Category

Marpole

Category

Kitchen by Maji creates delicious Chinese meal prep kits for those who want a quick meal without the fuss. The owners behind Kitchen by Maji had a restaurant in Richmond called Maji, but decided to go the route of high quality meal prep kits to fill the need in the market for Chinese comfort food. I’ve seen a lot of meal prep kits around town, but its great to see more Chinese options that are really really delicious.

Everything is made at their Oak street location in Vancouver and they use high quality ingredients to craft these delicious meals. All items are freezer-friendly and have a good shelf life, so you can order a lot and not worry.

They aim to create these meal for those who want to prep their meals quickly and with little to no kitchen skills.

What I love about their packaging is that there are many ways to heat of the meals in their ready-to-serve packaging. Some dishes require a bit more time than others, but you won’t be disappointed.

They sent me a few kits to check out.

Delivery

They currently do free delivery if your order is over $120 for the Greater Vancouver area.

They are able to deliver to Burnaby, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Delta, New Westminster, Vancouver, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, Tsawwassen, and White Rock.

If you don’t live in those cities, just contact them to see what’s possible.

Taste Test

We didn’t try everything on the menu, but I do prefer the saucy dishes where you can just pair it with rice. A lot of the kits feed 2 people, so that’s perfect for our little family of 3.

The noodle dishes were great as well. Love the handmade noodles that have a fantastic taste and texture. Each noodle dish does feed 1 person and you can stretch it out to 2 people if you want, but you may need something else with the meal to get full.

Don’t forget to add their spreads to your order as they are really good. A nice treat!

Beefy Beef Noodle
Chicken Laksa Soup
Deluxe Seafood Congee
Curry Braised Brisket
Milky Custard Paste

Top Selling Dishes

I reached out to them to ask what are the top 5 selling dishes so far and here is their answer.

  • Asian Style Beef Brisket
  • Taiwanese Traditional Braised Pork Belly
  • Curry Braised Brisket
  • Beefy Beef Noodle
  • Chicken Laksa Soup

All great choices!

Final Thoughts

I loved how easy the meals were to prepare and the cost is very reasonable. We enjoyed it so much that we put in a big order. Now I’ll have a freezer full of delicious food ready to go whenever I get lazy to cook lunch or dinner.

I highly recommend them if you want to give it as a gift. Great for new parents, grandparents, or just anyone who wants a good quick comforting Chinese meal.

Address:
8335 Oak St, Vancouver, BC V6P

Website:
https://kitchenbymaji.com/en/

Bing and Noodle World is open in the Marpole neighbourhood serving up a variety of Chinese noodles and wraps. We were invited to check out a few of their signature dishes.

It’s great to see more and more restaurants opening up in this area as it gives customers more options.

Interior

Inside is very nice and bright with lots of tables inside. All of the tables are set up in 2’s and 4’s but if you have more people, they can adjust the tables.

Menu

Bings

Bing is a type of bread that is a Chinese bread dish made of wheat flour and stuffed with different fillings. They have a few different types on the menu. It’s not that easy to find Bings in Vancouver, so its good to see more variety in Vancouver.

We enjoyed the texture of the dough. They cut it up for you, so some corners might have more filling than others .

We tried 3 kinds – Pickled mustard plant stem with pork, minced pork with preserved vegetable, and beef pancake.

The pickled mustard plant stem with pork bing is our favourite. The pork has a great texture when paired with the pickled mustard. Can’t go wrong with that combination.

The best seller is the minced pork with preserved vegetable bing. There is also an option to add salted duck egg, which is also delicious.

Lastly, the beef bing was good if you really love beef.

Steamed chicken with chili oil sauce

This was pretty food. One of our favourite dishes. The chicken has a great texture and it’s not too fatty either. The meat is very moist and full of flavour from the sauces. Highly Recommended.

Spicy Cucumber and Beef Tendon

The marinated cucumber and beef tendon was a good combination. You get the crunch of the cucumber with the chewiness of the tendon, plus the hint of spice from the sauce. We enjoyed this too.

Braised Pork Bone

This was a newer dish on the menu and seemed popular because the tables around us ordered it, so we did too. Its good if you love braised pork with bones. Some may not like because of bones.

Deep fried boneless chicken thigh

The chicken thigh comes out big and thin. It is crisp on the outside and served with some pickled vegetables. It was another recommended item on the menu.

Fresh Meat Wontons

The wontons are small compared to the typical wontons from other places. This skin in thin and has good flavour when paired with the soup broth.

Shredded pork, preserved veggie and sliced bamboo thin noodle soup

Of course you gotta get noodles here. The soup broth come is bone soup and its thick, milk and delicious. It comes with a good amount of noodles. If you leave it for too long, the noodles tend to get soft and soak up the broth. Best to eat it right away.

Pan Fried Dry Noodle with Pork Intestine

We had to try a dry noodle dish too. We did find that the noodle texture quite different than the ones in the noodle soup. We did enjoy the texture more in this dry noodle dish. The dish was good but we wished there was a bit more sauce as it would make mixing the noodles a bit easier as it started to clump together.

Braised Beef on Rice

This was a really good dish. You get a good amount of braised beef. The beef was really tender and soft. It also came with 2 sides of picked veggies, which went well with the dish. Highly recommended.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we really enjoyed the steamed chicken with chili oil, pickled mustard stem with pork bing, and the braised beef on rice. They have a good selection of items on the menu and you’ll find something you like.

Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area for some comforting food.

Address:
185 Granville St, Vancouver, BC 

pink-elephant-thai-1

Pink Elephant Thai opened their second location at Marine Gateway serving up modern Thai food to hungry shoppers in this complex and the movie-goers at the Cineplex Theatres.

They also have happy hour on the weekday from 3 -6pm. The items on the happy hour menu range from $5 – $10 with Singha Beer, wine, and high ball for $5.

Their menu combines influences from Northern and Southern parts of Thailand, but they have added their modern twist to the dishes, so it’s not 100% authentic.

A few of us were invited to check out a few items on the menu and the space.

pink-elephant-thai-2

The interior is brightly lit compared to their Downtown location. They also can seat about 40 people here.

pink-elephant-thai-3

Thai iced tea is made of strong brewed tea, sweetener, ice and milk. It’s very good and always a treat at any Thai restaurant. Highly recommended!

pink-elephant-thai-5

Lime soda is very refreshing especially if you have spicy food.

pink-elephant-thai-4

Pad Thai Prawn is a stir-fried rice noodles with tamarind sauce, tofu, eggs, bean sprouts, green onions topped with ground peanuts.

You can also get this made vegetarian with tofu, or else you can choose your preference of protein like chicken or beef.

A classic dish that you can’t go wrong with.

pink-elephant-thai-6

Pink Elephant Thai Calamari is deep-fried and marinated with Thai spices. This dish was ok, looked more like an onion ring than calamari. There was a lot of batter and could have been a bit more crispy. After a while, it went a bit limp.

pink-elephant-thai-7

Goong Ob Woon Sen has Tiger prawns with glass noodles in a clay pot served with Thai spicy sauce. This was ok too, but I never really liked glass noodles as they tend to stick together a lot more.

pink-elephant-thai-8

Pad Kee Mao Prawn has stir-fried rice noodles with Thai chilies, diced green beans, onions, bell peppers and fresh basil. This was an ok dish as well.

pink-elephant-thai-9

Thai Style Pork Cheek is grilled and marinated with Thai herbs and spices. They use BBQ pork jowl in this dish. It was good, you can’t go wrong with jowl.

pink-elephant-thai-10

Chilli Basil Hot Wings are mild chicken wings but it does has a sight tingle from the chilli. I like the crispier skin on this flavour of wing.

pink-elephant-thai-11

Red Curry Hot Wings are a little more spicier, but the skin isn’t as crisp due to the red curry sauce.

pink-elephant-thai-12

Floating Market is an appetizer with deep-fried spinach with tiger prawns, cashew nuts served with spicy sauce. The deep-fried spinach was interesting, but it only tasted like the oily batter.

pink-elephant-thai-13

Pad Phed Chicken has bamboo shoots, mushrooms, Thai chilies, bell pepper and fresh basil stir fry. Grab some rice on the side and eat it with this dish. A good mix of spice to this dish.

pink-elephant-thai-14

Khao Soi with chicken comes with their Northern Thai Style curry soup noodles. Dunk the noodles into the broth and enjoy.

pink-elephant-thai-15

Deep fried banana with mango ice cream had us all wondering if the ice cream was really mango or some Thai Iced Tea flavour. Their mango ice cream uses the larger red mangos. No one seemed to like the ice cream. I love deep fried banana’s so, I was all over that.

pink-elephant-thai-16

Mango with sticky rice cooked in pandan leaves uses the sweeter mangoes that we know and love. With the green sticky rice, this dish looks like a carrot.

Overall, the food was ok, but I think I would want to try more of their of the other items on the menu like the satays and fresher items like the lettuce wraps.

All of the dishes are mean to be shared to have the best experience, but if you wanted a single dish to yourself, the noodles, curry or rice dishes will be good.

We Rate Pink Elephant Thai3rated

Address:
434 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver

Website:
http://thaihouse.com/pink-elephant-thai/

Pink Elephant Thai Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

doolami-22

Doolami Dessert is located in the Marpole area serving up delicious Chinese desserts. They pride themselves with using the best ingredients possible in their desserts. Everything is made in-house and they do not use any concentrates, preservatives, or sweeteners.

I came here with some awesome foodies and we ate through the menu. I’ve been to Doolami before and enjoyed their desserts, so it was good to have a revisit to see whats new.

doolami-2

Glutinous rice balls with peanuts and sesame seeds is a warm dessert and can be messy to eat. You may end up with a few crumbs on your shirt. It was ok, but the other desserts on their menu are a lot better.

doolami-3

Hot House Special Grass Jelly has handmade taro ball, yam ball, matcha ball, red bean, lotus seed, and peanut. They grass jelly is pretty good and you can taste more of it in the hot version.

doolami-4

Cold House Special Grass Jelly is a lot larger than the hot version. The grass jelly is cut up into cubes with the rest of the toppings surrounding it. I think I prefer the cold version over the hot. I usually prefer cold desserts over hot.

doolami-5

Purple Yam and Taro Paste has a very vibrant colour of bright purple. It may look artificial, but it’s not. It’s the true purple colour of the yam.

doolami-6

The taste of the paste is very deep in flavour without being too sweet. Definitely very unique. I’m not a fan of warm desserts, so I wouldn’t normally order this, but I’m definitely more open to it now.

doolami-7

Durian Sago Cream is an interesting item to order. It’s pungent in taste and smell for those who are unfamiliar with durian. M hates me eating this since my burps end up smelling like onions. The rule is that I can eat it when he’s not around.

doolami-8

Black Sesame and Walnut Paste had a really good black sesame taste. Warm desserts are good for the winter months.

doolami-9

Chilled mango sago cream with pomelo is one of the most popular items here. If you don’t order this, someone at your table will order it. It’s not too sweet and is so addictive.

doolami-10

One of their most expensive items on the menu is the Golden Dragon Fruit Snow Ice. The reason why it’s so expensive because the dragon fruit is imported from Ecuador.

doolami-11

I love the milky shaved ice and the dragon fruit tastes sweet and yummy. A lot better than the ones from the store. it’s not a super popular item since it is around $20 for this dessert. Great taste, but it is very expensive.

doolami-12

Fresh Strawberries with strawberry shaved ice is topped with strawberry juicy balls. If you love strawberries, you’ll enjoy this strawberry explosion.

doolami-13

Australian Mango and Mango Shaved Ice is good as well. Another favourite.

doolami-15

They use a lot of mango too, not just a few pieces on the side. Of course, you get what you pay for, so you are getting quality, but it is more expensive than other shaved ice places.

doolami-14

Papaya with milk shaved ice is another version that they have. I really liked the milk shaved ice, but with papaya added into the mix, its pretty good.

doolami-17

Durian Ice Cream in a waffle bowl isn’t for everyone. It’s a popular flavour, but it can be a hit and miss depending on your taste buds. To me, it tastes like onion ice cream. I can tolerate it, but others will fall head over heals in love with this flavour.

doolami-18

Vanilla Earl Grey Ice Cream is one of their newer flavours. They use real Tahitian Vanilla beans, so it really takes a lot of effort to extract the paste from inside.

doolami-19

Blueberry and Lavender Ice Cream is a unique flavour, but it’s not my favourite choice. Every time I think of lavender, it reminds me of soap or some cleaning product.

doolami-20

Green Tea Ice Cream in a waffle bowl. It’s creamy and smooth like the other flavours but has a strong matcha taste. It’s not too sweet and has a slight bitter taste to it. I actually like it this way.

doolami-1

If you don’t want to eat the ice cream in the store, they have their Take Home Pints for $11.99. They also do free delivery across the Lower Mainland.

doolami-jar-1

If you’re ever craving their dessert, you can order it without jumping in the car or bus to grab some. I was pretty impressed by this service.

doolami-21

Fresh Young Coconut is cracked open and its one of my favourite drinks. I find that most of the coconut waters out there can’t even compare. When you’re done drinking, you can grab a spoon and start scooping the coconut meat out.

Overall, I did enjoy Doolami and it’s a very popular place to go at night. Their prices are higher than most dessert places but they work really hard to ensure the quality is there. The desserts are catered towards an Asian palette, so its not too sweet. I would recommend the sago desserts and the shaved ice. If you can’t wait in line to get a seat, grab a pint to go as an alternative.

We rate Doolami35rating

Address:
8030 Granville Street, Vancouver

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

Cafe-de-lOrangerie-outer

Cafe De L’Orangerie has been our favourite spot for Japanese pasta for a while now. Last week, M had a huge craving for their curry, so he picked me up after work and drove here before the dinner rush.

Its a bit far from our house, so we don’t always get to come here.

cafe-de-lorangerie-2

Mango Fruit Smoothie was a pretty bad option to get for a drink. It tasted super sweet and artificial. We agreed that we would not order this again.

cafe-de-lorangerie-3

Chicken Karaage was pretty good. Light, crispy batter and well seasoned. Very enjoyable.

cafe-de-lorangerie-4

Curry with Pork Cutlet has rice, the crispy pork cutlet and the curry. M thought it was good. Perfect thing to cure his cravings.

cafe-de-lorangerie-5

Spaghetti Carbonara with Hamburger Steak. The hamburger steak was pretty large like a huge meatball, but I didn’t like how it was slightly sweet.

cafe-de-lorangerie-6

Besides the hamburger steak, I did enjoy the pasta. I think next time, I will go without the hamburger steak and stick with just the carbonara.

Overall, food is still pretty good her, but certain things are too sweet.

We Rate Cafe De L’Orangerie35rating

Address:
1320 West 73rd Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://cafedelorangerie.ca/

qoo-cafe-11

Qoo Cafe is located in the Marpole area. They are an Asian fusion restaurant featuring HK Style favourites, an assortment of Asian dishes, Western selections, pastas, sandwiches, noodle soups, and bubble tea. I was invited by ChineseBites to try a few things off their menu.

qoo-cafe-1

The space is large and can fit up to 90 people. It’s been here for a while now, but haven’t been here until now.

qoo-cafe-2

M and I went with the classic drink – coffee and tea mix and the HK style milk tea.

qoo-cafe-6

Mango Slush with Pearls is what the others ordered.

qoo-cafe-3

Goose Liver Toast and Truffle Mushroom Toast was surprisingly good. I love how they toasted the bread and it has no crust! The truffle mushroom was a lot better than the goose liver version.

qoo-cafe-4

Baked Mussels with pesto sauce comes with 8 pieces. Juicy and not over cooked.

qoo-cafe-5

Lobster with rice cakes is surrounded by a decorative cucumber barrier.

qoo-cafe-7

They have their mix and match special where you can choose 2 types of protein from the menu, soup of the day and a hot beverage for $14.95 during dinner.

You can choose from:

  • Pan fried chicken steak
  • Pan fried pork chop
  • Basa fillet
  • Pork Chop fillet
  • Baked salmon fillet
  • Wiener sausage
  • Spicy chicken skewer
  • Deep fried chicken wings
  • Pan fried cod fish fillet
  • Grilled ox tongue
  • Shrimp skewer
  • Honey beef short ribs ($3 extra)
  • Rack of lamb ($6 extra)
  • Baked lobster ($7 extra)
  • Charbroiled New York steak ($5 extra)

They gave us a platter full of the proteins to try. Most of them were pretty average, but the rack of lamb and New York steak were tender and medium rare. Of course, you have to add a bit of money for those options. If I didn’t want to add money to the set, I would get the pan-fried pork chop and the pan-fried chicken steak.

The sets also include either rice, spaghetti, french fries, or mashed potatoes. Mixed veggies, you have to add an additional $2.

qoo-cafe-8

To accompany the meats, you can choose from black pepper gravy, red wine gravy, onion gravy, garlic gravy, mushroom gravy or butter cream.

qoo-cafe-10

We got the Yeung Chow Fried Rice to end the meal. It is a wok fried dish with ingredients like pork, shrimp, scallions, veggies and eggs.

Overall, they are definitely more expensive than the average HK Style Cafe.

We Rate Qoo Cafe3rated

Address:
7994 Granville Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.qoocafe.ca/

Qoo Cafe Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Cafe-de-lOrangerie-outer

Cafe de L’Orangerie is now located in Marpole, a few minutes away from the Vancouver International Airport. They are a Japanese-style cafe serving up their interpretation of Western food.

After coming here, I really wish they had more locations. I love this type of food. You will find on their menu – pasta, curry, hamburg steak, beef stew, and teriyaki. Sounds pretty boring, but once you eat it, you won’t regret it.

I came here with the lovely ladies of Gastrofork – Dee and Nat to film a short interview … and eat of course!

Cafe-de-lOrangerie-london-fog

London Fog ($4.55) is a black tea latte with vanilla and steamed milk. Mmmm my favourite! Seriously, I’m going on a long streak of ordering london fogs. It’s essentially my coffee alternative. 

Cafe-de-lOrangerie-drink

Campari Lemon ($6.50) is an alcoholic beverage with the bitter taste of Campari and limonata lemon juice cocktail. Nat and her early morning cocktails. She even got ID’d.

Cafe-de-lOrangerie-greentea

Matcha Green Tea Latte ($4.55) was what Dee ordered. Looks very vibrant and green due to the matcha. You can’t go wrong with this drink.

Cafe-de-lOrangerie-katsu-curry

Curry with Pork Cutlet ($11.95) looks delicious and has a generous portion of curry to rice ratio.

Cafe-de-lOrangerie-pasta

Spaghetti Carbonara ($9.80) has bacon, mushroom, garlic, egg, cheese, and cream. OMG so good! I ate all o fit and didn’t even leave a single noodle on the plate. SO GOOD!

Cafe-de-lOrangerie-food

Cafe-de-lOrangerie-dessert

Zunda Dango Parfait ($6.95) is a dessert made with rice balls, sweet edamame bean paste, red bean, ice cream and black sugar sauce. 

Cafe-de-lOrangerie-meal

I would definitely come back! It’s the type of food that M and I love. Love the Japanese twist to Western food.

We Rate Cafe de L’orangerie:

Address:
1320 W 73rd Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://cafedelorangerie.ca/

Cafe de l'Orangerie on Urbanspoon

doolami-menu

Doolami Dessert on Granville Street in the Marpole area specialized in Asian Dessert. If you love durian, this is your place to go. You will find durian ice cream and durian sago cream. Durian is a very pungent fruit from asian. It has a spiky exterior shell with soft silky fruit. Some love and some absolutely hate it because of it’s smell.

I came with M and KoreanGirl for some late night dessert just to try this new place out.

Their hours of operation are very limited:

  • Monday – Thursday 7:00pm-11:00pm
  • Friday – Saturday 7:00pm-12:00am
  • Sunday 7:00pm-11:00pm

doolami-inner

The interior is not very large, so there is limited seating.

doolami-durian

Durian Sago Cream ($7.99) it was cold, smooth and yummy. It comes in a small bowl it is enough for one person or to share. The taste of the durian was like onions. Eat this with caution because if you burp, someone is going to smell the durian on you.

doolami-mango

Chilled Mango Cream with Pomelo ($6.99) is a popular dessert. Good and delicious for all. Can’t say no to mango.

doolami-chocolate

Chocolate Doolami Ice Cream ($7.99) was quite expensive for what you get as there are only 2 scoops. It was also the last dessert to arrive as they make it fresh to order. The ice cream was soft and its served over a cone bowl.

doolami-pint

They have homemade pints of ice cream for $11.99. Their ice cream has no additives, made of real fruit and made in-house.

There are a few flavours available:

  • Durian
  • Mango
  • Matcha
  • Blueberry + Lavender
  • Chocolate

They sell out of their pints quite early in the evening, so go early or call ahead of time to request flavours. We got the last durian pint at 8pm, which was one hour after they opened. Imagine Doolami as the asian Earnest Ice Cream.

We Rate Doolami:

Address:
8030 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.weibo.com/doolami

Doolami Dessert 多乐蜜甜品 on Urbanspoon

cafe-mai-mai-outer

Cafe Mai-Mai is located in Marpole and is a family run Vietnamese cafe. They serve up Pho, Bahn Mi sandwiches, rice dishes, coffee and waffles. Their food also doesn’t contain any MSG.

M, Scarface, Mandy and I headed here after work to chow down on some pho. Pho is really just amazing winter comfort food with it’s warm broth heating you up from the inside.

cafe-mai-mai-inner

Cafe de l’Orangerie previously occupied this place but has since moved to another location. Similar look but refreshed walls.

cafe-mai-mai-dip

Vietnamese Coffee ($3.50) has the layer of condensed milk and then the coffee dripping from the top container.

cafe-mai-mai-mix

Once it’s done dripping, you give it a good mix and then you can add your ice. What I like about this place is that they put a good amount of water so it make a cup of coffee. You definitely have enough to last you through the meal. It was good.

cafe-mai-mai-salad-roll

Shrimp salad rolls ($5.50) comes with 2 huge pieces cut in half, so you get 4 pieces. You have the noodles, shrimp, lettuce wrapped up in the rice paper. It also comes with sauce to dip it into.

cafe-mai-mai-inner-roll

The salad rolls are made to order, so they are fresh and slightly warm.

cafe-mai-mai-springrolls

Spring rolls ($5.50) comes with 3 rolls and cut up in half to create 6 pieces. It’s crispy on the outside and savoury on the inside. There is also fish sauce to dip it into.

cafe-mai-mai-bahn-mi

Vietnamese special ham and sausage sub (9″ – $4.49) is filled with vietnamese mayo, pate, pickled carrot, daikon, cucumber, cilantro and the ham and sausage. I wasn’t that hungry, so the 9″ was a good size.

cafe-mai-mai-lemongrass

Lemon grass chicken rice ($7.49) is served with vegetables, pickled carrot, daikon, cucumber and dish sauce. You also have the salad on the side.

cafe-mai-mai-m

#2 Phở đặc biệt (tái) House special pho ($7.80) has medium rare beef slices, flank, tendon, tripe, beef ball, and rice noodle in soup. It has no MSG and used some thin tender beef. The pho comes in only one size but it is comparable to a large size.

cafe-mai-mai-pho

 #11 Phở tái nạm, gân, sách ($7.50)  has medium rare beef slices, beef flank, beef tendon, beef tripe, and rice noodle in soup. It was a large bowl, so

cafe-mai-mai-waffle

Single waffle($5) comes with butter and maple sauce. It’s the best way to try the waffle since it is crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Scarface and Mandu really loved the waffle and would stop eating them until it was all gone from the plate.

cafe-mai-mai-waffle-apple

Waffle, apple, top with vanilla ice cream and strawberry sauce ($7.50) was ok, but the toppings was a let down. I’ve never seen wedges of apples on top of a waffle. They could definitely improve their toppings in the future.

The food at Cafe Mai-Mai was pretty average, there’s still a few kinks they need to work out on their menu. The prices are quite fair and you’ll be full.

We Rate Cafe Mai-Mai

Address:
8636 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://www.cafemaimai.com/

Cafe Mai-Mai & Pho on Urbanspoon

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=8636+Granville+St&sll=49.2080257,-123.1403123&sspn=0.0053832,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=8636+Granville+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6P+5A1&z=16 “]

Flo Tea Room is located on Granville Street in the Marpole area. It’s been there for several year now and they would serve food similarly found at Hong Kong or Taiwanese Style Cafes.

FoodPunk, FoodQueen and I decided to grab some drinks and dessert here since we were in the area.

The interior is quite spacious with a few booth seats and standard tables.

Shakespeare’s Affair ($4.95)

Fire in Ice ($4.95)

Shrek ($4.95) has red bean on the bottom and matcha slush on top. It’s a very creative name since the drink is green and shrek is green. I did enjoy the drink, it wasn’t too sweet at all.

Honey Box Toast ($7.50) is a hallowed out chunk of bread and filled with toasted bread pieces topped with ice cream, fruit, Oreos and your choice of sauce. We got chocolate sauce on top.

I’ve seen so much hype over the Honey Box Toast and when I saw it on the menu, we just had to order it. It seemed quite popular at other restaurants too.

I wasn’t a big fan of this item since it was essentially toast but in a different form. I didn’t find the toppings to be very unique either. To make it a bit sweeter, I asked for a dish of condensed milk to add into it. Even though the honey box toast does look super cool, it’s not for everyone.

Overall, I may not have liked the box toast, but the service was pretty amazing. We probably spent 3 hours here and the servers were so nice and filled up our tea quite often. We never felt any pressure to leave. Great place to have some bubble tea and chat!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Parking in Rear
  • Large variety of drinks
  • Very attentive and friendly staff

We Rate Flo Tea Room: 

Address:
7994 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.flotearoom.com/

Flo Tea Room 采 on Urbanspoon


View Larger Map

The @SFUSMN crew were having a car wash on Granville and we got super hungry after washing cars and ever large trucks. We went to a few other restaurants and discovered a lot of them only take cash. Seeing that we like to rely on plastic, we found this little restaurant called Yami Sushi Japanese Restaurant. They serve up your usual items at a sushi restaurant.

The interior is quite small and can seat up to a maximum of 4 per table. They only had about 3 tables, so it really doesn’t fit a lot of people.

   

 

Their menu is above so you can check out their full selection.

Sake Don ($9.99) has no sake whatsoever! Sake = Wild salmon sashimi. It comes in a bowl of rice with 6 slices of wild salmon sashimi on top. M loved the texture and taste of the wild salmon and its better than the regular orange one. This dish is very simple, so you may want to add a bit of soy sauce if you want a bit of taste.

Toro Sashimi (5pcs – $6.99) was really good. Melt in your mouth goodness!

Wild Sockeye Salmon Sashimi (5pcs – $7.99) is probably their specialty. It was good on the don and it was good on its own!

You are probably reading this whole article and wondering, where is this hair that she speaks of. It was in their Green salad ($3.50). In the picture above it looks quite innocent…has avocados, cucumbers, apple, tomatoes and mayo.

As you dig further, this hair can be revealed embedded between the lettuce. At first I thought it was mine, but upon further inspection, it was well embedded in the salad and not just fallen on top. I alerted the waitress and they made a fresh bowl without the hair.

The new salad was not very good. I didn’t like the mayo sauce that they had on top. I expected to have a citrus sauce on top instead of a mayo sauce. It’s my pet peeve to see mayo on salads…really not my thing.

Overall, they do have great sashimi, but items like the bento boxes are rather decent. The service was quite slow too, which was funny since it is a small restaurant. There were only 6 of us, so its a manageable size.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Good Sashimi
  • Green salad is not good
  • Slow service
  • Decent prices
  • Free parking on road and adjacent roads

We Rate Yami sushi: 
Address:

8051 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC
Yami Sushi on Urbanspoon

As a huge fan of Japanese food, I love to go to new places to try different dishes that are out of the ordinary…or has a good menu selection.

At Oak Street, there is a small restaurant called “Applause”. I assure you, your taste buds will be applauding after the meal. My taste buds were just excited!

If you go in large groups, reservation is key! Since it is maybe the only Japanese restaurant in Marpole, it tends to get busy.

They event have low sodium soy sauce for the people who are very health conscious.

The green tea comes in little ceramic cups, be careful because it’s hot!

To accompany any japanese meal, sake seems fit to have during a meal. The bigger bottle is a large and the smaller one is a small.

Nasu Dengasku (eggplant baked in Miso Sauce). We had to order 4 of these for a table of 11. This was probably one of my favorite dishes. Its mushy in the middle and chewy when you eat the skin.

Hamachi Kama ( BBQ Salmon Cheek) was delicate and made to perfection. It was not dry or over cooked.

Kakimotoyaki ( baked oyster with house dressing). Out of ALL the japanese places I have been to, Imma let you finish reading this post, but APPLAUSE HAD THE BEST MOTOYAKI OF ALL TIME. For about $3, these are really LARGE oysters and the sauce is on a thin layer on top of the oyster rather than the whole oyster meat drowning in the sauce.

Salmon (Wild Sockeye Salmon), Toro (Tuna Belly), and Tuna (Albacore). Unlike some places, these were perfectly thawed and not icy at all. Very amazed by the selection of fish they use! The salmon is so bright!

Uni (Sea urchin) nigiri, tobiko (little orange eggs) nigiri, and chopped scallop nigiri.

Catepiller roll (tobiko, avicado ontop of unagi roll), Chopped scallop roll, and Negitoro ( minced tuna wth green onion).

Spider roll (softshll crab, avocado and cucumber)

California roll (imitation crab avacado and cucumber) and Kappa (cucumber)

Yakisoba (pan fried noodles, checkn and baby shrimp

Shrimp tempura

Ramen

Applause have items on the menu other than sushi that will blow your mind. When making reservations or planning a large party, they are very accommodating. For my sister’s birthday, they even made her party a special $25 set menu. If you want to try something new, try out their appetizers because you will not be disappointed. For everything we ordered it all came out to be around $250 for 20 something dishes!

We rate applause:

Visit their website: www.applauserestaurant.ca


Applause on Urbanspoon