British Columbia Archives - Page 91 of 138

In South Burnaby

Boiling Point 沸點臭臭鍋: Individual Hot Pot

December 17, 2013

Boiling Point is a US chain of Taiwanese personal size hotpots. You can find them mostly in California, Seattle and Vancouver. It was a cold day in Vancouver and we wanted something warm and comforting. What better way to warm up by consuming some hot pot.

What I liked about Boiling Point, is that each hot pot is personalized so you aren’t spreading germs.

There’s a lot of seats, but it can get a bit cramped if you are sitting in the booth area.

10 different types of hot pots and you can choose you degree of spiciness.

Beef Hot Soup ($11.99) has nappa, vermicelli, beef slices, enoki mushroom, tomato, firm tofu, tempura, corn, meatball, kamaboko, tofu skin, and imitation crabstick.

Korean Kimchi Hot Soup ($11.99) has nappa, vermicelli, pork slices, enoki mushroom, kamaboko, meatball, tempura, clam, fishball, kimchi, firm tofu, tofu skin, and imitation crabstick.

Lamb Hot Soup ($11.99) has nappa, vermicelli, lamb, enoki mushroom, imitation crabstick, kamaboko, pork blood, tofu skin, mushroom, clam, sour mustard, and firm tofu.

Taiwanese Spicy Hot Soup ($15.99) has taiwanese cabbage, instant noodle, beef, mushroom, tempera, clam, fishball, cuttlefish ring, pork blood, pork intestine, tofu skin, and frozen tofu. This hot is extremely hot and the size is much larger than the other ones.

You really need to be able to handle your spice if you want to order this.

It comes with rice too.

I love frozen tofu, so I ordered it on the side for a dollar and a bit more.

Overall, the hot pot was ok, but its too bad everything came already cooked. There’s no way to control the temperature of your hot pot as there is just a fire under the pot. It turns off when the fuel runs out. It lasts for a long time, so your soup will be boiling hot.

We Rate Boiling Point:

Address:
5276 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.bpgroupusa.com/home.php

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=5276+Kingsway+Burnaby,+BC&t=m&hnear=5276+Kingsway,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5H&z=16″]

In Canadian

BETA 5 Chocolates: Cream Puffs Galore

December 16, 2013

Beta 5 is one of North America’s Top 10 Chocolatiers. Their store is hidden in Strathcona near a bunch of warehouses, but you can find their chocolates at a bunch of retailers around town. Its best to take the skytrain to Main St/Science World and then walk a few minutes. When you get to this area, you’ll find a bunch of food trucks “sleeping”. A lot of the food trucks come to this area to prep.

Beta 5 has delectable chocolates, cream puff and some pastries. As it was my coworkers birthday, so I had to get something special for my the team. Cream puff were on my mind. I kept seeing it on their Facebook page and it has been on my mind for a long time.

Their hours are 10:30am – 5pm on Tuesday – Friday and 10am – 5pm on the weekends.

When you go into the shop, you can see their whole operation behind the glass. It’s fun to see them work.

Their shop isn’t very elaborate, but you will find a few products that catch your attention. Their Polygon Bars are pretty good! They put a lot of love and thought into all their chocolates.

Their specialty chocolates are really works of art! They are all beautifully put together. I spent more time starting at them than devouring them. A few of my favourites are salted caramel, imperial stout and fisherman friends. Very unique flavours that they develop here. The fisherman friends just blew my mind since I would have never thought the combination would be good.

85% Dark Chocolate and Caramel Cream Puff

Milk Chocolate Praline Cream Puff

Milk Chocolate S’More Cream Puff

Salted Caramel Cream Puff

All the cream puffs were pretty darn good. The flavours were great, not too sweet and it was a perfect dessert. They are $4.50 each, $16 (box of 4) or $35 (box of 9 pieces). Some of the flavours do get sold out, so its best to go earlier in the day.

I’m a big fan of all their treats, but it can get quite expensive. Definitely worth it.

We Rate Beta 5 Chocolates:

Address:
413 Industrial Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.beta-5.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=413+Industrial+Ave+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=413+Industrial+Ave,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6A&z=15 “]

In Cafe

Le Marché St. George: Coffee Shop in the Neighbourhood

December 15, 2013

Le Marche St. George is a little neighbourhood grocery store and cafe in Vancouver right smack in a residential area. It’s really a hidden gem and tucked away from all major streets and businesses. MedicalGiraffe and I came for a drink and discovered this place is the community hub and hangout for people in the neighbourhood. People know each other and it has such a cool vibe.

Can you guess the street that it’s located on? St. George of course!

On a Saturday afternoon, this place was packed! All the seats were occupied and there were long lines. This isn’t a bad thing as it’s a compliment to their success.

Their grocery part of the store isn’t too large, but there’s a lot of things to look at.

If you take a look at their shelves, you’ll find some pretty cool products that you won’t find at usual grocery stores. Instead of asking your neighbour for some cream or sugar, you can just walk a short distance to Le Marche St. George to stock up on something you don’t have.

Milk, eggs, cheese, etc.

There’s even fruits and vegetables.

Their menu has a bunch of coffee, tea, pastry items, snacks, and ice cream.

London Fog (12oz – $3.90)

Latte (12 oz – $3.90) was really good. Nice and strong! Just what I need to keep me awake.

Overall, this place is very cute and is very different than any cafe or grocery store you’ve been to. Definitely a great hangout place on the weekend.

We Rate Le Marche St. George:

Address:
4393 St. George Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.marchestgeorge.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=4393+St.+George+Street+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=4393+St+George+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5V&z=16 “]

In Cafe

Mancakes Bakery: Righting the Wrong That’s Been Done to Cupcakes

December 14, 2013

I was strolling around Downtown with MedicalGiraffe and stumbled upon this cute place. ManCakes Bakery Cafe opened up on Robson near Cambie. It’s the cutest cupcake shop that is catered towards men.

No worries, women buy cupcakes here too. Not just for men. The owners came up with ManCakes since they were sick of all the frilly over iced cupcakes. I’ve tried their ManCakes at an event a while ago before they had this location. They are definitely changing up the cupcake game with their unique concept.

You won’t find the regular flavours of cupcakes here. I was definitely drawn by the sign. Whiskey and lime?

Inside the store is a loungey area to enjoy some cupcakes and coffee.

The cupcakes look really cute and the flavours are like food and drinks that you can find at a pub.

There were 11 different types of cupcakes and it was very hard to figure out which one to get. The cupcakes don’t only sound good but they

Tool Box ($20) comes with a dozen mini cupcakes. It’s a great way to try all their cupcakes. It makes for great gifts for the office.

The tool box contains:

Apple Brie
Tequila Pineapple
Whiskey Lime
Buffalo Wing
King Kong
Bacon Chili Chocolate
Chocolate Red Wine
Pink Peppercorn Grapefruit
Rum & Coke
Breakfast
Chicago Popcorn

The flavours that stood out are chocolate red wine, Chicago popcorn, whiskey lime, king kong, rum and coke, and tequila pineapple. One flavour that we thought would be good but wasn’t was the Buffalo Wing. M and I didn’t like the sweet and savoury taste of it. Personal preferences.

You can eat the mini cupcakes in 2 bites.

Overall, the cupcakes were moist and had a great balance of flavour and quite innovative. A fun cupcake to give to any man or woman.

We Rate ManCakes:

Address:
288 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://mancakesbakery.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=288+Robson+Street+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=288+Robson+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+6A1&z=16 “]

In Canadian

Taco Time: Taco Tuesday for 99 cents

December 12, 2013

On Tuesdays, lines at the Taco Time in Pacific Centre gets quite long.

People want a quick and cheap lunch. I was doing some shopping at noon and needed a very very quick lunch before heading back to work. As I spent a large amount of money on clothes…I felt guilty, so a cheap lunch option was good to balance out my shopping.

Taco Tuesday! 99 cents for a soft or hard shelled taco. Tempting even though it’s not very good compared to all the other places Downtown.

I ordered 2 soft shell tacos and 2 hard shell tacos. It didn’t seem like a lot of food at the time, but after I ate all of this, I was crazy full.

Hard shell Taco has cheddar cheese, lettuce, and ground beef in the shell. I find they add a lot of salt and spices to the meat, so you will get thirsty.

Soft shell Taco has cheddar cheese, lettuce, and ground beef in the soft shell.

Both tacos are essentially the same, but I do prefer the hard taco for the added crunch.

Don’t forget the sauce! Mild sauce and then the spicy green one.

Don’t forget the Mexifries! Deep-fried tater tots! My childhood favourite.

Overall, nothing fancy and does the trick of filling up your empty stomach. For 99 cents, you can’t go wrong.

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

In Dessert

Bon Crepe: Parfait in the Freezing Cold

December 11, 2013

It was a cold night in Vancouver, -5 degrees to be accurate. We were having dinner at Tableau and didn’t want to walk very far for something sweet. Some may say we are lazy, but women just don’t do well in the cold. Even when we are indoors, we complain that it’s cold. We are always cold.

We decided to pop into Konbinya to see what Bon Crepe has to offer. Perhaps we wanted a crepe of some sort or an ice cream.

When we went inside of the Konbinya entrance, we discovered they had parfait for a little under $7. This sparked our interest since we had parfait on our minds but didn’t want to walk to Chicco.

Green Tea Parfait ($6.62) has a piece of sponge cake, corn flakes, vanilla ice cream, tapioca pearls, green tea soft serve, green tea cake, green tea ice cream, green tea syrup, red bean, green tea powder, whipped cream and a wafer.

Green tea overload but it was great for our sweet tooths. It’s large, so I wasn’t able to finish it all since I ate too much at dinner.

Pudding Parfait ($6.62) has sponge cake, corn flakes, tapioca pearls, vanilla ice cream, custard pudding, vanilla soft serve ice cream, whipped cream, caramel sauce, strawberries, and a wafer.

The parfait is good but not as good at Chicco a few block down the street. The toppings are slightly different, but it’s really up to personal preference.

While you’re there, you should check out all the Japanese snacks at Konbinya. There’s always sales and you can find some cool drinks and candy.

We rate Bon Crepe:

Address:
1238 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.bonboncrepe.com/en_index.html

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1238+Robson+St+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=1238+Robson+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6E+1C1&z=14 “]

In Brunch

Yolk’s Restaurant and Commissary: Now Open

December 9, 2013

Yolk’s Restaurant and Commissary has finally opened up on Clark and Hastings. It occupies the old space of ‘Brave Bull House of Steaks’. The building has a fresh baby blue and yellow paint job reflecting the look of their Food Truck.

I’ve been to the food truck several times since its close to where I work. When I heard that they were opening up a restaurant, I was definitely excited to see what they would be cook up. They spent weeks teasing fans on Facebook and Twitter.

They opened just last week and was crazy busy during the weekend. A little past noon, there was a huge line up. We waited about 15 minutes for a seat for 2.

They have daily specials, but they do run out quick. We missed the crispy pork belly confit and I’ve had it at the food cart and it’s pretty darn good.

The space isn’t very large and they don’t take reservations.

The drink menu is great, but right now they don’t have any liquor just yet.

The food menu is an expansion of their food truck menu. A few new items and the usual items are still on the menu.

Freshly squeezed orange juice ( 12 oz – $5.75) is the perfect pairing for brunch. Nothing else can really compare to fresh OJ.

Matchstick Coffee (12 oz – $2.25) good coffee and what I need to wake up. Refills are $1 extra.

Hot Mulled Apple Cider (12 oz – $3.50) was ordered by M just out of curiosity. He didn’t like it. Its was lot hot apple juice with a bunch of different spices. It’s definitely an acquired taste and not for all.

Brioche French Toast ($7.75) is mothered in melted butter, syrup and powdered sugar. M really enjoyed it and said it was one of the best french toast he has ever had. The exterior is crunchy and the interior is moist.

Croque Madame (2 for $7.50) have brioche bread shells filled with ham, gruyere cheese, béchamel sauce, and a soft poached egg. It was sinfully delicious! Each little cup, you can eat in about 3 or 4 bites. Really delicious.

Braised Beef Short Rib ($11.75) has a soft poached free range egg, beer battered onion ring, and goat cheese on a toasted english muffin.

The best part is really the egg. When you pop it, it enrobes all the other ingredients.

Truffle Lemon Hashbrown Skewer ($3.50) is made of local organic potatoes, lemon, truffle oil, sea salt and chives. This time around, it wasn’t as good The potatoes weren’t crispy on the outside and needed a bit more truffle oil and salt.

Overall, M and I still enjoyed Yolk’s. The food is well executed, but a bit pricey for the portion that you get. If you are a big eater, you should get the 2 egg sandwiches and something on the side.

They are open for brunch and lunch at the following times:

Wed – Fri | 7 am – 3 pm
Sat – Sun | 9 am -4 pm

We rate Yolk’s Restaurant and Commissary:

Address:
1298 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://yolks.ca/restaurant/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1298+East+Hastings+Street+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=1298+E+Hastings+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6A+1S6&z=16″]

In British Columbia

McDonalds Canada: Poutine

December 8, 2013

McDonalds Canada has finally brought Poutine to the West Coast. They first introduced this in Quebec decades ago, but wasn’t available anywhere else in Canada. It retails for $3.99, but you can upgrade your meal from fries to poutine for $1.50.

I’m still waiting for the McLobster to make it’s way to the West Coast.

Inside the box are the classic McDonalds fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds. It’s definitely had mixed reviews and varied expectations so far from people.

The actual item doesn’t look like the advertisements since there’s not as many fries in the box. It’s about half full. M and I dug in and we thought the poutine was alright. The fries were not overly salty and went well with the gravy and curds.

I wouldn’t order this on it’s own since $3.99 as it was quite expensive. You might as well order a meal and upgrade. It’s a nice addition to the menu if you are a gravy and cheese lover.

Have you tried this yet?

Website:
http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ca/en.html

In All You Can Eat

Montana’s Cookhouse: Wednesday All You Can Eat Ribs

November 29, 2013

It was M’s Birthday, so he chose to go to Montana’s Cookhouse. As it is a Wednesday, they have all you can eat ribs! I made sure to prepare and wore sweat pants to prepare for this occasion. Trying to figure out what camera to bring to a restaurant is always a pain. As I haven’t used my HTC One yet, I used it instead of my iPhone or my LX7. The last time I went to Montana’s we were able to eat a large amount of ribs. 3.5 racks to be exact, but back then they were much smaller. I was definitely up for the challenge!

If you come here during your birthday, they make you put on a moose hat, sing you happy birthday in front of the restaurant, and bring you a free piece of cake. M of course was too shy, so he didn’t tell anyone it has his birthday.

The interior is very country. It’s family friendly and has tons of seating. There’s some pretty cool things on the ceiling to look at. Like… cars, canoes, antlers, etc.

Water comes in mason jars and you get some crayons to draw all over the table. It’s fun to just doodle as you wait for the food.

For the ribs, you get a bucket for your bones, lots of napkins, cutlery, ketchup, wet naps, and straws for your drinks.

AYCE Back Ribs ($28.99) starts off with the first rack with the flavour sauce of your choice, 2 sides and cornbread. We were surprised to see the ribs were so large and meaty. Each rack has 12 ribs and the meat was moist, plus it had a nice smokey flavour.

As our order arrived, we immediately put in an extra order for half a rack since it took the quite a while to get our first order.

Of all the flavours, our favourite was the Texas Bold.

3 people’s worth of half a rack of ribs. We could only finish 2 more before we had to stop. We were very full after 14 ribs. We asked if we could take it home, but we weren’t able to. I guess that’s a good thing since some people might abuse the AYCE system. We felt bad for over-ordering since we didn’t want it all to go to the trash.

Overall, the ribs were pretty good with the Texas Bold sauce and I would come again for AYCE. It’s a bit expensive, so only go when you have a crazy appetite. Do be warned that the service is very slow. We waited about 40 minutes to get our first order, but we knew it wouldn’t be a quick dinner, so we had our phones with games to keep us company.

We Rate Montana’s:

Address:
1046 – 2929 Barnet Hwy
Coquitlam, BC

Website:
http://www.montanas.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2929+Barnet+Hwy+Coquitlam,+BC&t=m&hnear=2929+Barnet+Hwy,+Coquitlam,+British+Columbia+V3B+5R5&z=16 “]

In Cafe

JJ Bean: Now open in False Creek

November 28, 2013

JJ Bean has open their latest location in False Creek on 1st Avenue. It’s spacious and has a good amount of seats to just chill and have some coffee or even set up your laptop and study.

There’s lots of natural light that shines through the windows and is very relaxing. They have excellent coffee, but as we already had our morning coffee, we opted for juice and some yummy lunch.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup (Large) was had it for here, so we got a side of salad. The large size was quite big. Magz had a hard time finishing it, so she had to take it to go.

Spicy Southwest Chicken Wrap has a spicy chipotle mayo, cilantro chimichurri rice, corn, black beans, tomato, monterey jack cheese and roasted chicken breast in a spinach tortilla. I had the wrap here, so we got a salad on the side.

As a quick lunch and it was pretty good. Lunch with no fuss. It’s a good addition to the area.

We Rate JJ Bean:

Address:
188 West 1st Avenue
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://jjbeancoffee.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=188+West+1st+Avenue+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=188+W+1st+Ave,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5Y&z=14″]

In Brunch

The Coquitlam Grill: Breakfast on the Weekends

November 27, 2013

Heading to Coquitlam early in the morning, what better way to have breakfast than to go to Coquitlam Grill. It has been here for a very long time and is a local favourite. They serve up breakfast, lunch and dinner.

At 10am, the parking lot was packed and you can see some seniors standing around hanging out with their friends.

The interior is the same as a Knight and Day because that was the previous restaurant that occupied the space.

There’s tons of seats, so its great for large parties. It’s usually packed on the weekends, but we came here early, so there were seats still in the back.

French Toast with sausages, eggs, and hash browns. Comes with a side of butter and syrup.

European Breakfast with sausage, perogies, sour cream and eggs.

Truckers Breakfast has eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast sausage and hash browns.

The truckers breakfast also comes with pancakes. It’s a huge meal.

All the breakfast items were pretty solid. Good ol’ breakfast. The portions are huge and definitely worth the price. It’s a favourite breakfast location for locals and you get your moneys worth. You will walk out happy and full.

The restaurant also has free wifi.

We Rate Coquitlam Grill:

Address:
108 – 2635 Barnet Highway
Coquitlam, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=108+-+2635+Barnet+Highway+Coquitlam,+BC&t=m&hnear=2635+Barnet+Hwy,+Coquitlam,+British+Columbia+V3E+1K9&z=16 “]

In BBQ

Chengdu Szechuan Bistro 成都美食: Drool For Peking Duck

November 26, 2013

Chengdu Szechuan Bistro is located close to the corner of Robson and Denman street and have been around for a little bit over a year now. They specialize in fusion Chinese Szechuan cuisine. It’s a family run restaurant and Executive Chef Henry has over 20 years of cooking experience from Hong Kong and Canada.

I came here with a few friends to check it out and we heard they have peking duck, so it peaked our attention.

The interior isn’t too large but it has a row of booths, some bar seats, and some tables near the front. It has a lounge feel to this place as there is a large bar.

Peking Duck with 12 crepes is served with green onions, cucumber, and hoisin sauce. On top of the duck are prawn chips. The duck and the crepes are all made in-house. This is their signature dish.

The skin is nice and crispy with a good layer of meat underneath. Probably one of the best quality peking ducks around town. It wasn’t too fatty either. Super moist and yummy.

You take a little bit of everything and wrap it in the crepe. It’s really good. Highly recommended!!

The second part of the peking duck meal is the lettuce wraps. The rest of the duck meat and stir fries it. On the side, there are 6 lettuce wraps for you to put to ingredients into.

Just roll it up and begin munching away. Delicious! We definitely needed more lettuce wraps since 6 were not enough.

The perfect things to pair with the peking duck is with beer! I ordered a bottle of Tsingtao beer. Asian beer with asian food is a good mix.

Chengdu Special Fried Rice ($12) has house special fried rice with shrimp, chinese sausage, onions, jalapeño, broccoli stem in a spicy Szechuan style. This fried rice was definitely spicy with the jalapeño and Szechuan sauce. It’s finally good to see a fried rice that can pack some heat. If you like spicy food, you’ll like the rice.

Ginger Beef ($11) has crunchy beef in spicy ginger kung pao sauce with onions, carrots and fresh ginger. It’s one of their signature dishes and quite popular amongst guests. The dish was decent.

Mapo Tofu ($9) has soft tofu, spicy ground pork, shrimp, onions, chinese mushrooms and water chestnut.

Szechuan Pan Fried Prawns ($12) has pan-fried prawns in spicy garlic pepper oil. We table had mixed review on this item. Some said it was too salty, but some loved how it had a strong garlic flavour.

Szechuan Green Beans ($8) has long green bean tossed in a spicy Szechuan sauce with ground pork and preserved vegetables. This was really good. A bit oily, but good flavours.

Pumpkin & Red Bean Sticky Rice Cake Ice Cream ($6) nice sweet end to the meal. Its sticky, chewy and a bit sweet. It goes well with the ice cream.

Deep Fried Banana With Ice Cream ($6) has a honey glaze around the battered bananas. A fun dish to share.

Of course there is a fortune cookie. Did you know it’s actually an American invention?

The peking duck dishes are pretty awesome here and would recommend it to anyone. I found the other dishes to be quite average and is a bit more expansive compared to other restaurants.

If you are tired of ramen in the area, definitely come here and try their peking duck. You won’t regret it. Yum.

We Rate Chengdu Szechuan Bistro:

Address:
792 Denman St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.chengdubistro.ca

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

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=792+Denman+St+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=792+Denman+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6G+2L5&z=16 “]

In Dessert

Adorabelle Tea Room: Afternoon Tea in Steveston

November 25, 2013

Adorabelle Tea Room is a little cozy tea room in Steveston that serves up Afternoon tea. I rarely come to Steveston, but had I know there was such a cute little restaurant here, I would make more trips down here. The tea room is in the location of an old courtroom in Steveston. Seems like a weird place, but it’s the perfect location for a girls night out.

Afternoon Tea service is from Wednesday through Sunday. There are designated seating times 11:00am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm and 3:30pm. Reservations are required before you come here as they need to plan in advance. It’s $25 per person, which is a good price considering other places are around $50 per person.

Once you go inside, it is small, but it is the perfect atmosphere to have afternoon tea here. There are only 5 tables here.

Good intimate atmosphere for a bunch of girls to come here, de-stress, and have a good catch up session.

Our reservation was from 12:30pm – 1:30pm. Each seating is an hour-long, but its a decent amount of time to eat the 3 tiers of treats. If not, you can take then home and enjoy further.

When you sit down, you have your cup ready and your napkin folded like a rose. It’s the small little touches that make dining here great.

You can choose when types of teas you want. It can be a bit of a struggle to figure out which tea you want to try out.

It’s good that they come around to help you choose the right tea. You can smell them all if you like too.

I went with the Cream Earl Grey and my friend chose Paris. Both very good types of black tea.

As your tea steeps, it has a cozy to keep the heat from escaping.

A few minutes pass by and we can enjoy our tea. There is milk and sugar on the side if you need.

Shortly after, our little treats arrive.

For each person, it comes with:

five tea sandwiches
two fresh baked scones with sweetened cream & strawberry preserves
five house-made petite sweets

Smoked Salmon pinwheel, bacon and chive cupcake, egg pinwheel, cucumber cream cheese open-faced sandwich, chicken and waffles sandwich, and lastly the savoury shortbread with asiago and fennel.

This was by far my favourite section of the meal. Every single item tasted fantastic! The two items that really stood out for me were the bacon chive cupcakes and the savoury shortbread. YUM!

Level two is scone central.

There is the regular scone with raison and topped with icing sugar. The next is the orange scone with a nice glaze on top.
I’m not a huge fan of scones, but these were pretty good. Very filling as well.

Sweetened cream and strawberry preserves to go with the scones. You must add these or else the scone will not taste as delicious. So good.

The last tier is dessert time.

Strawberry with cream cheese, chocolate minty cake enrobbed with ganche, ginger molasses cookies and fruit pastilles.
Delicious and was a sweet overload. A good way to end the meal!

Overall, KoreanGirl and I really enjoyed ourselves here. It’s a quaint little place and we will definitely be back. Afterwards, we walked around Steveston and checked out Garry Point Park.

We Rate Adorabelle Tea Room:

Address:
12051 Third Avenue
Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.adorabelletearoom.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=12051+Third+Avenue+Richmond,+BC&t=m&hnear=12051+Third+Ave,+Richmond,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V7E&z=16 “]

In British Columbia

November Snackbox: Mysterious Box of Snacks

November 21, 2013

The November Snackbox has now shipped and one delicious box landed at my desk at work. It’s always a treat to receive mail

If you aren’t familiar with Snackbox, it is a local Vancouver company created to simplify the task of discovering new healthy snacks. They take the guesswork out of figuring out whats good. It is an online subscription that delivers you a mysterious box of snacks that contain about 10 -12 items.

The subscription comes in 3 versions – 1 month ($33 per box), 3 months ($27 per box), or 6 months ($24 per box).

You are most likely to receive these shipments on the 12th of every month.

There is a little bit of sweet and savoury snacks to satisfy your cravings. There’s a little guide about each product. If you like a certain product, you’ll know where to pick it up.

In the box, you won’t love everything, but it’s good to try new things. The first thing I put my eyes on was Sponge Bob Square Pants!

This month, there were 11 items in the box.

The items inside were:

Bella Viva Orchards Pear Slices
Arora Creations Gobi Spice
Veggie Straws
My Smoothie Green
Enerjive Quinoa Skinny Crackers
Pirate’s Booty Cheese Puffs – Aged White Cheddar
La Fourmi Fruit and Nut Medley
Cocolico Toffee Coconut Dark Chocolate
Lara Bar – Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
True To Nature Protein Bar- Chocolate Banana
Ito En Japanese Green Tea

My favourite items in the November Snackbox are the drinks. I’m not a big snacker between my meals and I would much prefer drinking something. It also keeps my fingers clean if I’m typing up an email at the same time.

I love this green tea, while I was opening up this box, I was drinking of a loose leaf tea version of the Oi Ocha green tea.
mySmoothie Green was pretty good too. It’s good for times when I don’t have a juicer or blender around. The smoothie is on the sweeter side, so you won’t be having troubles drinking this.

Looks like I found something I loved in this box. All the other stuff I threw at my coworker.

Website: https://getsnackbox.com/

Use the below coupon code to save $15 off your next order.

In American

White Spot: New Location in North Burnaby

November 17, 2013

The old ABC Country Restaurant in Kensington Plaza finally closed down after years of horrible service and food. When we passed by and saw White Spot opening up, we were ecstatic. Anything was better than ABC.

M and I decided to head over as it was very close in the neighbourhood and we were too lazy to cook.

The interior has had a complete makeover that matches their other restaurants. It was bright and welcoming. Lots of booth seating and it was pretty busy on the weekend.

The White Spot Club has turkey breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo & chili sauce on sourdough bread. I substituted my fries for their Spot Salad. The spot salad has dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, toasted almonds, greens and arugula with a honey sherry dressing.

I didn’t like the sourdough bread for this particular sandwich because the crust was quite hard and would cut my mouth, but other than that, it tasted good. There was a lot of bacon, so it made me happy.

Bacon Cheddar Bigger Burger has a 6 oz beef burger with bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce & tomato with Triple O sauce. M substituted his fries with the Zoo sticks, which as zucchini fries. The zoo stick were very thick, so you definitely get a lot of zucchini.

There was also some coleslaw on the side. The burger was pretty decent.

The Spot’s Salad with Chicken also has artisan greens and arugula with honey sherry dressing, cranberries, sunflower seeds & toasted almonds. It supposed to come with garlic panini bread, but I don’t know why I didn’t get any.

Either way, I still really like the salad.

B.C. Chicken Burger has chargrilled BC chicken breast, cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion and the Triple “O” sauce. M also got the Zoo sticks substitute this time too.

Overall, the food isn’t too bad. We left feeling satisfied with all this comfort food. It’s nothing fancy but its good and simple.

We Rate White Spot:

Address:
6500 Hastings Street
Burnaby, BC

Website:
https://www.whitespot.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=6500+Hastings+Street+Burnaby,+BC&t=m&hnear=6500+Hastings+St,+Burnaby,+British+Columbia+V5B+4B3&z=16″]

In Bar and Grill

Storm Crow Tavern: Board Games, Beer, and Burgers

November 16, 2013

M told me about Storm Crow Tavern and now it is the nerdiest bar in Vancouver. I totally had to tell my nerdy blogging buddies – Gastrofork, FoodQueen, and EatingWithKirby. We are secretly really big geeks inside.

The tavern is on Commercial Drive right beside Grandview Park.

There’s a giant cthulhu with a mini skull.

There are battle axes, swords and a bunch of memorabilia on all the walls. You definitely have a tavern feel when you get inside.

There are also lots of board games to use free of charge.

Guns!

Mead ($6.50) is an alcoholic beverage made of fermented honey and water. If you play video games, you know this drink pops up a lot.

The Wolverine ($9) has maple whiskey, butter schnapps, frothy cream in an adamantium mug and a stick of crunchy bacon. It sounded like a cool drink but it definitely wasn’t for me.

The Jack Burton ($5) Jack Daniels with Lager. Dee rolled the 20 sided dice and landed on number 3, which was this drink. We all wanted her to land on 20 to get the Critical Hit drink, but it wasn’t meant to be. I think she just wanted to roll the cool dice.

Chickpea Fries ($6) are huge fries made of chickpeas. It also came with vegan gravy. This was the best thing we had here. Definitely recommended

With our drinks in hand, we played a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity. I think it’s probably one of the most popular games here. It’s an easy game.

Crow Burger with gluten free bread ($9) has chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, dijon, mayo, and onion.

Thunder Burger ($8 + $3) is a storm burger with a few upgrades. It has a 6 oz beef patty with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, sun-dried tomato aioli, bbq honey sauce, smoked provolone cheese, and crispy bacon on a Portuguese bun. I chose to have salad on the side.

The burger was ok. Lots of bacon, but everything else was pretty mediocre.

Elvish Veggie Burger Supreme with Daiya vegan cheese ($8 + $2) has a patty made of chickpeas, lentils and rice. The burger also has roasted corn, black beans, tomatoes and a salsa verde and veganaise sauce.

Barbaric Beef Stew ($8) is a savage stew of roasted potatoes, yams, onions, carrots, butternut squash and beef covered in gravy. There is also garlic bread that comes with it. Looks pretty meh and from Dee’s expression, it didn’t seem very good.

After our meals, we thought a proper game of Jenga was in order. It’s quick and there really isn’t too much strategy that goes into it. I lost twice out of three rounds and I totally blame the uneven tables.

When the bill came, we also got a few magic cards. As I don’t play magic, I just took them home and gave them to M. He’s a big magic fan, so I’m sure he will make use out of these.

Overall, the food is very mediocre and the drinks can be a bit expensive depending on what you order. I wouldn’t come again for the food. I’d come here for a beer and play some board games.

We Rate Storm Crow Tavern:

Address:
1305 Commercial Dr
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.stormcrowtavern.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=1305+Commercial+Dr+Vancouver,+Bc&t=m&hnear=1305+Commercial+Dr,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5L+3X5&z=16″]

In British Columbia

Pizza Hut Canada: Crunchy Cheesy Bites Pizza

November 13, 2013

M and I were watching TV one day and we saw that Pizza Hut Canada just introduced the Crunchy Cheesy Bites Pizza. A large 2 topping pizza is $17.

Crunchy Cheesy Bites Pizza is different from a regular pizza. It has a crust made of cheesy bites topped with crunchy corn flakes. Even though type of pizza is new in North America, it has been around Asian for some time.

You can rip off the bites and eat the separately, or enjoy it in its original pizza style.

When the pizza arrived, it has some resemblance to what you see in the commercials. As I opened the pizza box, I was so excited to dig in.

The cheese does look like it’s oozing out, but wasn’t cheesy at all. The inside of the bite was hollow and the cheese was hard. When you bite into the entire bite, its squishy and doughy. There was not crunch in the crust at all. Maybe the pizza was overcooked.

It doesn’t live up to the hype. It was alright, but I wouldn’t order it again. I still liked the hotdog stuffed crust they introduced a year ago.

Website: www.pizzahut.ca

In Downtown

Mosaic: Fall Menu and Vaneats Package

November 10, 2013

I’m no stranger to Mosaic, I think I’ve been here more times than I have fingers. What I like most about Mosaic is that their menu is always changing from season to season to adapt to the produce in season. Mosaic is hidden away in the Hyatt Hotel near Burrard Station.

Chef Thomas Heinrich and his team put together new menus every season and also have special Chef Tasting Menu’s once in a while.

They currently have a Vaneats.ca package called Mosaic Harvest for $27, which offers diners 3 courses. It’s a nice sneak peek into their fall menu without breaking the bank.

Choice of appetizer:
- Fall Salad
- A la Minute Smoked Skuna Bay Salmon
- Apple Lane Orchards Apples Bisque
Your choice of entree:
- Seared Baja Ocean Wise Scallops
- Sous Vide Lamb
- Grilled Curried Cauliflower Steak
Your choice of dessert:
- Pumpkin and Nutmeg Creme Brulee
- Mosaic Chocolate Cake

It’s a pretty good deal since you do save a lot of money by getting the package. Like the average person, I know you like a good deal.

They also have a create your own dish option. Great if you have something in particular you want to eat.

Complimentary biscuits are cute and has a delicious smokey flavour.

Fall Salad ($10) has baby carrots, beets, tokyo turnips, fennel, pumpkin, and a tangerine dressing. The salad was pretty good and you can really taste how fresh the ingredients. It’s like an ode to fall.

Ala Minute Smoked Skuna Bay Salmon ($13) has kale nori, microgreens and a wasabi cauliflower puree. When it arrives at the table, this dish is enveloped in yummy smoke. The piece of salmon was a tad tough and hard to cut through. The kale nori was pretty good an addictive.

Roasted Chestnut Bisque ($9) has roasted chestnut, spiced brandy cream, and apple lane farm apples. The dish is a bit rich, but you have the taste of tart apples to balance it out.

Seared Baja Ocean Wise Scallops ($20) a sweet potato puree, figs, and prosciutto. It has 4 pieces of plump scallops. I’ve never had fresh figs before and it worked well with the prosciutto and sweet potato.

Sous Vide Peace Country Lamb ($24) comes with broccoli rabe, butternut squash, and spiced walnuts. The lamb was incredibly moist and easy to cut through. Very good!

Grilled Curried Cauliflower Steak ($17) is an all gluten-free dish. It has baby carrots, dates, and toasted pine nuts. There is definitely no steak in this dish, but you get a large cross-section of cauliflower enrobed in the curry sauce. I found the curry sauce to be a tad on the salty side, but I loved those baby carrots.

Pumpkin and Nutmeg Creme Brulee was like eating a pumpkin pie. It is beautifully spiced and its a big portion for dessert. You can definitely share this.

Mosaic Chocolate Cake is their signature triple layer cake. It’s been around for a very long time.

You definitely have a great selection from the Vaneats Package. It’s available till February 28, 2014, so grab it before it’s all sold out.

Below are additional items off their regular menu.

Crispy Brussels Sprouts ($12) has sloping hill farms heritage pork belly and a scotched 64° egg. Man, I gotta tell you, this dish blew my mind. It’s so crispy and addictive. Sinfully delicious and highly recommended.

Earth Apple Farms Roasted Beets ($13) has toasted pumpernickel, pine nuts, salt spring island garlic goat cheese. In the past year, I’ve grown to really like beets. This dish was particularly unique. The dark purple thing on the dish was like an iced beet foam. It’s very unexpected from this dish to have an icy component.

Butter Poached Alaskan Crab ($14) has Hui’s farm mushrooms and leeks with an aromatic butter sauce. The flesh is nice and sweet

Long Line Caught BC Ling Cod ($18) has a butter poached lobster pomme puree and baby beets. The puree was very smooth and matched well with the delicate flesh of the cod. If you like fish, this might be a dish for you.

Hand Cut Pasta ($15) has sake steamed mussels, tomatoes and a miso beurre blanc sauce. Man, this dish was good! The mussels were very plump and juicy. The pasta was cooked al dente and the sauce was so good. Highly Recommended!

Skuna Bay Craft Raised Salmon ($19) has a vialone nano truffle risotto on the bottom. This would have been an easy favourite dish, but I felt it was way too overly salted.

Pemberton Meadows beef tenderloin ($22) has onion jam, roasted celery root, and a shallot jus.

Pear and White Salted Chocolate Mousse comes with some salted chocolates sticks and a mini pear. Its one of the lighter desserts and it wasn’t too bad.

What I find with some of their dishes that it can be a bit salty. When you pick the right dishes that fits well with your palate, you’ll definitely enjoy your time here. For myself, I enjoyed the pasta, the brussel sprouts, the beets, scallops, and lamb.

We Rate Mosaic: