Type Archives - Page 54 of 125

In Cambodian

Phnom Penh: Lunch Time Essentials

January 28, 2016

Phnom Penh is a Vancouver staple and if you haven’t been here, you’re missing out on some amazing Vietnamese/Cambodian dishes. It’s crazy busy everyday for lunch and dinner. Try to get reservations or avoid peak times. They only take resos for groups of 5 or more. I’ve come here so many times in the past 5 years and I can’t get enough of a few of their signature dishes.

One of my coworkers haven’t been here, so we made it a mission to come here!

Essential Dishes

Butter Beef is a must! It is raw beef with a delicious soy vinegar mixture on top with garlic and cilantro. It’s so good and that sauce is just so addictive. We wish we ordered 2 of these, but decided to pace ourselves as other dishes would arrive at the tables.

Luc Lac with egg is another popular dish. This is a good dish if you want it all to yourself. Its a good portion for lunch, but in our case, we shared it amongst the 3 of us. The beef is very tender and the sauce is so good with the rice.

Deep Fried Chicken Wings is probably ordered by every single table in the restaurant. It is served with a lemon pepper dip. Super crunchy and full of salty garlicy flavour.

Vietnamese Rice Roll was an item that we randomly ordered from the menus we wanted to try something new. We found that it was a great dish to balance out the other ones as its not as salty or sour.

Overall, the food is pretty consistent at Phnom Penh. If you haven’t been here before, make a visit and order the above dishes.

We Rate Phnom Penh:

Address:
244 E Georgia St
Vancouver, BC

In American

Buckstop: Classic American BBQ Feast

January 26, 2016

Buckstop is a classic BBQ and small plates saloon on Denman Street. I bought a Social Shopper deal for their classic American barbecue feast for two people, including fried dill pickles, pulled pork sandwich, smoked chicken leg, St. Louis pork ribs,navy beans, Kennebec fries, hush puppies, cornbread and honey butter. Pretty good deal for only $28.

M and I came on the weekend to finally use it before it expires.

I love the dim atmosphere and the decor inside.

M ordered a coke, which came in a cute mason jar. You can’t have BBQ without coke.

Deep Fried Dill Pickles with a cajun aioli sauce. The staff warned us that its scalding hot, so we should wait a few minutes before digging in. I loved the thin crunchy exterior and the sour pickle that lies inside. So far the best deep fried dill pickles I’ve had so far.

Hush Puppies and Corn Bread is served with a honey butter. M hasn’t had hush puppies in a very long time since he lived in the states, so his eyes lit up when devouring these.

I’ve never had hush puppies before, so I thought they were a tad dry, but I have no idea if its supposed to be like that.

The pulled pork sandwich is served on a Portuguese bun lots of pulled pork and coleslaw inside. The pork was tender and the coleslaw balanced it out.

The smoked chicken leg and St. Louis pork ribs were piled on top of each other. Both of then were very tender and was falling off the bone. We slathered their BBQ sauce on it and devoured it super quickly.

The thin Kennebec fries were ok, but I wish they were more crispy.

The navy beans and coleslaw completed the rest of the platter. I didn’t care much for the navy beans but I ate all the coleslaw.

It was a good meal for M and I. It was pretty good deal with the SocialShopper deal and I would come back on a regular night. The atmosphere is great especially grabbing a few cocktails or beer to go with your meal.

We Rate Buckstop:

Address:
833 Denman Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://buckstop.ca/

In Dessert

Tangram Creamery: New Ice Cream Shop in Kitsilano

January 25, 2016

Driving around Kitsilano, M and I stopped by Tangram Creamery for some delicious ice cream after dinner to end the night. I’ve seen so many picture of this new shop on instagram that we had to check it out.

The shop is cute and doesn’t have too many seats but on the evening that we came here it wasn’t that busy.

They have a limited menu of their ice cream and sorbets, but there’s always something that will intrigue your taste buds.

Double Chocolate with Sugar Cookie Cone ($5 +$1) was what M got. The single scoop is a great size since they stuff the cone so you get your moneys worth. M enjoyed the double chocolate as there were bits of chocolate pieces inside. He did not that there were some ice crystals in it.

The sugar cookie cone is awesome and worth the extra $1.

Hoji Cha with Sugar Cookie Cone ($5 +$1) I got this Japanese roasted tea flavour since it has a pretty unique taste. A really enjoyed it and they really got a nice concentration of flavour. I also did notice small bits of ice crystals in here too, but it wasn’t too distracting.

The ends of the sugar cones are dipped in chocolate to seal the cone so any dripping ice cream doesn’t seep out. Great idea and it also tastes yummy.

You can also grab water from their super cool water dispenser that looks like an espresso machine.

Overall, they have some unique flavours that no other ice cream shop has, but they also have classic flavours to satisfy those who are less adventurous. With both flavours, we did find small ice crystals inside, but since they are quite new, hopefully they will improve that.

We Rate Tangram Creamery:

Address:
2729 Arbutus Street
Vancouver BC

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/tangramcreamery

In Late Night

Bodega on Main: Spanish Tapas and Drinks

January 24, 2016

Bodega on Main opened in 2015 and is a fresh new take on Vancouver’s Spanish restaurants. La Bodega closed down a few years ago and the son of one of the original partners has opened this restaurant up to bring back a Spanish flair to the restaurant scene.

Bodega on Main is located on Main Street a few blocks from the Skytrain station. I came here after work with my coworkers to celebrate a great 2015.

The Interior

We came right at 5pm, so it wasn’t too busy yet. The restaurant is quite dim, so it really creates a lovely intimate mood inside.

The bar near the back has an old rustic charm, which I thought was pretty awesome.

The menu is nicely folded up, but when you open it, the huge menu will be revealed. If it’s your first time here, it can be quite overwhelming trying to figure out what to order.

Drinks

Sangria Pitcher was on special, so we got 2 pitchers for the table for the 7 of us. It’s essential to grab a few drink when you’re here. Since we came on a Sunday, it was their Sangria special for $20 a pitcher.

There are tons of fruits in the sangria, and it really helped make the sangria refreshing.

The Food

Filetes de Sardinas Ahumadas has soked sea salt cured sardine filets with fig jam on toast. It was a small size tapas but had delicious salty flavours.

Jambon Serrano is cured Spanish ham with olives. You can’t go wrong with cured meats.

Pisto Andaluz has stewed peppers, tomatoes, squash and onions. It was ok, but not that exciting.

Patatas Bravas are dad’s twice fried potatoes with a zesty dressing. Nice sauce on top but I wished it was more crisp and less soft.

Membrillo Y Queso is aged machego cheese and quince jelly.

Champinones are sauteed mixed mushrooms, garlic, sherry, and finely grated aged manchego. You need to order this.

These croquettes that I can’t remember their official name was really good. Delicious aioli to accompany it too.

Grilled Octopus was very delicious and tender. So good! I could have kept eating this.

Tortilla Espanola is a traditional potato omelette that you should order! It’s actually really good.

Pimientos De Padron has blisted peppers and topped with maldon salt. Eating this dish is like playing Russian roulette, you never know which pepper is spicy. Very fun to pay with the whole table and it tastes good too.

Chorizo a la parrilla is grilled spicy pork sausage with some mustard on the side.

Dessert

Churros are served with hot dipping chocolate and a vanilla mascarpone. SO addictive too.

Overall, Bodega on Main is a great place to drink and have small bites with friends. The main focus I felt was that its more of a drinking place and then secondary its the food. Since the menu is so large, its really hard to figure out what to order.

We rate Bodega on Main:

Address:
1014 Main Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.bodegaonmain.ca/

In Kid Friendly

White Spot: New Comfort Foods Menu

January 20, 2016

Once in a while, I will let M choose a restaurant he wants to go for dinner and I’m not allowed to veto his decision. He wanted to go to White Spot to try their Macaroni & Cheese Bigger Burger. I didn’t mind since it was so close to home and you can’t go wrong with burgers.

Macaroni & Cheese Fritters is made with aged white Cheddar macaroni & cheese. Each plate has 5 crispy panko breaded fritters with Sriracha ketchup. There could have been more Sriracha ketchup for the dish, but it really just tasted like ketchup. The server even gave us a whole bottle of extra ketchup.

The inside of the fritter was nice and gooey. No complaints here.

Macaroni & Cheese Bigger Burger with Island Farms Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream ($15.99) has a 6 oz beef burger with macaroni & cheese, a slice of crispy cheddar cheese, sautéed onions, bacon, Sriracha ketchup, and mayo. Island Farms Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream for dessert.

M substituted the fries/salad with zoosticks. The ice cream also never arrived with this dish.

The burger is magnificent and the crispy slice of cheddar is awesome with the bacon. We just wished there was some more mac and cheese inside it. It’s not comfort unless the mac and cheese falls out of the burger.

Chipotle Mango Pork Chop ($15.99) has a tender chargrilled bone-in pork chop served with sweet potato mash, roasted broccoli & chipotle mango sauce. The sauce was drenched over the pork chop, so all you can see is the bone. I have no idea how chared it was. It was tender, which was good. The sweet potato mash was pretty sweet, so I wish I substituted it for something else. Perhaps normal mashed potatoes.

When we got the bill, we realized they forgot to give us ice cream that accompanied the mac and cheese bigger burger, so we reminded the server about it and asked for it to go. He then took our bill away and gave us a new one with the ice cream.

Afterwards, we realized they charged us extra for the ice cream. It was pretty annoying, but I didn’t realized this until we left the restaurant. If I knew it would cost us extra, I wouldn’t have wanted it.
Overall, there’s really nothing comforting about the comfort menu. If you were to come here, just stick with the burgers.

We Rate White Spot:

Address:
6500 Hastings Street, Burnaby

Website:
https://www.whitespot.ca/menu/promo/comfort

In Brunch

Chez Cora: Breakfast in Richmond

January 17, 2016

Where do you find breakfast in Richmond that’s not Dim Sum? Cora, a Canadian chain of casual restaurants serves breakfast and lunch and they have a location in Richmond on Steveston Highway.

We came on a weekend in the morning before an afternoon movie at the theatre close by. We had to wait a little bit since they had a few large groups that morning. The manager was nice and apologized for the long wait and gave out smoothie samples to everyone.

Coffee is a must in the morning and a few of us can’t go on without it.

Breakfast on a Cheddar crepe has 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, 2 sausages served on a crepe filled with cheddar cheese. Mandu ordered an extra side of sausage with her meal.

M got his version with poached eggs. He asked for them to be soft but it came out to be more of a medium.

Toast came with the meal too. A lot of toast.

Burrito crepe is stuffed with eggs, a black bean patty, red and green peppers, onions, green onions and cheddar. It is served with sour cream, salsa and roasted potatoes.

Buckwheat blessing has 3 sausages and cheddar cheese rolled in a blanket of buckwheat crepe and served with fresh fruit. The fruit this time wasn’t as fresh and also didn’t have much variety as I’ve experienced at other locations. The fruits were not very ripe. The grapes were dirty and unwashed.

This visit, no one really seemed to like their meal. The fruits were very disappointing and lacked its fresh flavours. The rest of the dishes were pretty average and nothing was very special with them.

We rate Cora:

Address:
170-11380 Steveston Highway, Richmond

Website:
http://www.chezcora.com/

In Brunch

Belgard Kitchen: Brunch

January 16, 2016

Belgard Kitchen is inside the Settlement Building in the Downtown Eastside close to Ask for Luigi. My friends and I came here for brunch on the weekend to reconnect and enjoy some good food.

Their brunches are on Saturday and Sunday from 10am – 3pm.

The space is pretty awesome. High ceilings and tons of barrels that make the space quite unique. It’s a brewery and a winery all in one building.

Postmark Ale Sausage Skillet ($15) has crispy potatoes, roasted mushrooms, tomato, poached eggs, smoky onion parmesan cream, with grilled sourdough. A very hearty dish with a little bit of everything.

Belgard Bacon ($10) has maple bourbon pork belly with maple caramel. This definitely isn’t an entree for one person as it’s pretty tiny. It’s more like an appetizer where you would share it with the table. The bacon was nice and thick but it was a tad sweet.

Belgard Brunch Burger ($14) has Pemberton Meadows beef, Village Cheese Works cheddar, caramelized onions, house relish, iceberg, tomato, fried egg, brioche bun, and brunch spuds in a jar. Once you stack the 2 halves together, its quite large. I made sure to eat the egg yolk before putting it together as I didn’t want it to get messy. The potatoes were a good touch, but I wish it was a salad instead.

Salmon Gravlax Hash ($15) has house cured sockeye, crispy potatoes, avocado, pickled onions, arugula, beet with Postmark IPA puree, poached eggs, and smoky onion parmesan cream. It’s a beautiful dish was beaming with colour, but there would have been more salmon on the dish. Very heathy compared to other hashes around town.

Overall, it was good brunch food. Their menu is a good size and you will find a little something for everyone. One thing that we did notice was the service could have been more attentive.

We rate Belgard Kitchen:

Address:
Settlement Building
55 Dunlevy Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://belgardkitchen.com/

In Chinatown

The Keefer Bar: Drinks and Bites

January 12, 2016

The Keefer Bar is a pretty awesome place to hang out after work especially for happy hour. The interior of the bar is very grungy and dark, but it’s so interesting to look around the walls to see remnants of old Chinese medicine and pictures. It’s perfect because this bar is right on the edge of Chinatown, where a few Chinese medicine and herb shops are still around.

My coworkers and I came here right after work to indulge in 2 for 1 appies and cheap drinks. They have the happy hour on Sunday to Thursday from 5pm to 7pm, where appies are 2 for 1. Plus all the daily special cocktails of the week are available. Pretty good deal.

The last time we came here was back in 2013.

Since it is the winter, it gets pretty dark fast, but at The Keefer, it’s always dark in the back room. It’s quite nice and it really sets the atmosphere. Their water is pretty tasty too since its infused with a cinnamon stick.

Singha Beer ($5) is an awesome beer as it has a clean crisp taste, which pairs well with the type of appies they serve here.

Veggie Fritters comes with 6 pieces and accompanied with a cilantro pesto plum dip. It was ok, but I wish it was a bit more crisp.

Peking Duck Sliders comes with cucumber, cilantro, spiced pineapple, and plum sauce inside a big bun. AT first I wasn’t quite sure about the bun, but after I bit in, it surprisingly works well together.

Dim Sum can be chosen with any combination of their Pork, Shrimp or Veggie Dumplings. They were decent, but nothing crazy.

Green Onion Pancake Pizza was topped with a lot of cheese. It was divided up into 6 slices and tasted ok as well.

Spring Rolls can be ordered in any combination of their Vegetarian, Shrimp or Duck spring rolls. We ended up ordering 3 orders of duck spring rolls, so that’s why this plate is topped with a lot of spring rolls. We couldn’t taste much duck inside. It tasted like a plain spring roll.

Chinese Churros with Dulce de Leche was a bit odd sounding since its not exactly a churro. It’s a deep-fried chinese donut. They are actually supposed to be for savoury dishes like congee. The dulce de leche was delicious but we felt like it could have been a tad better if there was a sprinkling of sugar on the Chinese donuts.

The space was very dark, so taking photos was a struggle, but I think I did ok with the candle lights.

Overall, the space is pretty awesome for a few drinks and appies. This is primarily a drinking place where you would socialize and have a few drinks. The food really isn’t the star of the show. The only food item that was pretty good was the Peking Duck Sliders. Their cocktails and beer selection were great!

We Rate the Keefer Bar:

Address:
135 Keefer Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thekeeferbar.com/

In Cafe

Coffee Monster: Coffee and Desserts in Coquitlam

January 11, 2016

I came back to Coffee Monster with a few of my friends to just kill some time and enjoy some coffee and cake. I came here about a year ago and I remember they had good coffee but the cakes and desserts were unimpressive. I do like to revisit restaurants once in a while to see if there are any improvements, so it was the perfect time to do so.

They have beautiful wooden tables inside this cafe so it does have a nice rustic atmosphere.

I noticed there is a time limit of 1.5 hours now, but since it wasn’t too busy today, I don’t think the staff enforced it. Not sure about other days though.

Once you put your order in, you get an electronic device that buzzes when your order is ready. The service at the cafe is ok, but not very warm.

The girls got Spanish lattes, which is a regular latte with sweet condensed milk. They tasted great.

I ordered a cappuccino and it was nice and frothy on top. Their coffee is pretty good.

Matcha tiramisu looked good but once we took a bite into it, the top and the sides were dry like they have been sitting in the fridge for some time.

Overall, similar feelings as the last visit a year ago. Good coffee, but the desserts are subpar and not very fresh. You can definitely skip the cakes and just get coffee or tea.
We Rate Coffee Monster:

Address:
6-405 N Rd Coquitlam, BC

In Brunch

Au Comptoir: Breakfast in Kitsilano

January 10, 2016

Au Comptoir is a classic Parisien cafe in Kitsilano. Flo was back in town and we love meeting up over coffee and delicious food. Thats what foodies do best.

They are open at 8am everyday for breakfast. It’s great that they are open so early.

No breakfast is complete without coffee. I grabbed a cappuccino with my meal. It has a nice pit of latte art on top. They also serve it with a small little cookie. Nice touch.

The water bottle is pretty neat as they reuse old Whiskey bottles.

Breakfast Au Comptoir ($13) has oeuf cocotte, potato rösti, and your choice of house-made sausage or bacon. Flo got the bread replaced with more salad. Bacon is deliciously crisp.

Croque Madame ($14) has gruyère, ham, fried egg on country bread, and salad. I liked how it was served open-faced and it wasn’t too heavy for breakfast. The salad balances out the croque madame.

Overall, it was a good place to catch up with friends over breakfast. The servers were nice and a good place to start the day with food and drinks.

We Rate Au Comptoir:

Address:
2278 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://aucomptoir.ca/

In Chinatown

Ba Le Sandwich Shop: Quick Cheap Banh Mi

January 9, 2016

Ba Le Sandwich Shop in Chinatown is a tiny shop that sells incredibly cheap banh mi sandwiches. Any lunch thats under $5 has got my attention. It’s even cheaper than McDonalds. I’m trying not to spend much for lunch, so anything cheap and decent is good enough for me.

Even when I went to order, they just handed it to me right away. I supposed since it was the lunch rush, they have a few sandwiches premade.

Cold Cut Banh Mi ($3.50) is always one of my favourite kinds of banh mi sandwiches, so I gave it a try to see how it is. When I unwrapped it, it’s really does not look impressive at all. It’s kinda hidden inside.

Inside the crispy bun are the slices of cold cuts and veggies inside. I could always use more ingredients inside, but for $3.50, I won’t complain.

It filled me up for lunch and it wasn’t bad at all. I would come back again for a quick cheap lunch to bring back to the office. Most people come here to get take out.

We Rate Ba Le:

Address:
638 Main Street, Vancouver

In Bubble Tea

Chatime Surrey: Bubble Tea near Surrey Central

January 7, 2016

Chatime opened their newest location near Surrey Central a few steps away from the Skytrain. I’ve been a fan of Chatime since they first opened up a few locations in Richmond and Vancouver. It’s great that they are slowly opening up more locations in the suburbs. Finally closer to home. Woot Woot.

To me, what makes them stand out is the flavours of their drinks. When I was invited to their soft opening, I couldn’t resist trying a bunch of drinks.

The customization on the amount of sugar and ice is great since it can change the flavour of the drink significantly.

They differentiate themselves from the competition by using freshly brewed tea and natural flavouring.

I have 3 drinks that I always order:

Roasted Milk Tea with Grass Jelly (half sweet + less ice)
Brown Rice Green Milk Tea (half sweet + less ice)
Thai Coffee Milk Tea with Coffee Jelly (slightly sweet + less ice)

My asian tastebuds just love these drinks. I don’t like my drinks too sweet, so I never get full sweetness and I don’t like my drinks getting diluted with too much ice. Plus, with less ice, that means more bbt right?

Ice Options: 0%, 80%, regular ,or 120% ice
Sugar Options: 0%, 30%, 50%, 80%, regular, or 120%

Of course they have a lot more drinks to choose from and different jellies and toppings to add inside.

Topping options:

Pearls
Grass Jelly
Pudding
Coconut Jelly
Coffee Jelly
Red Bean
Aloe Vera
Rainbow Jelly

You just need to add 50 cents for the toppings.

The drinks come in 2 sizes – large and regular. They also have hot drinks too. Who gets a regular when you can get a large for only 50 cents more.

Overall, great location and a decent number of seats. Most people do take out from what I’ve observed.

We rate Chatime Surrey:

Address:
10255 King George Boulevard, Surrey

Website: http://www.ichatime.com/

In Chinatown

Ramen Butcher: Tsukemen

January 6, 2016

Another lunch visit to Ramen Butcher means trying something new on the menu with my coworkers. The space is nice and its never too crowded during lunch as most people head to Phnom Penh. This area has definitely changed a lot. The Menya Kouji group has opened up The Ramen Butcher and they own over 150 ramen shop locations around the world.

Such a cute drawing of a pig and its different cuts of meat.

The tall window really give this place a lot of natural light.

Tsukenmen is a Japanese noodle dish consisting of ramen which is eaten after dipping in a separate bowl of soup. When I saw this new item on the menu, I had to give it a try. Seeing that this restaurant has changed a few items on their menu since their opening, I thought I would give it a try.

Tsukemen ($11.55) has a bowl of their house cold thick noodle and then their bowl of their special dipping soup. The noodles seems a bit overcooked and a bit thick for my liking. They stuck together a lot more than I would have liked.

The egg and the pork were delicious. Look at that beauty. The only thing that bothered me about the taste was the strong fish meal taste. It was warmed in the menu, but it was pretty darn fishy.

I would still prefer Taishoken’s Tsukemen a lot more. If you come here, definitely get Ramen Butcher’s other ramen.

We Rate The Ramen Butcher:

Address:
223 E Georgia St
Vancouver BC

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

In Cafe

Oka-San: Sushi + Kitchen + Cafe

January 5, 2016

Oka-san Kitchen is the latest restaurant to pop up on Fraser Street in Vancouver. Oka-san is the Japanese word for mom, thus the name of this restaurant. It’s a cute concept to be served a homemade Japanese meal, so my friends and I decided to come here for a quick lunch. It’s pretty awesome how the neighbourhood on Fraser Street is evolving and all these cool eateries are popping up.

The interior is very cute, not a large space, but there’s enough space for smaller groups.

Later in the afternoon, this place filled up quickly.

Tea arrived at the table in a cute teapot and cups.

Spam nigri was on special for the day. There is caramelized spam with tamago on top of rice. When I saw this on the menu, I couldn’t say no to ordering this. The spam has a delicious flavour to it, but the rice fell apart instantly so it was hard to eat.

We were all drawn to the Mom’s Plate, where you can create your own meal by choosing a main, a raw item and a side. It comes with fruit and miso soup. It seemed like a good item to order so you can get a taste of everything.

Miso soup came in this cute tall cups.

Oyako don + Ebi Mayo +Hawaiian Poke

Kakuni don + Tuna gomae + Veggie Croquette

Gyu don + Kimpira + Hawaiian Poke

Gyu don + Spicy Tuna + Spinach Gomae

The gyu don wasn’t very good as it was overcooked and bland. The oyako don and the kakuni don were decent. The flavours of the items we ordered were average but nothing really stood out in terms of flavours.

Overall, super cute concept of Japanese comfort food with a homestyle twist, but taste wasn’t memorable. I’ve heard from others that the pasta is good here. Perhaps next time, I’ll give that a try.

We Rate Oka-san:

Address:
3578 Fraser Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.okasankitchen.com/

In Brunch

Earl’s Kitchen and Bar: Weekend Brunch

January 3, 2016

Earl’s Kitchen and Bar serves up brunch on the weekends and they invited us to try all 5 of their signature brunch items on the menu. They were founded in 1982 and since then has 65 locations across North America. This particular location in on the 2nd floor right above London Drugs on Robson Street.

The space is large with patio seating as well. We were seated right by the window, so it was nice to watch the cars drive by Robson Street.

To start off the brunch, I got apple juice and the other ladies got orange juice.

Goat Cheese Frittata ($13) has arugula, oven dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, chopped olives, and preserved lemon. The egg was light and fluffy on the bottom and the greens on the top helped lighten the heaviness of the egg.

Sweet Virginia Benny ($13) has sweet virginia ham, poached eggs, hollandaise, grilled sourdough, and crispy fried potatoes.
The eggs were poached perfectly soft! The crispy potatoes were so addictive!

Fried Egg Sandwich ($13) has cheddar, caramelized lemon aioli, tomato, and bacon inside warm griddled sourdough.

This reminded me of a BELT Sandwich but with cheddar. It’s a good alternative. Tasted very satisfying but I wish the side wasn’t potatoes. Perhaps fries or a salad.

Chorizo + Mushroom Hash ($14) has avocado, crispy fried potatoes, topped with poached eggs and hollandaise. This was the favourite dish of the meal.

The egg was poached perfectly and the chorizo, avocado and crispy potatoes just meld together so well.

Sourdough French Toast ($12) has a berry compote, chantilly cream and pure maple syrup. A perfect item to end the meal. Splitting it amongst friends is the best so you can ensure a sweet finish to the meal.

A majority of the dishes use sourdough bread which was easily noticed when we had all the dishes in front of us.

After eating all those dishes, we needed to eat and drink more to digest. We all got coffee and just relaxed.

What better way to enjoy the weekend that brunch with some good friends? The brunch at Earl’s was pretty good and the items were prepared very well. The prices are very fair and I would return again. With all the other brunch options in town, its easily missed.

We Rate Earls:

Address:
1185 Robson Street, Vancouver

Website:
https://earls.ca/

In Cafe

Ha Cafe: Vietnamese Cuisine

January 2, 2016

Ha Cafe is a Vietnamese cafe located in the Old Orchard Centre near Metrotown. KoreanGirl and I wanted to grab some pho but find a place that we haven’t been before. Looking up online, Ha Cafe seemed like a promising restaurant, plus it wasn’t far from home.

The space isn’t too large but their mirrors in the back make it seem like a bigger space. The space is decently clean but there is a bit of a draft closer to the washroom.

Spring Rolls has 3 pieces per order and you can choose between meat or veggie. We got the meat spring rolls and it was very crunchy and was very tasty. I would highly recommend it.

Special Beef Noodle and Soup has beef brisket, rare beef, tripe, and beef balls, rice noodles, bean sprouts, onions and cilantro. I found the broth to be quite clean tasting. It’s not overly salted and it kinda has a corn taste. The bowls are big but the broth is definitely different from most places. Sweet, but it seems to lack depth.

Spicy Beef Noodle and Soup has beef flank, Vietnamese ham, rare beef in spicy beef soup, rice noodles, bean sprouts, onions and cilantro. It’s supposed to come with thick vermicelli noodles, but we asked for the rice noodles instead. It’s not too spicy but it has a bit of a kick. To have it more spicy, we just added chili oil to it.

Overall, not a bad alternative for Pho in the area. Looking at the menu and what other people were ordering, the rice/vermicelli bowls were popular and so was the banh mi sandwiches. Prices were good under $10. The pho is large but the broth is sweeter and lacks depth to it.

We Rate Ha Cafe:

Address:
Old Orchard Centre, 28-4429 Kingsway, Burnaby

In Chinatown

The Union: Drinks and Pan-Asian Eats

January 1, 2016

The Union is an industrial-chic hub serving creative cocktails & Pan-Asian eats, including bibimbop and banh mi. I was quite surprised by the pan-asian menu. It is located right by the Georgia Viaduct.

I came here with my coworkers after work for a few drinks and bites. It was close to our office and it wasn’t too busy yet. Most of the space was reserved for reservations later in the evening, but they were nice enough to squeeze us in.

Main Street Session IPA has a smooth hop bitterness balanced with premium malts, then dry hopped to create this “sensational session” IPA.

Main Street Saison No. 7 is a blend of three Saison yeasts. Light in colour with a golden haze, this Saison shows through with fruity esters, pepper and citrus notes. We all enjoyed this beer as it was definitely lighter than the IPA.

Crispy Pork Belly Vermicelli Bowl has noodles, carrot daikon pickle, cucumbers, lettuce, bean sprouts, peanuts, herbs, scallions, and nuoc cham, a Vietnamese dipping sauce. It was a pretty big bowl! I couldn’t even finish it. The pork belly was delicious deep fried and tasted so good. You can’t go wrong with that.

There are a few different types of sauces that you can also add to your bowl.

Around 7pm, this place got a lot busier. It’s a great place to hang out after work. We all got super full from the items we ordered, plus great selection of beer, wine and cocktails.

We Rate The Union:

Address:
219 Union St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://theunionvancouver.ca/

In Osoyoos

Nk’Mip Cellars: Winery in Osoyoos

December 31, 2015

Np’Mip Cellars is located on 1,200 acres of band land located in Osoyoos, BC. This southern Okanagan area is home to Canada’s only pocket desert. With some of the most spectacular views in the Okanagan, this region is well known for its long, hot summer days and cool nights, mild winters and minimum rainfall. All of these factors contribute to this fabulous grape-growing region.

Their wine shop and tasting room open seven days a week from 9:00 am until 6:00 pm. We were staying at Spirit Ridge Resort just next door and we had to come here to grab a tasting.

The 18,000 square foot winery has the capacity to produce 18,000 cases or 162,000 litres. It’s equipped to handle approximately 60% red grapes and 40% white.

The varietals currently produced are Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Riesling Icewine and several red blends including the ultra premium Mer’r’iym Meritage blend. These grapes come from the Band’s own Inkameep Vineyard as well as the vineyard that surrounds the winery.

You get 2 complimentary tastings and if you want to do 4 more, it’s $3. I went and paid the $3 to try six different wines.

2014 DreamCatcher has orchard fruit on the nose followed by a sensual palette interwoven with honeydew and meyer lemon. This was my favourite white, but sadly they sold out of all their bottles. I wanted to get a few bottles too but I would have to go to another liquor store in Vancouver to pick some up.

2012 Mer’r’iym has an aroma of blueberries, black currant, smoke and tobacco with with flavours of dark fruit and cherry leading into a lengthy structured finish.