Mount Pleasant/Main Street Archives - Page 7 of 8

In Bakery

The Last Crumb Bakery & Cafe: Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows

December 25, 2012

The Last Crumb Bakery & Cafe recently opened on Main Street. My sister was trying to get me out of the house, so she suggested we have lunch here. Since I love trying new places, I couldn’t say no.

It is located on Main and 15th near Burgoo. You can find street parking easily, but during busy times, you might have to park a bit further.

The cafe is 2 floors and is quite stunning. The whole concept of this bakery is to feel cozy and comfortable. It’s a great place to relax and catch up with friends over same good pastries and hot chocolate.

There’s a huge window in the back, so you can see them baking away! And they have a cool quote on their window – “Life is Short, Eat Dessert First”.

They have a bunch of different items to choose from.

They even have a few Gluten-Free items like macaroons, scones, cupcakes, and cookies.

They have a lot of different baked goods, I swear, their kitchen keeps pumping out delicious creations.

They are even whole pies on display. They looked so good.

What caught my eye when we first arrived was the board of hot chocolates. So many different kinds!

Almond Hot Chocolate with Almond Milk (M- $3.95) Instead of regular milk, they suggested to make it with almond milk, they assured me it was delicious and it sure was! It was smooth and so yummy!

Homemade Marshmallow ($0.50) was unlike any store bought marshmallow. Its kinda messy when you eat it, but it really can’t compare to anything found in store. If you have hot chocolate, you must order this!

They have a lunch menu at the back of the restaurant with special creations.

Proscuitto and Brie Sandwich with house made onion marmalade, arugula, pear and walnuts. The bread was baked fresh and was still warm when it arrived. The creaminess of the brie and the salty proscuitto always match perfectly.

Chicken BLT Sandwich with bacon, tomato, arugula and Dijon mayo. This was my favorite since the bacon was really thick and full of flavour.

Wild Mushroom Soup tasted alright. It definitely needed a bit more salt to bring out the flavours of the mushroom.

The food here is good, but not jaw droppingly amazing. The items can get quite expensive if you get a drink, sandwiches, and soup. Nonetheless, it is a great addition to Main St! I love how everything is made fresh and they are dedicated in using preservative-free and artificial-flavouring free ingredients.

We Rate The Last Crumb:

Address:
3080 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.lastcrumb.ca/

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In Cambodian

Indochine Kitchen + Bar: Wings and Import Beer Specials

September 22, 2012

Indochine is located on Broadway and Ontario St. They have menu items influence by South Asian countries such as Thai, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. After heading from Science World, we drove a few minutes and decided to come here for the Wednesday special of half price wings and $4.99 import beers. Past visitors have remarked a few items are similar to popular restaurant – Phnom Penh. It is indeed related to Indochine! Same family of restaurants, but Indochine is higher end.

They have some good specials on other nights too! Notably Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday.

The interior has a large bar with lots of TVs surrounding the room. It’s a great place to see the game or just kick back for a few drinks.

Heineken ($4.99)

Vietnamese Iced Coffee took a long time to arrive at the table. M finished half his beer before my drink even arrived. The taste was good, but the wait was long.

Indochine Garlic Butter Chicken Wings ($4.75) comes with garlic chips and lemon pepper dipping sauce. It was delicious and the most popular item in Indochine. Hands down, awesome! It is also similar to Phnom Penh but its in smaller portions.

Sriracha Buffalo Wings ($4.75) has traditional buffalo wings marinated with Sriracha hot sauce. It wasn’t too spicy either.

Honey Garlic Wings ($4.75) has deep-fried wings glazed with a honey garlic sauce. We enjoyed these and had a good balance of sauce ratio.

Butter Beef Carpaccio ($12) has buttery slices of raw beef in a citrus Vietnamese vinaigrette, garlic chips and cilantro. It’s a very popular item and people order this because it’s a popular item found at Phnom Penh. During our visit at Indochine, when our butter beef carpaccio arrived, the meat was warm and threw off the entire taste and texture of the dish.

Singaporean Laksa ($8.75) has rice vermicelli noodles in a spicy seafood coconut curry broth with prawns, tofu puffs, fish balls, Fish slices, a hardboiled egg and bean sprouts. It was a decent size, but it was definitely a hard dish to share. The flavours of the broth was very good and not too spicy. We enjoyed it.

Overall, the food was good during the 1/2 priced Wings on Wednesday, but I felt the regular prices are a bit expensive. A lot of people compare Phnom Penh and Indochine, but they have different target demographics, so if you have Phnom Penh expectations, you may be disappointed. Portion sizes and prices are different.

We Rate Indochine:

Address:
1 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.indochinekitchen.ca/

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In Mount Pleasant/Main Street

Cray Kitchen + Bar: Cray-vings Dining Package

September 13, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Cray-vings” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and I brought along CandiedZen to keep the review as unbiased as I could.

Cray Kitchen + Bar on Main street near Broadway serves Louisiana Style Crawfish and seafood. If you’ve ever heard of Crab Pot in Seattle, it’s like that but with plastic bags and lots of aromatic sauce. I came here with CandiedZen to check this place out.

Vaneats.ca currently has a dining package called “Cray-vings”, which you can get the following for only $18.50 for a limited time.

1/2 lb of Crawfish, shipped live from Louisana
1/2 lb of Shrimp, shipped from Thailand/Ecuador
Cod Nuggets, deep fried and crispy (3 pieces)
Deep Fried Oysters, spiced in a Louisana cajun fry batter (2 pieces)
Cajun Fries, cajun spice peppered

The interior was nice and has a good amount of seating. It’s good for large groups too, unfortunately, they don’t take reservations on Fridays and Saturdays.

The menu

When you order the Cajun Seafood Boil, your table will be lined with a large parchment paper and come with a bucket with bibs, paper towels, and gloves. Eating this type of seafood is messy and you don’t want to get any of your clothes dirty.

The first basket of goodies that arrive are 3 piece of cod nuggets, 2 deep-fried oyster, and a bed of cajun fries.

The Cod Nuggets are very very delicious! The outer batter is crispy and thin, so you can taste the amazing light and moist texture of the cod. I would highly recommend this!

Deep Fried Oyster were very large and plump. When I bit into them, it was very moist and flavourful! Even a bit of juice started running down my fingers. Highly recommend these as well!

Cajun Fries were crispy on the outside and seasoned with cajun spice. I thought it was ok, nothing too impressive.

You also get 3 dips to go along with your item – Tartar sauce, ketchup and spicy mayo.

As we waited for the 1/2 lb shrimp and 1/2 lb crayfish to arrive, we prepared ourselves by reading instruction and putting on our bibs. We didn’t bother with putting on gloves since we wanted to get down and dirty with our meal.

Our Cajun Seafood Boil came with choices of seasoning and spicy level. We chose the Mild Cray Mix ( Juicy Cajun +Garlic Butter +Lemon Pepper). It arrives on your table in a plastic bag.

The Crawfish were very tiny and it was just like a mini lobster. All of their Crawfish is shipped from Louisiana. You can acquire meat from this creature from its tail and claws. This wasn’t our favorite item since it takes a bit of effort to get a little bit of meat. Another problem, the meat had very little flavour from the sauce, so you need to dunk it into the sauce to add more favour to it.

Most of the crawfish is our bag was fresh, but there was one that was completely black on the inside. I’m not sure what happened here, but we decided not to eat it and discard it. If you come across one that looks like that…its probably best not to eat it.

The shrimps are from Ecuador and very massive. It’s almost the size of a spot prawn. It had a lovely sweet flavour to it. I would highly recommend the shrimp!

Our table definitely got messy. After eating everything that was part of the package, we were still hungry and craving more items, so we ordred more.

I saw that they had Sapporo on tap, so I got a pint of it to enjoy more of the meal! It’s one of my favorite beers. It was about $7 or $8 for a pint.

1lb of Clams ($11.99) in a mild garlic butter sauce. The clams tasted great in the sauce, but I felt the clams were a tad bit small. We ate these pretty fast since the bag is mostly the shells.

1 lb of Shrimp ($10.99) in a medium Cray mix sauce. I did enjoy the sauce more when you increase the spiciness of it. It definitely adds a lot more flavour.

Overall, the concept of getting messy with your food is very fun! I would definitely come here again, but I would not order the crawfish. I would order the cod nuggets, deep-fried oysters and the shrimp. Parking was a bit difficult since it was on a major street, so I parked a few blocks down in a residential area. Service was ok, but we felt it was a bit awkward at times.

You won’t get full by just having the amount of items included in the dining pass. you probably want to add an extra appetizer or a few extra pounds of seafood like what we did. Nonetheless, if you haven’t experienced getting down and dirty with your meal, I think the dining pass is a good opportunity to do that and try new types of food. You can get the dining pass at Vaneats.ca for $18.50.

Words of Wisdom:

Best to make reservations just in case it gets busy
Shrimps are massive and so are the deep fried oysters and cod nuggets
Metered parking a long the streets
Don’t wear white

We Rate Cray Kitchen + Bar:

Address:
2470 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.getcray.com/

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In Bakery

French Made Baking: Chocolate Almond Croissants!

April 13, 2012

Since I was in the area, I decided to stop off to grab some treats for myself at French Made Baking. It was a nice day, so I felt like I needed to spoil myself. I initially wanted to get a pack of macarons, but I found some other delicious goodies too!

French Made Baking is near Broadway and Kingsway and they sell some delicious pastries! They have caneles, macarons, croissants, tarts, and other items.

Box of 6 assorted macarons ($10) looked scrumptious and it came in all the different flavours like earl grey, pistachio, lemon, vanilla bean.

The macarons were not all uniform in size, some were a bit thinner, some had a bit more filling. The consistency differed slightly, some crumbled easily and some had a good texture. Each macaron still had its own distinct subtle flavour. My favorites are earl grey and pistachio.

Chocolate Almond Croissant was friggin delicious! It has a stick of chocolate in the center and biting into the croissant revealed a very crisp texture with the delicious taste of the almond. It wasn’t too sweet and the flavours of the chocolate, almonds, butter and powdered sugar just went so well together.

Just looking at it, you know it’ll be super delicious. I’d come back for this!

Overall, the croissant blew my mind.

Words of Wisdom:

Must get the croissants!
Consistency of macarons could be a bit better
Some items can be a hit and a miss
Under $10
Limited seats

We Rate French Made Baking:

Address:
81 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://frenchmadebaking.com/
Twitter:
@FrMadeBaking

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In 24 hours

Lucy’s Eastside Diner: Awesome MilkShakes!

March 26, 2012

Back to Lucy’s Eastside Diner for late night eats with a few friends! I really like this place since the food is reasonably priced and you know it’s never closed since it’s 24 hours. The food isn’t the best thing you have ever eaten, but it’s good comfort food.

The interior doesn’t have too many seats, but when I come here, there are usually counter space left to sit.

Bottled Dad’s Old Fashioned Root Beer ($3.75) if you like root beer, you’ll love this.

Bottled Dad’s Old Fashioned Cream Soda ($3.75) M thought this was good but he still preferred the root beer over the cream soda.

20 Oz. Oreo Milk Shake ($5) is one of my favorite milk shakes from Lucy’s Eastside Diner. Yum!

20 Oz. Peanut Butter Milk Shake ($5) this is my second favorite flavour for a milkshake! I think they just mix peanut butter and ice cream together. It’s a bit fattening, but if you love peanut butter…get this!

Peppercorn Roast Beef Sandwich ($8.50) has roast beef, fried onions, peppercorn cream cheese, and lettuce on toasted sourdough bread.

The roast beef was quite dry and not very flavourful. Very poorly made sandwich and I was not impressed.

The Grant Marshall ($10.50) has double patties, bacon, onions, mushrooms, cheese, fried egg, and chili.

M ordered it because of the crazy amount of meat, but just said the taste was alright. This like is a pile of heart attack.

Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese ($9) has a hoagie bun filled with meatloaf and topped with mac & cheese.

Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwich ($8) has slow roasted pork in root beer and rub served with coleslaw inside and fries outside.

The taste is quite subtle, so it can be a bit hard to taste the root beer. It also tasted decent, but nothing too amazing.

Winner Winner Fried Chicken Dinner ($9) has breaded fried chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and gravy. The fried chicken was so bland and needed some seasoning to the coating. Also, the coating was quite thick.

Overall, the food can be a hit or a miss, but one thing is for sure….the milkshakes are good. Some of the brunch items are pretty good too. With such a large menu, I’m sure you’ll find something that caters to your taste buds.

Words of Wisdom:

Limited seating, not good for large groups
Uncle Grants Eating Challenge
So-so Food
Amazing fries and hash browns….SUPER CRISPY!
My favorite: Milkshakes + Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese or pulled pork and Mac & Cheese
Open 24 hours

We Rate Lucy Eastside Diner:

Address:

2708 Main Street
Vancouver, BC V5T

Website:
lucyseastsidediner.com

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In Japanese

Sushiyama: Caterpillar Roll, Sushi Pizza, and Huge Sashimi

March 19, 2012

Sushiyama is a popular Japanese Restaurant near Kingsway and Broadway. They serve up affordable Japanese dishes. Since we knew they were busy, we decided to make reservations so MedicalGiraffe and I didn’t have to wait in the long line ups. Apparently they can do reservations for very large groups too.

Kamikaze Roll has spicy tuna, cucumbers, avocados, tobiki, and crab meat. The roll was alright, but not too amazing.

Caterpillar Roll ($6.95) contains cucumber, avocado, mayo, crab meat, eel and BBQ sauce. It is probably the best thing to get! It is covered in a lot of thin slices of avocado. Highly recommended! It’s something I get every time I come here.

Grilled Black Cod is also something to get here. It is delicate and the pieces of meat just slide off.

Sushi Pizza has a base layer of deep-fried rice with mayo, crab meat, avocado, tuna, salmon, masago, and BBQ sauce.

MedicalGiraffe and I were quite disappointed by the dish. The rice could have been more crunchy to make this dish more enjoyable. It just seemed like a deconstructed sushi roll.

Salmon Sashimi have very thick slices and will make you smile. Good quality too.

Overall, some of the items are a hit and a miss. If you stick with a few key dishes, you won’t be disappointed. The service is quite fast and some of the dishes literally come out in seconds. I don’t really know how this is possible, but it was really really fast. Since they are also quite busy, sometimes the servers seem like they want to rush you out of the restaurant.

Words of Wisdom:

Very cheap and affordable
Mediocre service
Long Lines
Best to go in 2′s if you hate to wait. the larger the group, the long it will take ..during peak hours
Or make reservations
Caterpillar roll and sashimi!!!!
Bento boxes are of great value if you want to try a bit of everything

We Rate Sushiyama:

Address:
371 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

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In Mount Pleasant/Main Street

Fray: Restaurant on Fraser

February 28, 2012

Hello Internet! Abbytizer and I checked out a fun, new restaurant on Fraser Street called Fray. The restaurant prides itself on having its dishes made from locally sourced and fresh ingredients.

The inside of the restaurant is dimly lit, has interesting decor that includes luchador masks and poster art on its walls. The Fray also has vintage board games and an “adult activity sheet” that provides amusement while waiting for the food. The restaurant has a very causal, laid back feel.

Fray’s Famous F-Bombs ($7.95) are fresh figs wrapped in crispy, Fraser Valley bacon with a balsamic reduction. I personally do not like figs but this appetizer was sweet in the inside, and salty on the outside.

Abbytizer describes as an interesting contrast between the sweetness of the soft figs, and saltiness of the crisp bacon. I enjoyed the balsamic reduction; it cut through and complemented the other flavours quite nicely.

The Portobello Fries ($8.95) is a Jenga tower of breaded portobello strips lightly fried and served with truffle aioli sauce. I personally loved this dish. The mushrooms are so tender and the breading made them perfectly crisp on the outside. Abbytizer describes it:

These fries are a perfect alternative to ordinary french fries! I love mushrooms and the idea of cutting strips of Portobello, breading them and frying them is great! They are perfectly seasoned and the aioli dip that accompanies them is a great complement.

It’s so good that we ordered this appetizer TWICE! We had one before our entrees, and one after our entrees.

The Mint Julep ($5.60 for a single) consists of Maker’s Mark bourbon, mint and simple syrup, shaken.

Abbytizer ordered this and describes it to be very strong. A single of this drink is more than enough to get a decent buzz on.

The Berry Fizz ($5.50 for a single) is strawberry-infused vodka, cranberry juice, ginger ale and lime juice, shaken over ice. A very light strawberry and cranberry blend drink. You’re going to need a lot of these to feel it.

The Pan –Seared Salmon ($14.95) consists of West Coast wild salmon, pan-seared with light cream sauce, balsamic vinegar and gnocchi tapenade. Abbytizer describes this dish to be a disappointment as the fish was cooked a little longer than it should have been, which made it slightly dry. However, the gnocchi was quite tasty, and the saving grace of the entire dish was the delicious cream sauce.

The Fat Bastard Pork Belly ($15.95) is a thick wedge of local pork belly with apple peach compote, white balsamic chive reduction and fresh slaw. The pork belly was sweet and juicy in the inside. The outside was cooked right, leaving the outside of the pork skin to be crunchy. Each bite was sweet and enjoyable. Also, the fruits on the side were out of the ordinary, but made the meal enjoyable.

The Rustic Apple Tart ($7.95) is a puff pastry with vanilla ice cream. It is a very simple dessert with an enormous amount of apple flavor. We finished the apple tart before the ice cream!

Overall, this restaurant has a lot to offer, especially if you’re looking for vegetarian or potentially gluten-free options. The dishes are reasonably priced for modern, western cuisine. On certain nights, The Fray serves as a venue for different events. At the time we went, Abbytizer and I watched an amateur stand-up comedian contest. Needless to say, the food was better than some of the jokes told.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking in front
Free WiFi
Mediocre service
The restaurant hosts special events after 9pm (variety show, trivia night, etc.) on certain nights.

We rate Fray

Address:
3980 Fraser Street
Vancouver, BC

Website: fray.me

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In Four Beakers

Yutaka: New Sushi Restaurant on Main Street

February 15, 2012

Hello Internet! Today Abbytizer and I checked out a new restaurant on Main Street called Yutaka. This restaurant opened late of last year and it hasn’t had a grand opening yet, just a “soft” opening. This restaurant is slowly becoming a neighborhood favorite. Abbytizer saw this restaurant on the bus and we decided to try it.

The inside of the restaurant has a simple modern touch to it.

Miso Soup ($1.25)– A standard miso that’s at a reasonable price.

Ebi sunomono ($3.25)– A standard small ebi sunomono but with a lot of baby shrimp which made it quite enjoyable.

Oysters ($2.50) We ordered two fresh oysters. The oysters we’re fine and nothing spectacular, Abbytizer and I have had better at other seafood restaurants.

Salmon Carpaccio ($8.50) – The salmon was fresh. The balsamic vinegar just blends perfectly with the salmon, making the salmon melt in your mouth. Abbytizer and I enjoyed this dish.

Age King Oyster Mushroom ($4.00) – Lightly breaded mushrooms seasoned with Tograhi, making the mushrooms have a delicious crispy crunchy taste. Also there is a slight kick of spice to each bite. Abbytizer and I devoured this dish. It’s totally worth its value and the size of portion is enough for two people.

Negitoro ($3.50) and Fire Roll ($10.50) – First of all the Negitoro was extremely fresh and melted in your mouth. This is probably one of the best negitoro rolls I’ve had in a while. Also this roll wasn’t on the menu, due to the soft opening the menu is not completely finished.

Fire Roll ($10.50)– The fire roll consist of 10 pieces loaded with scallops, salmon and tiny bitts of deep-fried bread with cream cheese in the middle. The fire roll is not spicy, but still delicious.

Ebi Filo ($5.00) – Filo is usually on Greek pastries but this restaurant has a modern take on spicy ebi mayo. This dish has the 3 pieces of deep-fried shrimp and covered in filo making this dish very flakey and crispy. This dish is delicious and the mayo sauce on the side compliments it perfectly.

Beef Tatakai ($8.00)– This dish was a big disappointment after already having some delicious dishes. The beef tataki was extreme cold, and not completely thawed out. Abbytizer’s first bite of this was literally ice-cold meat. We sent the dish back and the waitress took the dish off our bill.

Tropical Delight Lime ($5.50 -large, $3.50 -small) consisting of, guava, lychee, passion fruit and mango. The drink is very tangy and refreshing, the only thing is missing is rum or vodka.

Overall, despite the disappointing beef takaki, Abbytizer and I enjoyed every dish we had here. For a soft opening restaurant, that doesn’t have a completed menu, it has a lot to offer at a very reasonable price. I’ll definitely come back for the Age King Oyster Mushroom.

Words of Wisdom:

Friendly Staff
Weekly Specials
Lunch Special
Pick Up is available

We Rate Yutaka:

Address:

4148 Main Street
(Main & King Edward),
Vancouver, BC, Canada V5V 3P7

Website:
www.yutakacuisine.com

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In Brunch

Reno’s: Gotta Love the ‘Greasy Spoon’ Cafes

January 21, 2012

Reno’s is located on the ground floor of the Lee Building on Broadway and Main street. They sell cheap and affordable food! Most of the items on their menu is a little bit Canadian and Chinese, but you still have the breakfast classics.

Munchkie’s Munchies took me here for some brunch since it’s been on her ‘To Eat’ list forever.

To order, you line up at the counter and pay first. Then they will give you a number to wait at your seat.

Tea ($1.25)

Pancake Special ($5.95) comes with 2 pancakes, 2 sausages, 2 strips of bacon and eggs.

It’s a good price for what you get, but you can hear more about what Angela thought about them on her blog – Munchkie’s Munchies.

#3 Special ($6.95) + Side of Sausages (2.95) the special comes with hamburger steak, eggs, potatoes, toast and then additional order of the 3 sausages. I’m pretty sure the hamburger was just frozen and then cooked. The eggs were a bit bland, but if you throw some salt and pepper or some tabasco sauce it’ll be better.

Toast was the usual toast. You can choose from white, brown, or multi-grain bread.It’s buttered and you get a little container of jam.

Overall, the food was decent and at good prices. It’s a place with no frills type of food.

Words of Wisdom:

Paid street parking nearby
Under $10
Lots of seating
You can even order Chinese food here

We Rate Reno’s:
Address:
151 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

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In Bakery

French Made Baking: Hot Chocolate Festival

January 20, 2012

French Made Baking finally opened up their store on Kingsway and Broadway. I’ve been waiting for them to open for a while and I finally made a trip down to check out their store for the Hot Chocolate Festival. They are one of the many vendors participating in the month long festival. They feature new flavours everyday till February 14th!

Since I had lunch with Angela from Munchkie’s Munchies , we decided to come here after to chill over desserts and hot chocolate!

Their flavours of hot chocolates change everyday, so do keep an eye on their schedule.

Praline – Milk chocolate | January 14, 20, 26, Feb 1, 7, 12
Yuzu – Dark Chocolate | January 15, 21, 27, February 2, 8,
Vanilla Chestnut – White Chocolate | January 17, 22, 28, February 3, 9,
Passion Fruit – Milk Chocolate | January 18, 24, 29, February 4, 10, 14
Earl Grey – Milk Chocolate | January 19, 25, 31, February 5, 11

Once you walk into the store, you can look through into their kitchen to see them hard at work creating all their cute pastries.

Praline Hot Chocolate ($5.25 with Macaron) had a beautiful smooth texture with little bit of praline integrated into it. This is probably one of the better hot chocolates I’ve had.

I’m generally not a big fan of hot chocolate, but I did enjoy this. The price is pretty good too since other vendors can charge up to $8 for a hot chocolate.

Pistachio Macaron I thought were really good! One of my favorite places for macarons!

Le Caneles ($2.50) is a small pastry that originated from Bordeaux, France. It has a soft tender custard center with a dark caramel crust. I’ve had it in the past, but this time it tasted alright, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was different.

Creme Brulee didn’t have the nice “crack” when you break into the toasted sugar top. I don’t think Angela took much of a liking to it either. We did notice that it was toasted ahead of time, which may have contributed to that.

Another thing we noticed was the use of the paper plates and cups, since we were eating it all in the store, it probably would have been better to have real cups and plates. ** UPDATE: They have now plates, mugs, and cutlery! **

Since they are still in their soft launch of their store, I am sure they will improve on their products in the near future. Nonetheless, the macarons and hot chocolate are super good!

Words of Wisdom:

Can be found at a few local farmers’ markets
Must get the macarons and hot chocolate!!
Some items can be a hit and a miss
Under $10
Limited seats
Gluten-free

We Rate French Made Baking:

Address:
81 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://frenchmadebaking.com/
Twitter:
@FrMadeBaking

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In Indonesian

Hawker’s Delight: Cheap $5 Dinners, But Is It Good?

January 11, 2012

Hawkers Delight is located on Main street and they are known for their amazing cheap food. All items on the menu are around $5. It’s cash only, but as long as you have a $10 in your pocket, you will be OK. They serve up Malaysian/Indonesian dishes and have good vegetarian options.

M, KoreanGirl and I came here because we were feeling pretty frugal and needed a super cheap dinner.

Tofu Goreng ($5.25) are little stuffed tofu puffs with cucumbers and bean sprouts with a lots of peanut sauce and sweet soy sauce. Each one of those puffs are soaked in a lot of sauce. When you take a bite, its gonna be messy, so watch out for your clothes!

Some of us at the table liked it, and I particularly didn’t like that taste of the sauces and how messy it was to eat.

Dried Noodle ($5.75) has a bed of warm dry noodles, bean sprouts, veggies, and a bunch of other ingredients. I thought it was alright, but I didn’t really love the taste of it.

Nasi Goreng ($5.25) is like Mee Goreng, but in a fried rice form. KoreanGirl and M both had their versions spicy. They were surprised by the low price and good taste.

Overall, I think there are a few items that are a hit and a miss. The prices are quite affordable, but you do get what you pay for. Perhaps it just didn’t suit my tastes.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking in side streets
Take Out containers are $0.25
Cash Only
Order at Counter and everything else is self serve

We Rate Hawkers Delight:

Address:
4127 Main St
Vancouver, BC V5V

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In Four Beakers

Sushiyama: Amazing Japanese Food!

January 6, 2012

Sushiyama is a very popular Japanese restaurant in Vancouver. It’s good for their cheap eats and quality food. No wonder during peak hours, there can be a lot of people lining up.

Luckily, it was after the lunch hour rush when I took MedicalGiraffe and BaguetteGirl here. They wanted something different and super delicious. They’ve passed by a dozen times, and thought this place was a bit sketchy, to their surprise, it would be some of the best Japanese food they would have.

They have a few killer items on their menu. If you come here, sushi is a must….or at least a few key rolls.

Negitoro Roll ($2.75) has chopped tuna belly and green onions. It comes with 6 pieces. Very good price, plus it tasted really really good.

Caterpillar Roll ($6.95) contains cucumber, avocado, mayo, crab meat, eel and BBQ sauce. It is probably the best thing to get! It is covered in a lot of thin slices of avocado. I can’t remember what was inside but it tasted really good! Highly recommended!

Crunch Roll ($4.25) has yam, sweet potatoes, shrimp tempura, and avocados. This was pretty horrible. After we ordered, it came like a minute after We were really confused why it came so fast and why it didn’t look as cool as the caterpillar roll.

Salmon Sashimi ($7.25) has come amazing thick pieces of salmon. Really delicious too!

Seaweed Salad was alright. If you love seaweed, you’d probably like it.

Grilled Black Cod was really good! One of my favorite items. Yummm.

Overall, really good food here for good prices. I would come her again and again!

Words of Wisdom:

Very cheap and affordable
Mediocre service
Long Lines
Best to go in 2′s if you hate to wait. the larger the group, the long it will take ..during peak hours
Caterpillar roll and sashimi!!!!
Bento boxes are of great value if you want to try a bit of everything

We Rate Sushiyama:

Address:
371 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

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In Bakery

French Made Baking: Macarons, Caneles, & Totoro Macarons

December 6, 2011

I go to a few food markets in Vancouver and I always have such good luck bumping into Catherine of French Made Baking. Catherine and David own French Made Baking and they can be found all over town selling their delicious treats.

Their most popular items are the Macarons and Le Caneles. Those are the items I usually purchase.

Le Caneles ($2.50 each or 5 for $10) is a small French Pastry. It is flavored with run and vanilla and baked in a mould.

I’ve never had anything like it! I’ve been to France, but I didn’t discover this till now. It’s just so good! It’s a bit custard-like in the middle with a nice golden exterior.

It goes very well with coffee and tea! Eating it just really makes me smile because it’s SO GOOD!

The Macarons ($2 each or 6 for $10) are 2 almond meringue sandwiching a ganache filling. What I love about their Macarons are that they taste good and don’t have too much food coloring

Le Breton filling has Salted Butter Caramel, Fleur de sel, sugar, butter, cream, and toffee bits.

Le Yuzu filling has yuzu juice, cream, and dark chocolate.

Le Passion filling has cream, milk chocolate, and passion fruit.

Le Framboise filling has white chocolate and raspberry jam. It’s also dairy free.

This is their Totoro Macaron that made everyone go crazy. I actually didn’t know they sold this especially for the Nikkei Center Craft and Bake Fair. Sadly it doesn’t taste like a Totoro…not that anyone would know how he tastes like.

It is made with their L’Anglais filling which is made of milk chocolate, cream and earl grey tea.

So cute, who could resist?

Soon they will be opening up a store soon on 81 Kingsway near Broadway and Main ! I’m just waiting for the day it opens!

Overall, pretty delicious macarons and Caneles.

Words of Wisdom:

Found at local bakers market or farmers market (Check their website for where they will be)
Must get the macarons and caneles!!
Store coming soon.

We Rate French Made Baking:
Website:
http://frenchmadebaking.com/
Twitter:
@FrMadeBaking

In 24 hours

Lucy Eastside Diner: Crazy Unique Eats at a 24 hrs Diner

November 10, 2011

It was another EatUp with the #YVRBreakfast club, but there was a twist this time…We were having breakfast in our Pajamas at night! I’ve always passed by Lucy’s Eastside Diner, but never went there till now. They are open 24 hours and serves breakfast and dinner all the time… no matter what time it is.

I’ve also heard it’s a great place to go eat after a late night.

The interior is quite small, so there is a lot of bar seating and very limited booths. It’s probably best to go in 2’s and 3’s ….but in this case we went with 10 people. It was quite cozy indeed.

They also have the menu up on a lit up board. Lots to choose from.

They also have a paper menu too with more description of the items they serve.

Whats nuts is that they also have an eating challange! It’s called ‘Uncle Grants Eating Challenge’. It must have been a new thing since only 5 people have attempted this.

We asked the server what was in the eating challenge. It was such a mouthful that we had to get him to write it down for us. If you can’t finish the challenge, it costs about $40. We were not in the mood for this, but perhaps one day in the future.

Dad’s Root Beer ($3.75)

Three Little Pigs ($10) has 3 egg bennies with hashbrowns. The bennies that come with it are chorizo, bacon and ham bennies. The hollandaise sauce has a bit of garlic taste to it. They could have worked on their consistency of their eggs a bit better since some people who ordered this dish expected the eggs to be a bit runny. The hash browns were very crispy!

Montecristo ($8) has chicken, ham, and cheese sandwich dunked in egg and grilled. It also come with side of fries and their ‘fry sauce’. M thought the Montecristo was a bit disappointing. It’s not the original Montecristo that he was looking for.

Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese ($9) is served in a hoagie bun filled with meatloaf and topped with mac & cheese. There is also fries and fry sauce on the side.

Mac & Cheese with Pulled Pork ($9) comes in a hoagie bun filled with mac & cheese and topped with pulled pork! Crazy combination but its what makes Lucy’s so unique. The Mac & Cheese tasted a little bit bland, but it matched with the bold taste of the pulled pork. This won’t be the most delicious meal you have ever had, but it’s different than other places. The fries are so good and addictive

Overall, the food is pretty so-so. We weren’t able to order their famous milkshakes since their machine was broken.

Words of Wisdom:

Limited seating, not good for large groups
Uncle Grants Eating Challenge
So-so Food
Amazing fries and hash browns….SUPER CRISPY!
Open 24 hours

We Rate Lucy Eastside Diner:

Address:

2708 Main Street
Vancouver, BC V5T

Website:
lucyseastsidediner.com

Vancouver

In Four Beakers

Sushiyama: Cheap + Amazing Bento Boxes

September 17, 2011

InsecureGirl and I were itching to eat before we had to go to a friends party Downtown, so we decided to check out Sushiyama, I’ve heard their ebi sunomono was huge and people keep telling me to go.

The owners of Sushiyama are Korean, so don’t expect this to be super authentic. It seems like its a trend for Koreans to open up Japanese Restaurants for some reason.

Deluxe Yama Box ($12.95) comes with miso soup, assorted sashimi, ebi sunomono, gyoza, tempura and spicy tuna roll. For the price that you pay, its a really good deal

The miso soup is similar to most restaurants with the addition of the green onion.

The ebi sunomo is probably the best I have had in a while. This is because of their larger pieces of ebi. They are still not the best ebi, but it makes the sunomono much appealing to devour.

The assorted tempura is lightly battered and had the yummy “crunch” when you bite into it. I think if they added a little bit more salt, the flavours of the ebi and vegetables would pop out more.

The Gyoza is deep fried and comes with 2 pieces for this combo.

The assorted sashimi comes with 2 of each type – tuna, salmon, red snapper and toro. Good sized pieces and they were really good!

The spicy tuna roll was cut up Korean style…like how they cut the Kimbap. It had a good amount of spicy sauce added to the tuna , it is them complemented by the cucumbers and avocado to tone down the heat. Very enjoyable!

In addition to the Combo, we ordered Grilled Black Cod. I forgot what the price was, but it was definitely under $10. InsecureGirl wanted this because it just melts in your mouth! I had it a few time before at other restaurants and it still pretty good here! The meat is very tender and a bit oily.

Overall, the food was decent and it was cheap! The downside is that this place is PACKED and service is quite mediocre. If you can handle that, then you should be alright.

Words of Wisdom:

Very cheap and affordable
Mediocre service
Long Lines
Best to go in 2’s if you hate to wait. the larger the group, the long it will take
Bento boxes are of great value if you want to try a bit of everything

We Rate Sushiyama:

Address:
371 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

In Brunch

Nice Cafe: Nice Breakfast and Delicious Mushrooms

September 6, 2011

Nice Cafe is another Vancouver hot spot for cheap delicious brunch! It’s cheap, it’s affordable, and it’s not just a pile of crap… the food looks pretty good.

The interior is not the most pretty place in the world, so don’t expect anything fancy. There is a row of tables down the middle and a few booths.

If you don’t mind the interior, you will find that Nice Cafe is a nice place to go on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

Coffee ($1.60) is a norm for anyone that hates walking up before noon. I plan my weekends out where I make no plans until after 1pm…. unless something good is going on… like brunch with good company.

The coffee is refillable, but they don’t have soy option instead of the usual cream or milk.

2 eggs, hashbrowns, toast, sausage ($4.60) also known as the all day breakfast. It’s probably the most popular item since it’s cheap and you get a generous amount of food. The sausages are beautifully butterflied and grilled up! The hash browns are nice and crispy on the outside. It’s your typical breakfast, nothing fancy shmancy.

Side of mushrooms ($0.75) is a must at Nice Cafe. Obviously, if you hate mushrooms with a passion, you shouldn’t force yourself to eat it.

It is grilled and the flavours really come out! It kinda tastes a bit nutty. Yum.

Spinach & Feta Omelette ($6.10) it comes with hash browns and toast. For that price, it’s not bad!

Overall, pretty good price for what you get. The food is so much better than Bon’s Off Broadway….and looks better too!

Word of Wisdom:

Line up early to avoid line ups
All Day Breakfast is the most popular item
Free parking along adjacent streets
Under $10
Side of Mushrooms!

We rate Nice Cafe:

They are located at:

Mount Pleasant/Main Street
154 E 8th Ave
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Toshi Sushi: Amazing Sushi

May 20, 2011

I ventured out to eat since the Canucks were playing. This is prime opportunity to go to the popular restaurants without waiting! I always wanted to try Toshi Sushi but was always turned off by the long long waits. ScienceNerd and I went to catch up on good ol times and of course take the insults that he throws at me.

Vancouver

ScienceNerd is not one to make many choices, so he just got the Dinner Box ($16.95). This huge box includes fried oysters, tempura, sunomono, 6 pieces of sashimi, 2 pieces of nigiri, miso soup, and 6 pieces of their specialty rolls. The items in the dinner box do change often, so it is best to ask them what is in it. ScienceNerd really enjoyed it! It has a bit of everything from Toshi Sushi, so you can’t really be too disappointed in it. Great quality, fresh ingredients!

I on the other had decided to go with the individual rolls. I started off with the dragon roll. What makes this roll so appealing is the amount of beautifully cut slices of avocado with the trail of tobiko on top. Inside the roll are cucumbers, shrimp and eel. This was a really good roll and I would definitely recommend this!

Next up was the famous Box Roll. It has a very unique look that resembles a box. On top, there are salmon, prawns, scallops, and a lemon. In the center of the rice, there is avocado. I really liked the taste of this roll except the lemon was cut a little bit too thick, so I got the taste of the bitter rind. This is still pretty good and unique.

Next I got a piece of Ikura with quail egg. I am use to ordering the tobiko with quail egg but when I saw ikura with quail egg, I thought it would be cool to try something different. Chewing on this for a bit, it has a very liquid-like texture as the little ikura burst. It was a bit strange at first, but it was good. This nigiri is not for everyone, so you might hate it.

At this point, we were quite stuffed, but it felt like the waitress was pressuring us to get dessert, so ScienceNerd got the apple crumble. As you can tell, this is a very filling dessert! It has some good pieces of apple inside. The apple crumble is topped with a caramel sauce.

I ordered their strawberry cheesecake. I wanted their green tea cheesecake instead, but the waitress kept on telling me to order this one. I was not disappointed! The strawberry cheesecake was very very fresh and you can really taste the essence of the strawberries!

Overall, it was a great dinner. Not too expensive and we got some quality food. I would come again and wait in line just for their sushi.

Words of Wisdom:

Decently priced
Free parking on streets
All the sushi is pretty good!

We Rate Toshi Sushi:

Address:

181 E 16th Ave
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Clubhouse Sushi: Japanese Food

April 14, 2011

Hello Internet! RomanJ here.This time I went to one of my favorite restaurants in Vancouver with Abbytizer. Clubhouse Sushi is a family owned restaurant located in an industrial area close to the Olympic Village.

Abbytizer and I were hungry so we ordered a lot of food.

We ordered the Holy Dynamite Roll. The holy dynamite roll is a deep-fried roll with their house special sauce on the side. The house special sauce is a spicy, sweet, peanut looking sauce which adds that extra kick to the roll. The roll is extremely good and fresh.

Next on the list is the Club House Cream Cheese Roll, the roll consists of cream cheese, tempura, red pepper and cucumber. These ingredients give the roll a fresh crunch when you eat it.

Tuna Steak Ponzu was perfectly seared and it contrasted well with the lettuce, which provides that nice crunch to go along with the sour ponzu taste. This dish is delicious. The tuna just melts with the ponzu sauce in your mouth.

Marinate Salmon sashimi is marinated nicely with the spices. I can’t put the name of the spices, however both Abbytizer and I enjoyed this dish.

Abbytizer ordered a medium size Seafood Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki dish took a long time for it to come our table but it is definitely worth the wait. The Seafood Okonomiyaki is composed of bite size pieces of salmon, tuna, prawn, squid; all mixed together in the cooked batter with Okonomi sauce on top. Each bite you can taste the distinct seafood blend with the Okonomi sauce.

To top off the night, we ordered the mango slushy drinks. The drinks were a good with that distinctive mango taste, a good way to end the feast.

Abyytizer and I come often to this restaurant. The owner and waitresses are really nice and friendly. We both love the flavors that each dish has and the portions are really satisfying.

Words of the Advice