Richmond Archives - Page 6 of 11

In Chinese

To Hot Pot: Chongqing Style Hot Pot in Richmond

August 10, 2016

To Hot Pot is the newest hot pot restaurant to open up in Central Richmond. It is located in the same plaza as Dinesty. They specialize in Chongqing style hot pot.

We were invited by Chopstick Fest to have a sneak preview of what To Hot Pot offers to their customers.

It’s very new, so nothing exists online when we were searching this place up.

Interior

This space is huge! This is the main dining area with tons of hot pots. They even have other areas as well for larger groups for more private dining.

We love the table that we sat at since it has hooks for your purses. Love it.

Tracking Card

This little electronic card tracks what you order for your hot pot.

The instructions on the card say:

Pick your soup, bring your card to the counter
Pick your dishes freely
Choose your drink, billed automatically
Pay bill with card

Not the best explanation, but there are staff to help guide you through the process.

Ordering

There is a digital screen where you can make your selection of drinks, soup base and other options. It’s a fairly strange process to me to have servers around, the digital screen to order with the electronic card, then you also have to go pick up what you want from the fridges.

At the far end of the room are these small fridges were you can pick and choose what you want for your meal. Each dish costs money, but you have no idea how much until you tap your card at the end for the total.

You’ll find vegetables, meat, tofu, noodles, and other items that you would typically add to the hot pot. Each dish has an RFID chip, so they can track what items you grabbed.

You place your tray of items on this electronic table, it tabulates and you tap your card.

Mix your own sauce

I love the sauce bar since they have so many options for you to make the perfect sauce thats tailored to your taste buds.

With so many options, there are lots to choose from, but there are only Chinese descriptions for the ingredients, so for only English speakers like me, we accidentally got black vinegar instead of soy sauce.

They also had a small area for fruits and picked vegetables. You can grab as much as you want.

Drinks

Tea is free of charge, but they do have a good range of drinks to accompany the hot pot meal.

Plum Juice is a classic item, but it’s not for everyone. For me it’s something that I’ve grew up drinking, so it don’t notice the flavours too much. To others it can taste like a light BBQ sauce.

Winter melon juice was another item that our group loved.

Hot Pot

We got the two soup bases – Pork Rib Soup and the spicy Chong Qing Style. They also have a special nine combo soup base option that looks pretty cool too.

The spicy Chong Qing broth was very hot for our standards. According to the restaurant, some customers don’t have an issue with it. I usually find the spicy broth is great for cooking meat.

The Pork Rib broth was very nice and flavourful. Great for vegetables, noodles, seafood and tofu.

Veggies

Veggie platter comes with an array of veggies that go well in the hot pot.

Mushroom platter comes with a variety of mushrooms from enoki to oyster mushrooms.

Meat

Pork Belly is always a delicious meat to choose.

Meatball Platter has 4 types of meat balls with 3 each. Beef, lamb and fish I think.

The premium meats will arrive at the tables on nicer dishes, but there are a few cheaper meat options in the fridge like the pork jowl.

All the other dishes may not fit on the table, for us, we ordered so much that it started to overflow the table, so they have these special racks for the extra dishes.

VIP Guests

Apparently, VIP guests get a few special items with their meal. Since we were blogging about the meal, they brought these items over to us.

Deep Fried Pork with Sichuan peppercorn embedded into the batter. The Sichuan peppercorns are pretty intense and numbs your tongue.

The deep-fried buns with condensed milk is always a treat.

Overall

Overall, the quality of the meats, vegetables and broth were good. I’m really use to having all you can eat at other places around town.

The ordering a la carte system was confusing at first since you don’t really know what the prices are until its charged.

We Rate To Hot Pot:

Address:
130- 8171 Ackroyd Road, Richmond, BC

Phone:
604-284-1555 or 604-285-7738

In Dim Sum

Kirin: Dim Sum in Richmond

August 1, 2016

Kirin Seafood Restaurant is a popular Chinese restaurant in Metro Vancouver and they are always packed on the weekends for dim sum. What better way to enjoy the weekend with family by devouring a table full of dim sum?

I came here with ChineseBites to their Richmond location to try a few of their dim sum items on their menu.

Sui mai here has steamed prawn and Sakura Farm premium pork dumpling topped with flying fish roe.

A classic dim sum dish that always needs to be ordered. The sui mai was juicy and had a good texture from the pork and shrimp.

Steamed Prawn Dumpling is another must have item on the menu. Densely packed full of shrimp in the little dumplings. I love anything with shrimp.

Pan Fried Pork Belly and Preserved Vegetable Bun is very soft and has a good taste. No one can say no to pork belly. I know I can’t.

The ratio between the meat mixture and the bun is very good.

Steamed Tofu Puff Stuffed with Minced Fish and Dried Shrimp. I enjoyed it. When you bring tofu and shrimp together, its always a good combination.

The xiao long bao is a steamed pine mushroom and pork dumpling. It was surprisingly really good here. Lots of broth inside and the skin was a nice consistency and not thick at all.

Braised Assorted Cow Offal in Chef’s Special Sauce in a Casserole is not for everyone. You need to have acquired a taste for eating innards.

Sparerib in Black Bean Sauce on Steamed Plain Rice Roll in a Casserole was pretty good. The savoury spare ribs on top and then the delicious sauce drips onto the rice rolls.

Steamed Abalone and Chicken Bun has a good amount of filling too.

Sticky Rice with Pork and Dried Scallop Wrapped in Lotus Leaf. 3 come in an order and its a small portion, which isn’t bad at all. The pork and dried scallop mixture in the centre is always so yummy.

Deep Fried Tofu with Minced Pork was a bit oily and heavy for dim sum.

Deep Fried Prawn Dumpling was deep fried but it wasn’t as oily and heavy as the deep fried tofu.

Steamed Green Onion and Chinese Donut Rice Roll Topped with Bread Crumb is on the left of this picture.

Deep Fried Minced Fish and Chinese Mushroom Bean Curd Roll in Steamed Rice Roll is the other. Of the two, this one was my favourite. Drizzle a bit of soy sauce and it will be so good.

Rice Roll had a nice texture between the mushroom and pork. Very savoury flavours and you don’t go wrong with it.

Steamed Pork Liver Rice Roll was interesting with pork liver. Usually its pretty standard with pork or shrimp.

We ended the meal with Thousand Tier Cake, a dessert with alternating layers of salted egg yolk and steamed flour. A nice sweet touch at the end of the meal.

Overall, it was a good solid dim sum meal. You can’t go wrong with any of the dishes. One item that really surprised me was the xiao long bao, it was well made and super delicious.

We Rate Kirin:

Address:
7900 Westminster Highway, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.kirinrestaurants.com/

In Canadian

Wild Sweets: Chocolate in Richmond

July 27, 2016

Wild Sweets by Dominique and Cindy Duby are world-acclaimed and award-winning chocolate makers. They are located in a secluded area in South Richmond. It took a little while to find this place because it’s mostly just warehouses.

I was invited to try a few of their signature items and their new line of dessert – Pret-a-Manger. I’ve had their chocolates a few years ago as a gift and finally made the connection when I was here. I knew the name sounded familiar.

Retail Store

The retail store has all their signature chocolates for sale. From chocolate bars, cakes, to gift boxes and spreads.

20% Sugar Fruit Confit

20% Sugar Fruit Confit has some pretty cool flavours, but one of my favourites is Pear and Vanilla beans. They go well with yogurt, little cakes or with a charcuterie plate.

Fruit Macarons Chocolate

Fruit Macarons take the classic French cookie and have them stacked on top of chocolate squares. For a second I thought there were Chinese characters written on top, but its just scribbles.

Sweet Salty Snacking Chocolate

Dark Chocolate Bark has dark chocolate, dried apricots & cherries, banana chips, puffed rice, spicy puffed peas, hickory smoked almonds.

I love how it was packed full of all the different ingredients and worked well together.

Butter Caramel Popcorn is tossed in vanilla bean and salted butter caramel, then several layers of their high % milk cocoa.

Bean to Bar Chocolates

All their chocolates start from bean to bar. They pride themselves of being Canada’s only artisan science-based cocoa bean to bar chocolate makers.

Vanilla bean caramel, coffee and walnut was a good tasting bar. Stronger notes of the vanilla bean and coffee. The walnut was more subtle.

Maple caramel, pecans and smoked salt is a unique flavour and my coworkers gravitated towards this flavour.

Prêt-á-Manger Desserts

Their Prêt-á-Manger Desserts are exclusively sold in their stores, so you won’t find it anywhere else. They retail for $4.99 each.

Tarte Chocolate has sweet butter sablé cookie crust, fruit caramel dark chocolate ganache cream, and dark chocolate Chantilly mousse.

Tarte Citron has sweet butter sablé cookie crust, lemon custard cream, and white chocolate Chantilly mousse.

Tarte Banane has sweet butter sablé cookie crust, banana custard cream, banana-coconut ‘sand’, and white chocolate Chantilly mousse.

Tarte Framboise has sweet butter sablé cookie crust, raspberry fruit custard cream, and white chocolate Chantilly mousse.

Mousse Chocolat – Dark has dark chocolate sabayon mousse, dark chocolate Crème Brûlée cream and puffed cereal chocolate pearls.

This was my favourite since I love chocolate.

Mousse Chocolat – Milk has milk chocolate sabayon mousse, passion fruit Crème Brûlée cream and puffed cereal chocolate pearls.

Mousse Chocolat – White has fresh lemon zest white chocolate sabayon mousse, raspberry fruit Crème Brûlée cream and puffed cereal chocolate pearls.

Hazelnut Passion has layers of hazelnut butter sabayon parfait, apricot passion fruit sorbet, chocolate ice cream, apricot passion fruit confit, candied hazelnuts & sweet butter sablé cookie chunks.

Peanut banana has layers of peanut butter sabayon parfait, banana ice cream, chocolate ice cream, red fruit confit, candied peanuts & sweet butter sablé cookie chunks.

Pistachio Strawberry has layers of pistachio butter sabayon parfait, strawberry sorbet, vanilla bean ice cream, red fruit confit, candied pistachios & sweet butter sablé cookie chunks.

I enjoyed this one as all the ingredients seemed to mesh well together, plus I love pistachios.

Overall, its a unique shop that they have in Richmond and there’s nothing else like it in the area. Delicious tasting chocolate, but the location of their store is hard to get to without a car.

We Rate Wild Sweets:

Address:
2145 – 12191 Hammersmith Way, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://dcduby.com/

In Brewery

Fuggles & Warlocks Craftworks: Brewery in Richmond

July 22, 2016

Fuggles & Warlocks Craftworks is located in Richmond and their motto is “keeping beer weird”. You’ll find a lot of the beers push traditional styles of beer to the limit by adding a West Coast flair to their brews.

One thing that differentiates them is their distinct focus on geek culture. A few of their beers are inspired by video games or animes.

Tasting Room

The tasting room has a rotating series of beers on tap. When we were here, there were the ones available.

Destiny IPA
The Last Strawberry
Britannia IPA
Four Winds Pilsner
Personas West Coast Common
Kiwami Plum Sour
Hikari
Icarus Mosaic Saison

You can also purchase merchandise, buy bottles of beer, fill up your growlers and play video games.

There is a good amount of tables and chairs inside. They also have a small patio too.

Beer Flights

Since I wanted to try more than just one beer, I went with the fight for $7.

The Last Strawberry is a Strawberry Wit is 4.9% at 8IBU, so it is a very refreshing an easy to drink beer. It is brewed with fresh strawberries and sweetened with lactose.
Kiwami Plum Sour is a limited release in their tasting room. Very delicious.
Destiny IPA is a strong ale at 6% and 62 IBU. It is a light hoppy aroma with hints of oranges, grapefruit and passionfruit.
Four Winds Pilsner isn’t a beer they brew on site. It’s good to see they have a good relationship with other breweries close by.

Of all of them, I found The Last Strawberry and Kiwami Plum Sour to be pretty unique here.

Food Menu

There are a good items that you can order here for snack to go along with your beer.

Bulette
Sandwiches
Pretzels
Pepperoni
Deli Pickle
Chips
Pretz
Sushi

The Calbee chips and pepperoni stick were my favourites.

Overall, a very fun brewery to hang out with friends. When you put together video games and beer, its a good combination.

We Rate Fuggles & Warlocks:

Address:
11220 Horseshoe Way, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.fuggleswarlock.com/

In Cafe

Scorpio’s M: Dessert in Richmond

July 20, 2016

Scorpio’s M Dessert is a little shop hidden on Alexandra Road. They specialize in homemade shaved ice desserts.

There is little to no parking in this plaza as most of the spots are reserved for other restaurants and businesses in the plaza.

We were invited by ChineseBites to give a few of their signature items a try.

Interior

The interior is very nice and reminds me of a shop that should be serving high tea. Randomly there are so odd items that seem like they shouldn’t belong, like a bunch of Chinese looking shelves.

Drinks

Mango soda was a drink that the majority of the people at our table ordered. Refreshing, but it was a bit sweet. Could have been a bit more fizzy too.

Papaya Milk was pretty good as it uses real papaya.

Milk Tea was very artificial tasting and seems like it was made from powder. Very sweet and was not very good.

Pancake Series

The pancakes are wrapped up like cheese burgers and are pretty good. It comes with 1 piece per order, but its definitely enough for 2 people to share one.

Mango Pancake has a piece of ripe mango and whipped cream inside the crepe pancake. I really enjoyed it and it was definitely a treat.

Durian Pancake has the similar component and a good amount of durian. Durian is very pungent to some people and to other its an amazing fruit. Half of the table despised it and the other half was on team durian.

Homemade Shaved Ice

Mango, Kiwi, and rice ball with homemade shaved ice. Topped with fresh mango and kiwis, but the milky shaved ice was more like soup.

Strawberry and black sticky rice with homemade shaved ice had a similar feel to the other desserts. Definitely one of the more filling desserts because of the black sticky rice.

Green Tea Shaved Ice with Grass Jelly was decent, but I really didn’t like the chunky texture of the shaved ice.

Mango and basil seed with mango homemade shaved ice had the fresh mango up top, but the foundation of the desserts – the shaved ice really ruined all the desserts.

Overall, we didn’t like any of Scorpio’s M’s shaved ice desserts. The only item that was good were the mango and durian pancakes. They were huge

With so much competition in the area for shaved ice, the icy texture of shaved ice was so 10 years ago. We are seeing more and more shaved ice places having smoother product with a better consistency.

We rate Scorpio’s M:

Address:
1200-8580 Alexandra Road, Richmond

In Richmond

Coco Hut: Hainanese Chicken in Richmond

July 19, 2016

Coco Hut is a restaurant in Richmond with Hainanese chicken and roti. A few of us met up before an event to see how their Hainanese chicken compares to other places in town. They are located in Union Plaza across from Bubble World.

The interior is pretty small, so there aren’t too many tables here. Since we came on a weekday early in the evening, it wasn’t full yet.

Roti comes with 2 pieces per order, but we got 4 to each person at the table could have on to themselves. Good taste and I like how its slightly crisp on the exterior.

BBQ Satay has your option of pork, beef or chicken. All the satays were overcooked and very dry. It is also served with a peanut sauce and pickled veggies.

Coco Hut Special Fried Rice was decent too. It looked like it had eggs, veggies and the rice all put together.

Single order of Hainanese Chicken with rice and soup. This is what a majority of us ordered and its affordable as its around $7.

This item is what most people get when they are here. The chicken is boneless, soft and tender. I did find there was quite a bit of fat and jelly around the skin.

Decent, but it still doesn’t compare to some other places in town.

Overall, the food is decent, but it wasn’t anything special. With so many options in Richmond, I prefer Prata Man, which is a few minutes away.

We Rate Coco Hut:

Address:
Union Square, 1118-8328 Capstan Way,
Richmond, BC

In Italian

The Old Spaghetti Factory: Riverport Richmond Review

July 6, 2016

The Old Spaghetti Factory is right across from the SilverCity movie theatre. We decided to come here for a quick dinner. We thought we had ample time since it was 50 minutes before the movie. You definitely need at least an hour to dine here.

Complimentary Bread that arrives at the tables is a Italian Sourdough Bread with Whipped Garlic and Plain Butter. A nice way to fill up before waiting for the dishes to arrive.

Clam Chowder is New England style with bacon. Pretty basic and there’s really not much to it.

Crisp Green Salad is the side for the gluten-free menu option. Very simple spinach salad.

Minestrone Soup wasn’t very interesting either, but I got a side to go with my salad, which was interesting.

Cheesy Baked Tomato Chicken Pasta has sautéed chicken breast tossed with gluten free penne in al fresca marinara sauce and baked with mozzarella. My sister thought it was ok. Nothing too special about it, but it would be better if there was a bit more sauce.

Lasagna has layer upon layers of pasta, meat sauce and mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan cheeses. M enjoyed it as it was meaty and cheesy.

Caesar Salad was what I ordered. I just came back from vacation and really needed a big bowl of salad. It did the trick but I felt it was a bit heavy on the dressing. The dressing was very garlicky and potent.

Overall, the food was mediocre but when you see the food options near the theatre, there really isn’t much.

We rate The Old Spaghetti Factory:

Address:
110-14200 Entertainment Boulevard,
Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.oldspaghettifactory.ca/

In All You Can Eat

River Rock Buffet: Surf and Turf Night

May 29, 2016

The Buffet at the River Rock Casino in Richmond has Surf and Turf Night on Fridays and Saturdays starting at 5pm. They do not take reservations and can get very busy around 6 and 7pm. Always best to arrive early.

For $39.95 per adult, it’s not a bad price.

They can seat up to 260 people at one time but it is packed during peak times with hungry people wanting all you can eat. Their dishes are inspired by West Coast cuisine.

Since I was leaving on vacation soon, we had to celebrate Mother’s Day earlier. Not a bad thing since it is cheaper.

The line was super long that it flowed out of the lobby.

The staff were pretty good about treating their guests well. They brought lemonade to those who were thirsty.

We got seated about waiting in line for 1.5 hours. We did have a larger group, so it was harder for them to seat us.

Once we sat down, staff came over to take our drink order. Then it was off to scavenge for food in the buffet area.

Crab, clams, prawns and mussels

This should be the first area you go to if you are a seafood lover. The quality is pretty good for a buffet. You gotta get your money’s worth.

The staff are pretty good about making sure that it doesn’t get empty. When I was here, it was always fully stocked.

If you aren’t into cold seafood, they have hot versions near the back. There is cooked salmon, clams, mussel, prawns, and crab legs.

On my first round, I got a little bit of all the seafood. Between the cold and hot crab legs, I enjoyed the cold ones a lot more since it was easier to get the meat out of the shell. With the hot ones, the meat doesn’t slide out very well from the shell and also your hands get more oily.

The other clams, mussels and shrimp were good. I liked the hot and cold ones equally.

On round 2, I went with all cold seafood since it was easier to eat with my hands. I’m a savage when it comes to eating seafood at a buffet.

Roast Carving Station

At the roast carving station, you will find prime rib, ham, and roast chicken,

I grabbed a bit of prime rib and it was pretty good. Nice and fatty with some pink in the centre. Of course, I had to get some fruit and veggies to balance all the seafood and meat I was eating.

You can also get prime rib that is a bit more well done.

Sushi Station

At the sushi station, you will find sushi rolls and sashimi. The items didn’t look that great, so I decided to spend my calories on more crab.

Dessert

The main dessert area has a lot of little cakes. Many kinds, so it might be hard to choose.

Drinks

You can also grab pop and juice. Behind the machines are taps for filtered water and sparkling water.

Ice Cream

Behind the Pepsi and drink machines, there is ICE CREAM and POPSICLES! A lot of people seem to miss seeing these since its a bit hidden.

Double Chocolate Sundae is a good way to end the meal.

Overall, not a bad buffet at all. If you love seafood, you’ll have a good time eating all the crabs, prawns, clams, and mussels. Of course, it still doesn’t compare to the buffets in Vegas, but at least we have something.

We Rate The Buffet:

Address:
8811 River Rd
Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.riverrock.com/dining/the-buffet.aspx

In Chinese

Chen’s Shanghai Kitchen: Shanghainese Food in Richmond

May 21, 2016

Chen’s Shanghai Restaurant has been around for quite some time now. My last visit was back in 2013 with a few foodie friends to chow down on their XLBs. This time, I’ve returned with the ChineseBites crew to try out a lot more items off their menu.

The restaurant decor isn’t fancy, but people just come here for the Shanghainese food. There are lots of large round tables for large groups.

We started off with the Deluxe Appetizer Platter, which was Jelly Pork, Smoked Pomfret in Sweet Brown Sauce, Mixed Malantou with Sliced Dried Bean Curd, Jellyfish with Green Onion Oil, and the Shanghai Style Marinated Bran Dough.

All typical items that appear in these grand platters. The Mixed Malantou with Sliced Dried Bean Curd needed a bit more salt or sesame oil to bring out more flavour.

Their famous Xiao Long Bao (XLB) are steam pork buns. They were large, had a nice thin skin, but could have used a bit more soup inside.

Shanghai Style Spring Rolls, Radish Pastry and Baked Pastry with Beef all came on one platter. All of the items were nice and crisp. Of the 3, my favourite was the radish pastry.

Sticky Rice Roll with Pork Floss and Pan Fried Pork Dumplings also came together on one plate, but I’m sure normally it’s not.

The pan-fried pork dumpling has a thick skin, so it takes away from the enjoyment of the dumpling.

The Sticky Rice Roll with Pork Floss was very one dimensional. it would be better if there was something else to go with this.

House Special Wonton and Chicken Hotpot was really good and you can see the whole chicken right in the pot. I thought it was well balanced and delicious.

Crab with Edamame and Rice Cake in House Special Sauce had a delicious sauce covering all those rice cakes. The rice cakes were gobbled up very quickly, but getting at those crab legs were difficult since the sauce makes holding on to the legs slippery.

House Special Spicy Lobster was easier to get at the meat inside. I liked the amount of spice and it worked very well.

Pork Spareribs with Brown Vinegar Sauce was very tough. I had a hard time biting off the meat around the bones. The sauce was also very sticky and sweet.

Tea Smoked Chicken was good. Lots of smoky flavour seeped into the skin and meat. I liked it.

Deep Fried Breaded Fish with Grounded Seaweed was ok, I have found that other restaurant prepare this dish a bit better. It seemed limp and soggy. The batter could have used a bit more salt too.

Tiger Prawns and Eggplant in Hot Garlic Sauce Hot Pot was a good dish, but I think we needed some rice on the side to go with it as it had a good amount of sauce. If you do order this dish, grab some rice.

House Special Spicy Beef had a good amount of kick to this dish. The beef was tender, but a bit oily.

Beijing Style Pork Slices with Wraps was a fun dish to have. You put a little bit of everything in the wrap and eat it. The pork had a nice flavour and balanced with the cucumber slice.

House Special Crispy Noodle was very crispy. They really weren’t kidding. There wasn’t enough sauce to soften up the noodles. It was like eating a stir fry with a brick of ramen underneath.

Egg White Puff Stuffed with Red Bean Paste was ok, but I didn’t really take a liking to it. I just don’t really like sweet and savoury things mixing together like this.

Overall, some dishes were hits and some were misses. You definitely need to know what their specialties are before coming to dine here. The XLBs, Beijing Style Pork Slices with Wraps, Salty Soy Milk, and Deep Fried Man Tou.

We Rate Chen’s Shanghai Restaurant:

Address:
8095 Park Rd
Richmond, BC

Website: http://www.chensshanghaikitchen.com/

In Cafe

Snowy Village Dessert Cafe: Korean Bingsoo and Croissant Taiyaki

March 21, 2016

Snowy Village Dessert Cafe is the hottest…or should I say coolest dessert shop in Richmond at the moment. Line ups are long every evening and if you come in a group of 4 or more, you are going to be waiting for a while during peak times. They are best known for their Korean style shaved ice with milky ice instead of the pure ice shavings.

The group of 5 of us waited close to an hour on a Sunday around 7pm. You put your name down on the wait list and linger around till your name gets called. For us, it was a pretty bad experience since the server almost skipped us on the list and told us to wait outside in the pouring rain and gusty winds.

Apparently there was an option to leave your phone number and they will call you back when its closer to your groups turn. It would have been nice if they gave us this option.

All seats were occupied and there was also a line up to get take out.

If you don’t have patience, take out might be your best option.

The prices are higher for take out, but it comes in the regular size.

The price difference is due to the fact they add ice packs and have an insulated bag to keep it cool on the way home. We did see quite a bit of people ordering take out.

Once you go to the counter to order, they give you a ticket with your order number. Once the order is ready, they will call it out.

If you don’t know what to order, they have all their items on display.

All the ones in the display case is a large, so if you are getting a regular sized bingsoo, it will be a bit smaller.

Taiyaki is a fish-shaped cake with different types of fillings inside. They have 2 grills to cook them. The whole restaurant smells of the sweet taiyaki.

You can have it filled with either:

Red Bean
Ingeolmi Redbean
Custard Cream
Sweet Potato
Nutella

We got ours with Nutella and Custard Cream. The custard cream reminded me of vanilla pudding snacks from childhood. Not very good at all.

The Nutella was a bit better but it was slightly sweet.

Mango Bingsoo came with lots of fresh mango and whipped cream over the milk bingoo. I like the airy milky ice. A lot better than the traditional non-flavoured ice.

Green Tea Bingsoo with Korean rice cakes, red bean, green tea cake, and almonds.

Under all those toppings, the milky ice is hidden underneath.

Strawberry Bingsoo has strawberry bits, strawberry sauce and whipped cream.

Overall, I liked the fruit bingsoo a lot more. I prefer fresh fruits over the other types of toppings. I did enjoy it but the line ups were too long to come again.

We Rate Snowy Village:

Address:
8571 Alexandra Drive, Richmond

In Kid Friendly

Haroo: Korean Cuisine in Richmond

March 19, 2016

Haroo Restaurant is located on Alexandra Road as is one of the top Korean restaurants in Richmond. Everyone seems to come here. I met up with a few foodie friends to check it out. I love Korean food and I still haven’t been here. I’ve eaten at a majority of the restaurants around K Town in Coquitlam and thought it was time to visit.

There is parking on the main level and the 2nd floor but it is very busy, so hunting for a spot might be tough.

The restaurant isn’t very large, but has mostly booth seating. You definitely want to make reservations before coming here. One the night we came here, it was so busy that they had to turn people away who did not have reservations.

Complimentary Korean Congee arrived at the table. One small bowl for each person at the table. Good start to the meal.

Kimchi Fried Rice was surprisingly small for $12.50. The flavour was nice and I loved the egg on top.

They also give you 5 complimentary side dishes for the whole table.

Soybean Sprouts is a standard side dish that Korean restaurants serve. One of my favourites as it is coated with a bit of sesame oil.

Green Salad had a carrot shaped like a star. Very colourful and simple.

Kimchi is a fermented side dish made of cabbage and other vegetables that tastes sour and a bit spicy.

Marinated Potatoes is another favourite of the table. Soft texture and slightly sweet.

Sweetened fish cake was good as well. There were stands of onions in this too.

Gamjatang Hot Pot is a pork back bone and potato hot pot. Is is already pre-cooked, so you just need to bring it up to a hotter temperature.

It was a good hearty hot pot and it came with 2 small bowls of rice. It was pretty expensive at around $30.

Seafood Pancake came out super crispy and is unique compared to other Korean restaurants. It seems like it was deep-fried as every inch of it was crisp. This is highly recommended.

Cheese Tteokbbokki has rice, pasta, meat, and vegetables in a spicy sauce then topped off with cheese. This was surprisingly really good. You can’t go wrong with anything covered in cheese.

Overall, it was a nice restaurant to go to in Richmond if you are craving Korean food, but it is price is a bit higher. Parking can be a nightmare in this area.

We Rate Haroo:

Address:
Venezia Place
2000-8580 Alexandra Road, Richmond

In Chinese

Claypot Hot pot and BBQ: Richmond 3 Tier Hotpot

February 24, 2016

After work, a few of my coworkers and I went to Claypot Hot pot in Richmond on Alexandra Road. It was a busy Friday on this strip, but since it’s in a plaza, there is no need to fight over parking spots unlike other restaurants. We close to come to Claypot since a few of my coworkers have never been to hot pot before. We thought it would be awesome to take them here for their 3 tier hot pot! Go big or go home right?

The price isn’t bad here, for the 3 tiers, it was around $21. With the price of the 2 types of broth and drinks, each person ended up paying around $30 after tax and tip.

At the bottom, there is the hot pot, 2nd tier is the grill and 3rd tier is the steamer. We went with the Pork Bone Broth and the Szechuan Spicy Broth.

Before the hot pot arrives at the table, hot tea is heated in the middle of the table. It’s nice to have piping hot tea before the meal begins.

Soy sauce and Satay sauce in large bowls are on the table for you to create a sauce for dipping your cooked hot pot items in.

You can’t have a hot pot without plum juice or beer. As others got plum juice, I went with Tsingtao Beer. It’s light and refreshing. Goes great with hot pot.

Once we put in the order, the food slowly started arriving. We did notice there was a discrepancy between what we ordered and what arrived. Dumplings didn’t arrive for a very long time.

You gotta get a mix of meat, veggies and seafood. You really just need to pile on the meat to make your monies worth.

I love dunking the beef into the Szechuan spicy broth. Adds a lot of flavour! I liked the pork broth more for seafood and veggies. Definitely a good balance to have 2 types of broth especially if you have a large table of people with varying tastes.

The grill isn’t too powerful, so it does take some time to get the meat to get charred a little bit especially if you’re putting on short ribs.

The steamer basket up top works really well. The only items we put into there were dumplings and chicken wings. I know, chicken wings are a weird thing to put in the steamer but it cooked a lot faster than grilling.

Round 2 of ordering is a must. You can never say no to more food. We grabbed more meat and tofu.

The service here is ok, but it’s pretty typical for a Chinese restaurant. Our group was very keen on making our server smile/laugh since she always has a serious face on. After a while, we loosened her up and made her laugh a few times. The food was good, with great company around the table.

They definitely stand out from the other hot pot places around town. You’ll definitely want to make reservations in advance as some nights can be quite busy.

We Rate Claypot Hot pot and BBQ:

Address:
Alexandra Plaza, 105-8291 Alexandra Road, Richmond

In Brunch

Chez Cora: Breakfast in Richmond

January 17, 2016

Where do you find breakfast in Richmond that’s not Dim Sum? Cora, a Canadian chain of casual restaurants serves breakfast and lunch and they have a location in Richmond on Steveston Highway.

We came on a weekend in the morning before an afternoon movie at the theatre close by. We had to wait a little bit since they had a few large groups that morning. The manager was nice and apologized for the long wait and gave out smoothie samples to everyone.

Coffee is a must in the morning and a few of us can’t go on without it.

Breakfast on a Cheddar crepe has 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, 2 sausages served on a crepe filled with cheddar cheese. Mandu ordered an extra side of sausage with her meal.

M got his version with poached eggs. He asked for them to be soft but it came out to be more of a medium.

Toast came with the meal too. A lot of toast.

Burrito crepe is stuffed with eggs, a black bean patty, red and green peppers, onions, green onions and cheddar. It is served with sour cream, salsa and roasted potatoes.

Buckwheat blessing has 3 sausages and cheddar cheese rolled in a blanket of buckwheat crepe and served with fresh fruit. The fruit this time wasn’t as fresh and also didn’t have much variety as I’ve experienced at other locations. The fruits were not very ripe. The grapes were dirty and unwashed.

This visit, no one really seemed to like their meal. The fruits were very disappointing and lacked its fresh flavours. The rest of the dishes were pretty average and nothing was very special with them.

We rate Cora:

Address:
170-11380 Steveston Highway, Richmond

Website:
http://www.chezcora.com/

In Buffet

Country Meadows Golf Course: Holiday Buffet

December 25, 2015

Country Meadows Golf Course in Richmond on No. 6 Road offers a Christmas Lunch Buffet during the holidays for $19.99, which also includes tea or coffee.

My mom heard about it on the radio and thought the whole family should give it a try. I tried looking on their website for more information, but there is no information about it. I had to give them a call to confirm that they had holiday lunch buffet.

The interior was beautifully decorated with a lot of Christmas items. There’s a huge tree right in the lobby.

The main dining area wasvery nice as it has floor to ceiling windows so a lot of natural light can come inside. It looks like it would be a very nice wedding venue too.

The buffet area wasn’t that large, so at peak times, there would be a bit of a wait.

There is bread, an assortment of salads, noodles, salmon, chicken, turkey, vegetables, pasta, mashed potatoes, and dessert. Not a large selection but it was ok for lunch.

My first plate had a little bit of everything on it. Most items were subpar and I left like a majority of the proteins were overcooked.

Don’t forget to grab seconds. Get your moneys worth.

The dessert table consisted of 5 items – chocolate cake, egg nog cheese cake, fruit, brownies, and nanaimo bars.

Of course we tried a bit of everything. Their cheesecakes were very good

Can’t go wrong with all the fruits.

I ended the lunch with hot green tea. They serve Tazo teas here.

Overall, it was definitely a cheaper buffet lunch in the Metro Vancouver area. You will get full, but the quality is definitely lacking. Since all the food is cooked in big batches, that tends to happen when its a buffet. They also have their regular menu available.

We Rate Country Meadows Golf Course:

Address:
8400 Number 6 Road, Richmond

Website:
http://www.countrymeadowsgolfcourse.ca/

In Kid Friendly

Man Ri Sung is Back at Aberdeen Mall

December 19, 2015

Man Ri Sung Korean Restaurant is now located on the 3rd floor of Aberdeen Mall in Richmond. Back in January 2011, I went to their original location in Coquitlam, where I went with my family to devour their delicious BBQ Duck and other Korean dishes. Soon after they closed their doors due to the construction of the planned Evergreen Line. Then they opened again on Westminster Hwy near the Richmond Public Market. A few years later, they closed again. NOW, they are back again at Aberdeen Mall! I fell like I’ve been stalking them for the past few years.

What really captivated me was their passion for creating great food that blended Chinese and Korean cuisine together. When I was invited by ChineseBites for a dinner at Man Ri Sung, there was no way I could say no, so I dropped all my plans and came here.

If you are lucky, Chef Sang Myung Lee comes out to care the Peaking Duck in front of your table. He doesn’t speak much English but he loves to interact with his customers.

Oh man, it’s a beauty. Eating out is always a fun experience when you can see your food being prepared.

The wings and legs are cut up first. These are very crispy and its music to your ears. The meat is dry for these arts, but SOOO crispy. I love to eat them for that amazing crunchy sound.

While you wait for the rest of the dishes to be prepared, banchan – Korean side dishes arrive so you can pick at them before the meal begins. There are marinated bean sprouts, kimchi, potatoes, and pickled radish.

Once the duck is cut, you can wrap it together with some green onions, cucumber, sauce and kimchi. You gotta add the kimchi to give it a nice spicy kick.

Wrap it all up and enjoy. At first, the duck was moist, but as you wait longer and longer, it starts to get a tad dryer. Best to eat it right away when it arrives at the table.

Korean BBQ LA Ribs were flavourful but I felt it was missing something but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Seafood Pancake is an awesome item to have with your meal. It’s crispy on the outside and is loaded with lots of veggies and seafood. A delicious savoury dish.

Soondae is Korean blood sausage with vermicelli. It may seem weird, but the taste is quite mild. You dip it into a salt mixture. If you can get past it’s odd look, I don’t think you will have a problem with the taste.

Spicy Stir Fried Chicken comes of a hot electric skillet. The chef will cook it right in front of you. It has boneless chicken with spicy paste, yam, carrot, onion, rice cake, and cabbage.

It’s actually quite spicy once it’s done cooking. So, if you don’t do well with spice, you may not like this.

Hot Chicken Pot with Ginseng and Sweet Rice comes in a small bowl with a whole chicken. There wasn’t much ginseng flavour in the dish.

Lemon Chicken was deep fried so it had a nice crust to it. The sauce was sweet and lemony.

Chicken Chow Mein was very good as well. I’m a sucker for handmade noodles. It really tastes different than dried noodles. You can also have this dish made to different variations of spiciness. We had non-spicy but it can go as high as hot spicy.

Sour Cabbage with Pork Hot Pot has pork, spam, with sour cabbage and pork blood sausage. I really liked this dish. Having the pork belly and the spam in a hot pot is pretty damn awesome.

Pan Fried Squid was mild spicy, but you can choose from non-spicy, mild spicy, spicy or hot spicy. Good spice options for those who have different spice tolerance. I like the texture of squid. Soft, bouncy and not hard at all.

Duck Hot Pot with Cut Noodles was by far the most loved dish of the evening. They use the rest of the duck carcass. The hand cut noodles were delicious in the hot pot.

Overall, certain dishes were better than others. I loved the hand cut noodle dishes, hot pot, the duck and the seafood pancake. Their menu is great for large groups and its not too expensive when you think about the cost per person.

We Rate Man Ri Sung:

Address:
Aberdeen Centre, Unit 3600, 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.manrisung.ca/

In Bubble Tea

Chatime: Best Bubble Tea in Richmond

September 20, 2015

Chatime is a bubble tea cafe located all over the world. I remember seeing it in Asia when I was travelling a few years ago. They differentiate themselves from competition by using fresh tea. They don’t use pre-made teas or powdered flavourings.

I came with a few friends to their Richmond location near Blundell Road.

The space is quite large compared to their downtown location. There are more tables and chairs.

Roasted Milk Tea with Grass Jelly is my favourite drink here. I get it with less ice and slight sugar. I’ve never had a bubble tea that I went this crazy for. It has a unique flavour that isn’t like your typical milk tea.

Brown Rice Green Milk Tea is my second favourite item. It has a very subtle flavour of rice. It reminds me of those Korean rice drinks. I also got less ice and slight sugar.

Thai Milk Tea is a new flavour they introduced at the beginning of September. It has a unique flavour and I also got it less sweet since it’s made with condensed milk, which is sweeter.

They also have a Thai Coffee Milk Tea, which is highly recommended with their coffee jelly.

Overall, if I had to have their roasted milk tea and brown rice green tea everyday of the week, I’ll be one happy lady. It’s been a long time since I’ve found a place that I just adore.

We Rate Chatime Richmond:

Address:
9100 Blundell Road, Richmond

Facebook:
http://www.ichatime.com/

In Kid Friendly

Prata Man: Singapore Cuisine in Richmond

August 8, 2015

Prata Man Singapore Cuisine is located in Richmond in Oak’s Plaza on Capstain Way and Garden City Road. A lot of people have been telling me to come here to check out their Hainanese Chicken.

This place is cash only, so make sure you have some before coming here. Typical Richmond right?

The interior is alright, but not easy on the eyes. Very basic, but it will do. The service was quite bad when we were here, but we really focused more on the food. One of the neighbouring tables helped us flag down a waitress to get us some plates and utensils to share the food.

Single order of Hainanese Chicken with soup and rice ($7.25) was a pretty good sized meal for one. The chicken was nice and cold. When it’s dunked into the ginger and green onion oil, it’s so damn good. We didn’t really use the other sauce as it’s really all about the other sauce.

Curry Beef with Prata Bread ($7.95) was pretty good too. I liked the curry sauce and the huge chunks of beef.

The prata bread was pretty flat and dense like a pancake and not flakey all. It was ok, but i have no idea what prata bread is supposed to be like.

Mee Goreng ($6.50) was very different than what I usually would think it would look like. Either way, it was delicious and one of our favourite items from the menu.

BBQ Satay Skewers (half dozen – $7.95) we asked them for 2 chicken, 2 beef and 2 pork. These were ok but a bit on the drier side. I’ll probably pass on this next time.

Overall, I was impressed by the Hainanese Chicken, Curry and the Mee Goreng noodles. The prices are quite good and we all left with a very good impression. We were able to overlook the bad service since it is a family run restaurant. It’s all about the food right? I’m sure the food here isn’t 100% Singaporean cuisine, but good food is good food.

We Rate Prata Man Singaporean Cuisine:

Address:
Oak’s Plaza, 9060-9020 Capstan Way, Richmond

In Dessert

Hugos Churros: Vancouver’s First Churro Pop Up Stand

August 3, 2015

Inside Hawkers Mercado at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet is Hugos Churros, Vancouver’s first churro stand. I came here with my Food Blogger buddies – Gastrofork and FoodQueen.

I love churros and it’s hard to find them in Vancouver. Hugos Churros is at this location until Monday, September 7, 2015 (Labour Day). They also pop up at random places in Vancouver, so check out their Facebook Page.

You will find Hugos located near the back corner. I find they have one of the larger line ups compared to some of the other booths.

We found they were constantly busy and you might have to wait a bit for your order as they can only fry so many churros and one time.

Look at those churros being bathed in it’s sugary cinnamon coating.

Churro Ice Cream Sandwich ($7.50) has 2 spiral churros with vanilla bean ice cream in the centre from Mario’s Gelati.

Churro ($3 each or 2 for $5) is a good snack and quite satisfying! It’s crisp of the outside and piping hot on the inside. Plus, it’s coated in all that cinnamon sugar. nom nom nom.

I love churros that I always pretend to cast spells with it. I haven’t had a churro since Disney Land last February.

You can eat it inside the market or outside while you do more shopping. Since it was a hot day, we didn’t want to be inside with all the other people inside.

We Rate Hugos Churros:

Address:
1000-7899 Templeton Station Road,
Richmond

Website:
http://hugoschurros.com/