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Taiwanese

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It’s been a long time since our last visit to No 1 Beef Noodle House in Burnaby. It was always our go to place to have late night eats when we were in University. Prices are fair and good portion sizes. It’s great to see that it’s still around after 10+ years.

Interior

There are a lot of tables inside for small to large groups. The interior has been updated over the years.

Menu

Their menu is huge and they have got everything you can typically find for a Taiwanese restaurant. Lots of selection. We were invited to give a few of their signature items on their new menu a try.

Mix Beef Noodle Soup

We got this Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup with beef flank, tendon, and tripe. We also decided to get the thick noodles for this dish. The noodles hit the spot on a cold day as it warmed our stomaches. A good bowl of noodles and the thick noodles has a chewy texture so it added a nice bounce.

Stir-fried Pea Sprout with Garlic

A solid menu choice if you want some veggies in your meal. It is cooked very nicely and great to share among the table.

Chive, Shrimp, and Pork Dumping

Dumplings are another great sharing dish. These were good and you can’t go wrong with them. Dip it in some sauce and eat it up.

Preserved Veggie, Pork, Rice Cake

Another great dish to be shared among the table. The rice cake has a nice chew to them and the combination of the pork and preserved veggies work well together.

Japanese style Omurice with Side of Salty Peppery Chicken

At first glance, it doesn’t look like much of anything. On the inside, the fried rice was very flavourful and a good texture.

As for the side, we got salt and peppery chicken. Very good and can’t go wrong. We love the fried basil on top.

Shredded Scallop and Sliced Fish with Egg Whites

This is always an interesting dish as the fillet themselves aren’t that flavourful or fresh, but the addition of the shredded scallop and egg whites.

Sizzling Plate

The sizzling plate that we got had steak, chicken, chicken wing, egg noodle with half black pepper and half mushroom tomato sauce. It’s got a bit of everything. It comes on this hot sizzling plate and it’s another decent dish. The chicken is battered and fried, so it did got soggy under all the sauce. Might have been better if the chicken was pan fried. Other than that, the steak had a nice texture and taste.

Tainan shrimp paste roll

With first glance, it looks greasy but it wasn’t. The taste was good and there is a decent amount of shrimp paste. Tainan is a city in Taiwan and is known for their shrimp.

Stinky tofu with Taiwanese style Pickled Cabbage

These small fried tofu are cute and it had a decent fermented stink to them. It pairs well with the pickled cabbage.

Mango slush

This was huge and you definitely get bang for your buck with the mango slush. It’s good to split this with one other person as it’s enough for 2 people.

3 Brothers Milk Tea

The bubble tea here is solid and is best half sweet. It has pearls, pudding and grass jelly, which is fantastic as those are the best 3 toppings in a milk tea. We did enjoy it.

Coffee Milk Tea

If you love milk tea but need an extra caffeine kick, this might be for you. It is referred to as a ying yeung as it has both parts to make a whole. It was a tad on the sweet side even though it was half sweet.

Dessert

For this particular dessert, you choose a base from the list – red bean soup, sweet tofu, grass jelly, or lemon jelly. Then you can choose your toppings at an additional charge – pearls, mini pearls, coconut jelly, pudding, grass jelly, mango star, mini taro balls, red bean, agar jelly, taro, or ice cream.

It’ great to see the customization and many combinations.

Final Thoughts

Overall, No 1 Beef Noodle House is solid and has been a neighbourhood favourite for a long time. The parking is horrible during peak periods as there aren’t that many available in the complex for the other businesses too. We always end up parking a block or 2 away.

There are so many items on the menu and you’ll find something to enjoy. You can either get an individual meal or share a bunch of different dishes with friends. You get your moneys worth and it’s casual and comforting.

Address:
4741 Willingdon Ave, Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://jynoodle.com/

J&G Fried Chicken has opened their second location in Western Canada on Robson Street. The other location is at Crystal Mall in Burnaby. The very first J&G Fried Chicken location opened in Taiwan in 1973 serving up fried chicken on the street and is now a chain across Asia and now in North America.

I love fried chicken and it’s one of the items I crave besides bubble tea. When we were invited to check out J&G Fried Chicken on Robson Street, I knew we had to try a bit of everything.

Interior

The space is pretty small, so there isn’t a lot of room to eat. Most tables fit groups of 2’s, so if you’re coming in a large group, you’ll be out of luck.

As most items on the menu is more like a snack, a lot of people people get it to go.

Menu

Signature Popcorn Chicken

They keep the recipe relatively similar as in Taiwan with the use of boneless and skinless chicken breast. The breast still is juicy, has delicious spices in the batter but could have been more crispy.

Chicken Wings

The chicken wings is skewered and its more elongated. Wings are always a bit annoying to eat as there are bones. It’ll still get a bit messy with the skewer.

Squid Balls

The squid balls were really good with a big piece of squid in the centre. I would definitely get this again as it has some good spices and crunch on the outside.

Shrimp

The shrimp is coated in batter and then seasoned. These were ok, but I still prefer those squid balls if I had to choose between the seafood items.

Mixed Pieces of Chicken

If you need a lot more chicken, you can get 3 or 6 pieces of mixed chicken. It is fried till golden brown and comes out piping hot.

Heart Shaped Cutlet

If you ever wanted a deep-fried heart shaped cutlet, they’ve got that too. It’s a breast that is filleted into a shape of a heart. Surprisingly juicy and I enjoyed the spices on it. You can be a savage and eat the heart shaped cutlet with your hands or use a knife and fork. Anything goes.

Broccoli

There are veggies in the menu! It is deep fried, so you get the bits of the batter and then the chew of the broccoli. A nice accompaniment to go with chicken.

Deep Fried Cheeza – Tomato and Cheese

This has deep fried chicken on the bottom and then topped with a sweet tomato sauce and cheese. The chicken uses skinless and boneless chicken breast.

The concept of this reminds me of something I would make as a kid. I oddly really liked this. It’s so cheesy!

Deep Fried Cheeza – Okonomiyaki

This is another version with cheese and okonomikyaki toppings – Okonomiyaki sauce, mayo, green onion and dried bonito flakes. Not my personal favourite flavour.

Deep Fried Buns

The deep fried buns come with condensed milk on the side and its always a good pairing.

Final Thoughts

All these items you’ll want to eat soon after it’s served to retain it’s crispiness and juiciness. Once it cools down, it’s not as good. The batter is thin and you get lots of meaty chicken. It is higher in price than in Taiwan, but it makes sense given that chicken is getting more expensive, and also the area too.

I am a fan of dark meat, so when asked about the use of white meat in most items, they said they use white meat to keep with the same recipes as Taiwan for consistency.

If you’re looking for some Taiwanese Fried Chicken on Robson Street, it’s here.

Address:
1706 Robson St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://www.jgfcwest.ca/

Baroness 小黑糖, a boutique bubble tea brand from Taipei specializing in brown sugar bubble tea is now open in Vancouver. This is their first location outside of Asia as the other locations are in Hong Kong and Taiwan. They are planned opening in Malaysia and Vietnam too.

With so many other bubble tea shops in Vancouver we wanted to see how they compare. They took over the previous Broadway location of InTea, which became popular for their white rabbit bubble tea.

Vancouver has gone through the brown sugar bubble tea craze and people either love it or hate it. Baroness prides themselves on quality and has done a lot of quality control to ensure they can offer their customers the best. They have a mix of ingredients imported from Taiwan as well as local items like the Earth’s Own Oat Milk Barista edition.

We got a sneak peek to see what Baroness has to offer their customers.

Interior

The interior is a decent size and has seats for 2’s. Most people will grab their drinks to go, but if you can snag a seat, that is great.

Menu

Menu Provided by Baroness Canada

Purple Yam Fresh Milk 

This is one of their signature drinks and I can see why. The purple yam they use makes the drink very vibrant. I was observing how they make this drink, it’s definitely not fresh yams and was a dehydrated purple powder.

Upon first sips, it was pretty good. I ordered 50% sweetness and it was perfect. It would pair well with their taro balls.

Thai Milk Tea 

The Thai Milk Tea was very good as well. At 50% sweetness, it was just right where you can taste the tea and isn’t overwhelmed by the sugar.

I liked it with grass jelly, but you can also do the brown sugar with pearls but I felt like it was too sweet.

Uji Matcha Latte 

Uji Matcha Latte was pretty good. As usual, we recommend 50% sweetness and it had a better balance between the milk and matcha. It would go well with the pudding if you’re looking for a topping.

Brown Sugar Oat Milk with Pearls

The pearls were chewy and had a good texture. I found that there was a good ratio of brown sugar and pearls with the oat milk that wasn’t too sweet. I also got this 50% sweet.

Fresh Milk with Brown Sugar and Pearls

If you want the usual fresh milk with brown sugar and pearls, it’s pretty good. Make sure to mix it up to incorporate everything in the drink. It’s pretty good actually.

Final Thoughts

It’s great that they have Oat Milk for those who are lactose intolerant. Even if you’re not lactose intolerant, oat milk tastes really good. It has a good mouthfeel and a great replacement for milk.

There are a lot of customization that you can do to the drink and the toppings tasted really good. We didn’t try the whole menu, but their specialties are the brown sugar series and oat milk series.

If you’re in the area on West Broadway or passing by to/from UBC, check out Baroness.

Address:
2790 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.baronesscanada.com

JiangHu Taiwanese Pot & Wok Cuisines is located in Richmond serving up Taiwanese Pot & Wok dishes. This new concept brings together authentic Taiwanese pot dishes and creative stir fry cuisine to Vancouver.

We were glad to see a different type of Taiwanese restaurant that isn’t a bubble tea cafe or beef noodle shop. Don’t get me wrong, I love those places, but we wanted to see more diversity in Taiwanese cuisine and this is what we were looking for.

They meld distinctive Taiwanese flavours with modern culinary techniques and local produce that gives JiangHu it’s unique Vancouver twist. Plus, all the dishes are large and meant to be shared.

We were invited by JiangHu to check out a few of their signature dishes on the menu.

Interior

The space is bright, nice and modern. You’ll find smaller tables as well as larger ones for bigger groups.

They do accept reservations on their website via OpenTable for small to larger groups (20+). If you need anything specific, just give them a call.

Menu

Deluxe Seafood Platter

This is one of this signature dishes and it’s filled with fresh seafood like lobster, crab, clams, scallops, white shrimp, mussels, and seasonal veggies.

It’s a pretty huge portion served on a large plate that will just make your friends and family want to take a lot of photos. For $188, this serves about 4-6 people. When it arrives at the table, they tell you to heat on simmer for 5 minutes to incorporate the fresh seafood with the sauces.

There are 2 types of sauces you can choose from – spicy or beer steamed with garlic. The spice level can be adjusted to suit your spice tolerance from mild to very hot. The beer steamed with garlic is very fragrant.

The seafood platter was cooked very well and you can taste the freshness of the seafood. Our favourites were the crab and the lobster, but hard to go wrong with these items. The only thing that wasn’t up to par was the scallop vermicelli, which felt greasy and not as much flavour. Other than that, it’s a solid dish that is great for groups.

This also comes with a jug of Wintermelon Tea.

ShaoJiu Chicken Pot with Full Bottle of Wine

This was a very exciting dish as it was lit. When it’s set on fire, everyone in the restaurant notices. The chicken pot incorporates a lot of medicinal properties and ingredients. These items are stewed for over an hour.

With the inclusion of the full bottle of wine, it wasn’t too alcoholic at all. The chicken is really tender and flavourful. It’s balanced really well and the soup is also tasty. With this pot, you can always add on extra items to make it more full like veggies or other proteins. It’s a great item for the winter.

Stir Fried Lobster with Glutinous Oil Rice

This is another signature dish on their menu. Typically made with red sturgeon, they have replaced it with lobster to incorporate the freshness of the East Coast. They stir-fry sakura shrimp with steamed glutinous rice, then add sliced pork belly, mushrooms, scallions crisps, and then topped with sesame oil and soy sauce.

The dish was delicious and comforting. The lobster was also meaty and tender. The lotus leaf also gives a lot of flavour to this dish too.

Stir Fried Chicken Pot

The chicken is stir-fried with a variety of seasoning and spices to have a very aromatic and fragrant dish. It does pack a punch of spice, so its not for those who can’t tolerate spice, or you can ask them to make it less spicy.

Taiwanese Burgers

The Taiwanese Burgers are a bit on the pricy side as you get 2 for $14.95. The pork belly meat is marinated for 2 hours and then wrapped with gio bao and topped with peanut powder, pickled cabbage, coriander, and plum sauce. It was pretty delicious and the pork belly does melt in your mouth. Definitely one of the better ones we’ve had in Vancouver.

Stir-Fried Lamb and Vegetables with Satay Sauce

The sliced lamb meat is stir-fried with their house-made satay sauce and paired with the crisp dark green leaf. Another tasty dish but it does have a hint of spice to it too.

Taiwanese Oyster Pancake

The oyster pancake was delicious as there was a good balanced of oyster, cabbage, and eggs. They cake it really thin so it does get crispy. Very enjoyable.

Deep Fried Sweet Taro Ball

This was delicious. It is fried but not greasy or too sweet at all. A great dish that reminded us of Taiwan. It’s not at a lot of restaurants in Vancouver, but we just devoured these up.

Deep Fried Oysters

Another delicious dish. The oysters were plump and full of flavour It is also served with shrimp chips which is a nice touch.

Deep Fried Fish Skin with Egg Yolk

When you know, you know. Deep-fried fish skin is a huge trend right now, but rightly so because its so delicious. Tasty and crispy. Music to our ears every time we munch on these.

Popcorn Chicken with Fried Yam

This is a different take on Taiwanese popcorn chicken. It was a hit and miss depending on your tastebuds. Some could take the plum, some found it a bit hidden.

Octopus Beak Balls

This was really good. So tender, tasty and delicious. We haven’t seen this anywhere else in Vancouver! Highly recommended.

Grilled Pork Neck with Miso Sauce

They use pork jowl marinated in miso and other seasonings then BBQ on a low temperature. This was good and we liked the char from the BBQ as it caramelizes the sauce.

Final Thoughts

Overall, JiangHu Taiwanese Pot & Wok Cuisines really impressed us. All the dishes tasted great particularly their fried and stir fried dishes. Prices seem reasonable on the menu, but the bigger seafood dishes can be a bit pricey.

We will definitely be back as the Taiwanese flavours were well incorporated into the dishes.

Address:
Unit 100-7911 Alderbridge Way,Richmond BC

Website:
http://jianghu-cuisine.com

Hot Star Large Fried Chicken is open in Richmond and is a chain restaurant originating from Taiwan. They are best known for their massive chicken cutlets served in a white and blue sleeve. It’s essentially the size of your face.

My friend wanted to come here for her birthday, so we made sure to come here right when it opened on the weekend to avoid any lines. It has been a month since opening, but they are still in soft opening phase and a lot of the menu items are still coming soon. We thought it would be smoother by now but sadly not.

Interior

There are tables and seats on either side of the restaurant. Most people we saw did get it to go. We personally loved eating it when it’s hot and crispy.

Menu

Original Large Fried Chicken

This comes in a few varieties – Salt + Pepper, Spicy, Seaweed, Plum, and Curry. They didn’t have a lot of these flavours so we went with Salt + Pepper and Plum.

Salt + Pepper reminded us of a huge Taiwanese Salt and Peppery Chicken but in a cutlet format. Definitely our favourite of the bunch. The exterior was crisp and the inside was moist and flavourful.

Plum on the other hand was similar but had the sour plum notes in the batter. I still prefer the Salt + Pepper flavour.

Crispy Large Fried Chicken

This comes in 2 flavours – Spicy and Seaweed. We went with Seaweed. You can tell right away that the batter is different than the other set of chicken, plus the seaweed sprinkles are on the outside. The seaweed flavour does come through.

Popcorn Chicken

We got it spicy (medium) and it was similar to the large cutlets in terms of flavour. For $7.99, it’s very expensive for what you get. I would rather get the big pieces of chicken for better value.

Plum Sweet Potato

I was really into this and one of the most surprising items we tried. The soft sweet potato is very delicious and the batter on the outside is crispy and has a crunch to it. The textures worked very well. In terms of flavour, the sweet and salty of the plum and sweet potato worked well.

Fried King Oyster Mushroom

I did enjoy the mushrooms since I am a huge mushroom fan. A bit of crunch on the outside and the juicy mushrooms hiding inside. This item is pricey for the amount that you get.

Taipei 101 Corn

This big piece of corn has nice flavour and was surprisingly juicy and sweet. A hard item to share but if you wanted to have it all to yourself, that works too.

Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls

Each order comes with 5 pieces and these were pretty average spring rolls. Nothing interesting at all. I would pass on these.

Fried Buns

The fried buns has a few options of bun filling – Creamy Custard, Taro, or Black Sesame. We went with creamy custard since it sounded good.

These came piping hot but the creamy custard was sweet and not that creamy. Not what I imagined for the custard.

Blue Curacao Yogurt

There a a bunch of non alcoholic drinks on the menu. They are all very colourful and sweet. The Blue Curacao Yogurt was sweet and tasted like those asian yogurt drinks. It was ok but we wouldn’t get it again.

Final Thoughts

We are still waiting for many of the menu items to be available but still no idea when. We ordered almost everything that was possible to order off the soft opening menu. We had our eyes on the hot cheese fried chicken but sadly not available yet.

Everything is essentially deep fried but it took a very long time for our order to come out. We were the first group there and everyone else after also had to wait a long time for their order too. Given that they are in the soft opening phase, hopefully it improves. You don’t want to order here if you’re in a rush or short on time.

For what we could order, the only items I really liked were the Salt + Pepper Original Chicken and the Plum Sweet Potatoes. Everything else I wouldn’t get again.

Address:
1623-4791 Mcclelland Road, Richmond, BC V6X 0M5

Website:
http://www.hot-star.ca/

Old Street 老街小吃 is a restaurant located across from Metropolis at Metrotown specializing in Chinese Crepes and Taiwanese beef noodle soup. There’s more and more new restaurants in the area and it’s good to see plenty of options.

We were invited to give a few of their menu items a try, so I came with a few friends to see how it is.

Interior

There are a good amount of tables for groups of 2’s and 4’s but if you have a larger group, you can easily combine the tables to make it larger.

Menu

Old Street Fresh Fruit Tea

One of their signature drinks on the menu is their fresh fruit tea. You can choose it with green tea or red tea with the option of having it hot or cold. We went with cold and there was a good amount of citrus and berry fruits inside.

Milky Tea Series

They have a few different milk teas on the menu. We went with Honey Milk Tea and Matcha Milk tea. You can add toppings like pearls, coconut jelly or grass jelly. You can have it as a regular milk tea or green milk tea.

It’s good you can customize it with different tea options, but the menu doesn’t give you the option for ice levels or sweetness levels, but you can inquire with the staff.

Old Street Chinese Crepe

They are known for their Chinese Crepes and it’s hard to find them in this area of Burnaby. These are highly customizable. Each crepe is made with an egg, green onion, cilantro, sesame, and whatever else you want to customize it with.

We had it with green bean flour, spiced beef, dried pork flakes, pickled mustard, crisp fritter, and with a touch of spiciness. With the added spiced beef, this crepe was huge! It tasted pretty good and I love the crisp fritter to give it a nice crunchy texture inside.

Taiwanese Meat Sauce on Rice

Our favourite item here was the Taiwanese meat sauce on rice. It has a good ratio of the meat sauce and rice, so all that sauce soaks into the rice. It also has half an egg with it too.

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

In each bowl is marinated beef shank, veggies, pickled greens, green onions, cilantro and you can customize your noodle thickness and add any additional meats. We added in beef tripe and braised beef brisket to ours for an extra charge. The beef shank was a good size and tender. Broth was good with a good amount of spice as we asked for a little spice. The noodle soup was average but nothing really stood out too much.

Szechuan Style Chicken

Also known as saliva chicken but there is no saliva in this at all if you’re wondering. It’s a good size dish and the chicken is very tender and flavourful. A good amount of spice too.

Final Thoughts

It’s good to finally have a restaurant specializing in Chinese Crepes in the area. Even though it is a traditional breakfast item, that doesn’t stop you from having this for lunch or dinner. Some dishes are so-so but definitely stop by to see what Chinese Crepes are like.

Address:
4729 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC 

Rad on Denman serves up Taiwanese dishes from individual hot pots, rice and noodle dishes, and bubble tea. You may know them from their first cafe inside Granville Skytrain Station serving up delicious bubble tea. With this Denman location, you can still get their bubble tea, but there is a wider offering of dishes.

I came here with a few friends to check it out to see how it compares to other Taiwanese cafes and hot pot restaurants around town.

Interior

It wasn’t very busy on a weekday night and on all the tables, you can see the hot pot equipment on the tables. Most people come here for that. We also noticed a decent amount of takeout orders too.

Menu

Taiwanese Hot Pot

You essentially build your own hot pot by selection your broth, protein, any extra toppings, sides and sauce.

Some of the bone broth flavours are:

  • Clear chicken broth
  • Tonkotsu
  • Sukiyaki
  • Kimchi
  • Thai
  • Satay
  • Spicy

You can choose your choice of protein:

  • Alberta Beef
  • Premium Lamb
  • Pork
  • Chicken
  • Shrimp

All hot pots come with free rice, but I upgraded to glass noodles for $2.50 extra. They give you a very generous portion.

My friends and I got Satay, sukiyaki and Tonkotsu for our bone broths. All of them were good and not too salty. Price was good for what you get.

There’s only a few places around town that do individual hot pots, but in the Denman area, there aren’t other options. They light the pot from underneath so it reminds me of another hot pot restaurant with a similar concept

Roasted Oolong Bubble Milk Tea

You get a free drink with your hot pot but you can add $2.99 to upgrade it to a bubble tea. I went with the Roasted Oolong Bubble Milk Tea and got it less sweet. It’s normally not very sweet to begin with, so getting it less sweet barely has any sweetness at all. Just a personal preference, but I know some people are thrown off by it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food was good but the service was very subpar. Even though the restaurant was pretty much empty, getting the staff’s attention was hard and when we asked for more sauce for our hot pots, it was forgotten. It would have been good if they checked up on us to see if we needed anything else.

Address:
774 Denman St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://www.radeatery.com/

Bobii Frutii just opened their first Canadian location in Richmond BC and started in Taiwan, with another location in Singapore. They specialize in Instagrammable bubble teas that don’t have any artificial preservatives, stabilizers, or artificial colouring. The drinks are very beautiful, but we decided to stop here to see if it lives up to the hype.

Interior

The store has a few seats inside but its not too busy when we went on a weekday afternoon. The interior has a lot of concrete greys and brown woody colours.

Menu

Extraordinary Bubble Milk Tea 不甘平凡

This extraordinary bubble milk tea is made with layers of red tea, milk and brown sugar pearls. A classic choice and you can really taste the subtle brown sugar in the pearls that aren’t too over powering and it works nicely with the tea and milk. Delicious. Make sure it mix it before you drink it to incorporate all the layers.

Don’t Want to Work 不想上班

The name of this drink is so cheeky. It is made with oolong tea, milk and their Butterfly Pea Pearls. It looks similar to the extraordinary milk tea and taste similar but less sweet due to the type of pearls.

Uji Snow 宇治初雪

One of the more expensive options at Bobii Frutii and it’s their Matcha beverages as they use carefully selected Marukyu-Koyamaen matcha from Uji, Kyoto. Each order is hand whisked to ensure quality.

There is matcha, milk and their original pearls in this drink. The matcha is so good and you can taste the quality and its not too sweet. A good ratio of tea and sweetness.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a good quality of bubble tea, looks great, tastes great, but it is higher in price compared to other bubble tea shops in the area. With so many options in Richmond, it’s definitely hard to compete.

Address:
157-4800 No 3 Rd, Richmond, BC

Website:
https://www.facebook.com/bobiifrutii.ca/

YiFang Taiwan Fruit Tea is now open on Kingsway near Boundary. They are best known for their fruit teas as well as brown sugar pearl latte, which is only available during certain times during the day.

They only accept cash and debit.

YiFeng Fruit Tea

It is made with Taiwan pineapple sauce, fresh passion fruit, apple, orange and jade tea. I got it with 30% ice and 30% sugar. One of their most popular drinks and it doesn’t disappoint at all. I love the passion fruit seeds as they are crunchy when you bite down on them.

Black Sugar Soft Pearl Latte

Chewy black sugar peals in sun moon lake black tea and fresh local organic milk. You can’t change the sweetness level or ice levels with this drink. The pearls and the brown sugar come warm while the milk and tea are cold on top. Make sure to give it a nice mix when you’re about to drink it.

It was ok, but there was a bit too much brown sugar to milk tea ratio, so it was sweeter than other places.

Black Tea Latte

This has sun moon lake black tea and fresh local organic milk. M order this with 50% sweetness and 70% ice. It was ok compared to the other places around town.

Final Thoughts

It’s a good addition to the neighbourhood even though there are a lot of other bubble tea shops in the area. It just gives people more choices.

Address:
 3612 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/YifangCanada

Jia Plus Fusion Cafe is located in Osprey Village Market in Pitt Meadows. I wouldn’t have known a Taiwanese Cafe was located here in this area. I had to give this a try with my friend to see how it is.

Interior

There are a few seats inside but wasn’t too busy on a weekend for lunch. Very simple interior.

Ginger Pork on Rice

The bowl has a bed of rice with thin slices of pork belly, ginger, onions and a delicious sauce that drips down into the rice. It was interesting to see the use of pork belly in this dish instead of other cuts of pork.

BBQ Chicken Sandwich

The steamed bao was soft and warm, filled with BBQ chicken, sauce and arugula. I was surprised by the amount of ingredients inside. Lots of BBQ Chicken and they did not skimp on it.

Spicy Wonton Soup with Noodle

We ordered the spicy wonton soup with noodle to give it a try. It was surprisingly good. The broth had a nice kick of spice and the wontons were yummy.

Black Milk Tea with Pearls

I couldn’t come here without ordering a bubble tea. I got the black milk tea half sweet with pearls. It was good but I wish the tea was slightly stronger.

Red Bean Wheel Cake

What is so interesting to find here are wheel cakes. This one is filled with red bean. The exterior is very crisp and the centre is soft.

Custard Wheel Cake

This wheel cake is filled with custard. It was really good and my favourite of the two flavours.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it is a good addition to Pitt Meadows as you don’t see too many Asian fusion cafes in the area. The food is good and very comforting if you want a big bowl of hot soupy noodles for the colder months of the year.

Address:
10931 Barnston View Rd #102, Pitt Meadows, BC

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

Mr Black is a newer restaurant located in Aberdeen Centre Mall serving up Japanese and Taiwanese inspired tapas and meal sets. Mr Black is a little hard to find but it’s right above H Mart on the 2nd floor of the mall. They occupy the previous space of Guu Richmond.

We were invited to give a few of their dishes a try.

Interior

The interior is mostly black and concrete, so it has an industrial look to it. There is enough seating for small to large groups. If you want to see where all the action is at, the bar seats look directly into the open kitchen.

Menu

Strawberry Sparkling Water

This is made with sparkling water and real strawberry puree. You can even see the seeds and pieces of strawberry flesh on the bottom of the cup. Very refreshing for the summer.

Calpis

Their version of Calpis isn’t as sweet as the ones you find in stores. Pretty good.

Fried Diced Blackened Wagyu Beef

What is unique about Mr Black is that some menu items are black to play off the name of the restaurant. This wagyu beef is coated in their secret coating and what makes it so black is charcoal. It is served with shredded cabbage. This dish reminded me of lumps of coal but a delicious kind. It is topped off with come chili peppers to balance out the taste.

Fried Chicken

This fried chicken was really good! The chicken is moist on the inside and the skin and batter were so flavourful. Highly recommended.

Salmon and Mentaiko Korokke

These balls are a pretty good size. It has a potato and salmon mixture surrounding the mentaiko inside. When we were eating it, the salmon felt a bit lost as well as the mentaiko. We did like it overall with the wasabi mayo. The exterior was crisp and the middle was predominantly tasting of fluffy potatoes.

Hokkaido Milk Chicken Hot Pot

This was one of my favourite dishes, it has chicken, imitation crab, mushrooms, tofu, egg, and cabbage in the milky broth. It was very comforting an comes with a bowl of rice and slice of grapefruit. Highly recommended.

Halibut

The deep fried halibut is covered in a bread crumb crust and served with shredded cabbage, soup, rice and salad. A pretty well rounded meal.

Cheesy Mapo Curry Pork

This new items is one of their specials. It has rice, mapo curry sauce, deep fried pork cutlet filled with cheese in the centre and also some picked veggies. The dish also comes with soup and pieces of grapefruit.

As they cut up the pork katsu ahead of time, the cheese already oozes out, so there really isn’t that much inside as you can see.

Wagyu Beef

You get about 100g of wagyu beef that has been deep fried but still pink in the centre. There is also a hot black stone that you can continue grilling your wagyu beef. It is served with rice, soup and salad.

This dish was ok but I didn’t feel like the quality of the wagyu could really shine through.

Earl Grey Creme Brulee

This creme brulee is hiding under all this fruit. Great to showcase what fruits are in season. I really enjoyed it and it had a good amount of earl grey flavour.

Fried Banana

There were 4 pieces of fried banana with chocolate inside too. It was really crisp on the outside like a crisp wonton wrapper. It is also paired with a bunch of seasonal fruit too.

Duo Layer Mousse of Coconut and Soy Milk

This is served up in a skinny bottle and when you look inside, you can see the two different layers of coconut and soy milk mousse. The flavours were good and went well together, but the container was hard to eat from.

Final Thoughts

Overall, some dishes were hits and some misses. The ones I really enjoyed was the Hokkaido Milk Chicken Hot Pot, Fried Chicken, and Halibut. Those a good items to have for either lunch or dinner.

Address:
2790-4151 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, BC

Website:
https://www.mrblackrestaurant.com/

Red Beef Noodle Kitchen specializes in Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup and it recently opened up near Cypress and 4th. I was looking up new restaurants that opened up and this one popped up. It looked good, so we decided to stop by after work for dinner.

Interior

The space is large and there are tables on either side of the table. Best for groups of 2’s or 4’s.

Menu

Salt and Pepper Popcorn Chicken

The popcorn chicken comes with green beans and fried basil. It goes well with the Taiwanese Beef Noodles and I do like the little bit of green with the dish.

Signature Beef and Tendon Noodle Soup

This only comes in one size for $12.95. It’s a good price as the noodles are very soft and delicious. The broth is tasty too.

You get a few chunks of beef that are tender and not too chewy. There were 3 large chunks of tendon too. It was a solid bowl of Taiwanese Beef Noodle.

Premium Red Beef Noodle Soup

This dish is more expensive at $18.95 but you get beautiful slices of certified angus beef. You get a choice between clear or spicy broth. When the dish is ready to be served, they come table side and pour the hot steaming broth over the beef so it cooks. They also give you a bowl if to put the meat aside if you don’t want it to over cook.

When it’s cooked, it doesn’t look visual appealing, but it is delicious. The meat is fatty and tender. Also the broth had a nice sweet corn taste to it.

Final Thoughts

Both versions of the Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup were good. We both left very full and the soup broth were deliciously comforting. The service was mediocre but usually thats the way it goes at Chinese restaurants. If you’re looking for some Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup in Vancouver, add this to your list.

We Rate Red Beef Noodle Kitchen: 

Address:
1947 W 4th Ave, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.redbeef.ca/

MYST Asian Fusion in Burnaby is a Taiwanese restaurant and they have recently revamped their menu to add even more dishes. We came to try a few of these new dishes. Since they have opened, this restaurant has been very busy at peak hours attracting people in the Lower Mainland.

Golden Sand Prawns with Salted Egg Yolk

This dish was delicious. The salty yolk is coated on the exterior, so its pretty yummy sucking on it.

Marinated Combo

Pork intestines, beef tripe, and beef tendon were the items my friend chose for this trio. I didn’t particularly like it since I’m not always a fan of organs.

Chinese Style Tea Smoked Duck

I love tea smoked duck and I still enjoyed it even if it was slightly over cooked. The smoked aroma just gets me every time.

MYST Deluxe Fried Rice

This fried rice is topped with pork floss, egg and a skewer of prawns. Delicious and easily shareable among the table or have it all to yourself.

Preserved cabbage, bamboo, green soy beans and sliced fish

I really enjoyed this dish since it has delicate dish, chew of the bean, and crunch of the bamboo. Healthy too. One of the favourite dishes of the night.

Sichuan dan dan noodle with spicy peanut sauce

This dish was so good. It had a little kick to the dish which was good as it pulled the dish together. I would order this again.

Assorted seafood spicy hot pot

This was really spicy. Because of the heat, it really numbs your mouth after a few bites. The fragrant aroma was there but it was a touch too spicy for me.. and everyone else at the table.

Steamed sliced fish with diced hot red peppers

It’s not as hot as it seems. The fish was very moist and delicious.

Myst assorted deep fried basket

If you like a diverse amount of fried item in one basket, this has squid tentacles, green beans, salt peppery chicken and black rice cake on top of shrimp crackers. Great item to share with a large group.

Myst deluxe feast platter

This is a bit different than the fried basket and it has fries, prawn chips, tiger prawn skewers, pineapple and sausage wrapped in bacon, and deep fried prawns.

Three Spice Chicken

I enjoyed this for the excessive amount of fried ginger and chicken. It would taste really good with a bowl of rice.

House special fried sliced noodle with beef

This is a very classic dish of any Chinese restaurant and it was good. The beef was tender and the noodles had a good bite to it.

Mango Shaved Ice

This mystical dessert was an exciting end to the meal. When the water hits the fdry ice, it’s quite a show. You’ll want to take pictures or even a video. When we went, it wasn’t mango season, so the mango wasn’t fresh. Now that it is in season, it will be super fresh.

Condensed milk thick toast

This was the last item to arrive at the table and it’s not as exciting as the shaved ice.

Final Thoughts

Myst continually adds new items to their menu and its good to see the variety especially if you come with a group with differing tastes. There’s always something for everyone here. Sometimes Myst can get very busy and parking can be a bit tough, but there is parking on the main road.

Address:
6400 Kingsway, Burnaby

Website:
http://www.myst6400.com/

It’s been a long time since coming to No 1 Beef Noodle House in Burnaby. The last time was about 10 years ago when I was in University. It’s a good, quick and affordable meal.
The only thing that bugs me is the lack of parking. As there are other businesses in the plaza, there are usually no spots at peak hours. I usually park in the residential areas a block away. Just make sure you be careful about the parking regulations.

Interior

The space has been updated, so it’s still modern. Lots of tables for small groups and large groups.

Crispy Salt and Peppery Chicken

A classic item to order here. Since we had a large group, we got this basket to share as an appetizer. You can also turn this into a combo with rice and some side dishes for a meal of your own.

Deep Fried Abalone Mushroom with basil

This was surprisingly very good as well. You have a good amount of the deep mushrooms and they were crispy.

Trio of Marinated Dishes

We got to choose 3 different marinated items for this dish, so we chose marinated eggs, marinated large intestines, and marinated beef tripe. I wasn’t a fan of this dish since I don’t really enjoy intestines but the other people sure did.

Sticky Rice Sui Mai

There are 7 pieces per order and each one if stuffed with sticky rice and then steamed.

House special fried sliced noodles

We got ours with beef and it was a really good item to order. Very tasty, the beef was tender, and I would definitely order this gain.

Classic Japanese Style Egg Fried Rice

A new item on this menu is this dish that is great for sharing or just for one if you’re up for it. It is topped with mayo, bonito flakes, seaweed and an egg.

House Special Mini Lamb Hot Pot

The lamb hot pot comes with rice and 2 sides of veggies. I wasn’t a fan of the hot pot since the lamb had bones in most of the pieces. I would have preferred slices of lamb.

Preserved Egg with Pork Congee

A good classic item if you’re not feeling well. It’s comforting and good.

Beef Noodle Soup

There are a few variations on their beef noodle soup, but we went with their special home style beef shank noodle soup and the tendon & beef noodle soup.

The noodle soup is delicious with depths of flavour in the broth.

If you come here, you definitely need to order this.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a good place for lunch or dinner, but you need to bring cash as they don’t accept debit or credit cards. The parking lot is atrocious, but if you can get past those 2 things, you’ll enjoy a solid meal at good prices.

We Rate No 1 Beef Noodle House

Address:
741 Willingdon Ave, Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://jynoodle.com/

Sharetea opened their latest location on Cambie Street close to Broadway-City Hall Skytrain on the Canada Line. They started in 1992 in Taipei serving black tea and pearl milk tea. Since then Sharetea has opened over 450 stores in 18 countries. We came here to try a few of their signature drinks as well as their TorDa treats.

Interior

There are a few tables inside to sit with group if you are lucky enough to snag a table. They do offer free wifi too.Most people grab their drinks to go.

There is free parking in the underground.

Black Pearl TorDa

Inside is filled with Sharetea’s black tea custard and the chewy pearls. It has an interesting texture as it’s mostly the squishy pearls. The black tea is subtle.

Tuna Cheese TorDa with Honey Mustard

This is their savoury creation stuffed with tuna, cheese and honey mustard. It’s like a savoury sandwich waffle.

Red Bean Torda

In this one, there is custard and red bean, which is a great combination if you enjoy red bean.

Mango Green Milk Tea with Pearls

We is made with 50% sugar and less ice, which they recommend.

Oolong Milk Tea with Herb Jelly

We got this with 50% sugar and less ice which is recommended. One of my favourites.

Hawaii Fruit Tea

It is made with 50% sugar and less ice.It’s a good item if you love fruity teas. Great for a nice hot summer.

 

Hokkaido Pearl Milk Tea

We got this with 80% sugar with less ice. I like the depth of the Hokkaido milk tea and the pearl gives the drink a chewy texture as you drink.

Okinawa Pearl Milk Tea

Similar to the other ones, it has80% less sugar and less ice. This black tea is slightly different, but enjoy able as well. I am a huge black tea fan, so any milk tea is good.

Coffee Creama

It is recommended  50% sugar and less ice. I’m not a fan of coffee types of bubble tea, but if you do love coffee, this could be an option.

Taro QQ

For taro fan, you’ll enjoy this yummy taro drink. Decent flavour and taste.

Final Thoughts

Overall, lots of varieties of bubble tea to choose from and I love how you can customize ice and sugar levels to cater to your tastes. With the addition of the TorDa on the menu, it’s a delicious snack to pair with bubble tea.

We Rate Sharetea

Address:
2828 Cambie St, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.1992sharetea.com/

Mr Moustache has opened their next location right outside Metropolis at Metrotown taking over Cafe Joie. They have quietly opened up here for a soft opening but it was still busy on a Tuesday evening. They are popular for their bubble tea. They also have cakes and some games here too. The space is a decent size for small to medium sized groups.

Bubble Tea

Their bubble teas are pretty large and they come in a pitcher mug. Everyone comes here gets one.

Oolong Milk Tea with Pearls

I got this half sweet, but since it’s normally not too sweet, full sweetness is perfect for my tastes.I should have gotten this with fresh milk instead of powder if I’d known as I don’t like how frothy it gets on top. Either way, it was still good. They do have a section of the menu for fresh milk.

Mango Slushie

The mango slushie has mango bit on top, which is a nice touch. My friend added coconut jelly to this.

Green Tea Macchiato

This looks like a beer but it has the green tea on the bottom and cheesy foam on top.

Sweet Treats

They have a few sweet treats to go with bubble tea.

I got the Praline Chocolate Mousse. This was familiar and turn out it’s from Faubourg, a French bakery and cafe in Vancouver. A nice treat to share with a friend.

Canelé is a small French pastry flavored with rum and vanilla with a soft and tender custard centre and a dark, thick caramelized crust.

Final Thought

The bubble tea drinks here are good and I would come back to hang out with friends. The pastries were ok, but it’s good that there are those options if you want to much on something while having bubble tea.

We Rate Mr Moustache

Address:
110-6125 Sussex Ave, Burnaby

Chatime on Alexandra Road is the second location in Richmond right in the middle of “Food Street”across from the Four Points Sheraton.  A great addition to the rows of eateries on this block. They open today for their soft opening from December 30 – January 4th from 3-11pm, but it is cash only. They officially have their grand opening on January 5th with regular hours and will take cards. Also expect the buy one get one promo that happens on their grand opening day too.

There is a parking lot in the plaza, so you don’t need to fight over a spot like other restaurants in the area.

Interior

The space has an industrial feel different than the other locations, but it is huge. They have a maximum occupancy of 155 people.

There are lots of small and large tables to sit at. There are also outlets, so if you decide to pull out your laptop to do some work or to charge your phone, you can do so.

Menu

They have all the drinks that you know and love. Painted on the wall is also their top 10 favourites to make ordering easier. There is also the 5 steps of building your bubble tea. They also have a full menu so you can see what else you can order.

Roasted Milk Tea with Grass Jelly

My favourite Chatime beverage is their roasted milk tea with grass jelly. I get it half sweet and less ice which is to my liking.

Final Thoughts

I love the space of this location as you have lots of seats to stay and chitchat with friends while having bubble tea. A good addition to the block and I’m sure it will be quite popular.

Address:
160-8351 Alexandra Road, Richmond

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

T-Go Tea in Richmond is a new bubble tea shop focusing on freshly brewed tea from loose tea leaves rather than powders like some other bubble tea shops in town. I was invited to check out a few of their drinks and see how they are. It’s pretty exciting to see more and more shops focusing on giving customers a healthier alternative to bubble tea.

Interior

The counter to order drinks is at the front but there is a room in the back where there are some seats and washrooms. Most people order drinks and have it to go.

All their teas are visible, so you can see they have nothing to hide.

 

Menu

There’s a lot of drinks on their menu, but you can easily customize them to your liking.

Roasted Milk Tea with Pearls

One of my favourite drinks to get at any bubble tea shop is their signature milk teas to see how they fare against each other. If you can’t get a delicious basic bubble tea, what are you doing. Good thing T-Go has a delicious roasted milk tea that isn’t too sweet, which is great.

Osmanthus Green Tea

I had to try their tea with no sugar and no milk to taste how their tea is like without the sweetness. They use an espresso machine to brew the tea. Then they add ice to cool it down. It’s pretty decent brewed iced tea.

Bubble Waffles

They make their bubble waffles in-house, but during our visit, they seemed to have an issue with creating the bubble waffles. I twas pretty doughy and not crisp, so it doesn’t snap off easily.

I’m sure they need some time to perfect the execution of these treats.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the tea here is good, but I only tried 2 drinks out of their entire line up of beverages. If you are in the Richmond area and are looking for good bubble tea made out of loose leaf tea, give T-Go Tea a visit.

We Rate T-Go Tea

Address:
4720 Mcclelland Road #1810, Richmond

Website:
http://www.tgotea.com/