Category

New Westminster

Category

This Thanksgiving is going to look drastically different for many, but what will stay the same is the emphasis on gratitude. Managing Director, Alejandro Diaz, and Executive Chef, Sam Fabbro, are thankful for all the support they’ve received from the community.

“We know how difficult it has been for everyone, and we are extremely thankful for the community’s positivity and continued support. This has been a challenging year, and we think the best way to give our thanks is by doing what we know best – sharing food and creating memorable culinary experiences”, explains Alejandro.

El Santo will be offering two take-home, Amaranthus-inspired Thanksgiving feasts that include all the fixings as well as simple heating instructions for pick up in-restaurant on Sunday, October 11th. Both options generously feed four with a high probability of leftovers.

For $150 plus taxes, the meat option features an achiote rubbed turkey galantine with sides including house made chips and salsa, Amaranthus’ fried Brussels Sprouts with gremolata and pumpkin seed hummus, creamy mushroom risotto, and crispy potato pavé. Dessert is a Mexican favourite: golden churros paired with a decadent dulce de leche. And for those who miss Amaranthus, Chef Sam has also created a vegetarian version of the Thanksgiving spread at $95 that includes a caramelized sunchoke terrine, the well-loved fried Brussels Sprouts with gremolata and pumpkin seed hummus, coffee roasted beets with pickled beet stems and a beet top chimichurri, crispy potato pavé with rosemary and thyme, creamy mushroom risotto, and golden churros to end the night.

Upgrade your feast by adding the el Santo Tequila Kit. Due to popular demand, el Santo is bringing back the sought-after tequila kit comprised of your choice of tequila, el Santo margarita mix, a bottle of Cointreau, a cocktail shaker, and house made garnishes. Choose between the Cazadores Tequila Blanco or the Sombra Mezcal Artesanal priced at $100 and $130 respectively.

In the spirit of giving thanks, el Santo is also donating one turkey and one vegetarian Thanksgiving feast to a family by means of community nominations. Nominations will be accepted through email at orders@elsanto.ca and the selected families will be contacted directly for pick up.

The Thanksgiving feast is available for take out or dine-in on Sunday, October 11th. For those who prefer to dine-in, a plated individual version of the Thanksgiving feature, minus the mushroom risotto, will be available for dinner service on Sunday, October 11th at $28 and $26.

Order the take-home feast via email at orders@elsanto.ca or by phone at 604-727-8176. The order cut-off is Thursday, October 8th at 1pm with pick up available on Sunday, October 11th between the hours of 2pm and 5pm.

Yauti Jr. Food Stall is located in New Westminster close to a few other popular restaurants. I have been on the hunt for some good hidden gems in the Lower Mainland and Yauti Jr. Food Stall caught my eye for their congee and rice rolls. Their Hong Kong style breakfast and lunch items seemed promising.

Interior

The interior is clean and spacious. There’s nothing up on the walls, so it’s a bit bare and stale. Lots of space for small to large groups.

Kids

They provide high chairs, which is great. We didn’t go to the bathroom, so we don’t know if there is a changing table in there.

Menu

Hot HK Style Milk Tea

The milk tea was served luke warm and in paper cups. As we ordered a lot of food to eat at the restaurant, it was weird that it was not in a mug. Looking at their beverage station, there were mugs. Not sure what happened here.

The milk tea is very mediocre.

Sweet Chinese Donut

It’s not often that you find sweet Chinese donut at restaurants. We gave this a try and its not bad. Just get some scissor to cut it up and share with the table.

Salted Chinese Donut

The salted Chinese donut goes great with congee. Just dunk it in the bowl and it’s a great accompaniment.

Crispy Chinese Donut Wrapped with Rice Roll

The portion size was generous. I was thinking it would be half the size. It comes with sauces to dip into. It was decent, not my favourite, but it will do.

Preserved Egg and Salted Pork Congee

We went with the classic Preserved Egg and Salted Pork Congee. It has a decent amount of preserved egg and salted pork in it. We were surprised the salted pork was slices rather than ground up pork.

Steamed Fish Sui Mai

I wasn’t a fan of this. It feels like the ones I’ve had frozen from the grocery store. Wouldn’t order this again.

Curry Fish Balls

The curry fish balls were meh. Nothing very excited about this. Wouldn’t order this again.

Final Thoughts

We ordered a lot of items, but nothing really stood out. We were very disappointed from the milk tea and it never really recovered from there. The menu has a lot more items we didn’t try as we stuck to breakfast items.

If we had to come back, I would just get the congee and the salted Chinese donut. They don’t take credit cards but will take Interac.

Address:
609 12th St, New Westminster, BC 

Highlight Cafe by Re-UP BBQ is located in New Westminster. They specializes in Southern-inspired takes on the classic brunch dishes. It’s the best combination and you can’t go wrong.

Re-Up BBQ was one of the first food trucks in Vancouver serving up delicious BBQ in Downtown. They were around for 3 years until their food truck got hit by a bus. They did end up opening a food stall in the River Market serving up their classic BBQ items. Now, Highlight Cafe is their next venture.

Interior

There is lots of space inside for groups of 2s, 4s or even more if you push some tables together. Sadly they don’t take reservation.

Menu

3 Way Biscuit Sliders

The 3 way biscuit sliders is a recommended item. It’s a good way to try three different meats for brunch. As there are 3 sliders, it’s best to share among the table as 3 biscuits is quite a bit to eat.

The Fried Chicken slider was the favourite of the 3. Cooked perfectly with a nice crunch on the outside, while still moist and tender on the inside.

The Beef Brisket slider was good too and had a nice natural taste.

The Pulled Pork slider is seasoned well but was a tad dry. Perhaps it needed a bit more BBQ sauce to moisten it up.

Re-up Smoked Salmon Eggs Benny

The Re-up smoked salmon eggs benny has two soft poached free run eggs on a toasted buttermilk biscuit, smoked salmon, mango, Hollandaise sauce, house spice, and served with hand cut hash browns.

It was the first time seeing mango in a smoked salmon benny but it worked. The sweetness and tang from the mango complimented the hollandaise and the salmon. It all had a nice texture and worked really well together. There was also a good amount of smoked salmon too.

Iced Matcha Latte

The matcha latte was disappointing and was too milky. It needed a lot more match powder in it. From the colour, it looks very milky.

Iced Mocha

The mocha was better but it had a very strong syrup taste to it even when it was mixed up.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food was pretty good and there are great twist to brunch classics. The pricing is a little bit higher, but the quality is there. We would definitely come back in the future to get more of their fried chicken.

It’s a good addition to the area and kid friendly too.

Address:
538 6th St, New Westminster, BC

Website:
https://highlightbyreupbbq.com/

Amaranthus is a new plant-based eatery inside River Market in New Westminster. The restaurant’s name is the Latin word for amaranth, a type of grain used to make alegrías – a popular Mexican sweet.

We were invited to have a sneak peek of the space and try some of their signature items.

They specialize in vegetarian and vegan cuisine with a charitable focus inspired by a chance encounter with Michael J. Fox. Proceeds from select items on Amaranthus’ menu like the Amaranthus veggie burger will be donated to IMPACT Parkinson’s, a New Westminster-based non-profit that supports people living with Parkinson’s disease.

Menu

Beverages

The beverages on the menu are excellent and they did a fantastic job at putting these flavours together. They are essentially zero proof cocktails. It feels like you’re drinking an alcoholic beverage but not.

Juniper and Tonic

The juniper and tonic tasted like you were drinking a gin and tonic but you aren’t. It was refreshing and not too sweet.

Beet Cream Soda

This drink surprised me. I expected it to be much sweeter than it was. It had the least sweetness out of the three drinks we tried. The beet flavour stood out quite a bit in addition to a mild cream soda flavour. It was delicious, but maybe it needs a touch of sweetness. Again another refreshing beverage.

Basil Shrub

This had the right amount of sweetness, ginger and basil flavours. It was very refreshing as well.

Fried Brussel Sprouts

These were amazing! One of the dishes we would love to have had more of.

The flavours were a perfect combination. Another thing that makes these sprouts so different than others is the addition of a poached egg.

Wilted Ridicchio

Another tasty dish. Loved the addition of the fig and fennel in this combination. It has very fresh flavours.

Wild mushroom risotto

The nice creamy texture and made just right. A bit of a heartier and comforting dish.

Amaranthus Veggie burger

This isn’t your ordinary veggie burger and very different than any other veggie burger we have had. A combination of roasted celeriac, Swiss card, blue cheese, and shallots make up this delicious burger.

Rosemary Salt Churros

These are a must try! It has a perfect touch of rosemary and salt with just the right crisp texture to these churros. They were spectacular and weren’t very sweet either. Will for sure be back for these.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a great addition to River Market along with all the other eateries there. It definitely stands out and gives customers more options. Everything we tried at Amaranthus was great. They did a fantastic job of incorporating all the flavours with one another in each of the dishes. The dishes also tasted super fresh. We will definitely be back.

Address:
12 – 810 Quayside Dr, New Westminster, BC

Website:
http://amaranthus.ca/

El Santo is a contemporary Mexican restaurant in New Westminster. We decided to come here as we needed a family-friendly place to have brunch on the weekend with our friends.

I’ve heard lots about this place and they had OpenTable reservations. With 2 kids with us, we really didn’t want to wait. As we came on a weekend, there were other tables of families too with strollers. That’s our new life now, but glad we don’t have to compromise on taste when it means taking children with us to eat.

Interior

The space is really nice with booth-style seating and then larger tables in the back. The windows are really large so there is a lot of natural light that comes in.

Menu

Horchata

This is their house-made rice milk with cinnamon. Beautiful and delicious. Not too sweet at all.

Los Benedictos

They have 2 different types of Egg Benedict on the menu – Costillita Benedict and Verduras Benedict. We ended up getting the Costillita Benedict which has Ancho braised short rib, skillet corn bread, poached eggs, and a chipotle hollandaise.

This benedict doesn’t look like much but it’s packed with so much depth of flavour. It was pretty darn good.

Chilaquiles de Conchino

This is essentially Mexican Nachos. It has confit pork belly, salsa verde, Cotija, and deep-fried chips. It’s more of a share dish rather than a meal for one person. The cotija is mild in taste which pairs with the bacon.

Huevos D I Vorciados

This has fried eggs, tortillas, refried beans, avocado, salsa roja, and salsa verde. Saucy and delicious.

Chamorro

This has Chili braised ham hock and rice. This was huge portion of meat as the ham hock can really serve a few people. It was so tender and flavourful! the sauce went so well with the rice. Highly recommended,

Churros

The churros are dusted with cinnamon and sugar. Then paired with a dulce de leche dip. The churros were coated with so much sugar that it was overwhelming. We had to shake off the sugar.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the dishes we had were delicious and flavourful. They really take care in creating beautiful flavour profiles in their meats. The churros could have been a bit better with less sugar.

Address:
680 Columbia St, New Westminster, BC

Website:
http://elsanto.ca

PIVA Modern Italian is a stylish contemporary Italian restaurant in New Westminster in the Anvil Centre. It is in a great location right in the heart of Downtown New Westminster.

I was browsing where to go for brunch with my family and saw that their brunch items looked pretty darn good. I made reservations online a day before and it wasn’t too busy at all.

Interior

The interior is very nice with a lot of natural light and ornate fixtures. The high ceilings make this place very spacious. It’s great to celebrate a variety of occasions here.

Brunch Menu

Drinks

There are lots of alcoholic and non-alcoholic options on the menu for brunch depending on what you feel like. Most of the family went with coffee or water.

Mushroom Pizza

This pizza has wild mushrooms, cauliflower purée, fontina, fried sage, and aromatic truffle oil. It was a pretty well made pizza and very fragrant. Tasted good too. The fried sage was crisp and added a nice flavour.

Eggs Benedict

The classic egg benedict is served with 2 eggs, prosciutto, hollandaise and arugula over focaccia. It also has ketchup and crisp potatoes on the side. Highly recommend this with soft poached eggs.

Eggplant Sandwich

This hefty sandwich has fried eggplant, spinach, artichoke, tomato, caramelized onion, capers, aioli, and gorgonzola. My mom got fries on the side. If you want to be healthier, you can get salad. Surprisingly the sandwich is pretty good even though its meatless.

For Nonno Pasta

The pasta comes in half sizes or full sizes, which is a nice option depending on how hungry you are. We went with half size and it was good for brunch time. The For Nonno pasta has lots of spice, garlic, chicken, Italian parsley, tomato, black bean, olive oil, and spaghetti.

Yogurt

This beautiful yogurt has unsweetened yogurt, honey, house-made granola, and seasonal fruit like black berries, raspberries and gooseberry. I was pretty impressed with this brunch item as it is elegantly presented and very filling.

Fried Chicken & Waffles

The fried chicken is coated in Italian spices as served with chili aioli, house-made waffles, maple syrup and waffles.

A good size for brunch and it was delicious. Moist chicken and good texture for the waffles.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I love this new addition to New Westminster for brunch. Not too many options in the area, but it’s great there is a new one. Highly recommended!

Address:
787 Columbia St, New Westminster, BC

Website:
https://pivarestaurant.ca

As a relatively new resident of New Westminster, finding places to eat has been a great way to explore the neighbourhood. Ay! Picante is a Mexican restaurant that has been open in the Sapperton area for about 2 months, and Luis welcomed Roman and I to a tasting of some of the food and drinks on their menu.

With the Spanish word for “spicy” in its name, Ay! Picante does live up to it. The restaurant offers a range of hot sauces, from mild for the timid, to hot heat for those who like very spicy flavours. The hot sauces are a tasty addition to the tacos, burritos, tortas, tostadas, gorditas and quesadillas.

Tacos

The menu has a great variety of tacos to choose from, all for $2.60 each. The hard part is picking with ones! Roman and I ended up going with the following choices:

  • shrimp
  • fish
  • roasted lamb
  • grilled chicken
  • slow-roasted pulled pork
  • a veggie taco with my choice of 3 veggies

These tacos were made with 4-inch corn tortillas, filled with one of the above listed, and garnished with onion and cilantro. I gravitate towards seafood tacos, and Ay! Picante’s shrimp and fish did not disappoint. The batter was light and crispy, and both tacos had a generous amount of shrimp and fish. Roman enjoyed the roasted lamb taco, which was tender. The grilled chicken was moist and very well-seasoned, and the pulled-pork taco was satisfying. For the veggie taco, I asked Luis what he recommended and he created a nopal (which is also known as prickly pear cactus), mushroom and pineapple taco. It seemed unusual, but I was curious about trying nopales, and Luis assured that these ingredients go well together. Amazing, they did! The mushrooms were earthy, the pineapples were sweet and bright, and the nopales added an interesting texture that reminded me of aloe vera, and green beans combined. This veggie taco was delicious!

Gordita

In addition to devouring these tacos, we also had a gordita. A gordita is a fried stuffed corn cake with red beans, lettuce, white onion, cilantro, sour cream, avocado mayonnaise and fresh cheese. Just like the tacos, you can choose from the list of available proteins or veggies to put in your gordita. We went with the beef tongue. The gordita was very filling, and had different flavours and textures. It was soft, crispy, savoury, and creamy all in one bite, which made it enjoyable to eat.

Drinks

To wash it all down, Roman had a mango Jarritos while I had their homemade horchata. Jarritos is a popular brand of pop in Mexico, and comes in many different flavours. Horchata is drink made of rice water, milk, vanilla and cinnamon and sugar. I’ve had horchata before, and love the cinnamon-sugar flavour of it. Ay! Picante’s cool and sweet horchata also served as a dessert for me.

Final Thoughts

If you’re in New Westminster and are craving tacos and Mexican food from a casual place, hit up Ay! Picante. The restaurant offers great value for good food, with all the tacos at the same price, making it easy to want to order one of everything! And with these tacos being tasty, you’d want to.

Address:
418 E Columbia St, New Westminster, BC

Website:
https://www.aypicante.ca/

Shang Noodle House has 2 locations, one in Richmond and another at Starlight Casino in New Westminster. It is a sister restaurant of Kirin and specializes in hand made noodles, dumplings, and classic Chinese dishes. We were invited to check out a few of their signature dishes and see how their food is made in the restaurant.

Interior

There are lots of seating inside for small to large groups. There is an open kitchen in the centre of the Starlight location, so you can see the chefs create your meal in front of you if you sit by the bar.

Behind the Scenes

Steamed Shanghai Pork Dumplings

These were made fresh, so its plenty hot. The skin was thin and the soup inside the dumpling was enjoyable.

Lobster bisque with spinach noodles

The broth is made with Atlantic lobsters and you can really taste it in the broth. They don’t take short cuts here. The depth of flavour is really good. The spinach in the noodles is what gives it the green colour, but I didn’t notice too much flavour, so it compliments the broth.

Roast Pork Belly

This long plate of pork belly is delicious. Crisp skin and layers of moist meat and yummy fat. I always have no willpower with this dish.

Pan Fried Pork and Veggie Dumplings

It comes 4 to an order and it is a big size. Inside it is filled with pork and aromatics.

Grilled Pork Jowl Meat

You can order this as a side dish. This particular portion was a bit on the lean side so the texture felt dry.

Squid Ink Pasta

The squid ink pasta is imported from Japan and the colour of the ink shows and give the noodles a dark grey colour. It is topped with bonito flakes and has shrimp, mussels, fish, tofu, broccoli and tomato on the sides.

Red Reishi Mushroom hand-pulled ramen

The broth is light but it has a lot of different mushrooms in the dish, 7 to be exact. If you are a mushroom lover, you’ll enjoy this dish. The noodles were well made with a good bite to them.

Mango Pudding

A classic Chinese dessert made of mango puree, mango chunks, gelatin and evaporated milk. It really brought me back to my childhood.

Durian Mochi

People usually have a love hate relationship with durian. Some say it stinks like rotting garbage and on the other spectrum they say it’s a fragrant ice cream. To me, I am indifferent to the taste. I personally think its like a sweet onion.

This is only available at the Richmond location. They serve this at Kirin at Starlight but it gets sold out very quickly.

Honey Green Tea pudding

Another good dessert. You really can’t go wrong with Chinese dessert as its always a good balance of taste and sweetness.

Brown sugar Milk Tea with pearls

To pair with the meal, you can have bubble tea. The brown sugar milk tea is one of things to order. It’s not too overly sweet.

Final Thoughts

If you’re craving something a little different, check out Shang Noodle House in Richmond or New Westminster. My favourite items were the roast pork belly, squid ink noodles, and durian mocha.

Website:
http://www.shangnoodlehouse.com/

We were invited to Longtail Kitchen and Freebird Chicken at the River Market in New Westminster to try delicious creations by Chef Justin Cheung and Chef Angus An. Their other sister restaurants are Maenam Restaurant and Fat Mao Noodles. The items in the photos aren’t 100% representative of how it will be served as the serving sizes have been modified for our dinner.

Longtail Kitchen

This restaurant is named after the iconic water taxis of Thailand. Longtail Kitchen has Thai-style comfort food. I’ve come here several times for their famous wings and other dishes.

They also have a wall of different products to purchase.

Thai Iced Tea

This is my favourite drink to get at any restaurant that serves it. Delicious depth of tea flavour with the creamy milk and touch of sweetness.

Steel & Oak Beers

If you love local beers, they serve a variety of beers from Steel & Oak. The brewery is even close by.

Mango Pok Pok Slushy

Pok Pok is a restaurant in Portland and they sell their drinking vinegars. They even take the vinegars and turn the into slushies.

Crispy Chicken Wings

Their famous chicken wings are delicious. Very crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.

Sticky Chicken Wings

If you like getting messy, their sticky chicken wings are a delight too. Lots of flavour in the sauce that coats the crisp skin. The skin stays crisp even with the coating of sauce.

Mama Cheung’s Laksa

The laksa has a kick of spice to the broth, but it is pretty clean and not too rich.

Bicol Express

This popular Filipino dish has pork belly, peppers, and green beans and a delicious sauce with a base of coconut milk.

Duck Yolk Butter Prawns

The prawns were flavourful but the duck yolk wasn’t too strong. Perhaps an extra pinch of salt would enhance them.

Shaking Beef Tenderloin

This dish was delicious and the beef was super tender. Great paired with a side of rice.

Freebird Chicken

The newer addition to River Market is Freebird Chicken, an Asian-style rotisserie chicken shack. They serve flavourful free-range, hormone-free chickens with sides of rice, soup, and salads.

Khao Man Gai

This is Hai Nan chicken and it comes with soup and chicken rice. The chicken is poached and there is a bunch of different sauce that pair with it. I personally like the classic ginger and green onions.

Tumeric Fried Chicken

The fried chicken was super crispy and they use NextJen Gluten-Free flour in their batter mix. You would have never thought this was gluten-free, but it is.

Tom Yum Spiced Fried Cauliflower

If you’re in need of more vegetables in your meal, this dish was a good accompaniment.

Tom Yum Spiced Fried Brussel Sprouts

Vegetables are great deep fried and spiced with Tom Yum.

Rotisserie Chicken

If you’re looking for another type of chicken, they have rotisserie chicken. Tasty skin and moist inside.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I loved this introduction to some of the newer items on the menu since I usually order the same thing.

Address:
810 Quayside Dr, New Westminster

Epic Grill Silogs is located in New Westminster near Queensborough Landing by the outlet shops. Hidden away in the residential area is this Filipino restaurant specializing in silogs and sansrival.

Interior

The space is large and can fit small to large groups. It was definitely busy when we came here. There was a long line up to get a table and an even longer wait to get your order. We waited a very very long time…because we were determined to try the silogs.

Ube Milkshake

Ube is a purple yam that has a bright lavender colour. I don’t believe they use real ube as there is the dried ube sprinkled on top.

Sago At Gulaman

This is a sweet Filipino drink that is good for the Summer. It is made with brown sugar, tapioca and other types of jellies. Even when it was mixed around, it was still pretty sweet for our liking.

Calamansi

Calamansi are little limes from the Philippines. Imagine this as like Filipino lemonade.

Crispy Pata

Crispy Pata is a deep-fried pork hock with a delicious sauce that goes with it. It’s very very decadent but oh so good. The crisp skin with the succulent meat was addictive.

Silogs

We got a 3 meat silog with Pusit Silog (Dried squid), Lechon Silog (Crispy pork belly), and Tosi Silog (pork). It is served with garlic rice and 2 eggs.

We got another with Long Silog (Sweet sausage), Bang Silog (Boneless Milkfish), and Corned Silog (corned beef). Of all 3, I liked the corned beef the most.

Biya Silog (Dried Sole Fish), Lumpia Silog, and Tap Silog (Beef) was the next 3 meat silog that we ordered. It was interesting to try the sole fish, but it was pretty dry and crisp.

Final Thoughts

It’s a pretty unique place to have a lot of silog options all in one place. We tried 9 different meats, but next time, we would just get our silogs with just 1 type of protein as it’s a lot cheaper and we know our favourite meats. The wait time was a bit long for our order, which was annoying, so next time we will definitely come earlier.

We Rate Epic Grill Silogs

Address:
538 Ewen Ave, New Westminster

Website:
https://www.facebook.com/EpicSilogsGrill/

Epic Grill Silogs Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

sugar-mountain-catering-1

Sugar Mountain Catering was testing out their Private Dining Experience at Arundel Mansion in New Westminster.

They found that there is a need for intimate and cozy venues without sharing the space with other restaurant patrons.

sugar-mountain-catering-4

Sugar Mountain Catering has discovered Arundel Mansion for small groups in the heart of downtown New Westminster. The space is very reasonably priced and comes with a fully equipped 40-seat restaurant, kitchen and bar, as well as an upstairs suite and kitchenette.  They invited us for sneak preview of what guests would experience for a 8-course dinner.

sugar-mountain-catering-3

The decor seemed French inspired and has a lot of old vintage photos and posters. We have no idea who were in those photos, but it gave an old spooky charm to the place. Even finding the washroom was an adventure.

sugar-mountain-catering-2

As we waited for other guests to arrive, we got a glass of Prosecco.

sugar-mountain-catering-5

As an Amuse Bouche, we got cured roma tomato and basil encrusted chevre crostini with 25 year aceto balsamico. It was a nice touch that they drizzled the balsamic right in front of you.

sugar-mountain-catering-6

A good 2 bite starter to start the meal. The crostini was crisp and the items on top were enjoyed.

sugar-mountain-catering-7

Maple Hills Farm free range chicken consomme with vermouth, local spring morels, foie gras, mirepoix vegetables and pate feuilletee.

sugar-mountain-catering-8

You break open the top of the puff pastry to get to the soup below. The soup had a thin consistency and served piping hot.

sugar-mountain-catering-9

Braised Fraser Valley beef cheek and bone marrow custard with Italian parsley, fleur de sel, pink Himalayan salt, glace viande and grilled brushetta. This was one of my favourite dishes. When you scoop up the custard, the beef cheek lays inside and its so tender. I just wished there were more brushetta.

sugar-mountain-catering-10

Fresh picked Dungeness crabmeat with chilled-grilled spring asparagus Pemberton Valley fingerling potatoes and a grain mustard vinaigrette. The dish was served in a fun martini glass. The crabmeat was sweet and was enjoyable, but I did find a small bit of shell in my glass.

sugar-mountain-catering-11

Gulf Island pink shrimp perogies with truffle butter, wild sockeye belly bacon, ikura caviar and sour cream.I found that they shrimp filling inside was a bit small and the skin was thick.

sugar-mountain-catering-12

Nori wrapped tempura ahi with shiso oil, uni cream and ponzu daikon sprouts. The tempura and nori was limp and soggy. The ahi tuna needed a little dash of salt to bring out more flavour since it was pretty bland.

sugar-mountain-catering-13

Poached fillet of smoked wild BC sablefish, Fanny Boy oyster, brandade gratin, fennel, bacon and rosemary infused veloute.

The sablefish did have a few bones in it, so I had to be careful not to injest them. Other than that, the sablefish tasted good.

sugar-mountain-catering-14

The Palette Cleanser between these courses was Lychee Ginger Ice. Nice and refreshing.

sugar-mountain-catering-15

Roast rack of Salt Spring Island lamb with Chianti syrup, sauteed fiddleheads and roasted spring vegetable couscous en cocotte. The lamb was cooked to a medium rare making it juicy and tender.

sugar-mountain-catering-18

Belgian chocolate-raspberry pot de creme was my favourite of the dessert trio. You can’t go wrong as it’s so smooth and I love chocolate.

Cashew and cardamom spiced love cake with coconut ice cream was ok but still couldn’t compare to the pot de creme.

Jackfruit tarte tatin was hard for me to eat. I wasn’t into the flavours.

sugar-mountain-catering-16

It was a good experience but it did take some time for each dish to come out. With the limited space and equipment in the kitchen, I can see how it would be hard to put out all the dishes in a quick manner. In total, we dined for 3 hours and it did feel like the dinner dragged on for some time.

Some dishes were a hit and some were a miss. They have been one of the top wedding and event caterers in the Lower Mainland and this is an interesting new private dining concept they are trying out. I’m sure they will make some tweaks to the execution.

Websitehttp://www.sugarmountaincatering.com

kirin-decor

Kirin Starlight is our families go to place for Dim Sum. Since we live in Burnaby, it’s convenient for us to drive to on the weekend. They have several other locations throughout the Lower Mainland.

kirin-dining

It gets pretty packed around noon, so make sure you have a reservation or else you might be waiting around 30 mins – 1 hour for a table.

kirin-tea

When you get seated, they ask you what type of tea you would like. I usually get Jasmine tea or oolong tea.

kirin-golden-sand-tofu

Golden Sand Tofu is one of my favourite dishes. It is soft and silky on the inside with crispy exterior and sprinkled with salty bits on top. M always asks for this item at Dim Sum since it’s the one of the few items he can say in Chinese.

kirin-hargow

Shimp Dumplings (Har Gow) is a must order item. It comes in 4 pieces in the bamboo steamer.

kirin-suimai

Pork and Shrimp Sui Mai is another must. It also comes in 4 pieces and is a mixture of pork, shrimp and mushrooms.

kirin-xo

Make sure you use the XO sauce for the dumplings. It’s pure magic and quite addictive.

kirin-beef-roll

Beef Rice Noodle Roll has minced beef in the centre and wrapped with the rice roll. You can pour soy sauce all over to bring it out some more flavour. They also have this in a shrimp version too.

kirin-congee

Congee is a great item to order. Its like a soupy rice dish with different protein inside. There’s a lot of different versions too.

kirin-donut-roll

Zhaliang is a Chinese donut wrapped in rice noodle. Similarly to the beef rice roll. above. It is topped with pork floss and green onions. You get 2 sauce to dip it into – hoisin sauce or sesame paste.

kirin-spare-ribs

Spare Ribs with black bean sauce comes in a bamboo steamer. It’s another popular item to order at dim sum.  It does have bones in it

kirin-wrap

Sticky Rice (Lo Mai Gai) wrapped in lotus leaf comes with 3 piece. It’s really good and inside you have things like chicken, shitake mushrooms, preserved Chinese sausage, scallions, and dried shrimp.

kirin-buns

Custard buns are a treat at the end of the meal. The filling is a sweet yolk filling inside. It’s super hot, so make sure you don’t bite into it right away. Sometimes these sell out, so if you are dining here later in the afternoon, you may be out of luck.

Most of the food was good, but its is slightly more expensive than other Dim Sum restaurants in Vancouver.

We Rate Kirin

Address:
Starlight Casino, 350 Gifford Street, Metro Vancouver

Website:
www.kirinrestaurants.com/index.php5?page=starlight

Kirin Seafood Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Spudshack-sign

The Spud Shack Fry Co is located inside the New Westminster Skytrain station. They open up everyday at noon and serve up twice cooked Belgian Frites and artisan draught beers.

They have $5 happy hour on the weekdays from 2pm – 6pm, where you can choose between select beers, wine or a medium poutine.

Spudshack-skytrain

It’s literally a few steps from the platform. Great for a quick stop to grab a bite.

Spudshack-sounter

Looking at their menu, I was impressed by the amount of beers they had available. They also have a variety of poutines too. They have the usual poutines and then creative ones like ‘The Night Market’, ‘The Squealer’, and ‘The Brat’.

Spudshack-inner

There aren’t too any seats, but good size for groups of 2’s or 4’s.

Spudshack-flight

I tried a flight of a few of their different beers and its great they are using some pretty local craft brewers like Steel & Oak, Whistler Brewing, and Four Winds Brewing.

Spudshack-fries

Frites are 100% local Kennebec potatoes cooked in high quality gluten-free Canola oil and tossed with Italian sea salt. They definitely take their time to prepare these fries since it was so good and crispy.

Spudshack-sauce

They have a variety of delicious sauces to choose from. If you have fries, you must order a sauce to go with it.

  • Andalusia mayonnaise
  • Bacon mayonnaise
  • Chipotle mayonnaise
  • Truffle mayonnaise
  • Parmesan mayonnaise
  • Malt vinegar mayonnaise
  • Curry mayonnaise
  • Jalapeño mayonnaise
  • Dill pickle mayonnaise
  • Dutch mayonnaise
  • Curry ketchup
  • Chipotle ketchup

Spudshack-burger

Effing Good Burger has smoked onion mayo, BBQ sauce, tomato jam, bacon, lettuce, pickle, and Monterey Jack cheese. It’s also served with regular frites.

Spudshack-cross-section-burger

I was surprised by the smokiness of the burger, really god depths of flavour. Mmm Mmm Mmm!

Spudshack-poutine

The Classic Poutine has frites, cheese curds and gravy. That gravy is really good and just tasted so comforting. Plus, the frites were still crispy!

Spudshack-poutine-burger

Overall, I really enjoyed the food here. I’ve been searching a long time for a poutine that has crispy frites. It’s good stuff and I highly recommend coming here for a visit. Just hop on the skytrain.

We Rate The Spud Shack Fry Co:

Address:
352-800 Carnarvon Street
New Westminster, BC

Website: http://www.spudshack.ca/

The Spud Shack Fry Co. on Urbanspoon

kirin-walkway

Kirin has another location at Starlight Casino near New Westminster. They have 4 locations in total. They serve dim sum on the weekends before 2pm. It’s a beautiful space and it can get pretty busy around 10:30am. This time, we went around noon on a cold weekend and there were no lines at all.

kirin-waiting

If there is a line up, you would wait in this waiting area, but it’s quite nice.

kirin-dining

The main dining area is very large and they also have a private VIP area for small groups.

kirin-tea

You will be asked what type of tea you would like and I usually get a Jasmine or Oolong.

kirin-aloe-jello

Aloe Vera Jelly came complimentary as they were doing a promotion with Eastern Airlines. I’m not really sure what the connection was, but yeah for free things.

kirin-golden-sand-tofu

Golden Sand Tofu is one of my favourite dishes. It is soft and silky on the inside with crispy exterior and sprinkled with salty bits on top.

kirin-rice

Pan Fried Rice Rolls is quite good but it is an oily dish. The chewiness from the rice rolls and the salty sauce go well together.

kirin-shrimp-dumpling

Shrimp Dumplings comes with 4 pieces in the bamboo steamer. One of my favourite dishes.

kirin-sticky-rice

Sticky Rice has 3 pieces in a container. Decent size especially for the morning

kirin-tofu

Fried Bean Curd Rolls was one of my favourite dishes that we ordered. It was crispy on the outside and filled with savoury ingredients like mushroom.

Overall, Kirin is a good place to have dim sum, but they do lack a few dishes here and there. The quality is good. The Queenborough Landing Outlet is close by, so you should definitely check it out and try to find a good deal.

We Rate Kirin

Address:
350 Gifford St
New Westminster BC

Website:
http://www.kirinrestaurants.com/

Kirin Seafood Restaurant 麒麟海鮮酒家 on Urbanspoon

shang-sign

Shang Noodle House is a restaurant of the Kirin Group. We actually wanted to go to Kirin in the Starlight Casino location, but sadly their last call ended for Dim Sum, so our only option was to try Shang Noodle House. They share the same kitchen as Kirin, so you will find similar quality in food. I find the food items a strange mix of Hong Kong Style Cafe and Japanese Ramen Shop.

shang-inner

The interior is nice and has a lot of seating. As it was around 2pm, this place was pretty empty.

shang-calpis

Mango Calpis ($3.50) was what a few of us ordered and it comes in the big bubble tea cups.

shang-xlb

Steamed Shanghai Pork Dumplings ($4.58) comes with 4 pieces. The quality was ok, but still isn’t as addictive as Dinesty or Din Tai Fung.

shang-tofu

Deep Fried Crispy Tofu ($4.28) has a lot of pieces for the order. Great for sharing.

shang-sliders

Slider of Sliced Braised Beef Shank with Pan Fried Onion ($4.28) comes with the 2 sliders. It’s deliciously crispy on the outside.

shang-five-spice

Sliced Braised Beef Shank ($6.88) has 12 pieces and another great dish to share.

shang-pork

Roasted Pork Belly ($6.88) is yummy! The skin is very crispy and it’s dripping with flavour.

shang-laksa

Malaysian-style Traditional Ramen with Chicken, Prawn and Squid in Spicy Laksa Soup ($9.88) was a huge bowl, but the overall taste was nothing like ramen or laksa.

shang-noodle

Deep Fried Chicken Fillet Japanese Ramen in Pork Broth ($9.88) was what M ordered and it was good that all the fried items came on a separate dish so it does not get soggy in the ramen.

M had similar comments with the ramen not even close to being Japanese style. It was a still a big decent bowl of noodles.

shang-tantan

Traditional Ramen with Spicy Meat Sauce ($7.88) had large portions too.

shang-starlight-casino

We found all the snacks to be great value and tasted really good. When we had the noodles, it was pretty unimpressive. I would stay away from the noodles and share a bunch of snacks…kinda like dim sum style.

We Rate Shang Noodle House

Address:
350 Gifford Street
New Westminster BC

Website:
http://www.shangnoodlehouse.com/

Shang Noodle House 尚麵館 on Urbanspoon

coming-home-outer

I’ve been growing tired of going to the same ol’ places for brunch in Burnaby, so I looked into New Westminster if they had anything interesting. After much Googling, I stumbled upon Coming Home Cafe. It looked like a cute place and was rated quite highly. How have I not heard of this place? Their website even has a web cam so people can see if it’s busy or not.

I decided to take a chance and bring M and Scarface with me.

coming-home-inner

Their menu is on the chalk board and everything is under $10. The interior really isn’t impressive at all, it’s more like an old diner where nothing matches or is from a thrift store. It really has that homey vibe because as a kid, I remember a lot of our cups and plates didn’t match.

coming-home-coffee

Kicking Horse Coffee ($2.75) and its self serve. You grab the mug from their shelves and begin pouring the coffee and mixing in your milk and sugar. Just like home.

You also get a maximum of 2 refills, but usually people don’t need more than 3.

coming-home-breakfast

The Uptown ($8.50) comes with 2 egg, toast, choice of meat and hashbrowns. I got rye bread, sausage, sunny side up eggs, and the Hashbrowns. It was simple and good just like a traditional breakfast.

coming-home-kickass-benny

Kick Ass Benny with side of hashbrowns ($9+ $3) has black forest ham, poached eggs and fresh Hollandaise sauce on top of a cheese scone. There’s no english muffin here, it’s the cheese scone that rocks it.

Overall, the place is very homey and the owners are very nice. You get good traditional breakfast foods.

 We Rate Coming Home Cafe

Address:
753 6th St.
New Westminster, BC

Website:
http://www.cominghomecafe.com/

Coming Home Café on Urbanspoon

Taqueria-Playa-Tropical-sign

Taqueria Playa Tropical has been a staple in the New Westminster neighbourhood. I hear people raving about the Mexican food all the time. While I was in the neighbourhood, M and I stopped here for lunch. I really like Mexican food, so I wanted to see what the hubbub was all about.

Taqueria-Playa-Tropical-inner

The place was cute and wasn’t anything fancy. When we walked in, we had a very awkward experience. We stood by the door for a while not knowing if we should seat ourselves or wait for someone to seat us since the empty tables all had dirty plates on top of it.

We got a hunch the service wouldn’t be as attentive as we would like, but thats ok since we wanted to see the quality of the food.

Taqueria-Playa-Tropical-inner2

They recently took over the shop next door and expanded their seating area. They try to keep all their customers in one area if it’s not a crazy amount of people here.

Taqueria-Playa-Tropical-chips

Complimentary chips arrived. I love complimentary chips, but sadly these were a bit on the stale side.

Taqueria-Playa-Tropical-sauce

There’s also some sauce on the side you can put on your chips or on your food.

Taqueria-Playa-Tropical-jaritos

To quell our thirsty souls, we got horchata and Pineapple flavoured Jarritos.

Taqueria-Playa-Tropical-horchata

Horchata came in a tall glass and it tasted good.

Taqueria-Playa-Tropical-d

Chicken Flautas comes with 4 deep fried fautas with chicken in the centre. It is then topped with veggies and sour cream.

Taqueria-Playa-Tropical-monster

Monster Burrito with carne asada and topped with spicy sauce. It was huge! It has the grilled steak, melted cheese, guacamole, cilantro, and onion inside. M really liked it and he just barely finished this.

Overall, the food we had a was decent. Nothing too mind blowing. We will probably be back to try other things on their menu. The service was poor, so we waited a while to order, a while to get our food and a while to pay the bill. Apparently, it’s normal, so it’s not a quick place to eat and go.

We Rate Taqueria Playa Tropical: 

Address:
334- 6th Street
New Westminster, BC

Taqueria Playa Tropical on Urbanspoon

annys-outer

The weather is getting better in Vancouver and what better way to celebrate than going to get some ice cream. We were in New Westminster and we came across Anny’s.

There were lots of people sitting inside and we saw a huge sign saying they were serving maple twist cones.

annys-inner

Of course we had to get some! I’ve never seen such a thing and M wanted some too.

annys-maple-twist-cone

Maple Twist Cone has the maple streak on the side. It wasn’t too sweet and deliciously creamy. M really liked it.

If you’re in the New Westminster area, definitely check this place out.

We Rate Anny’s Dairy Bar

Address:
722 Sixth Street
New Westminster, BC

Anny's Dairy Bar on Urbanspoon