Three Beakers Archives - Page 6 of 63

In Seafood

The WaterShed Grill in Brackendale, BC

May 26, 2017

The Water Shed Grill is in Brackendale, BC, which is minutes away from Squamish. It has a casual bar and restaurant with West Coast eats with a riverfront patio.

This places sits right right above the Squamish River and is absolutely beautiful.

Interior

The interior has a very casual feel and as a local or a tourist, you’ll fit right in. The view from the heated patio is awesome. If you are into sports, they have a few screen to watch the game.

Blue Lip Steamed Mussels

The mussels are in a creamy white wine and garlic broth. It is served with focaccia bread. The mussels weren’t as plump, but it still tasted good and naturally sweet.

Local Fish and Chips

You get 2 3oz filets of local cod dipped in a beer batter and then its deep-fried. It is served with fried, tartar sauce, coleslaw, and wedge of lemon. It was pretty good and you can taste the quality of the cod. Moist and delicious.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a very great place to have food and drinks with friends. The food is very Westcoast and they source their seafood from sustainable places, so thats great. They also have good burgers too.

We Rate the Watershed Grill:

Address:
41101 Government Rd, Brackendale, BC

Website: http://thewatershedgrill.com/

In Happy Hour

Urban Thai Bistro: Happy Hour in Yaletown

May 21, 2017

Urban Thai Bistro has happy hour from 3 – 6 pm and 9 – 10 pm. $4 drinks, $6 appetizers, and $8 salads. Since Summer is coming very soon, what better way to celebrate than happy hour after work. We invited to try all their happy hour items.

Interior

The interior has lots of space for small to large groups. They also have a patio. There are a few ornate statues inside and gives this restaurant a modern Thai look and feel.

Drinks

Thai Iced Tea is a must here. The unique taste of the tea with milk and added sweetness. It’s very addictive.

Thai Iced Coffee is on the menu as well. This was really creamy and sweet, which I didn’t like too much. I would have liked a bit more coffee intensity in this.

Royal Thai is another popular beverage. It is a mix of fresh coconut milk and lychee.

Appetizers

Fish Cakes comes with 6 pieces topped with onion, cucumber, sweet chili and a fried basil leaf.

Vegetarian Spring Roll are deep-fried to a golden brown colour. There is a sweet chili sauce on the side.

Urban Thai Shrimp Balls were good to munch on with some beer. It comes with 6 pieces, so its good for groups to share.

Wings comes in 3 different flavours – red curry, chili basil and sweet & Sour.

A good combination of sauces and wings. Recommended for happy hour with beer.

Thai BBQ Chicken was good with a nice char on the outside.

Thai BBQ Pork was really good and comes with many slices.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce was ok, but a bit on the dry side.

Calamari with crispy batter and a sweet chili sauce. All shaped like rings.

Crispy Fish with homemade sauce was good when it’s fresh out of the fryer.

Salad

Spicy Beef BBQ sits in a lettuce cup. The slices were thin but not very spicy.

Spicy Thai Prawns Salad was not that great. The prawns didn’t seem that fresh.

Chicken Lettuce Wrap is always a fun dish to have at the table and get interactive with your food. The crisp wrap with the savoury filling.

Som Tum Papaya Salad was ok.

Final Thoughts

Overall, some items were hit and miss but anything deep fried with drinks can’t go wrong. They have a lot of options of the happy hour menu.

We Rate Urban Thai Bistro:

Address:
119 Hamilton St, Vancouver

Website:
http://thaihouse.com/urban-thai-bistro/

In Brewery

Andina Brewing: Ceviche and Beer in East Vancouver

May 15, 2017

Andina Brewing Company in East Vancouver. It was founded by Colombian/Canadian brothers, Andrés and Nicolás Amaya. The Amaya Brothers have lived in Vancouver for more than 18 years and are passionate about beer, music, culture, and family and friends.They offer an environment that is a unique blend of South American and Canadian flavours. If you are looking for something new and out of the ordinary stop by their brewery and try the Ceviche paired with their beers.

The Tasting Lounge

You can get growler fills at the counter or enter the Tasting Lounge with lots of tables to enjoy your drinks and food. It was pretty busy on a Saturday night, so we had to wait a little bit until we were seated.

What’s a better time than having a few beers with friends and having fun.

Ceviche

Ceviche preparation and consumption is practically a religion in the coastal South and Central America. In Andina you will have a ceviche lineup that includes Peruvian, Colombian, Mexican and vegetarian versions. I ordered the House Ceviche with shrimp and it comes with 3 plantain chips. We all loved it and was surprised at the quality. It is a bit expensive, but it is so worth it.

Tasting Flights

The tasting flights for with 4 types. I didn’t know what to choose so I got them to suggest 4 kinds that were not too hoppy.

Totuma, Kölsch
Ay Ay Ay, Pale Ale
Andina, Session Ale
Mapalé, Milk Stout

Overall, I really enjoyed our time here with ceviche and beers. Definitely check this brewery out.

We Rate Andina Brewery:

Address:
1507 Powell St, Vancouver

Website: https://andinabrewing.ca

In Chinese

Mr Chili Noodle House: Chongqing Cuisine in Burnaby

May 11, 2017

Mr. Chili Noodle House in Burnaby specialized in Chongqing cuisine. Sherman had a coupon he had to use up before it expired, so he was nice enough to invite myself and some other foodie friends to check out this place. I’ve passed by this restaurant so many times, but never though about coming here till now.

Interior

The interior is beautiful. It reminded me of a cafe, but with no coffee. I didn’t expect this place to look so nice and modern.

Drinks

You can ask for tea or water when you get a seat. The cups are really cute too.

Spicy Pig Ear

The pig ears were thinly sliced and had a good amount of spice to them. It was really good.

Chicken with Chili

So damn good. This is their smaller size and the chicken was so moist and flavourful. Even if you took the chili sauce away, the chicken would be fantastic on its own. I would highly recommend this.

Hot and Sour Potato Vermicelli

This was definitely spicy and it had a good balance of spice and sourness. There is minced meat and peanuts in here too.

Beef Noodle Soup

There are chunks of beef in this soup with nice marbling of fat. The broth was clean and not overly salty. They don’t use any MSG in their dishes. A good sold beef noodle but I felt like it was missing something.

Spicy Fish Tofu in Soup

This is one badass dish with tons of Szechuan peppercorn and the fish and tofu hiding inside. We tried not to eat the peppercorns as it would numb our mouth. The soup wasn’t very spicy at all.

Curry Beef Brisket Pot

Here is a pretty big bowl of curry to share with the table. You probably want to order this with some rice.

Stir Fried Green Beans

The stir fried green beans were ok, but we found it to be a bit old as it didn’t have a nice crispness to it.

Kung Pao Prawns

This dis was ok as well. You need to grab a piece of chili to go with the prawns to balance out the sweeter sauce with the pepper.

Final Thoughts

The spicy dishes were super delicious but a few other dishes were a miss. Its still really good to have a Chongqing restaurant in North Burnaby as its hard to find.

We rate Mr Chili:

Address:
3760 Hastings Street, Burnaby

Website: http://www.mrchilinoodlehouse.ca/

In Gastown

Chambar: Belgian Cuisine in Vancouver

May 7, 2017

It’s been a while since my last visit to Chambar for dinner. Usually I come in the morning to get a waffle and a lavender latte. Today was special occasion as it was my sister’s bridal shower. What better restaurant to indulge in? They are one of Vancouver’s top restaurants specializing in Belgian cuisine. We made a reservation for dinner and the service was superb.

Interior

The interior is absolutely stunning with the beautiful furniture, cool lighting and rustic wooden accents. Tacofino has similar lights too. I love the look of it.

Drinks

We had a mysterious friend call Chambar ahead of time to buy us our first round of drinks. Pretty awesome and surprising! Our server was tight-lipped about who it was.

Lind’s Lemonade

The cocktail menu is a good size and you can also request drinks that aren’t on the menu too. I went with Lind’s Lemonade, which has Matusalem Platino rum, housemade limoncello, hibiscus, fresh lemon, Talisman Pale Ale, and thyme. It was delicious and refreshing. With Summer coming quite quickly, this is perfect.

Poulpe

The dish is composed of octopus tiradito, chimichurri, tamarind, and chipotle. Very good sauce to go with the octopus. The best part of this dish was the super tender octopus.

Le Bison

This has a line of Buffalo tartare, “vichyssoise”, fried leek, quail eggs and crostini. This was our favourite appetizer. The tartare was very fresh and the vichyssoise balanced so well with it.

Calamars Farcis

We have veal stuffed calamari, taro chips, with a chili aioli. The squid was tender and delicious with the stuffed veal.

Foie De Canard “villa Lorraine”

This has a spiced foie gras terrine, port reduction, kriek granita, and 2 pieces of truffled brioche french toast.

Canard et Gnocchi

The dish has spice rubbed duck breast, gnocchi, goat cheese, celery and apple salad, hazelnuts, and sauce bigarade. The duck was delicious but the gnocchi was starchy and gritty compared to other gnocchi we’ve had in the past.

Fletan aux Trois Façons

There are 3 tasters to this dish:

Roasted Halibut, black garlic coulis, nori
Halibut beignet, coconut jalapeño rémoulade
Halibut and fine herbes mousse, tomato & curry leaf sauce

The concept sounded great, but when we dug into it, we did not like it. The tastes of all 3 items fell flat. There were 3 of us that ordered it and it was definitely not a hit. We all wished we got the mussels instead. None of us would recommend this dish.

Congolaise Moules Frites

There are 3 types of broths that go with the mussels. The Congolaise Moules Frites has a hot pot of mussels and a broth made of tomato coconut cream, smoked chili, lime, and cilantro. The size of the dish seems to have gotten a bit smaller over the years.

It’s delicious and what our friend did was take the extra sauce home. She wanted to reuse the sauce to make some pasta for the following day. That was her pro tip to share with everyone.

Desserts

They knew we were celebrating something special, so they put together a plate of petit fours at the end of the meal. A very nice touch.

Mama Rizk

This is beautifully presented and has caramelized honey custard, orange chiffon, and pistachio ice cream.

Final Thoughts

Chambar has changed a bit since my last visit several years ago. Some food items are a hit and miss especially the Fletan aux Trois Façons. The staple items like the Moules Frites are always on point. The service is still fantastic.

We rate Chambar:

Address:
568 Beatty St, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.chambar.com

In Bubble Tea

45 Degree Bubble Tea House in Coal Harbour

May 6, 2017

45 Degree Bubble Tea House in Coal Harbour is a new bubble tea shop close to Stanley Park. M told me about this place, so one day when I was waiting for him to get off work, I came here to get a drink. I love bubble tea, so I’m always on the look out for the best bubble tea out in Metro Vancouver.

Interior

The space is nice and simple with a few tables for groups. I came at 3pm on a Monday, so it was pretty dead. The staff were very nice to guide me through the menu since my order seemed pretty basic. They made a lot of suggestions for me.

Sakura Oolong Mousse

The sakura oolong mousse was very floral and light. It complimented the mousse on top very well. It kinda reminded me of beer because of the colour. It was interesting trying to find the best way to drink this but it seems like they instruct everyone on how to drink it. You press you lips into the cup and tilt it 45 degrees to drink the you get a good ratio of the cream and tea in each sip. If you lift the tab up on the drink, you get too much foam.

Black Tea Mousse

I grabbed this to go. It was delicious but it was stronger because its black tea. A good option if you straight up asian tea without the floral taste. When I ordered this I found it was funny how they tried suggesting other drinks to me too.

Final Thoughts

They have a good selection of coffees and teas. Even a few items were sold out. The teas are great here and brewed fresh, which is awesome. I would definitely come back to try more.

We Rate 45 Degree Bubble Tea House:

Address:
1467 W Pender Street, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.facebook.com/45-Degree-Bubble-Tea-House-1394743023927257/

In Cafe

Passion8 Dessert Cafe: Shaved Ice in Vancouver

May 4, 2017

Passion8 Dessert Cafe on Cambie Street is a hot spot for shaved ice, drinks and other treats. I came here after dinner with some foodie friends to give this a try since they all heard that I haven’t been here yet. We were 10 minutes away and we called ahead to see how busy it was here. It wasn’t too busy yet, so they were able to set aside a table for 5. Definitely nice of them to do so.

Interior

You order up at the counter and then you find a seat. There are a few tables in the cafe, but when it’s super busy, you’ll be waiting a little bit. The interior is nice and a good place to chill with friends over desserts.

Maldive Latte

There are 3 distinct layers to this drink – espresso, milk, and some blue liquid. You then stir it up and enjoy.

Honey Cream Cheese Toastery

We got the Honey Cream Cheese Toastery. it has delicious flakey layers like a croissant. Very buttery but super delicious. Very unique kinda like a cronut on toast.

Real Tiramisu Milk Shaved Ice

This has a slab of tiramisu on top of the milk shaved ice topped with cocoa powder and chocolate bits. There is also a container of espresso to pour over all of it. I really like this and would order again to share with friends.

Matchacha Milk Shaved Ice

The milk shaved ice is topped with Japanese matcha powder, mochi, red bean, almonds and a dehydrated orange. This is another one of their popular flavours. It was good, but since I love chocolate, I naturally gravitated towards to tiramisu instead.

Final Thoughts

Overall, there’s a good variety of desserts and drinks here. You definitely want to come early or call ahead to see if there is a line up. The shaved ice is delicious.

We Rate Passion8:

Address:
3010 Cambie Street, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.passion8cafe.com

In American

Monarch Burger at The American in Vancouver

May 3, 2017

Monarch Burger is a completely made from scratch burger restaurant. They are currently operating out of the American on Main St. close to Torafuku, Pizza Farina, and Campagnolo. I tagged along with a friend for their opening night to try these burgers. I am a huge fan of the Dirty Burger at Campagnolo Upstairs, which was originally create by Robert Belcham. When I heard Robert was starting up Monarch Burger, I had to see if the burgers held up to it’s name. They have a happy hour special where you can get a beer and burger for only $12 during 5 – 7pm.

Interior

The space is huge and there are 150 seats in The American. There’s a live DJ, pool tables, foosball, skeeball, and other arcade games. This is the ultimate place to hang out with your friends over some drinks…and now some burgers too.

The mid part of the restaurant has long tables to fit a lot of people. One one side of the restaurant, there is booth seating if you want to be in a more private seating area.

On the other side, there is a whole line up of pinball machines.

There are so many pinball games to play and they are $1 per play, which isn’t too bad, so make sure you bring some spare change.

Familar pinball games like Game of Thrones, Star Trek and Simpsons can be found.

Great for novices and experts. Lights. Lights. Lights.

We even saw a skeeball machine.

Monarch Burger

The menu is pretty simple. Choose your burger and put any add-ons and sides. This place has bar service, so you need to go to the bar to order your drinks and food.

Once you put in your order, they give you a number. Once it’s ready, they will bring out all the food.

Gotta add some drinks to the mix. We went with something lighter instead of cocktails, so we had beer and cider.

Cheeseburger

We got the cheeseburger and it comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles and their secret special sauce. Their beef is sourced from local farmers who pasture raise and tend their animals with care. They then age the beef for 45 days, grind it fresh daily and hand form every burger. It came to the table very greasy and the cheese was just everywhere. This was definitely a messy burger to eat. The patty was more cooked compared to the Dirty Burger at Campagnolo Upstairs. It was a solid burger but it still doesn’t out do Campagnolo Upstairs.

Double Cheeseburger

Go big or go home. We got the double cheeseburger with an egg and bacon. The fried egg was cooked thoroughly, so there wasn’t as much drippage. Similar with the first burger we had, it was very greasy and you needed a handful of napkins to keep somewhat clean.

Poutine

The poutine was decent but it was a bit heavy handed on the salt.

Kale Caesar Salad

This was delicious. The croutons were airy and crisp. The kale was lightly dressed and topped with parm to give it more dimension. I really enjoyed this and it pairs with the burger nicely.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the burgers could have been less greasy and heavy. I appreciate the use of good fresh ingredients, but it didn’t hit the mark this time. I still prefer Campagnolo Upstairs for their Dirty Burger. The one thing that stood out to me was the Kale Caesar Salad. I still love The American for their awesome space with all the games around the venue.

We Rate Monarch Burger:

Address:
928 Main St, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.monarchburger.com/

In Chinese

Pink Pearl: 4 Decades of Dim Sum

April 28, 2017

We were invited to Vancouver’s longest-running Chinese restaurant – Pink Pearl for a culinary journey of Dim Sum. Signature dim sum dishes representing different decades at Pink Pearl was prepared by Dim Sum Chef F.K. Jiang and his team. We were taken on a tour of 4 decades of items featured in past menus from the 1980’s to 2010’s.

13 different dim sum dishes were featured and some dishes brought me back to my childhood. The event was co-hosted by Gojoy Berries, Stephanie Yuen and Chinese Bites.

1980s

I remember the good ol days when there were more carts roaming around Chinese restaurants and all the guests were scarily fighting over the last sui mai. Lots have changed since then and there are only a handful of restaurants left where they will push around the carts. Pink Pearl still has push carts, which is great.

Liver & Pork Dumplings

This was an interesting dish and I felt like it should have stayed in the 80s. The chalky taste of the liver with the dumpling didn’t blend too well, but yet again, I’m not a big fan of liver.

Duck Web Wrap

The webbed duck feet were wrapped in a sheet of bean curd and there was also ham and mushrooms inside. It was ok, but it was tricky to eat as the duck feet would slide out of the wrapper.

Shrimp Toast

This was another item you don’t see as often. You have the shrimp paste on top of toast and then deep fried. The toast did get a bit oily.

Pan-Fried Half-Moon Dumpling

The dumpling is served with a light refreshing broth. The dumpling was ok but it had minimal filling.

1990s

Mini Steamed Pork Bun

A classic item and you can’t go wrong with a mini steamed pork bun. I liked it.

Black and White Sweet Sesame Roll

This really brought me back to my childhood. I don’t see this as much anymore. As a kid we would pretend they were film canisters and unroll the “film” and then eat it. It was a tradition and I totally forgot about it until now.

Lotus Wrapped Stuffed Sticky Rice

The sticky rice was really packed full of ingredients and it was pretty good. It was easy for 2-4 people to share one basket.

2000s

Steamed Shrimp Dumpling

A very popular item ordered for dim sum. A classic and you can’t deny this.

Steamed sticky rice roll

This is an item that I normally don’t order, it’s like carb on carb. It tasted good.

2010s

Steamed beef rice roll

Steamed beef rice roll is something we are all so familiar with. The minced beef in the centre is delicious. You add some sauce on top of the rice rolls to add more balanced flavour.

Steamed shrimp rice roll

Similar item to the above but with shrimp instead of beef.

Wok-fried lotus roots & fresh mushrooms

A decent dish but it didn’t mesh too well with the other dim sum dishes. It was a good way to incorporate the gojiberries, but I was more use to the dried gojiberries.

Gojoy gojiberries gelle

A nice sweet touch to the end of the meal with this gelle, which was pretty good.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was good to see some of the different dim sum dishes thought out the decades and there were some interesting dishes that stayed in the 1980s. Starting May 1st, Pink Pearl is showcasing their ‘4-decades of Chinese dinner’ with a 4-month long campaign to benefit Food Bank and Sowers Society. You can find more information on their special dinner menu on their website.

We Rate Pink Pearl:

Address:
1132 E Hastings St, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.pinkpearl.com/index.php/en/

In Bubble Tea

MYST Asian Fusion in Burnaby

April 27, 2017

MYST Asian Fusion just opened in Burnaby and they are serving up many different kinds of Asian cuisine. We were invited for a tasting of their menu to see what they offer. There is a parking lot but it can be quite full at peak hours, but there is free street parking too.

The restaurant is a bit hidden but just look out for the bright blue sign.

Interior

They have lots of seating inside with booth style configurations. This location took over Lester’s Arcade, so they really did a lot of renovations to get this look.

Drinks

Taiwanese Beer

They have a selection of Taiwanese Beer on the menu. It’s sweeter than the average beer and infused with fruity flavours.

Uchikinoki ice cream smoothie

A green tea drink with ice cream, mochi and red bean.

Slushies

They have huge slushies with marshmallow and chocolate eyeballs. This particular one was green apple flavour.

Pea Flower Tea

They have a series of pea flower tea, which have been quite popular among bubble tea shops around town. These 2 particular drinks were Calpis butterfly pea flower tea and the Strawberry lemon butterfly pea flower tea.

Potted Milk Tea

The milk tea base to topped with a cookie crumble and a green leaf. it was a really cool concept, but I didn’t like the gritty texture of the cookie crumble.

Takoyaki

It comes with 6 pieces and has a piece of cooked octopus inside. It is topped with mayo, teriyaki sauce, and shredded seaweed. It was interesting to see this on the menu, but tasted decent.

Fried green beans with minced pork

It has a good portion size for a table to share this. It had a nice caramelization from the hot pan. It was good.

Steamed sticky rice dumplings

7 pieces to an order in a steamed bamboo basket. The wrapper is filled with all the delicious sticky rice. It was an interesting dish but it was too carb heavy for my personal liking.

Skewers

They have a large variety of skewers on the menu. They were all pretty meh I would have wanted more char for added flavour.

Pork intestine
Lamb
Pork
Chicken
Fish cake
Chicken gizzard

Japanese style egg fried rice

There is a good amount of seafood in the fried rice and it’s topped with a fried egg, seaweed and mayo. My kind of comfort food.

Golden sand prawns with salted egg yolk sauce

Very delicious and the egg yolk crust is so addictive. I peeled the head off and at the rest with the shell on. Some people hate it with the shell but I oddly like it with the crunchy texture.

Chives & shrimp spring rolls

Mediocre spring rolls and nothing was special about them.

Pan fried beef pancake

The green onion pancake is rolled with beef, green onions and some sauce. 4 pieces some in an order and they are big pieces.

House special spicy lamb hot pot

This was my favourite dish of the evening. It is lit underneath with some fire to keep it nice and hot as you eat the meal. It is served with rice and 2 side dishes.

The hot pot was packed full of ingredients like spam, tofu, fish cake, bean curd, and imitation crab.

Deep fried ginger flavour chicken whole wings

This is their large order and each wing was perfectly fried. The exterior was crisp and golden brown.

Fried chicken in chili pepper

The pieces had a lot of bones so it wasn’t as enjoyable to eat. Meh.

Sandwiches

The sandwiches are pretty basic. Egg, tomato, ham and cucumber are inside the slices of white bread.

Chives, shrimp & pork dumplings

Pretty decent for dumplings and there is 10 pieces to the order and some sauce on the side.

Taiwanese style fried rice vermicelli

Soft vermicelli noodles with some veggies and meat mixed throughout.

Assorted deep fried basket

This basked had squid tentacles, salt and peppery chicken, blood sausage, and other deep fried items.

MYST beef noodle soup

Inside, we added beef shank, tripe, and tendon. It was decent and filling.

Marinated 3 item combo

This had dried tofu, seaweed and pork ear string. It was served cold on this dish and we slowly picked at it.

TaiNan style egg noodle soup

This was an ok dish but it didn’t compare to the other soupy dishes on the menu.

Myst deluxe marinated pork with rice

This dish had a lot of ingredients in it. Just mix it all together and enjoy.

Preserved cabbage with shredded pork fried rice cake

It was a good dish for sharing around the table. The chewy rice cakes with the preserved cabbage and pork were a nice combination.

Hakka style sweet rice cake

Nope. The dates gave it an odd bitter preserved flavour to the dish. No one likes it, but maybe you have to have an acquired taste.

Myst Jelly

This is a Winter Melon Jelly and has a consistency of a harder jello. It was very sweet and I didn’t really like this either.

Shaved Snowflake

They have this in either strawberry or mango flavours. We got the strawberry version and it sit on top of dry ice that makes the fog underneath. The strawberry shaved ice and the ice cream have a sweet artificial taste to it, kinda like Pocky. The strawberry slices were fresh.

Myst Taiyaki

The taiyaki sits in a ice cream cone bowl, matcha ice cream, mochi, red bean sauce, chocolate drizzle and a chocolate wafer stick. It was a dessert fit for a kid.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food was so-so, but there is quite a variety that you’ll find something to enjoy. My favourite were the House special spicy lamb hot pot, deep fried chicken wings, and the golden sand prawns with salted egg yolk sauce.

We Rate MYST:

Address:
6400 Kingsway, Burnaby

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

In Brunch

Prado Cafe Launches Brunch on West Hastings

April 26, 2017

Prado Café on 100 West Hastings Street has just launched an expanded menu that includes made-to-order breakfast items, cakes, and sandwiches. The enhanced menu will be in addition to Prado’s signature offerings and follows the Café+Kitchen concept made popular at its Fraserhood location, and available at the newly opened Fir Street location in Kitsilano.

Think poached eggs, pea and avocado smash on toast, a daily selection of house-made scones and coffeecakes, as well as a feature sandwich. Plans are in the works to roll out the Café+Kitchen concept to the original Commercial Drive location soon.

Mint Pea Avocado Smash

This comes on two slices of toast and is a pretty good size for brunch. Easily shared between 2 people too if you just want a snack. They also have gluten-free options as well.

It was filling but the addition of the mint did throw me off a bit. Nonetheless, the peas and avocado were great together.

Prado Breakfast

This has poached egg, mint pea avocado smash, arugula, and prosciutto. It’s like an elevated mint pea avocado toast. It comes with only one slice of toast but it is filling.

Waffles

If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, they have waffles. We got the Ricotta, honey, and pecan waffle.

Sunrise Salad

This has arugula, marinated artichokes, olives, cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, sweety drop peppers, house-made balsamic, and poached egg on top. A healthy option indeed.

Coffee

Coffee is a perfect pairing especially in the morning when caffeine is needed. A cappuccino is just what I needed.

The cookie without a name

This has peanut butter, chocolate chips, marshmallows and other items packed into this cookie.

Final Thoughts

Overall, they have great coffee but the brunch items are decent but nothing mind blowing. They definitely give customers more options with their new brunch menu from healthy to more decadent items.

We Rate Prado Cafe:

Address:
100 West Hastings, Vancouver

Website:
https://pradocafevancouver.com

In Downtown

The Pawn Shop: Tacos on Granville Street

April 25, 2017

The Pawn Shop is a new restaurant on Granville Street specializing in Tacos, Tapas and Tequila. The took over SIP Resto Lounge and brings an awesome space for locals and tourists to enjoy.

We were curious about their name as well as their tacos.

Interior

There are tons of seat inside and it has a dark vibe with graffiti and neon signs on the walls. It definitely has a young hip vibe going on.

Drinks

You can find beer on tap, wine on tap, cocktails, spiked slushies, shooters and non-alcoholic drinks.

Cheese Tots

This has tots, cheddar, feta, green onions with side of queso and salsa. Definitely cheesy.

A fun dish to share among friends at the table.

Deuce Papoose

This has fried pastry dough stuffed with carnitas, tomato, and then topped with cheddar, salsa, lettuce, sour cream, rojo sauce chicharron, and cilantro. This dish was ok, we felt like there really wasn’t much stuffing in the pastry dough.

Tacos

On their menu, they have 8 different types of tacos. On our visit, we tried 4 of them. If you come from happy hour, these are $1 with drink purchase, which is really good. Originally, they are around $4.

Carnitas
Al Pastor
Bistec
Pescado

Carnitas

This has slow cooked pulled pork, house slaw, fried onions and Valentina Mayo. It tasted ok, but the flour tortilla, I prefer corn tortillas.

Al Pastor

This has fried pork belly, Guajillo pepper and pineapple glaze, house slaw, sour cream, pickled onion, and a grilled pineapple.

Pescado

It has beer battered basa fish, house slaw, Valentina mayo, cucumber salsa, and jalapeno.

Bistec

It has grilled skirt steak, pawn shop dry rub, house slaw, pickled carrot, rojo mayo, and chimichurri. All of the tacos were decent, but I feel like it was missing an umph of flavour compared to other taco shops around town.

There is also some hot sauce on the table if you need some heat added to your meal.

Churros

For dessert, we had churros with cinnamon sugar and a caramel and chocolate sauce.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the place is great for happy hour for cheap tacos and drinks. There are screens to watch the game as well. The food was alright but nothing super amazing.

We Rate The Pawn Shop YVR:

Address:
1117 Granville Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://thepawnshopyvr.com/

In Bubble Tea

Shiny Tea: Bubble Tea Ice Cream in International Village

April 19, 2017

Shiny Tea inside International Village is serving up soft serve ice cream. They still have their classic milk teas and other drinks. After work, I came with a few friends to begin the long weekend and to enjoy some ice cream. It was close to the office, so we thought it would be great for a visit. It got busy later into the evening.

Interior

There are about 14 seat inside, so it’s not great for really large groups. But, the food court is a few steps away, so you can go there instead to sit and eat.

Soft Serve Ice Cream “Italian Gelato”

They have 2 flavours on rotation – Peach Mango Green Tea and their Sri Lankan Black Tea. You get 1 sauce and toppings are extra. The flavours change every week, but they usually have one tea-based flavour and a fruity one. They let you taste the flavours before you purchase, which is nice.

There is only one size, so it’s still good for individual consumption or sharing.

Yaaassss…condensed milk.

I got the Sri Lankan Black Tea with white pearls, black pearls and condensed milk.

They did have suggested toppings and sauces, but I wasn’t feeling it, so I crafted my own and it turned out delicious.

My friend got the Peach Mango Green Tea with brown sugar honey and it was a bit on the sweet side.

Milk tea

There are lots of drinks on the menu to choose from, but my favourites are the milk teas.

My friend got the 3Q milk tea. It has black pearls, white pearls and coconut jelly.

Overall,

We Rate Shiny Tea:

Address:
88 W Pender St,Unit 2113, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.shinytea.ca/

In Dessert

Wild Sweets: Cocoa Bean To Chocolate Afternoon Tea

April 17, 2017

Wild Sweets just introduced their Cocoa Bean To Chocolate Afternoon Tea experience at their retail store in Richmond. The session lasts approximately 75 to 90-minutes and each guest is served a multi-course set menu of about 13 chocolate-based items for $39.99.

Chocolate Tea

You start off with their chocolate tea infusion made with whole cocoa beans and can potentially be aromatized with fresh elements like citrus zest. Their chocolate tea is delicious and quite unique.

Cucumber

Each bite is very interactive, so you get to play with your food and design how you want it to look like.

This dish has Cocoa nibs bread, Goat cheese gelée, Pickled cucumber, Puffed peas crunch, and Mint oil.

Biscuit

The biscuit has Tuscany ham, Jarlsberg cheese, cocoa nibs & Kalamata dried figs. It is also served with Mustard oil, pickled red onions and Crème fraîche. The biscuit was pretty dry.

Coco-Air

This has Dark chocolate & hazelnut praliné ‘Air’, Foamed Chantilly cream and Puffed rice crunch. I loved this item! I love porous the item is and the texture was awesome.

Egg Salad

Put this item together with Cocoa nibs bread, Sous Vide egg shavings, crispy shallots, Salsa Verde and Chives oil. It was so cute and reminded me of a mini breakfast sandwich.

Interlude

The vials has a Citrus chocolate consommé with the Lemon Vodka and Semi-candied Kalamata olives. On the left, you have Olive Madeleine.

This definitely wasn’t for me.

Tomato

This has Cocoa nibs bread, Grape tomato confit, Pesto pulled Mozzarella, and 2 pieces of Crispy back bacon. It was delicious especially the back bacon.

Cream Puff

This has Textured pâte à choux, Crispy praliné , Orange caramel compote, Milk chocolate Chantilly, and Orange zest oil. It was absolutely delicious.

Cheese and Fruit

On the bottom, you have Biscuit sablé, Pear panna cotta, Pear vanilla bean confit, and a Crunchy cheese chip. It was ok, but that cheese chip was delicious.

Merveilleux

You will find Crispy meringue, Dark chocolate thin, White chocolate Chantilly, Caramel banana, and Almond banana crunch. A nice combination of textures.

Tarte

On the plate was a Almond streusel cookie, Créme brûlèe, Baked apple shavings, French Brandy mist and Apple chips crunch.

Scone

You will find a Chocolate & dried cherry scone, Red fruit confit, Crème fraîche Chantilly, Kirsch mist, and Lemon zest oil. This was delicious as well.

Truffe du jour’ in vintage origin dark hot chocolate

This was a nice way of ending the meal.

Chocolates

A great way of ending the 13 course session with chocolates.

Final Thoughts

It was a fun interactive meal if you are looking for something different than the regular afternoon tea. The items I had will probably be different based on seasonality. For $39.99, it’s a good price and you’ll be full by the end of it.

We Rate Wild Sweets:

Address:
2145 – 12191 Hammersmith Way, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://dcduby.com/

In Chinese

The Deluxe Chinese Restaurant: Dim Sum in Richmond

April 16, 2017

The Deluxe Chinese Restaurant is located in Richmond just off of No 3 Road by Aberdeen Mall. We were invited to try their dim sum items on the menu and of course I couldn’t say no. This restaurant just opened up recently and they serve up dim sum, sushi, sashimi, and regular Chinese dinner items.

The dining room is large and they also have a few private rooms too. I can imagine a lot of weddings, birthdays and other celebrations here.

Dim Sum

There was no shortage of dim sum during my visit. It was pretty damn epic. Of course they knew we were coming, so they made sure all the food arrived at the same time.

Ha Gau (Prawn Dumpling)

This is a classic item to order at dim sum and it comes with 5 pieces in each basket. The skin was a decent thickness and the shrimp inside was very delicious.

It’s always something I order no matter where I go. You can pair it with XO sauce or spicy sauce for an extra kick of flavour.

Truffle Siu Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumpling)

They do their siu mai a bit differently with the added truffle. The dumpling is still delicious. 5 pieces per basket too.

House Special Wild Rice Noodle Roll

Inside the pinky rice roll due to the wild rice are crispy fried vermicelli surrounding each piece of shrimp. There are 9 pieces to the order.

Baked Portuguese Tarts

These unique looking baked Portugese tarts were amazing. The flakey crust and the silky smooth egg mixture. Yum.

Garlic Prawn Spring Rolls

3 pieces in an order served in a cup. The spring rolls were crisp on the outside with the prawn mixture inside.

Steamed Pork Spareribs

Lots in this basket and there was a good amount of meat in each piece.

Country Style Steamed Honey Comb Cake

One of my favourite Chinese desserts. It’s slightly sweet and it’s not too sweet. A good asian amount of sweetness. We don’t really like our dessert overly sweet.

Green Tea Glutinous Pancakes

On the inside is mango and the green tea glutinous pancakes rolled around it. It was ok, but not my favourite dessert.

Steamed Creamy Carrot Custard Buns

A sweet custard filling inside these are great when its hot and fresh.

Steamed Buns with Mushroom & Taro Roots

Very cute concept of having the bun look like a mushroom, but I didn’t like a lacklustre taro root filling.

Shredded Chicken with Cucumber

This dish was one of my favourites too, but it does have quite a bit of sesame oil. Served cold and it also has crunchy taro strips to give it more of a crunchy texture.

Pumpkin Congee with Sparerib

I love congee and this was very savoury with all the ample amount of meat inside. I would order this again.

Preserved Egg and Pork Congee

A classic and what I instantly noticed was the amazing amount of preserved egg and pork. Very impressive and I would order this again too.

Soy Sauce Chow Mein

A good dish to share among the table. Nice texture and flavour as well.

Singapore Fried Noodles

It had a good amount of ingredients in this fried noodle. The texture of the noodles were a tad on the dry side, but it was still enjoyable.

Nigiri

They surprisingly have nigiri on the menu with tuna, salmon or hamachi. Each piece is pre-sauced, which I didn’t like as much. I personally like mine with a slight dab of soy sauce to keep the natural flavours of the fish.

Tamago

They have pieces of tamago as well, but it was missing something. It’s really hard to find a place that makes a good tamago.

Speciality Japanese Rolls

For a Chinese restaurant, they had a good selection of specialty sushi rolls. Still strange to see sushi here when you order dim sum.

Mango Roll

They craft them nicely, but the rice ratio is a bit much. When they roll it, there is a slight flaw. The mango roll was refreshing with their thinly sliced mango, which is in season.

Dragon Roll

Dragon roll has alternating toppings of eel and avocado. Inside is salmon and asparagus. It was good but it was a tad pricey.

Salmon Oshi Sushi

It has tobiko, salmon, sauce and layers of rice. Delicious but it had a bit to much rice and also it still doesn’t compare to Miku, where this type of sushi originated from.

Final Thoughts

A good spread of items for dim sum, but I would stick with the classic. There’s nothing inherently wrong with their sushi or sashimi, but the flavours don’t blend as well when you go from congee to a California roll. Their dim sum is solid and I really fell in love with their congee.

We Rate The Deluxe Chinese Restaurant:

Address:
4260 No 3 Road, Richmond

In Riley Park/Little Mountain

U & I Thai: Thai Cuisine in Vancouver

April 14, 2017

For our 9 year anniversary, M and I went to U & I Thai Fine Cuisine on Cambie Street for a quick dinner. I’ve never been here before, so it was perfect. We came pretty early in the evening after work and we really were craving Thai Iced Tea. Staff were friendly and they guided us through the menu.

Interior

The interior was large and had lots of tables. We did see there were a few tables with reservations signs on them. As it got later in the evening, more and more people filled up the dining room.

The only thing I didn’t like was the strong citrus lemon smell inside.

Thai Iced Tea

This is beautiful and mighty tasty. It is a bit more dark than what we normally see, but it was so good and addictive. If you’re never had Thai Iced Tea before, it is a must.

Chicken Satay

Chicken is marinated in Thai spices, coconut milk and served with peanut sauce and cucumber relish. It comes with 6 pieces and the satay skewers were moist. I liked it with the sauces.

Authentic Pad Thai

This has rice noodles stir fried with chicken, tofu, egg, bean sprouts, and palm sugar in a Tamarind sauce. It is then topped with ground peanuts, chilli powder, fresh lime, bean sprout and chives. It was decent, but seemed more wet than other places.

Green Curry

We got this with beef and at medium spice. When we wanted it medium spice, it was definitely medium spicy with a good kick. It came with coconut rice on the side. It is our go to curry when going to Thai restaurants. Good taste too.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the meal, they give you some mint candy to end the meal. I really did enjoyed the meal and will be back.

We Rate U&I Thai:

Address:
3364 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.uandithai.com/

In Robson Street/West End

Ukrainian Village: Perogies, Borsch, and Herring in Vancouver

April 11, 2017

Ukrainian Village is a restaurant I see every time I get off the bus on Denman Street. It caught our eyes and we couldn’t resist going inside. It was busy and it was like walking into someone’s living room.

I’ve never had Ukrainian food before, so we had to come here. Initially we wanted Xiao Long Bao at another nearby restaurant, but we couldn’t stop thinking about trying their food.

The menu looked good and prices were very reasonable. The two of us decided to share family style instead of individual meals.

Russian Borsch

This has beef, tomato, red pepper, carrot, dill, cabbage, potatoes, beet and topped with sour cream. It also has saltine crackers on the side.

It was a good simple soup. Never knew sour cream would go so well with soup.

Herring

The herring is pickled and served with onion, sour cream and a slice of bread. We really didn’t know how to eat this, so we made it up as we went. The pickled herring is rolled up with a pickle in the centre. It was interesting trying it, but I wouldn’t order it again. It’s probably and acquired taste.

Ukrainian Dinner

It has 2 cabbage rolls, six perogies, Ukrainian sausage, veggies and sour cream and their mustard. There are 3 types of perogies:

potato and fried onion
potato and cheddar cheese
sauerkraut

All of them were delicious when dunked into the sour cream. The cabbage rolls are filled with rice, ground beef, ground pork, and topped with all that sauce. Everything on this plate was delicious and I would come back.

We rate Ukrainian Village:

Address:
815 Denman Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://ukrainianvillage.wixsite.com/canada

In Bubble Tea

Teapressu: Bubble Tea Shop on Wheels in Vancouver

April 8, 2017

Teapressu is a mobile trailer that sells bubble tea drinks on the go. I was passing by with a friend and had to make a U-Turn to get here. I’ve never seen a bubble tea food truck, so we had to come here for a visit.

They have hot and cold drinks available. What I like most is their ability to customize your drinks by selecting the sweetness level and ice level. Similar to some other bubble tea shop around town.

There is no bubble tea shop near my work area, so I was really excited to check this place out.

Grass Jelly Milk Tea with half sweetness and minimal ice. It was really good. I usually order this when I go to a new place to see how it compares. They made a great milk tea and I would recommend this place. The grass jelly is delicious as well.

My friend got the cold honey lemon with no sweetness. Very brave, but she’s on a pretty minimal sugar diet. She did say she enjoyed it.

Red Bean Matcha Milk Tea is what a few people recommended to me. They suggested 100% sweetness to counteract the matcha as it is slightly bitter. It was good but I still really enjoyed their milk tea. Does that make me basic?

Final Thoughts

I gotta say, I did really enjoy their bubble tea. If you see them around town, definitely give them a try. I would highly recommend their milk teas. You can taste the difference in the teas and ingredients they use.

We Rate Teapressu:

Address:
Varied

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Teapressu-1674957589488689/