Type Archives - Page 64 of 125

In Cafe

The BBT Shop: Bubble Waffles and Tea

April 12, 2015

The BBT Shop is located under Superstore in Richmond on No. 3 Road. I kept seeing beautiful pictures on Instagram and I knew I had to check out this place with a few friends. Their signature items are Bubble Tea and Bubble Waffles.

Inside the store, the menus are up on 3 TV screens and there are also a bunch of display cases where you can purchase some toys and figurines.

When you order the bubble waffles, the wait is a bit long.

Matcha Frappe with Grass jelly ($5.25 + $0.50) topped off with whipped cream.

London Fog ($3.99) was what I ordered. I know it’s pretty strange not to get a bubble tea, but I’ve been having an addiction to london fogs for the past few months.

Strawberry and Cream Bubble Waffle ($6.75) is very crispy with a good amount of strawberries and whipping cream on top. The one thing I felt was lacking was the waffle itself. It is quite hallow, so I really miss the bouncy texture that lies inside. Because the waffle is hallow inside ( or at least ours was), you don’t get full from it.

Everything looks beautiful but we didn’t like the texture of the waffle.

We Rate the BBT Shop:

Address:
#105 4651 No.3 Road
Richmond, BC

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

In Downtown

Pizza Fabrika: Pizza for the People

April 6, 2015

Pizza Fabrika is located on Denman Street close to the West End. To go with their artisan pizza, they serve a variety of craft beers. I came here for a Zomato MeetUp event to enjoy some delicious food and meet some foodies.

The inside has 2 long tables, which are great for groups. They have smaller tables for 2 -4 people.

Beer Bison Meatballs ($8) is served with tomato sauce, gremolata & Grana Padano. There’s about 25% pork and 75% bison meat in the meatballs to give it the firm and unique taste.

Mac and Cheese was cheesy and full of flavour. It is topped with gremolata.

Beet Salad ($6) has herb ricotta and walnuts on top. It was a pretty good salad. Good for before the meal of pizza that we were about to devour.

Arugula Salad ($6) is topped with toasted pine nuts, yellow tomato dressing, and shaved Grana Padano. A simple and light salad.

Lamb Sausage Pizza topped with arugula.

Margherita Fabrika Pizza has tomatoes, fior di latte, and fresh basil. I had high hopes for this pizza, but the topping just fell off the pizza and didn’t hold together well.

Pesto Pizza with yellow pepper, tomato, and goat cheese. It’s a vegetarian option, but I just loved the pesto! Who doesn’t love pesto.

Dark Matter Pizza is their featured pizza and it has sausage made with Dark Matter Ale beer, braised short ribs, and sautéed mushrooms. Yummy flavour!

Overall, the topping had a great flavour, but some of the pizza’s were quite soft in the centre and didn’t hold well together. Sometimes we needed a knife and fork to eat it.

We Rate Pizza Fabrika:

Address:
1680 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.pizzafabrika.ca/

In Dessert

Styo: Frozen Yogurt with Style

April 2, 2015

Styo is a new dessert shop on Denman Street that specializes in smoothies, frozen yogurt and waffles. With my SocialShopper voucher in hand, I took KoreanGirl and Mandu here to share 2 Savoury Waffles and 2 frozen yogurts. Everything is freshly made to order, so you can see them making your dessert right in front of you.

There is a decent amount of seating inside. It’s a bit hard to have group seating but I’m sure you can be creative and rearrange some chairs.

Green Tea Twist ($3.95) has a nice subtle flavour, not too sweet.

Mango Frozen Yogurt ($4) is their original frozen yogurt with mango sauce drizzled around it.

Savoury waffles are different than the batter they use for their sweet waffles. It’s great because their savoury waffles are pretty awesome. I find that they taste like croissants and have the consistency of croissants too.

Turkey Mozzarella Savoury Waffle ($7.50) was our favourite! It was like eating a turkey and mozzarella croissant that got smushed in a waffle iron.

Ham and Cheese Savoury Waffle ($6.50) was similar to the Turkey and Mozzarella Waffle. Yummy as well.

Overall Styo, is a pretty good dessert shop for waffles and frozen yogurt. A good surprise to pop up in the West End. I haven’t tried the sweet waffles. We tried attempting to get a sweet and savoury waffle, but with the SocialShopper Voucher we could not choose a sweet option even though it is cheaper according to their menu. It was a bummer, but we were not sad about it because the savoury waffles were pretty addictive. I can imagine this a a great place to take kids.

We rate Styo:

Address:
907 Denman St
Vancouver, BC

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

In Cafe

Prado Cafe: New Location in Gastown

April 1, 2015

Prado Cafe has finally opened their second location in Gastown. Their first location is on Commercial Drive and it’s a loved cafe in the neighbourhood. They really focus on crafting the perfect brew and creating a great atmosphere.

They use Parallel Forty Nine coffee in their brews, plus they have quality baked goods, sandwiches, light snacks and sweets.

I came before work to grab a coffee and a pastry before the work day begins. It’s always important to be caffeinated.

Their drinks are reasonably priced and the staff seem to be friendly.

Some of their yummy treats are presented quite nicely especially their bars.

Magic Bar ($3.60) was chosen because of it’s name. It has chocolate chips, toasted coconut and a buttery sugary mixture like a butter tart.

Cappuccino ($3.60) was really good! Just what I needed for the morning to wake me up.

I love how they name some of their baked goods especially the cookie with no name.

Overall, it’s a good addition to the neighbourhood. It’s also a very comfortable space to do some work and sip on coffee. I will definitely be back.

We Rate Prado Cafe:

Address:
100 W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://pradocafevancouver.com/

In Richmond

LuLu Island Winery: Tour and Tasting in Richmond

March 22, 2015

I never knew there was a Winery in Richmond until now. LuLu Island Winery is an award-winning producer of wine. They also are Canada’s largest exporter of Icewine to China.

During the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, LuLu Island Winery was selected as China’s hospitality centre – China House, a place where athletes, coaches, team officials and the Chinese media can take a break from the high-pressure competition, welcome guests and celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year.

During our Tourism Richmond Media Trip, we had a stop here to have a tour and taste of what LuLu Island Winery has to offer. The space is huge and they have various tasting rooms.

Throughout the year, it is a regular tourist destination for those traveling via tour buses.

During the Tasting Tour, you get to sample a variety of their red wines, white wines and icewine. Since our group had a limited time here, we just went straight to the tasting. Usually, a tour and tasting would be 90 minutes long.

A tasting isn’t necessarily only for wine lovers, it’s a way to figure out what types of wines work for you.

For myself, I don’t enjoy red wine as it is not as sweet as white wine. I love white wine like a Pinot Gris or Riesling.

The tasting was quite educational and I did learn a thing or 2 about icewine.

In Canada, icewine is trademarked as one word. If you see ice wine or iced wine, they are fakes.
Icewine from Canada has a VQA stamp to ensure consumers they are purchasing 100% BC wine.

There’s increasingly more and more fake icewines being sold in China, so you really need to do your homework before purchasing a bottle because icewine’s are not cheap.

Icewine for me is just way too sweet. I’ll buy it as gifts for family members in other countries but it’s not for me.

If you think all wines are made of grapes, that’s a lie. LuLu Island Winery makes some amazing fruit wines like Blueberry wine, Raspberry wine, and Passionfruit wine.

A local favourite is the Blueberry wine. BC produces tons and tons of blueberries and it makes the perfect wine. It has a delicate, clean, light blueberry flavour. Slightly sweet. It makes for a great gift or you can consume it all yourself.

I did enjoy the winery tasting and I would highly recommend it.

Address:
16880 Westminster Hwy
Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.luluislandwinery.com/

In Dim Sum

Top Shanghai Cuisine 上海一只鼎: Shanghai Cuisine in Richmond

March 21, 2015

Top Shanghai Cuisine Restaurant is in Richmond and we came here for a morning Shanghainese meal. We came right when it opened. Within 30 minutes this restaurant was packed and there was a line forming.

In 2013, they won best Dim Sum restaurant from the Chinese Restaurant Awards.

All around the dining room are lots of pictures of their dishes. It makes you even more hungry when waiting for dishes to arrive.

Salty Soy Milk is one of my favourite dishes to order at a Shanghai Restaurant. It’s a savoury soup with tofu puffs, green onions, tiny shrimp, and a tad of chili oil.

Chinese Donut is a long golden brown donut.Except it’s not sweet at all. It is salted and eaten during breakfast with congee or soymilk.

Wontons with Chili Sauce is another one of my favourites. It has a bunch of boiled wonton and then slathered with chili oil mixture on top.

Xiao Long Bao or steamed pork dumpling comes with 6 pieces per order. The skin is thin and there’s lots of hot soup inside with the tender pork. Eating these are fun because you must not pop the skin or else the soup will ooze out. The way I eat these are just putting it on my spoon, bite a tiny hole into the XLB and sip the soup inside. Then I can devour the rest.

I’m pretty sure everyone orders this! It’s what they are known for.

Pan-fried Pork Buns has 6 per order, the one that arrived for us combined both orders. The bun is much thicker that the Xiao Long Bao, but has similar soup and pork inside. Another top selling item from this restaurant.

Fried Fish in Seaweed Batter was surprisingly very delicious and addictive! It’s very aromatic and pairs so well. The look may not be very appealing, but you gotta order this if you have a large group.

Spring Rolls is a weird thing to see on the menu as it is a Shanghainese restaurant. The spring rolls were pretty average but nothing about it stood out.

Shanghai Pan Fried Noodles had a good amount of vegetables and the sauce tasted great.

Sticky Rice Rolls were wrapped up in plastic wrap and then portioned out. I have never seen it in a restaurant like this. You can eat everything but the plastic wrap. I think they kept it on as it makes it easier to eat without the rice sticking to your hands.

Inside the rice rolls is pickled veggies, Chinese donut and pork floss. Pretty standard fillings. I found this to be rather bland and boring.

Deep Fried Pastries with Daikon was something I haven’t seen before. A deep-fried bun with lots of shredded daikon inside.

Beef Brisket Noodle Soup is a bit hard to share with a big group unless you have awesome chopstick skills. It was really good and the beef brisket had a good depth of flavour.

Overall, the food here is good, but still not the best. My favourite Shanghainese place is still Long’s Noodle House on Main Street.

We Rate Top Shanghai Cuisine:

Address:
8100 Ackroyd Rd #120
Richmond, BC V6X 3K2

Website:
http://www.topshanghaicuisine.com/

In Bubble Tea

Uncle Lu 安可盧萬巒豬腳: Taiwanese Cafe in Richmond

March 18, 2015

Uncle Lu is a new café that opened last year in Richmond. They are a Taiwanese bubble tea café specializing in braised pork hock, noodle soups and bubble tea.

The restaurant has high ceilings and they also have a good amount of booth seating.

I’m pretty picky when it comes to bubble tea. So when we asked if they use powder in their bubble tea, they said no. But the waitress didn’t understand our question. Definitely lost in translation. After putting in our order, we saw them take out the large powdered containers and then we knew they use powder. We inquired with another waiter and he did confirm they only use powder since there’s not a lot of fruit in season during winter.

Royal Milk Tea ($4.75) was alright. It did have quite a bit of foam at the top.

Mango Slush with pearls ($4.75) is a nice refreshing drink when it’s hot outside. Great for summer.

Deep Fried Peppery Chicken with Basil ($6.75) is a good snack. Good for sharing too. Nice crunchy exterior with juicy tender meat inside.

Braised Pork Hock is marinated in soy sauce and comes with a potent garlic sauce. Certain parts are quite fatty so we just avoided those parts.

Five Spice Beef Wrap ($5.95) comes chopped up into 5 pieces. Good flavour of the five spiced beef.

Taiwanese Style Grilled Steak ($10.95) comes on a hot skillet with noodles, veggies and egg. I found the dish quite bland even-though it comes with a peppery sauce. I prefer the skillets at Strike.

Overall, the food was ok, but I wasn’t too impressed. Perhaps it was because we ordered pretty typical items that would be found at most Taiwanese Cafes.

We Rate Uncle Lu:

Address:
3779 Sexsmith Rd
Richmond, BC

In Dessert

Soft Peaks: Soft Serve Ice Cream in Vancouver

March 17, 2015

Soft Peaks Ice Cream serves up fresh organic soft serve ice cream. The soft serve is made with Avalon organic milk. I remember a year ago when I was in Korea, soft serve with honeycomb was the newest trend. Now, its hitting Vancouver.

Ever since they have opened, they have been crazy busy during peak hours.

Founders – Dan and Ken Kim of Soft Peaks are brothers and best friends who started Soft Peaks, the two came together to pursue a shared dream. They both love ice cream, so soft serve was a perfect shop to open up.

Small Size vs Regular Size

Honeycomb Peak (Regular – $6.75) is topped with their signature swirl topped with a piece of local honeycomb. They honeycomb is from the Okanagan and Fraser Valley.

The soft serve was quite rich but at the same time kinda bland. The honeycomb is pretty sweet, so you really need to disperse it through out the soft serve. I did enjoy the cereal underneath, but it would take a long time until I could dig down into it.

Mudslide (Regular – $6.25) has a twist topped with TimTam flakes and chocolate syrup. TimTams are these delicious chocolate biscuits from Australia.

Overall, Soft Peaks was ok, but I don’t believe I’m a fan of soft serve. The group consensus was that the soft serve was ok, but they still prefer to have ice cream from Earnest Ice Cream or gelato from Bella Gelateria. Soft Peaks is different and it’s really hard to compare it to ice cream or gelato. The Soft Serve is really geared towards asian taste buds as it is not too sweet at all.

We Rate Soft Peaks:

Address:
25 Alexander St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://softpeaks.ca/

In Hotel Review

Four Points by Sheraton Vancouver Airport

March 13, 2015

Four Points By Sheraton at Vancouver Airport is located on Alexandra Road in Richmond. It isn’t close to the Airport nor is it in Vancouver. The airport isn’t too far away from the hotel, but its nice that they have free shuttle service to and from the airport. It gives you peace of mind when you’re traveling.

If you’re wondering what is around Richmond, it’s a food lovers paradise. It’s a daily dining adventure, promising fresh seafood, the best Chinese restaurants outside of China and unparalleled authentic cuisine from across Asia – especially among the 200+ restaurants. It feels like being in Hong Kong without actually being there.

Across the street from Four Points By Sheraton at Vancouver Airport is Golden Village, a strip a Asian Restaurants. Looking for a late night snack? Just walk across the street.

I stayed in their room with a King Sized Bed on their top floor.

Their rooms have a standard configuration – bed, chair, desk, tv and bathroom.

My room was a bit different and the bathroom was closer to the door. They have a good amount of channels on the TV and free wifi. I spent most of my time watching the Food Network or Home and Garden TV.

In the room, there is a coffee make, water boiler, coffee, tea, an ice bucket, cups, sugar, cream and 2 bottles of water.

All free to consume. There’s also a mini fridge under the desk.

The bathroom is clean and spacious.

They have body wash, shampoo and conditioner.

Also, soap, lotion, mouthwash, and a nail file. If you need anything else, the front desk can help you out. I forgot toothpaste and they were able to get me some.

In the morning, there is complimentary coffee and tea in the lobby. No need to brew it yourself. Ultimate laziness.

Overall, the stay was good and it’s great to have a lot of food options close to the hotel.

Address:
8368 Alexandra Road
Richmond, British Columbia, V6X 4A6

Website: http://www.fourpointsvancouverairport.com/

In Burmese

Amay House: Burmese Cuisine in Vancouver

March 12, 2015

Amay’s House is a Burmese restaurant in Vancouver. There’s only a handful of Burmese restaurants in Vancouver. My mom grew up in Burma, so she gets really excited when visiting a Burmese restaurant.

I’ve been meaning to come here for a while but haven’t had the chance to make a visit until now. Plus, a few readers urged me to come for a visit.

The restaurant isn’t that pretty. It’s kinda like a hole in a wall. Very simple decor and nothing fancy.

Myanmar Tea Leaf Salad ($7.50) has fermented tea leaves, tomato, cabbage, assorted beans and nuts. This is always my favourite item to order at any Burmese restaurant, the crunchy texture of the beans mesh so well with the vegetables. Their version was good but I preferred the one at Wahh Tee a bit more.

Large Prata served with Chicken Curry ($6.50) is crisp on the outside and when its dipped in the curry, it’s pretty darn good. You can’t leave Amay House without getting Roti.

Noodle Salad ($7.50) is made with egg noodles, shrimp powder, bean powder, tamarind sauce, cabbage, onions, and cilantro. It comes with a clear soup on the side. It was creamy and full of flavour. The mixture of spices were great.

Chicken Satay ($6.50) and Beef Satay ($6.50) come with 3 pieces each. They were not good as they were tough and over cooked.

Fish Noodle Soup Mohinga ($7) has rice noodles, catfish broth, lemongrass, cilantro, fried garlic and fried split chana dal. A staple of Burmese cuisine! We order this dish at any Burmese restaurant as a baseline test to see how good or bad a restaurant is. If you can’t get Mohinga right, then something isn’t right.

Coconut Milk Noodle Soup ($7) has egg noodles, coconut milk, chicken curry, onion and deep fried noodle crisps. It has a rich coconut taste and was quite enjoyable.

Overall, pretty good Burmese food here, but since it was a busy Friday the service was sparse. There was only one server that seemed to do everything. Once the order was in, the food came out at a steady pace.I still prefer to go to Wahh Tee.

We Rate Amay House:

Address:
5076 Victoria Drive
Vancouver, BC

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

In Chinese

Golden Paramount Seafood Restaurant 金百樂海鮮酒家: Dim Sum in Richmond

March 8, 2015

Golden Paramount Seafood Restaurant is located in Richmond close to Richmond Centre Mall. It’s a bit hidden in a nearby plaza. We came here on a media tour with Tourism Richmond to taste the flavours of Cantonese cuisine for early morning dim sum. I haven’t been to Golden Paramount, so it was definitely an adventure.

The restaurant isn’t as large as some other Chinese restaurants, but as long as you have reservations, you’ll be just fine. It doesn’t get too busy on the weekends until 11am.

In true blogger fashion, we definitely filled up the whole table with food. It’s great eating with people who have a passion for food because they have huge stomachs. hahaha.

Steamed Prawn Dumpling comes with 5 pieces in each basket. Pretty standard taste. I love eating these with hot sauce or XO sauce. Mmmmm.

Steamed Dumpling with Crab and Meat comes with 3 pieces in each basket. Very yummy as well.

Deep Fried Spring Roll with Turnip was strange tasting but thats probably because of the addition of the turnip.

Pan Fried Pork Dumpling comes with 4 pieces. It’s mostly pan-fried on one side.

Preserved Egg Pastry with Pork has its golden top with savoury filling on the inside.

Deep Fried Eggplant with fish Paste is another one of my favourites.

Duck Feet with Pumpkin is not for the squeamish. You’re mostly just eating the skin and tendons of the feet. It’s really all about the sauce. But I do understand it may be strange sucking feet in front of all your friends. Sorry, not sorry.

Beef Tripe in Scallop Sauce it is essentially beef stomach. I haven’t been fond of this type of beef tripe. It’s chewy and slimy.

Beef Tripe with Ginger and onion is fragrant and has a slightly crunchy texture. The texture reminds me of a cats tongue because of all the little bumps. This is the type of tripe I like.

Fried Rice with Scallops and Egg White was delicious. Simple but has a lot of flavour. It’s a wonder what egg can do to a dish.

Stir Fried Sticky Rice was not a favourite. I prefer sticky rice wrapped up in the leaves.

Spare Ribs on Rice Roll in a Hot Pot is delicious. I feel like I’m always the only one that loves this dish. I really like pulling the meat off all the bones.

Bean Curd Sheets with Pea Tips and Consomme is my favourite item. I really just enjoy the sweet flavour of the pea tips. Oh so good. It’s one item I could eat forever and ever.

Pan Fried Oysters is one of their specialties and everyone seems to be talking about them. As an oyster fan, I did enjoy these.

Sweet and Sour Pork was a delight. Good size chunks with not too much fat or breading.

Beef Shanghai Noodles was really good. Not too oily and just the right amount of char from the super hot wok.

Stir Fried Noodles were a bit bland.

Water Chestnut Jelly was a yummy treat at the end of the meal. The right amount of sweetness and the crunchy texture of the chestnuts were great.

Overall, the dim sum quality is decent here. Certain dishes shine here but a few that could have better execution.

We Rate Golden Paramount Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
8071 Park Rd
Richmond, BC

In American

Bubba Gump Shrimp: Happy Hour in Anaheim

March 5, 2015

We spent a whole day in Disneyland and needed a late night snack. Close to our hotel is a Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant inspired by the movie Forest Gump. If you are a fan of the movie, you gotta visit this place at least once. It’s a good thing I watched Forest Gump a few weeks ago, so I understood all the little references it makes to the movie.

They have happy hour daily from 9:30pm until closing. Also, Monday to Friday from 3:30 to 5:30pm. Select items on their happy hour are $4 – $6. Select drinks are $3 to $6. Great deals!

Since 9:30pm is quite late, the restaurant is pretty empty. Everyone must have been tired from all the Disney Parks madness. We were all tired, but we needed some food.

At your table, you have these license places that have 2 sayings to indicate if you need assistance.

Run, Forest, Run = Everything is A OK
Stop, Forest, Stop = I need some service here

We grabbed a beer to go with the meal. $5 for imported pints. It’s been a few weeks so I forgot what type of beer we ordered.

Bubba’s Far Out Dip ($4) has spinach, roasted red peppers, artichokes and Monterey Jack cheese with homemade Tortilla chips. The dip was really good and creamy. It probably has a lot of fat but we’re on vacation so we eat everything.

Cajun Shrimp ($6) is sautéed in a hot and spicy cajun butter sauce. It is also served with garlic bread. It wasn’t very spicy at all. The quality of the shrimp were ok but not great.

Fried Fish Tacos ($6) is pretty disappointing, its breaded fish with cheese and lettuce with a side of lime. You can just avoid these at all costs unless you order a side of salsa and sour cream.

Shrimper’s Heaven ($21.49) has hand breaded coconut shrimp, chilled shrimp, fried shrimp, and Japanese style tempura shrimp with fries. It also comes with a few sauces – Tangy Asian, Cajun Marmalade, and Zesty Cocktail.

This items is a good way to try all their different shrimp.

Overall, the food is pretty meh. I didn’t care much for it. I don’t think I would come here again.

We Rate Bubba Gump Shrimp:

Address:
321 W Katella Ave Anaheim

Website:
http://www.bubbagump.com/

In Gastown

Tacomio: New Restaurant in Gastown

March 4, 2015

Tacomio is a new taco place that opened up near Tinsel Town. The corner of Abbot and Hastings was marred by a run down hotel, but since then has been torn down and rebuilt as nice retail locations. There is a Frank Oak shop as well as a new coffee place opening up very soon.

The Tacomio staff was very friendly, and for the first few days of launch, is giving away free guac and chips, as well as a Hibiscus Limeade with a purchase of a meal. The tacos are the small soft kinds aka, authentic one’s made even more popular by La Taqueria down the street. You get to choose any 4 tacos for $10

I chose the Chicharron (Pork Rinds), Carnitas (Confit Pork), Cochinita Pibil (Pork), and Tinga de Pollo (Chicken). They also had a nice number of salsa and sauce ranging from super mild 1, all the way to La Bomba 8.

The tacos themselves, were super bland in my opinion. Putting La Bomba on them helped a little bit, but the meats themselves were not flavourful at all. I was expecting a Meat and Bread type of Pork and rinds for the Chicharron, but instead, they were whole pork rinds that were soaked in marinade, creating a consistency of fat and slime. While I was waiting in line, I saw one of the employees dump shredded pork from a vacuum sealed bag, which was a foreshadowing of tastes to come.

The best part of the meal was the drink for sure. The most depressing part of the meal was that if they didn’t give the drink and chips away for free, my meal would have costed $17! Definitely did not feel my bang for my buck. With similar prices but more delicious tacos at 3 nearby locations La Taqueria, La Casita, and Tacofino Gastown, I find little draw to come here. Tacomio doesn’t seem to have any specific edge over their competition, nor does it stand up on its own.

We Rate Tacomio:

Address:
435 Abbott St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.tacomio.ca/

In American

In-N-Out Burger: Not So Secret Menu

March 2, 2015

As a Canadian, one of my goals in life was to have a taste of In-N-Out Burger. I know, it’s a really sad goal but I love trying different fast food restaurants out. Vacations are a good reason to pig out.

In-N-Out Burger is located mostly in the South Western States. When we were in Hollywood, we decided to come here for a snack. The line ups were quite long.

Their menu is quite limited with only 3 types of burgers – hamburger, cheeseburger and the double double. There are a few hidden item on their menu like the Flying Dutchman, 3×3, 4×4, grilled cheese, protein-style and animal style.

Double Double with Animal Fries.

Double Double has 2 patties, 2 slices of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, secret spread on a toasted bun.
Animal-style fries come with two slices of melted cheese, spread, and grilled onions on top.

Protein Style Cheese Burger is their regular burger wrapped a lettuce. Great for those who hate carbs.
Cheese Burger has lettuce, tomatoes, onion, a patty, and secret sauce in a grilled bun.

You can grab some ketchup and hot peppers.

My first few bites of In-N-Out Burgers and they were good for Fast Food Burgers, but not the best out there. It was a good experience, but I still prefer A&W in Canada.

We Rate In-N-Out Burger:

Address:
7009 West Sunset Boulevard,
Hollywood, CA 90028, United States

Website:
http://www.in-n-out.com/

In Bakery

Renfrew Cafe: Pies, Coffee and Tea

March 1, 2015

Renfrew Cafe just opened up a few months ago. They are located a few blocks away from PNE and Playland. Their boutique cafe serves fusion Asian & Western pies (both savoury and sweet), as well as a range of specialty coffees.

They use local, natural ingredients in their savoury and sweet pies. The pies are served fresh and made from scratch on site every day. They brew a rotating selection of coffee from Elysian Coffee and serve single origin teas from Oollo Tea.

The interior is nice, cozy and clean. It’s a good quiet place to get some work done or a chat with a friend.

Cappuccino (6oz – $3.50) was delicious and beautifully put together.

Iced Coffee ($3.50) is brewed to order with an aeropress and then iced.

Mushroom and Spinach Pie ($7) has sautéed mushroom & spinach, all natural mozzarella cheese from Scardillo Cheese and homemade tomato sauce. This pie is pretty awesome and it smiles back at you. Instagram worthy!

I liked the balance of flavours and it reminded me of a calzone instead of a pie due to the shape. This one was my personal favourite.

Beef and Kimchi Pie ($7) is made of all natural beef brisket from Okanagan with locally made kimchi.

Ham and Cheese Pie ($7) is made of all natural ham from Johnston’s in Chillwack, all natural mozzarella cheese from Scardillo Cheese, homemade tomato sauce and organic pineapples.

This reminded us of a Hawaiian Pizza.

All 3 savoury pies were on par with each other and had a good combination of ingredients. For $7 a pie, it’s a good size for a snack, but not for a meal to make you full. You probably need 2 or 3 to get full.

Their dessert pies are $4 each and the flavours vary day to day. All of them are delicious when paired with coffee or tea.

Classic Apple ($4) is made with stewed Granny Smith apples with cinnamon.

Mocha Banana Pie ($4) is made with organic bananas, homemade mocha sauce and almond cream.

Very Blueberry Pie ($) is made with stewed all natural blueberries with almond frangipane.

Matcha Mochi Anko Pie ($) is made with Matcha from Kyoto, homemade mochi and anko (Sweet red bean paste).

It’s very good and filled with the mochi and red bean paste, we wished the matcha stood out more. It was hard to taste since it’s sprinkled on top.

They have a few toys in the store to keep kids occupied while you sip away on coffee and devour pies.

Renfrew Cafe is a great addition to the neighbourhood and serves great pies and coffee. Definitely stop by this cute cafe.

We Rate Renfrew Cafe:

Address:
826 Renfrew St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.renfrewcafe.ca/

In Cafe

Pepper Lunch Canada: Sizzle Sizzle Sizzle

February 27, 2015

Pepper Lunch is finally coming to Canada with it’s first location in Richmond, BC and soon another location in Downtown Vancouver. It officially opens on March 14th, 2015 but we got a sneak peak. Mmm Mmm Mmm.

Pepper Lunch is very famous in Asia as a fast-food steak restaurant franchise. There are over 350 locations. I remember going to one in Hong Kong a few years ago. Whats great about Pepper Lunch being in Canada is that we have high quality beef, chicken and fish available. Pepper Lunch Canada uses Certified Angus Beef and BC Steelhead Salmon.

Pepper Lunch in Richmond is a sit-down restaurant unlike a few food court style ones in Asia. The seating is comfortable.

When you first enter the door, you can place your order, then they seat you.

Their items on their greatly varies in price as some dishes are $8.50 and can go all the way up to $29.95.

For those who are indecisive, there’s even a picture menu. It definitely helps give you a visual of the food.

Salmon Pepper Rice ($10.95) uses sashimi grade tuna, loads of corn, green onion, pepper and sauce.

You just need to mix the ingredients together and try not to burn yourself on the skillet. It’s 260 degrees! This was my favourite dish! full of flavour and the salmon is so fatty and delicious.

Beef Pepper Rice ($8.95) is similar in composition as the salmon pepper rice. It’s a good dish, but it wasn’t as flavourful as the salmon. If you add their signature sauces – Garlic soy sauce (Karakuchi) and honey brown sauce (Amakuchi), it will give it more flavour.

Kobe Style Burger Steak ($12.95) comes with bean sprouts, beans and rice. Very flavourful beef and Mags seemed to really like it.

Rib Eye Steak ($29.95) is one of their more expensive items on the menu. The 8oz Rib Eye is Certified Angus Beef and very tender when cooked.

You leave it on the skillet for however long you want, then you flip it to cook the other side. Once you are finished a bit of the dish, add the rice on the skillet to soak up the delicious sauce.

I’m glad Pepper Lunch is finally arriving in Canada. No more trips to Asia for DIY cooking. Plus, it tastes a lot better in Canada than the ones in Asia. You really can’t beat our beef and salmon.

We Rate Pepper Lunch Canada:

Address:
5951 Number 3 Rd Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.pepperlunchcanada.com/

In American

Original Pancake House: Breakfast in Anaheim

February 25, 2015

When in America, make sure to see if there is an Original Pancake House nearby. Or at least that’s what I do. Ever since visiting one in Chicago, I’ve been thinking about their Dutch Baby and Apple Pancakes ever since then. It is a chain restaurant around America, but it was first started in Portland in 1953.

The seating is nothing fancy, but the staff are very friendly and accommodating. It was our last day in Anaheim and our group of 5 ladies with a suitcase each really stood out. Everyone else seemed to be a local.

Coffee was needed by all of us. There was no denying this.

Dutch Baby is oven baked German pancake. This is one of their signature items and it comes in 2 sizes – small and large. We wanted the large size, but the small size arrived at the table.

Served with whipped butter, lemon and powdered sugar.

Apple Pancake is oven baked with fresh granny smith apples and pure Sinkiang cinnamon glaze. It has a lot of sugar on top. It was decent here. I had a better one in Chicago.

Bacon and eggs is a classic. We needed something savoury to balance out the sweet pancakes.

Hashbrown and eggs is another good item to share with the table. Best eaten with ketchup and hot sauce.

Pancakes were beautiful and served with whipped butter.

Side of Sausages were delicious and an essential part of any breakfast.

Strawberry Waffle has their golden brown waffle lightly dusted with powdered sugar then topped with strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

We ordered everything and it was delicious! Original Pancake House was a great time for us ladies. We took an Uber here since we are not familiar with the area at all.

We rate Original Pancake House:

Address:
1418 E Lincoln Ave
Anaheim, CA

Website: http://www.originalpancakehouse.com/

In Anaheim

Tiki Juice Bar: Dole Whip in Disneyland

February 21, 2015

Tiki Juice Bar inside Disneyland serves up Pineapple Dole Whip Soft Serve. When you visit Disneyland, you must make a stop here. Since you’re probably at Disneyland all day, it a great refresher and to cool you off from the hot sun.

Pine no more for pineapple—savor a taste of sunshine with the legendary frozen treat known as Dole Whip. This counter outside the Enchanted Tiki Room hosted by Dole® also serves pineapple spears, juice, Dole Whip floats and fruit bowls.

The line up wasn’t to long since we went in February but the staff seem to prepare them ahead of time so the line does move quickly. I’m not sure about the busy months of the year.

Dole Whip Float ($5.19) was what I ordered because I wanted to try their soft serve and their soft serve. A perfect combination and the size was quite big.

Pineapple Dole Whip Soft-serve ($3.79) was large a well. We all got one and the first few spoonfuls were amazing. Since it was so large, it did take some time to finish. Then it just got sweeter and sweeter. In the end we wish we shared instead of getting our own.

Overall, no regrets. It was delicious and very refreshing.

Location: Outside Adventure Land in Disneyland

Website: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disneyland/tiki-juice-bar/