August 2016

In Delivery

Crumb Sandwich Shop: Lunch near Main Street

August 16, 2016

Crumb Sandwich Shop is a small shop serving sandwiches, focaccia, soups, and salads during lunch or for large corporate orders.

You can order through Food.ee in Vancouver or straight from their website. Best to make the order ahead of time if you can.

I was invited by Crumb Sandwich Shop to give a few of their sandwiches a try.

They don’t have a branded storefront, so they are in a commissary kitchen near Beta 5 Chocolates. There’s a row of stores, so head down to the very last one to find Crumb Sandwich Shop. If you see Commissary Connect, you’re in the right place.

Curried Pork & Grape has roasted pork loin, black currant, pea tendrils, caramelized grape, fennel, curry aioli on the organic multigrain. What made this sandwich unique is that curry aioli, it was very nice and added a lot of flavour to the sandwich.

Fried Chicken has buttermilk fried chicken, pea sprouts, radicchio, apple, cilantro, lime, chili, and honey. Nice crunchy chicken with a good amount of breading.

Prosciutto & Pear has caramelized pear, prosciutto, onion jam, arugula, triple cream blue brie with a fig and walnut bread. Reminds me of another restaurant that has a similar sandwich. This is still a good sandwich, but the onion jam threw me off a little bit.

Chicken & Bacon has roasted chicken, avocado, double smoked bacon, butter lettuce, cherry tomatoes, onion jam, five spice aioli on the milk & honey bun. It was like a super good BLT, but with chicken and all the good stuff.

We also tried the Beef Brisket sandwich, but the Szechuan braised brisket tasted so strong of the Szechuan peppercorns, I really didn’t like it.

Overall, it’s a nice option for lunch in the Main/Terminal area as there really isn’t too many lunch options around. Majority of the sandwiches are good, but prices are a tad high. Sandwiches are around $12, but there isn’t any seating here.

We rate Crumb Sandwich Shop:

Address:
401 Industrial Ave, Vancouver BC

Website: http://www.crumbvancouver.com/

In Izakaya

Kuma Izakaya: Drinks and Asian Fusion in Yaletown

August 15, 2016

Kuma Izakaya is located in Yaletown close to the Skytrain. They serve up Japanese and Korean dishes with a hint of French influence. At first it can seem confusing how all 3 types of cuisines would come together.

We were invited to try out their signature dishes and learn more about the restaurant and their chef/owner – Hyun Woo Kim.

Chef Kim has worked at various restaurants around the world like The French Laundry in Napa Valley, the prestigious 3 Michelin star restaurant. You can see this influence penetrate the menu with French, Japanese and Korean.

The interior is pretty nice and cozy with a dark feel. They also have a patio so you can eat outside during the nice Summers. I can see this place bring very popular during that late evenings as they have a good range of Korean liquors.

Drinks

They have soju imported from South Korea, which is awesome since it’s hard to find the flavoured soju bottles.

Their flavours include:

Original
Citron
Apple
Peach
Grapefruit

My friends and I love finding restaurants in downtown with flavoured soju, its pretty hard to find because it gets sold out quite easily. I know I’ll definitely be back for these flavoured sojus.

They also have peach makgeolli, which is a flavoured rice wine. Also really good. It makes it super easy to drink.

Food

Kuma Salad with Tomatoes was piled up high and presented nicely. A good use of different textures in this salad.

Kuma Signature Salad has fresh greens topped with sliced avocado, sliced tomato, pickles, house-made ricotta cheese, and crispy yam. It is drizzled with balsamic and house dressing.

Mango Ebimayo comes with 5 pieces of the deep-fried prawns with mango sauce. The mango added a bit of sweetness to it. You should eat it right away as it loses its crunch quite quickly due to the sauce.

Crispy Chicken has crispy deep-fried boneless chicken with pan-fried veggies and a Korean-style sauce. A good dish for sharing among friends. With all the sauce in this dish, the skin wasn’t as crisp when it arrived on the table.

Osso Buco uses premium AAA beef ribs simmered in house made soy sauce. It is also served with rice.

They also have it as in a spicy version. The beef was super flavourful and tender.

Kuma Chirashi Tartare has balsamic spicy aburi tuna, assorted sashimi served on sushi rice, avocado dressing and garnished with tenkatsu and yam flakes. Taking the first few bites, I didn’t wow me like how Miku’s chirashi tart. The heaviness from the spicy tuna sauce over powered the rest of the layers underneath.

Assorted sashimi was served in an ice cold bowl. Chef Kim chose an assortment from like ika, tuna, hamachi, and sockeye salmon. Very cool presentation and the sashimi tasted great.

Kuma Seafood Champon has noodles in hearty tomato seafood soup. Simmered with assorted pan-fried vegetables, chilli oils, and chilli powder. A good amount of seafood inside and the broth was very good and flavourful. Not too spicy. It’s a pretty big portion, so it can be sharable.

Assorted Aburi Nigiri has Hamachi and Amaebi. The assortment was all presented on one plate.

The aburi amaebi is seared with some sauce on the top. A good sear

The deep fried shrimp heads were ok

The aburi hamachi was pretty good, but could have used a but more char to it.

Overall, a very diverse menu, but still their aburi doesn’t hit the mark as Miku does. Kuma does make it their own style and doesn’t compare. The dishes I thought were pretty outstanding are the dishes with more of a Korean flavour profile like the Kuma Seafood Champon and the Osso Buco.

We Rate Kuma Izakaya:

Address:
233 Hamilton Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.izakayakuma.com/

In Hot Pot

Nabebugyo Hot Pot: Individual Hot Pot in Vancouver

August 14, 2016

Nabebugyo is a Japanese-style hot pot restaurant where you will get your own individual hot pot instead of sharing a big hot pot. My friends and I decided to come here after work to just give it a try.

Interior

There is a large bar looking seating, but its hard sitting there as a group. They have a few tables on the side, so we opted to sit there. Each seat, there are the individual stoves for you to cook your meal.

Individual Hot Pot

All hot pot orders come with rice, seaweed salad and ice cream for dinner. If you are here for lunch, you just won’t get the ice cream.

The seaweed salad arrived first and it was a nice start to the meal. It is cold and has bits of sesame seeds in it.

I went with the Soy Milk broth. It comes with sliced pork, assorted veggies, shimeji mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, tofu, cup of soy milk and udon. The pot first comes with the kombu broth.

They have other flavours of hot pots, but I didn’t feel like anything too salty, so the soy milk was a good option.

I had the choice of beef or pork, but I went with pork. Look at all that delicious pork.

First, we waited for the pot to come to a boil before putting some of the veggies inside.

They told me to put in some veggies and meat in first or else the soy milk will boil over.

Once you pour in the soy milk, it becomes the delicious milky broth.

After it cooked, I left it on a simmer so I could enjoy it with my rice. The broth was very delicious.

You can add more ingredients on the side if it’s not enough. I found that what we received was a good portion. It hit the right spot, but I can see that some people may want more.

You can choose from vanilla, strawberry, banana fudge or green tea ice cream. Of course I gravitated towards green tea ice cream. How would I say no? It was a nice cold treat to end the hot pot meal.

Tipping isn’t required here as per Japanese customs, but since they were so nice, we decided to tip them.

Overall, the food was good and I liked their version of individual hot pot. The taste was clean the ingredients they use are pretty good. They also have a kids hot pot, so its good if you are with kids.

We rate Nabebugyo Hot Pot:

Address:
3190 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://nabebugyo.com/

In Chinese

Sun Sui Wah: Dim Sum in Richmond

August 13, 2016

Sun Sui Wah is a popular dim sum restaurant in Metro Vancouver. They have locations in Vancouver and Richmond. We came to the Richmond location with Chinesebites to check out a few of their popular dim sum items. I’ve never been to this location, so I was excited.

A large enough menu for dim sum. Lots of choices!

The interior is large and can fit quite a lot of people. They also have a few large screens for viewing sports games.

Baked BBQ Pork Pastry is topped with sesame seeds and crisp on top.Comes with 3 pieces, but you can easily cut them into bite-sized pieces to have 6 pieces. Good ratio between the pastry and filling.

Deep Fried Squid doesn’t have that much of a crunchy texture. It was ok, but could have used more seasoning.

Shrimp Rice Roll is another classic item to order. It has 3 rolls and cut into 6 pieces. You will want to drizzle some of the soy sauce over the rice rolls to add more flavour.

Bean curd wraps with fish paste was pretty good. I love bean curds and fish paste. a delicious combination.

Donut Rice Roll has dried pork floss on top and little green onions for colour.

Rice Roll with fish paste is a good version of the classic rice rolls. I actually really liked this.

Beef Rice Roll is another classic. Delicious as usual.

Spring Roll comes with 3 pieces cut in half so it is easily sharable. It has shrimp inside.

Har Gow AKA shrimp dumplings are a staple among Chinese Dim Sum. Most tables would order this. The shrimp inside is soft and has a nice bounce to it. One of my favourite items at any dim sum. It goes well with XO sauce or hot sauce.

Deep-fried glutinous rice dumpling stuffed with pork comes with 3 pieces and was pretty standard.

Daikon Cake with XO Sauce needed a sauce to dip into…perhaps more XO sauce.

Duck webbed feet with taro isn’t for everyone. Some may find it gross and creepy since you’re basically eating its skin.

Stuffed Treasures has 3 pieces of green bell pepper, tofu and eggplant topped with fish paste and black bean sauce.

Steamed BBQ Pork Bun has 3 pieces as well. Comes piping hot and a good a mount of pork filling inside. I would definitely share a piece with a friend since it can be filling.

Tripe with ginger and onion was tender and had a good texture to it. Another item thats not for all.

Beef Tendon in BBQ Sauce was like jelly.

Xiao Long Bao comes 5 to a basket and were ok. Skin thickness was ok too with piping hot soup.

Sui Mai is the classic pork and shrimp dumpling and was average as well. It isn’t too fatty.

Deep Fried Taro with meat filling is crispy on the outside and the meat mixture on the inside is always delicious.

Mini Sticky Rice comes with 3 to an order. Another staple item to order in dim sum.

Halibut Collar has a good amount of spice to it and was a dish I wouldn’t think about ordering for dim sum.

Creamy Egg Yolk Bun comes with 3 pieces and the delicious egg yolks hide inside. Super delicious.

Egg tarts are small, but come with 4 on one plate. You definitely want to eat it right away when its warm. I kinda prefer the smaller egg tarts since you want to save room for other items on the table. I just wanted a small taste of the golden yellow custard.

Overall, a good place to get dim sum in Richmond. You will find the classic dim sum items and a few different items that they specialize in.

We Rate Sun Sui Wah:

Address:
4920 Number 3 Road, Richmond

Website:
http://www.sunsuiwah.ca/

In Four Beakers

Hachibei: Authentic Japanese Food near South Cambie

August 12, 2016

Hachibei is a little hidden Japanese restaurant in South Cambie. I’ve been craving to try new places in town and I stumbled upon Hachibei. It was highly recommended by a few friends and I am a sucker for small authentic Japanese restaurants.

The space isn’t very large, but make reservations if you have a large group. Since it was only myself and 2 others, we took a chance.

Cold Sake comes in really cute glassware. The jug has a hold in the centre for putting ice in there so it stays nice and cold. The sake cups were very nice and seemed quite fragile.

Salmon Sashimi comes with 8 pieces and they use wild sockeye salmon. That colour is just beautiful and had a nice taste.

Ebi Sunomono was a good size with 2 pieces of shrimp. It came in a small bowl but it wasn’t too small. Nice flavour and served cold. Refreshing for a hot summers day.

Steamed clam with sake was their special for the day and ti comes with a delicious broth and 6 pieces of clams. Very delicious broth and nice big clams.

Chicken Karaage was crisp on the outside and flavourful. It came out a bit hot, so you want to cool it down before eating.

Deep-Fried Shishamo is smelt served with a creamy mayo sauce. Crisp on the outside and pretty delicious.

Battera is pickled mackerel sushi pressed into a rectangular shape. It seemed like there was ginger on top of the pickled mackerel too.

Chopped Scallop Roll had large chunks of scallops and tobiko inside. Very fresh and delicious.

Deep fried Oyster comes with salad and mashed potatoes on the plate. The 5 pieces of oysters were crisp on the outside and creamy in the centre. Very delicious and a good size.

It is also served with miso soup, rice, and pickled vegetables.A good wholesome meal for 1 person or can be shared among the group.

A nice accompaniment with the meal to balance out the deep-fried oysteres.

Overall, the food was great and was at a good price. The food was fresh and very delicious. I would come here again.

We Rate Hachibei:

Address:
778 West 16th Avenue, Vancouver

In Japanese

Sushi UOmo: Sushi in North Burnaby

August 11, 2016

Sushi UOmo is located in North Burnaby in the Heights. M and I were looking for a new sushi place to eat dinner at. I’m trying to find more restaurants that I haven’t eaten at in the area and Sushi UOmo was a place I’ve never tried yet.

This place was busy on a Tuesday and they are open till 10am everyday. Normally a lot of restaurants close on Tuesday since it is one of the least busiest days of the week. It seems to be working that this place is open.

Miso soup came at the start of the meal. A pretty standard miso soup, but it was a nice touch.

Hamachi Sashimi is a yellowtail tuna. It has a buttery and rich flavour. It has a higher fat content than regular tuna.

Tonkatasu is served with salad and rice. A big piece of deep-fried pork. Great as an individual dish or to share.

Aburi Don was a very interesting dish. It had the rice underneath with the torched tuna on top with an creamy sauce. There is a bit of salad on the side. The sear on top could have been a bit better with more char.

Shrimp Tempura comes in either 4 pieces or 7. M and I chose the 4 pieces so we could have 2 pieces each. Crunchy exterior with lots of batter around the shrimp.

Overall, Sushi UOmo was ok. The price of their dishes are affordable and you get a good amount of value.

We Rate Sushi UOmo:

Address:
4280 Hastings Street, Burnaby, BC

In Chinese

To Hot Pot: Chongqing Style Hot Pot in Richmond

August 10, 2016

To Hot Pot is the newest hot pot restaurant to open up in Central Richmond. It is located in the same plaza as Dinesty. They specialize in Chongqing style hot pot.

We were invited by Chopstick Fest to have a sneak preview of what To Hot Pot offers to their customers.

It’s very new, so nothing exists online when we were searching this place up.

Interior

This space is huge! This is the main dining area with tons of hot pots. They even have other areas as well for larger groups for more private dining.

We love the table that we sat at since it has hooks for your purses. Love it.

Tracking Card

This little electronic card tracks what you order for your hot pot.

The instructions on the card say:

Pick your soup, bring your card to the counter
Pick your dishes freely
Choose your drink, billed automatically
Pay bill with card

Not the best explanation, but there are staff to help guide you through the process.

Ordering

There is a digital screen where you can make your selection of drinks, soup base and other options. It’s a fairly strange process to me to have servers around, the digital screen to order with the electronic card, then you also have to go pick up what you want from the fridges.

At the far end of the room are these small fridges were you can pick and choose what you want for your meal. Each dish costs money, but you have no idea how much until you tap your card at the end for the total.

You’ll find vegetables, meat, tofu, noodles, and other items that you would typically add to the hot pot. Each dish has an RFID chip, so they can track what items you grabbed.

You place your tray of items on this electronic table, it tabulates and you tap your card.

Mix your own sauce

I love the sauce bar since they have so many options for you to make the perfect sauce thats tailored to your taste buds.

With so many options, there are lots to choose from, but there are only Chinese descriptions for the ingredients, so for only English speakers like me, we accidentally got black vinegar instead of soy sauce.

They also had a small area for fruits and picked vegetables. You can grab as much as you want.

Drinks

Tea is free of charge, but they do have a good range of drinks to accompany the hot pot meal.

Plum Juice is a classic item, but it’s not for everyone. For me it’s something that I’ve grew up drinking, so it don’t notice the flavours too much. To others it can taste like a light BBQ sauce.

Winter melon juice was another item that our group loved.

Hot Pot

We got the two soup bases – Pork Rib Soup and the spicy Chong Qing Style. They also have a special nine combo soup base option that looks pretty cool too.

The spicy Chong Qing broth was very hot for our standards. According to the restaurant, some customers don’t have an issue with it. I usually find the spicy broth is great for cooking meat.

The Pork Rib broth was very nice and flavourful. Great for vegetables, noodles, seafood and tofu.

Veggies

Veggie platter comes with an array of veggies that go well in the hot pot.

Mushroom platter comes with a variety of mushrooms from enoki to oyster mushrooms.

Meat

Pork Belly is always a delicious meat to choose.

Meatball Platter has 4 types of meat balls with 3 each. Beef, lamb and fish I think.

The premium meats will arrive at the tables on nicer dishes, but there are a few cheaper meat options in the fridge like the pork jowl.

All the other dishes may not fit on the table, for us, we ordered so much that it started to overflow the table, so they have these special racks for the extra dishes.

VIP Guests

Apparently, VIP guests get a few special items with their meal. Since we were blogging about the meal, they brought these items over to us.

Deep Fried Pork with Sichuan peppercorn embedded into the batter. The Sichuan peppercorns are pretty intense and numbs your tongue.

The deep-fried buns with condensed milk is always a treat.

Overall

Overall, the quality of the meats, vegetables and broth were good. I’m really use to having all you can eat at other places around town.

The ordering a la carte system was confusing at first since you don’t really know what the prices are until its charged.

We Rate To Hot Pot:

Address:
130- 8171 Ackroyd Road, Richmond, BC

Phone:
604-284-1555 or 604-285-7738

In British Columbia

A&W: Smoky BBQ Teen Burger

August 10, 2016

A&W had their Smoky BBQ Teen Burgers released last month. One day during lunch, a few of us decided to go to A&W across the street to grab lunch and head back to the office.

The Smoky BBQ Teen Burger has peppered bacon, grainy Dijon aioli, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, jalapeno cheese, and smoky BBQ sauce.

They’ve been able to take the classic teen burger and spice it up a bit.

I usually like to go to A&W for their limited time burgers since they always seem to nail the sauces they add to it.

Website:
https://www.aw.ca/

In Chinese

21 Nautical Miles: Seafood Boil and Beer

August 9, 2016

21 Nautical Miles is a new seafood restaurant in Yaletown. They are best know for their Chinese-style seafood boil, drinks and different types of appetizers.

They are right across from other popular seafood restaurant – Rodney’s. Their menu is quite different.

I was invited by Chinesebites to try a few of their signature items. I was pretty excited since I was going to come visit soon. I love a good seafood boil and the Chinese-style of it really intrigued me.

Interior

The interior is pretty neat. Mostly white with access of colours. I kinda liked it and there are a lot of seats inside for small to large groups.

They also have a second floor

Drinks

They have large beer dispensers and we were surprised they had Innis & Gunn on tap. A good drink to have with their seafood boil.

Seafood Party

To get ready for the Seafood Party, you are give a bib, gloves, chopping board, mallet, utensils and gloves. A good way to stay clean when devouring all the seafood in front of you.

There are 3 sauces to choose from:

black pepper
spicy
garlic butter

These 3 sauces put a twist to the traditional seafood boil most commonly found in the states.

It costs $38.95 per person, but you need a minimum order of 2 people.

The seafood is thrown on the tables, so it is a free for all for those sitting at the table.

Inside the seafood party is crab, prawns,clams, mussels, corn, and potatoes.

The garlic butter was my favourite sauce as it wasn’t too messy to hold the seafood and didn’t overpower the natural sweet taste of the food.

The black pepper was more saucy that the other ones so, you’ll definitely get this all over your hands. Half way through, I had to ditch my gloves so I could get a better handle of the seafood.

The spicy sauce wasn’t bad but it did have spicy Szechuan notes to it.

You really get down and dirty with the meal, good thing there are bigs to shield you from the debris.

You definitely don’t want to be eating this and wearing something expensive.

Appetizers

Golden Fried Calamari with pepper and salt. It has a nice crunch and a good portion to share among friends. I liked it.

House Spicy Spot Prawns had a nice look to it and presentation. When I peeled off the shell, the prawns were overcooked and bland inside. A shame since spot prawns are super delicious and sweet when just boiled.

Chinese Pork Burgers was filled with flavourful pork inside the crisp bun. It was toasted well and tasted good.

Grilled Oysters with cheese is half cooked, so it was a very odd experience eating this. I think I would have preferred raw or cooked, but not half way.

Herbal Coconut Mussels was ok, but I prefer the mussels from the seafood party.The herbal coconut sauce can be soaked up with the bread to enjoy it more.

Garlic Steamed Lobster Tails was very pungent with the strong garlic taste that overpowers the lobster tail.

Abalone is cooked with a house special sauce, which reminds me of sweet prunes. I would have liked the sauce to be lighter so we could taste of the abalone.

Skewers

Lamb skewers were smother in cumin and had a fragrant flavour. It is served on metal skewers, so don’t poke your eye out.

Beef skewers were spiced with cumin too, so it was a bit hard to differentiate from the lamb.

Chicken Satay was moist and not dry at all compared to other places in town.

Pork Skewers are braised for 48 hours. Look at the delicious fatty layers, its basically pork belly.

Dessert

Mango Thousand Layer Cake is flown in from Taiwan and has the layers of crepe, whipped cream and then the mangoes in the centre. It is served with ice cream and topped with more whipped cream. It was good and a good ending to the meal.

Overall, the seafood party is a very popular and fun item to order. The other dishes were a hit and miss. They have a few kinks to work out but can’t go wrong with the seafood party.

We Rate 21 Nautical Miles:

Address:
1257 Hamilton Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://21nauticalmiles.com/

In Happy Hour

King Chicken: Happy Hour Fried Chicken

August 9, 2016

King Chicken is located on Broadway and Rupert in Vancouver and they have been attracting people to grab their insanely cheap chicken during happy hour. They are a small family run restaurant.

From 11am – 3pm daily, they have $1 drumsticks and $0.50 drumettes and wings (they call this chicken karaage). A few of us came here for this deal. How can you go wrong with a special that’s so cheap.

Interior

The interior isn’t too large but it has a few tables inside. It’s definitely a hole in the wall but people come here for the cheap chicken.

Deep Fried Goodness

Everything we ordered was deep fried – Drumsticks, wings/drumettes, and deep fried coconut milk. Everything was made to order, so it did take a bit of time for all our orders to come out.

You can choose from regular and spicy. It seems like they just sprinkle on a spicy spice mixture on top. I actually preferred the original as the spicy seemed like it was overly seasoned.

Between the drumstick and wings/drumettes, I didn’t have any particular preference. I knew I just ended up ordering way too much.

Fried Coconut Milk was pretty large and it comes with 2 long pieces for just $3. I think if it was half the size, it would be more palatable.

It was very rich and creamy inside. Definitely something unique to try out, but you will have to share with others as 2 pieces is way too much for 1 person.

To top that off, you can get a side of fries. Pretty standard french fries. We ate a lot of fried foods when we were here.

Overall, not bad for the price and it’s made to order. The best bang for your buck is really the happy hour menu. I still have my fav fried chicken places elsewhere, but for the price, you can’t go wrong.

We Rate King Chicken:

Address:
3307 East Broadway, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.kingchickens.ca/

In Bakery

The Cycling Croissant: Breakfast Delivery Service in Vancouver

August 8, 2016

Grab pastries for an early morning meeting is pretty tough if you love your sleep. For those busy bees, The Cycling Croissant is here to help us get pastries delivered right to our door.

The Cycling Croissant showed up at my office before one of my meetings so I could share it with my coworkers. I love a nice sweet treat to begin the day with a cup of coffee or tea.

In the box were croissants, chocolate croissants, almond croissants, mini palmiers, and a raisin danish. They also have apple turnovers, but I didn’t try it.

By the time that it arrives, it isn’t very hot or crispy. So, you will need to pop it into a toaster oven if you have one. Sadly I don’t have a toaster oven in the office, so we ate it as is.

The croissants had a good amount of buttery taste and richness. Of all of them, I liked the almond croissant and the mini palmiers.

For delivered pastries, it wasn’t bad. If I really wanted a superb croissant, I’ll definitely go out of the way to acquire it.

You can make any combination in your order as long as it has a minimum order of $15. It arrives between 7am – 12pm, delivery is free and they will send you a text message before they arrive.

They only delivery to Downtown Vancouver and some parts of Vancouver, so it’s not available to those living outside of those areas.

If you’re ever stuck in a bind and need pastries delivered to yourself or a friend, The Cycling Croissant is for you.

Website:
https://www.thecyclingcroissant.com/

In British Columbia

Tubify: Organic Craft Freezies

August 7, 2016

Have you seen Tubify around town selling their organic craft freezies? You can find them at special events around town or near Science World. It’s been a while since I’ve had freezies. I would remember our freezer would be stocked with them during the hot Summers.

They have 7 flavours to choose from and they retail for $4. They use organic ingredients, filtered water and Fair Trade products. It is also certified Vegan.

Here are a few of their flavours:

Raspberry Raven Lemonade
Minty Moose Limeade
Blueberry Elephant
Coconut Koala Cold Brew
Strawberry Thunderbird
Mango Tiger
Triple Berry Iced T-Rex

Blueberry Elephant is packed with organic blueberries, organic not from concentrate orange juice, organic extra virgin olive oil, and Fair Trade organic evaporated can juice. Great for berry lovers and you can see a lot of the blueberry bits inside.

Raspberry Raven Lemonade has filtered water, organic raspberries, not from concentrate lemon juice and Fair Trade organic evaporated cane juice. Can can taste the bits of raspberries inside, but the lemonade made it pretty sour.

Strawberry Thunderbird has organic BC strawberries, organic, not from concentrated orange juice, organic extra virgin olive oil and Fair Trade organic evaporated cane juice. Has a dominant strawberry taste and it was very good.

Minty Moose Limeade has filtered water, organic not from concentrate lime juice, Fair Trade organic evaporated cane juice and mint. I wasn’t a fan of this flavour. It was very sour and the hints of mint didn’t work too well.

Coconut Koala Cold Brew has a very strong coffee taste with the hints of coconut.

Overall, the freezies do taste great and will relieve you from the blazing Summer heat. At $4, it is pretty pricy, but they do go above and beyond with the ingredients they put inside.

Not sure where to find them? Check out their website.

Website: http://www.tubify.ca/

In Downtown

YVR Food Fest: Food Truck Festival in Vancouver

August 6, 2016

YVR Food Fest was this weekend on Aug 6th and 7th. Vancouver has a vibrant food truck scene and where else can you get the city’s best food trucks and a few eateries all in one place? Right by Olympic Village and the Cambie St. Bridge is where the YVR Food Fest is located.

There were various types of tickets available:

General Admission
Taster Ticket
The Big Feast

With all these different types of tickets, it was a little bit confusing especially if you have the taster tickets.

If you have general admission tickets, you can just order that regular items off the food trucks menu.

I was invited to the YVR Food Fest and given a few taster tickets to use for the event, so the items seem in this recap are of the taster items.

With all the food trucks and vendors here, not all of them accept the tasting tickets. Most vendors have 1 item available on the tasting menu, a small item that gives you a taste of what they have to offer.

Seating

They have a few picnic tables and tented seating to keep people shaded from the hot sun. We didn’t have any problems finding a space since there would be a lot of movement in the area.

The Original Hurricane Potato

The Original Hurricane Potato truck had mini version of their spiral potatoes for the tasting. Very cute and pint sized.

C’est Si Bon

C’est si bon has their regular menu filled with their French inspired menu with sliders, beef bourguignon, salad, and pastries.

For the tasting tickets, you can get a mini item of something on the menu. My friend got the beef bourguignon and I went with the beef slider. It’s so cute. Taste was pretty meh.

Le Tigre

Le Tigre has always been a fan favourite for having their kick ass rice bowl. For their tasting tickets, they had miniature rice bowls with fried chicken and a delicious sauce on top. There are some red chilis in it to give it a nice kick.

Mom’s Grilled Cheese

Mom’s Grilled Cheese severs up delectable grilled cheese sandwiches around town. For their taster, they had pickle and cheese in a blanket. Definitely a different than what they normally serve but it was interesting.

Fliptop Filipino Fusion

Fliptop Filipino Fusion Food Truck has delicious items. One item I love its their Flippin Adobo ‘Fili’ Cheesesteak.

Their tasting was the Longanisa Wonton Cups with sweet cured pork, salsa, calamansi sweet chilli sauce, and pea shoots.

Tacofino

Tacofino has food trucks serving up their delicious tacos and burritos.

Their tasting item was the Walking Taco has chorizo, bean dip, cheese sauce, cilantro and corn chips. This reminded me of a Frito pie. It was pretty different that what is on their regular menu.

Kafka’s Coffee and Tea

Kafka’s Coffee and Tea has a food truck roaming around town serving up cold drinks on tap.

nitro cold brew coffee
nitro cold brew tea
rosemary lemonade
ginger beer from Dickies
salted caramel ice cream sandwiches

I grabbed a ginger beer and it had a good amount of ginger kick to it.

Amoda Tea

Amoda Tea had their pop-up tea shop at the YVE Food Feast. They had a bunch of matcha drinks for sale.

I went with the iced matcha tea with no added syrups. Very good and refreshing for the hot weather.

Eastside Flea

The Eastside Flea is a modern day flea market hosting local vendors selling handmade craftsmen goods, vintage clothing, antiques & collectibles, and plants.

A pretty cool addition to to the YVR Food Fest with a little bit of shopping.

Overall, it is a fun event to enjoy a bunch of food carts all in one place. If you live or work outside of Vancouver, spotting food carts is pretty hard since most of the carts are in Vancouver or at special events. This event is a good chance to catch them all.

Try to get there earlier as lines can get quite long to get inside the food fest or waiting at the food trucks for your food.

Beside just having food, there is live music, games, cocktail/beer garden, and a few other things.

Website: http://www.yvrfoodfest.com/

In British Columbia

Champagne & Caviar by Liberty Wine Merchants

August 6, 2016

The 21st Annual Champagne & Caviar event by Liberty Wine Merchants at the Vancouver Rowing Club was put on to benefit amateur sports in BC.

Tons of people gathered on a Thursday evening to devour glasses of champagne and bites of caviar.

We had 52 different types of sparkling wines to try out. If I tried them all, I wouldn’t be able to get home. Only a handful were from BC and the rest were from around the world. There were white, rose and even one red sparkling wine.

Okanagan Crush Pad

Okanagan Crush Pad makes some of my favourite wines. They were serving the Haywire The Bub and Narrative XC Method.

Both amazing in taste, but if I had to choose only one, it would be the Haywire The Bub that wins just by a hair.

The Bub has fermented and aged using Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. It is a fresh and lively wine with nice warm bread aromas and a crisp green apple finish, which is a shining example of what the Okanagan does best – crisp, fresh, and delicious.

Peacock & Martin

Peacock & Martin has 3 wines to feature:

Lake Breeze Zephyr
Thornhaven Infusion
Elephant Island Pink Elephant

All three are from BC.

I enjoyed them all, but the Elephant Island Pink Elephant was my favourite. It has pink hues with lots of tiny bubbles. It is finished brut, currant and green apple notes with cassis on the finish.

Philippe Dandurand Wines

They had a few different wines to try out too:

Ferrari Brut
Ferrari Brut Rose
Thienot Brut Champagne

The Ferrari Brut has a clean taste with golden apple fruity notes.

Empson Wine Canada

Empson Wine Canada had 3 wines to showcase:

The Canella Bellini was a very unique drink. It is composed of two parts sparkling wine, one part white peach juice and pulp from select, perfectly ripe peaches and a few drops of wild raspberry. Very sweet and refreshing.

The Lini 910 Lambrusco has balanced aromas and flavours of ripe blueberry and raspberry.

Caviar

Once the caviar came out, it was a mad dash to get a little taste of the delicious little salty eggs.

There were 4 kinds of caviar to choose from and you can spread them onto crackers with green onions and sour cream.

I’m not a caviar expert, but each one had their own distinct taste and texture.

Because there were so many people, I didn’t pay much attention to what type of caviar was on the table. I just knew they tasted different and had different colours.

Champagne and caviar has been classy pairing thats not just for any occasion. The salty taste of the caviar is enhanced by the dryness of the champagne.

Overall, it was a great time chatting with friends and trying a variety of champagne and caviar.

Website: http://libertywinemerchants.com/pages/wine-tasting-events.php

In Brunch

Wildebeest: Brunch in Gastown

August 5, 2016

Wildebeest is located in Gastown and they have a daring menu focusing on ingredient-driven cooking. Their brunch menu comprises of amazing use of proteins.

Nomss, VanFoodies and I went to grab brunch around noon to hang out and enjoy each others company over yummy food.

Interior

The space is pretty cool with its exposed brick walls iconic of historic gastown. Super hip! Servers were really nice and fun to talk to.

Food

Scrambled eggs has bone marrow, and parsley. It is also served with triple-cooked potatoes, toast, and salad.

All that fatty flavourful bone marrow enrobed in the fluffy eggs is a good way to start the day. I thought it could have used a touch more salt to bring the flavours out. I would have liked the potatoes to be more crispy.

Back bacon benedict has a jalapeno & cheddar biscuit, hollandaise, triple cooked potatoes and a side salad.

The sous vide egg is so delicate and incredibly delicious. Look at that egg ooze.

“The Dutch Baby” has cow’s milk ricotta, fresh fruit, and bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup. Once I saw the name on the menu, I had to order it. I’ve had something similar in the states, but was never able to find it in Vancouver till now.

This pancake unlike the one at the Original Pancake House in the states, was dense more like a cake. Sadly, we didn’t like their version of the Dutch Baby.

Overall, the food was alright, but it didn’t impress me too much. We did order only 3 dishes off the menu when there are so many more items. I’ll definitely be back to try some of their other items.

We rate Wildebeest:

Address:
120 West Hastings Street,
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://wildebeest.ca/

In British Columbia

Canada Day Fireworks at Canada Place

August 4, 2016

I tend to avoid watching fireworks in Downtown Vancouver because there are thousands in the crowd.

Canada Day Fireworks at Canada Place has a family friendly area and their own dedicated Fireworks Viewing Zone. You purchase tickets ahead of time for $15 for adults or its free for kids 5 and under.

My little sister has her birthday on Canada Day, so we thought it would be great to have her see the fireworks in real life rather than on the TV.

The space opens at 8:30pm and its not too busy compared to the other areas by the Convention Centre. A lot of people came right when it opened to get a front row seat by the railings.

You do get a bit closer to the fireworks since the pier juts out more than the convention centre. Even though you have to pay to be in this area, you always have easy access to washrooms and its not too crowded.

If you have kids with you can you don’t want to wait all day to get a spot, this option does take the stress away.

The fireworks begin at 10:30pm and lasts for about 20 minutes. The fireworks were beautiful but it was too bad there wasn’t any music in the area to go along with it.

For $15 to go to this reserved area, I would do this again.

Website: https://www.canadaplace.ca/events/canada-day/fireworks-2/

In Downtown

Glowbal: Happy Hour

August 3, 2016

Glowbal under the TELUS Garden has happy hour from 2:30pm to 5:30pm everyday. The entire cocktail menu is 50% off and they have a few $5 cocktail, wine, highballs and beer specials.

I love a good happy hour, so my coworkers and I dashed out the door to make it before last call.

The space is stunning and you can sit outside on the patio or inside the dining room. We made sure we got reservations before coming since it would be busy.

Sitting at the bar is pretty fun as you can watch the staff put together your dishes.

My coworkers all got cocktails and I got beer. All $5 each, which is awesome.

Crispy Calamari come in a cute little bamboo container. The calamari was ok, but we found that the batter would fall off easily and could have used a pinch of extra salt. It felt a bit bland.

Sashimi Trio has:

Halibut with yuzu kosho ponzu
Ahi Tuna with sesame miso,
Wild Salmon with jalapeño gochujang vinaigrette

So good! Fresh sashimi and the sauces compliment it very well.

Short Rib Poutine has maple gravy, truffle aioli, and cheese curds. This item is filling and its a good item to eat and snack on.

Mussels are super delicious. It has fennel cream, smoked bacon, and served with kennebec fries on the side. The mussels were juicy and plump

Fries were ok, but I wish it was a little bit more crisp.

Beef Tongue robata with a sesame-garlic aioli was really good. So tender and has lot of flavour.

Tsukune robata is chicken meatball served with a cured organic egg and soy sauce. Not as good as the beef tongue.

Kusshi Oysters arrived at the table and they told us it was compliments of the chef. A nice surprise but we think it was because we had to wait so long for our items that we ordered. We didn’t notice too much that we were waiting long since we were having a fun time chatting.

Kusshi Oysters are one of my favourite oysters for their clean and salty flavours. They are known for their small size, but the flavour is just amazing.

Chef’s Selection of Dozen Oysters came with 3 varieties of oysters. 4 were Kusshi, but I can’t remember what the other 2 types were called.

Overall, great selection of food for happy hour for an affordable price. When the drinks are flowing and there is food in front of you, you can’t help but chow down.