Three Beakers Archives - Page 57 of 63

In Dessert

La Casa Gelato: 518 Flavours of Gelato

April 18, 2011

La Casa Gelato is a tourist destination and is very famous for their 518 + flavours and 218 choices on site. They have been in business for a very long time and I have been going there since I was a little kid. It was always a treat when my parents would take me here. They offer some of the most absurd flavours like – Wasabi, Balsamic Vinegar, Chocolate Chili, and gorgonzola cheese.

With the 218 flavours to choose from, you might spend a bit of time trying out a few flavours until you finally decide what you really want. Since there is usually a lot of traffic, there are no seats.

They have tons of cones in various styles.Their prices of gelato has also increased quite a bit over the years.

You need to get a token before you start ordering your gelato or else they will not serve you.

M ordered the Chocolate Peanut butter Gelato ($4.50). He decided to have it in a cup because he hates the messiness from the cones.

ConsultingGirl ordered the DragonFruit Gelato ($4.50). The flavour is good but she did not like how all our scoops were different sizes. She liked the size and shape of my scoop but was a bit jealous cause mine was bigger. (Look below).

Whats cool about La Casa Gelato is their amount of asian style gelato such as green tea, durian, mango, sour sop, la dua and the list goes on.

I ordered the Bubblegum Gelato ($4.50). I usually order this because it just reminds me of when I was a kid. It is a bright vibrant blue and has a subtle flavour of fruity bubble gum. It tastes great but one of the biggest downsides of this gelato is the abundance of food coloring in this gelato. Your tongue and lips immediately turn blue. Since there is so much food color…..what goes in must come out…if you know what I mean. If you don’t want remnants of blue lips the next day, avoid this.

Overall, after many years, I have found the quality has decreased, prices have risen, and the amount of flavours keep climbing. With their booming success, it is not a surprise. Since there is a large amount of traffic, the staff are not always the most friendly looking. They just seem to have a grumpy look on their faces.

One thing I can say is that it’s a cool novelty in Vancouver.When do you ever get to tell your friends you tried eating garlic gelato or some other crazy concoction.

Words of Wisdom:

Chocolate Chili is insane! Taste like chocolate and BAM spicy!
Always fun to try the most messed up flavours
Usually packed with locals and tourists
Parking lot usually full at peak hours

We Rate La Casa Gelato:

Address:

1033 Venables St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.lacasagelato.com

In Downtown

Ursu Food Truck: Korean Taco Food Truck

April 13, 2011

I go off tangent sometimes at work and play with the food apps on my phone. As you can tell I was really anticipating lunch. Since there are 19 new street carts in Vancouver, I have to eat though all of them =)

There is Ursu – a Korean Food Cart near my work and there was n0 information about them on any website. I assume they are fairly new and have not had a lot of time to start setting up their social media. They are Korean owned and serve up Korean Tacos (~$2) (Chicken, Bulgogi or tofu), Bulgogi Dogs (~$5), and Questadillas ($6.99) (Bulgogi, spicy chicken, and tofu). I tried taking a picture of the menu but my iphone lagged and it took a picture of the ground .

The Vancouver Street Food App indicated they open at 11am, but they were not set up and ready to go till noon. So, do be aware things may happen and Food Cart vendors aren’t there on time or delayed in setting up.

After walking around the block, it was open! You can tell they are quite new in the food cart business since they were a bit slow at getting the food out, and had very little or even no publicity. They are quite popular with the Korean crowd, lots of international students were going up to them and conversing in Korean. I like to ease drop, but I overheard they are going to start having a Facebook Fan page and Twitter in the near future.

I ordered the Spicy Chicken Quesadilla ($6.99). It has cheese, peppers, hot sauce, onions, tomatoes, chicken and lettuce.

I can kinda handle a medium level of spiciness and this was decently spicy but not painful, just subtle. With the addition of the tomatoes, it did make this quesadilla a bit runny, so the juice will leak out. It is very hard to to eat it in one hand on the go. You need a bit of a strategy to make sure it all does not spill out. Your best bet would be getting a fork and knife if you have difficulty eating cleanly.

The quesadilla was just average and was not spectacular. The chicken itself had a very nice flavour, you can tell they use a sweet sesame sauce to cook the chicken. They probably used sesame oil, which is common in korean food.

I’ll probably go back to try their Bulgogi soon and let you know if it’s any good.

Words of Wisdom:

Close to Granvill Skytrain
Cash Only
Open late for Canucks Game days
Usual hours 11am – 7pm

We Rate Ursa Food Cart:

Located at:

West Georgia St. and Richards Street

In American

Milestones: Decent food but on the pricey side

April 13, 2011

After studying, ConsultingGirl and I were hungry, so we headed over to Milestones. ConsultingGirl wanted something healthy, M didn’t want sushi and I didn’t want to revisit any restaurants in the Brentwood area. Somehow a long conversation in the car led to a decision to go to Milestones.

ConsultingGirl stayed true to her healthy path and ordered the grilled chicken salad ($12.99). It contains chicken, tortilla chips, cilantro, mixed greens and drizzled with a type of honey lime peanut sauce.

ConsultingGirl was happy with the size of the salad and thought the sauce used in the sauce was killer. (Maybe not enough to kill someone). She had no complaints.

M ordered the KobeStyle Classic Meatloaf ($19.99). I don’t know if there was kobe beef in this, but I doubt it because kobe “style” doesn’t necessarily mean it is. On top of the meat loaf are fried onions and it sits on top of garlic mashed potatoes and mushrooms. There is also brocollini on the side.

The size of the meatloaf was quite small for the price. M kept saying I tricked him into ordering this but he still ate everything. The meat was moist and tender but the fried onions give an illusion that the dish is bigger than it really is.

I ordered the Portobello Mushroom chicken ($18.99). This has double breasts of chicken, portobello mushrooms and a cream sauce over capellini pasta. There was also brocollini on the side.

I did not like this dish too much. The chicken seemed a bit over done and the cream sauce was a bit too salty. On the menu it said double breast of chicken which is supposed to be a full breast of chicken. The chicken pieces were also small in my opinion and at first glance, it seems like the chicken breast is a pretty big size, but once you remove the mushrooms, the chicken is quite small. Either I got gipped or their chickens got small breasts. I still got full from my meal, but not too happy about the quality.

Overall, we had a decent time. With so many other restaurants that are somewhat similar in the area, I wouldn’t return unless there was a good special going on. Joeys, Cactus Club, and Browns Social House are all across the street.

Words of Wisdom:

Large parking lot
Items are a bit pricey

We Rate Milestones:

Address:

4420 Lougheed Hwy
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.milestonesrestaurants.com

In Brunch

Little Nest: Kid Friendly Cafe

April 12, 2011

ConsultingGirl suggested we go to Little Nest for Saturday brunch. I’ve never heard of it before, so I just imagined a place with birds nest everywhere. I really didn’t question her opinions. We drove down all the the way to commercial.

Little Nest is not on Commercial, its off of Commercial on Charles Street. It was pretty packed around 12:30 when we arrived, but soon it got less busy around 1:00 /1:30pm.

After observing the people who were at the restaurant, everyone seemed pretty young but I kept hearing children, LOTS of CHILDREN! Little Nest = Kid Friendly Cafe. I finally made the connection. I know you can’t see it through the picture, but there is a small play area in the back with kids playing but I didn’t want to be a pedo. Little Nest is a place for young parents to hang out with other parents and not worry about their kids. Since I will not have kids for many many many many many many many years from now, this was not my favorite place to be. You will witness kids running around, crying and screaming. BUT there are a few super cute kids.

The menu is all on the board, so you must stare at it, and then go up to the counter to order.

Once you order, you can go grab your table and you are given block letters instead of numbers. Do be aware, children tried stealing our blocks…and we let them until their mother gave it back to us. Not our place to take stuff away from them and make them sad.

On the large communal table, there are chalk boards and chalk! You can be a kids again and draw yourself a nice picture. We didn’t want to get chalk near our food, so we left it there.

ConsultingGirl and I both had the freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. The juice was very fresh but it was a bit frothy near the top. Not too sweet either. It comes in a small glass, so if you are a very thirsty person, you may run out fast.

M ordered the organic GingerAle since his stomach was not feeling very well. This is different from your Canadian Dry, you can taste the flavour of the ginger. Really good.

M and ConsultingGirl both had the Eggs of the Day ($12) has scrambled eggs with pulled pork, appel fennel, fried beans and a toasted baguette.

The eggs were pretty good. It was nice and cheesy, a bit runny, but could have used a bit more seasoning. The pulled pork and beans were also good but nothing special.

M said the portion was not worth the $12. You mainly get full off the baguette.

I ordered the Little Nest Breakfast ($12). It has scrambled eggs with baked polenta, roasted portobello mushrooms, caramelized pearl onions, spinach pesto, cheese and a toasted baguette.

At first I was super disappointed in the size because paying $12 to get a small plate hardly seemed worth the price. As I devoured the polenta and the mushrooms, it was really really good! Polenta was nice a firm and had a good corn flavour.

Overall, decent food and overpriced. We also did not dig the atmosphere because I think all of us were a bit too young to go here.

Words of Wisdom:

Overpriced
Small portions
Kid friendly
hard to find parking

We Rate Little Nest:

Address:

1716 Charles St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

www.littlenest.ca

In Chinatown

T&T: Another Cheap Lunch

April 10, 2011

My coworker and I wanted to grab some food at T&T for cheap! So, during our lunchbreak, we headed over to grab a few things to go. We hoped onto the Granville Skytrain and got off at Stadium Skytrain.

My goal yet again was to keep everything under $10. Surprisingly I got a lot of food for under $10. I didn’t get the hot food again, but I wanted to try to be healthy as well.

I grabbed a pack of 2 rice rolls. One of them had marinated pig ear and the other had shrimp. Some people are disgusted by pig ear, but some people like me love it. Just be warned, even though the packaging says “pork”, you are not getting the usual pork meat. It is the pig ear.

The rice rolls were not very large like the ones you would find in restaurants. Perhaps half the size. It’s not necessarily a bad thing because you get to taste both kind of rice rolls without being stuffed.

Next, I got the Negituna (~$2). This is not Negitoro, it uses the usual tuna sashimi and not the meat from the belly.

Since these were the small sushi rolls, I really didn’t noticed much of a difference. There is the tuna and the green onions wrapped up in the rice and seaweed.

Usual, I had to balance this meal with fruit. T&T has a lot of cut fruit, but I noticed that most of them do not look very appetizing. You need to look through all of them to find the fresh ones that are made in the morning. The ones that have noticeable moisture like the one above is not very fresh.

Words of Wisdom:

Lots of Hot and cold food items
Under $10
Limited seating
Do grocery shopping as the same time as eating lunch
Free Parking at Tinsel Town

We Rate T&T:

Address:

179 Keefer Place
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.tnt-supermarket.com/en/

In Coquitlam

Don’sta: New Korean Donkatsu Restaurant

April 8, 2011

M here, reviewing Don’sta, a Korean Donkatsu restaurant next to the Toad on North Road. Donkatsu is Korean word for deep fried pork cutlets. Design Girl, BusanGirl, and I went out to our unofficial Korean Night, where we take our Korean close friends to eat at Korean restaurants.

On this particular trip, I was pining one of my favourite food, donkatsu and BusanGirl recommended Don’sta. Don’sta went through a lot of owner changes. It used to be called Daeji, then 6, and finally Donsta. Apparently Donsta is currently going through renovations, so we will definitely go check it out when it’s done!

On the outside, you see remnants of the previous names, which makes for a pretty shabby exterior. The interior isn’t much better. Random assortments of chairs and tables that do not match are spread around the room. In retrospect, it is kind of charming and unique. Hopefully both the interior and exterior are being renovated and improved.

The menu is only half a page long. Half the page is in Korean, and the other in English. They really do specialize in pork cutlets, but they also serve pasta.

Once you order, cutlery and water is self service, as is in most Korean restaurants. However, neatest part was the all you can eat salad bar. The salad was fresh and tasty. The banana peppers are incredibly hot, so be careful!

We ordered the Sesame Donkatsu, the Hot Plate Donkatsu, and the Rice Cake Cheese Pasta. The Sesame Donkatsu ($7.59) was by far the most delicious donkatsu I had in Vancouver so far. The donkatsu itself was cooked correctly so that the meat is tender and the outside is crispy. The donkatsu sauce mixed with a lot of sesame seeds and powder is a great combination of sweet and saltiness.

The Spicy Rice Cake Cheese Pasta ($8.26), was very unique and delicious! The rice cakes were soft and the noodles were perfect. I highly recommend trying more of their pasta!

The only negative thing about the whole dinner was the Korean Style Spicy Donkatsu on Grill ($8.26). It was nothing special and rather dull looking when it came out. Usually, donkatsu places would have fish flakes wriggling up from the heat all over the hot plate dokatsu, but not this one. Definitely a disappointment.

Donsta is a great small place when you fell like eating Korean style pasta and donkatsu. Can’t wait to see their new renovations!

Words of Wisdom:

Under $10
Free parking
Authentic Korean Food

We Rate Don’sta:

Address:

#205-4501 North Road

Phone:

604 566 9107

In Japanese

Sushi Garden: Yummy Sushi + Unclean Tables

April 7, 2011

Another late night at school and what is open? Sushi Garden! They close at 10pm. We just made their last call.

M, TaiwaneseGirl, FragileBoy, InsecureGirl and I were ready to eat away because we were starving as usual.

They have lots of items on their menu from rolls, party trays, etc.

Here’s another part of their menu. Lots to choose from!

When we sat down, we noticed the table was still very very filthy even though they wiped down the table. As you can tell from the picture there are lots of sticky stains. TaiwaneseGirl really couldn’t stand it, so she used her tea and napkin to clean off the table. After she wiped it with her napkin, the napkin turned brown and yellow. SO NASTY.

We started off with a large sake. Instead of 1 coming to the table, they gave us an additional one on the house. We have no idea why they gave us a free one. Either way, they boys at the table were happy. Sake is not my thing…I got hard core for the 151. jk. I’m more of a beer or wing girl.

We ordered the Shrimp Tempura ($7.50). Theres about 7 pieces in the order. It was really good and crispy, but there was a bit too much batter, so when you dunk it into the sauce, the batter would fall off the shrimp. (depends on your style of dipping).

We also got the Spicy salmon sashimi ($8.95). The cuts of the salmon were good and has the usual spicy sauce covering it. TaiwaneseGirl loved this so much, she kept getting more and more until the plate was finished.

We also ordered the smoked salmon cream cheese roll ($3.95). I like the texture of this roll since there is a bit of cream cheese. Some people may not like it because the texture is different.

I am a big fan of smoked salmon and cream cheese on crackers, so it is yummy to me.

We then ordered the Large for 3 party tray ($39.50). It comes with 52 pieces of sushi.

This party tray came with :

House Roll
Smoked Salmon Roll
California Roll
Dynamite Roll
Chopped Scallop Roll
Tuna Nigiri (3)
Salmon Nigiri (3)
Ebi Nigiri (3)
Chopped scallop nigiri (3)
tobiko nigiri(3)
unagi nigiri (3)

All of the rolls were pretty good. Quality is quite similar to SushiTown and California Sushi.

Overall, the sushi was pretty good, but I do question their sanitation. Check out the Fraser Health website and search Sushi Garden up.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Parking in the front
Busying during peak hours
Large variety of items

We Rate Sushi Garden:

Address:

4269 Lougheed Highway
Burnaby, BC

In Cafe

Borandsi: Fusion Board Game Cafe

April 6, 2011

On North Road in Coquitlam, there is a little cafe called Borandsi, or quite commonly known as the board game cafe. People come to Borandsi to eat dessert and grab a drink. They also have a large amount of board games which you can use for a small fee. If you live in Vancouver, it really isn’t worth it to play games here since your bill can rack up to the cost of a brand new board game.

It’s perfect for international students or travellers who do not have games with them.

After eating Pho, Jojocake really craved waffles … so we headed to Borandsi for dessert!

The interior is quite nice. Large tables and couches. It is usually not that busy, so you can always find a seat for you and your friends. People either: a) sit and chat b) study or c) play board games.

At one time they had a spa and a cell phone shop in the back corner, but it has since been removed to make room for more tables.

The menu is all listed on a piece of paper double sided. They have drinks, desserts and some Korean dishes. Yes, it is Korean owned and operated.

KoreanGirl ordered the Brownie & Ice Cream ($5.95). The brownie is not freshly made. When you walk up to the counter and stare at their fridge, you can see all the brownies all chilled and wrapped in plastic wrap. They heat up the brownie, add vanilla ice cream and drizzle chocolate sauce on top.

This is not a gourmet brownie, just your regular brownie.

I ordered the Apple Pie & Ice Cream ($5.95). Similar with the brownie, it is also pre-made and stored in a fridge. I think they microwave it so the crust is no longer crispy. The apple pie still tasted good but I wish it was crispy on the outside. They also added vanilla ice cream and drizzled chocolate on top.

JojoCake was CRAVING waffles, so she ordered Waffles & Ice Cream ($7.95). Unlike the brownie and the apple pie, this was made fresh. How do I know this? I saw a waffle iron while peeping into their kitchen.

The waffle is topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, bananas, kiwis and strawberries. One things Jojocake commented on the waffle was that it was a bit over done.

Overall, great place to chill and catch up for friends. Service is not very good, so you gotta do the usual staring and hand waving.

Words of Wisdom:

Under $10
Good for studying
Average tasting desserts

We Rate Borandsi:

Address:

4035 North Rd
Burnaby, BC

In Greek

Felico’s: The Greek Restaurant in Richmond

April 5, 2011

It was divaD’s 22nd Birthday and he held his birthday at Felico’s! The name Felico’s rang a bell but I really couldn’t point my finger where I heard of it before. After Googling the name of the restaurant, it is the really posh looking Greek restaurant near Parker Place. Every time I pass by, I point at it and tell someone I want to go there, but I keep forgetting about it. Today was the day I would FINALLY get to try it out.

The interior is very nice and you can even reserve private areas for parties. They have a lot of space and many many tables. It’s a really large restaurant.

The menu may seem a bit expensive at first glance but you can find some decent dishes between $14 to $18.

The bread is just toasted pita bread with butter.

TaiwaneseGirl and KoreanBoy ordered the Kalamaria ($14.95). It has deep-fried squid served with satziki, roast potatoes, rice, and greek salad.

M ordered the Chicken Parmesan ($15.95). It has breaded chicken breast baked in tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, served with linguine noodles and seasonal vegetables

Jojocake ordered the Chicken Linguine ($15.95). There are pieces of chicken breast, fresh mushrooms, parmesan cheese and you get to choose what type of sauce you want on it. She chose the creamy pesto sauce to go with it.

She loved the sauce, but the chicken was really really dry.

KoreanGirl ordered the Seafood Linguine ($17.95). It has salmon, halibut, prawns, scallops, onion, and fresh mushrooms. Just like JojoCake, she also ordered the creamy pesto sauce.

She ALSO had the same problem with her scallops… dry dry dry. They sauce was still enjoyable.

I ordered the Combination Plate ($18.95). It comes with kalamaria, dolmades, keftedes, spanakopita, homous, satziki, and greek salad. I ordered this because I really wanted to try all the different things on the menu.

I liked the kalamaria and the spanakopita. I was not a fan of the dolmades. Dolmades are Grape vine leaves stuffed with rice and and ground sirloin.I have never had it before, but it reminded me of another variation of sticky rice.

The Keftedes are Ground sirloin meatballs with onion. I found the keftedes to be a bit bland. The greek salad was ok as well, I wish there was more salad dressing and more acidic tasting.

The food was pretty average and it was not spectacular. It was probably because of what we ordered. Overall, we still had a great time, divaD got some nasty tasting shots and Felico’s handled the Birthday party really nicely. Everyone’s food came almost at the exact same time. We did have to wait a little bit longer, but it was good how everyone got their dishes at the same time.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Parking in the back
Walkable distance from Parker Place, Lansdowne, and Aberdeen Mall

We rate Felicos:

Address:

8140 Leslie Rd
Richmond, BC

Website:
www.felicos.com

In Three Beakers

Cafeteria: Not Your Ordinary One

April 5, 2011

Flo organized another food gathering after our time at L’Abbatoir. Irv highly recommended that we all go to Cafeteria, so we all went for our next foodie adventure!

There were 6 of us in total, so we thought the smartest thing would be to get a reservation. When Flo called Cafeteria, we were informed by them that there would be an enforcement of the 3 course meal for everyone in our group. They were trying a new tactic since they are quite popular. We did not want to force our entire party to such a restriction so, we decided to go at 5:30pm and wait for a table of 6.

I was the first to arrive at Cafeteria. The exterior was not amazing, so I almost walked past it. It’s on the corner of the street. The dining area is quite small. Probably seats 9 parties at a time? At 5:30pm is was not very busy.

I wanted to grab the table of 6, but they would not allow me to get the table until the whole party arrived. So, I sat and waited till the rest arrived. We didn’t wait long for a table.

Their menu is laid out like how a high school menu would look like, but in this case the items described on the menu is quite exquisite and nothing you would find in a school cafeteria.

The menu changes daily, so it’s always a surprise what will be on the menu.

You can order ala Carte or just go for the 3 course meal ($32.50). Starters at $10, Mains are $19…so if you wanted to get both, might as well just get the 3 courses right? It does get pricy really fast.

Half of us ordered the 3 courses and and others got ala carte.

Some got the Duck confit salad ($10). It also comes with blood orange, lyonnaise onion, and pink peppercorn.

At first glance, you wonder where the duck is, but the good stuff is underneath the greens. I didn’t eat this, so I really can’t tell you much about it.

I started off with the Tuna Salad Nicoise ($10). It is essentially a mixed salad. There was potatoes, anchovies, quail egg, capers, and so many other ingredients. I liked the different textures coming together.

Others got the Grilled Veal Chop ($19). It comes with Scalloped Potaotes, and french beans .

Flo ordered the Ruby trout fillet ($19). It has grapefruit on top, almonds, mint, brown butter. It sits on top of some mashed potatoes.

I ordered the Chicken scaloppine ($19). It comes with wild mushroom risotto with marsala sauce. This dish has 2 thinly sliced chicken breasts and it was very very delicious and moist! The wild mushroom risotto was SO good! Mushrooms with Risotto = <3

The marsala sauce mixed well with both the chicken and the risotto.

The dish was garnish with a broccolini, which is a thinner version of the usual broccoli.

For dessert there was the Peanut butter pie ($6.50). It came on a bed of banana cause and a side of vanilla ice cream. Even though it is called “pie” it is not what you would imagine. Eating this was like devouring a Reeses cheese cake.

The banana sauce was very very good and was not overly sweet. Banana lovers would go nuts for this.

I ordered the Butterscotch pudding ($6.50) It is topped with honey comb. I did not love this dessert, it was good for the first few bites but after a while, I really could not stand eating such a rich and heavy dessert.

Overall, the food at Cafeteria was good but I would not go out of my way to eat here since other joints on Main are in a lower price range. Even though this is so, this does not stop lots of people from lining up for Cafeteria. When we left, the line up was out the door!

Words of Wisdom:

Mandatory 3 course set when reserving for 6+ people
Metered parking on Main Street
Free parking on perpendicular roads
Long Line ups after 6:30pm

We Rate Cafeteria:

Address:

2702 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.cafeteriavancouver.ca

In Cafe

Goldies Pizza

April 3, 2011

CanuckGirl and I met up again during lunchtime. It was hard deciding a place to eat, but I heard raving reviews about Goldies Pizza, so we decided to go.

The place was not packed during lunch, but later on it got more and more busy. A lot of people were grabbing and going from the window.

On their menu, they have the different types of pizza and drinks.

We both shared the 7″ Roasted Chicken ($.9.95). The toppings had Tomato sauce, mozzerela cheese, roasted chicken, roasted red peppers and onions.

Then we also got the 7″ mushroom lovers ($8.95). It has portobello and champignon de couche mushrooms marinated in extra virgin oliveoil and reduced balsamic vinegar, honey, rosemary and garlic.

I honestly did not like the pizza. The toppings were great and flavourful but one thing that just kept bugging me were the burnt crust of the pizza. If it was golden brown, I would be more satisfied. When you finish each slice, I was a bit hesitant to finish it because it did taste sightly burnt.

When you attempt to hold up the pieces, you can tell the dough was not crunchy, but a bit soggy. It did not hold together well as a slice. So, what we did was just use a knife and fork to eat it.

Perhaps it is the rustic type of pizza I am not into. Again, just probably personal preference.

Words of Wisdom:

Under $10
Close to Granville or Waterfront Skytrain
Take Out window

We Rate Goldies Pizza:

Address:

605 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.goldiespizza.com

In Chinatown

T&T Supermarket: Cheap Lunch

April 1, 2011

I am starting to go through a “cheap” phase to start saving more money, than just blowing it all on food. A girl has wants you know… like clothes and electronics. hahaha.

Since I work one Skytrain away from T&T Supermarket, I thought why not? It’s cheap and they always have a lot of food since they are a supermarket. I met up with Mandu as well since she wanted a quick lunch.

Walking in, there is SO much to choose from! Sushi, dim sum, hot food, cold food, drinks, etc. There was so much food and the smell was so nice! We were literally going back and forth between the cold and hot food sections trying to figure out what to eat. I kept eyeing all the fried items in the hot sections… but I told myself I had to be a bit healthy today…so I went to the cold section.

I got the Chirashi Don ($6.99). There was a lot of ingredients in this dish – wild salmon, normal salmon, tofu, ebi, lemon, cucumber, wasabi, and ginger.

What is cute about this dish is that the wild salmon is presented like a rose. The price of the don was definitely worth it. The other sushi joints would charge $10+ for a chirashi don.

I also got a container of freshly cut fruits ($2.93). There were kiwis, strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes and honey dew.

I have to admit, some of the fruits were not in the best quality or cut very well. There would be a little bit of kiwi skin left on it. Strawberries were a bit off color. Since they are a supermarket, I guess the use up their left over fruit to prep it for their meals.

Address:

179 Keefer Place
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.tnt-supermarket.com/en/

In Cafe

Dessert Dynasty

March 29, 2011

Beside T&T at Metrotown is a cafe place called Dessert Dynasty. They sell desserts and different types of bubble tea. If you are ever at the mall and wanted a bit of something sweet, it’s a decent place to head to.

I remember when I was younger…so many bbt places at Metro and I couldn’t decide which one to go to…. Till this day, I still can’t figure out which one is my favorite.

The menu is both in Chinese and English, so you will have no issues reading it. I usually skip reading the menu and get my 2 staple items – Milk tea and bubble waffles! You can’t get anymore asian than that. (You probably could but this is how I roll).

The Cold Milk Tea ($3ish) was like most average milk teas. It was slightly on the sweet side but not too bad. I find that as I get older I like things to be less sweet. I know I’m not THAT old, but I like to save my teeth for the future.

If you are like me, you may want to get half sweet. ( Plus, it’s less calories!)

Lastly, the Bubble Waffle ($3.33) was pretty good. A bubble waffle is basically little ball of puffy waffles. They mix this egg batter and pour it into a waffle-maker with a honeycomb pattern. It gets cooked, and voila! You have your waffle balls – crunchy on the outside, and if cooked just right, slightly chewy on the inside.

I thought the ones at Dessert Dynasty wouldn’t be that great since I’ve heard mediocre review about this place. The lady today made it well, nice and soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Yummy!

Overall, Dessert Dynasty is pretty average and not super outstanding. It’s place to go if you are in the area and want some sweets.

Words of Wisdom:

Address:

149 – 4800 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:

http://www.dessertdynasty.com/

In American

Cactus Club Cafe: The Tale of Awkward Service

March 25, 2011

ConsultingGirl and I originally wanted to go to Joeys Burnaby, but they told us there would be a 30 min wait for a table for 2 people. We lingered around for a bit but then decided to head over to Cactus Club Cafe since we were starving to death.

There was a major revamp since the last time we were here. It is very roomy, has sexy decor and is on par with the other locations in Downtown. It’s also pretty dark, so it’s the perfect place to go it you have a breakout of pimples…your date won’t be able to see your imperfections. =D

Since ConsultingGirl and I love tea. We both got tea! She ordered the Earl Grey and asked for sugar and milk on the side. I am more asian, so I got green tea with a side of lemons.

ConsultingGirl ordered the Short Rib Sandwich. It contains caramelized onions, beef jus, emmental cheese on sourdough bread. She also got fries on the side.

I ordered the BBQ Duck Clubhouse. It was on a pecan fruit bread and contained BBQ duck, pan seared chicken and crisp prosciutto. I really loved the bread, it tasted really good except for the part where the sauces would seep through the bread and get onto your hands. In the end, I just ended up eating it with a fork and knife.

The sandwich did have a lot of meat, but the duck and the chicken were a bit on the dry side. The crisp prosciutto was amazing! I got a salad on the side instead of fries.

After this point, our server look a while to come back to take our order for dessert. We felt kinda abandoned since we were really wanted to order more. We pondered for a long time to figure out what to do….so ConsultingGirl and I had a lemon eating contest with the lemons that came with my tea. We ate all the lemon slices…so we both won.

After flaggin down the waitress, we got our dessert menus. We decided pretty quickly what we wanted….but where did our server go? We had to flag down another waitress to find our server. With much luck, she came back to take our order.

We had the Chocolate Lava Cake. It comes with vanilla ice cream and a bit of berry sauce. In inside of the cake just flowed out and it was super rich and delicious! If you love chocolate, you will love this dessert!

At the end of the dessert, usually comes the bill. Can you guess what happened next? Our waitress disappeared again! We did the whole… looking around thing to indicate to the waitress that we were looking for her. During our stalking periods, we noticed that she was tending to her other tables more. At this point, it was time to leave and we were not please at all. In the end, we just payed 12% tip and didn’t make a big deal about it and left.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Parking
Great food
Great looking decor

We Rate Cactus Club Cafe:

Address:

4219 Lougheed Hwy
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.cactusclubcafe.com

In Italian

Anton’s Pasta Bar

March 23, 2011

Anton’s Pasta Bar is near my hood. When I go, I always avoid peak hours! During dinnertime, you can see a large line up outside. I’ve only lined up once many years ago, and I will never do that again.

Located in North Burnaby, Anton’s Pasta is a hot spot for pasta. The reason why people crave Anton’s pasta is for their ridiculously humongous portions for a decent price.

On their menu, they have tons of different pastas.. specialty pasta, cream sauce, red sauce, clear sauce….etc.

They make each dish individually in a pan. What I noticed in their cooking area is that all the cooks seem very young, and then there was only one middle aged asian woman washing the dishes.

M and I both got Sanpellegrino Limonata ($3.75). We both really love their sodas! Plus, the peel off top is so ingenious!

You also get served with a piece of bread for each person. It is about the size of a shoe. Despite it’s looks, it is very very soft on the inside. If you are determined to finish all your pasta, you may want to pass up on the bread to save room for your pasta.

I ordered one of their specialty pastas – Penne Antonio ( $15.50). It contains mushrooms, chicken, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, and dill pesto cream sauce. The dinner size is HUGE! I usually order the Penne Antonio because of the creamy rich dill sauce. The chicken was nice and tender.

I didn’t try really hard to finish it because I never ever do. I probably had 3/5 left over. What I love abou Anton’s is that there is so much food that you can take it home to become tomorrows lunch and dinner. hahaha,

M ordered the Penna Alla Pastora ( $15.50), a clear sauce dish. It has italian sausage & bacon in a white wine, egg & cheese sauce. He said the sausage with a bit spicy and he loved it!

M tried super hard to finish it but he stil had about 1/4 left on his plate.

I am not really sure why anyone would want to suffer lining up in the winter. The quality of the pasta is decent but not the best. People generally come here to get their moneys worth and attempt to finish their entire plate to win an Anton’s pen.

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 Brunch

Fortune House: Dim Sum time with lots of shrimp

March 22, 2011

My aunt came and visited for the past weekend and as per usual, when relatives arrive we must go have dim sum. My mother really likes Fortune House at Metropolis and I really don’t mind as long as there is shrimp.

I’ve done a review here before but a few things have changed. They have a built in speaker system in the waiting area, so when you are outside waiting for your number to be called, you can hear it from outside.

At first I didn’t anticipate any loud PA noises, so when they called another family, I automatically flinched in fear.

While we were waiting, my aunt asked me what I wanted to order, so we picked up a menu and I pointed out all the items that had shrimp in it. To my surprise…she would actually order all those items. This is how this dim sum became packed full of shrimp!

On the table, they give you an explanation of how the dim sum works at Fortune House.

As per usual, SuiMai ($3.95) must be ordered.

Shrimp and Chive dumpling ($4.95)

Jumbo Har Gau ($5.45), it’s basically like the shrimp and chive dumpling, but with no chives.

Spare Ribs ($3.95)

Shanghai Pork Dumplings ($3.95). There were not that great since we had so many other dishes that it was left for about 10 minutes. It’s best to eat this right away or else it won’t tast very good..or hot.

Shrimp Bean Curd Roll ($3.95)

Fish and preserved egg congee ($6.95)

Prawn Rice roll ($5.45)

Donut rice roll ($4.95). We really did not like this dish. usually the donut it decently crispy but today it really wasn’t at all.

Deep Fried Wontons ($4.95)

Shark Fin Dumpling ($5.45)

Black sesame Rolls ($2.95). What I LOVE to do with these are to unravel them and eat them like fruit roll up. When I was a kid, we use to call these “film” because it reminded us of the film you would put into the cameras. Eating it the way we eat it is probably the most ugly thing you will ever see. Probably very improper as well.

Mango pudding ($2.95). This is probably the cutest thing they have on their menu. Great for kids! My little sister loved it so much that she gobbled it up without sharing.

That was a lot of their shrimp dishes. Beware, if you eat dim sum with me, there will be shrimp. hahaha. =D

Words of Wisdom:

Make reservations if going for Dim Sum
If you can’t read Chinese, there is an english menu
Lots of parking, closest parking is to park near Urban Behaviour/Zara area.

Fortune House Seafood is a very popular Dim Sum restaurant to go to but it can get really really busy and LOUD. Make reservations ahead of time.

The price is a bit expensive compared to other chinese restaurants in Vancouver. I think it’s really popular due to the location since it is in Metrotown.

We rate Fortune Seafood House:

Visit their website: http://www.fortunehouserestaurant.com/

In Downtown

Fairmont Lobby Lounge: Carvery Luncheon

March 19, 2011

I bought a Social Shopper coupon for a Carvery Luncheon at the Lobby Lounge at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. The deal is good for $20 for 2 Carvery lunch sets ($40 value).

The Lobby lounge is located on the first floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim. As you can tell by the name, it is located near the lobby. It is an open space and has lots of comfy chairs…VERY comfy chairs. It’s a great place to have a few drinks, appies and have a good chat or a meeting.

For a drink, I was feeling like a non-alcoholic drink, so I ordered the Flower Pot ($8). It’s not a tea or anything, it’s just a soda. It was really good and refreshing, but $8 was quite steep ..but it is the Fairmont, so its expected.

The carvery meats used in the sandwich is cut in the dining room, if you sit close enough, you can see them cutting the prime rib and doing their thing.

The Carvery Luncheon ($20) comes with choice of soup or salad, fries, prime rib burger and condiments on the side.

We could choose from a tomato and garden soup or Caesar salad. Flo said the soup was pretty average and nothing too spectacular. I chose the Caesar salad, lightly dressed, cheese on top and has 2 crouton things on the side. I enjoyed it!

Both choices are healthy alternatives and you can’t really go wrong.

The fries that come with the luncheon were very poorly made. It was not crispy and they were very limp. It seemed like the frozen fries you would get at the grocery store and make at home. We were both very disappointed since we expected more from the Fairmont.

The main item of the luncheon is the prime rib sandwich. Comes in a nice toasted bun, super tender prime rib slices, and a bit of sauce. You can also add a bit of stuff to your sandwich. The is mustard, horseradish, pickles, hot peppers, pickled onions, and beef juice.

You can spread the horeseradish and mustard into the sandwich or dip it as you go. Many endless possibilities of how you want to go about eating it.

If you don’t want to use your hands to eat this, you can use your knife and fork. I found that the best way to go about it was to cut the sandwich in half so you can dip it into the sauces.

Overall, great luncheon for the Social Shopper deal (Saving 50%!). If you don’t have the coupon, you can order this during lunch time for $20 per person. The service was very poor in my opinion. We made a reservation but there was no one at the Lobby Lounge entrance to lead us to the reserved table, so we just walked in and seated ourselves. We waited a long while till a server came to greet us.

Even though you use the coupon, there is a social shopper gratuity added onto the bill so you do have to pay about $8.

We Rate Lobby Lounge at Fairmont Pacific Rim:

Address:

1038 Canada Pl
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://www.fairmont.com/pacificrim/GuestServices/Restaurants/LobbyLoungeandPatio.htm

In Cafe

Sun Yee Cafe Restaurant

March 19, 2011

InsecureGirl hasn’t eaten out in a few days and she basically went a bit insane and really really wanted to eat out. We all didn’t want to waste too much money so FragileBoy suggested we go to Sun Yee Cafe Restaurant for some good cheap chinese food. He recommended it because its a place which his parents love.

We came and parked from the back, so it does look a bit ghetto, but I assure you it’s not that bad. If you are a big fan of engrish, “Dr1ver no no hit to fence”, will surely crack you up. I was so entertained that I had to take a picture of it.

Once we parked our car, we entered through their ghetto door…yes ghetto but not creepy at all. You just walk past the kitchen into their dining area. You get to glance at the cleanliness of their kitchen and judge for yourself.

The dining room is very colorful and has tons of seating. It looks nothing like their back, so don’t start judging. I know you probably have judged them up to this point. No worries, i did too until I saw the dining area and their menu.

All the dishes we ordered comes with a complementary soup. We could choose from vegetable soup or cream soup. We all just decided to have cream soup. It was ok, mostly corn and ham inside.

We ordered the fried rice (yan su ji fan). This is M’s favorite dish…like seriously …probably the only item he can order in Mandarin. It’s a normal fried rice with the usual vegetables and meat. It was good and cheap!

This was their chicken chow mein with black bean sauce. The noodles were nice and super crispy! You know it’s a good dish when the noodles are crisp and not soggy.

Then we got the stir fried flat noodle with beef and soy sauce. Good tender slices of beef. We loved this dish because it did not contain as much oil as other restaurants.

For dessert we could choose our desserts to be mango pudding. It was very good but what would make this dessert even better is if they had mango bits inside. Mmmm.

I couldn’t find anything bad about the food, it’s good for the price and does fill you up. All this came out to be $29 in total after taxes. 4 people, so it came out to less than $10. We shared all the dishes and we got super full!

Words of Wisdom: