Category

Kerrisdale

Category

Honolulu Coffee is back and they have launched a new Hawaiian-inspired menu of seasonal specialties at its Downtown and Kerrisdale locations in Vancouver.

Available for in-store or takeout service, the new Honolulu Coffee Vancouver summer menu includes a few iced tea and coffee drinks and açaí bowls. We were invited to give these new items a try.

I miss Hawaii, so just having a taste of these new items brings me back to the beautiful sights, sounds, and tastes of Honolulu. Since we can’t travel due to the pandemic, this will do.

Safety Measures

Safety is very important, so they have enforces the following measures to keep everyone safe during the pandemic.

  • Enforcing in-store one-way flows / separate areas for mobile order pick-up stations
  • Plexiglas dividers at ordering stations
  • All tables and chairs sanitized after use
  • Hand sanitizer available at registers and pick-up counters;
  • Sanitizing bottles available around seating area for customers
  • Customer who stay can ask for extra alcohol wipes from a staff member
  • All baristas will be wearing masks
  • Social distancing clearly marked and enforced throughout both locations.

Matcha Lychee Soda 

The matcha lychee soda is made with a blend of amai matcha sweetened with housemade lychee syrup and topped with San Pellegrino. Mix this us to incorporate all the ingredients in this drink. Very refreshing drink.

Lychee Oolong Iced Tea 

The lychee oolong ice tea is made with iced oolong tea lightly sweetened with housemade lychee syrup and offering subtle notes of fragrant gardenia and honeydew melon. Refreshing beverage as well, but would have liked the tea to be stronger.

Honey Coconut Cold Brew

They use cold brew shaken with honey syrup and coconut milk. We love this and would get this again.

Açaí Bowls

They offer 4 different kinds of Açaí Bowls. The frozen base of açaí berries, strawberries, blueberries, bananas and apple juice sweetened with honey. The base of the bowls are all the same, but the toppings change.

You can’t go wrong with any of them as it’s all based on your personal preference.

The Basic

The Basic Açaí bowl is topped with fresh bananas and housemade granola.

The Classic 

The Classic Açaí bowl is topped with fresh strawberries, blueberries, bananas, housemade granola and a sprinkle of coconut flakes.

The Hawaiian 

The Hawaiian Açaí bowl is topped with fresh bananas, toasted macadamia nuts, almond butter, housemade granola and coconut flakes.

Build Your Own Bowl 

If you want to have customizable toppings include fresh blueberries, strawberries, bananas, housemade granola, almond butter, macadamia nuts, coconut flakes or honey, you can definitely make it however you like.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a great addition to the menu if you want something that is refreshing and healthy. Plus, you’ll definitely be craving to go to Hawaii once this pandemic is over. We highly recommend the Honey Coconut Cold Brew.

Address:
2098 W 41st Ave, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://www.honolulucoffee.com/

One Bowl is a cozy and casual cafe located in Kerrisdale. They specialize in healthy food options that use high quality ingredients and lower in calories.

The Kerrisdale neighbourhood has a lot of great restaurants from large chain restaurants to locally owned cafes like One Bowl. If you’re looking for something healthy that would pair well with your diet or have dietary restrictions, One Bowl is pretty appealing.

Their approach is to use seasonal ingredients while keeping the purity of their ingredients so its organic and unprocessed as possible. They want the ingredients to shine through without it being overshadowed by dressings and spices.

Interior

The space is cute and there are a few tables inside for small groups. They can host private parties for up to 20 guests in the evenings, just contact them for more information.

The space isn’t too cramped, so if you need some extra room or have kids, it’s not a bad place to visit.

Menu

Sirloin Steak Mushroom Bowl

This bowl has a base of mixed wild rice, kale, mixed greens, wild mushrooms, picked beets and cabbage, tomato, radish and pea shoots with the sirloin steak and egg. There is also a raspberry balsamic dressing on the greens. A very hearty bowl with clean flavours.

At 433 calories, it’s pretty impressive.

Truffle Chicken Bowl

The truffle chicken bowl uses chicken breast, and has wild rice, mushrooms, greens and an egg. The chicken was cooked nicely, but could have used a touch more salt and pepper to bring out more flavour. The mushrooms were delicious with a lot of umami flavour that paired well with the ingredients in the bowl. Also, the truffle oil is nice and fragrant.

This was our favourite of the two bowls. The chicken was very moist and tender. At 370 calories, this isn’t bad at all.

Final Thoughts

The bowls do range from $13 to $19 depending on the ingredients, so it can get pricey. Nonetheless, they do use quality ingredients and isn’t too salty or saucy. You leave feeling good as it has a clean taste. As there isn’t a lot of sauce, some would say its a bit bland. We were impressed by the low calories of their dishes.

If you’re in the Kerrisdale area and you want something healthy, definitely check out One Bowl.

Address:
5687 Balsam St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.onebowlvancouver.com/

Ajisai Sushi Bar is a very popular Japanese restaurant in Kerrisdale and popular among the locals and visitors. I haven’t been here before and my aunt was in town, so we all went to go give it a try.

For a weekday, it was pretty busy with a line up even at 7pm. There were plenty of large groups. Looks like everyone else was craving sushi too. We waited about 20 minutes for a bar seating for 4 people.

There is free underground parking at London Drugs,

Interior

The space is not very large, so it’s hard to fit very large groups here. Best to call ahead to see if there are line ups as they don’t take reservations.

Menu

Drinks

They have a few different sake options on the menu that go well with sushi. Beer and wine is on the menu too. If you’re not into alcoholic drinks, they have pop or you can stick with water and tea.

Seafood Salad

At first, this looked like a super weird salad with corn flakes on top. This has assorted greens, tako, ebi, salmon and tuna as the seafood. It is dressed in a light ponzu sauce I think. The corn flakes added a nice crunchy texture surprisingly.

Gomae

This has spinach marinated with sesame paste. A small portion that you cna pick at before the rest of the dishes arrive.

Uni Nigiri

Uni is sea urchin and it’s in season. You can have it as sashimi or nigiri but we option with nigiri. As it is in season, it is very fresh and has a natural sweetness to it. Highly recommended.

Bluefin Tuna Nigiri

We saw this on their Chef Recommendation so we had to get it. It was melt in your mouth fatty. Very good!

Hotate Nigiri

Hotate is scallop and they had this fresh on the menu.

Tako Nigiri and Ebi Nigiri

These were on the regular menu and it was pretty solid. Tender and not chewy at all.

Ika Shiso Rolls

This roll has squid and shiso leaf. Shiso is used in Japanese cuisine and it has an interesting taste that is herbal-like.

Unagi Avocado Roll

It comes with 8 pieces as an inside out roll with the rice on the exterior and seaweed inside. It was good as the creaminess of the avocado and meatiness of the eel pair well.

BBQ Unagi

They have a small amount of BBQ items on the menu but the eel was very delicious with a sweet glaze on top. It comes with 2 pieces but isn’t too large.

BBQ Gindara

The BBQ black cod had a slight char on the edge of the cod but very fatty and falls apart. Do watch out for little bones.

Assorted Sashimi

This has tuna, salmon, hokki, octopus, and white fish. It’s not the large but the quality of the cuts were good.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the sushi here is good but expensive compared to some other places around town. The staff are very diligent about refilling tea which is good

Address:
2081 W 42nd Ave, Vancouver, BC

Nana’s Green Tea is opening in Vancouver, BC on June 6th, 2018. Nana’s opened in Tokyo 10 years ago and is a Japanese cafe specializing in all things matcha. Matcha is powdered green tea popularly used in drinks and desserts. All the green tea leaves at nana’s are sourced from Kyoto, a production centre of high quality matcha. I personally love it and I first had Nana’s in Honolulu and damn, it was good.

There are 79 other locations around the world and they are aiming for 100 by 2019. Hopefully that means more locations in Vancouver and the rest of Canada.

Interior

The space is very narrow and deep. There is more seating in the back if you want to spend some time here enjoying your meal.

The design of the space is mostly wood and stainless steel with black and white walls. I like the art work on the walls as it reminds you of tea leaves with the variations of green colour.

Menu

Matcha Chocolate Latte

This is a smaller version of what would be served normally. You can get this iced or hot. It is made with the base of a matcha latte with whipped cream and chocolate.

Hoji-cha Shiratama Float

This was our favourite of the 3 we tried. The rice flour dumplings add a nice  chewy texture.The hoji-cha ice cream and latte have such good  deep tea flavours. Highly recommended.

Azuki Strawberry Latte

If you are a red bean fan, this might be for you. There is some strawberry syrup in the bottom with red beans. As the red beans are at the bottom, you suck them up in your straw like bubble tea. Unfortunately, this was my least favourite since I personally don’t like red bean.

Fresh Tuna with Curry Tartar Sauce Donburi

If you want something savoury, they have donburi bowls. This was amazing. The rice was very soft, the tuna was fresh and lightly marinated. There is also some veggies and then topped with curry tartar sauce. Man, if they put the curry tartar sauce between two pieces of bread, I would eat it all the time. It is also served with miso soup too. There is lots of seaweed in it too, which is nice.

Matcha Shiratama Parfait

One of the most popular and photogenic dessert is their matcha shiratama parfait. This is made of layers of matcha syrup, matcha pudding, vanilla soft serve, corn flakes, rice flour dumplings, azuki paste, matcha ice cream, whipped cream and more matcha syrup. This is the ultimate matcha dessert to share with friends.

Matcha Roll Cake

The matcha roll cake has a matcha sponge cake, then rolled in whipped cream and an intense centre of more matcha with a strong bitter taste. Watch out if you’re eating this as there is so much matcha that it may stain your lips.

Matcha Gateau Chocolat

This cake was surprisingly really good. It doesn’t look like much but it has a good balance of matcha and sweetness.

Final Thoughts

Nana’s Green Tea is a great addition to the Kerrisdale neighbourhood and I was pleasantly happy with the quality of their sweet and savoury dishes. They open on June 6th, 2018, so I can foresee line ups for the first week of opening.

Address: 2135 W 41st Ave, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.nanasgreentea.com/en/

I may be lactose intolerant, but that didn’t stop me from attending La Glace‘s tasting preview event a couple of weeks ago. Ice cream at the end of a hard work day was much needed, and Roman and I were eager to get our hands on a decadent treat. As we approached La Glace, I was delighted by the balloons and the setup outside of the shop. The colours of mint, black and white were so welcoming, and the touch of gold made it so pretty. Needless to say, I was already impressed!

I could not help but notice and smile when I saw an ice cream cart with a large black and white umbrella. A young female staff member greeted us and asked us if we would like to try the Matcha Black Sesame Swirl. Roman quickly agreed (he loves matcha) and reported back on how good and creamy it was. I was amused by how it was served in a small cone. It made it look oh so cute!

Matcha Sesame Swirl

We entered the shop and I took in the beautiful interior design. Although the shop is inspired by a Parisian aesthetic, I could not help but notice some familiar pieces that my mother also has in her house. It was an unexpected touch of home, and I excitedly pointed them out to Roman. These were the peacock decor that were on display on the shelves behind the counter. The peacock imagery was reflected on the beautiful walls as well.

Lately, I have been more inclined to choose a vegan ice cream option, since it is dairy free (I am NOT vegan). Pastry chef, founder and culinary director, Mark Tagulao, informed me of the shop’s vegan offerings. Mark spoke with such enthusiasm and passion, I found myself even more excited to try the vegan flavours! Hugh, the front-of-house manager was very friendly and encouraged Roman and I to try everything. I immediately gravitated towards the Vegan Coco Pandan, because it made me think of Buko Pandan (which is a Filipino dessert made with young coconut and green gelatin that is similar to grass jelly). Anyways, this ice cream was an elevated translation of that dessert. The coconut flavour did not overpower the pandan flavour, and it was so creamy! I could not believe it was vegan! Hugh even offered to add a macaron and a marshmallow of my choice. I went with the lavender marshmallow and it complemented the Coco Pandan well.

Vegan Coco Pandan with Macaron and Lavender Marshmallow

The other two delicious vegan flavours we tried were the Chocohuète and the Chocolat à la Menthe. These two flavours did not disappoint! The Chocohuète was a rich peanut butter and dark chocolate flavour, and the Chocolat à la Menthe was a cool and creamy mint and dark chocolate combo. I loved mint chocolate chip ice cream when I was a kid, and the latter is a grown up version that I will come back to.

Vegan Chocohuète and Vegan Coco Pandan​

Roman and I also had sample tastes of the other flavour on La Glace’s menu, including the Bananes Foster (banana rum cream, toffee swirl & cinnamon) and the Pretzel Cremèux (sweet & salty pretzel cream). Although these flavours are dairy-based, I HAD to try them and good thing I came prepped (thanks to my lactase pill). These flavours were amazing! Extremely creamy, rich in flavour, and indulgent. Speaking of indulgent, Roman and I plan on going back to La Glace because one of the parfait offerings piqued our interest. It was the Sans Rival, which is two scoops of vanilla ice cream and cashew meringue that is topped with fresh whipped cream. Again, I could not help but notice that this is also inspired by another Filipino dessert with the same name. I am definitely curious as to how it was translated into an artisanal ice cream.

Marshmallows

La Glace definitely had a sweet Parisian patisserie feel. The colours, decor, and space were so inviting, just like Mark and his staff. Roman and I felt pure bliss when we were experiencing La Glace and its ice cream. It is a great spot for a dessert date, or to celebrate a special occasion. Enjoy the last hot weeks of summer with a cool treat at La Glace, where “All things are better when shared with someone cherished”. La Glace is open Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm to 10pm.

Address:
2785 W 16th Ave, Vancouver, BC

Website: http://laglace.ca/

La Glace Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Chatime locations are slowly popping up all over Vancouver and in the subburbs. Their newest location that just opened in Chatime in Kerrisdale.

They are having their soft opening right now, but on March 10th till the 12th, they will be having their grand opening, where they are having a buy 1 get 1 free promotion, where the free drink is either Pearl Milk Tea or Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea.

I go to Chatime quite often as it’s my go to bubble tea shop in Vancouver. I always go with my usual order – Roasted Milk Tea with Grass Jelly, half sweet and less ice. This time around, we tried 5 different drink combinations to explore more items on their menu.

Interior

On the right side is where you put in your order and then wait till its ready.

There are a few tables in the front, but there are more chairs and tables in the back to enjoy your bubble tea and spend time with friends.

Butterfly Pea with Grapefruit Juice

We got this drink regular sweetness and regular ice. Butterfly pea is been brewed in teas dating back centuries while providing numerous health benefits. These flowers are known to act as anti-oxidants, increase blood circulation, help you sleep and promote skin health. The natural blue colour of the drink will magically change colours as the acidity level changes.

 

The name was inspired due to the shape of the flower and its glamourous blue-violet colour, resembling a butterfly.

The tea itself isn’t very strong, but the grapefruit juice balances really well with this drink. I can see it being a great drink to get once the temperature starts rising in Vancouver.

Oolong Tea Mousse

Oolong tea mousse was made with half sugar and regular ice. I like the variety of tea with the delicious salty sweet mousse on top. Similar to another bubble tea chain in town.

Pretty good drink, but I would get it with less ice.

Hazelnut Milk Tea + Coffee Jelly

We got this with no sugar and less ice. I’ve never had hazelnut milk tea before and it was good with the coffee jelly. Surprising combination.

Kumquat Lemon Juice + Aiyu Jelly

It has regular sugar and regular ice. They use fresh kumquat when available, but due to it being a seasonal fruit, real fruit syrup may be substituted. It was refreshing and tangy.

Aiyu jelly is a jelly made from the seeds of various figs that is found in the mountains of Taiwan. Aiyu jelly is usually served with honey and lemon juice as well as fruit tea. A good combination.

Strawberry Au Lait + Pudding

This last drink has regular sugar. It is made with blended strawberry syrup, coconut jelly and milk, then topped with more coconut jelly. On the bottom, there is pudding added.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the bubble tea is pretty consistent with some of the other locations and bubble tea is just delicious. If it’s your first time here, I would suggest my favourite drink – Roasted Milk Tea with Grass Jelly, half sweet and less ice. I always love getting milk tea as it’s a great benchmark to see how their drinks compare to other companies.

We Rate Chatime Kerrisdale

Address:
6075 West Blvd, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.chatimebc.com/

Chatime Kerrisdale Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

magicream-1

MagicCream is the latest addition to the Kerrisdale neighbourhood featuring liquid-nitrogen ice cream with over 40 different flavours.

We were invited to try their ice cream and to see how they differ from the other nitrogen ice cream shops in town.

Process

magicream-2

They use liquid nitrogen instead of dry ice in their ice cream and it is completely safe.

  1. Choose your base
  2. Choose your flavour
  3. Choose toppings
  4. Let the magic begin

Once you choose what you want, its really fun to see them put together your ice cream.

magicream-9

All that smoke goes pouring out when the nitrogen and creates a cloudy magical scene.

magicream-3

Nitrogen Ice Cream

magicream-10

We got to try a variety of flavours and combinations in family size.

  • Chocolate ice-cream with brownie bites and chocolate sauce
  • Caramel popcorn
  • Rootbeer with gummy bears
  • Strawberry with Cheesecake bites
  • Black sesame with coconut and Reese’s cups
  • Coffee with Cookie Dough and Mochi
  • Ovaltine with walnuts
  • Milk tea with pearls and mango jelly
  • Mango sorbet with mango & lychee jelly

magicream-11

All the flavours were well made, smooth with no icy chunks inside. The ice cream didn’t melt too quickly compared to some other places in town. Prices are decent too.

magicream-7

For my personal taste preferences, I didn’t like the very sweet ones with sweet toppings. I can see those would be very fun for kids to eat, but I found that as I got older, I like my snacks less sweet. The downside of getting older.

magicream-6

A few others found root beer to be a pretty unique flavour.

magicream-5

I really liked the Milk Tea Ice Cream with pearls and mango jelly.

magicream-4

Another favourite was the Ovaltine classic with walnuts. They also have a Chinese version of Ovaltine that tastes slightly different, but I went with the classic. I chose the walnuts for texture.

Final Thoughts

magicream-8

Overall, there are a lot of flavours at MagiCream, which is great for groups who have diverse tastes. You can also customize it is any way that you want. They also sell them in 3 different sizes.

I’ll definitely be back for the milk tea and Ovaltine flavours.

We Rate MagiCream:  35rating

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Magicream/302810806753718?fref=ts

Address:
2009 W 41st Ave, Vancouver, BC

MagiCream Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-i-1

Bubble Waffle Cafe has their newest location in Kerrisdale. They serve popular street food snacks such as curry fish balls, egg waffles, stinky tofu, and fish soup noodles.

I was invited by ChineseBites to check out a few items on the menu.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-2

This location has a decent amount of seating. Most people come here to grab a bowl of noodles and some bubble tea.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-1

Due to their location, you’ll notice the prices are slightly higher than the other locations in the Lower Mainland. Either way, it’s still quite affordable.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-3

Cheesecake Bubble Waffle was ok, but it was a bit sweet. I would stick with the original. Can’t go wrong with the classics.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-4

Matcha Bubble Waffle had a nice crunchy exterior with pillowy soft bubbles. I found the matcha very very subtle, barely noticeable.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-5

Cinnamon Bubble Waffle wasn’t very good at all. It was just overpowering and people should just stick with the classic original bubble waffle.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-6

Taiwan Sausage comes with 2 pieces on skewers. It was ok, but I didn’t find anything special about it.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-7

Fish Sui Mai has 6 pieces in an order. The texture was bouncy and lacked much flavour. It was mostly the sauce that added the extra flavour.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-8

Stinky Tofu isn’t for everyone due to its smell. It’s a deep fried tofu square topped with the fermented sauce.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-9

Takoyaki comes with 6 pieces and is topped with bonito flakes. Delicious and you can’t go wrong with takoyaki. Inside you will find a little piece of octopus.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-10

Chicken Nuggets was a good choice too. Deep fried chicken nuggets with salt and pepper is always a hit.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-11

Fried Shrimp Ball was ok, but since it doesn’t have any sauce to go with it, I felt like something was missing.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-12

Milk Tea is a classic item to order. I thought it was a tad sweet for regular sweetness, so next time I would do half sweet.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-16

You can create your own bowl of noodles with any combination of soup base, noodles, and toppings.

I went with the Preserved Egg Fish soup with udon, sliced beef brisket, fish tofu, fish puff, and more preserved egg.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-17

The udon noodles was slightly thinner, but it was good. I quite liked the broth as it was pretty unique. I have a secret obsession for preserved egg. Even though it looks weird, I really love it.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-14

Another popular option was the laksa soup base.

kerrisdale-bubble-waffle-15

Overall, I found the food to be ok. The noodle soups were good and they have a wide range of broths which is nice. The flavoured bubble waffles were totally a miss. You just can’t beat original.

We Rate Bubble Waffle Cafe3rated

Address:
2279 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.bubblewafflecafe.com/

Bubble Waffle Cafe Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

41west-outer

I love exploring the brunch scene in Vancouver and I thought the best way to try new places would be to buy a Social Shopper deal. 4 people brunch for $36 fine dining brunch didn’t sound too bad.

41 West serves up modern French cuisine, but the interior didn’t really match the description of “fine dining”.

41west-bowl

At first glance, we were really not impressed. There was a bowl of an unknown substance that looked dirty. Also, the table was lined with 4 cloth napkins instead of a proper table cloth.

41west-coffee

Coffee arrived lukewarm and it wasn’t very warm after putting in milk and sugar.

Also, our iced water came with a tiny fleshy bit of lemon. It looked pretty disgusting and we wish they just didn’t add the lemon. At this point, all of us were not impressed and didn’t have much hope that it would get turned around.

41west-benny

Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict ($13) has 2 poached eggs, smoked salmon, hash browns, with your choice of ham or sausage. My friend ordered it with sausages, but ham came instead. She didn’t mind and we were not going to fuss over this mistake. The dish was pretty meh.

41west-croque

Croissant Croque Monsieur ($12) has a croissant baked with ham and cheese and topped with béchamel sauce, with a green salad. The dish was ok, but the flavours felt flat.

41west-steak

Steak and eggs ($15) has grilled tenderloin with eggs, hash brown and toast. M asked for soft poached eggs but it turned out medium hard instead. The steak was small and looked a bit weird. M was unimpressed with the quality and flavours.

41west-mousse

Dark Chocolate Espresso Mousse ($7.95) is light and airy, with a strong chocolate and coffee flavour combination. The redeeming factor of the meal were the desserts. The mousse was really good and it had a good flavour balance of espresso and chocolate.

41west-toffee

Warm Butterscotch Croissant Bread Pudding ($7.95) has a croissant baked with custard and butterscotch, topped with a warm dark chocolate sauce.

Overall, this brunch wasn’t very good and could use considerable amounts of improvement. Our group consensus was that we would all not return again. Service was poor and food was subpar. The only good part about the meal was dessert, but people usually don’t order dessert for brunch. I’m glad it came with the Social Shopper or else we would be very sad diners.

We rate 41 West Restaurant

Address:
2279 West 41st Avenue
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://41westrestaurant.com/

41 West Restaurant on Urbanspoon

tokyo-thyme-sign

Tokyo Thyme has been on my “to-eat” list for a very long time, but it’s always out of the way for me as I live and work far away from Kerrisdale. M was very skeptical like he usually is. We both wanted to see if this restaurant has some good sushi.

tokyo-thyme-inner

The restaurant is decently sized. We came on a Friday evening for dinner and it wasn’t packed at all. There was a larger party there, but it cleared out quickly. It has a homey feel to the restaurant.

tokyo-thyme-tower-set

Red and White Tuna Stack with Quail Egg ($15.50 +$0.50) has a tower of red and white tuna, and avocado. Topped with Seaweed, green onions and the quail egg. It is served with sushi rice and seaweed.

tokyo-thyme-tower

Its really beautiful and its a pitty you have to mix it together and ruin the pretty layers.

tokyo-thyme-tower-mixed

Once you mix it together, you take the seaweed, put on some rice and the mixture. Fold and enjoy. It did taste great but its pricey.

tokyo-thyme-tuna

Tuna Tataki ($12.50) is seared tuna served with spicy ponzu sauce. It’s another beautifully presented dish and come with 6 pieces. It tasted great.

tokyo-thyme-dumpling

Homemade Dumpling was the special on the menu when we dined here. I thought they were ok.

tokyo-thyme-sesame-tuna

Sesame crusted tuna steak ($13.50) has seared tuna covered in black and white sesame, served with spicy sauce and mixed greens. Yet again, its beautifully presented and it’s very original compared to other restaurants.

tokyo-thyme-tuna-sesame

Mmm yummy. Even the salad was good.

tokyo-thyme-nigiri

Tamago Nigiri ($1.75) was delicious. The eel was warm and had a delicious sweet and smokey taste.

Unagi Nigiri ($3.95) was good as well. M really loved it.

tokyo-thyme-toro

Toro Nigiri ($3.25) was melt in your mouth delicious. It’s very fatty and is just so good.

The food quality at Tokyo Thyme is fantastic and original. The downside is the portions are smaller and the prices are higher than most. In my opinion, it was worth it because they use fresh ingredients that are higher quality.

We Rate Tokyo Thyme

Address:
5405 West Blvd
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.tokyothyme.com/

Tokyo Thyme on Urbanspoon

faubourg-inside

Another rainy Vancouver day and hanging out with the girls means we indulge on coffee and pastries. Typical womenly behaviours of me and my friends.

As we were in the Kerrisdale area, we decided to go to Faubourg. It was a busy Saturday afternoon and all the seats were occupied at 3pm. They always have great coffee and pastries.

faubourg-cappucino

Small Cappuccino was what I like to relax with. Surprising since caffeine is a stimulant. It was a good cappuccino.

faubourg-desserts

Tiramisu is made up of ladyfingers, Mascarpone cream, and blackout cake as a base. It was alright, but I wasn’t too impressed.

Chocolate Eclair is baked to perfection and filled the French way, with chocolate pastry cream and finished with chocolate fondant for a bit of added sweetness. It’s a decent size and pairs nicely with coffee.

Overall, good Saturday spent with friends indulging on treats and sipping on coffee.

We Rate Faubourg:  

Address:
2156 W 41st Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.faubourg.com/

Faubourg on Urbanspoon


View Larger Map

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to try Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant’s signature dishes with a few other bloggers. The service is not representative of their usual service since they knew we were coming.


Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant is located in Kerrisdale on West 41st street. They serve dim sum in the mornings and the usual dinner at night.

We were able to sample a few dishes from their dim sum menu and other dishes on their dinner menu. You usually won’t be able to have dim sum items at night, so keep that in mind when reading this review.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

The interior has lots of seats and is typical of a Chinese restaurant.

Dim Sum Dishes:

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Breaded Shrimp with Deep Fried Egg Plant comes with 3 pieces and has the eggplant on the bottom and shrimp paste on top. Its a staple dish of all that order dim sum. One of my favorites since I love all dishes with shrimp.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Breaded Shrimp with Deep Fried Tofu is another great item. The deep-fried tofu on the bottom was crunchy and paired well with the shrimp.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Steamed Shrimps & Fungus Dumpling is another must order item. I’m sure most people order this item when they go for dim sum.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Mini Egg Tarts was pretty average and nothing too special.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Egg Pastry with Dried Shredded Coconut was quite sweet and sticky, I didn’t really particularly like this item very much.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Deep Fried Green Tea Sticky Rice Ball with Sesame are vibrant green and didn’t taste very good.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

On the inside, you can see the black sesame.

Dinner Dishes:

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Honey Garlic Spareribs and Deep Fried Shrimp Balls was pretty good, the honey garlic spareribs were nicely flavoured and slightly sweet. The deep-fried shrimp balls was a strange combination, but they tasted good too.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Crab with Special House Sauce it also has noodles underneath that soak up the natural crab flavour. Delicious!

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Deep Fried Duck Wrapped in Taro tasted alright and definitely had more taro than duck. it was crunchy on the outside and soft in the center.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Stir Fried Beef with Steamed Buns was delicious and the beef in the stir-fry was very tender. You grab the bun and put some of the beef inside.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Steamed Tofu & Egg White with Diced Seafood & Meat was really good! It was delicious and best eaten with rice.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Dried Garlic & Enoki Mushrooms with Pea Tips was something I looked forward to because it was vegetables. I do love meat, but I also like vegetables more. With all Chinese meals, a dish of vegetables is a must.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Deep Fried Sole Fillet was crunchy and tasted ok. I never really liked deep fried fish since it really takes away from its delicate texture and flavour.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Baked Tapioca Pudding was ok, but not super amazing. On the inside, there is red bean paste.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

Tofu Pudding  comes in a cute container. The texture was a bit dense, but I didn’t mind at all, it just means it stays together a bit more when you’re scooping it up. I may just slightly have an addiction for tofu desserts. The tofu itself isn’t sweet, so you need to add some ginger syrup to it.

Overall, the food alright but nothing crazy amazing. Some dishes were outstanding and some were not very good. Nonetheless, it has always been a neighbourhood favorite for dim sum.

We Rate Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

 Address:
2046 W 41st Ave
Vancouver, BC

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant 金海閣海鮮酒家 on Urbanspoon

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2046+W+41st+Ave+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=2046+W+41st+Ave,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6M+1Y8&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

Faubourg is a cafe offering Parisian baked goods and other delicious goodies in the Kerrisdale area. I’ve heard they had some amazing desserts and bread, so FoodQueen and I headed off to Kerrisdale to try it out. It wasn’t a quick drive for either of us since we both live so far.  Oh the things we do to try delicious food.

The interior looks really nice and has a good amount of seating.

They even have another area too.

All of their items are baker fresh daily and I hear their croissants are really crispy and delicious. Since it was nearing the end of the day, there wasn’t too much to choose from. Best to go early!

If you don’t have a sweet tooth, they also have a few savory items too.

Cafe Latte (Grande $3.85) was good and compliments well with some of their pastries.

Individual St. Honoré has a base of puff pastry with tiny pastry cream puffs covered in chocolate and whipped cream on top. I loved this dessert since I am a huge from of profiteroles-type of desserts.

Overall, good place to stop by for a quick treat and coffee.

Words of Wisdom:

  • They also offer breakfast, bunch, lunch and afternoon tea
  •  Lots of unique items
  • Lots of seating
  • Best to go early before some items are sold out

We Rate Faubourg:  
Address:
2156 W 41st Ave
Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://www.faubourg.com/
Faubourg on Urbanspoon

View Larger Map

The Mac Shack is a brand new restaurant that opened up in Kerrisdale. They specialize in none other than Mac & Cheese! I love comfort food, so I got my friends to drive 40 mins from Coquitlam to try this place. Crazy, but sometimes its needed. I heard great stuff and I needed to see for myself if it is really good.

After a long drive, M, Scarface and BusanGirl were ready for the mass amounts of Mac & Cheese!

I loved the interior, very nice and modern. When we arrived, this place was packed for a Friday night. All the tables were taken up, and we were super lucky to grab a seat since a group was just leaving.

If you know what you want, you can totally build your own! They also have soup and grilled cheese.

They have a few signature items that you can choose from too. There are 3 different sizes to choose from – Regular, Ultimate and Jumbo.

They also have healthier alternatives and desserts too.

After we ordered, we were given a number and just waited at the table.

Tabasco, salt and pepper are waiting at your table.

Green Tea ($1) it was the mighty leaf tea. Not bad. Since the line up was so long, it was hard to get a refill of water since I didn’t want to butt in.

Pop ($1.50) and Water ($1)

We then spent 35 minutes waiting for our orders to arrive. It was a busy night so it was understandable! As time kept going by, we noticed people that were behind us in line already got their food and was finishing up. We tried ignoring it and watched every dish go to other tables. As the restaurant started to empty out, we were wondering where our order was. We asked the waitress where our order was and it seemed like they just started on our dishes.

Creamy Pesto Chicken Mac (Regular – $7) has mozzarella, provalone, chicken, and basil pesto sauce. Since I had the coupon for following them a while back, I gave it to BusanGirl to redeem since it’s only usable on regular sizes. She thought this dish was ok and nothing amazing. 

She’s not a picky eater, but we all agreed it was not Mac and Cheese material. The cheese was just on top of the mac and cheese and none was integrated between the pasta. Even by looking at the image, it doesn’t look remotely what ooey gooey should be similar to. The chicken was dry even though there wasn’t a lot of it in the dish. Seemed more like a badly executed pasta dish.

The Ultimate (Ultimate -$16) has bacon, bell peppers, brocolli, mushrooms, chicken, chorizo, shrimp with mozzarella and gruyere cheese.

Even though it looks huge, Scarface did not like this dish either, he said that there was more meat in a hotdog than there was in this dish. Similar with the previous dish, there needed to be more cheese integrated throughout the dish to call it mac and cheese. The cheese yet again was just on the top.

The Brooklyn (Ultimate -$13) has blue cheese, AAA shirloin steak, caramalized onions, mushrooms with balsamic. M was disappointed in the disproportion between his dish and Scarface’s dish. As you can tell, the Ultimate has more noodles coming out of the pan and this one is kinda missing a large chunk from the bottom left.

M usually likes most dishes when there is meat, but he was probably the most disappointed out of everyone. There was no strong taste of blue cheese, the AAA sirloin steak were 3 thin slices of tasteless meat and the caramelized onion was nowhere in the dish. There was no cheese integrated throughout the dish and there was only the layer of cheese on the top. It wasn’t even gooey either, it was cold and hard. At one point he found a vegetable in it too when there isn’t supposed to be greens.

Bacon Cheese Burger Mac (Ultimate – $12) it has cheddar, monterey cheese with beef and bacon. Out of the other 2 Ultimate sized dishes we ordered, it was the smallest of them all. The cheese on top was warm, but the cheese was hard. You can tell from the picture as well. I saw them broiling it, perhaps they lift it there too long?

Similar to all the other dishes we received, minimal cheese throughout the dish, minimal ingredients inside.

Overall, all four of us left the restaurant with unsatisfied stomachs. Since they are quite new, I do have faith that the consistency in their quality will improve over time. Looking at other people’s photos, they look so much yummier than my photos. I think I just went during a super super busy night and thats where everything went wrong. I love their concept of their restaurant and I love Mac & Cheese in general, but this visit wasn’t good.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Avoid peak hours
  • Free parking near the residential area
  • Price and quality don’t seem to match
  • Not very saucy mac & cheese
  • Wait few months till they have perfected their execution and consistency

We Rate The Mac Shack: 
Address:
5395 West Boulevard
Vancouver, BC V6M

Website:

http://www.themacshack.ca/

The Mac Shack on Urbanspoon