January 2016

In British Columbia

The Lemon Square: Pucker Up

January 13, 2016

My coworker left me a nice treat on my desk over the holidays – a lemon square! I was very excited because I kept seeing this on Instagram but I was too lazy to seek it out.

It is made with fresh lemons, BC butter and dusted with coconut on a gram cracker base. I’m sure there’s more to it, but I actually don’t believe I’ve ever had a lemon square before. Shocking, I know.

The individually wrapped lemon squares pack quite a punch and the lemon surely shines through. A delicious treat with coffee or tea.

You can find this at farmers markets and other local cafes in Vancouver. I find it interesting how thats the only product that they create. Who knew there was such a large demand for lemon squares.

Website:
http://thelemonsquare.ca/

In Chinatown

The Keefer Bar: Drinks and Bites

January 12, 2016

The Keefer Bar is a pretty awesome place to hang out after work especially for happy hour. The interior of the bar is very grungy and dark, but it’s so interesting to look around the walls to see remnants of old Chinese medicine and pictures. It’s perfect because this bar is right on the edge of Chinatown, where a few Chinese medicine and herb shops are still around.

My coworkers and I came here right after work to indulge in 2 for 1 appies and cheap drinks. They have the happy hour on Sunday to Thursday from 5pm to 7pm, where appies are 2 for 1. Plus all the daily special cocktails of the week are available. Pretty good deal.

The last time we came here was back in 2013.

Since it is the winter, it gets pretty dark fast, but at The Keefer, it’s always dark in the back room. It’s quite nice and it really sets the atmosphere. Their water is pretty tasty too since its infused with a cinnamon stick.

Singha Beer ($5) is an awesome beer as it has a clean crisp taste, which pairs well with the type of appies they serve here.

Veggie Fritters comes with 6 pieces and accompanied with a cilantro pesto plum dip. It was ok, but I wish it was a bit more crisp.

Peking Duck Sliders comes with cucumber, cilantro, spiced pineapple, and plum sauce inside a big bun. AT first I wasn’t quite sure about the bun, but after I bit in, it surprisingly works well together.

Dim Sum can be chosen with any combination of their Pork, Shrimp or Veggie Dumplings. They were decent, but nothing crazy.

Green Onion Pancake Pizza was topped with a lot of cheese. It was divided up into 6 slices and tasted ok as well.

Spring Rolls can be ordered in any combination of their Vegetarian, Shrimp or Duck spring rolls. We ended up ordering 3 orders of duck spring rolls, so that’s why this plate is topped with a lot of spring rolls. We couldn’t taste much duck inside. It tasted like a plain spring roll.

Chinese Churros with Dulce de Leche was a bit odd sounding since its not exactly a churro. It’s a deep-fried chinese donut. They are actually supposed to be for savoury dishes like congee. The dulce de leche was delicious but we felt like it could have been a tad better if there was a sprinkling of sugar on the Chinese donuts.

The space was very dark, so taking photos was a struggle, but I think I did ok with the candle lights.

Overall, the space is pretty awesome for a few drinks and appies. This is primarily a drinking place where you would socialize and have a few drinks. The food really isn’t the star of the show. The only food item that was pretty good was the Peking Duck Sliders. Their cocktails and beer selection were great!

We Rate the Keefer Bar:

Address:
135 Keefer Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thekeeferbar.com/

In Cafe

Coffee Monster: Coffee and Desserts in Coquitlam

January 11, 2016

I came back to Coffee Monster with a few of my friends to just kill some time and enjoy some coffee and cake. I came here about a year ago and I remember they had good coffee but the cakes and desserts were unimpressive. I do like to revisit restaurants once in a while to see if there are any improvements, so it was the perfect time to do so.

They have beautiful wooden tables inside this cafe so it does have a nice rustic atmosphere.

I noticed there is a time limit of 1.5 hours now, but since it wasn’t too busy today, I don’t think the staff enforced it. Not sure about other days though.

Once you put your order in, you get an electronic device that buzzes when your order is ready. The service at the cafe is ok, but not very warm.

The girls got Spanish lattes, which is a regular latte with sweet condensed milk. They tasted great.

I ordered a cappuccino and it was nice and frothy on top. Their coffee is pretty good.

Matcha tiramisu looked good but once we took a bite into it, the top and the sides were dry like they have been sitting in the fridge for some time.

Overall, similar feelings as the last visit a year ago. Good coffee, but the desserts are subpar and not very fresh. You can definitely skip the cakes and just get coffee or tea.
We Rate Coffee Monster:

Address:
6-405 N Rd Coquitlam, BC

In Brunch

Au Comptoir: Breakfast in Kitsilano

January 10, 2016

Au Comptoir is a classic Parisien cafe in Kitsilano. Flo was back in town and we love meeting up over coffee and delicious food. Thats what foodies do best.

They are open at 8am everyday for breakfast. It’s great that they are open so early.

No breakfast is complete without coffee. I grabbed a cappuccino with my meal. It has a nice pit of latte art on top. They also serve it with a small little cookie. Nice touch.

The water bottle is pretty neat as they reuse old Whiskey bottles.

Breakfast Au Comptoir ($13) has oeuf cocotte, potato rösti, and your choice of house-made sausage or bacon. Flo got the bread replaced with more salad. Bacon is deliciously crisp.

Croque Madame ($14) has gruyère, ham, fried egg on country bread, and salad. I liked how it was served open-faced and it wasn’t too heavy for breakfast. The salad balances out the croque madame.

Overall, it was a good place to catch up with friends over breakfast. The servers were nice and a good place to start the day with food and drinks.

We Rate Au Comptoir:

Address:
2278 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://aucomptoir.ca/

In Chinatown

Ba Le Sandwich Shop: Quick Cheap Banh Mi

January 9, 2016

Ba Le Sandwich Shop in Chinatown is a tiny shop that sells incredibly cheap banh mi sandwiches. Any lunch thats under $5 has got my attention. It’s even cheaper than McDonalds. I’m trying not to spend much for lunch, so anything cheap and decent is good enough for me.

Even when I went to order, they just handed it to me right away. I supposed since it was the lunch rush, they have a few sandwiches premade.

Cold Cut Banh Mi ($3.50) is always one of my favourite kinds of banh mi sandwiches, so I gave it a try to see how it is. When I unwrapped it, it’s really does not look impressive at all. It’s kinda hidden inside.

Inside the crispy bun are the slices of cold cuts and veggies inside. I could always use more ingredients inside, but for $3.50, I won’t complain.

It filled me up for lunch and it wasn’t bad at all. I would come back again for a quick cheap lunch to bring back to the office. Most people come here to get take out.

We Rate Ba Le:

Address:
638 Main Street, Vancouver

In product

불닭볶음면: Korean Fire Noodle Challenge

January 8, 2016

One of the strangest obsessions of 2015 was the Korean Fire Noodle Challenge featuring Samyang Food’s Buldalk Bokkeum Myeon (불닭볶음면) AKA Korean Fire Noodles.

It has been said that it’s one of the spiciest noodles in Korea. Dozens of Youtubers have filmed themselves trying to eat a pack of these fiery noodles and screaming in pain. I shared a pack with a friend on New Years Eve to kill some time while waiting for the countdown…

To prepare the noodles, you need to:

Bring a pot of water to boil
Add uncooked noodles to the boiling water
Once the noodles are cooked, drain water and transfer noodles to serving bowl
Add the seasonings (hot sauce and seaweed/sesame packets) and mix well
Eat
Fell the burn

The first few bites were actually very enjoyable an it has a good balance of spicy and slight sweetness. After about 30 seconds, the intense heat will hit you in the mouth. I thought I could handle a decent amount of spicy since I love Korean food, but this was definitely very spicy. After a few slurps, we could fell heartburn-like pains.

The next morning, lets just say it wasn’t fun to be in the washroom…it burns.

If you want to try this, you can find it at most Korean specialty stores.

In Bubble Tea

Chatime Surrey: Bubble Tea near Surrey Central

January 7, 2016

Chatime opened their newest location near Surrey Central a few steps away from the Skytrain. I’ve been a fan of Chatime since they first opened up a few locations in Richmond and Vancouver. It’s great that they are slowly opening up more locations in the suburbs. Finally closer to home. Woot Woot.

To me, what makes them stand out is the flavours of their drinks. When I was invited to their soft opening, I couldn’t resist trying a bunch of drinks.

The customization on the amount of sugar and ice is great since it can change the flavour of the drink significantly.

They differentiate themselves from the competition by using freshly brewed tea and natural flavouring.

I have 3 drinks that I always order:

Roasted Milk Tea with Grass Jelly (half sweet + less ice)
Brown Rice Green Milk Tea (half sweet + less ice)
Thai Coffee Milk Tea with Coffee Jelly (slightly sweet + less ice)

My asian tastebuds just love these drinks. I don’t like my drinks too sweet, so I never get full sweetness and I don’t like my drinks getting diluted with too much ice. Plus, with less ice, that means more bbt right?

Ice Options: 0%, 80%, regular ,or 120% ice
Sugar Options: 0%, 30%, 50%, 80%, regular, or 120%

Of course they have a lot more drinks to choose from and different jellies and toppings to add inside.

Topping options:

Pearls
Grass Jelly
Pudding
Coconut Jelly
Coffee Jelly
Red Bean
Aloe Vera
Rainbow Jelly

You just need to add 50 cents for the toppings.

The drinks come in 2 sizes – large and regular. They also have hot drinks too. Who gets a regular when you can get a large for only 50 cents more.

Overall, great location and a decent number of seats. Most people do take out from what I’ve observed.

We rate Chatime Surrey:

Address:
10255 King George Boulevard, Surrey

Website: http://www.ichatime.com/

In Chinatown

Ramen Butcher: Tsukemen

January 6, 2016

Another lunch visit to Ramen Butcher means trying something new on the menu with my coworkers. The space is nice and its never too crowded during lunch as most people head to Phnom Penh. This area has definitely changed a lot. The Menya Kouji group has opened up The Ramen Butcher and they own over 150 ramen shop locations around the world.

Such a cute drawing of a pig and its different cuts of meat.

The tall window really give this place a lot of natural light.

Tsukenmen is a Japanese noodle dish consisting of ramen which is eaten after dipping in a separate bowl of soup. When I saw this new item on the menu, I had to give it a try. Seeing that this restaurant has changed a few items on their menu since their opening, I thought I would give it a try.

Tsukemen ($11.55) has a bowl of their house cold thick noodle and then their bowl of their special dipping soup. The noodles seems a bit overcooked and a bit thick for my liking. They stuck together a lot more than I would have liked.

The egg and the pork were delicious. Look at that beauty. The only thing that bothered me about the taste was the strong fish meal taste. It was warmed in the menu, but it was pretty darn fishy.

I would still prefer Taishoken’s Tsukemen a lot more. If you come here, definitely get Ramen Butcher’s other ramen.

We Rate The Ramen Butcher:

Address:
223 E Georgia St
Vancouver BC

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/theramenbutcher/

In Cafe

Oka-San: Sushi + Kitchen + Cafe

January 5, 2016

Oka-san Kitchen is the latest restaurant to pop up on Fraser Street in Vancouver. Oka-san is the Japanese word for mom, thus the name of this restaurant. It’s a cute concept to be served a homemade Japanese meal, so my friends and I decided to come here for a quick lunch. It’s pretty awesome how the neighbourhood on Fraser Street is evolving and all these cool eateries are popping up.

The interior is very cute, not a large space, but there’s enough space for smaller groups.

Later in the afternoon, this place filled up quickly.

Tea arrived at the table in a cute teapot and cups.

Spam nigri was on special for the day. There is caramelized spam with tamago on top of rice. When I saw this on the menu, I couldn’t say no to ordering this. The spam has a delicious flavour to it, but the rice fell apart instantly so it was hard to eat.

We were all drawn to the Mom’s Plate, where you can create your own meal by choosing a main, a raw item and a side. It comes with fruit and miso soup. It seemed like a good item to order so you can get a taste of everything.

Miso soup came in this cute tall cups.

Oyako don + Ebi Mayo +Hawaiian Poke

Kakuni don + Tuna gomae + Veggie Croquette

Gyu don + Kimpira + Hawaiian Poke

Gyu don + Spicy Tuna + Spinach Gomae

The gyu don wasn’t very good as it was overcooked and bland. The oyako don and the kakuni don were decent. The flavours of the items we ordered were average but nothing really stood out in terms of flavours.

Overall, super cute concept of Japanese comfort food with a homestyle twist, but taste wasn’t memorable. I’ve heard from others that the pasta is good here. Perhaps next time, I’ll give that a try.

We Rate Oka-san:

Address:
3578 Fraser Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.okasankitchen.com/

In British Columbia

Ayoub’s Dried Fruits and Nuts in Burnaby

January 4, 2016

Ayoub’s Dried Fruits and Nuts have been popping up around Metro Vancouver. They now have 5 locations.

The closest location to me in Burnaby always closes right when I get home from work, so I’ve had a lot of hit and misses with their hours. Walking into this shop, there’s definitely a lot of nuts, fruits and specialty items. Service is a little bit cold, but it was perhaps they thought we were here before.

Okra chips was very crunchy. Pretty good in my opinion. Minimal seasoning on it. The only other ingredients are non-hydrogenated canola oil, hint of sugar and sea salt.

Curry Mixed Nuts has a nice curry flavours, but it was a bit on the salty side. Also, the nuts were a bit on the softer side that what I would have liked. I like nuts that have more of a snap when you bite into them.

Cracked Black Pepper Mixed Nuts had a strong pepper taste which was nice, but was sour. I found that there was the same issue with the texture of the nut being a bit soft and perhaps stale.

I haven’t tried their raw nuts, but I’m curious to give that a try next time to see if the texture is different.

Veggie Chips are another popular item.Tasted good but it does have non-hydrogenated canola oil, and seasoned with a hint of sugar and sea salt. The sugar threw me off a little bit. They mix contains – beets, carrots, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes and taro.

Overall, the items were ok but I didn’t like texture and flavour of some of the items. If I were to come back next time, I would want to try their dried fruit items.

Address:
#134 – 6550 Hastings St., Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.ayoubs.ca

In Brunch

Earl’s Kitchen and Bar: Weekend Brunch

January 3, 2016

Earl’s Kitchen and Bar serves up brunch on the weekends and they invited us to try all 5 of their signature brunch items on the menu. They were founded in 1982 and since then has 65 locations across North America. This particular location in on the 2nd floor right above London Drugs on Robson Street.

The space is large with patio seating as well. We were seated right by the window, so it was nice to watch the cars drive by Robson Street.

To start off the brunch, I got apple juice and the other ladies got orange juice.

Goat Cheese Frittata ($13) has arugula, oven dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, chopped olives, and preserved lemon. The egg was light and fluffy on the bottom and the greens on the top helped lighten the heaviness of the egg.

Sweet Virginia Benny ($13) has sweet virginia ham, poached eggs, hollandaise, grilled sourdough, and crispy fried potatoes.
The eggs were poached perfectly soft! The crispy potatoes were so addictive!

Fried Egg Sandwich ($13) has cheddar, caramelized lemon aioli, tomato, and bacon inside warm griddled sourdough.

This reminded me of a BELT Sandwich but with cheddar. It’s a good alternative. Tasted very satisfying but I wish the side wasn’t potatoes. Perhaps fries or a salad.

Chorizo + Mushroom Hash ($14) has avocado, crispy fried potatoes, topped with poached eggs and hollandaise. This was the favourite dish of the meal.

The egg was poached perfectly and the chorizo, avocado and crispy potatoes just meld together so well.

Sourdough French Toast ($12) has a berry compote, chantilly cream and pure maple syrup. A perfect item to end the meal. Splitting it amongst friends is the best so you can ensure a sweet finish to the meal.

A majority of the dishes use sourdough bread which was easily noticed when we had all the dishes in front of us.

After eating all those dishes, we needed to eat and drink more to digest. We all got coffee and just relaxed.

What better way to enjoy the weekend that brunch with some good friends? The brunch at Earl’s was pretty good and the items were prepared very well. The prices are very fair and I would return again. With all the other brunch options in town, its easily missed.

We Rate Earls:

Address:
1185 Robson Street, Vancouver

Website:
https://earls.ca/

In Cafe

Ha Cafe: Vietnamese Cuisine

January 2, 2016

Ha Cafe is a Vietnamese cafe located in the Old Orchard Centre near Metrotown. KoreanGirl and I wanted to grab some pho but find a place that we haven’t been before. Looking up online, Ha Cafe seemed like a promising restaurant, plus it wasn’t far from home.

The space isn’t too large but their mirrors in the back make it seem like a bigger space. The space is decently clean but there is a bit of a draft closer to the washroom.

Spring Rolls has 3 pieces per order and you can choose between meat or veggie. We got the meat spring rolls and it was very crunchy and was very tasty. I would highly recommend it.

Special Beef Noodle and Soup has beef brisket, rare beef, tripe, and beef balls, rice noodles, bean sprouts, onions and cilantro. I found the broth to be quite clean tasting. It’s not overly salted and it kinda has a corn taste. The bowls are big but the broth is definitely different from most places. Sweet, but it seems to lack depth.

Spicy Beef Noodle and Soup has beef flank, Vietnamese ham, rare beef in spicy beef soup, rice noodles, bean sprouts, onions and cilantro. It’s supposed to come with thick vermicelli noodles, but we asked for the rice noodles instead. It’s not too spicy but it has a bit of a kick. To have it more spicy, we just added chili oil to it.

Overall, not a bad alternative for Pho in the area. Looking at the menu and what other people were ordering, the rice/vermicelli bowls were popular and so was the banh mi sandwiches. Prices were good under $10. The pho is large but the broth is sweeter and lacks depth to it.

We Rate Ha Cafe:

Address:
Old Orchard Centre, 28-4429 Kingsway, Burnaby

In Chinatown

The Union: Drinks and Pan-Asian Eats

January 1, 2016

The Union is an industrial-chic hub serving creative cocktails & Pan-Asian eats, including bibimbop and banh mi. I was quite surprised by the pan-asian menu. It is located right by the Georgia Viaduct.

I came here with my coworkers after work for a few drinks and bites. It was close to our office and it wasn’t too busy yet. Most of the space was reserved for reservations later in the evening, but they were nice enough to squeeze us in.

Main Street Session IPA has a smooth hop bitterness balanced with premium malts, then dry hopped to create this “sensational session” IPA.

Main Street Saison No. 7 is a blend of three Saison yeasts. Light in colour with a golden haze, this Saison shows through with fruity esters, pepper and citrus notes. We all enjoyed this beer as it was definitely lighter than the IPA.

Crispy Pork Belly Vermicelli Bowl has noodles, carrot daikon pickle, cucumbers, lettuce, bean sprouts, peanuts, herbs, scallions, and nuoc cham, a Vietnamese dipping sauce. It was a pretty big bowl! I couldn’t even finish it. The pork belly was delicious deep fried and tasted so good. You can’t go wrong with that.

There are a few different types of sauces that you can also add to your bowl.

Around 7pm, this place got a lot busier. It’s a great place to hang out after work. We all got super full from the items we ordered, plus great selection of beer, wine and cocktails.

We Rate The Union:

Address:
219 Union St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://theunionvancouver.ca/