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Dessert

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Earlier last month a few of my friends and I were dining at the Hapa Izakaya in Coal Harbour. I’ve been to Hapa several times and had no issues, but that particular dining experience was horrible and I felt bad for my friends. I won’t delve into it, but you can read it all on thefoodqueen.ca. We were invited back to any Hapa Izakaya location to have a re-do of our meal.

Hapa Izakaya has a reputation for delicious Japanese food with pretty waitresses according to some of my Toronto friends. I spend more time staring at food than at people. Thats why I spend more time snapping pictures of food than of my friends. Horrible habit, but hopefully that will change one day.

Hapa-inner

The Robson location is quite large, so there is tons of room to accommodate large groups. We came on a snowy day, so that’s why this place wasn’t packed. No one wants to brave though the snow for some eats. Vancouverites fear snow, no matter how much there is.

Hapa Izakaya

Pint of Sapporo is my drink of choice at a Japanese restaurant. It’s light, crisp and refreshing.

Hapa Izakaya

Hello Kitty ($7.50) is a cocktail drink made of strawberry puree, calpis, absolut vodka, and soda. It was a fun drink and it did not taste too alcoholic.

Hapa Izakaya

Shigoku Oysters ($2.99) was recommended by our waitress and is OceanWise. It is from Washington and flavour profile is salty, mildly sweet with a water chestnut finish. It tasted pretty darn good.

Hapa has a large selection of fresh oysters with 17 different varieties. Very impressed.

Hapa Izakaya

Ahi Tuna ($11.99) is OceanWise and is beautifully cut. Yumm.

Hapa Izakaya

Sockeye Salmon ($10.99) is also OceanWise and are good cuts.

Hapa Izakaya

Beef Tataki ($9.99) is a very popular dish. It is made of lightly seared AAA beef with a sesame-chili sauce. I didn’t like it because of the sauce, I much prefer it with garlic chips and ponzu sauce. Just a personal preference.

Hapa Izakaya

Bintoro ($9.99) is made of OceanWise albacore tuna sashimi that is lightly seared. It also has Ponzu Sauce and fried garlic chips. Delicious!

Hapa Izakaya

Cho Wagyu ($12.49) is a fun dish. You get a super hot stone and you get to cool your own kobe beef. It comes with garlic ships, green onion and ponzu sauce.

Hapa Izakaya

Beef Short Ribs ($12.99) has grilled AAA beef short ribs with an apple-soy marinade. Its really good! The meat is quite tender and very flavourful.

Hapa Izakaya

Karaage ($8.99) has fried boneless chicken, and a soy ginger sauce.

Hapa Izakaya

Teriyaki Mochi Gnochi ($5.49) comes with 2 pieces on a stick. It’s a deep fried potato gnocchi with a teriyaki glaze.

Hapa Izakaya

Spicy Pork Ishi-Yaki ($9.99) has rice, minced pork, garlic sprouts, egg, tomato, lettuce, and spicy miso in a hot stone bowl.

Hapa Izakaya

Ebi Mayo ($8.99) has tempura prawns with a spicy mayo sauce. It was ok, but needs more mayo.

Hapa Izakaya

Kaki Fry ($9.99) comes with 6 pieces. It is pan-fried sawmill bay oyster, and panko breaded. It comes with tartar sauce.

Hapa Izakaya

Gindara ($11.49) has baked OceanWise sablefish in a sake-miso marinade with some veggies on the side. The skin of the sable fish was crispy.

Hapa Izakaya

Polenta Fries ($7.99) has polenta tempura, soy-balsamic reduction and arugula gel. All the fries are piles up in a stack like Jenga. It’s a fun dish to share.

Hapa Izakaya

Oyster Risotto ($13.99) is a new item on their menu and it is served in a hot stone bowl. It contains rice, oysters, mozzarella, onion, carrot, mushroom, green beans, and a cream miso broth. It was a filling dish and it really good. I love mushrooms and oysters.

Hapa Izakaya

Chocolate Parfait ($5.99) is a mishmash of different ingredients. Blueberries, corn flakes, brownies, cake, and chocolate ice cream.

Hapa Izakaya

Creme Brulee ($4.99) is topped with fruits and cookies.

Hapa Izakaya

Matcha Roll Cake ($5.49) has matcha cream with the match cake. Good for those green tea lovers out there.

The desserts were all pretty comparable.

Overall, if you are looking for some delicious Japanese tapas and some drinks for a girls night out or a date, this is the place to go. But it can get pricey compared to some of the other izakaya restaurants in town.

We rate Hapa Izakaya: 

Address:
1479 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://hapaizakaya.com/

Hapa Izakaya (Robson) on Urbanspoon

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Miura Waffle Milk Bar

It’s been a while since my last visit to Miura Waffle and Milk Bar. They were previously located on Davies and Howe, but have now moved to their new location on Main street close to Broadway. They serve made to order sweet and savoury waffle sandwiches.

During lunch, I came with my coworkers to indulge in some savoury sandwiches.

Miura Waffle Milk Bar

When you enter the restaurant, you have to go up to the counter to order first. The interior isn’t very large but it is still larger than its previous location. Most of the tables are in 2s and 4s, but if you have more people, just combine more tables.

Miura Waffle Milk Bar

Mango Passion Yoggy Milk was ordered by my coworker and it wasn’t very good. It did not have a substantial amount of texture to it and was runny and thin.

Strawberry Yoggy milk is like a strawberry milkshake but more tangy. This is probably the best out of all their flavours for yoggy milk. The texture was nice and thick like those YOP yogurt drinks.

Miura Waffle Milk Bar

 Bulgogi Sando is their top flavour for savoury sandwiches apparently. It has beef, egg sauce, kimchi & bulgogi sauce in side the waffle. my coworker liked it but it was a tad messy to eat. You eat it like a normal sandwich with no forks or knives.

Miura Waffle Milk Bar

Hoisin Sando has hoisin pork sausage, cilantro, cucumber, pickled radish & carrot in the waffle. The pickled vegetables reminded Magz of a Bahn Mi sandwich. She liked it so much she came back a few days later.

Miura Waffle Milk Bar

 Wasabi Salmon sando has salmon, lettuce, herbs & wasabi ranch. The wasabi was subtle and doesn’t really make you cry. It’s a nice balance between the salmon and wasabi mayo. It wasn’t too messy to eat and nothing fell out of the sandwich while eating.

Miura Waffle Milk Bar

One thing that I did notice is that the salmon was baked into the waffle. HOW COOL IS THAT? The reason why the salmon didn’t fall out was that it was there stuck in the waffle batter.

Miura Waffle Milk Bar

All of the sandwiches come with Deep-fried Nori chips on the side. They are crisp seaweed pieces. It tasted ok, but need a little something extra. I’m not exactly sure what, but it sure needs some improvement.

Overall, they have a really cute concept of waffle sandwiches. The food was alright, but there are a few kinks they need to work out.

We Rate Miura Waffle Milk Bar: 

Address:
2521 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://www.miurawafflemilkbar.ca/

Miura Waffle Milk Bar on Urbanspoon

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Patisserie-Fur-Elise-outer

Patisserie Für Elise is a pastry shop and tea salon in Downtown Vancouver. It’s quite a cute location since its located in a house instead of a larger building. You know once you lay your eyes on this place, you just are curious to take a peak inside.

I came here with some of my bridesmaids to catch up, since it’s hard to get us together since half of them are on the east coast.

I heard of Patisserie Fur Elise a few years ago at the Vancouver Bakers Market before they opened up their shop. It is great to see the owners dream become reality with their new store.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-first-floor

When you enter, the first floor is their retail space with a few pastries, teas and little trinkets to buy.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-shop

There’s macarons on the left and pastries on the left.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-item

There’s tea sets too.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-shop-item

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-window

Patisserie Für Elise

On the second floor, the tea salon is located there. There’s one main room and another room in the back.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-prep

They do all their baking on the first floor in the kitchen and they set up all the tea sets in this area.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-logo

It costs $30 per person for a 2 hour seating and you get the following:

  • Your selection of tea
  • a layer of savory items
  • scones
  • Chef’s choice starter
  • a layer of sweet items

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-afternoon-tea

The items do vary, so its hard to say what exactly you get since they like to switch it up. I found the items listed on their website to be less accurate. The menu that you get here is pretty accurate.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-tea-menu

On the right page, you have all the teas to choose from.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-cups

Shortly after, our tea sets arrived.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-pot

A little while later, out pots arrived. You get a little timer and you can wait for the time to count down.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-pour

You have a bird to strain out the tea leaves. You pour your tea through this, but we found that some tea leaves did not get caught.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-tea

I ordered China Jasmine Premium tea and I found that it needed more than a minute to steep. My other friends got the Blue Earl Grey tea and they didn’t need to steep for very long, unless you want it strong.

Our settings didn’t come with milk and sugar, so we had to ask them for it. Usually it comes with it already on the table, but we found this strange.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-set

After about 40 minutes since we got here, we got our tea set. It seemed a bit long for them to put it together especially when are can only have a 2 hour seating. Nonetheless, we dug in and chatted about life.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-panna-cotta

Chef’s Choice starter is a blueberry panna cotta it was really good! The panna cotta had a lot of yummy vanilla beans and the blueberry compote on top just paired perfectly. There is also a little gold leaf on top.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-bottom

We began with the bottom layer of scones and savouries.

  • Prosciutto brie and fresh basil sandwich
  • Cucumber dill finger sandwich
  • Asparagus and mushroom quiche
  • Scone with cheddar and pancetta
  • Scone with almond streusel

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-cucumber

Cucumber dill finger sandwich was simple but very good. The position on the cucumber threw us off, so we just moved it to the other side and began eating away. I really liked the creaminess of the center.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-onion

Asparagus and mushroom quiche was a tad small, so it was hard to really taste the depth of flavour.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-croissant

Prosciutto, brie and fresh basil croissant sandwich was my weakness. I can’t resist prosciutto and brie. The croissant wasn’t crunchy, but it was a bit limp. It would be nice if it had more of a crunch to it.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-scone

Scone with Almond Strusel is best with their housemade jam. We asked them for some clotted cream and it makes the scone much enjoyable.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-savory-scone

Scone with cheddar and pancetta was good. Every time I bite into some pancetta, I would be in heaven. I really like meat.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-dessert

Next, we devoured into the sweet tier.

  • Maple Pecan Daisy Tartlet
  • Tiramisu
  • Mini Fur Elise
  • Honey madeleine
  • Macaron

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-walnut

Maple Pecan Daisy Tartlet was very cute and not too sweet. The texture of the pecan with the maple was nice.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-cheesecake

Tiramisu was bit size and had some chocolate balls on top.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-strawberry-cheesecake   

Mini Fur Elise was like a strawberry mousse. It was really good and hidden inside is a slice of strawberry. Good flavours and this was my favourite dessert.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-madeline

Honey madeleine was topped with powdered sugar. My friends liked it, but I didn’t really enjoy it.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-macarons

The macarons were were tough and chewy. They looked pretty, but no one liked them. Very disappointing since we were looking forward to devouring these.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-box

Some of us couldn’t finish, so they gave us boxes to pack up our goodies. We wanted to pack our items ourselves since we knew the service would take a while to help us pack it. Even when we asked for the boxes, it took them a while to get them too.

Patisserie-Fur-Elise-chairs

Overall, the ambiance is very nice and perfect for high tea or any special occasion. The food items included in the afternoon tea was decent and will fill you up. Unfortunately, the service was slow was annoying. There is definitely room for improvement.

We Rate Patisserie Für Elise

Address:
847 Hamilton street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.patisseriefurelise.com/

Patisserie Für Elise on Urbanspoon

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

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

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee

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

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee

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

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee

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

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee

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

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

We Rate Tealips

Address:
7139 Arcola Way
Burnaby, BC

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee on Urbanspoon

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Beta 5

Beta 5 is one of North America’s Top 10 Chocolatiers. Their store is hidden in Strathcona near a bunch of warehouses, but you can find their chocolates at a bunch of retailers around town. Its best to take the skytrain to Main St/Science World and then walk a few minutes. When you get to this area, you’ll find a bunch of food trucks “sleeping”. A lot of the food trucks come to this area to prep.

Beta 5 has delectable chocolates, cream puff and some pastries. As it was my coworkers birthday, so I had to get something special for my the team. Cream puff were on my mind. I kept seeing it on their Facebook page and it has been on my mind for a  long time.

Their hours are 10:30am – 5pm on Tuesday – Friday and 10am – 5pm on the weekends.

Beta 5

When you go into the shop, you can see their whole operation behind the glass. It’s fun to see them work.

Beta 5

Their shop isn’t very elaborate, but you will find a few products that catch your attention. Their Polygon Bars are pretty good! They put a lot of love and thought into all their chocolates.

Beta 5

Their specialty chocolates are really works of art! They are all beautifully put together. I spent more time starting at them than devouring them. A few of my favourites are salted caramel, imperial stout and fisherman friends. Very unique flavours that they develop here. The fisherman friends just blew my mind since I would have never thought the combination would be good.

Beta 5

85% Dark Chocolate and Caramel Cream Puff

Beta 5

Milk Chocolate Praline Cream Puff

Beta 5

Milk Chocolate S’More Cream Puff

Beta 5

Salted Caramel Cream Puff

All the cream puffs were pretty darn good. The flavours were great, not too sweet and it was a perfect dessert. They are $4.50 each, $16 (box of 4) or  $35 (box of 9 pieces). Some of the flavours do get sold out, so its best to go earlier in the day.

I’m a big fan of all their treats, but it can get quite expensive. Definitely worth it.

We Rate Beta 5 Chocolates

Address:
413 Industrial Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.beta-5.com/

BETA5 Chocolates on Urbanspoon

 

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Mancakes Bakery

I was strolling around Downtown with MedicalGiraffe and stumbled upon this cute place. ManCakes Bakery Cafe opened up on Robson near Cambie. It’s the cutest cupcake shop that is catered towards men.

No worries, women buy cupcakes here too. Not just for men. The owners came up with ManCakes since they were sick of all the frilly over iced cupcakes. I’ve tried their ManCakes at an event a while ago before they had this location. They are definitely changing up the cupcake game with their unique concept.

Mancakes Bakery

You won’t find the regular flavours of cupcakes here. I was definitely drawn by the sign. Whiskey and lime?

Mancakes Bakery

Inside the store is a loungey area to enjoy some cupcakes and coffee.

Mancakes Bakery

The cupcakes look really cute and the flavours are like food and drinks that you can find at a pub.

Mancakes Bakery

There were 11 different types of cupcakes and it was very hard to figure out which one to get. The cupcakes don’t only sound good but they

Mancakes Bakery

Tool Box ($20) comes with a dozen mini cupcakes. It’s a great way to try all their cupcakes. It makes for great gifts for the office.

The tool box contains:

  • Apple Brie
  • Tequila Pineapple
  • Whiskey Lime
  • Buffalo Wing
  • King Kong
  • Bacon Chili Chocolate
  • Chocolate Red Wine
  • Pink Peppercorn Grapefruit
  • Rum & Coke
  • Breakfast
  • Chicago Popcorn

The flavours that stood out are chocolate red wine, Chicago popcorn, whiskey lime, king kong, rum and coke, and tequila pineapple. One flavour that we thought would be good but wasn’t was the Buffalo Wing. M and I didn’t like the sweet and savoury taste of it. Personal preferences.

You can eat the mini cupcakes in 2 bites.

Mancakes Bakery

Overall, the cupcakes were moist and had a great balance of flavour and quite innovative. A fun cupcake to give to any man or woman.

We Rate ManCakes

 Address:
288 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://mancakesbakery.com/

ManCakes Bakery on Urbanspoon

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Bon Crepe

It was a cold night in Vancouver, -5 degrees to be accurate. We were having dinner at Tableau and didn’t want to walk very far for something sweet. Some may say we are lazy, but women just don’t do well in the cold. Even when we are indoors, we complain that it’s cold. We are always cold.

We decided to pop into Konbinya to see what Bon Crepe has to offer. Perhaps we wanted a crepe of some sort or an ice cream.

Bon Crepe

When we went inside of the Konbinya entrance, we discovered they had parfait for a little under $7. This sparked our interest since we had parfait on our minds but didn’t want to walk to Chicco.

Bon Crepe

Green Tea Parfait ($6.62) has a piece of sponge cake, corn flakes, vanilla ice cream, tapioca pearls, green tea soft serve, green tea cake, green tea ice cream, green tea syrup, red bean, green tea powder, whipped cream and a wafer.

Green tea overload but it was great for our sweet tooths. It’s large, so I wasn’t able to finish it all since I ate too much at dinner.

Bon Crepe

Pudding Parfait ($6.62) has sponge cake, corn flakes, tapioca pearls, vanilla ice cream, custard pudding, vanilla soft serve ice cream, whipped cream, caramel sauce, strawberries, and a wafer.

Bon Crepe

The parfait is good but not as good at Chicco a few block down the street. The toppings are slightly different, but it’s really up to personal preference.

Bon Crepe

While you’re there, you should check out all the Japanese snacks at Konbinya. There’s always sales and you can find some cool drinks and candy.

We rate Bon Crepe: 

Address:
1238 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.bonboncrepe.com/en_index.html

Bon Crepe on Urbanspoon

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Adorabelle Tea Room

Adorabelle Tea Room is a little cozy tea room in Steveston that serves up Afternoon tea. I rarely come to Steveston, but had I know there was such a cute little restaurant here, I would make more trips down here. The tea room is in the location of an old courtroom in Steveston. Seems like a weird place, but it’s the perfect location for a girls night out.

Afternoon Tea service is from Wednesday through Sunday. There are designated seating times 11:00am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm and 3:30pm. Reservations are required before you come here as they need to plan in advance. It’s $25 per person, which is a good price considering other places are around $50 per person.

Adorabelle Tea Room

Once you go inside, it is small, but it is the perfect atmosphere to have afternoon tea here.  There are only 5 tables here.

Adorabelle Tea Room

Good intimate atmosphere for a bunch of girls to come here, de-stress, and have a good catch up session.

Adorabelle Tea Room

Adorabelle Tea Room

Our reservation was from 12:30pm – 1:30pm. Each seating is an hour-long, but its a decent amount of time to eat the 3 tiers of treats. If not, you can take then home and enjoy further.

Adorabelle Tea Room

When you sit down, you have your cup ready and your napkin folded like a rose. It’s the small little touches that make dining here great.

Adorabelle Tea Room

You can choose when types of teas you want. It can be a bit of a struggle to figure out which tea you want to try out.

Adorabelle Tea Room

It’s good that they come around to help you choose the right tea. You can smell them all if you like too.

I went with the Cream Earl Grey and my friend chose Paris. Both very good types of black tea.

Adorabelle Tea Room

As your tea steeps, it has a cozy to keep the heat from escaping.

Adorabelle Tea Room

A few minutes pass by and we can enjoy our tea. There is milk and sugar on the side if you need.

Adorabelle Tea Room

Shortly after, our little treats arrive.

For each person, it comes with:

  • five tea sandwiches
  • two fresh baked scones with sweetened cream & strawberry preserves
  • five house-made petite sweets

Adorabelle Tea Room

Smoked Salmon pinwheel, bacon and chive cupcake, egg pinwheel, cucumber cream cheese open-faced sandwich, chicken and waffles sandwich, and lastly the savoury shortbread with asiago and fennel.

This was by far my favourite section of the meal. Every single item tasted fantastic! The two items that really stood out for me were the bacon chive cupcakes and the savoury shortbread. YUM!

Adorabelle Tea Room

Level two is scone central.

There is the regular scone with raison and topped with icing sugar. The next is the orange scone with a nice glaze on top.
I’m not a huge fan of scones, but these were pretty good. Very filling as well.

Adorabelle Tea Room

Sweetened cream and strawberry preserves to go with the scones. You must add these or else the scone will not taste as delicious. So good.

Adorabelle Tea Room

The last tier is dessert time.

Strawberry with cream cheese, chocolate minty cake enrobbed with ganche, ginger molasses cookies and fruit pastilles.
Delicious and was a sweet overload. A good way to end the meal!

Adorabelle Tea Room

Overall, KoreanGirl and I really enjoyed ourselves here. It’s a quaint little place and we will definitely be back. Afterwards, we walked around Steveston and checked out Garry Point Park.

We Rate Adorabelle Tea Room

Address:
12051 Third Avenue
Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.adorabelletearoom.com/

Adorabelle Tea Room on Urbanspoon

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Paris Baguette

Paris Baguette can be found all over South Korea. You are 100% guaranteed to bump into this place somewhere on the street as there are over 2,900 locations. They have sandwiches, cakes, buns, drinks, and pastries. While I was in Korea, I probably came here almost everyday to get some breakfast or snack. It’s just convenient and sometimes open 24 hours.

They even have a few locations in North America, specifically in California, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Paris Baguette

All the tables are filled with bread. There is even a little seating area too for you to enjoy your baked goods here.

Paris Baguette

Bread, bread, bread.

Paris Baguette

More bread.

Paris Baguette

Cheesy Pizza Bread was heated and sliced into 4 pieces. It was cheesy and a hint of sweetness to it.

Paris Baguette

English Muffin with ham, cheese, and egg. Tasted ok, but I wouldn’t eat it again. Needs more filling between the buns.

Paris Baguette

Sausage Wrap has sweet sauce, cheese, egg and fried onions. This was pretty good too.

Paris Baguette

Grapefruit Juice and bottled coffee.

Paris Baguette

Cream cake was for my birthday. It has layers of white cake with cream and fruit. It was good, but as you can tell, the fruit isn’t ask fresh.

Overall, I would stick with their savoury bread items. Those are my favourites. If you are a tourist like me and have no idea what to bring home, they have a few locations inside the Incheon Airport. Great for last-minute gifts because they have gift boxes of assorted treats.

It’s not the best bakery, but it sure is convenient.

Website: 
http://www.paris.co.kr/

Angel In Us Coffee

Angel In Us Coffee is a strong domestic brand in South Korea. You can basically find it in any city. It took me a long time to figure out why this coffee shop is named Angel In Us. Apparently it’s supposed to imply that coffee is a god’s gift delivered by angels. They also have a unique roasting process for the beans too.

We came here with some relatives to relax and have a beverage. We were walking for most of the afternoon, so we thought it would be good to take a breather here. All the other cafes in the area were packed like crazy, so we came to Angel In Us Coffee because of their large space.

Angel In Us Coffee

This cafe is 3 storeys tall and can fit large groups. We had about 8 people, so it made sense to come here.

Angel In Us Coffee

We took over the 3rd floor and used it at our own little space. The view from above is the shopping streets.

The ironic thing about coming here is that we didn’t order coffee. I had coffee almost everyday in Korea, so I thought it was time to get some tea.

Angel In Us Coffee

Iced Green Tea was literally a green tea teabag in iced water. There was a subtle taste of green tea, but it wasn’t very strong.

Angel In Us Coffee

Green Tea Frappucino is a nice sweet treat for a hot day.

 Angel In Us Coffee

Ice Cream Waffle comes with a thick crispy waffle, vanilla ice cream, green tea ice cream, whipped cream, and a chocolate and caramel drizzle.

This place was decent, but I’m pretty sure they don’t have the best coffee. It’s a nice place to just chill and have a snack and beverage.

Website: http://www.angelinus.co.kr/

In Busan, they say you can’t leave without trying Ssiat Hotteok (seed-stuffed pancake). Apparently it’s their specialty and all the locals say you gotta try it.

Ssiat (seed) Hotteok in Busan

M’s aunt took us to The Street of Film near Jagalchi Market. It has a plethora of street food vendors.

Jagalchi Market in Busan

Jagalchi Market in Busan

Jagalchi Market in Busan

You can probably find a lot of different korean food. Your taste buds will be salivating after walking through this area.

Busan-Ssiat-Hotteok

There is one cart that has a very crazy unusual lineup. It zigzags and there is a lady making sure people are lining up correctly and not in a mod fashion.

Busan-Ssiat-Hotteok

Ssiat hotteok (1,000 WON = $1 CDN) is filled with sunflower and pumpkin seeds. The seeds are stuffed after the dough is cooked in the hot oil so it has more flavour and tastes less greasy.

The seeds and sugar are mixed together between the dough to give it an amazing crunch sound when you bite into it. It was so good! I could eat a few of these! It’s not too sweet and just so addictive.

If you are even in Busan, go to center area of The Street of Film and find this cart. You won’t be able to miss it as its right in the intersection.

 

Tealips

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

Jewels took me here a few days before I left for Vacation in Korea to catch up and of course nom on some delicious waffles. I’ve also gotten several comments and emails from people to come check out their waffles as they are darn good.

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee

Besides waffles, they have a large selection of drinks like teas, coffees, and smoothies. Lots of hot and cold options too.

The waffle menu is on the cashier counter and there are a few different choices and they all looked great. When you order, they give you an electronic device to let you know when your order is ready.

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee

Double Liege Combo comes with 2 liege waffle with different toppings. It looked way too pretty to dig in, so it took us a while to get started.

Overall, it’s a great place to hang out with a group of friends late at night for a waffle and a beverage. You’ll definitely see a few couples romantically sharing a waffle or a group of friends gossiping. And also the oddball that is studying alone.

We Rate Tealips

Address:
7139 Arcola Way
Burnaby, BC

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee on Urbanspoon

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John Hancock Center

The best advice I got during my trip to Chicago was from my aunt who told me to grab a drink at the restaurant on top of the John Hancock Center and enjoy the summer fireworks. It’s great because you get a good view without paying the outrageous prices to be at their observation deck (which is on a lower level).

The Signature Lounge is located on the 95th floor (vs Oberservation Deck – 94th floor). To get up there, you go in through the south entrance. If you see people lining up for the observation deck, you’re in the wrong place. As it was a busy night, we waited about 20 minutes to get up to the restaurant. Other people were smart to go early to grab a seat and wait for the fireworks.

The Signature Room

The interior was the restaurant was nice and cozy. They have tons of seats, but as you can imagine, it is quite packed.

The Signature Room

Isn’t that just a stunning view?

white & dArk ChoCoLAte Mousse CAke 8.00 chocolate bark, pistachio Gianduja

As we waited for the fireworks, we had to order something. So we got drinks and shared a cake.

White & Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake ($8) also comes with chocolate bark and pistachio gianduja.

Stella Artois ($8.25) is light, crisp and declicious.

The Signature Room

We found that our seats didn’t have the best view of Navy Pier for the fireworks, so we went to the womens washroom to watch the fireworks. It sounds weird, but it has one of the best views! You get a clear view of the loop and Navy Pier.

The Signature Room

It was quite a night. Great views with great company. The items on the lounge menu were quite expensive, so just grab a drink and sip it slowly.

We Rate Signature Lounge

Address:
875 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://www.signatureroom.com/

Signature Room at the 95th on Urbanspoon

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ilab

iCream is a unique dessert experience in Wicker Park / Bucktown. While my aunt took me around this area, she insisted we come here for a cold snack. It looked pretty unique and you can create your own frozen dessert concoction within seconds using liquid nitrogen.

Stores likes these have actually been popping up all over the country. I even saw it in the night market in Richmond.

icream

They outline 3 steps in creating your dessert.

1. Choose ice cream, yogurt, sorbet, a shake, or hot pudding (with or without rice)

2. Select your dessert base: regular, light, organic, soy, regular or non-fat yogurt

3. Pick one or two flavors and fruit or candy mix-ins from our toppings section

And check out the favorites section for our most popular dessert combinations.

icream

Once you tell them your creation, they will begin creating in the back counter. It’s quite weird seeing them mix liquid and powders together as you know what goes into it.

icream

The pour the liquid mixture into the mixer and the show begins. Its pretty darn cool.

icream

I got frozen yogurt and my aunt got ice cream.

icream

Mango Ice cream was ordered from my aunt and thought it was ok too.

icream

Green Tea frozen yogurt has a very icy texture and not as smooth as the usual frozen yogurt. It did have the tart taste but not the same.

Overall, the presentation of the ice cream and how it’s made is quite fun and exciting, but the taste was just ok.

We rate iCream:

Address:
1537 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://www.icreamcafe.com/

iCream on Urbanspoon

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Earnest Ice Cream

Earnest Ice Cream recently opened a shop on Fraser Street in Vancouver.I’ve always adored their ice cream since they used to deliver the jars to my workplace. Once you have their salted caramel, you can’t go back to other ice cream places.

Earnest Ice Cream

Depending on what time you arrive, there can be long lines, but you don’t wait too long. Near the big arrow in the back of the restaurant, you can see the pint size jars available. Those flavours aren’t the same as what you can get for the ice cream scoops.

Earnest Ice Cream

The menu is quite simple and you can see the ice cream available for the day. The popular flavours tend to run out fast. My personal favourites are Salted Caramel, Oatmeal Brown Sugar, Peanut butter chocolate chip, and strawberry basil.

Clearly, I’ve bought a lot of pints before. So, it’s quite nice to finally have then open a shop and not have limited flavours to try.

Earnest Ice Cream

A scoop of London Fog in a waffle cone ($5) was delicious! You can definitely taste the Earl Grey tea. It was so good that the next day, my sister had to order a pint for the fridge.

Earnest Ice Cream

Affogato ($6) with a scoop of Tahitian Vanilla Ice cream. It tasted good, but my other friend had hers with whiskey hazelnut ice cream. The espresso is made with Matchstick Coffee. It has a nice strong bold taste that pairs well with the ice cream.

Earnest Ice Cream

There’s a few tables inside, and some people like to sit on the benches outside. The turnover of the tables are quite quick, so you will have to have good timing to grab a table.

Overall, the ice cream is pretty good, but it is quite expensive. It’s not a place you can regularly go to or else you’ll be broke. It’s a nice treat on a hot day.

We Rate Earnest Ice Cream

Address:
3992 Fraser St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://earnesticecream.com/

Earnest Ice Cream on Urbanspoon

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Menchies

Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt opened a new location at Highgate Village in South Burnaby. It has a good location as there are gyms and grocery stores in the village.  The space is pretty big and it is a great place to just chill with friends over froyo.

Menchies

They have a ton of different flavours and you can try them all before making your mind up.

Menchies

They pair certain flavours together if you want to mix them.

Menchies

You pay by weight, so there is no set price. Depending on what  you feel like, you can throw in whatever combination you want. My favourite is always the original flavour with all the fruits and mochi. You even get a super cute spoon to go with your froyo.

Overall, Menchie’s is alright, but I find the lack of fruit disappointing compared to other froyo places. They get props for having so many different flavours but they really need to start having more fruits. When I went here, there were only blueberries, pineapples, and strawberries.

We Rate Menchies Frozen Yogurt

Address:
138 – 7155 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.menchies.com/

Menchie's Frozen Yogurt on Urbanspoon

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Berry Good

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Berry Good in Richmond. My last visit was 3 years ago. All the cakes are homemade and created in very small batches. They are closed on Wednesday and Sunday, and the other days they open in the evening.

Berry Good

This time when looking at the menu, I thought it was interesting how they have a section for Korean drinks. It definitely caught our attention, so we had to try the grain latte.

Berry Good

Hot Five Grain Latte ($2.95) is pretty good. You will need to stir it around a bit because I found that there was a concentration of powder on the bottom of the cup.

Berry Good

Iced Korean Grain Latte ($3.99) this is the cold version of the drink above.

Berry Good

The cakes listed on the menu are not correct because they change everyday. Go to the fridge by the cashier to see whats available. Once they run out for the day, its gone. There’s always something good to munch on.

Berry Good

Green Tea Chiffon Cake has the moist green tea cake inside with the  layers of cream surrounding it and sprinkles of matcha.

Berry Good

Earl Grey Cheesecake was really really good! The best combination. The earl grey flavour is strong and well integrated throughout the cheesecake.

Berry Good

Green Tea Roll in a sense in kinda similar to the Green Tea Chiffon Cafe, but in a different form.Yet again, the cake is moist and wrapped up with whipped cream. Delicious.

Overall, the cakes were great and you really get the homemade feeling from this cafe. On the other hand, service is alright. The drinks came at staggered times after the cake.

We rate Berry Good:

Address:
#1120-8766 McKim Way  ( In Excel Centre)
Richmond, BC

Berry Good on Urbanspoon

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Forty Ninth Parallel Café & Lucky's Doughnuts

On Main Street lies 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters that also serve Lucky’s Donuts. They keep it simple in this cafe by just serving coffee and donuts. You can’t come here without being tempted with a donut to go with your coffee.

Kamsicle and I decided to take a break at work and head to here for a snack. I’ve always heard much about it but never stopped by until now.

Forty Ninth Parallel Café & Lucky's Doughnuts

They have lots of seats and seems like a really cool place to just chill and do some work.

Forty Ninth Parallel Café & Lucky's Doughnuts

I got a Soy Latte and it was really good. Nice, strong and great taste.

luckys-saltedcaramel

Salted Caramel is a classic old fashioned donut dipped in a creamy caramel and finished with maldon salt. It wasn’t too sweet, but the caramel does stick a little bit to your teeth.

Forty Ninth Parallel Café & Lucky's Doughnuts

French Cruller is a French choux paste fried and topped with a vanilla glaze. This was very good! The donut was very soft on the inside and not too sweet.

Luckys Donuts

Overall, I quite liked this place. It’s simple and not complicated. A great addition to the neighbourhood, and I’ll definitely be back.

We Rate Forty Ninth Parallel Cafe and Lucky’s Doughnuts

Address:
2902 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.luckysdoughnuts.com/

Lucky's Doughnuts on Urbanspoon

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