South Burnaby Archives - Page 3 of 6

In Kid Friendly

Sekai Udon Bar: Udon at Metrotown

October 23, 2015

Sekai Udon Bar is located near The Bay at Metropolis at Metrotown. It opened last year, so it is still fairly new. Sui Sha Ya, an all you can eat Japanese restaurant used to be in this spot. It’s good that there is a new restaurants in its place serving freshly made udon.

The interior is quite large so it can fit up to 100 people here.

Looking through the menu, the best choice was their Eraberu lunch special that they have on the weekend from 11am – 3pm. All you need to do is choose your rice dish, udon dish, and if you want miso soup or salad.

M ordered the Yaki Udon, Curry Croquette Don, Salad, and their chef special side dishes were a slice of orange and potato salad.

Yaki Udon has nice fresh udon noodles but the taste was pretty average. Nothing special.

Curry Croquette Don was ok too. Maybe it needed a bit more sauce to go with the rice.

I got my lunch set with Tonkotsu Udon, Chashu Don, salad and chef special side dishes.

Tonkotsu Udon has the pork bone soup broth with veggies, bean sprouts and a slab of pork. It wasn’t bad at all. I love the big thick slice of pork. It was like a bowl of ramen but with udon noodles.

Chashu Don was decent too. Good amount of pork to rice ratio.

Onsen Tamago ($1.80) is a Japanese style slow-cooked egg. It looked great but it was cold. The temperature threw me off as I assumed it would be warm.

Overall, for $10.50 for the lunch sets, it’s decent. Good, quick and filling. None of the dishes blew our minds, but it was good enough.

We Rate Sekai Udon Bar:

Address:
Metropolis at Metrotown Food Court
236-4820 Kingsway, Burnaby

Website:
http://sekaiudonbar.com/

In Bubble Tea

Cafe Eggstatic 雷亭: Birds Nest Bubble Tea

September 15, 2015

Cafe Eggstatic opened up in Crystal Mall in South Burnaby closer to the end of Summer. They serve up bubble teas and egg waffles. What has differentiated them from some other BBT shops is their use of the birds nest topping on their Summer specialty drinks.

Birds nest is typically found in Chinese cooking especially in soup and seen as a delicacy. It’s not the nest of the bird, but the solidified saliva. It is prized in Chinese culture due to their rarity, and supposedly high nutritional value and flavour.

Honey Green Milk Tea with Pearls ($3.50 +$0.50) came out quite sweet. We should have asked for half sweet. Good flavours, but too sweet.

Birds Nest Mango Slush Infused with Aloe Vera ($5.70) the bottom with the aloe vera chunks were very good.

The birds nest sits right on top and it really tastes like nothing, but that’s just my opinion. The strawberries were a nice addition to the drink as it adds color and it has a sour taste that paired well with the mango slush.

HK Style Bubble Waffle ($3.75) comes out quite crispy with a slight chewiness in the centre.

The batter is thin, so you get a lot of hallow space in the center. Not as filling as other bubble waffles. I still enjoyed it.

Overall, it’s a good place to get bubble waffles. Great texture and I enjoy the crispiness. The birds nest topping draws a lot of people here, but depends how traditional you are.

We Rate Cafe Eggstatic:

Address:
Crystal Mall
1021 – 4500 Kingsway, Burnaby

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

In Cafe

Camellia Tea & Coffee: Drinks and Dessert

September 4, 2015

Camellia Tea & Coffee is a few steps away from Royal Oak Skytrain. They serve up coffee, tea and a bunch of delicious treats. During the wind storm in the Lower Mainland last week, they still had power, so people who needed a place to chill over some drinks came here. It’s not fun staying at home hoping the power will come back on…when it doesn’t for many many hours.

My friends and I grabbed a bite to eat a few blocks away and then came here to chat and have coffee.

The space is quite nice and there is a lot of room. We saw a lot of large groups just chilling and some others that were just working on their computers.

Latte is my usual. I got mine in their smallest size – 12oz. Good flavours and it really perked me up.

Caramel Macchiato is so beautiful! Since they use the clear double layered cup, you can see the milk, coffee, foam and caramel all separated.

They also have mint infused water at their counter for free.

On another occasion, I cam here just to get dessert for take-out. We wanted to try their desserts but were just too full to eat it in the cafe, so we took it home so we could digest a little before digging in.

Original Cheesecke with mixed berry compote was pretty good. Very dense but very consistent in texture.

Strawberry and cream cake was decent, but not as exciting as the other desserts. The fruit was fresh and also had good texture.

Caramel Fan was addictive. I love caramel fan. Not too sweet and I gobbled this up pretty quickly.

Overall, the desserts were pretty good! All the desserts were not too sweet and all made in-house. It’s a good place to hang out and chill with friend over coffee and desserts.

The only downside is that when you enter the store, it seems like they have a lot of rules to follow like how you shouldn’t stay longer for 2 hours, everyone has a minimum order, etc. It was a bit of a turn off, but I can understand why they have that.

We Rate Camellia Tea & Coffee:

Address:
104-6888 Royal Oak Ave, Burnaby

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

In Bubble Tea

Cattle Cafe: Milk Tea and Noodles

September 3, 2015

Cattle Cafe on Kingsway moved a few stores from their original location. They are a Hong Kong style cafe that has a comfortable fast-casual dining experience. The Kingsway location is their flagship store as they a few more items that their other locations.

Beware, it’s cash only, so make sure you go visit an ATM ahead of time.

The new location has more seats and better decor.

Ice Bath Milk Tea ( Add $2 with meal or $3.99) has been trending in Asia and has finally come to Vancouver. Having the milk tea in an ice bath keeps the milk tea from being diluted. When it arrived at the table, I wished they put more ice into the bowl as it barely did anything. It only covered the bottom bit.

Iced Milk Tea (add $1 with meal) is the version with ice in the drink. It was good too and you can’t tell too much of the difference between the two milk teas. If you aren’t hardcore about your milk tea, save a dollar and get this version.

Signature Noodle Combo ($9.79) lets you choose your Soup Base/ Sauce, toppings and type of noodle. As well as a drink. My friend chose the Malay Laksa Soup with beef brisket and fish tofu. It comes with 2 toppings, but you can choose to add more for $1.59 each.

Pork Chop in Cream Onion Bacon Demi-Glace with Rice ($10.59) was good as well. My friend loved the tenderness of the pork and it was very juicy. She was impressed since she has never seen pork so tender like this before.

Mixed meat and fish balls with flat noodle seaweed soup ($9.79) was comforting on a cold day. It was pretty good with the flat noodles. Super filling and I enjoyed the subtle taste of the seaweed soup.

Overall, the meal was quite decent and it’s priced well. The new restaurant is great and has more of a modern feel to it. The service is still pretty average as its hard to get a servers attention.

We rate Cattle Cafe:

Address:
4877 Kingsway, Burnaby

Website:
http://www.cattlecafe.ca/

In South Burnaby

Proline Trading: My Wedding Florist

July 14, 2015

I know this post isn’t about food, but I know it will help someone who is in search of flowers for their wedding in Vancouver or Burnaby on a budget.

It was a month before my wedding and I still didn’t have a florist. I inquired with a lot of places but was always turned off by how expensive flowers can get. It was one of the last things on my mind since I really had no preference. I even contemplated doing the flowers myself but realized it was silly because in the end it would still be a few hundred dollars and I would need to put it together when I had no time. DIY wasn’t an option.

A few people recommended Proline Trading as they are a wholesale wedding florist. Kathleen is very easy to work with and accommodating. She’s very flexible with your budget and can try to make things happen.

Since I didn’t have an idea of what I wanted, she had a few binders of examples, so I just chose one I liked. Besides flowers, they also do rentals as well. It’s really a one stop shop if you need drapes or cake stands.

I ended up getting:

A dozen individually wrapped roses
1 bridal bouquet
4 bridesmaids bouquet
4 boutineers for the parents and grandparents

All for around $370 after taxes but I would have to pick them up from them in the morning. As my wedding was on Mothers Day, we got the roses for all the Mothers to thank them for being so amazing.

The price was very very very reasonable as other places were quoting me around $600.

Proline Trading is highly recommended if you are having your wedding at Riverway Clubhouse since it’s literally a few minutes drive. Since we needed the flowers earlier in the day, we picked them up and brought it to our house. They give you these black buckets to easily transport the flowers so they keep hydrated.

All the flowers were gorgeous and if you asked me what type of flowers were in there, I wouldn’t be able to tell you.

Overall, we were all happy with the flowers. Their prices are awesome and I was very happy that I didn’t break my budget.

Address:
102 – 8678 Greenall Ave
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.prolinetrading.com/

In South Burnaby

Riverway Clubhouse: My Wedding Venue

July 13, 2015

It’s been a few months after my wedding and a lot of people have been asking me if I would blog about the wedding since I have a blog. At the time I really had no idea if I would because I was so stressed out trying to make sure I had everything in order. Since I have a bit more free time now, I thought I would share my experience working with Riverway Clubhouse for my wedding ceremony and reception.

Hopefully you find this helpful in making your wedding venue decision.

I was recommended to Riverway Clubhouse by a coworker and it was the only venue I saw. It’s a hidden gem located in South Burnaby close to Marine Drive. The clubhouse offers beautiful wood beam architecture paired with floor-to-ceiling window views of the picturesque course. They used the same architect that designed Westwood Plateau Golf Course, so you will see similarities.

The view in the back of the restaurant was perfect for the ceremony. Once we took one look at this, it was a done deal.

We made our decision right away when we saw it since the it was quite affordable. You pay the price per guest since it is a buffet dinner. You can do a plated dinner, but we were advised that it would be a lot more expensive.

All the Audio Visual equipment is included. Since the venue is very stunning on its own, you just need to add minimal decorations.

The venue is hard to get to by transit so I would recommend driving or taking a taxi.

Since we had our wedding on a Sunday, we had to have a minimum attendance of 120. For Saturday, it would have been a minimum of 150, but I thought 150 would be hard to reach so we settled with Sunday. I think they can fit up to 200 people. No minimum spend required, just minimum attendance.

I was on a budget, so I needed to make sure I didn’t go over. We had to pay Riverway Cluhouse for:

Buffet per guest
Cocktail hour food and beverages
Table Wines
Open Bar
Ceremony Fee

I won’t list the prices since they do fluctuate year after year, but I spent just under $14,000 including taxes. Since they are owned by the City of Burnaby, they do not accept tips/gratuities, which is great because you can easily save money there. I budgeted about $16,000, but in the end it was less which I was very happy about.

The wedding package we chose includes:

Grand Wedding Buffet
Use of the facility (lobby, bridal room, and dining area)
Menu tasting for 2
Use of podium, wireless microphone and in-house sound system
Use of audio visual equipment including projector, screen and LCD televisions
Dance floor
Full set-up and take-down of reception (ceremonies have an additional cost)
Service staff and bartender
White table linens, cloth napkins, table settings
Cake table
Signing table
Complimentary parking
Ceremony rehearsal (space only)
High speed wi-fi internet

Some items may have changed on the list, but you should contact Riverway Clubhouse for the current wedding package prices.

Grand Wedding Buffet was the package we chose and it included:

Warm dinner rolls with butter
Baby organic greens with house dressing
Asian inspired noodle salad
Vegetable medley with garlic butter (can be substituted for herb roasted vegetables)
Herb roasted potatoes
Saffron basmati rice
Penne pasta with puttanesca sauce
Baked free range chicken breast with roasted mushroom marsala cream
Oven roasted wild sockeye salmon with spicy ponzu sauce
Chef attended AAA beef carving station
Chef’s selection of desserts
Riverway Blend 100% organic free trade coffee and premium tea selection

You can make customizations to the menu. We swapped the Asian-inspired noodle salad with a Caesar Salad. Since we are Asian, there’s no way you can have a Asian inspired noodle salad. It just didn’t taste right. Our herb roasted potatoes became scalloped potatoes.

We also ended up getting a free upgrade from the AAA beef carvings station to a Prime Rib carving station. Everyone loved the prime rib! All the proteins were cooked pretty well. A lot of people said the chicken and salmon were very moist.

It was pretty easy transforming the venue under a budget. I went with a more rustic style and made a terrarium centrepiece for each table.

The ceremony was an extra cost, but it was a relief having everything in the same place so you can cut out transportation. Plus, less of a headache so you don’t have to deal with more vendors.

The set up of the ceremony is pretty simple and they try to fit as many chairs in there as possible. They ended up having about 100 chairs there. If you need anything extra, you just ask them for it.

The signing table and chairs are included too. I just love the greenery and the pond in the background. Lets just say many selfies were take out there later in the day. We took our wedding party pictures close by at Fraser Foreshore Park during cocktail hour. It’s about a 1 minute drive away.

They also give you many options to run the bar. You can do loonie/toonie bar or you can have an open bar and choose the tiers of drinks you want available. We went up to Tier 2 where you get a larger selection of imported beers, wines and liqueurs for $6 or $7 depending on the drink.

We also special requested Lagavulin 16 years, which was only available to the wedding party.

Overall, it was an easy venue to work with and the price was right. Even with those positive notes, there were some hiccups like how they forgot to bring out the correct table wine. The wedding venue coordinators at Riverway Clubhouse are very responsive via e-mail. They do weddings every weekend, so they are your go-to resources. Plus, they are very flexible with last minute requests.

At the end of the day, everyone had a great time, people enjoyed the food, and of course I got married to my best friend! I would use this venue again for a special occasion and I would recommended it to brides on a budget.

Address:
9001 Bill Fox Way,
Burnaby, BC V5J 5J3

Website:
https://www.golfburnaby.ca/clubhouses

In Fast Food

Chop n Toss: Healthy Food Court Options

June 27, 2015

Chop n Toss is a newer addition to the Metropolis at Metrotown Food Court located near The Bay. It’s hard to find a somewhat healthier option at the mall. Most items are deep-fried or reheated. When I saw Chop n Toss, I thought I would give it a try.

They started off as Garden Fresh Salad with Style in 2004, which was a salad bar. The owners transformed it into Chop n Toss that is different that the usual salad bar. They have wraps, panini’s, salads, noodle boxes, rice boxes, and juice.

You can design your own salad or wrap by picking whatever ingredients you want.

You can also choose their already designed salads, noodle box, rice box, panini’s, and wraps to make the picking a lot easier.

Thai Chicken has peanuts, iceberg lettuce, mangoes, tomatoes, carrots, green peppers, sesame seeds, and tossed with their Thai vinaigrette dressing.

Overall, I did enjoy it. Much better option that getting a burger. It’s summer, I gotta be healthy or at least attempt to be.

We Rate Chop n Toss:

Location:
Metropolis at Metrotown, Food Court, Upper Level,
4820 Kingsway, Burnaby

Website:
http://chopandtoss.ca/

In South Burnaby

Boiling Point: Personal-Sized Hot Pots in Burnaby

June 25, 2015

Boiling Point is a Taiwanese hot pot soup specialty restaurant with 2 locations in BC and 15 more in the USA.

They are best known for their personalized hot pots and bubble tea. I was invited by ChineseBites and tried all their hot pots with a few other bloggers. I’ve been here before, but its always nice to revisit restaurant to see what has changed.

There is booth seating, so its good for groups of 4.

There’s also one larger table if you have a big group like us.

Boiling Point has 10 different hot pots and you can do add-ons to them.

You can choose your level of spiciness for each hot pot:

None
Mild
Medium
Very spicy
Flaming spicy

House Special Hot Pot has napa cabbage, fermented tofu, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, kamaboko, pork balls, clam, quail egg, pork blood, pork intestine, nira, preserved vegetables, tomato, and cilantro.

I wasn’t a big fan of this hot pot since it has a lot of odd ingredients like the fermented tofu, pork blood and intestines. It always has this weird taste that I dislike.

Seafood and Tofu Hot Pot has Taiwanese bok choy and under all of that is shrimp, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, frozen tofu, baby octopus, clam, cuttlefish ring, fish fillet, fish ball, vermicelli, egg, and green onion.

Kimchi Hot Pot has napa, vermicelli, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, egg, kamaboko, meat ball, clam, fuzhou fish Ball, kimchi, firm tofu, fried tofu skin, imitation crab stick, and green onion.

This is one of my favourites. The kimchi isn’t very spicy and when it is cooked, it has a very nice savoury flavour. A good balance of ingredients.

Beef Hot Pot has napa, vermicelli, sliced angus beef, enoki mushroom, tomato, firm tofu, tempura, corn, pork ball, kamaboko, fried tofu skin, imitation crab stick, green onion, and cilantro.

Lamb Hot Pot has napa, vermicelli, sliced lamb, enoki mushroom, Imitation crab stick, kamanoko, pork blood, rice cake, organic maitake mushroom, clam, pickled mustard greens, firm tofu, tempura, fried tofu skin, egg, green onion, and cilantro. This was a decent hot pot and you can’t go wrong with it.

Curry Fish Ball Hot Pot is only available in Canada and Washington location. Inside the hot pot is napa, vermicelli, slice pork, enoki mushroom, imitation crab stick, fish ball, fried tofu skin, corn, tempura, mountain yam, Chinese string bean, egg, and green onion. It was a good hot pot and the flavours were good.

Taiwanese Spicy Hot Pot is served flaming spicy. Man, this was SPICY. Don’t get it if you’re not able to handle spicy. Also in this hot pot is cabbage, instant noodle, sliced angus, enoki mushrooms, clams, fish balls, cuttlefish ring, pork intestine, pork blood rice cake, fried tofu skin, maitake mushroom, frozen tofu, green onion, and cilantro.

Japanese Miso Hot Pot has cabbage, udon, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, clam, fish ball, fish fillet, organic maitake mushroom, crab, fried tofu skin, soft tofu, egg, and green onion.

Thai Flavour Hot Pot has cabbage, taro stem, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, cuttlefish ring, fish ball, clam, crab, baby octopus, organic maitake mushroom, shrimp, and cilantro. I didn’t really like this hot pot. It’s hard to eat the crab without getting too messy.

Tomato Veggie Hot Pot has nappa, vermicelli, sliced pork, enoki mushroom, tomato, firm tofu, corn, tofu skin, string beans, and king oyster mushrooms.

Organic Tofu Hot Pot is not a veggie dish as it has sliced pork and lobster ball.

Each hot pot comes with a bowl of rice. You would scoop some of the items into the rice bowl to cool down before you eat it.

They also have 3 sauces that you can mix together to dip your hot pot items into – Chili oil, garlic soy sauce, and chili bean sauce.You can also purchase bottles of these to take home.

You mix a little bit of each into your sauce dish.

Spicy Fermented Tofu is evil in disguise. It’s not for everyone and has a stinky feet odor to it. Some people love it, but I wouldn’t want to eat this again.

Udon is an extra item you can order if you need more substance to your hot pot.

Original Wok Noodle is their own specialty noodle that they have in packages.

Spinach Wok Noodle is similar to the one above but with spinach, thus the slight green color. Good al dente texture and it was enjoyable.

Fresh Milk Tea uses real milk instead of powder. When it arrives, you can tell the difference between the two densities of liquid, so the tea is on the bottom half and milk is on the other half.

I mixed it around and then it looked a lot more like milk tea. It was good but I would have preferred it half sweet.

Snow Cubes come in six different flavours:

Strawberry
Sesame
Matcha
Chocolate
Taro
Hokkaido Flavour with Brown Sugar Konjac

They look cute and is a nice refreshing dessert after the hot pot, but it was pretty difficult eating them. If you have sensitive teeth, biting into these cool blocks will cause you discomfort. The flavours were ok, but everyone hated the strawberry one as it tasted a bit artificial.

You can even take some home, but they can melt within 15 minutes. Especially during a hot summers day…it may not make it home in one piece.

Overall, the hot pots were ok, but some flavours were not very good. I would stick with the beef hot pot, kimchi hot pot and the curry fish ball hot pot. When it comes to the ingredients inside the hot pot, I don’t really like fermented tofu, blood, or intestines.

The menu has changed since the last time I came here in 2013, but I still don’t like how you can’t control the heat of the hot pot. I don’t like eating my food crazy hot in temperature. Everything keeps cooking until the flame underneath goes out. By that time, if you still have stuff in the hot pot, it gets over cooked.

I understand the appeal with personal hot pots, but I like the traditional hot pots because of the interactive experience and the ability to pick and choose everything that goes inside.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to dine at Boiling Point and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Boiling Point:

Address:
5276 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.bpgroupusa.com/home.php

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=5276+Kingsway+Burnaby,+BC&t=m&hnear=5276+Kingsway,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5H&z=16″]

In Cafe

Starbucks: ButterBeer Frappuccino

June 3, 2015

I was passing by the mall and this sign caught my attention. They actually advertise the butterbeer frappuccino when it’s on their “secret menu” that no one talks about.

Some location and some staff may not know how to make a butterbeer frappuccino, but here’s the recipe:

Creme Frappuccino base
Add caramel syrup
Add toffee nut syrup

Thats basically it! I’ve never been to Harry Potter land in Orland to try the Butterbeer, but some have said it’s close to the real thing and some people say it’s not. I’ll definitely know later this year when I make a trip there.

M and I chose to have the mini size of the frappuccino. I actually really like this smaller size. Since the butterbeer frappuccino is more on the sweet side, having a smaller size worked really well.

In Bakery

Middlegate Aroma Bake House: Bakery in South Burnaby

January 22, 2015

Middlegate Aroma Bake House is located in South Burnaby close to the Edmonds area. The newest owners have been here for the past 1.5 years serving up a variety of baked goods from all over the world.

Throughout the year, they have close to 900 different items for sale.

Once you step into the shop, you will see so many baked goods and desserts.

The treats are quite affordable and most are under $2.

They also sells a variety of cakes, tarts and desserts.

Forty Ninth Parallel is what they serve if you need a little coffee with your treats.

Zaban Puff Pastry is a Persian pastry with a touch of honey on top. It is flakey and not overly sweet.

Danish Pastry had more of a bread to cream ratio. I wish there were more cream and peaches to their danishes.

Dark Chocolate Mousse is nice and creamy with a bit of cake on the bottom.

Fruit and Nut Scone is packed full of nuts and dried fruit. So much! I really enjoyed it and would make a great power breakfast.

Rice Cookies comes in 2s. It doesn’t contain gluten, so it’s great for people who are allergic to gluten. When you first bite into it, it is quite dry, so you will need some coffee or tea to go with it.

They also sell Zolbia and Bamieh, traditional Iranian treats drenched in honey. It’s quite sweet, so it’s not for everyone.

Baklava comes in square bite-size pieces. It has a strong taste of honey but is pretty addictive.

Almond Florentine is a brittle, roasted almond mingled with the taste of candied fruit. It is also dipped in chocolate on the other side.

Brownie bites in a cup.

Each bite was good and its the perfect size if you just need a bite of brownie.

Cannoli was good. The inside is made on dense fudge with bits of nuts and the crispy tube.

Tahini Granola Balls comes in a pack of 4. Another alternative treat for people who are vegan or gluten free.

Almond Apricot Tart has the apricots scattered all around. It tasted alright.

Buckwheat and Quinoa Cookies are gluten-free and is rich in Amino Acids, Dietary Fiber, Minerals, Vitamin Bs, Antioxidants, high in Protein, and easy to digest. Since my sister is Ciliac, this would be a better option than the other treats here.

Overall, they have a lot to choose from and have alternatives for people with dietary restrictions. If you’re looking for a bakery with European and treats from around the world, give Middlegate Aroma Bake House a try.

We Rate Middlegate Aroma Bake House:

Address:
7155 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.aromabakehouse.com/

In Dim Sum

Shanghai Elan Restaurant 上海粗菜館: Dim Sum Time

October 14, 2014

Shanghai Elan Restaurant is located in Crystal Mall. It takes the place of Pittsburg Cafe, which I’m glad closed down since they did had such horrible food. Crystal Mall probably has the most poorly designed parkade as I like to avoid all life-forms there. People drive crazy and there is a good chance someone is gonna mess up your car.

Besides the craziness of the parking, I love Shanghai food and it has never disappointed me. It’s a bit hard to find Shanghainese food in Burnaby, so I’m glad there’s something close by. I came here with my parents for an early lunch on the weekend. It was kinda like Dim Sum but without the traditional type of dishes.

Hot and Sour Soup ($10.50) was what we started the meal with. It was easily sharable with a table of 4. It was thick and contained a lot of ingredients inside.

I’ve always loved this soup since it was a bit spicy, a bit sour and loaded with different textures like bamboo shoots, fungus, and other things.

Shanghai Fried Rice Cake with shredded pork and vegetables ($10.50) it has a lot of rice cake. Good taste and it has a chewy texture to them.

Marinated Beef Wrapped in pancake ($6.50) was ok, but I hated how the pancake was so thick and doughy.

Steamed Chicken and Pork Wonton Soup ($14.50) has a delicious broth but the wontons were tiny and had very little meat in each wonton. I think I’m just used to having those big wontons in soup.

XLB Steamed Pork Buns ($5.50) is a popular dish and almost everyone orders it. Inside there is a light broth with pork encased in the bun. It’s good but it’s still not as addictive as Dinesty.

Pan Fried Chives Dumpling ($5.50) came with 2 deep fried dumplings and sauce.

When we opened it up, I thought there would be more Chives inside. It was a mixture of chives, glass noodles and egg.

Overall, the food was ok, but I expected a little bit more from the dishes I ordered. I prefer their dinner items at Shanghai Elan Restaurant.

We Rate Shanghai Elan Restaurant:

Address:
1687-4500 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=4500+Kingsway+Burnaby,+BC&hnear=4500+Kingsway,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V5H&t=m&z=16 “]

In Gluten Free Options

Healthfare: Counting those Calories

September 23, 2014

Healthfare is a restaurant located in Market Crossing on Marine Drive. They have salads, smoothies, sandwiches, and other healthier items. M and I were passing by and thought we should try it out instead of going to McDonalds.

All the menu items have calorie counts if you are into controlling your daily calorie intake.

They have a few seats inside but M and I decided to just do take out.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie ($5.29) was good and you get a nice balance of strawberry and banana. It’s a decent smoothie. Good to have if you’re on the go and need something quick. It is 305 calories.

Mmmango Smoothie ($5.29) had a strange taste, like a strong honey taste. I wonder what type of mango they used.

Not So Butter Chicken Rice Bowl has 452 calories, which is not bad at all. It has brown rice, which is a nice touch if you hate white rice. It also comes with pita bread and cucumbers. M thought it tasted ok.

Greek Village Salad ($7.99) has mixed field greens, english cucumbers, sweet bell peppers, slice red onions, herb goat cheese and balsamic dressing. I needed a basic salad and it came in the large styrofoam container. A few of the field greens were a bit wilted and changing a dull green color. The cucumbers didn’t taste fresh either. It was probably cut up earlier in the day. There also wasn’t enough dressing as it needed more acidity.

Overall, the food was ok, but it needed to be a bit more fresh. Perhaps it’s because I went later in the evening.

We Rate Heathfare:

Address:
7366 Market Crossing
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.healthfare.ca/

In Bakery

Cafe Joie: Shaved Ice, Coffee, and Waffles

July 11, 2014

Cafe Joie is an independent cafe near Metrotown. I came here with Gastrofork and FoodQueen to catch up over some coffee and treats. You can easily take the Skytrain to Metrotown and then walk a block away from the mall.

Cafe Joie has coffee, tea, macarons, coffee buns, waffles, shaved ice and some other sweet treats.

The interior is quite beautiful, spacious and adorable. It’s a great place to do some homework or just catch up with some friends.

Cappuccino was what I ordered. Nice, strong, and delicious. A definite winner if you want to just slowly sip away and have some pastries with it. Too bad it didn’t have nice art this time.

Green Tea Matcha Latte was what Dee ordered and it has a cute spiderweb art on the top.

Milk Shaved Ice with Fruit was made in-house with their shaved ice machine. Instead of using ice to make it, they pour in milk to create the shaved ice, giving it a delicious taste when paired with the fruit and corn flakes. Highly recommended!

Green Tea Ice Cream with Waffles and Fruit was not impressive. The waffle was quite bland and has a soft texture. It was a good size for sharing but it just didn’t taste good.

Chocolate and fruit waffle was the same as the green tea waffle. The waffle batter just isn’t good. It would be nice if it was more crispy.

Overall, great coffee, pastries and shaved ice, but stay away from the waffles.

We Rate Cafe Joie:

Address:
110-6125 Sussex Ave
Burnaby BC

Website:
http://www.cafejoie.com/

In Cafe

Cafe Joie: Coffee and Buns in South Burnaby

June 3, 2014

It’s about time there is a nice independent cafe near Metrotown. What more do you need than coffee and some yummy pastries with friends. KoreanGirl and I were killing time before dinner, so we headed to Cafe Joie for a snack. The cafe is very close to Metropolis at Metrotown. A few minutes walk and you would never expect a place like this to be in the area.

The interior is quite beautiful, spacious and adorable. It’s a great place to do some homework or just catch up with some friends.

Latte is so cute! KoreanGirl was impressed that they took the extra effort to make a little bear on top. The coffee tastes great as they use JJ Bean coffee. I would just come here for the latte art.

Cappuccino was what I ordered. Nice, strong, and delicious. A definite winner if you want to just slowly sip away and have some pastries with it.

Almond cookie was delicious!! I liked the texture and how it was crunchy. I had an obsession with pastries with nuts and almonds. Yum.

Original Coffee Bun that they have here was enjoyable! It’s uniformly shaped and has a coffee aroma from the crust on top. KoreanGirl liked this coffee bun the most compared to some other places in town.

They also have tons of macarons and a few cakes on display too. They also have shaved ice.

Overall, we enjoyed this cafe and would highly recommend it.

We Rate Cafe Joie:

Address:
110-6125 Sussex Ave
Burnaby BC

Website:
http://www.cafejoie.com/

In Japanese

Kamamarui Ramen: Korean-Style Ramen

March 4, 2014

My sister and another friend highly recommended Kamamarui in South Burnaby for some delicious eats. They opened up near the end of last year and is know for their ramen and their “bomb”. The pictures looked great online, so I went with M for dinner.

I’ve always be wary coming here after the tragic incident 2 years ago.

The interior is simplistic and modern. You will see grey concrete walls, with wooden furniture. We assumed this place was Japanese-run, but once we walked into the door, we realized it was Korean-run. M knew obviously cause he’s Korean. We don’t see many Korean-run ramen joints in town. A lot of Korean-run Sushi places, but not ramen.

I’m not sure what the connection is but there is also a Kamamarui Ramen in Seoul, Korea too. Similar items but not exactly the same.

They even have the rear end of dogs as cute coat hangers.

Their menu is quite simple, they offer ramen, dons and a few side dishes.

Bomb ($3) is a rice ball seasoned with seaweed and teriyaki sauce. It is also topped with some sesame seeds. It’s a very popular item to be ordered, but I thought it lacked much flavour. There’s no filling inside, so its just the rice and seaweed.

Miso Ramen ($9) has a miso and pork soup base seasoned with miso flavour, green onions, bean sprout, and 2 slabs of chashu. The flavour of the broth really lacked depth and was very light. The pork was lean cut, so you don’t get the fatty delicious bits. Still…those are huge pieces of meat.

If you get the ramen and bomb combo, it’s $10.50, so you save $1.50.

Chicken Mini Don had the rice on the bottom, with flavourful chicken on top with some teriyaki sauce and a bit of peas.

Tonkotsu Ramen ($9) has a pork soup base with soy flavour, green onions, bean sprouts, and chashu. It’s similar to the Miso ramen but just with a different broth. I found a similar problem with the broth, it also lacked depth and was light in flavour.

You can get the mini don and the ramen for $14.50 as a combo.

The service was atrocious! Thats what pissed M off more than the food. They seemed like they are understaffed or inexperienced. We waited by the door to be seated, but no one acknowledged us there. The empty tables all had dishes still piled on top and seemed neglected. It took them a long time to take our order since all the staff seemed to have disappeared to the kitchen for some time. We also asked for more tea and water but none came back. They seemed quite frazzled and the whole experience just declined from there. They also mixed up our orders too.

Overall, the food is decent for Burnaby. It still doesn’t compare to the ones Downtown, but at least you don’t have to drive all the way downtown to get some ramen. M still prefers to go to Hakkaku Ramen in North Burnaby.

We Rate Kamamarui Ramen:

Address:
6514 Royal Oak Avenue
Burnaby, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=6514+Royal+Oak+Ave&sll=49.2243728,-122.98879&sspn=0.0053814,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=6514+Royal+Oak+Ave,+Burnaby,+British+Columbia+V5H+3P4&z=16″]

In Japanese

Hi Genki: Pork Katsu Curry and Bento Boxes

December 30, 2013

M and I came here a few years ago and loved their food, so we are back and ready to chow down on more food here.

Hi Genki is inside the Nikkei Home near Middlegate Mall on Kingsway. It’s an assisted living home for seniors. Of all places, I would not have expected a Japanese restaurant would be inside here. Hi Genki is owned by Fujiya and operated within the Nikkei Home. They sell traditional Japanese food to the public as well as their senior residences.

We arrived at 6:15pm right when they open and there was already a line up forming.

Soon after, this place was packed and there was a line up. There were tons of families here with their kids.

Deluxe Genki Box ($12.50) has 5 pieces of salmon sashimi, assorted tempura, chicken teriyaki, rice and miso soup. It had a little bit of everything on the menu. Thats why I chose this item. I ordered this last time too and it’s still quite decent. It is a good dinner size, so you will get full.

Pork Katsu Curry ($9.50) has a bed of rice, deep fried pork katsu topped with the delicious curry sauce. There is also egg and salad on the side. The curry had a lot of potatoes, onions and carrots in it. The portion was quite large too.

Overall the price was fair and the food was good. They give you large portions, so you don’t be disappointed.

We Rate Hi Genki:

Address:
6680 Southoaks Cres
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.fujiya.ca/aboutFujiya/hiGenkiRestaurant.asp

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=6680+Southoaks+Cres+Burnaby,+BC&t=m&hnear=6680+Southoaks+Crescent,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5E&z=16 “]

In Cafe

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee: Waffle and Shaved Ice

December 29, 2013

Finding good dessert in Burnaby is tough! A few months ago, I came here and I was hooked! Good waffles and dessert is in Burnaby. We drove from Coquitlam just to get some yummy waffles. They are open quite late, so it a perfect place to chat with friends or study.

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee is located in South Burnaby behind Highgate Mall. There is parking out front, but if it’s a busy time, it would be best to park at Highgate and then walk a short distance up.

Double Brussels Waffles Combo comes with two crispy brussels waffles, fresh strawberries, banana, kiwi, powdered sugar, syrup, and whipped cream. Scarface added a side of condensed milk, but they don’t give you very much.

Double Liege Combo comes with 2 liege waffle with different toppings. It looks good and tastes good too.

Matcha Shaved Ice has fresh fruit, red beans, ice cream, mochi, condensed milk, and nuts.

It’s really big, so you definitely want to share with a friend or two. Its good to ask for a hot beverage to do with this drink or else you will be very cold. I tried eating this all by myself and I failed. I only finished about 1/3 of it.

Tealips is now my go to place when I want dessert that is close to home.

We Rate Tealips:

Address:
7139 Arcola Way
Burnaby, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=7139+Arcola+Way+Burnaby,+BC&t=m&hnear=Arcola+Way,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5E+2V1&z=17 “]

In South Burnaby

Boiling Point 沸點臭臭鍋: Individual Hot Pot

December 17, 2013

Boiling Point is a US chain of Taiwanese personal size hotpots. You can find them mostly in California, Seattle and Vancouver. It was a cold day in Vancouver and we wanted something warm and comforting. What better way to warm up by consuming some hot pot.

What I liked about Boiling Point, is that each hot pot is personalized so you aren’t spreading germs.

There’s a lot of seats, but it can get a bit cramped if you are sitting in the booth area.

10 different types of hot pots and you can choose you degree of spiciness.

Beef Hot Soup ($11.99) has nappa, vermicelli, beef slices, enoki mushroom, tomato, firm tofu, tempura, corn, meatball, kamaboko, tofu skin, and imitation crabstick.

Korean Kimchi Hot Soup ($11.99) has nappa, vermicelli, pork slices, enoki mushroom, kamaboko, meatball, tempura, clam, fishball, kimchi, firm tofu, tofu skin, and imitation crabstick.

Lamb Hot Soup ($11.99) has nappa, vermicelli, lamb, enoki mushroom, imitation crabstick, kamaboko, pork blood, tofu skin, mushroom, clam, sour mustard, and firm tofu.

Taiwanese Spicy Hot Soup ($15.99) has taiwanese cabbage, instant noodle, beef, mushroom, tempera, clam, fishball, cuttlefish ring, pork blood, pork intestine, tofu skin, and frozen tofu. This hot is extremely hot and the size is much larger than the other ones.

You really need to be able to handle your spice if you want to order this.

It comes with rice too.

I love frozen tofu, so I ordered it on the side for a dollar and a bit more.

Overall, the hot pot was ok, but its too bad everything came already cooked. There’s no way to control the temperature of your hot pot as there is just a fire under the pot. It turns off when the fuel runs out. It lasts for a long time, so your soup will be boiling hot.

We Rate Boiling Point:

Address:
5276 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.bpgroupusa.com/home.php

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=5276+Kingsway+Burnaby,+BC&t=m&hnear=5276+Kingsway,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5H&z=16″]