Type Archives - Page 65 of 125

In Anaheim

Corn Dog Castle in Disney California Adventure Park

February 18, 2015

Disney California Adventure Park was our first stop to really reliving my childhood before I get married. There’s not too many varieties of items to eat in the park, but my girl friends and I found a secret love of corn dogs.

Of all things, it was corn dogs. The first stop was Corn Dog Castle.

We just stumbled upon Corn Dog Castle near Goofy’s Sky School in Paradise Pier.

At this medieval-themed boardwalk stand, the corn dogs rule! Why? Each one is made to order, hand-dipped and deep-fried at your command. Choose from original chicken-beef, hot link or ooey-gooey cheddar. All cometh with apple slices or chips.

The prices are decent, but it’s definitely not the most healthy item in the park, but then again it’s hard to find anything healthy in Disney California Adventure Park.

Original Corn Dog ($7.69) comes with a choice of chips or apple slices. My friends thought it was the best corn dog they have ever had. They had this everyday!

Hot Link Corn Dog ($7.99) comes with a choice of chips or apple slices as well. I chose the chips since apples don’t belong in a vacation. Plus, I haven’t had chips in a while, so I was craving them.

The Hot Link Corn Dog was massive and very spicy. You will even see the chilli flakes inside the sausage. Stick with the original corn dog and you’ll have a good time.

When you are at Disney California Adventure Park, definitely grab a corn dog as a snack!

Website: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disney-california-adventure/corn-dog-castle/

In American

Umami Burger: Burgers in Anaheim

February 17, 2015

Umami Burger is an American chain restaurant specializing in gourmet burgers. As the name suggests, their burgers utilize the umami flavour that is a savoury taste. All their burgers are made fresh in-house.

We came here after walking around Downtown Disney and were famished after the long walk around that area. We then took a short Uber to Umami Burger, which was very painless.

The interior is pretty cool and they have a lot of old looking license plates.

Umami Burger ($11.50) is their original burger which contains parmesan frico, shiitake mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions and their Umami house ketchup.

I got my burger made medium rare and I love the flavour and texture combination. That parmesan crisp really made it wonderful.

Manly Burger ($12) has beer-cheddar, bacon lardons, smoked-salt onion strings, Umami house ketchup and a mustard spread.

Mandu thought the burger was ok, but it was quite pricey since it doesn’t come with anything on the side.

Simple Salad ($4) has market greens with their chef’s seasonal dressing. We shared the salad amongst the table as we knew we had to get enough vegetables while on vacation. Its quite easy to skip out on vegetables when there’s fast food everywhere. The salad was good and had a light vinaigrette dressing.

Overall, Umami Burger was good, but a tad pricey. They do use quality ingredients and the flavours do go well together.

We Rate Umami Burger:

Address:
338 S Anaheim Blvd
Anaheim, CA

Website:
http://www.umamiburger.com/

In American

Cheesecake Factory Anaheim: Lunch near Disneyland

February 16, 2015

The Cheesecake Factory is located in the Anaheim GardenWalk, it is about a 15 minute walk away from Disneyland and California Adventure Park. After taking a 40 minute ride from LAX, we arrive in Anaheim at 2pm and wanted a quick lunch. Since GardenWalk is a few steps away from our hotel, we decided to come here and get some pasta.

Cheesecake Factory is a US Chain restaurant best known for their vast varieties of Cheesecake and huge entree portions.

The restaurant seats a lot of customers.

We gravitated towards their lunch menu since these are smaller versions of their entrees.

Complimentary bread arrives and you have brown and white. It comes with butter on the side. These kept us occupied before the main meal arrived.

Louisiana Chicken Pasta ($12.50) has parmesan crusted chicken served over pasta with mushrooms, peppers and onions in a spicy new orleans sauce. Good portion size and it tasted good according to Mandu.

Pasta with Chicken and Scampi Sauce ($12.50) has chicken breast sautéed with garlic, herbs, tomato and white wine in a scampi cream sauce tossed with spaghettini. Of all the pasta dishes we ordered, this was definitely the best and has loads of chicken.

Fettuccine with chicken and Sundried tomatoes ($12.50) was good but the sundried tomatoes were sweet, which was odd. Other than that, the chicken and the sauce were great.

Overall, the food was decent and filled us up for lunch. The portion for lunch is still quite large, so I can only image how big the dinner sizes are.

We Rate Cheesecake Factory:

Address:
321 W Katella Ave #100 Anaheim, CA

Website:
http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/

In Brunch

Chewies Steam and Oyster Bar: Brunch Time in Coal Harbour

February 14, 2015

Chewies serves up New Orleans inspired soul food like traditional Creole and Cajun dishes. Their signatures dishes include fried gator & hush puppies, classic gumbo, southern fried chicken and Jambalaya. They also have a variety of fresh oysters on the menu too.

On the weekends, they have their brunch menu. The girls and I wanted to check it out. The restaurant is a bit hard to spot at the moment since there is a lot of construction around the area.

It was the Superbowl day, so this place was empty on the weekend. There was only 1 other table in the restaurant, but that was ok because we could take our time.

Pulled Beef Brisket hash ($17) has smoked beef brisket, black beans, chilli verde, home fries topped with 2 poached eggs. CanuckGirl and TaiwaneseGirl both had this dish and was impressed that there was a large amount of beef brisket on top. It coated the home fries well with all that brisket. They didn’t like how their egg wasn’t soft poached.

Southern Biscuit Breakfast ($14) has 2 buttermilk biscuits, white gravy choice of bacon or sausage, cajun spied hash browns and 2 eggs any style. I got bacon and poached eggs for my dish.

I wanted my eggs soft, but it was more on the medium side.

Southen Fried Chicken and Waffles ($14) has buttermilk waffles topped with southern fired chicken with a cajun honey butter drizzle. The chicken was ok, but it isn’t as juicy as we would have liked.

Overall, the brunch was alright. None of the dishes really stood out. We all just thought it was ok.

We Rate Chewies:

Address:
1055 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://chewies.ca/

In Cafe

East Van Roasters: Hot Chocolate Festival

February 12, 2015

East Van Roasters is an artisan chocolate and coffee shop in Gastown. They are a social enterprise created by the PHS Community Services Society. East Van Roasters is designed to provide training and employment to the women residents of the Rainier Hotel.

The Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival is back for it’s 5th year and Forty Ninth Parallel Cafe & Lucky’s Doughnuts is participating. They are currently serving 3 types of hot chocolates

Right now they are participating in the Hot Chocolate Festival until February 14th.

They are currently serving the Salty Malty, which is a Malted Madagascar drinking chocolate.

Salty Malty really reminded me of a liquified malteser. It’s quite a rich drink.

It is also served with a salted chocolate chip cookie. The cookie was delicious! I wish I had more.

A nice place to hang out over some sweets. What I love the most about this place is how they are giving opportunities to those in need and teaching them new skills. Plus, they have yummy drinks and treats.

We Rate East Van Roasters:

Address:
319 Carrall St Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.eastvanroasters.com/

In Cafe

Forty Ninth Parallel Cafe & Lucky’s Doughnuts: Hot Chocolate Fest

February 11, 2015

The Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival is back for it’s 5th year and Forty Ninth Parallel Cafe & Lucky’s Doughnuts is participating. They are currently serving 3 types of hot chocolates:

Hot Chocolate and a Donut
Delicious dark hot chocolate and a Lucky’s doughnut of your choice.

The Nanaimo Bar
A 72% dark chocolate paired with butter icing sweetened milk and topped with a coconut whipped cream. Served with a doughnut-shaped financier.

The Lumberjack
Spicy dark hot chocolate. Served with maple marshmallow and chocolate covered wafer logs.

These are available January 17 – February 14, 2015.

All my friends went with the Hot Chocolate and Donut. The hot chocolate was delicious and rich. They go perfect with donuts.

Coffee French Cruller is their spin on the traditional French cruller. It has a nice coffee taste infused in the dough and in the icing.

Classic Old Fashioned is a sour cream old fashioned topped with their signature vanilla glaze.

Overall, good drinks and donuts with the girls.

We Rate Forty Ninth Parallel Cafe and Lucky’s Doughnuts:

Address:
2902 Main St
Vancouver, BC

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

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=2902+Main+St,+Vancouver,+BC+V5T+3G3&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=2902+Main+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5T+3G3&z=16″]

In Cafe

Sunny Spot Cafe: Xi’an Street Food on Main Street

February 10, 2015

Sunny Spot Cafe isn’t a place I would normally go to. I’ve passed by several times, but never took notice until Mags told me to come here for lunch. It is owned by a husband and wife that make all the Xi’an Street Food dishes by hand.

It’s only 2 of them working and they really make their customers feel at home.

We got seated promptly as it wasn’t too busy during the weekday lunch rush. We then asked for tea and ice water as we browsed through the menu.

The menu isn’t very large, but they have the basics – dumplings, soups, salad, noodles, and their specialty buns. All items are under $10 and is quite affordable.

Handmade Pork Dumplings ($8) comes with 10 pieces and are boiled. If you eat them by themselves, it is a bit bland, so you need a touch of sauce or the chilli oil to enhance their flavour.

Tripe and Glass Noodle in Hot and Sour Soup ($6) is very spicy and piping hot when it comes out.

Biang Biang Handcrafted Shaanxi Thick Noodles with Beef ($8) both Mags and Min ordered this dish and they thought it was good. Tasted very homey.

I’ve never been to Xi’an to tell if this is authentic or not, but the food tastes like what your parents would serve you. Good food, no fuss. The owners are nice and put a lot of love in their food that they serve. There’s one item that I didn’t try here, but I will have to next time – braised pork bun.

We Rate Sunny Spot Cafe:

Address:
2543 Main St Vancouver, BC

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

In Chinatown

The Ramen Butcher: New Ramen Restaurant in Chinatown

February 2, 2015

The Ramen Butcher hasn’t even officially opened yet, but there is a line up. They have a soft opening from February 1st till February 4th with $5 ramen. They open at 11am and close when they run out of noodles and broth. They officially open February 6th with regular hours from 11:00am – 10:30pm.

Since it’s only a few blocks away from my office, a few of us headed over there for lunch. We arrived at 11:30 and there was a bit of a wait. We found that most people came in large groups, so seating groups is difficult. It’s best to come here with smaller groups so you can get seated faster.

The Menya Kouji group has opened up The Ramen Butcher and they own over 150 ramen shop locations. At The Ramen Butcher, they serve up 7 types of ramen, rice bowls, gyozas, and beer.

They have taken over the previous location of East of Main, but most of the interior is similar.

Did you notice the FREE Kaedama extra noodles? I love how they make sure their customers leave full. It’s great for people who are big eaters. I was full from one bowl, but some people could always use more noodle.

Classic Ramen ($8.95) is their signature tonkotsu (pork) broth. The noodles are made in-house. You can add an extra ajitama marinated egg for $1.

You can choose to have your pork fatty or lean. Most of us at the table chose to have it lean.

Black Ramen ($10.95) has tonkotsu pork broth with roasted garlic oil, freshly made noodles, aburi pork chashu and their medium boiled marinated egg.

Orange Ramen ($11.55) has tonkotsu pork broth with rich miso marinated ground pork, noodles, aburi pork chashu, and their medium boiled marinated egg.

Mags chose to have fatty pork and it looked like pork belly because it looked like a thick bacon strip.

Red Ramen ($10.95) has tonkotsu pork broth with spicy garlic paste, noodles, aburi pork chashu, with their medium boiled marinated egg. You can choose how spicy you would like this ramen.

The broth is rich and great for people who like spicy foods. I had to choose the fatty pork. Go big or go home right? There is a large amount of fat content, but it’s pretty delicious.

Original Gyoza ($5.35) is made of pork and its pan-fried. It has a little bit of a char, but it was decent.

Okonomi Gyoza ($5.95) is the original gyoza topped with mayo, bonito flakes, and green onions. This was definitely a unique experience.

The table had mixed reactions. Some said it was salty, but I just gobbled it up. It reminded me of a JapaDog, but with Gyozas.

Overall, The Ramen Butcher was good but it still wasn’t the best Ramen I’ve had. There could be a little bit more meat but you can always order additional meat. The best part is the free extra portion of noodles!

We Rate The Ramen Butcher:

Address:
223 E Georgia St
Vancouver BC

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

In Fast Food

TacoTime: Mexi-Fries Poutine

January 26, 2015

I love going to food courts and having a quick meal. I love it even more when a fast food joint is offering up limited time offer menu items. When I was at TacoTime, I saw they were selling the Mexi-Fries Poutine. I love their classic Mexi-Fries with their signature hot sauce, but I wasn’t quite sure how it would taste with cheese and gravy.

Mexi-Fries Poutine ($3.99) is basically mexi-fries, cheese curds and gravy. At first inspection, the mexi-fries look very crunchy like as if they were double fried. I got a forkful of the poutine and the mexi-fries were stale. It wasn’t fresh at all.

If I wasn’t focused on the mexi-fries, the cheese curds and gravy were decent. It is a fast food poutine, so it kinda reminded me of the McDonalds Poutines but with larger cheese chunks.

Would I order it again? I would be open to it, but I will avoid the Lougheed Mall location.

Website: http://www.tacotimecanada.com/

In American

Black Frog Eatery: Pub in Gastown

January 23, 2015

Black Frog Eatery is located in Gastown right by the Steam Clock. M and his coworkers came here for lunch and I tagged along. I can’t say no to trying out new places.

I’ve never noticed this place till now.

It definitely looks like a sports bar with their big bar and all the sports scarves. Clearly I know nothing about sports. I just like to eat. I can see this would be a busy place during sports games, but since it was lunch time, there wasn’t much going on in here except a few people having lunch.

BLT ($10) is served with mayo on a toasted multigrain bread. I got the house salad on the side. The house salad has canned mandarin oranges, sunflower seeds with a balsamic dressing. It was alright.

Schnitzel Burger ($12) has deep-fried pork schnitzel with dijon, lettuce, tomato, and red onion. M got fries on the side.

The food here is pretty standard for pub food. It was decent, but nothing that really stands out.

We rate Black Frog Eatery:

Address:
200 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.theblackfrog.ca/

In Bakery

Middlegate Aroma Bake House: Bakery in South Burnaby

January 22, 2015

Middlegate Aroma Bake House is located in South Burnaby close to the Edmonds area. The newest owners have been here for the past 1.5 years serving up a variety of baked goods from all over the world.

Throughout the year, they have close to 900 different items for sale.

Once you step into the shop, you will see so many baked goods and desserts.

The treats are quite affordable and most are under $2.

They also sells a variety of cakes, tarts and desserts.

Forty Ninth Parallel is what they serve if you need a little coffee with your treats.

Zaban Puff Pastry is a Persian pastry with a touch of honey on top. It is flakey and not overly sweet.

Danish Pastry had more of a bread to cream ratio. I wish there were more cream and peaches to their danishes.

Dark Chocolate Mousse is nice and creamy with a bit of cake on the bottom.

Fruit and Nut Scone is packed full of nuts and dried fruit. So much! I really enjoyed it and would make a great power breakfast.

Rice Cookies comes in 2s. It doesn’t contain gluten, so it’s great for people who are allergic to gluten. When you first bite into it, it is quite dry, so you will need some coffee or tea to go with it.

They also sell Zolbia and Bamieh, traditional Iranian treats drenched in honey. It’s quite sweet, so it’s not for everyone.

Baklava comes in square bite-size pieces. It has a strong taste of honey but is pretty addictive.

Almond Florentine is a brittle, roasted almond mingled with the taste of candied fruit. It is also dipped in chocolate on the other side.

Brownie bites in a cup.

Each bite was good and its the perfect size if you just need a bite of brownie.

Cannoli was good. The inside is made on dense fudge with bits of nuts and the crispy tube.

Tahini Granola Balls comes in a pack of 4. Another alternative treat for people who are vegan or gluten free.

Almond Apricot Tart has the apricots scattered all around. It tasted alright.

Buckwheat and Quinoa Cookies are gluten-free and is rich in Amino Acids, Dietary Fiber, Minerals, Vitamin Bs, Antioxidants, high in Protein, and easy to digest. Since my sister is Ciliac, this would be a better option than the other treats here.

Overall, they have a lot to choose from and have alternatives for people with dietary restrictions. If you’re looking for a bakery with European and treats from around the world, give Middlegate Aroma Bake House a try.

We Rate Middlegate Aroma Bake House:

Address:
7155 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.aromabakehouse.com/

In Cafe

New Mitzie’s Restaurant 美斯餐廳: HK Cafe in Chinatown

January 20, 2015

New Mitzie’s Restaurant is located in the heart of Chinatown in Vancouver. I feel like I’ve been to Mitzie’s when I was a kid as my parents would come to this area all the time. The interior seemed like it was stuck in the 90’s. I’m not sure what happened to Old Mitzie’s but maybe there were some ownership changes.

The servers were nice and spoke good English.

It’s a Hong Kong style cafe with western breakfast and burgers. I was pleasantly surprised.

Hot Milk Tea is a classic for Hong Kong Style Cafes. I can’t live without it.

Porkchop, 2 eggs, hashbrown and toast is a large breakfast dish.

2 slices of bread toasted and then buttered. There is strawberry jam on the side too.

Black Pepper Beef with Crispy noodle in Skillet all the noodles were very crispy and it was kinda like eating instant noodle blocks. The sauce on top didn’t soften up the noodles too much.

Pork Chop, vegetables and egg with teriyaki sauce was one of the lunch specials. It looked almost the same as the pork chop breakfast M ordered except its vegetables instead of hashbrowns.

Overall, it’s decent but don’t expect too much. Meals are cheap and you will get full, but not the best Chinese food out there.

We Rate New Mitzie’s:

Address:
179 E Pender St
Vancouver, BC

In Kitsilano

Baru Latino: Dine Out Vancouver

January 17, 2015

Baru Latino is located in the Point Grey area close to UBC. They serve up Latin cuisine and use responsibly caught seafood and local ingredients in their dishes. They also have classic and original drinks.

My friends and I decided to come here for Dine Out Vancouver for their 3 course meal for $28. We made reservations since we had a group of 7.

Blood Orange Mojito is what KoreanGirl to start off the meal. She enjoyed it but it was quite strong.

Chili Prawns comes with 3 pieces and tossed with their homemade house sauce. The sauce was quite spicy, so if you cant’ take the heat, don’t order this dish. The size of the appetizer was also a tad small.

Beef Tiradito is seared beef carpaccio with chimichurri, greens, yam hay and flatbread. It tasted ok, but the beef lacked much flavour. Most of the flavour comes from the chimichurri sauce and the little plums.

Ecuadorian Red Ceviche has citrus marinated scallops, shrimp, octopus in a roasted red pepper and smoked tomato mojo. It is served with a plantain chip.

My friends thought it was decent but the size was pretty small.

Paella Baru has chorizo, chicken, mussels, prawns, scallops, and halibut tossed with rice, cilantro, smokey salsa with homemade flatbread. It was good said my friends.

Cartagena Crusted Halibut has a plantain crusted halibut with seasonal vegetables and roasted tomatoes, served on a coconut polenta, finished with a tamarind glaze, and topped with crispy yam hay.

The coconut polenta was cold and didn’t match well with the hot halibut. The halibut was bland and needed the help of the sauce to keep it flavourful.

Costillas de Res is slow braised beef short ribs on mashed potatoes with seasonal vegetables finished with guava mojo. My friend said it was good and flavourful.

Latin Flan has orange blossom with caramel. It is topped with blueberry puree and a gooseberry. The plan was sweet and it tasted like condensed milk. We all loved it. The blueberry puree worked well with it to balance out the sweetness.

Overall, with the DineOut Vancouver deal, this place was packed and made the service slow and uncomfortable. The food would take about 30 minutes per dish to come out. Some of the dishes lacked the care and attention to keep up with the rush of orders. Servers were hustling to make sure customers had a good time, but didn’t quite hit the mark. For the $28 menu, it offers you a taste of whats on the menu. I’m not 100% sure if the small appetizers are the original sizes on their menu.

We Rate Baru Latino:

Address:
2535 Alma St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.barulatino.com/

In European

The Spud Shack Fry Co: Burgers and Poutine in New Westminster

January 15, 2015

The Spud Shack Fry Co is located inside the New Westminster Skytrain station. They open up everyday at noon and serve up twice cooked Belgian Frites and artisan draught beers.

They have $5 happy hour on the weekdays from 2pm – 6pm, where you can choose between select beers, wine or a medium poutine.

It’s literally a few steps from the platform. Great for a quick stop to grab a bite.

Looking at their menu, I was impressed by the amount of beers they had available. They also have a variety of poutines too. They have the usual poutines and then creative ones like ‘The Night Market’, ‘The Squealer’, and ‘The Brat’.

There aren’t too any seats, but good size for groups of 2’s or 4’s.

I tried a flight of a few of their different beers and its great they are using some pretty local craft brewers like Steel & Oak, Whistler Brewing, and Four Winds Brewing.

Frites are 100% local Kennebec potatoes cooked in high quality gluten-free Canola oil and tossed with Italian sea salt. They definitely take their time to prepare these fries since it was so good and crispy.

They have a variety of delicious sauces to choose from. If you have fries, you must order a sauce to go with it.

Andalusia mayonnaise
Bacon mayonnaise
Chipotle mayonnaise
Truffle mayonnaise
Parmesan mayonnaise
Malt vinegar mayonnaise
Curry mayonnaise
Jalapeño mayonnaise
Dill pickle mayonnaise
Dutch mayonnaise
Curry ketchup
Chipotle ketchup

Effing Good Burger has smoked onion mayo, BBQ sauce, tomato jam, bacon, lettuce, pickle, and Monterey Jack cheese. It’s also served with regular frites.

I was surprised by the smokiness of the burger, really god depths of flavour. Mmm Mmm Mmm!

The Classic Poutine has frites, cheese curds and gravy. That gravy is really good and just tasted so comforting. Plus, the frites were still crispy!

Overall, I really enjoyed the food here. I’ve been searching a long time for a poutine that has crispy frites. It’s good stuff and I highly recommend coming here for a visit. Just hop on the skytrain.

We Rate The Spud Shack Fry Co:

Address:
352-800 Carnarvon Street
New Westminster, BC

Website: http://www.spudshack.ca/

In Coquitlam

House of Tofu Soup: Korean Comfort Food

January 13, 2015

House of Tofu Soup is located on North Road in KoreaTown. It gets quite busy during dinner time with tons of people wanting to get a taste of their tofu soup and other dishes. The parking is a little bit nuts here since there are only so many spots and small spaces.

They have gone through a bit of a renovation to open up the space and make it a bit nicer. Before they had this strange divider that would separate the restaurant.

I personally think the best part of this restaurant is the banchan, the complimentary side dishes. Just waiting for the tofu soup and munching on these dishes are pretty awesome.

Kimchi is a bit spicy, but I love its slightly acidic flavour and the crunchy texture.

Pickled Radishes have a crunchy texture to them too. It is also slightly sweet.

Mashed potato is pretty cute and looks like ice cream.

Seaweed is so delicious. I could eat this all day!

Pork Kimchi Tofu Soup ($9.99) and I chose to have it regular spicy level. It also comes with rice.

Before you eat it, crack and egg into the hot soup and mix it around. The first few bites were good, but after a while, it was just salty. It wasn’t as good as a few years ago.

We rate House of Tofu Soup:

Address:
4563 North Road
Burnaby, BC

In Cafe

Coffee Monster: New Coffee Shop in Coquitlam

January 12, 2015

Coffee Monster is a new cafe on North Road in Coquitlam that just opened up last December. They are located in the same plaza as HSBC. It’s definitely needed in this area since there are no other independent coffee shops around.

It’s a Korean Coffee shop and they serve desserts, baked goods, tea and coffee.

The interior is spacious and there is lots of space. We saw people catching up with friends, doing some work on their laptops or just enjoying coffee.

They have sandwiches and sweets in their display case.

After you order, you get an electronic disk and once its ready, it will start buzzing and flashing.

The order came out quickly.

Latte ($3.50) comes with beautiful latte art on top. KoreanGirl did enjoy it.

London Fog ($4.75) comes in a 16oz size. A london fog is earl grey tea, with a pump of syrup, and foamy milk on top. Yummy.

Plain Cheesecake ($6.50) comes in a cute mason jar with chocolate and strawberry on top. It’s soft cheesecake and its a good size for even 2 people to share.

Gateau Du Jour ($6.50) came in a mason jar too and it had boston cream, cake, chocolate, whipped cream and strawberries. I had high hopes for this dessert but it wasn’t very good. The chocolate on top was very hard and it didn’t really work together very well.

They have only been open for less than a month, so I’m sure they will make tweaks here and there to their dessert offerings.

It’s finally good to have yummy espresso based beverages that’s not McDonalds, Starbucks, or Tim Hortons. Coquitlam is definitely changing slowly, but its great to see all the cool restaurants and cafes popping up.

I’ll definitely come back for some more coffee with friends. The atmosphere is perfect too.

We Rate Coffee Monster:

Address:
6-405 N Rd Coquitlam, BC

In Fairview

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ: Late Night Happy Hour

January 11, 2015

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ on Broadway is their second location in Vancouver. The other location is in Downtown.

They offer their Happy Hour special on these days and times:

Monday All Day
Lunch: Everyday 11:30AM–6PM
Dinner: Sun–Thu 9PM–10:30PM
Fri & Sat 9:30PM–11:30PM

The girls and I came here at 9:30pm on a Friday to indulge in this menu. We made reservations ahead of time to make sure we got seats.

They have booths large enough for big groups but not too large.

Iced Green Tea ($3) is the one drink I always get here. It’s not sweetened but it’s still good. The drink is also bottomless, so you can keep on getting refills.

Mug of Sapporo ($3) is on their “Super Happy Hour” menu. You definitely need beer to go with BBQ meats.

Shio Cabbage ($2) is very addictive. It has a distinctive sesame dressing.

Edamame is free when you check-in on Facebook and show the server.

Chicken Karaage Bowl ($6.95) has the rice on the bottom, topped with the fried boneless chicken, cabbage, mayo, and garnish. It’s good and filling.

Seaweed Soup ($2.95) is what Mandu had. She also added a bit of the rice from the karaage bowl into it.

Of course, we needed some meat to BBQ on their grill.

Kalbi Chuck ($5.95)

Toro Beef ($3)

Pork belly ($3.95)

The different meats were delicious and only needed to be cooked a few minutes per side.

Overall, service was friendly and the Happy Hour deals were great.

We Rate Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ:

Address:
201-950 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://gyu-kaku.com/cn/broadway.htm

In Four Beakers

Kazu Japanese Restaurant: New Japanese Restaurant in Burnaby

January 10, 2015

Kazu Japanese Restaurant opened in 2014 and they are serving delicious sushi in North Burnaby. It’s on Madison and Hastings to be exact. M and I were looking for dinner after work and decided to pop in here.

There have been a bunch of Japanese Restaurants opening on Hastings like wild fire, but none of them are really good until now. Kazu Japanese Restaurant is run by really nice and friendly people and the food is just back to the basics yum. Japanese owned too!

Their menu is quite limited and you will find the usual items on the menu, but they make it right. Simple but so delicious.

Tuna and Salmon Sashimi ($7.25) came in small pieces but the quality was definitely there. M just loved this and couldn’t stop eating it.

Toro Nigiri ($2 each) is one of our favourite items to order and the quality again was very good! Delicious and fatty. M put this into his mouth and instantly started smiling because it was so good.

Unagi Nigiri ($2.75) is BBQ eel on top of rice. Really delicious too!

Chicken Karaage ($5.50) was simple and delicious served with a slice of lemon. It is deep-fried boneless chicken.

Gyozas ($3.75) comes with 5 pieces and they are pork and veggie dumplings.

Special Scallop Roll with Tobiko ($4.50) also has mayo, masago and cucumbers.

Tamago Nigiri ($1.25) was delicious according to M.

Tuna Tataki ($9.50) comes with 7 pieces. The tuna is lightly seared on the outside and dressed with ponzu sauce, shiso leaves, and sprouts. Very delicious.

Overall, M and I enjoyed our experience at Kazu Japanese restaurant. It’s getting quite popular, so try to make it here early or on a weekday. The food is back to the basics simple and tastes authentic. Staff are really friendly too.

We rate Kazu Japanese Restaurant:

Address:
4332 Hastings St
Burnaby, BC