September 2017

In Cafe

Saemaul: Rice Dessert Cafe in Coquitlam

September 8, 2017

Saemaul is a rice dessert cafe in Coquitlam. It is hidden away in a strange looking plaza. They specialize in rice-based desserts and I was pretty excited to give this place a try since they have more than just rice cake. My foodie friends invited me to tag along to take a few things off their menu.

Interior

The interior is simple with lots of tables and chairs. Since they are pretty new, this place wasn’t very busy on a weekday. It’s still a well kept secret.

Jolly Pong Shake

This sweet milky drink is topped with Jolly Pong rice puffs. It reminded us of milk and ice cream because of it’s thick-ish texture.

Injeolmi Snow Ice Flake

Injeolmi is essentially rice cake with roasted soybean flour. They also paired it with red bean in this snow ice flake. They also have other flavours too, so if you aren’t into injeolmi, there is chocolate, mango, strawberry, coffee and classic red bean.

Dipping Chocolate Fondue with Rice Cakes and Fruit

This cute interactive dessert has 2 different kinds of rice cake. One has different layers of colour like a rainbow and the other has more tough like regular rice cakes. Then you also have strawberries, kiwi and bananas.

Homemade Rice Flour Waffles

My favourite item of the night were these homemade rice flour waffles. It took them a long time to perfect the recipe but it’s is nothing I’ve ever had before. It’s super crisp and crunchy. I would definitely order this again.

Rice Cake Churros

The rice cakes are dusted with sugar and cinnamon. It was decent but you didn’t need this many churros to satisfy your cravings.

Rice Roll Cakes

There was the matcha rice roll cake and strawberry rice roll cake. You can tell it’s made of rice flour as the texture was more dense.

Red Bean Mochi

This was good! It’s delicious when it’s made fresh. It has a pillowy soft texture with the red bean hiding inside.

Rice Cheese Cake

I enjoyed this dessert too. It has a rice flour crust and I didn’t notice it too much. I just kept eating it and would order this again.

Overall, some desserts were a hit and miss, but there are definitely a few gems like the waffles.

We Rate Saemaul Cafe:

Address:
B-901 Lougheed Highway, Coquitlam

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

In Cafe

Taste & Circle: Selfie Lattes

September 7, 2017

Taste & Circle is a shop with different pop-ups inside. They are currently giving away 1,000 selfie lattes if you show them their Snapchat filter. Otherwise, a selfie coffee is around $4. My friend took me here for a coffee break.

The coffee bar is at the front and when I came here, they opened at 11am.

You can either take a selfie there or send them a selfie or image that you want to have printed on top.

Once they create the latte, they put it into a machine that burns the image into the foam.

It gets “printed” very quickly and you get to enjoy it all afterwards.

Address:
206 Carrall St, Vancouver

Website:
http://tasteandcircle.ca/

In Abbotsford

Field House Brewing: Brewery in Abbotsford

September 6, 2017

Field House Brewing is in Abbotsford and they have quite a craft brewery scene here. There is a good selection of their beer on tap, so our friends wanted to give it a try as we were in the area.

Interior

The interior is very rustic with lots of wood accents like it’s a cabin.

Beer Flight

I got a flight of the lighter and less hoppy beers that they had.

Sour Wheat Gose is a 16th century German salted sour wheat ale. Soured with lactobacillus, the tartness of this Gose is balanced by the addition of coriander and elderflower and brewed with salt, hand-harvested by Vancouver Island Salt Company. It has a good balance that is salty, sweet and citrusy.

Dutch Pale Ale is the Dutch answer to the Belgian Pale Ale, mellow in malt and bitters, but finishes with a hint of new world hops.

Dutch Sour Wit is a witbier brewed with dried orange peel and coriander. The soured with their house lacto yeast culture and dry-hopped to compliment the flavour. This sour beer was pretty good.

Light Saison was one of my favourite here. It is a bit fruity, floral and a tad spicy.

Final Thoughts

It’s a pretty busy brewery and their sour beers are good. If you’re around Abbotsford, definitely check them out, drink some beers and have a few bites here.

We Rate Field House Brewing:

Address:
2281 W Railway St, Abbotsford

Website:
https://fieldhousebrewing.com

In Brunch

Hilltop Cafe Diner: Breakfast in Langley

September 5, 2017

Hilltop Diner has been around for the past 68 years in Langley. Family-owned and has been serving diner classics to all their customers. Sherman has told me several times to go here and finally, after all those year, I finally went with a few friends. They have have been feature on You Gotta Eat here and also, a few celebrities have made visits here too.

Interior

I love the 1940’s diner look of this place. There are only a handful of places that have kept this unique charm. We waited a little bit and get seated. If you’re in a rush, you won’t want to come here as it’s not quick service diner food.

Coffee

Coffee is a must if you are a coffee drinker. You’ll make waiting a little while for your food, so you’ll want this to sip on it.

Bacon Benny

My friend got the bacon benny and loved their crisp thick cut bacon, hollandaise sauce and the pan fried potatoes.

Hilltop Breakfast

You get 3 eggs, any style, farmer sausage, baked beans, you choice of toast and a huge serving of hash browns. If you are hungry, you’ll want Hilltop’s biggest breakfast.

Silver Dollar Griddle Pancakes

If you want some mini pancakes, they have them too. Serves with butter and syrup.

Tex Mex Omelette

This big omelette is filled with sauteed peppers, homemade sausage, seasoning and a manly handful of Tex Mex cheese, all held together with three farm fresh eggs. It is served with toast and pan fried potatoes. It was really good and hit the spot.

Hot Sauce

We asked them for some hot sauce and they came out with 3 different kinds for us to try. It’s a local hot sauce from the Okanagan and it’s pretty delicious. We really liked their ‘darn hot’ sauce.

Overall, we really liked this place. The big downside is that the wait for food is long, but the quality of food is great and satisfying. Everyone is very nice and we felt right at home.

We Rate Hilltop Diner:

Address:
23904 Fraser Hwy, Langley

Website:
http://www.hilltopdiner.ca/

In 24 hours

Hi Five Baked and Fried Chicken: 24 Hours

September 3, 2017

Hi Five Baked and Fried Chicken is a 24 hour shop offering locals fried chicken, sandwiches and nuggets anytime of the day. We came here after a long day and wanted to check this place out after hearing about it. With Duffin’s and Church’s Chicken also open 24 hours, we wanted to see how they ranked.

Interior

When you get inside, you order at the counter and then there are a few tables to eat. It kinda reminds me of Church’s chicken since you can see right into the kitchen where they make the chicken.

Fried Chicken

I went for a 3 piece combo with a pop and potato wedges. It came with 2 thighs and a leg. I got 2 original flavours and 1 spicy just to see how it is.

I got 2 thighs and the size of the two I got were inconsistent. One was a good size and the other was pretty small.

I find that the chicken tasted pretty oily and left a heavy taste in our mouths. It was decent, but it didn’t hit the mark when we compared it with the other choices out there.

The potato wedges were ok. Crisp and fresh out of the frier and lots of spices encrusted around it. They gave you a good amount in the box, but I didn’t really care much for it.

Overall, it was a bit below average and with the other 24 hour fried chicken places around, it doesn’t stand out too much.

We Rate Hi Five Chicken:

Address:
203 SE Marine Dr, Vancouver

Website:
http://hifive24.com/

In product

Lays: Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Popper Review

September 1, 2017

The Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Popper flavour Lays chip didn’t make it to the finals of the Lay’s Do Us A Flavour this year in America, but they released the flavour as a Wal-Mart exclusive. Essentially, that means they were 4th place. Thats pretty amazing to have such a cool flavour hit the shelves.

It’s on the regular chip, which is a bit disappointing, since the kettle cooked chip has a great texture. The flavours of the chip reminded me of a smokey sour cream and onion. It wasn’t very pleasant at all. I think there was a good reason why it was a runner up. Would I get the Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Popper chip again? Nope.