go wrong with JJ Bean as they are amazing local coffee roasters.

The waitresses come around offering up their freshly made pastries a la carte. Of course I couldn’t decide so I had to ask the waitress for her recommendation.

Blueberry Danish ($5) was a nice start to the brunch. Nice crisp exterior with delicious blueberries and the sweet custard in the centre. The waitress said this was one of their more popular pastries and tends to sell out.

When all 3 dishes arrived, we couldn’t help but salivate. Just beautiful.

Poached eggs with smoked pork belly ($17) has a cheddar sabayon and a homemade English muffin. It also comes with a salad and a slice of orange.

We asked for the eggs to be soft poached and it did not disappoint. Let it ooze!

Full breakfast ($22) has 2 eggs, duck sausage, mushrooms, pork & beans, boudin noir, rösti, and toast. If you are a big eater, you will love this! Lots of carbs and lots of protein. A very hearty meal!

Boudin noir is blood sausage, the darker item behind the pork belly. It was a nice surprise to the dish since it’s not normally served during a breakfast. Most people probably wouldn’t realize its blood sausage unless they asked. It has a unique taste but not bad.

I love the crispy rosti!

Breakfast burger ($15) has a quarter pound patty, hashbrown patty, and a fried egg. It comes of a smaller plate than the other dishes, but don’t feel like it’s not substantial because it is filling.

We cut the burger in half and shared it. It’s a bit easier to eat that way. Delicious flavours but I found the hashbrown to be over salted.

Overall, the brunch items were fantastic and a good twist on brunch classics. I would definitely come here again.

We Rate L’Abattoir:

Address:
217 Carrall Street,
Vancouver

Website:
http://www.labattoir.ca/

In Chinese

Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant: Dinner Feast

August 5, 2015

Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant opened up in 2009 and serves up dim sum, dinner and can cater to large events like weddings. They can hold up to 500 people. We came here for a ChineseBites dinner with other bloggers during the weekday.

The atmosphere was definitely interesting as they partitioned a section of the restaurant for karaoke and dancing. We weren’t sure if this was a normal night here or just a special event.

We had our own little area to enjoy dinner.

Fraser Court Deluxe Appetizer Platter 紅日大拼盤 has marinated jelly fish, honey garlic spareribs, jellied pork hock and five spice beef shank. All of the items were good but I wish the pork hock and beef were sliced a tad thicker.

Everyone seemed to like the honey garlic spareribs as it has a crunch exterior and the sweet sauce.

Whole Winter Melon with Seafood 八寶冬瓜盅 is always a treat to look at when its brought to the table. You can’t help but take a picture of the beautiful container that it’s in.

The soup basically had everything – duck, scallop, fish maw, crab and so many other ingredients. I enjoyed the soup, but there was a lot of items in it.

For the rest of the soup, they set it aside in a bowl. You can see that there a re a lot of items that go into making this soup.

Lobster in Supreme Soy Sauce 頭抽龍蝦 had a delicious taste, but when getting into the meat, I felt like it was a bit tough and chewy.

Chef’s Secret Recipe Jumbo Crab 招牌秘製大蟹 the crab and the lobster had a similar taste. You will need to add extra effort getting the meat out of the lobster limbs.

Sauteed Three Kinds of Seafoods with Black Fungus & Greens 金瓜雲耳炒三鮮 was great. The peas were cooked perfectly so it retained a nice crunch when biting into them.

Roasted House Specialty Chicken 秘製生焗走地雞 was my favourite dish because the chicken was still moist but the skin was nice and crispy. I would order this again.

Clams & Whole Tilapia Fish Chiu Chow Style 潮式大蜆鰂魚煲 was very delicate. When we grabbed some meat off the fish, it would fall into the broth never to be seen again. It would have been nice if it was just served on a plate and the bowl created issues.

Scallops & Egg Tofu with Eggplants in Spicy Garlic Hot Pot 漁香三子煲 was smother in a sort of chili sauce. I kinda enjoyed the silky egg tofu and eggplants.

Sliced Tender Beef with Mushrooms 醬燒肥牛粒 was ok, but the beef was not as tender as I had from other restaurant. Maybe the meat needed to be marinated for longer.

Halibut Belly with Shallots & Green Onions 京蔥頭抽哈利拔頭腩 reminded me slightly of the sauce used for the crab and lobster. Nonetheless, yummy flavour.

Baked Tapioca Pudding 西米焗布甸 is always the best option at a Chinese restaurant. Step aside red bean soup because the baked tapioca pudding is awesome.

They portion it up amongst the table and it was consumed instantly…but after taking picture of course.

Overall the food was good but some dishes started to taste similar after a while like the crab and lobster.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to dine at Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
3489 Fraser Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.frasercourt.ca/

In British Columbia

Uncle Kebab: Middle Eastern Food Truck

August 4, 2015

The Surrey Food Cart Festival was a few weeks ago and Uncle Kebab was one of the food trucks there. Their food truck serves up Shawarma Wraps and Shawarma Plates on their menu. All items are under $10.

You can find them at various events throughout the city.

Watermelon Chiller (16 oz – $5) was so refreshing on a hot summers day. I really needed this. So good! There’s even a little mint leaf inside. Give me moar!

Chicken Shawarma Wrap ($8) has marinated chicken breast, pita bread, home-made hummus, salad, tahini sauce and hot sauce. The chicken breast was quite dry, but the flavours of the hummus and tahini were good.

The wrap itself could have been wrapped a bit tighter and it was quite loose and started to fall apart.

We Rate Uncle Kebab:

Find location:
http://streetfoodapp.com/vancouver/uncle-kebab

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/KebabsYourUncle

In Dessert

Hugos Churros: Vancouver’s First Churro Pop Up Stand

August 3, 2015

Inside Hawkers Mercado at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet is Hugos Churros, Vancouver’s first churro stand. I came here with my Food Blogger buddies – Gastrofork and FoodQueen.

I love churros and it’s hard to find them in Vancouver. Hugos Churros is at this location until Monday, September 7, 2015 (Labour Day). They also pop up at random places in Vancouver, so check out their Facebook Page.

You will find Hugos located near the back corner. I find they have one of the larger line ups compared to some of the other booths.

We found they were constantly busy and you might have to wait a bit for your order as they can only fry so many churros and one time.

Look at those churros being bathed in it’s sugary cinnamon coating.

Churro Ice Cream Sandwich ($7.50) has 2 spiral churros with vanilla bean ice cream in the centre from Mario’s Gelati.

Churro ($3 each or 2 for $5) is a good snack and quite satisfying! It’s crisp of the outside and piping hot on the inside. Plus, it’s coated in all that cinnamon sugar. nom nom nom.

I love churros that I always pretend to cast spells with it. I haven’t had a churro since Disney Land last February.

You can eat it inside the market or outside while you do more shopping. Since it was a hot day, we didn’t want to be inside with all the other people inside.

We Rate Hugos Churros:

Address:
1000-7899 Templeton Station Road,
Richmond

Website:
http://hugoschurros.com/

In Cafe

Capilano Tea House and Botanical Soda Company: Pop Up Shop

August 2, 2015

Capilano Tea House and Botanical Soda Company is currently having a pop up location at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet until Monday, September 7, 2015. If you miss them during their stay at the outlet, they are planning on opening a permanent shop in Vancouver in the near future.

They serve Indigenous teas and botanical tea sodas, foraged right here in B.C. Operated by a mother-daughter duo from the Squamish Nation. You won’t be disappointed when you taste the delicious sodas made with love, featuring the following flavours – Lavender Ginger, Rose Lemonade, Dandelion Burdock and Hibiscus.

When you get up to the counter, their tea specialists will guide you through the different flavours. You can samples some of their tea as well.

They have a lot of different types of tea, so be prepared.

Elderberry Green Iced Tea on Tap ($) is made with organic Mao Jian Green Tea with Elderberries. I had this tea sweetened with a tad of sugar.

Rose Lemonade Botanical Soda ($4) has rose petals, organic lemon and cane sugar. All of us didn’t like the soda because of the strong rose flavour. It reminded us of the scent of Grandma.

Our friends at Gastrofork purchased some of their loose leaf teas to feature on their segment – Tea Tuesday.

Overall, its a nice place to relax after a shopping trip. Sipping on cold tea and avoiding the Summer heat. I found that the tea I love is mostly traditional Chinese tea since thats what I’ve grown up with. So, I generally stay away from blends of tea with other ingredients that aren’t tea leaves.

We Rate Capilano Tea House and Botanical Soda Company:

Address:
1000-7899 Templeton Station Road,
Richmond

Website:
http://www.thecapilano.com/

In Richmond

Templeton Station to McArthurGlen Designer Outlet

August 1, 2015

McArthurGlen Designer Outlet is a quick walk from Templeton Station on the Canada Line. At first I didn’t know how easy it would be to get to the outlet. Just follow the signs and you will make it there in 5 minutes or less.

If you are at Vancouver International Airport, is only 1 stop away. Trips between Templeton Station and the Vancouver Airport are free of charge! If you are super bored during a stop over or a connecting flight, you can totally come here for lunch or a shopping trip.

This was the view from the entrance of the station, so make sure you walk in that general direction. I also loved all the planes flying by as it’s very very close to Vancouver International Airport.

The floor even has this painted, so there’s zero chance of getting lost.

You will know where the main parking entrance is at by the bright turquoise roof.

Oh hey, it’s another plane. So many planes pass by every few minutes.

The first main thing you will see if Caffe Artigiano, which serves amazing coffee. Lines are long, so be prepared to wait.

Yes its true, the Coach line is crazy long and filled with crazy people. I don’t even think there was a large discount either.

McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Vancouver Airport is a joint venture between McArthurGlen, Europe’s leading owner, developer and manager of designer outlets, and Vancouver Airport Authority, a community-based, not-for-profit organization that operates Vancouver International Airport. Did you know there are 20 McArthurGlen Designer Outlets in eight countries in Europe?

I went to one of them in Austria a few years ago and the buildings are pretty similar. It gave me a bit of nostalgia because I remember getting my favourite belt from the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet in Austria.