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Cartems-Donuterie-outer

Have you found the little donut on Main Street? It’s a bit hidden if you don’t look hard enough.

Cartems Donuterie opened up their 2nd location here. Their other location is on Pender Street Downtown. They have great creative favours that have captured the hearts of many Vancouverites. I’ve had their donuts many times but I always find there are only a few outstanding donuts that I can’t get tired of like their earl grey.

Cartems-Donuterie-inner

Their space is large and is ideal for long line ups. Usually you have a backlog of people staring at the donuts and not knowing what to order.

Cartems-Donuterie-donuts

With a spread like this, it is hard. It took me a while too since I didn’t want to go with my usual order.

Cartems-Donuterie-menu

If you aren’t into donuts, I wonder why you would be here in the first place. Either way, they sell Earnest Ice Cream, Tea and Coffee.

Cartems-Donuterie-boxes

I love their wall of donut boxes. A lot of people seem to get large orders and take them to-go. It’s a great item to bring to a party.

Cartems-Donuterie-london-fog

London Fog Donut is filled with an earl grey mousse inside with the london fog glaze on top. Since I love their earl grey donut, I thought this would be a no brainer. I didn’t really like it.

Next time, I will stick with my usual earl grey donut.

Cartems-Donuterie-cappuccino

Cappuccino is what I ordered. There wasn’t a lot of foam, so I should have ordered it extra dry. I wasn’t a big fan of their espresso that they used. I found it to be quite acidic that what I am normally used to.

Overall, Cartems Donuterie makes great donuts, but I would stick with their signature donuts like earl grey, bee sting, etc. The interior is large and has a good amount of seating.

We Rate Cartems Donuterie

Address:
2190 Main Street,
Vancouver

Website:
http://cartems.com/

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milano-coffee-cup

Milano Coffee Roasters has a hidden location in the Mount Pleasant area. It’s on West 8th near Columbia Street right across from Jonathan Rogers Park. They serve up delicious coffee, pastries and sandwiches in this awesome area.

milano-coffee-inside

It’s an cool space to work or just hang out with some friends.

milano-coffee-patio

They also have a patio area for those hot summer days. In our case, we came during on of the rainy Vancouver days in the summer, so the view wasn’t as great as on a sunny day.  We didn’t mind since Vancouver really needed the rain.

Also, if you’re out on the patio, it’s a fun place to just people watch.

milano-coffee-latte

Latte was what my coworker ordered. Nothing like a delicious latte on a cold rainy day.

milano-coffee-cappuccino

Cappuccino is my drink of choice. It has a lot of foam and they make it right here. Some other places make it like a latte. I loved the taste of the espresso and the amount of milk and foam were great.

milano-coffee-berry-sugar

Blueberry scone has a nice crispy top. It was a good size pastry and goes well with tea or coffee.

milano-coffee-lemon-poppy

Lemon Loaf was moist and had good amount of lemon, poppy seeds and hints of coconut. A good twist on the original lemon poppy seed loaf.

milano-coffee-pastries

Overall, it’s a nice cafe and enjoyable place to just hang out and have a snack. If I lived closer, I would come here more often. The tradeoffs of living in the subburbs.

milano-coffee-inner

We Rate Milano Coffee Roasters35rating

Address:
156 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
milanocoffee.ca

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scent-of-a-sandwich-bije

Scent of a Sandwich is located close to Main St and Hastings St. This place always catches my eye because it’s one of the only places near my office to send mail. My coworker and I thought we should try this place out as we were quite curious about it.

They started off as a catering company, but now has a store to serve sandwiches to the Downtown Eastside community. They roast their meats in-house, source local ingredients and bake fresh bread.

scent-of-a-sandwich-inner

scent-of-a-sandwich-seats

There are a few seats inside, but when we were here, most people were taking it to go.

scent-of-a-sandwich-menu

They usually have 1 feature sandwich of the day you can order, or else you can build you own sandwich.

scent-of-a-sandwich-making

We decided to keep it simple and get the special. They have a bunch of different types of bread you can choose from.

scent-of-a-sandwich-brie-chicken

Chicken and Brie on Whole Wheat Sourdough was what I ordered and I had it to go. It was a busy day at work, so I needed a grab and go type of meal. The is the sliced up chicken, brie, spinach and mayo. Then they put it into a panini grill to get the brie nice and melted.

scent-of-a-sandwich-closer

My coworker and I found it to be a tad dry and underwhelming. It could have used a bit more brie too.

We rate Scent of a Sandwich:

Address:
100-418 Main Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://scentofasandwich.com/

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price-inner

Prince Seafood Restaurant is located right by Renfrew Skytrain and is one of the top Chinese Restaurants in Vancouver. They always draw a crowd for dinner and dim sum. Make sure you have reservations or else you may be out of luck.

prince-soup

Crab Meat with Fish Maw Thick Soup 金湯鮮蟹肉魚肚羹 ($20.80) it’s always good to start with soup for a Chinese dinner. My family usually orders this type of soup and it’s very delicious. If you don’t know what fish maw is, it’s the air bladder of a fish that controls its buoyancy. The taste and texture isn’t weird at all.

prince-beef

Diced Beef Tenderloin & Mixed Mushrooms with Black Pepper 野山菌黑椒神戶牛柳粒 ($22.80) is another favourite item of mine. I found the beef to be quite tender and had great flavour with the right amount of pepper. 

prince-curd

Tofu Skin with Ginkgo & Pea Shoots 銀杏鮮腐皮浸豆苗 ($19.80) is one of my favourite dishes. The pea shoots were cooked perfectly and still retained it sweet taste that paired nicely with the tofu skin. I also love the milky broth.

prince-oyster

Sizzling Oyster with Supreme Soy Sauce 鐵板頭抽生煎蠔 ($22.80) was a weird dish we ordered since my dad wanted to try it. The oyster was plump was was cooked quite well. There is a bit of caramelization on the outside of the oyster which has this amazing smokey flavour but its slightly sweet.

prince-scallop

Scallops and Snowpeas Medley was cooked well. The snowpeas still had a nice snap to them and the scallops were very delicious.

prince-smoked-tea-chicken

Whole Tea Smoked Chicken was the last item that arrived at the table. There was a large gap in the service when the last dish arrived. We had to ask the waiter if this dish was on its way.

prince-dessert

For dessert, they gave us an assortment of little treats. The almond cookie and mango rice roll things were a nice touch.

prince-red-bean

Then there is the red bean dessert with tapioca. Better than most places I would say, but I still don’t particularly like this dessert.

Overall, always a solid place for a Chinese dinner.

We rate Prince Chinese Seafood:

Address:
2881 Grandview Hwy
Vancouver, BC V5M

Website:
http://princeseafoodrestaurant.com/

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menchies-outer

After a hike with the girls and M, we grabbed dinner and then headed off to Menchie’s frozen yogurt in Port Moody for a nice treat to end the day. I like the Port Moody location since it’s fairly new and the space is pretty large compared to the other locations in the Lower Mainland.

Menchie’s currently have 116 locations across Canada and are planning to have another 9 by the end of the year.

menchies-inner

You grab a cup and stop at the yogurt bar to start trying all the different flavours until you can figure out what you want.

menchies-machine

There’s a lot of choices especially for the chocolate lover. I normally go for their original tart flavour, but today, I had to try something new. Their newest flavour is Oreo. They have just over 150 flavours available but the flavours do rotate.

menchies-toppings

Time to add all the topping. I find that the fruit topping is quite scarce, so there isn’t a lot of fruity selection, but they have tons of chocolates and candies to add on top.

menchies-pay

You pay by weight, so the more you put in, the more it will cost.

menchies-seats

Then you can sit and enjoy your Menchie’s creation. It was a hot summer day, so everyone else decide to sit outside to enjoy their froyo. We didn’t mind since there was AC in here.

menchies-strawberry-cheesecake

Original Tart Flavour with cheese cake bites, cookie dough, and popping bubbles. M calls this his Strawberry cheesecake creation.

menchies-made

Oreo Cookie Flavour frozen yogurt in a waffle cone with mini peanut butter cups, Reese’s peanut butter cups crumble, and colourful chocolate bits.

menchies-oreo

I really pilled it on, but sometimes you gotta indulge. I found that it did lack a bit of the signature Oreo flavour in the frozen yogurt. It was more like a cookies and cream. Perhaps I should I put crushed Oreos on top to add more of that flavour.

Overall, Menchie’s has a great space especially this location for seats, but I always get sad at the lack of fresh fruit toppings.

We Rate Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt:

Address:
Suter Brook Village,
146 Brew Street, Port Moody

Website:
http://www.menchies.ca/

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black-rice-outer

Every Friday, my friends and I love to spend time eating and drinking at Japanese Izakayas to unwind after a week of work. Since we’ve managed to hit most Izakayas in Downtown, I had to do some reasearch to see if any new ones have popped up.

Black Rice Izakaya opened a few months ago near BC Place and I had to take my friends here. I made reservations ahead of time since we had a large group. As a designer, I had to giggle a little that they were using papyrus font for their logo.

black-rice-inner

The space is set up slightly odd with a ramp that goes through the restaurant. We found this place was quite packed after work but it was also the One Direction concert during the day I went. The crowd died down around 8pm.

black-rice-bar

They also have a bar area near the front.

black-rice-drinks

The first items we had to order was beer and sake. Friday night traditions.

black-rice-drin

The sake cups were housed in this rectangular box. It was pretty cute.

black-rice-spicy

Spicy Salmon Aburo Hako ($11.95) looks a bit familiar doesn’t it? It’s has asparagus, spicy tuna, sockeye, spicy mayo, jalapeño and then it’s torched.

After eating this, we realized this isn’t an authentic Japanese Izakaya, it was Korean run, so we can see the Korean influence in this roll. It was the type of spice they used in it. Also, most of the servers we heard speaking Korean.

black-rice-sala

Tuna Tataki Salad with Avocado ($7.99) has some nice big pieces of tuna and chunks of avocado. The dressing was light and quite enjoyable.

black-rice-saba

Aburi Saba Hako ($14.25) has a thick piece of saba, yamagobo, shiroita-kombu and then it’s torches. Very good!

black-rice-udon

Yaki Udon ($9.95) was delicious. Nice flavours and textures.

black-rice-block

Ika Ebi Hako ($10.95) bas chopped tiger prawn and squid, then tamagobo, cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. It is then oven baked.

black-rice-ebi-mayo

Ebi Mayo ($9.25) came with 5 pieces, but the mayo part was a bit lacking on this dish.

black-rice-avo-salmon

Smoked Salmon and Avocado Maki Roll ($3.50) was very simple but pretty good. Everyone loves avocado.

black-rice-skewers

Galbi Kushi yaki ($3.60 each) is grilled BBQ prime rib. It was a bit tough and not tender at all.

black-rice-roll

Black Rice Roll ($8.99) has pacific black cod, avocado, cream cheese, and wrapped in black rice. We found that the cream cheese did overpower most of the ingredients in the role, we could hardly taste or notice the cod.

black-rice-chicken

Chicken Karage Nanban ($7.95) was crispy and well cooked. It also comes with this delicious sweet sauce.

black-rice-salmon-roll

Negi Salmon Maki ($3) was a nice twist on the negi toro since we never see negi salmon on a menu or perhaps I’ve been blind. We all really enjoyed it.

black-rice-salmon

Sockeye Salmon Nigiri (2 pieces – $4.40) we got 3 orders of this as there was 6 of us at the table. Delicious and fresh.

black-rice-sushi

Volcano Dynamite Roll ($8.95) has crab meat, prawn tempura, cucumber, avocado, topped with spicy tuna and rolled up in brown rice. It was a pretty massive roll. I didn’t really particularly like it.

black-rice-eel

Unagi Nigiri (2 pieces – $4.70) comes with 2 pieces per order. It was good.

Overall, Black Rice Izakaya is good but I felt the service to be lacking as it took them forever to seat us, give us water and take our order. An item that we ordered didn’t show up and we didn’t figure this out until after we paid the bill. When we asked, they had no idea what happened to it, so they refunded us the missing item in cash.

They also ran out of serving plates and forks when we were here. We brought a cake and so did some other group that was dining there too, so perhaps that’s what happened.

We Rate Black Rice Izakaya:

Address:
782 Cambie Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.blackrice.ca/

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Ramen-Danbo-sign

Ramen Danbo is the newest ramen shop to open up in Vancouver. They are known for their Fukuoka-Style Tonkotsu ramen. Ramen Danbo is a chain restaurant from Japan and the first location in North America.

What makes them unique is that you can customize the ramen you order by selecting

  • amount of spicy tare sauce
  • firmness of noodles
  • amount of lard
  • thickness of broth

At first I was overwhelmed by the amount of choices.

Ramen-Danbo-table

The interior is simple and there aren’t a lot of seats.

Ramen-Danbo-gyoza

Pan-fried yaki gyoza ($4.75) is a crispy pork and scallion dumpling.  Its nice and crisp on the outside and the pork inside is very delicious. Even a little bit of soup comes out.

Ramen-Danbo-sauce

You can dip them in their gyoza and chili sauce.

Ramen-Danbo-rice

Mentaiko Rice ($3.50) has a bed of rice with spicy cod roe, sesame and seaweed. I mixed everything up and there really needs to be more roe. I wouldn’t recommend this. perhaps their Yakibuta chashu pork donburi or yakibuta tanka rice is more flavourful.

Ramen-Danbo-pork

Yakibuta Chashu Pork Ramen with soft boiled egg topping ($11.95 + $1.50) it has size chashu slices that are tender and flavourful. The signature tonkotsu broth is delicious. We found the price pretty good since there are six slices of chashu.

If you are still hungry after this, you can order extra noodles for $2 or have a half order for $1.

Ramen-Danbo-sesame

 Negi-goma Tonkotsu Ramen ($11.45) has scallions and toasted sesame with two slices of chashu pork slices. It is in their signature Tonkotsu pork broth.

I got it with firm noodles and standard amount of lard, thickness, and spice. The options were confusing so I stuck with the standard. It was good, but there is a lot of sesame seeds in it. Check your teeth before you head out of the restaurant because you don’t want to have a teeth full of sesame seed.

Ramen-Danbo-pepper

They also have garlic paste and pepper at the table if you want to enhance the taste.

Ramen-Danbo-outer

Overall, I would say it is my third favourite ramen place in Vancouver. It’s quite subjective based on the type of ramen you like. I still prefer Santouka and Jinya.

We Rate Ramen Danbo:

Address:
1833 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://ramendanbo.com

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nu-chinese-outer

Nu Chinese Bistro is located on McKim Way inside Cosmo Plaza on the 2nd floor. They were formally known as Nu Shanghainese Bistro, but after a change in ownership the name only slightly changed. The restaurant is quite hard to find and with the group of 11 of us, a majority of us took a while to find the restaurant.

As it is on the 2nd floor, it’s not easily seen on the street either.

nu-chinese-inner

The interior is quite nice and spacious. They take reservations for large groups, so it’s perfect for large families to dine here.

nu-chinese-table-setting

They also have private rooms that are slightly dolled up.

nu-chinese-private

So, if you have a special occasion with a large amount of people, they really can accommodate. Just be warned that the service is quite sparse and not very attentive. We always had to nudge them to change our plates and refill our tea and water. Pretty typical with some Chinese restaurants, but lets see whats on their menu.

nu-chinese-mushroom

Sautéed Black Fungus 涼拌木耳 is a cold appetizer that we started off with. It was tender, crunchy and had a subtle hint of wasabi taste. It was odd, but I strangely liked it. I was a tad sick this week, so the wasabi cleared my sinuses a little bit.

nu-chinese-fish

Traditional Shanghai Smoked Fish 老上海熏魚 is another cold appetizer to start off the dinner. Nicely smoked but it was a tad on the dry side. The sweet soy sauce covering each piece went well with it.

nu-chinese-gluten

Soy-Braised Kaofu Bran with Assorted Mushrooms 四喜烤麩 was the third cold appetizer that we had. I always had a strange curiosity about the gluten, which are the porous cubes in this dish. Since it’s so porous, it soaks up the sauce nicely.

nu-chinese-xlb

Xiao Long Bao 南翔小籠包 was the first hot item for the meal. Each bamboo container has 6 dumpling and has a sauce on the side. The dumpling was thin and had ample amount of soup inside. Pretty good.

nu-chinese-coup

Clay Pot Wonton Chicken Soup 砂鍋竹笙餛飩雞 is a light soup to kick off the larger heavier dishes for the evening.  The pea shoots are nice and sweet and I love pea shoots.

nu-chinese-bowl

The staff will help portion the soup so you get a little bit of everything. ConstantCravings got a little bit extra in her soup in the form of a hair. Ick.

nu-chinese-roll

Special Beef Wrap 撈餅牛肉卷  comes with 6 pieces. it was good but the wrap itself was a tad dense for my liking. 

nu-chinese-crab

BC Dungeness Crab with Fried Shanghai Rice Cake BC肉蟹炒年糕 was large and has 2 crabs that make up the dish when we were here. The price varies.

We had our silver shell crackers to break open the hard exo skeleton. The crab took us a long time to crack the shell to get into it’s sweet succulent meat. Quite a messy dish but we did have wet napkins to clean the delicious sauce off our fingers. As for the rice cakes, it was ok, but I would have preferred noodles or rice to accompany this dish.

nu-chinese-pork

Stone Pot Braised Pork Belly Shanghainese Style 石鍋紅燒肉 was my favourite dish of the evening. The pork belly was nicely braised and full of flavour. There were also knots of tofu in the dish. 

nu-chinese-beans

Fried Green Beans with Minced Pork 煸四季豆(攬菜肉鬆)was ok, but I found it to be tad limp and oily.

nu-chinese-tofu

Braised Tofu with Seafood 瓊山海鮮豆腐 was a nice break from the heavy and oily items we ordered. The tofu was very silky.

nu-chinese-bao

Xiang Jiang Tea Smoked Duck 湘江樟茶鴨 comes with little buns as well. The skin of the dusk was crispy but some pieces of meat were quite dry and use more smokey flavour.

nu-chinese-bao-d

I made a mini sandwich was the meat and the bun.

nu-chinese-eggplant

Beef tenderloin and eggplant with black pepper sauce 黑椒茄子牛柳粒 was good but also quite oily.

nu-chinese-fish-oil

Sichuan Style Boiled Fish 蜀香水煮魚 is a typical item I enjoy in restaurants as I love spicy. This particular dish was spicy but enjoyable since it doesn’t scald your tongue with heat for a long time. 

The fish was flakey and tender.

nu-chinese-p

Zhenjiang Style Ribs 鎮江骨 was good, tender and had a yummy sauce.

nu-chinese-dessert

Eight Jewel Sweet Rice 八寶飯 was quite bright in colour with the different ingredients in it. Inside the rice, you can find red bean paste. I didn’t particularly like this dessert.  

nu-chinese-tables

Overall, their menu selection is quite large and diverse, but I didn’t find a lot of items that I particularly loved or stood out. The braised pork belly was great but thats because I love pork belly in any shape or form.

Since they are still new, they have some kinks to work out from their dishes and service.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to dine at Nu Chinese Bistro and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Nu Chinese Bistro:

Address:
Cosmo Plaza,
2170-8788 McKim Way,
Richmond

Website:
http://www.nushanghainesebistro.com/

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farmers-apprentice-sign

The Farmers Apprentice is located in Fairview and they serve a farm to table style cuisine that uses the best ingredients that our local farmers have to offer.

As per weekend tradition, brunch is a must! Farmers Apprentice has been on my ‘eating list’ for a while. They were named best new restaurant of 2014 by En Route Magazine, Restaurant of the Year by Vancouver Magazine, and so many more.

It just seemed like it opened and instantly won all these awards. Either way, I wanted to check it out for myself.

farmers-apprentice-inner

The interior is rustic and has about 40 seats, but they are quite busy. The atmosphere is casual that you feel like you fit right in.

farmers-apprentice-kitchen

Their kitchen is pretty open, so you can see what they are all doing. I love it since you know they have nothing to hide. They just want to make delicious food. The best view of the kitchen is from the bar seats. I love bar seats since you can see all the staff in action.

All the dishes for brunch are meant to be shared and it arrives in the order they prepare them.

farmers-apprentice-coffee

Cappuccino was our drink of choice to start off our day. It came in these clear mugs, so we can see the contents inside.

farmers-apprentice-board

Smorrebord (all 3 – $16 or $6 each) is an open-faced sprouted rye bread sandwich. When we dined here, they had 3 kinds:

  • filet beans, fromage frais, soft boiled egg and roasted onion
  • beef tartare, mustard emulsion, and pickled shallots
  • cod rillette, creme fraiche, pickled beets and dill

It’s a great item to share among friends. What I liked most about this item is the bread! I just love the texture of all the seeds in it. All 3 flavours were great, as you can really taste the ingredients that go into each one. But, I felt like the beef tartare was under seasoned or needed a bit more mustard taste to make the beef taste shine through.

farmers-apprentice-biscuit

Berkshire and tamsworth pork biscuit sandwich with fried egg ($14) this was highly recommended by our server. She says it apparently changes lives when people sink their teeth into this. Definitely brunch worthy. The egg was fried perfectly with a soft yolky centre. The biscuit was damn good too.

farmers-apprentice-octopus

Octopus, sieglinde potatoes, pickled radish, charmoula, and poached egg ($15) was just delightful. The octopus was tender and flavourful. The sauce balanced well with all the other ingredients.

When I was eating this dish, you can’t help but adore each bite of each ingredient. The octopus was really good!

farmers-apprentice-egg

The egg was poached soft and made my heart sing. That’s my favourite type of egg to fit a perfect brunch meal. I get angry at other restaurants when they don’t know how to poach eggs.

farmers-apprentice-chicken

Confit Chicken, potato has, summer squash, and poached eggs ($13) had a similar presentation to the octopus. Great taste and it felt super clean and healthy.

Overall, you can really classify this restaurant as farm to table with hipster west coast flare if there was such a thing? I enjoyed the meal and you can feel the passion that the chef has for this restaurant and this type of cuisine. Plus, BC grows some amazing vegetables and produce great proteins. I’m sure if you asked the staff about where they source their ingredients, you’ll enjoy the stories.

This restaurant won’t appeal to everyone but it’s great to try at least once. It’s feels healthy, clean and delicious. Usually brunch is associated with being greasy and protein heavy, but it’s a nice change coming here.

We Rate Farmers Apprentice

Address:
1535 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.farmersapprentice.ca/

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aw-sriracha-burger-free

A few days ago A&W Canada had an amazing promotion where you can get their new Sriracha Teen Burger for FREE! Absolutely free, no strings attached. Just grab your coupon here: http://awcoupon.ca/en/sriracha

There’s only 100,000 coupons available and it’s going quite quickly.

It’s only one coupon per account, but lots of people on Reddit or Red Flag Deals have been trying ways to hack the system like using screenshots or by printing out the coupon. Technically, you’re supposed to show it on your smartphone to redeem it via awcoupon.ca. Depending on the location, some staff just don’t know.

aw-sriracha-burger-shop

After work, I decided to grab a quick bite with M to the closest A&W near our place to use the coupon.

aw-sriracha-burger

Success! We acquired the free Sriracha teen burger! It’s originally priced at $5, but you can make it a double teen burger for $6. Since we used the free coupon, they wouldn’t let us upgrade to the double teen burger if we paid a bit more. Since the burger was free, I was still happy.

aw-sriracha-burger-mayo

The Sriracha mayo is quite spicy and doesn’t take much like Sriracha at all. It reminded me more of a chipotle mayo but a few notches spicier.

aw-sriracha-burger-peppers

M and I loved the added touch of the roasted red peppers. We loved the Sriracha teen burger and we would order it again.

aw-sriracha-burger-banner

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JJs-Trucketreria-truck

JJs Trucketeria was outside one of our offices during the lunch hour, so we decided to devour their amazing Filipino BBQ meats. You can’t go wrong with anything from their menu. For healthier options, they do have a market bowl or salad.

JJs-Trucketreria-sandwich

JJ’s Signature Panwich ($7.50) has your choice of either Filipino BBQ pork or Lemongrass chicken. It is served on top of pandesa, which is a Filipino bun. Mags and Anne got theirs with BBQ pork.

It’s a sandwich with great value for lunch for so much delicious flavour.

JJs-Trucketreria-TheHalfer

Garlic Fried Rice Big Plate ‘The Halfer’ ($10.50) is huge. It has Filipino BBQ pork, lemongrass chicken, garlic fried rice, fried egg, and JJ’s dipping vinegar. It was massive and I could only finish about 60% of this. The garlic rice is subtle and not too pungent.

Overall, one of the best food trucks with good value plus delicious meats. You can find them at most food truck festivals around town. Just make sure to check the Vancouver Street Food App to see where they are located.

We Rate JJs Trucketeria

Location:
Varies

Website:
http://jjstrucketeria.wix.com/jjs-trucketeria

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Elysian-seats

Elysian Coffee has 3 cafes in Vancouver and I made a trip to their Mount Pleasant location with J for a morning coffee before work. Their space looks fantastic with lots of natural light coming into the cafe. No wonder there was already a few people on their laptops this early in the morning.

They opened this location near the end of 2014 taking over CocoaNymph. It’s a neighbourhood gem and it really caters to the hip offices in the area. They also have a roasting room and bakery in the back.

Elysian-inner3

Elysian-inner2

Elysian-baked

Elysian-cappuccino

Cappuccino ($3.75) was very enjoyable. Great to kick off the morning with a strong coffee and fluffy foam.

Elysian-cheese-scone

Chive and Cheddar Scone ($3.25) was pretty awesome It has a crispy cheese exterior with so much chives inside. Very delicious!

Overall, I was impressed by Elysian Coffee and the beautiful space. It’s a hit hidden as it isn’t on a main road.

We Rate Elysian Coffee

Address:
2301 Ontario Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://elysiancoffee.com/

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Aqua Sushi + Organic Juice Bar

Making a revisit to a restaurant is always great as I always discover new things on the menu. The food at Aqua Sushi has always been of great quality and I’ve been making a lot of trips there recently for lunch. My office is close by, so it’s a great alternative to the other restaurants close by.

I recently noticed their Sashimi Brown Rice Bowls that were pretty substantial for a lunch hour meal.

aqua-sushi-negitoro-rice-bowl

Spicy Tuna and Negitoro Brown Rice Bowl ($11.50) has all the sashimi mashed up with pickled ginger, veggies, wasabi on a bed of brown rice. What I liked about this rice bowl is that you can mix up the rice, tuna and negitoro all together so every bite tastes delicious. The brown rice by itself is also very delicious.

It’s a good gluten-free alternative, but don’t forget to ask them for gluten-free soy sauce! They also have less-salt soy sauce.

aqua-sushi-tuna-salmon-rice-bowl

Wild Salmon and Tuna Brown Rice Bowl ($11.50) has 3 pieces of tuna and 3 pieces of salmon with the wasabi, pickled ginger, greens and on top of the brown rice. A beautiful and healthy lunch. I always take a wasabi lump out as I find its too much.

Overall, great spot for lunch with super healthy options.

We Rate Aqua Sushi + Juice Bar: 

Address:
1764 Manitoba Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://aquajuicebar.com/

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[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1764+Manitoba+Street+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=1764+Manitoba+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5Y+1H9&z=15 “]

hakkasan-outer

Hakkasan Bistro Cafe is located in a very obscure area in East Richmond close to Ikea and the International Summer Night Market. They are a family-run establishment opened in 2007 by a mother and her two daughters. Renowned for their tasting menus, Hakkasan aspired to refine and elevate the Chinese dining experience. After 6 rewarding years, Hakkasan underwent a big renovation in 2013 and recently relaunched with the re-opening of what is a now a trendy bistro cafe that offers a new diverse menu selection in addition to tasting menus.

I wouldn’t have thought this restaurant would be located here. There’s nothing but warehouses and furniture stores nearby. Since there is no other food alternatives close by, they do draw a crowd during lunch from the stores around it. They even have grab-n-go meals for those in a rush. A taste of home without cooking anything.

I came here to dinner with the Chinesebites crew to indulge on a customized tasting menu for us. You can find these items on their regular menu.

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They can cater to large groups and smaller groups. It’s always good to make a reservation since you never know if they will be very busy or not.

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Honey Roasted Pork Cheeks were so good! The sweet honey sauce enrobes the tender and fatty pork cheeks. This is probably one of my favourite places to get pork cheeks now.

hakkasan-coconut

Chef’s Signature Whole Coconut Pork and Snow Fungus Soup is doubled boiled for over 3 hours in a the beautiful young coconut. It comes steaming hot and stay hot for a while. It serves one person or you can split with someone else but why do that when it’s so good. You need to reserve this soup a day in advanced.

The reason it needs advanced preparation is that the slow cooking method allows the coconut meat flavour to infuse into the soup creating the unique aroma and taste.

hakkasan-coconut-soup

Inside you will find pieces of pork and snow fungus in the delectable chicken broth infused with coconut. It was one of my favourite dishes here. It is pricey at $22 per soup, but if it was a special occasion, I would get it. You also need to reserve this a day in advanced.

hakkasan-salt

Ancient Style Salt Baked Chicken is a specialty item that needs to be reserved in advance since they need to take time to prepare this item.

The chicken is marinated with a blend of 10 different Chinese herbs and spices, then the free-range chicken is wrapped in parchment paper, place in the clay pot with a mound of coarse salt.

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Once it’s open, you will see the delicious chicken hiding inside the parchment paper. It’s like Christmas, but all you get is a chicken. This slow baking technique ensures the chicken stays tender, moist, and flavourful when its done.

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They prepare the chicken and portion for everyone at the table. Because of the baking process, the chicken is tender and flavourful. Of course I loved the dark meat.

hakkasan-lobster

Steamed Specialty Odorless Garlic Lobster is served on a bed of jasmine rice. Our table agreed that there needed to be a bit more flavour in the rice. The rice was more oily than flavourful. Perhaps if it was fried rice instead of jasmine rice, it would be a bit more enjoyable.

hakkasan-pork

Braised Pork Hock is pretty massive and I drooled over this. It was nice and fatty and so much flavour. Mmmm Mmm Mmmm. Everything just really melts in your mouth.

This is another item that needs advanced ordering.

hakkasan-bun

To balance out the flavour are bao/bun that is served with it. You can make some mini braised pork hock sandwiches or just dunk it into the sauce.

hakkasan-egg

Hakka Homestyle Steam Egg with pork with duck yolk is a very smooth like custard. The salty duck yolk balanced out the steamed egg.

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Stirfry fish with pickled cabbage was ok, I didn’t really love this dish as I felt the star of the dish was masked.

hakkasan-veggies

Mui Choy Stirfry was ok. I found it was quite oily and hard. I would have preferred some other steamed vegetables.

hakkasan-pudding

Steamed Milk Egg White Custard was the dish to end the evening. It was an ok dessert, but it didn’t wow me. I thought their dessert would be a little bit more elaborate like some of the dishes we saw tonight.

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With their renovations and a revamped menu, they have some pretty good food but it is pricey. Lunch here is definitely more affordable, but dinner is a whole other experience.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to dine at Hakkasan Bistro and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Hakkasan Bistro:

Address:
110-2188 Number 5 Road, Richmond

Website:
http://www.hakkasan.ca/

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bnb-cafe-counter

Brews and Bites Cafe open on Main Street near 2nd last Monday. Despite what you initially think, they do not brew beer, but they do brew coffee. My coworkers noticed this place a few weeks ago and we made it a mission to come give it a try. Since we work in the area, we basically have had coffee and eaten at most places in the area. When something new comes to the hood, we’re on it. hahaha.

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The interior is beautiful and has a good amount of seating. There is free wifi and is a comfortable space to work.

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Cappuccino was delicious, nice and foamy. A good start to the day. I would be a nice touch if they had customized the to-go coffee cups rather than the generic ones.

Croissant was pretty bad. It was dense and didn’t taste very fresh.

My other coworkers got breakfast sandwiches and they all didn’t like those either and said it was too salty.

bnb-cafe-sign

I had higher expectations for this place as the space looks really nice. Coffee is decent, but the food really needs to improve if it wants to survive in this area. They definitely have a lot of competition since Starbucks, Terra breads, Tim Hortons, McDonalds and Matchstick Coffee is a few blocks away.

We rate Brews and Bites Cafe

Address:
1635 Main Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.bandbcafe.com/

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shiang-garden-outer

Shiang Garden Seafood Restaurant is an authentic Chinese restaurant featuring Cantonese dim sum and live seafood. They are located on No. 3 Road close to Parker Place. This is a popular location for weddings as they can seat a large amount of people, plus the layout is ideal for a large banquet wedding.

The restaurant is on the 3rd floor, so you have to go through the parking lot. Their other entrance is currently under construction.

Surprisingly I haven’t been here yet. I came here for a ChineseBites dinner with a few other bloggers to eat through this 14 course meal. I’ve been balancing weekly hikes with these dinners.

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They have about 15 chandeliers in here as well as lots of round tables. In the centre of the room is even a visible dance floor.

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shiang-garden-shrimp

Prawns Salad with Papaya has half a papaya filled with fruit, mayo and 2 plump prawns. I’m usually not a fan of mixing savoury and sweet items, but its a strange combination that works. It makes a great appetizer since it is refreshing.

shiang-garden-soup

Tremella with Chicken & Crab Meat Soup and topped with tobiko. You can add a little of the red vinegar to add a tad more flavour. Soups are definitely essential to a good Chinese dinner.

shiang-garden-chicken

Whole Chicken in Abalone Sauce is decorated like a peacock with the veggies and cherries. It even comes with its head. They really don’t waste any part of it…but you’re not supposed to eat the head anyways.

The chicken was very moist and went great with the abalone sauce.

shiang-garden-beef

Diced Beef Tenderloin in Honey & Pepper Man, the beef is really tender and I could eat this all day! So good! Also, whoever cut those cucumbers has mad knife skills and a super sharp knife.

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shiang-garden-pork

Specialty Layer Pork with bok choy. A slab of oh so delicious pork belly cooked slowly till pure perfection. It was moist inside with a great deal of flavour. Well executed as the bok choy balanced out the fattiness of the pork.

shiang-garden-lamb

Lamb Chop with Honey & Pepper reminded me of the diced beef tenderloin. Perhaps similar sauce and both were uber tender. So good!

shiang-garden-fish

Whole Tilapia in En-Ping Style is deboned and the flesh is quite delicate. Also comes with head, which can be a freaky thing.

shiang-garden-lobster

Lobster in Salted Egg Yolk is not a very common flavouring for lobster in a restaurant. It is very delicious and unique. I would still prefer it tossed in a lighter sauce. They did cook the lobster very nicely.

shiang-garden-crab

BC Dungeness Crab in White Wine Sauce is always a little bit more difficult to eat since you need to open up the legs and dig for the meat. Definitely not for everyone, but it is a Chinese staple in a large dinner like this.

shiang-garden-spot-prawns

Steamed Spot Prawns in Garlic were prepared in a unique way. I have never seen prawns sliced down the middle. It made picking at the meat difficult. I really love them whole and I can peel them apart with my bare hands like a beast, but of course thats not very civil in a restaurant setting.

As it is closer to the end of the Spot Prawn season, these were on the small side.

shiang-garden-seafood

Sauteed Mixed Seafood on a bed of snow peas and beautifully cut cucumbers and oranges. I love seafood and this dish has a good variety of it.

shiang-garden-veggies

Buddha’s Feast Roll with Cabbage is a vegetarian dish. They did a good job putting together the rolls as they did not fall apart. It was cooked well and I also enjoyed this dish even though it has no meat.

shiang-garden-dessert

For dessert, we had Baked Durian Pastry and Osmanthus Flower Cake Pudding. I had half a durian pastry, but it just taste like onions to me. Some people love this stuff. As for the cake pudding, it has a very subtle taste and its a nice way to end the meal.

Overall, all the dishes were well executed and tasted fabulous. No wonder people have weddings and go crazy over dim sum at Shiang Garden. Definitely try to make reservations ahead of time. I wasn’t disappointed by any dish. I’ll be back!

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to dine at Shiang Garden and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Shiang Garden

Address: 
Empire Centre
4540 Number 3 Road, Richmond

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food-cart-fest-signs

Food Cart Fest is Vancouver’s biggest celebration of street food and they are returning for a fourth year with more food carts and expanded entertainment programming that includes a live-music patio.

It goes on every Sunday during the summer from June 28th to September 6th, 2015 during the hours of 12pm -5pm.

The Food Cart Fest is located between the Cambie Bridge and Olympic Village. It’s easily accessible by transit.

food-cart-fest-vancity-free

Admission is $2.50, but there are ways to get in for free:

  • Free for Vancity Members
  • Free with a non-perishable donation to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society
  • Free for children 13 and under
  • Free for seniors 65 and over

food-cart-fest-bike-valet

Travelling on a bike and not sure where to keep it secure? There’s free bike valet so you don’t need to worry about your bike being stolen.

Food Trucks and Food Vendors

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Every week the food truck vendors do switch up, so keep an eye out for which ones will be there.

The list includes:

There’s probably others that aren’t on this list.

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Be ready for lineups! The most popular food carts like Mom’s Grilled Cheese and Tacofino will constantly have long lines. Especially during the hot summer weather, make sure you have sun screen on or a really big hat.

The Food

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Lets be real, food is really the main attraction and everyone needs a bite of the Vancouver Food Cart Scene. I love food carts and summer is a great time to see them out and about at special events.

food-cart-fest-mogu

Mogu Japanese Street Eats serves up Japanese inspired burgers and their famous chicken karaage. You can also find them at the Richmond Night Market as well as their usual location in Downtown during the weekday.

food-cart-fest-mogu-burger

Ebi Katsu has a breaded deep-fried prawn patty, house made Japanese tartar sauce, and lettuce. That patty is loaded with shrimp! Definitely try it out.

food-cart-fest-mogu-chicken

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Karaage has marinated deep-fried chicken topped with their house made sweet chili sauce. A crowd favourite!

food-cart-fest-dougie

Dougie Dog serves up all-natural gourmet hot dogs. You may have heard of them because they made an unsuccessful pitch on Dragons Den.

food-cart-fest-spicy-dougie

La Mexicana Hot Dog has guacamole, salsa, bacon, jalapeño peppers, and topped with cheddar cheese. It was pretty spicy because of the hot dog and the jalapeño peppers, but the guacamole balances it out a bit more to cool off the initial spicy taste.

food-cart-fest-johnny-pops

Johnny’s Pops is always a popular option for awesome popsicles! Make sure to grab some quickly because they sold out before 3pm on opening day. I waited too long and wanted it to be the last thing I ate here, but I was too late.

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Don’t forget to take a photo of it first! Photo first! Eat second!

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Don’t forget to stay hydrated. They have their odd booth called “World of Drinks”. Drinks range from $2 – $4.50.

Summer Patio

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New this year is the summer patio with live music and alcoholic drinks. It is 19+, so make sure you have ID. They try to showcase the best craft beer and wine the province has to offer.

food-cart-fest-tables-beer-garden

There are lots of tables and seats available in the area.

food-cart-fest-drink-ticket

You just need to buy drink tickets to be able to sample the drinks. They are around $5.

food-cart-fest-beer

While I was here, there was Maui Brewing Co, Laurelwood Public House & Brewery and Redhook Ale Brewery. Also Summerhill Pyramid WineryRiver Stone Estate Winery and Bombay Sapphire.

I’m sure there will be a rotating selection of craft beers, wine and liqueurs.

food-cart-fest-bombay

Activities

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Of course there is more to the food cart fest than just eating. They have included a few fun activities to keep you occupied like life-sized connect 4!

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Super-sized checkers game.

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They have big jenga too! These 3 games are all located inside the huge shady tent.

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Ping Pong

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An imitation beach with a live DJ.

The East Side Flea

food-cart-fest-east-side-flea

They were here for the opening weekend. There are a variety of vendors selling some pretty neat stuff.

I’m not 100% if they will be back again, but you can check out their future locations on their Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/eastsideflea

food-cart-fest-zero-waste

The food cart fest is a zero waste event and they try to divert as much waste away from landfills as possible. With the amount of garbage generated, it’s not great for the environment if we just chuck it all away. Last year the festival was able to run for 11 weeks, diverting 93% of the waste generated onsite. Thats pretty damn awesome.

I was actually quite confused how to separate my waste, but there’s usually someone around to guide you.

food-cart-fest-city

Overall, it is a fun Summer event in Vancouver. It’s a great way to hit a bunch of food carts at once all in one place. I did find on the opening day that the line up to enter the food cart festival was long and also certain line ups to the popular food trucks were also long. Paying an entrance fee and then paying for food seems a bit off since food trucks are all over the city on the weekday. Luckily, there are options for free entry.

This event isn’t for everyone. If you hate the sunny weather and hate lines, this isn’t the event for you.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by the Food Cart Fest organizers for a media preview to sample some food and also I am an employee of Vancity. I ensure you that all thoughts are my own.

Address:
215 W 1st Ave (between the Cambie Bridge and Olympic Village).

Website:
http://www.foodcartfest.com/

circle-farm-tours-tactor-logo

When you’re in the Fraser Valley, don’t forget to take a look at the Circle Farm Tour. It is a self-guided farm tour and it is available in 5 different regions:

  • Abbotsford
  • Agassiz + Harrison Mills
  • Chilliwack
  • Langley
  • Maple Ridge + Pitt Meadows

Depending where you are passing through, make sure you make a few stops at the farms or wineries. Each farm is unique in its own way and you can really go grocery shopping at the source of it all – the farm. Just make sure you pack a cooler so nothing spoils.

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It’s free and you can go at your own pace. Especially if you have kids, you know sometimes they can’t be kept on a schedule. The only requirement is that you need to travel in your own car.

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Make sure you have a GPS or a map to navigate your way around. Even though we have Google Maps on our phones, we did manage to get lost a few times.

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We actually didn’t mind because the drive is very nice! Mountains in the background, lots of trees, and even some animals.

circle-farm-tours-house

I made a long stop at The Farm House Natural Cheeses as it was one of the highlights on our tour. It’s a family farm near Harrison Hot Springs

circle-farm-tours-shop

Right before the barns, you will see a shop where you can purchase a variety of their dairy products.

circle-farm-tours-curds

I even got myself some cheese curds! Who says you need to go all the way to Montreal to get squeaky cheese.

circle-farm-tours-cat

Besides buying cheese, you can go into their barns and check out their animals in the area. We saw a few cats and man, these cats were nice and friendly. Very chill cats and they just were enjoying the nice summer weather.

circle-farm-tours-cow

You need cows to produce milk to make a lot of dairy products, so we caught a glimpse of their cows. These cows looked happy, they had  lots of space to walk around and were not crammed together.

I really admire that. You gotta keep the animals happy in order to make high quality products.

circle-farm-tours-goat

Then there were the goats. They had a lot of goats that were so vocal and curious that we were on the farm. I think they wanted to jump out of the barns to check us out. Very cute and beautiful.

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There were also horses!

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Every farm is a little bit different and may have other activities or special events happening.

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Be sure to check out the Circle Farm Tour to see which farms works for you and if it is worthwhile making a stop.

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The tour can be short if you only want a day trip out of the city. I enjoyed making a few stops at the farms since it’s good to really take a day and spend it away from the city. There’s a lot we take for granted and BC farms make some awesome produce.

Website:
http://www.circlefarmtour.com/