Canadian Archives - Page 3 of 6

In Canadian

Sassafraz: Lunch in Yorkville

September 10, 2014

Sassafraz is located right in Yorkville and the serve up French inspired Canadian cuisine. I came here for lunch with Flo when I was visiting Toronto for a few days. We thought it would be a great place to catch up as they have a patio area outside.

As we waited for our order, some bread and butter arrived. We took a few bites of the bread and it was good and simple.

Cucumberland Detox ($8) is a cold-pressed juice with cucumber, apple, kale, spinach, lime, and coconut water. It was good to see a variety of drinks on their menu. For a traveller, it’s always hard to get a good dose of fruits or vegetables.

Nova Scotia Digby scallops ($24) has a sweet soy glaze, citrus roasted cauliflower, forbidden rice, samphire, with a dashi broth. It was quite a small dish for $24. It barely had any rice in it. Also, the scallops looked super seared.

Ontario artisan flank steak salad ($19) is served medium with mixed greens, caramelized onion, pickled honey mushroom, and Dijon vinaigrette. This was a nice healthy lunch and it was good.

Overall, the lunch was quite pricey and the portions are a tad small.

We Rate Sassafraz:

Address:
100 Cumberland St
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.sassafraz.ca/

In Brunch

Edible Canada: Brunch Time

September 7, 2014

Edible Canada has brunch and TaiwaneseGirl, CanuckGirl wanted to check it out and see how are their eggs bennys. We made reservations online at OpenTable just in case there was a rush of people during the weekend brunch hour.

As the space is big and does have a patio, there were plenty of seats available. Once we got seated, it was hard to get our server to take our order. We weren’t sure why it took so long, but we finally just flagged down anyone to put in our order.

Cyoni Apple Juice ($3.75)

Fish Cake Benny ($17) has poached free range eggs, halibut, salmon, true cod, hollandaise and a side of mixed greens. The eggs were not poached to medium. One was spot on and the other was just hard. The rest of the dish was enjoyable according to CanuckGirl.

Wild Mushroom Benny ($15) has buttermilk biscuit, poached free-range eggs, roasted garlic, spinach, hollandaise and a side of mixed greens. We had a similar issue with the eggs but this one was very runny and the other was hard.

They must have mixed up the eggs or something. It’s too bad they couldn’t make the perfect egg. A true test when going to brunch.

EC Breakfast ($12) has scrambled free ranges eggs, cripsy bacon, Sloping Hills Pork and apple sausage, and your choice of hash or butter potato biscuit. Instead of getting a benny like my friends, I got the breakfast because a simple breakfast is a sure way to assess their skills. Everything was good, simple and full of flavour.

Once our meal was done, one of the servers took away our salt, pepper and hot sauce to give to another table. I guess they ran out of extra sets for other tables or something. It would have been ok, but he left our empty plates on the table too. Seemed like he was in a rush to impress the other table.

We Rate Edible Canada:

Address:
1596 Johnston St
Vancouver BC

Website:
http://www.ediblecanada.com/

In Brunch

Cora: Breakfast and Lunch in Coquitlam

September 1, 2014

When my relatives were still in town, they wanted more of Cora. They were here for 2 weeks and we came to Cora 3 times. They really loved this place because of their fresh fruit. It’s funny how we take things for granted some times.

We came to the Coquitlam location and they wanted to see if there was a difference with the Cora in Toronto and the one here.

The Coquitlam location is quite large and there were lots of people on the weekend.

Look at all that fresh fruit! From what I observed some dishes get all fresh fruit and some get prearranged ones that comes from containers.

Spinach and Cheddar Crepe comes with a few fruits on the side. In between the folded over crepe is more cheddar.

Samara Wake Up is a plate of freshly cut fruit and everyone else at the table ordered this. There was pineapples, strawberries, grapes, kiwis, green apple, red apple, orange, cantaloupe, star fruit, banana, grapefruit, honey dew, watermelon, and mango, and peaches.

It was a crazy amount of fruit.

If you order this, it might be a bit crazy for you to eat it all by yourself…or else your glucose levels with skyrocket because of all the fructose.

Some of their food items can be a hot or a miss, but anything with fresh fruit will definitely impress.

We Rate Cora:

Address:
3025 Lougheed Hwy
Coquitlam, BC

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

In Canadian

Cows: Ice Cream at Niagara on the Lake

August 24, 2014

Cow’s originated from Prince Edward Island on the East Coast of Canada. They have 10 locations across Canada, but mostly in Tourist areas. When I was at Niagara on the Lake, a small town close to Niagara Falls our tour guide suggested we check out Cow’s as it is quite popular.

There is also a Cow’s in Whistler, BC…but I have no idea why I never go to Whistler when it’s so close to Vancouver. They are best know for their ice cream and their hilarious merchandise like t-shirts and keychains. Readers Digest even calls them the Best Ice Cream in Canada.

Who doesn’t love shirt with puns and cows that make lots of references to pop culture?

When we came here, there wasn’t a long line up, which was great! But then again, not that many people get ice cream before lunch.

Their board with the cow shows you what flavours they currently have. There’s around 20 flavours to choose from.

If you get yours in a cone, you have 4 kinds to select:

Plain
Chocolate
Chocolate + Sprinkles
Chocolate + Nuts

Peanut Butter Cup Cup with a plain waffle cone ($4.25) was what I ordered. I love peanut butter, so this was the perfect flavour for me. It was decent ice cream but it wasn’t the best I’ve ever had.

If you are at Niagara on the Lake and need a tasty treat, definitely check out Cows.

We Rate Cows:

Address:
44 Queen
Niagara-on-the-Lake

Website:
http://www.cows.ca/

In Brunch

Cora: Early Morning Breakfast in Toronto

August 20, 2014

When travelling, sometimes its hard to get your daily fill of veggies or fruit because all the places I want to go have lots of meat and carbs. We were heading off to a Niagara Falls tour and we needed a restaurant that was open early in the morning and that served good breakfast.

Cora was 2 blocks away from our hotel, so I decided to take my relatives here. I thought it would be a good place to go since we could get lots and lots of fruit. Cora first opened in Montreal, but has since expanded across Canada with over 130 locations.

Coffee is what we got to go with our meal. Since it was 6am, it was definitely needed.

Buckwheat Blessing has 3 sausages and cheese wrapped in buckwheat crepes with a large amount of fruit. I thought the sausages wrapped in the crepes were really good! Yummm meat! There was plenty of fruit! It’s a good touch that they have a few unique fruits like star fruit and gooseberries.

This is probably my favourite item to order as it has the savoury crepes with the sweet fruit.

1990′s Harvest with scrambled egg has a large cinnamon-raisin brioche dipped in french toast batter with an egg and bacon strips on one side and a mountain of fresh fruit on the other. The brioche seemed a bit burnt, but it was still enjoyable.

Samara Wake Up is a plate of freshly cut fruit. There was pineapples, strawberries, grapes, kiwis, green apple, red apple, orange, cantaloupe, star fruit, banana, grapefruit, honey dew, watermelon, and mango.

This dish was a hit! We actually came back here twice just to have this dish. It’s a great place to take tourists! For my relatives, where they come from, fruit isn’t cheap and you would never see this abundance in a meal. They were very impressed by the amount of fruit.

Sunshine Panini comes with a side of fruit, but it’s not as large as the other dishes. Inside the panini is cheese, ham and egg.

You can also tell these fruits are not as fresh as the other plates too.

There’s also toast too. You barely touched the toast since our dishes were so big.

A good morning breakfast! If you love fruit, definitely take a visit to Cora’s.

We Rate Cora:

Address:
27 Carlton Street
Toronto, ON

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

In Canadian

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory: Rocky Ridge Ice Cream Bars

August 19, 2014

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory recently launched their new line of Rocky Ridge Ice Cream Bars in their Robson location. It’s a perfect summer treat when you know we’ve had a crazy heatwave in Vancouver for the past few weeks.

Ice cream, ice cream, we all scream for ice cream.

The Rocky Ridge Ice Cream Bars will be rolling out to other stores soon, but so far the Robson location is the only one.

You will find the Ice Cream Bar section at the back of the store. Each Rocky Ridge Ice Cream bar is $5.99.

The 9 flavours you can choose from are:

Almond Summit Ridge
Candy Coated Ridge
Rockslide Ridge
Toffee Slab Ridge
Pay Dirt Ridge
Purest Ridge
Cougar Ridge
Mint Avalanche Ridge
Mystery Ridge (Flavour of the month)

For myself, I had a tough time deciding, which one to choose.

Candy Coated Ridge is what I chose since it looked really cute and colourful.Plus, any kid would choose this! I can be a big kid too. Perfect for all.

They have their signature logo on the front which is made out of all chocolate.

When you bite inside, you have their vanilla ice cream in the centre, then the 2 layers of chocolate and the candy coating on the outside. It really reminded me of the Magnum ice cream bars because of the thick chocolate crust.

Mystery Ridge is their secret featured ice cream bar that changes every month. For August, they had dark chocolate and coconut. M loved it because it wasn’t overly sweet and the dark chocolate was a nice touch with the coconut bits.

Cougar Ridge has white chocolate and peanut butter blended together to create the pieces surrounding the bar.

Mint Avalanche Ridge has the same milk chocolate coating around the vanilla ice cream. This one has minty chocolate and chocolate chips around the edges.

Pay Dirt Ridge has golden graham cracker and cheese cake goodness surrounding the bar.

Overall, the bars are quite rich and it’s quite hard to eat all in one sitting. I am not a huge sweet tooth, so I would prefer the Purest Ridge Bar so more vanilla ice cream ratio.

We Rate Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory:

Address:
1017 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.rockychoc.com/

In British Columbia

White Spot Canada: Pirate Pak Hack

August 15, 2014

The Pirate Pak is a legendary favourite that has been enjoyed by millions. It was first created by Nat Bailey in 1968 to provide an exclusive dining experience for kids under 10 years old. It includes a meal served in a pirate ship with a drink, entree, dessert, and even comes with a chocolate coin.

Unfortunately, it is only for kids under 10 years old or you will have to wait till Pirate Pak Day but that happens once a year. Sometimes we can’t wait for one day out of the year for a Pirate Pak. Plus, its a hassle with the long line ups. Magz told me the ultimate way to hack a pirate pak at White Spot.

DID YOU KNOW WHITE SPOT HAS ONLINE TAKE OUT ORDERING?!

It’s pretty awesome since you can order Pirate Paks online, then pick it up and pay in-store. The best thing is that they won’t question you if you are an adult ordering it because it could be for your child at home. They don’t know if its for your kid or not.

You can choose from 6 Pirate Pak versions for $5.99 each:

Pirate Pak Hamburger
Pirate Pak Pals (Chicken breast)
Pirate Pak Flatbread (Pizza)
Pirate Pak Grilled Cheese
Pirate Pak Macaroni and Cheese
Pirate Pak Spaghetti and Meatballs

All the Pirate Paks come with your choice of milk/pop, ice cream and fries/salad.

What gets even better is that you can further customize your order by choosing more sides, toppings, drinks and dessert. There’s good upgrades if you want a milk shake or alternative sides and drinks.

The options are:

Side options: Fries, rice, mashed potatoes and gravy, caesar salad, spot salad, grapes, veggies, broccoli, and sweet potato fries.

Extra toppings (with extra charge): crispy bacon, sautéed mushrooms, cheddar cheese, monterey jack cheese, or american cheese.

Extra toppings (free): sautéed onions, raw onions, lettuce, tomatoes, side of mayo, or side of Triple O Sauce.

Drinks: Pop, milk, iced tea, Vanilla Milk Shake (+$1.99), Chocolate Milk Shake, Strawberry milkshake, Blueberry Milkshake, or butterscotch milkshake.

Dessert: Vanilla Ice cream, chocolate ice cream, strawberry ice cream, or mixed fruit.

Now, you don’t need to be a kid to have a pirate pak any day of the year, plus it’s cheaper! Give this a try and it will work! The only thing you will be missing out on is the ambiance of the restaurant.

What do you think of the Pirate Pak Hack?

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

In British Columbia

BC Ferries: Coastal Cafe Breakfast

August 6, 2014

Going to Victoria Island on the weekend in the morning is a bit of a pain. Our Ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal has a Cafe on board called Coastal Cafe. As we got up pretty early, we didn’t make a stop for breakfast, so we decided to have breakfast on board.

For the morning menu, they have:

Waffles
Oatmeal
Cereal with Milk
Eggs (scrambled & fried)
Hashbrowns
Sausage
Bacon
Ham
Toast
Fruit Salad
Baked Goods

For their afternoon menu, they have select WhiteSpot items, salad, sandwiches, sushi and other items. You can even get Pirate Paks here.

All Aboard Breakfast ($10.99) has scrambled egg, hash browns, bacon and sausages.

It also came with toast.

Bon Voyage Breakfast ($9.75) comes with scrambled eggs, french toast and 3 sausages.

The breakfast is pretty bland and boring, but that’s expected. The eggs tasted very bland and you need some ketchup smothered on top. You can’t go wrong with the bacon or sausages.

We Rate Coastal Cafe:

Location:
BC Ferries

Website:
http://www.bcferries.com/onboard-experiences/amenities/coastalcafe.html

In Brunch

Jimmys Place Restaurant: Breakfast in Coquitlam

August 4, 2014

Jimmys Place Restaurant is my go-to place for breakfast in Coquitlam. They have an assortment of Eggs Bennies, Sandwiches, Burgers and other breakfast items. M and I have been coming here for years and it’s owned by a Korean family. You wouldn’t expect it when you first look at the place.

It’s pretty damn good food. Simple but very delicious.

The diner has an old school-feel with booths and aging furniture. Some of the seats are in need of repair, but it’s not too bad.

B.E.L.T. Sandwich has bacon, eggs, lettuce, and tomatoes between two slices of multigrain bread.

It was a pretty good sandwich and good ratio between the protein and the veggies. The bacon is a bit hard to see, but it’s there are it was nice and crispy.

Black Stone Benedict is M’s Favorite item from Jimmy’s Place. This is all he will ever order. The eggs are nicely poached with lots of hollandaise sauce on top with bacon, green onions and tomatoes. The hash browns are also super crispy on the outside. I usually get this dish too, but I just had to try something different.

Overall, decent place to go on the weekend, but they are not open on Sundays.

We Rate Jimmys Place Restaurant:

Address:
435 North Road
Coquitlam, BC

In Canadian

The Flying Pig: Gastown Appy Hour

August 2, 2014

Where in Vancouver can you get some good happy hour food after work? One of my go-to locations is The Flying Pig. They have a special chalk board menu with what is available for Appy Hour. It runs daily from 4 – 6pm. They also have another location in Yaletown.

When we were there, you can choose from:

Salmon Sampler
Beef and Bresaola Salad
Short Rib Croquettes
Truffle Mac and Cheese
Steamed Clams
Artisan Cured Meats
Halibut Poppers
Beef Carpaccio

All these items are either $5 or $6. The menu does change once in a while, but there is always something good on the menu.

Do note that your whole party has to arrive or else they will not be able to seat you. It’s a bit annoying since there is always bound to be someone in your party that is late.

A bunch of us come here after work for a few bites and drinks.

Beef Carpaccio ($6) is topped with an aioli sauce, arugula, cheese, crostini, capers and garlic. It was ok, but it was missing something acidic to bring the flavours together.

Halibut Poppers ($6) were yummy. It was tender and flavourful on the inside and the outside was nice and fried.

Truffle mac and Cheese ($5) is extra gooey and sinfully delicious! You can’t go wrong with cheese.

Pinot Gris ($7.75) comes from Calona Vineyards from the Okanagan Valley in BC. A nice choice of wine for a hot summers day to go with appetizers.

Overall, we had a great time after work. All the finger food was perfect.

We Rate Flying Pig Gastown:

Address:
102 Water St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://theflyingpigvan.com/

In Cafe

Serious Coffee: Caffeinated in Victoria

August 1, 2014

Serious Coffee is a local coffee chain on Victoria Island. Serious Coffee opened in 1994 in Duncan, BC and has now grown to 25 locations on the island. 20 years has passed since they first opened, but they are still as serious about good coffee since day 1.

I was in the Mayfair location needing to grab a quick coffee before work. Unfortunately for me, everyone else decided to grab a coffee at the same time, so there was a long lineup. The line moved quickly though.

The interior is cozy, but slightly dated. It definitely does have a nice charm to this place. It’s like home.

Small Cappuccino ($3.39) was good! No complaints here. Delicious beans were used and it was nice and strong.

Steak and Egg Breakfast Wrap came with a side of salsa. The wrap was grilled in a panini press and had nice grill marks.

The wrap held together quite nicely and it tasted alright. Nothing revolutionary, but it was a good solid breakfast wrap. You can’t go wrong with this.

Overall, a good alternative coffee shop if you love supporting local businesses.

We Rate Serious Coffee:

Address:
Unit D – 3075 Douglas St.
Victoria, BC

Website:
http://www.seriouscoffee.com/

In Canadian

Ulla Restaurant: Best Restaurant in Victoria

July 29, 2014

Ulla Restaurant in Victoria has some pretty amazing food. Mags and I came here after visiting the Victoria Chinatown Night Market. The market wasn’t impressive as it was their first week opening, but at the end of the night market, we decided to go to Ulla since it looked like a pretty good place and the menu sounded yummy.

They have won several awards – 2011 enroute Canada’s Best New Restaurants, Van Mags Best of Victoria 2013, and several more.

The interior is beautiful and has a night bright and simple decor.

Plus, the light fixtures are pretty cute.

They have fresh local ingredients, with delicious classic flavours and has great techniques in preparing their food. They have a strong commitment to use local organic products whenever possible and aim to serve only ethically raised proteins.

It’s even on the back of their menus. You can see where their produce comes from on their map.

Each dish is balanced, well thought out and will leave you feeling perfectly satisfied. The menu truly offers something for everyone; from lighter seafood dishes to hearty and flavourful meats to exciting vegetarian dishes. Everything is stunningly presented and offers great value.

Complimentary Bread arrives with some olive oil. The bread was fresh and was quite delicious.

They have a good selection of virgin drinks here along with alcoholic drinks.

Kombucha is a fermented drink of tea. Some people claim there are health benefits by drinking it, but who knows if it does. Kombucha tastes like vinegar basically.

Whipped tuna belly, sriracha, squid ink crisp, charred onion relish ($6) was an interesting dish and we didn’t really know how it would be presented on the dish. These bite size treats were very delicious!!!!

Qualicum scallop mousse sausage, carrots, confit potato, pumpkin seeds, nasturtium ($15) was pretty awesome. The scallops had a texture similar to tofu. The flavours were really great. Magz and I really enjoyed it.

The dish I don’t remember what it was called or what was in it. But it was a pork filled dish with crackling, puffed pork rind and a croquette-like item with pork belly inside.

Island Beef, potato roesti & puree, mushrooms, cipollini, creamed chard, cubeb pepper sauce ($27) was delicious as well! The beef was tender and cooked right till medium rare. So good!

Chocolate Cake, cherry, chocolate soil, aerated chocolate, vanilla ice cream ($9) was a nice end to the meal. It’s best to share this dessert as it is quite rich and sweet.

Overall, all the dishes were pretty good and we were quite happy and glad we dined here for our last dinner in Victoria. I would definitely come here again!

We Rate Ulla Restaurant:

Address:
509 Fisgard St
Victoria BC

Website:
http://ulla.ca/

In Canadian

Rosemary Rocksalt: Bagels and Montreal Smoked Meat

July 22, 2014

Rosemary Rocksalt is a great place for bagels with Montreal smoked meat. Rosemary Rocksalt is the sister restaurant of Seigel’s Bagels. They have one location in North Vancouver and recently opened a new location on Main Street in Vancouver. They serve up Montreal-style bagels and they delicious!

The interior is nice and simple. All items are under $10 and makes for great snack or lunch.

They also have Rugolach, which is a Jewish pastry in the form of a crescent by rolling a triangle of dough around a filling.

Boylan Black Cherry Soda is sold here and M loves his cherry sodas.

Morning Bagel ($6.50) has Montreal Smoked meat, cheddar and egg. I chose it on the everything bagel.I like the texture of all the nuts and seeds on top of it.

You can see the cross-section of the smoked meat, cheddar and egg. Great for breakfast.

Montreal Smoked Meat (Reg – $9) on a Rosemary Rocksalt bagel. It also comes with a pickled.

It was delicious! The Montreal smoked meat bagel was great, tender and full of flavour.

Fries were ordered too. M needed some extra carbs since he was really hungry. The fries were ok, but nothing special.

Overall, the bagels are great and that Montreal Smoked meat is mighty delicious. Highly recommended.

We Rate Rosemary Rocksalt:

Address:
2515 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.rosemaryrocksalt.com

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In Canadian

The Keg: Great for Birthday Celebrations

July 21, 2014

The Keg is one of my favourite restaurants to go to. I am not ashamed to say it because I have many fond memories of this place for celebrating milestones. This particular occasion was my little sister’s birthday. She loves steak and it’s the only thing she will eat mass quantities of.

We made reservations on Canada Day and celebrated here. This particular Keg is located beside BestBuy.

Filet Mignon (7oz – $32) is one of the specialty cuts they have to offer. The tenderloin is wrapped in applewood smoked bacon. It has the ultimate tenderness and cuts through like butter. I got the roasted garlic mashed potatoes for my side. It also come with beans, red pepper and a sauce.

It was delicious and now I always get the filet mignon in medium rare.

Filet Mignon (7oz – $32) was what my little sister ordered. She ordered mixed vegetables for her side and she got sauteed mushrooms, peppers, zucchini and asparagus.

Atlantic Lobster ($41) has two succulent Atlantic lobster tails served with hot butter. My dad ordered his side of baked potato with the works.

Prime Rib (10oz – $25) with the twice baked potato as the side. The prime rib is aged for extra flavour and tenderness, rubbed with a blend of spices and slow roasted. It is served with horseradish and red wine herb au jus. There’s also crispy onions. This was ok, but we felt there was a lot of fat and tendon in the cut. Wasn’t as good as previous times.

Overall, the food is good and you can’t go wrong with filet mignon

We Rate The Keg:

Address:
130 – 2991 Lougheed Hwy
Coquitlam BC

Website: http://www.kegsteakhouse.com/

In Canadian

Pajo’s Fish and Chips: The Quality Sailed Away

July 7, 2014

It’s been a few years going to Pajo’s Fish and Chips. When it was Fathers Day, we took the family out for a stroll around the area and check out the farmers market too. During lunch, we decided to head to Pajo’s for lunch. It was a nice day, so naturally, this place was packed with people. It’s a pretty cool place to eat since you care on a floating platform.

You order on the left side of the building…

Then you wait for your order on the right side. A lot of people accidentally mix the areas up as the waiting area is closest to the entrance.

Once you have you order, you can take it to your table and place it in these slots. Once done, you must return the trays back or else they get mad.

Large Cod Fish and Chips ($13.99) it comes with 2.5 pieces on top of fries. It is a lot of food for one person, so we shared it among the family. When you peel the batter off, you don’t have a lot of fish inside. We were quit disappointed that there was barely any meat.

Cod Fish Burger and Chips ($10.99) has the burger on top and then the fries on the bottom. I always accidentally order the same item at Pajo’s. Every time it is a mistake and I keep forgetting. I should have read my previous blog post.

The cod pieces were definitely smaller, so you get a lot more bun than what inside. It’s just tartar sauce, deep fried cod fish and lettuce. I would not order this again. I hope I remember if there is a next time.

The fries were limp and bland.

Large Fish Only ($10.99) has 2.5 pieces of battered fish. These were bad too. If you’re paying that much for 2.5 pieces, give us some meat and not just batter.

Overall, it’s a great atmosphere to eat fish and chips outside, but I feel like Pajo’s has lost its quality over the years. None of my sister liked it and has a bunch of other places they would rather go to.

We Rate Pajo’s Fish and Chips:

Address:
3500 Bayview St
Richmond BC

Website:
http://www.pajos.com/

In Brunch

Oakwood Canadian Bistro: Brunch

July 4, 2014

The Oakwood Canadian Bistro is know for their delicious brunch on the weekends from 10am – 2:45pm. TaiwaneseGirl really wanted to taste their brunch since she’s heard great things. I was here a while ago too, when the brunch was only $10, but times have changed and prices unfortunately go up.

The place was very busy for brunch and we didn’t make reservations. You should make reservations to avoid the waits.

Nothing starts off the day than a cup of coffee with unlimited refills.

Confit Tuna Benedict ($14) has dill hollandaise, fennel salad, and home fries. TaiwaneseGirl and CanuckGirl did enjoy the bennies. They thought it was very flavourful and plus those home fries and crunchy.

Maple Confit Pork Belly ($12) has scrambled eggs, home fries, and toast. The bacon was mighty tasty. I love bacon. The eggs were a bit boring, but if you pair it up with some ketchup, they taste just fine.

We always ask for tabasco and ketchup for our order. Just for a little bit of added taste.

Overall, brunch is still good at Oakwood. Mmmm Mmmm

We Rate The Oakwood Canadian Bistro:

Address:
2741 West 4th Avenue
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.theoakwood.ca/

In Canadian

Odd Society Spirits: Tasting and Tours

June 15, 2014

After work, my amazing coworker took us on an adventure in the East Village. We stopped at Odd Society Spirits for a few drinks and a tour of their distillery. On a Friday evening, this place was lively with people socializing and having a few drinks.

Odd Society is a small-batch craft distillery on Powell Street and they are dedicated in combining Old World distilling traditions with New World ingredients to create their signature whiskey, vodka and gin.

You can try some of their creations on their menu. It’s not a large list, but you have a good amount of items to choose from so you can get a taste of what they produce.

Razzle basil (Pitcher- $24) is made with East Van Vodka, cassis, lime, basil and soda. This was sweet and refreshing! A great item to order in the summer.

East Side Sunrise ($9) is made with East Van Vodka, an orange infusion, eastern spice, orgeat, lemon, egg white and blood orange soda. Some say this taste like a creamsicle, but I have to disagree. The eastern spice threw me off.

Some people really love it but it wasn’t for me.

Once we had a few drinks, we decided to take a tour of the distillery. It’s not a large space, so they can only do it in groups of 10. It was definitely cool to see the process of how it all comes together.

Tours begin Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 4pm and there are no reservations needed. It’s also free. Just ask them kindly and you’ll be able to see the distillery and get a tour.

Canadian Single Malt Casks can be seen on a bunch of shelves and it will age at the distillery for 3 years until it’s ready to be bottled. It’s 30 litres and costs about $1,350. As 3 years is a long time, they give you the opportunity to follow the aging process and taste the product periodically during tasting events.

Their signature East Van Vodka looks pretty cool. It is made from 100% malted barley from Prince George and malted in Armstrong. Then, it’s sent here to be distilled twice in small batches. It is lightly fragrant, sweet smelling and tastes smooth.

When you are looking through the distillery, you will see their beautiful 350-litre copper pots used in the distilling process.

There are a lot of crazy contraptions. If they ever make you taste the liquid going into the bucket, it’s like 90% alcohol. It’s crazy strong!!!! We dipped our finger into it to taste it. Some of us thought they were making their own moonshine.

Overall, it was a great place to go with friends for a drink. It’s definitely unique and not the typical place to go to.

We Rate Odd Society Spirits:

Address:
1725 Powell St Vancouver BC

Website:
http://www.oddsocietyspirits.com/

In Brunch

Thyme to Indulge: Not This Time

May 29, 2014

Thyme to Indulge Catering has a little cute restaurant on Main Street. They are closed on Monday and Tuesdays, but they are open the rest of the week from 9am til 4pm serving breakfast and lunch.

They serve brunch on the weekend to showcase fresh local ingredients. I came here since it was voted one of the top brunch places according to a few websites.

It was packed on a Saturday around 11am and there was a 30 minute line up for a table of 3. Since I do love brunch and I am still trying to find the best brunch in town, I convinced me friends to just wait because its supposed to be good.

The interior is cozy. They seated us near the back of the bistro and the space was a bit cramped for the 3 of us sitting at a 2 person sized table. The service started out poorly as we were not give menus, no water, or a friendly welcome. It wasn’t until we approached a server that we finally got menus and water. My friends were pretty pissed off.

Crab Cake Benedict ($14) has two locally farmed poached eggs, two dungeness crab cakes, fresh dill hollandaise sauce with parmesan breakfast potatoes and tomato provencal. They have had rave reviews on this particular item.

CanuckGirl ordered her egg soft poached, but unfortunately, one of the soft poached eggs had bits of shell in it, and the other was more like hard poached. She was not impressed with the eggs at all. She really enjoyed the potatoes.

Pork Belly BLT ($13) has cured and sous-vide pork belly served with lettuce, tomato, sliced avocado, pickled cucumber and bacon aioli on a toasted house made brioche bun served with breakfast potatoes.

The portion of the pork belly was pretty small. compared to the whole size of the bun. The pork belly did taste fantastic, but was pricey for $13. The potatoes that came with this dish was good.

Corned Beef Hash ($13) has house cured beef brisket served with sautéed onions, peppers and kale, breakfast potatoes topped with two locally farmed poached eggs and house made hollandaise.

TaiwaneseGirl ordered her eggs soft poached, but it came back as hard poached eggs, so she got the kitchen to remake it. Sadly, the second time the dish came back, the eggs were super super soft poached that parts of the egg white were not cooked. She decided not to complain because by the time she got the 2nd dish, everyone else was done their meal.

Overall, it wasn’t a good experience. None of us left satisfied. I really wanted to love this place, but the poor service and the quality of the food did not meet our expectations.

We Rate Thyme to Indulge Bistro: