Three Beakers Archives - Page 56 of 63

In Coquitlam

Cold Stone Creamery: Invading Vancouver

May 18, 2011

I have a lot of Korean friends and they were raving about how Coldstone was finally in Vancouver. Apparently it’s really big in Korea. Fabo took CubedTee, M, ScarFace, TanGuy and myself to the Coquitlam location.

When we got there, I expected to see a store that was on its own, but it seems like Coldstone can only be found in selected Tim Hortons. I guess that’s how they are bringing Coldstone into the Canadian market. The Coldstone at Metropolis is also inside a Tim Hortons.

Coldstone is very similar to Marble Slab Creamery, but instead of a cold marble surface to mix you ice cream, they have a cold stone, thus the name.

They have interesting names for their 3 sizes of ice cream – Like It, Love It and Gotta Have It.

One their menu has some premade flavours and topping concoctions, while the other one had ‘do it yourself ‘options, shakes and smoothies.

I decided to go for the ‘Do it Yourself’ option because I didn’t like any of the combinations. I chose my size – Love It, and then I chose the Cotton Candy Ice Cream.

The third step was to “pick from an endless combinations of mix-ins”. I thought we could pick any amount of toppings we wanted… so I put 5 toppings into mine – Skor, KitKat, Reese’s, almonds and walnuts. After the 3^rd topping, the person making my ice cream started giving me a funny look and I didn’t know why…until I went to the cashier…

Since I ordered so many toppings, can you imagine how hard it was to mix the toppings into the ice cream?

When I got to the cashier, I was charged for the base price ($3.69) + Waffle bowl ($0.85) + 5 toppings ($4.25). The toppings came out to be the same price as the bowl and ice cream……WOW. This small sundae became a $9 treat. Note to self, read signs carefully.

Since this was entrenched in so many nutty toppings, I could not taste any of the cotton candy ice cream! Every single bite was packed with nuts. Ya… I should never misread signs.

Everyone else got the Signature Creations so they didn’t have to end up like me.

M ordered the ‘Peanut Butter Cup Perfection’. It has Chocolate ice cream, peanut putter, Reese’s and fudge. This was very peanutty and sweet! If you are a chocolate and peanut fan, you should get this. If not, you may want to get something else.

Fabo had the ‘Coffee Lovers Only’. It has coffee Ice cream with Skor, almonds and caramel. This is her all time favorite.

TanGuy was feeling a bit girly today and got the ‘Our Strawberry Blonde’. It has strawberry ice cream, graham crackers, strawberries, caramel and whipped cream.

CubedTee has the ’Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip’. It has mint ice cream, chocolate chips, brownie and fudge.

There are lots of options and yes, the combinations are limitless…but with a price. For myself, I did not really take a liking to Coldstone. The concept is quite neat, but if I wanted some quality ice cream or gelato, I would go elsewhere.

Words of Wisdom:

Under $10
Busy at night
Signature Creations are the way to go

We Rate Cold Stone:

Address:

650- 3025 Lougheed Hwy
Coquitlam, BC

In Bakery

Beard Papa’s: Cream Puffs and More Cream Puffs

May 16, 2011

I was having a stressful day at work, so during my lunch break; I headed over to Beard Papa’s for some cream puffs. That’s the usual thing that cheers me up, sweets! I’m actually not a big fan of sweets, but I do love my cream puffs!

The location on Robson does not have many flavors and they have a schedule, so they only have 2 flavors available per day. They just have the usual flavors that you would see in the other Beard Papa’s.

I grabbed it to go as usual since I didn’t want to be the one in the office that makes everyone else jealous. I went home with the little baggie and shared it with my sister. Sharing is caring right? Eating it all by myself would be a little bit selfish.

I gave my sister the Chocolate Cream Puff ($1.75). She quite enjoyed it as usual. The cream is quite light and it is usually filled up very nicely so the cream tried to escape as you take a bite.

I had the Green Tea Cream Puff ($1.75). I think one of my favorite is the green tea. The green tea taste is very subtle and not too potent.

Some people don’t like the size of the cream puffs and think it’s too big. They do have mini cream puffs but it’s only in the original flavor. Sounds interesting, but you might end up eating more that you initially intended to.

Overall, I enjoyed it and the best was to really eat it is with the company of others.

Words of Wisdom:

Original Flavour is best
Closest Skytrain: Granville

We Rate Beard Papa’s:

Address:

548 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.beardpapascanada.com

In Brunch

Amelia: Cheap & Affordable Breakfast

May 16, 2011

PedoGirl and I went off to Amelia in New Westminster to FINALLY check out their breakfast. They are known for their affordable breakfasts and Chinese food. You could say Amelia is a hole in the wall restaurant with outdated décor and some good simple breakfast.

There are 2 Amelia Restaurants in the area, but Amelia Café is no longer part of Amelia. They sold the place to other people.

Since we arrived at 2pm, we didn’t know if we wanted to have breakfast or their Chinese food. After much discussion, we decided to order breakfast.

We started off with our pots of tea. PedoGirl got the Red Tea and I stuck with my usual Green tea. They come in small little teapots. There’s really not too much to it since they are just made from tea bags.

As they were about to close soon, they gave us a plate of their fried wontons. The wonton skins were really crispy and not too hard. I think these could be my guilty pleasure because I would want to eat them all day if I had an unlimited amount of these. They would rank 3 in my list of favorite fried things to eat, after ebi mayo and chicken karrage.

PedoGirl ordered the Bavarian Scramble ($6.25). It has diced Bavarian Sausage scrambled with veggies and cheese with pan-fried potatoes and toast. The melted cheddar cheese on top of the scramble made the eggs so much more enjoyable. Cutting into the omelet and then pulling away the stringy cheese is very enjoyable. Haha.

I ordered the Workman’s Special ($5.95). This has 3 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 sausages, pan fried potatoes and toast. I ate this breakfast with ease. Perhaps I am a Workman? If you have a large appetite, this may not fill you up.

The dish was pretty average, but I really loved the bacon! Super crispy to perfection! The sausage was also good.

Afterwards I drank 2 cups of coffee since they needed to get rid of it during closing. I was so wired afterwards! Afterwards we went to Starbucks to get Fraps…I was too hyperactive to function.

Overall, Amelia is not your amazing awesome OMG to die for breakfast, but it is cheap and gets the job done. They cater most to seniors and to the residence in the area. It gets busy on the weekends near peak breakfast time.

Words of Wisdom:

Amazing bacon!
Bravarian Breakfast was featured on the news
Free parking on adjacent roads
Under $10
Cash only

We Rate Amelia:

Address:

640 12th St
New Westminster, BC

In Downtown

2001 Flavours Pizza: Cheap and Fast

May 11, 2011

2001 Flavours on Seymour has been a very popular pizza joint which rivals a majority of all the pizza joints in that area. Even though their prices are a few cents higher than the other pizza places, it still remains a favorite amongst their customers.

As for their name, I doubt they have 2001 flavours. It reminded me of the gelato place on venables….but with pizza. Unfortunately, they only have a hand full of flavours per day. Don’t go in expecting 50+ flavours since they probably only have maximum of 8 at a time.

I have not been to a majority of the pizza restaurants, but I am willing to pay a bit more for some good pizza. I came here a year ago and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the pizza. It is just the way I like it.

I came here for lunch the other day for a quick cheap bite. I found it funny how it is located beside 2 pizza places.

I got their 2 pizza and a pop combo ($4.75). I got the meal lovers and peperoni, green peppers and mushrooms.

The pizza slices are quite sizable with lots of toppings. The meat lovers had ground meat, peperoni and bacon bits. I thought it was very good because the dough is thin so the bottom is crunchy. I love this type of pizza where it is crispy throughout.

I did spend a while eating the first slice since it was big and I didn’t want to get sauce on my face. Because I ate so slow, my other pizza got cold and the pizza was not very crunchy anymore. Boo…urns. (Simpsons reference). I still did enjoy the pizza even though it was cold, I do love mushrooms. They could have had more mushrooms on the pizza.

Overall, good deal for under $5. Its quick and satisfying. If you are watching your waist line, you may not enjoy this. Carbs, FAT, Carbs, FAT. Its good to have pizza once in a while. 2001 Flavours is in no way your artisan pizzas or anything fancy shmancy. It is the large greasy slices of pizza people just love.

Words of Wisdom:

Under $5
Take out/Sit in
Limited seating

We Rate 2001 Flavours Pizza:

Address:

595 West Pender
Vancouver

In Bar and Grill

Milestones: Date Night

May 10, 2011

Milestones was having Date Night on April 27 where it is basically buy 1 get 1 free. Since I had no date, I would do what any normal asian would probably do…bring their army of women just to get the deal. InsecureGirl, KoreanGirl, CanuckGirl and I headed over after work to be there to get the deal.

We went to the Milestones on Robson since we didn’t want to walk too far to any other Milestones. It’s not a bad location, but we knew it would be more busy than the one near English Bay.

When we arrived, there was already a 15 minute line up. Clearly everyone wanted a piece of this deal. Since the wait was not too long, we stayed and just made fun of each other till a spot freed up.

When we got to our table, they had a suggested menu with their most popular items. You weren’t limited to this list, so you can choose anything off their usual menu.

I ordered a Honey Lager ($5.49) and some hot water.

InsecureGirl ordered the Milestones’ Original Bellini ($6.49). It has run, peach liqeur, sparkling wine and boone’s sangria. This is a very popular drink and you can’t go wrong with this.

We started off with Milestones’ famous hot spinach & artichoke dip ($10.99). The dip is made from creamy spinach dip with artichoke hearts and various Italian cheese. On the plate were also sour cream, salsa and red tortilla chips. I found that the sour cream and salsa didn’t add much to this dish since the main feature is the dip.

Another appetizer that we ordered was the Calamari Steak Strips with Andouille Sausage Ragu ($10.99). The calamari are cut up into strips rather than the usual calamari rings. It is lightly dressed and fried. You get 2 dips, one with the ragu sauce and the other was the preserved lemon aioli, this reminded me more like mayo. Most of the people at the table preferred the ragu sauce.

For the main, CanuckGirl and I both ordered the Certified Angus Beef Top Sirloin with Trio of Signature Steak sauces ($21.99). We both chose to have ours medium rare. The 3 sauces that come with the dish are – Worcestershire, spiced mustard and gaucho sauce. There is also asparagus and cherry tomatoes on the side. I thought this dish was quite average. Not the best.

InsecureGIrl and KoreanGirl both ordered the Regular Cut of the Slow Roasted AAA Prime Rib ($22.99). It was done medium rare and had very savory au jus sauce with asparagus, tomatoes and mashed potatoes. The cut of meat was particularly fatty for both of them. So, as they were being girls, they would cut out the chunks of fat and there was a large amount. The other parts were ok, but it was not the best quality.

Overall, if you are to getting steak, it is not the best place to get a good quality steak unless you pay a bit extra for the more expensive choices. For myself, if I were a guy, I would not take my date here. Maybe I’m wrong, but it screams ‘cheap’ if a guy takes me here for Date Night… or at least for a first date. You gotta impress the girl. I do like the concept and it does seem to be working since there were couples there.

Words of Wisdom:

Monday – Girls Night (4 Bellini, 4 Appies = $40)
Wednesday – Date Night (2 for $50)
Milestones’ famous hot spinach & artichoke dip + Calamari are both good!

We Rate Milestones:

Address:

1145 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.milestonesrestaurants.com

In Bar and Grill

St. Regis Bar & Grill: Good Meal in Good Company

May 9, 2011

As the semester came to an end, it was time to bid adieu to the other coop students that I was working with. The whole office headed down to St. Regis Bar and Grill for some delicious food. They usually head down to Steam Works but they wanted a change, so since they knew I blogged about food, they asked me to compose a list of good restaurants near the office. I really had no idea, I am not a food expert, I just eat…and eat.. and eat. I used trusty Urbanspoon and Yelp to compile a list.

Since St. Regis Bar and Grill was across the street, they felt it would be the best option. They had good appealing food at a decent price. They serve up the usual pub style food. Walking into the place, it was more like a bar. Don’t expect your fancy or anything. It is a legit bar with lots of TV screens, perfect for watching the Canucks games too!

With so many enticing choices on the menu, I had to go with the Sirloin Beef Dip ($12). In side the garlic baguette, there is a lot of thinly sliced sirloin beef. You also get a cup full of red wine au jus. For your side, you can choose between fries or salad. Of course, being a woman, I chose the salad.

If you eat the Beef dip with out the au jus. It really isn’t spectacular. When you do dip it into the sauce, the bread immediately soaks up all the amazing flavors. IT IS SO GOOD! Hands down, best beef dip I have had in a while.

Overall, we all had a good time. Great food, great company. What else could you ask for? You probably want the Canucks to win the Stanley Cup right?

Words of Wisdom:

Vegetarian friendly
Beside Granville Skytrain
Great for watching games
$10 – $15 for lunch
Fish & Chips and the Sirloin Beed Dip Recommended

We Rate St. Regis Bar & Grill:

Address:

608 Dunsmuir Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.stregisbargrill.com

In Three Beakers

Hamilton Street Grill: Dinner in Yaletown

May 8, 2011

I have recently began volunteering for the 48^th Annual National Chefs Conference and we had a little get together meeting at Hamilton Street Grill with the Social Media Team and the Chair; we talked about so many amazing things such as the dynamics of a restaurant business, amazing local chefs, and of course our plans for the social media push. Don’t worry; I am not pushing the viewers of Foodology to get tickets to the event. Nor am I looking to get into the restaurant business, its just a fun pass time.

I just decided to volunteer because I wanted to appreciate where my food comes from and to see food as an art and rather just…you know… food.

The chef made this on the house for all of us. This is the Radicchio, brie and Strawberries. This was very simple, but surprisingly, the flavors went well together. This brought together bitter, salty and sweet together and it was good!

LondonGuy had the Lamb Shank ($26). The lamb shank is braised with Red wine , caramelized onions, and sits on a bed of herb mashed potatoes and vegetables. The lamb was very very tender, falling off the bone!

A few other had the Grilled Wild Sockeye Salmon ($24). It has whipped goat cheese, peperone sausage and vegetable risotto, and a balsamic reduction. They all seemed to have enjoyed the dish.

I had the Vancouver Island Scallops ($26) It has pan-seared scallops, vegetable risotto with a lemon butter sauce. Very good dish, but small portion. I didn’t get too full from this. The scallops were well prepared, but I prefer my scallops to be more seared and charred on the outside.

HrGirl ordered the Pork Belly with a side of greens (~$20). The pork belly sits on a bed of vegetables. Small portion as you can tell

Overall, we had a great time and it was a good place to have a meeting. We probably spent 3 hours just chatting away. It was a Monday night so it was not too busy inside.

The food way pretty good, but it is quite expensive for small portions. I didn’t feel the food was very mind blowing or super unique. I probably wouldn’t come here unless it was for a special occasion.

As I was washing my hands in the washroom (Yes, washing hands are good), I saw this! Telus is having a promotion with a few restaurants in Downtown for Taste of Tuesday where the appetizer and dessert is free with purchase on an entrée. It only applies on all Tuesday in the month of May. 3 courses for about $20 – $25 are not bad. I treat it as another version of Dineout Vancouver but a bit cheaper.

Words of Wisdom:

Expensive with small portions
Lamb shank very good!
Pay Parking on street

We Rate Hamilton Street Grill:

Address:

1009 Hamilton St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.hamiltonstreetgrill.com

In Downtown

Beentoo Sandwiches and BBQ: Where have you beentoo?

May 6, 2011

A new restaurant – Beentoo just popped up across the street from where I work. My coworker and I wanted to go try it out. We thought it would be Japanese food since the name is very close to bento. Clearly it was not since it is a Sandwich and BBQ restaurant.

Once you walk inside, it kinda resembles McDonalds…Long narrow interior with ordering counter at the very end. Once you look at the menu, it is not anything like McDonalds! Sure they have a usual burger but what got me intrigued were their variety of burgers – Korean Spicy chicken, lemon grass chicken, pulled pork… etc. There are also wraps and other healthy alternatives.

I ordered the Korean Spicy Chicken combo ($6.79). You get your sandwich with a pop/coffee and a choice of side. There were good sides to choose from – yam fries, Caesar salad, garden greens or chicken corn chowder.

I was curious about the chicken corn chowder, so I ordered that. It was your average chowder.

The Korean Spicy Chicken Sandwich is really good! The chicken steak is very moist and not too spicy. Just a little bit of a kick, but it will not overwhelm your taste buds. The chicken seemed very fresh but the main key thing is moist.

When I went, they were having promotions of giving free drinks with purchase. Today I looked over and there is no tax. They are really doing a huge push to tap into the market of catering to international students. On the 3 blocks of Seymour, there are tons and tons of international students.

Overall, I did like their burgers. Even the lemongrass was pretty good!

Words of Wisdom:

Has promotional deals going on ….No Tax, Free drink
Lemongrass chicken burger + Korean Spicy chicken burger!
Under $10
Closest Skytrain – Granville
Limited seating

We Rate Beentoo:

Address:

552 Seymour Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.beentoo.ca

In Chinese

Kalvin’s Restaurant Chowdown Recap

May 4, 2011

A month or so ago, there was a discussion on Chowtimes about having a chowdown at Kalvin’s Restaurant. After much discussion, Kevin from 604foodtography decided to take charge of the chowdown. He put up a post on his blog and sure enough, a great group of 15 got together to have the ultimate chowdown at Kalvin’s Restaurant.

I met a few other bloggers too which was super exciting. The ones that were in attendance were – The Friday Lunch, The Petite Foodie, The Daily Slif, Sea Salt with Food, Ed Eats, Chowtimes, Sherman Food Adventures, Yum O Rama, and of course 604Foodtography. There were also non bloggers too that join in on the festivities.

I’ve actually never heard of Kalvin’s Restaurant until I saw it posted on Chowtimes. This is why I love reading other blogs as well; you really discover all the hidden gems in and around the city.

Kalvin’s Restaurant looks like any other Chinese restaurant, so it is quite easy to miss as you are wandering around Victoria Drive. I arrived promptly at 6pm and the restaurant was not busy at all, most of the tables were reserved, so you know it would be a busy day for them as the night went on.

Our table was huge! We had a table that actually fit 15 people. It was like a huge table for huge families, but in our case, a huge table for hungry bloggers and foodies.

Since there were 14 of us, it was tough to figure out what we all wanted to order. Good thing no one had allergies, so this made the process easier. Kevin took the reign and just ordered a huge array of dishes from the menu. Since I can’t read Chinese to save my life, I am no help in that department.

Before I go and start talking about all the dishes we had, what is so awesome and highly amusing about being at a table of foodies it that most people had their huge SLR cameras ready. For a bit I felt kinda inferior since I carry a Canon G10. Still, a great camera, but not an SLR. Ben from Chowtimes brought along his point and shoot camera so I didn’t feel too embarrassed. Every time a new dish would come to the table, everyone had their cameras ready to take multiple shots, eventually people at other tables started staring at us. Kevin commented saying there was a lady at the next table over just staring at us and shaking her head.

After the pictures were done, everyone dug in!

The first dish that arrived was the Fondue Spicy Pork with Organ Stew (Large – $18). If you aren’t Asian, you will probably be disgusted with this dish, it have all the nasty stuff that usual people may not be accustomed to be eating. The most “gross” ingredients you will find in this are pieces of intestines and pork blood. I found this dish to be a bit too spicy for my tolerance level. I was gobbling tea like no tomorrow.

The next dish that arrived was the Pork & Ton Choy in BBQ Sauce ($11.50). Essentially, the name of the dish is how you would describe it. I didn’t really think there was anything too special about it.

The next one was the 5 Spice Beef in Chinese Pancake ($5 per order). I think we had 3 orders of this. This is a green onion pancake wrapped with 5 spice beef. This is probably one of those usual item you would order as Taiwanese snack at those Bubble tea places. I found that I tasted more of the pancake more than the beef. As you can tell, there was one slice of beef, hoisin sauce and no onions… pretty disappointed.

The next dish was the Spicy Pig’s Ear ($4). I personally love spicy pig ear. Some may say it’s gross, but I just love the texture and chewing on the cartilage. I didn’t think this is was too bad, it was quite average and not too spicy.

I think the Shredded Fish with Yellow Chives ($11.50) was a memorable dish. The fish was quite delicate and well prepared. I think this would be a great dish for little kids since you know there are no bones. I remember as a kid, I would try my best to avoid fish because sometimes there are bones.

This was the Chicken with 3 spices (S- $10.50/ L- $20). You are probably wondering what are these 3 spices – soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine. I liked it! Having those 3 ingredients marinated the chicken very nicely. Great flavour.

The Shredded Beef with Green Onion ($9.75). It was pretty average. Nothing super special.

This dish is the Red fermented deep fried pork ($5). This was probably the one item that I really wanted to try! The pork had a nice light crunch on the outside since it is deep-fried. It was unique and I have never seen anything like it.

This dish – Cold Bamboo Shoot Salad with Mayo ($7.50) was quite a surprise. No, like actually! I don’t think any of us remembered ordering this. Even looking at the bill, it wasn’t on it. Maybe they threw it in because we were such a large party that ordered lots? No clue. This was an interesting dish yet again; bamboo shoots with mayo on top. When I think of bamboo shoots, I think of long tough sticks. In this dish, it was more like fruit with a bunch of mayo dumped on top. I honestly find mayo very strange on cold items, so I was not a fan of this dish. BUT I did enjoy the bamboo on it’s own.

This dish is the Hakka Style Eggplant with Shredded Pork ($8.50). Hakka style basically means the type of cooking in Southern eastern China. The eggplant is cooked till it is mushy. I love eggplant; some people don’t like it because of that texture. In this dish, I found it slightly bland, so perhaps a bit more seasoning would have done the trick.

The next dish – Diced Chicken & Peanuts with Chili Pepper ($9.75) was HOT. Too hot for me to handle! It looks somewhat innocent until you get those red chili peppers in your mouth. BAM! Burning sensation in the face. Sorry, I can’t comment too much about this dish since all I really remember was hot.

This was the Prawn and Pineapple in Mayo ($16). I usually love prawns to death, but this dish was not for me. Hot prawns with mayo…and then fruit with mayo. In my mind, the only mayo that shall ever touch prawns would be in ebi mayo. Fried items + mayo = good. On the bright side, the prawns were nice and big.

String Beans with Minced Pork ($8.50) is your average type of dish found in a restaurant like this. Nothing too special about this dish.

Crispy Salty Peppery Chicken ($6) is your staple dish at a Taiwanese restaurant. At bubble tea joints, it would be a snack…served on rice, served in noodle…etc. Having the item available here was very interesting since its not usually what you would order. The inside was very moist and you can see the juices run from the meat. I thought the seasoning was fine and the skin was nice and crunchy.

I’m sure you know these are Shanghai Style Dumplings ($6). These were ok, pretty average and are not the best dumplings. This was not bad either.

We had quite a fun time with these dumplings to see who would puncture the dumplings first so the soup would spill. The first person to do so was Karl from The Friday Lunch. We all had a good laugh.

Finally! The last dish of the meal was Chicken with Sesame Oil & Wine in Hot Pot ($16). This was a very delicious deep flavored soup. The chicken was tender and went well with the soup. This is the type of soup I would love my parents to make. The first few sips were good but the after taste you could take a bit of the wine. Even though it had wine, you would not get drunk.

Wow, that was a lot of food. 17 dishes in total for 14 people. The bill came out to be $250.32. After tips each person paid $20.50. It was not too bad since we had that many dishes. The service was not bad either, it was amazing that the chefs could crank out so much food in a short amount of time! This dishes came so fast that there were times when we ran out of table space.

By 6:30pm, there were lines outside….as we left there was still a large line up.

I have to give a big shout out to Sherman of Sherman’s Food Adventures for sending me the names of all the dishes. Without him, I would be guessing what everything single dish would be called. Another thanks to Kevin (604Foodtography) for bringing us all together!

Overall, I think Kalvin’s Restaurant was just ok. There were a few average dishes and a few spectacular dishes. For myself, I would probably not revisit this restaurant since it’s a bit out of my way to get to.

If you have finished reading this huge post, you have read a total of 1500 words!

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking on adjacent streets
Reservations are a MUST
Largest table size = 15
Red fermented deep fried pork and Shredded Fish with Yellow Chives

We Rate Kalvin’s Restaurant:

Address:

5225 Victoria Dr
Vancouver, BC

In Dessert

Beard Papa’s: Good Desserts For a Bad Day

May 3, 2011

M was feeling a bit down, so I surprised him with some Beard Papa’s. He loves chocolate, so I thought I would get him one of their cool cakes. I love cream puffs and since Beard Papa’s is in Metrotown, I thought it would be convenient.

There wasn’t much of a line but there was a bunch of people just staring at the lady making cream puffs. I found this rather annoying because I just wanted to order. I stood behind a few people for a while and they weren’t moving in the line or talking to the people taking the orders. Turns out they were just looking.

I ordered and I was on my way with my little paper bag. I also saw the nutrition information and yikes….I was scared for my health.

They have a few more products since I came a year ago. They had this thing called ‘Paris Brest’. It sounded a bit scary at first, but it’s just a donut looking pastry with custard. If you want to be more technical, it is a Choux pastry shell with fluffy custard filling. It is a commemoration of Paris Brest et Tour, the worlds oldest existing bicycling event. This should not be mistaken with Tour de France.

It was pretty good and it reminded me of the original cream puff but in a different form.

The other item I got was the Fondant Au Chocolate. It is their version of a chocolate lava cake. It has a very nice oozing chocolate center when you break the cake with your spoon.

This is probably my favorite item from Bearded Papa since I love chocolate lava cakes. Yum! It is usually best served warm, so stick it into the microwave for a few minutes and it should taste amazing.

We rate Beard Papas:

Address:

4700 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.beardpapascanada.com

In Italian

Anton’s Pasta: Large Dinner Portions

April 30, 2011

It was game 7 of the Canucks vs Blackhawks. The whole city was on the edge of their seats hoping that the Canucks would win. There was so much tention that you couldn’t cut it with a knife. I watched the first period and then decided I wanted to get something to eat.

M and I were trying to go to Los Compadres, but they were closed, so we looked at Bombay Bhel…also closed. It felt like North Burnaby shut down to watch game 7. Fortunately, Anton’s was still open. It was prime dinner time and it was empty!

It was so funny because when something would happen, the staff would run back to the kitchen to check out the action.

M and I were here before for dinner and he loved the large portions. Today we decided to get different dishes and share them.

As usual bread and butter arrives on the table.

Our first pasta was the Penne All’ Emiliana ($15.50). This has italian sausage, panchetta, tomatoes, basil, black olives,fetta cheese, Extra virgin olive oil, and penne.

M did enjoy this because it has their amazing tasting sausage and olives. He has weird taste… but I didn’t think it was too bad either. The tomatoes seemed a bit random and I could have lived without them in this dish.

The next pasta was the Fusilli Alla Toscana ($15.50). This has chicken, mushrooms, white wine, and pesto cream sauce. If you like pastas with lots of sauce, this is your type of pasta.

I am a fan of really saucy dishes. This is very rich and is packed with pesto flavour. The type of pasta they use really increases the surface area for the sauce to stick onto.

We had our work cut out for us. 2 pastas for 2 stomaches. We obviously did not finish this all and packed it back home. This became our next 2 meals.

Anton’s pasta does not have THE BEST pasta, but they do have large portions that men do like. As long as I am not ordering the usual carbonara, or meat sauce spaghetti, I am happy.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking near TD Bank
Long line ups during peak hours
Large variety of pastas
No debit, they only accept credit and cash

We Rate Anton’s Past Bar:

Address:

4260 Hastings St
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.antonspastabar.com

In Cafe

Cyclops Cafe & Lounge

April 28, 2011

After walking around Downtown, then venturing through Olympic Sculpture Park and checking out Seattle Center, we were so tired of walking! It was time for dinner and we wandered into Bell Town.

After asking people of the Twitterverse where I should check out, I settled with Cyclops.

As we slowly got to Cyclops, we realized it was more of a pub setting. Since everyone was not 21+, we didn’t know what to do since there was a sign saying that people had to be 21+ to enter. Too bad the legal age isn’t 19 in the states. We walked a little bit further and we were super confused, there was another restaurant also named Cyclops. We stood there staring and staring at the doors until someone told us that one was the bar area and another was the dining area. It all made sense!

Cyclops is split in half to accomodate two types of crowds.

M thought of Jim Carrey’s character, Uncle Olaf in the movie, Series of Unfortunate Events, with all the different creepy one eyes in the restaurant.

Their menu is just 2 pages and there is also an additional one for specials.

Since I am over 21, I decided to get myself a Stella Artois. If I’m legal in the states, why not have a drink. Plus, since we did so much walking, I needed a little break. They had a lot of beers that I was not familiar, so I just got Stella.

I used to not like stella since it was a bit bitter than usual beers, but over the years it has grown on me. It has a nice refreshing finish and accompanies meals very well.

BusanGirl was not feeling very hungry, so she ordered the Roasted Corn & Chicken Quesadilla ($7 USD). In this quesadilla is roasted chicken breast, roasted red pepper, caramelized onions, roasted corn, feta, and cheese in a flour tortilla.

She was amazed by the great flavours of the quesadilla. The roasted onions and the roasted corn added a lot of savory flavour.

M and Fabo both ordered the Meatloaf sandwich ($10 USD). As I mentioned before, M loves Meatloaf… 2nd time today he has had meatloaf. This sandwich has BBQ glazed meatloaf on sliced sourdough bread with basil aioli served with fries.

TanGuy ordered the El Cubano ($11 USD). It is a sandwich with roasted pulled pork, sliced ham, cheese, thin pickles, dijon mustard, poblano aioli on a grilled ciabatta bun. He thought the sandwich was ok, but the dijon was very potent.

I ordered the Pepper Bacon Mac n’ Cheese ($8 USD). It has penna pasta, cheddar, swiss, pepper bacon and bread crumbs all baked in the oven and ready to serve. It even comes with some toasted bread on the side.

The Mac n’ Cheese was pretty good, the amount of bacon gave the mac n’ cheese a more salty flavour to the dish. It also added a bit of texture since the bacon was crispy.

Words of Wisdom:

Unique artwork on the walls, check website for info about them
Under $10
Lots of tables and great for groups

We rate Cyclops Cafe & Lounge:

Address:

2421 1st Ave
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.cyclopsseattle.com

In Seattle

Jamba Juice: Beats Canada’s Jugo Juice + Booster Juice

April 28, 2011

We were making our way back to Vancouver and decided to stop by Alderwood Mall to do a bit of shopping. I love Alderwood Mall! It has basically everything. Since the sun was shining and we were exhausted from sitting in the car, we decided to get refreshments.

We wanted something healthy so we headed to the food court. Nothing but soda and coffee could be found, so we looked at the directory because we knew there had to be a juice bar somewhere close. Sure enough, there is a Jamba Juice right outside the food court.

For a Friday afternoon it was quite busy.

Their menu has lots of smoothies and even hot drinks.

Fabo ordered the Razzmatazz (16 oz – $3.40 USD). This contains mixed berry juice blend, orange sherbert, strawberries, bananas and ice.

BusanGirl ordered the Mango A-Go-Go (16oz – $3.40USD) . It contains passionfruit mango juice blend, mangoes, pineapple sherbert and ice. She liked the smoothie a lot because a few hours earlier, she got another smoothie from another store but it only had 1 strawberry and 3 blueberries. She was impressed by the quality and the amount of fruit at Jamba Juice.

M ordered the Strawberries Wild Smoothie (Original size $4.40). It contains apple strawberry juice blend, non-fat vanilla frozen yogurt, strawberries, bananas and ice.

I ordered the Apple n’ Green Smoothie (16oz – $4.20 USD). It has apple-strawberry juice, vegetable juice (carrots, spinach, bell peppers, kale, and lettuce), peach mangoes, bananas and ice.

The thought of having a fruit/vegetable drink might sound weird, but it was really good! It had very smooth consistency and it did not get icy at all. It had a distinct tastes of apples and then hints of mangoes afterwards. The best part of this drink are the little fruit bits left behind from the blender. Maneuvering your straw to suck up all the little mango chunks.

Overall, we loved this place! Hands down, we all agreed this place was 100x better than Jugo Juice and Booster Juice.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Boosts of your choice
Lots of flavours and options

We Rate Jamba Juice:

Address:

3000 184th St SW Ste 880
Lynnwood, WA

Website:
www.jambajuice.com

In Coquitlam

Good Friends Restaurant: Korean Cafe

April 24, 2011

Every time I pass by North Road, I always see this Restaurant Called ‘Good Friends’ with a large green clover for their branding. It looked like it was for a younger hip crowd.

M, BusanGirl and I finished all our exams and was itching to get some food since 7-10pm exams are not very fun. Driving along North Road, there were not that many restaurant open late except for Korean Bars… M is not fond of Korean bars, so we headed to see if the Good Friends Restaurant was open.

Good Friends restaurant was deserted when we went. No staff were seen except when we looked into the kitchen. We rang a few bells at their front desk but no one seemed to hear, so M started calling out “juh gkee yoh” to get the waitresses attention. After calling for them about 3 times, she came out to seat us at the table.

We actually thought they were closed, but turns about they are open till midnight. Soon after, more people showed up in the restaurants, so we were not the only ones.

Their menu is quite extensive, so it might take you a while to figure out what you want to order.

5 complementary side dishes arrived – bean sprouts, kimchi, zucchini, tofu, and radishes. Since they were closing soon, they also gave us complementary soup for everyone. It was spicy fermented bean soup. (similar to Miso Soup, but with bean sprouts and other vegetables)

These are all bottomless, so it is refillable if you ask. They were all pretty average and nothing too spectacular.

We ordered the Nude Kimbap ($3.50). Its a normal Kimbap but just inside out so the rice is on the outside. There is also a bit of cabbage salad on the side.

We were actually surprised at how the roll was presented because we thought it would just presented poorly since the service was not that great. We enjoyed the roll, it held firmly and it was like any other kimbap roll.

Then we ordered Marinated Beef Kimbap ($3.99), this was exactly like the nude kimbap roll. There was nothing too special and it also tasted like a usual kimbap roll. Again it came with a side cabbage salad.

We also ordered the Hot Spicy Boneless Chicken with cheese ($13.99). This was fairly spicy! It was too much for me to handle, but for the Koreans, it was a piece of cake for them. This dish had rice cake, chicken, jalapenos, zucchini, and cheese.

This dish was good for the price, it was quite big. M was disappointed on the size of the chicken pieces. Since the main feature of this dish was chicken … there should have been more. The chicken was sparse, but there was a hearty amount of cheese.

Lastly, we ordered Fried Chicken (Half order $9.99). There was about 9 pieces and it was very interesting how it was SO HUGE for half an order. They come with dips – salt & pepper and a hot Korean standard for chicken BBQ sauce. You can choose to have your chicken in original or hot flavour. We just stuck with the original since I didn’t want my taste buds to suffer.

The outside was very nice and crispy, but the inside was not very juicy, which was a bit odd. For the price it was pretty good. M complained that there was no way to figure out which piece of the chicken one was eating. Even the drum stick was odd.

Overall, it was decent Korean food but not the best. If you are just wandering around late at night and looking for decent Korean food, this place is as good as any to go to.

Words of Wisdom:

Open till midnight
Large menu choices
Free parking
Average tasting Korean Food
Poor service

We Rate Good Friends Restaurant:

Address:

535 Clarke Road
Coquitlam, BC

In Downtown

Arturo’s Mexico To Go Food Truck: Awkward Experience

April 23, 2011

Another stroll near Waterfront and I wanted to check out Arturo’s Mexico To Go. I’ve never heard of a Mexican Themed Food Truck, so I look my lunch break to head on over.

They actually have a pretty HUGE food truck. They basically tower over you and you kinda feel like a midget.

Their menu has 5 items – Burrito, Burrito Salad Bowl, Quesadilla, Tacotino, and Tortilla Soup.

I ordered the Burrito Salad Bowl and the Tortilla Soup. The whole time I was waiting for the food, it was super awkward and it seemed like the staff lacked coordination. As one of the staff prepared my meal, this other person was just standing around and you really didn’t know if he accepted the money or was just there cause he wouldn’t look at you or say anything. Super awkward.

When I got my order, they forgot I ordered the tortilla soup, so I had to remind them that I ordered the soup. All he said was “oh” and made it. He said nothing more and I got confused. I shrugged it off and headed up to some outdoor tables near Price Waterhouse Coopers. (Great view of the Inlet!)

The Tortilla Soup ($3) was alright. I expected a bit more from this soup. The cheese was not fully melted and the tortilla was all limp and soggy. The soup itself was a bit spicy and had a really rich tomato taste. Very good depth of flavour.

Next, I had the Burrito Salad Bowl ($7). This is basically the normal burrito but laid out in a box like a platter. To be honest, the name of this item threw me off. I expected more salad since it is called a “salad bowl”. They should probably rename this to be called “Burrito Platter”.

You can choose between their different types of meat – pork, beef or chicken.

I ordered the chicken and it was really tender and flavourful. I was not 100% satisfied because I was expecting everything on top of lettuce. The taste overall was alright.

Words of Wisdom:

Under $10
Great flavour in meats
Decent portions
Close to Waterfront Skytrain
Awkward Service

We Rate Arturo’s Mexico To Go:

Address:

775 West Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.arturos2go.com

In Cafe

Curry King: HK Style Cafe

April 22, 2011

M and I were near Metrotown and we do what we do best – eat. After many failed attempts of going to other restaurants, we stuck with Curry King – HK Style Cafe. M wanted to go to Oscars and I just wanted to review a new restaurant…so we drove around and around and decided this was the place.

Curry King is located on Kingsway close to Saffron and Bubble World. Lots of space inside for groups of 4 or 5. Like most HK Style cafes, they have set menus and the usual items.

M and I started off with Lemon Coke and Cold Milk tea. Pretty usual and nothing cool about it. I prefer my cold milk tea to come with liquified sugar to add however less or more I want, but oh well. M’s Lemon Coke had a strong Lemon taste due to the 4-5 slices of lemon found inside it.

The set mini meals come with soup and today their daily soup was a cream soup with ham, corn and fish. Decent soup but the fish had a very odd texture. It wasn’t flaky like a fish, but more of a solid block. Very odd.

I ordered the Chicken Steak with Rice Mini Meal (~$8). This is probably the best chicken steak I’ve had at any HK style Cafe. The chicken was nice and juicy on the inside. The outer part was sightly crispy and the black pepper sauce went well with it.

There were more vegetables! I love vegetables.

M ordered the Meat sauce with rice in a Stone Bowl ($8.95). It has meat sauce, raw egg, and peas on top of rice. At first it looks like a large amount of sauce and meat, but when you begin mixing it all together, there really isn’t that much meat. M was a bit disappointed. No meat to be found for the carnivore. Even with the amount of sauce, he said it lacked flavour.

He even stole a bit of my black pepper sauce for his rice….then he asked the waitress for hot sauce… and then even considered asking for MSG or soy sauce.

I took a few bites out of his dish and it wasn’t too bad. It still had a good flavour, but I guess it wasn’t his type of thing. This meal does have a lot of rice, so you will get full.

Words of Wisdom:

Free rear parking
Under $10
I <3 Beef steak or Chicken Steak
M’s wisdom is if you get any kind of rice Stone Bowl, press the rice against the sides to get them crispy!

We Rate Curry King:

Address:

4250 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

In Downtown

Big Dogs Street Hots Food Truck

April 19, 2011

My goal is to try as my food carts as possible while the weather is just fantastic. Next on my list was Big Dogs Street Hots, I have to admit, I walked past it the first time. I thought it was just another Hot Dog stand, so I took a large detour to head to the Comic Book Store (I’m a nerd when it comes to super heroes). Since they did not have the figurine I wanted, I headed back to get a closer look for this food cart. Going up Granville, I passed by many Hot Dog stands, but I knew it had to look more like a food truck… sure enough it was the original Hot Dog stand that I passed by.

I came back and I was a bit worried it would just be the regular Hot Dogs…but no, I was 10349540 times wrong. They have several kinds – the usual stuff which you would think a Hot Dog stand would have… and then BAM all the other cool sounding Hot Dogs. I know, I keep using the word Hot Dogs, but these are not the ones you find at the grocery store!

These are more like sausage. But better because they are organic! They pride themselves as having Sausages with no nitrates, lactose, preservatives, fillers or growth hormones.

When you actually read their menu, they have some pretty sexy types – “Hella Good Halibut”, “Hawaii 5-0”, “Slammin Salmon”, “Blueberry Bison” and “Chicken Apple Maple”. These rang musical bells in my head, maybe not literally but yes I did hear music from my headphones (LAME).

After thinking to myself, I ordered the “BIG Fat Greek Dog” ($7). If Americans met the Greeks to make an amazing creation it would be this Hot Dog! Lamb smokie with green peppers, cucumbers, red onions and tzatziki sauce on a whole wheat bun. They also asked if I wanted cooked onions on my Hot Dog, so I added those on too.

What struck me at first was the bun, this did look like a whole wheat bun and not just brown. The juicy sausage and the tzatziki sauce melded very well together surprisingly! The vegetable give the Hot Dog an extra crunch in texture. Even the addition of the cooked onions made it that much more amazing.

I know Downtown is saturated with so many Hot Dog/ Sausage stands but I hope this one stays. They pride themselves of their ingredients and do have unique Hot Dogs compared to other vendors.

They price maybe a bit steep at $5 – $9 for a large Hot Dog may be a bit steep but it is very satisfying!

We Rate Big Dogs Street Hots:

Location:

Granville Street between Dunsmuir & W Georgia

Twitter:

@BigDogsOrganics

In Fairview

Bin 942: Tapas Parlour

April 18, 2011

CandiedZen and I went on another one of our food adventures to Bin 942. They are a tapas parlour on Broadway and Granville.

The restaurant is very narrow and there is not a lot of room for a large amount of guests. We went around 7pm and it was PACKED! We were told we would have to wait approximately 1 hour till a seat would clear up. For just 2 people, we thought it was a bit excessive, but we were there already and paid for the parking, so we stayed. We eventually got seated at the bar.

We only waited in total for 30 mins since people did clear out a bit. It was a busy night so, there wasn’t a lot of room to move around; it felt really cramped. It was also pretty loud inside.

The menu is quite simple and they have a variety of different tapas to stimulate your palette.

We first ordered the Fresh Dungeness Crab Arancini with thai coconut curry sauce ($13). It was really really good! Very nice and crispy on the outside and very nice and savory on the inside. This dish reminded me of something liked fried risotto.

We then ordered the Pomme Frites ($7). This is a tower of skinny fries drizzled with balsamic vinegar. I like how this dish is so huge and fun to eat. You can either attempt to eat this with your hands or your fork. There is quite a bit of fries, so for 2 people, it might be a bit hard to finish if you have other dishes coming as well.

Next we had the Steamed Cortez Island Mussels($15). There are 3 flavours of broths to choose from, but we stuck with the classic french, which has tomatoes, herbs, garlic, white wine and butter. This dish came with 2 pieces of grilled foccacia.

The pieces of mussels were very pump and went well with the Classic French broth. Remember to dip the foccacia into the broth so the bread soaks up the yummy flavours.

We finished off with the Spinach Salad ($11). This salad has baby beets, avocados, mushrooms, sherry vinaigrette, spinach, and fried saganaki. CandiedZen really wanted to try this dish out because of the fried saganaki. She wanted to see how they would combine the ingredients together.

This salad was very good and the flavours mixed perfectly. The saganaki was a treat to bite into.

Overall, these are not cheap tapas. The flavours in their dishes are really good, but the ambiance of the restaurant was too busy for our liking. Best to come early or late but just not at the peak dinner hours.

Words of Wisdom: