Two Beakers Archives - Page 4 of 12

In Late Night

Ferris Oyster Bar: Oysters in Victoria, BC

July 25, 2014

Ferris’ Oyster Bar is located in Victoria, BC. When I was here for a work trip, I wanted to check it out as it was one of the most talked about places in town, plus very high reviews. It is more upscale compared to the Ferris’ Oyster Grill on the first floor. Mags and I came here once we wrapped up work.

The interior is nice and cozy with cool art on the walls.

Baked Oysters (one of each $18) has 6 different flavours you can choose from. Since Mags and I wanted to them all, we opted to try them all.

The flavours were:

Cornelius – corn flakes, butter, fresh thyme
Bottecelli – pecorino romano, cracked pepper, lemon and breadcrumbs
Original Rockefeller – spinach, green onion, butter and Pernod
La Truffe – Creamed Leaks, crispy prosciutto, truffle oil
Sea horse – horseradish, butter, lemon
Catalan – romesco, bread crumb, olive oil

When it arrived to our table, I thought it was strange it wasn’t baked in the shell. The only flavor we enjoyed was the Botticelli, but everything else was quite strange.

Virgin Seafood Caesar ($6.50) has freshly shucked oyster, chilled mussel and tomato juice with spicy picked green beans, piparras and fresh horseradish. It was a beautiful presentation and tasted great!

Chicken Liver Pate ($9) is served in a mason jar and topped with a pedro ximenez gelée and served with crostini. We did not like this dish because we like to keep our pâté separated from the jam. It really was drowning in the jam and masked a lot of the pâté taste. I would never order this again.

Ceviche ($12) was served with local seafood, aji amarillo, and spicy leche de tigre. This dish was also very disappointing because it did not contain any acidic notes in the sauce. It tasted more like mango juice with tuna sitting inside.

Overall, Mags and I were not very impressed with Ferris’ Oyster Bar. Nothing tasted right and the service was atrocious. Our server dropped some of our crostini on the table, while she was placing it down. She just said ooopps and put it back onto our plate with her bare hands. The only thing good was the Virgin Seafood Caesar. There’s a lot of other Oyster bars that are better than Ferris.

We Rate Ferris Oyster Bar:

Address:
536 Yates St
Victoria BC

Website:
http://www.ferrisoysterbar.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 Japanese

Manna Sushi: New Sushi Restaurant near Olympic Village

June 25, 2014

Working near Science World means very limited food choices. There are some great choices near the Olympic Village, but my coworkers and I have been to all of them. When we heard Manna Sushi opened on 2nd and Ontario Street, we just had to check it out. I’ve seen so many of my coworkers flocking to Manna Sushi for lunch. With the abundance of Japanese restaurants in town, I wanted to see how this really compared. Mags and I look our lunch break here in search of some good food.

The interior had lots of seating with very simple decor.

Chicken Teriyaki Bento ($9.95) is only for dine-in customers only. I chose this item because it was more affordable that some of the items on the menu. It was either this or one roll of specialty sushi. Of course I chose this. It has a few pieces of tempura, chicken teriyaki over rice, a salad, California roll, 2 deep fried gyozas and a miso soup. The bento box was average and nothing special.

Mags got the Pork Katsu Don ($9.95), which I forgot to take a picture of because it took so long to arrive. Other people got their orders before she did. It turns out, they thought she wanted it for takeout…which was weird because she would be watching me eat. I really wish I took a photo of the don because it look super disappointing. The katsu was heavily breaded, so there was really thin pork inside. She felt cheated because she really wasn’t getting her moneys worth. It’s a fairly simple dish too, but the rice was flavourless and didn’t have enough sauce.

Overall, it’s subpar food. Manna Sushi is quite new, so they are probably working out the kinks and looking for feedback. In the meantime, I don’t think I will be coming here anytime soon.

We Rate Manna Sushi:

Address:
6 E 2nd Ave
Vancouver BC

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

In Brunch

Roundel Cafe: Egg Benny Brunch

May 18, 2014

Roundel Cafe is located on Hastings in the East Village. The interior reminds me of a diner but with a splash of hipster. My friends and I came here for brunch as we heard they serve eggs benny.

The water came in a mason jar. Water is more fun to drink from a mason jar. It’s the trendy thing to do.

Classic Ham Benny comes with salad and roasted potatoes on the side. The poached eggs were hard and it ruined the experience because its all about the soft poached eggs and how they ooze. But, sadly, none of that here. Everything else on the plate was ok.

Avocado, Tomato and cream cheese benny had the same issues with the hard poached egg.

At the end of the meal, it was a nice surprise that we get fortune cookies.

Overall, my friends did not like their experience here. We put in our order with the server and it took about 35 minutes to get our eggs benny. Also, the server was a bit rude. I didn’t really notice, but the friends that came with me did not like their attitude. They couldn’t explain clearly what was hot sauce and what was ketchup. The look the same as they are homemade.

Food and service is pretty mediocre when we dined here, and our fortune may have been accurate – “Minimize expectations to avoid being disappointed”.

We Rate Roundel Cafe:

Address:
2465 E Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

In Dessert

Wanda’s Belgian Waffles: Dessert on Younge Street

May 15, 2014

Who likes waffles? I like waffles. When I was in Toronto for vacation, I was looking for some dessert after dinner. Something kinda walkable from Eaton’s Centre. There were lots of options but a lot of them closed early. Wanda’s Belgian Waffles popped up on my Urbanspoon app, as well as the Yelp app. Reviews were decent and how can you go wrong with waffles?

The pictures looked decent and we thought it would be a nice place to hang out.

When we arrived, we ordered from the window. The man was a bit rude and pushy when it came down to ordering. It wasn’t a very good first impression. We watched the man grab a ball of dough and stick it onto the waffle iron. It was pretty sad to watch the grumpy man make our waffles.

When we got our order, we didn’t know there was another counter inside to order. We would rather order from the inner counter rather from the window as we were dining in.

Ice cream special ($4.79) has the liege waffle topped with ice cream, caramel drizzle and powdered sugar. The liege waffle was very doughy and you could tell there was a lot of sugar in it. I kept biting small sugar crystals.

Strawberry Special ($7.49) has the liege waffle with fresh strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. This one was the better one out of the two waffles we got. Lot of strawberries and whipped cream covering the liege waffle. The liege waffle was also quite doughy and dense.

This place was ok, but nothing impressive here. After trying Nero Belgian Waffle Bar in Vancouver, nothing else can compare. Sometimes I hate being a tourist because I can never make good food decisions in a city I am not familiar with.

We Rate Wanda’s Belgian Waffles:

Address:
361 Yonge St Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.wandaswaffles.com

In American

KFC Select: First in Canada

May 14, 2014

KFC Select is a new concept restaurant to attract younger customers. This location close to Younge and Bloor is the first location to pop up in Canada. They are still sticking with what they do best … making chicken. Except, you won’t find any big buckets of chicken here.

The location opened last December and the exterior is mostly black to give it a modern look.

You can even find images of Colonel Sanders inside.

The interior reminds me of Chipotle. It’s very very similar.

They have 5 main items:

Chicken Burgers
Burritos
Bowls
Salads
Chicken Strips

Then you can choose to make it a combo or add any extra desserts. Interesting desserts – Kream Ball and Strawberry Cheesecake. I would have thought they would have chosen something more healthy.

You order like an assembly line, similarly to Chipotle.

Double Decker ($4.99) has two hand-breaded crispy chicken fillets with their special sauce and pickles between toasted sesame seed bun. Double crunchiness and M did enjoy it. Who can say no to fried chicken? I sure can’t.

Fresh Deluxe ($4.99) has one hand-breaded crispy chicken fillet with cilantro mayo, salsa roja, mild cheddar and crisp lettuce, freshly stacked on a toasted sesame seed bun. It is the same price as the double decker sandwich, but this one just has a single fillet.

To make it a combo, just add $3. You get a drink and a side. The sides you can choose from are:

Waffle Fries
Coleslaw
Side salad

Waffles fries was the side we got and it was pretty darn good. So addictive too. I like it crunchy.

California Chicken Bowl ($5.99) you get grilled chicken over cilantro rice topped with Guacamole, cilantro mayo, sour cream, and pico de gallo.

The bowl was ok, but it just contained so much sauce. It didn’t have a very healthy look to it.

They have a pretty awesome beverage fountain. I haven’t seen this in Vancouver yet, but it’s SO cool.

The pop dispenses through a touch pad. You will find all different Pepsi products like 7 Up, Brisk , Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper and Dole.

When you select pepsi, you can have regular, cherry, lime, vanilla, lime or strawberry. M really loved this machine!

Overall, KFC Select is great because they know they need to evolve to suit their consumers tastes. Unfortunately, there were so many ways of making their food healthier, but I just didn’t see it. It seemed like a weird mishmash of KFC and Chipotle. I would have loved to see some grilled chicken in their burgers rather than the crispy fried ones.

We Rate KFC Select:

Address:
730 Yonge St
Toronto ON

Website:
http://www.kfcselect.ca/

In Bakery

Bouchon Bakery: Croissants, Coffee and Macarons in Vegas

April 12, 2014

Bouchon Bakery is located in The Venetian and there are 3 locations inside. It is owned by world renowned chef – Thomas Keller. He is the man behind The French Laundry and Per Se. This was a major reason why my sister wanted to try out this bakery to see if it lived up to the hype.

We came in the early afternoon and sat outside on the patio for some snacks and sun.

The entrance to the Bouchon Bakery is through the inside of the hotel.

It isn’t large, so it more of a to go place, unless you sit outside on the patio.

There’s a bunch of pastries on the counter. From croissants to cookies.

In their display case, they have macarons, eclairs and sandwiches.

We grabbed a latte and a mocha. Both of them tasted horrible. The mocha was very sweet and we could not adjust the sweetness because they didn’t know what half sweet meant. We soon realized this was the case because their coffee comes out of a machine with a press of a button rather than made by hand like how its supposed to be.

Same goes with the latte, it didn’t have that personal touch from the barista. Came straight from the machine.

I expected a bit more from them especially with the name behind the bakery.

Ham and cheese croissant was baked in the oven for us after we ordered. It was burnt on the edges but was pretty good. Not as good as Beaucoup in Vancouver.

Chocolate eclair was small but it was pretty good. The coffee macaron was a disappointment. It didn’t have the right texture and it was really chewy.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in Bouchon Bakery. I can name a few places in Vancouver that are ten times better. Sigh, I had such high hopes. Perhaps I just have higher standards since Vancouver has some pretty amazing bakeries.

We rate Bouchon Bakery:

Address:
3355 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109

Website:
http://bouchonbakery.com/

In Bakery

The Boss Restaurant 大班餐廳餅店: Lunch in Chinatown

March 29, 2014

Magz and I went to The Boss Restaurant in Chinatown for lunch. It was packed and quite busy. We had to wait in line for a seat. Usually the turnaround is quite quick, so we didn’t have to wait too long.

There is also a bakery in the front where they sell cakes, pastries and bread. That section was quite busy too. Their lunch menu is quite cheap, so you can be full in under $10.

Hot Milk Tea is a classic choice for any meal in a Hong Kong Style Cafe.

Cold Milk Tea was good. I wish I could have added my own sugar because it was a tad too sweet.

Beef Steak with Pepper Sauce was part of their lunch menu. The best part was the beef steak and pepper sauce. The beef was tender and cut easily. It came with 2 thin pieces. There was also a lot of rice and some broccoli on the side.

Overall, not a bad lunch as its cheap and satisfies the tummy.

We Rate The Boss Restaurant:

Address:
532 Main St
Vancouver, BC

In lunch

Salsa & Agave: Mexican Cuisine in Yaletown

March 27, 2014

I headed to Salsa and Agave Mexican Grill to meet up with fellow blogger – Sharon M Fung. I always pass by this restaurant and never stopped by to try their food until now. Their menu looked good for lunch and you can’t go wrong with tacos or burritos.

They have patio and indoor seating, so it’s perfect for the hot Summer days.

The interior is a bit small, but there are a decent amount of tables for large and small groups.

The lunch specials are quite affordable.

Azteca Soup and Tostada combo ($8) is made with fresh local ingredients.

The Azteca Soup is essentially a tortilla soup with chipotle pepper, diced avocado, cheese and sour cream. The soup tasted ok, but it wasn’t anything special. It also looked very oily.

Tostadas are crispy open face corn tortilla stacked with beans, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, cheese and avocado sauce.

Sharon got the Azteca soup and small burrito combo for $9.50, but we disappointed by the shrimp burrito. She said it was dry.

Overall, we were not impressed by the experience. The food was ok and the service was non-existent. Our glasses of water were left empty and it was hard to get a servers attention. I really wanted to like this place, but it didn’t satisfy us.

We Rate Salsa & Agave:

Address:
1223 Pacific Blvd
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://salsaandagave.com/

In Brunch

Market by Jean Georges: Breakfast with Eggs Benny

March 12, 2014

The Market by Jean Georges is open for breakfast daily from 6:30am to 11:00am. The girls and I decided to give it a try as we are eager to eat all the egg bennys in town.

We made reservations for breakfast on a Saturday and it was surprisingly quite empty. Only a few tables were occupied. Even by 11:30am, we did see a few people either. I came here a few years ago for their brunch prix fixe and it was pretty damn good.

The interior is quite nice and really sets the mood for a beautiful brunch.

Freshly squeezed orange juice ($6) it comes in a tall glass and was perfect for the early morning meal. They also have grapefruit, carrot, apple, tomato, and pineapple juice as other options.

Before our dishes arrived, we received some complimentary fruit in a bowl for each person. It was definitely a nice touch. The fruits were fresh and there was a nice variety of fruits.

Black Forest Ham Classic Eggs Benny ($18) comes in 3 flavours – black forest ham, smoked salmon, and Spinach & Mushroom. We thought the eggs benny here was just OK. Nothing really special or anything. We did find that the hard egg was a turn off. We weren’t given the option to have it soft and runny like other places.

Mushroom and Spinach Classic Eggs Benny ($18) had the same issue. Everything revolving around the egg was fine…but that hard egg ruined the experience.

Smoked Salmon Classic Eggs Benny ($18) had a good amount of salmon but yet again, the same issue with the egg.

You have a variety of jams and tiny tabasco sauce if you want to flavour your dish. TaiwaneseGirl really liked her spice, so she used a few bottles of tabasco.

Brown Butter Waffles ($18) has macerated berries, mint, maple syrup and powdered sugar. It was alright, but it is quite expensive for a single waffle.

The eggs benny price is the same as Hawksworth and I would rather go to Hawksworth for eggs benny. We weren’t impressed for breakfast. If you do come here for breaskfast to order the benny, make sure to request a soft egg. Our server neglected as ask us how we liked our eggs and it kinda ruined our experience.

We Rate Market by Jean Georges:

Address:
1115 Alberni St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.marketbyjgvancouver.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=1115+Alberni+St&sll=49.285407,-123.1238676&sspn=0.0053747,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=1115+Alberni+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6E+4T9&z=16 “]

In Japanese

Kamamarui Ramen: Korean-Style Ramen

March 4, 2014

My sister and another friend highly recommended Kamamarui in South Burnaby for some delicious eats. They opened up near the end of last year and is know for their ramen and their “bomb”. The pictures looked great online, so I went with M for dinner.

I’ve always be wary coming here after the tragic incident 2 years ago.

The interior is simplistic and modern. You will see grey concrete walls, with wooden furniture. We assumed this place was Japanese-run, but once we walked into the door, we realized it was Korean-run. M knew obviously cause he’s Korean. We don’t see many Korean-run ramen joints in town. A lot of Korean-run Sushi places, but not ramen.

I’m not sure what the connection is but there is also a Kamamarui Ramen in Seoul, Korea too. Similar items but not exactly the same.

They even have the rear end of dogs as cute coat hangers.

Their menu is quite simple, they offer ramen, dons and a few side dishes.

Bomb ($3) is a rice ball seasoned with seaweed and teriyaki sauce. It is also topped with some sesame seeds. It’s a very popular item to be ordered, but I thought it lacked much flavour. There’s no filling inside, so its just the rice and seaweed.

Miso Ramen ($9) has a miso and pork soup base seasoned with miso flavour, green onions, bean sprout, and 2 slabs of chashu. The flavour of the broth really lacked depth and was very light. The pork was lean cut, so you don’t get the fatty delicious bits. Still…those are huge pieces of meat.

If you get the ramen and bomb combo, it’s $10.50, so you save $1.50.

Chicken Mini Don had the rice on the bottom, with flavourful chicken on top with some teriyaki sauce and a bit of peas.

Tonkotsu Ramen ($9) has a pork soup base with soy flavour, green onions, bean sprouts, and chashu. It’s similar to the Miso ramen but just with a different broth. I found a similar problem with the broth, it also lacked depth and was light in flavour.

You can get the mini don and the ramen for $14.50 as a combo.

The service was atrocious! Thats what pissed M off more than the food. They seemed like they are understaffed or inexperienced. We waited by the door to be seated, but no one acknowledged us there. The empty tables all had dishes still piled on top and seemed neglected. It took them a long time to take our order since all the staff seemed to have disappeared to the kitchen for some time. We also asked for more tea and water but none came back. They seemed quite frazzled and the whole experience just declined from there. They also mixed up our orders too.

Overall, the food is decent for Burnaby. It still doesn’t compare to the ones Downtown, but at least you don’t have to drive all the way downtown to get some ramen. M still prefers to go to Hakkaku Ramen in North Burnaby.

We Rate Kamamarui Ramen:

Address:
6514 Royal Oak Avenue
Burnaby, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=6514+Royal+Oak+Ave&sll=49.2243728,-122.98879&sspn=0.0053814,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=6514+Royal+Oak+Ave,+Burnaby,+British+Columbia+V5H+3P4&z=16″]

In Chinese

Imperial Court Beijing Cuisine: Dinner in Richmond

February 22, 2014

Imperial Court ( 王府井京川粵名菜) is located in Richmond and they serve up Beijing and Szechuan cuisine. My mom found this place in the newspaper and heard it was a good place for peking duck. M really wanted some good peking duck. We made reservations and headed down here for dinner.

This place has lots of large round tables perfect for large groups. It’s a popular place for King Crab but it wasn’t the peak King Crab season yet, so we opted for a 10 person set menu for the 8 of us.

The first item that arrived are the cold appetizers. It has bean curd, jelly fish, cucumbers, tomato, and pork.

The next dish that arrived is the fish maw and egg soup. The big bowl of soup is poured into individual bowls.

I thought the soup was good. M didn’t know what the soup was until we told him that fish maw was actually fish stomach. He was quite afraid to eat it. Mind over matter right? I thought the fish maw was quite tasteless and it’s the broth of the soup that brings out the flavour.

Peking duck arrived with and the slices were quite think with not a lot of meat. The wrappers that came with it was tasteless and thick. The duck is supposed to feed 10 people, but we felt it was very small. My parents tried requesting to take the duck bones home but they said we were not allowed to. Some people actually request it to bring it back home to make soup. We thought it was a bit weird how they said no.

There are shrimp chips underneath.

Duck lettuce wrap is what they made with the remainder of the duck. The duck and vegetable stir fry sits on top of the fried noodles.

Hainanese chicken was the next dish. The skin has its classic yellow shade. It tasted ok, but the meat was a bit dry and the skin was gummy. It was alright, but not very impressed.

Steamed flat fish was the next dish and it was very moist and delicious. The bones came off easily and wasn’t too hard to pick out.

2 Lobsters arrived on the plate but they were also quite small. It was cut up into bite size pieces and cooked in a white sauce. The meat was quite tough and surprisingly hard to get out of the shells.

Fried rice came in a huge plate and was not bad. Not too oily.

Vegetables and mushrooms was a good compliment to the set meal. Very delicious.

Red Bean Soup was the last item to arrive. It’s quite common for Chinese restaurants to have this at the end. It wasn’t as thick as other restaurants, it was very watery.

Hello Kitty Mango Pudding was a very cute item to order, but it lacked in the mango flavour. It was more like jello.

Overall, this place was below average and there are so many other Chinese restaurants in the area that are better. None of use were really impressed by any of their dishes. Felt very climactic as the dinner went on.

We Rate Imperial Court Beijing Cuisine:

Address:
6360 #3 Rd
Richmond, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=6360+No+3+Rd&sll=49.1671258,-123.1363797&sspn=0.0053876,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=6360+No+3+Rd,+Richmond,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6Y+2B3&z=16 “]

In American

Cheesecake Factory: Chowing Down in Seattle

February 20, 2014

Can you believe it? I’ve NEVER been to a Cheesecake Factory till now. It’s taken me 25 years to make a visit and taste their cheesecake. I’ve never seen the allure of huge slices of cheese cake and horribly prepared food. I’ve always just had that impression in my mind.

On our recent trip to Seattle, we stopped by Cheesecake factory for an early dinner. It was really early…it was so early, they still had their lunch menu. What can I say? We had a schedule to keep if we wanted to go shopping.

The place was huge, but there always seem to be a line up near the door. It’s super packed during lunch and dinner.

Complimentary bread arrives and you have brown and white. We actually didn’t touch the bread since we had to save our tummies for our meal and dessert. No need to waste space for plain bread.

M ordered himself a coke. Free refills!

Koreangirl got herself a lemonade. Free refills too!

Tomato, basil and cheese pizza ($11.95) from their lunch menu is pretty crappy. There’s no tomato sauce, so it’s just the 3 basic ingredients over the pizza dough. I will not order the pizza again.

The pizza did come with a salad. The salad was pretty good. No complaints. It had a balsamic vinegar dressing. I definitely enjoyed the salad a lot more than the pizza.

Famous Factory Meatloaf ($11.95) comes with 2 sides. M chose corn and mashed potatoes with gravy. The lunch size was still huge but the dinner size is even larger. M likes the portion for lunch as he could actually finish it.

Renee’s Special ($10.95) comes with half a turkey sandwich, a cup of soup and a green salad. You definitely get a little bit of everything. The portion is large for lunch and its very filling.

Fettuccini with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes ($11.95) was ordered by Scarface and looked good.

30th Anniversary Chocolate Cake Cheesecake has layers of their original cheesecake, fudge cake and chocolate truffle cream. M gets this every time he comes here.

Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake ($6.95) has chocolate cheesecake with a layer of Belgian chocolate mousse and whipped cream.

Fresh Strawberry ($6.95) has the original cheese cake topped with glazed strawberries and whipped cream. It’s been their top seller for 30 years. The strawberries were huge and fresh. I really liked it and its a good cake to share. The classics are always the best.

Overall, cheesecake factory is ok. It’s a good price for their huge portions. I wouldn’t come back for the food but cheesecake is worth it.

We Rate The Cheesecake Factory:

Address:
700 Pike St
Seattle, WA

Website:
http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=700+Pike+St&sll=47.6116985,-122.3333375&sspn=0.0055549,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=700+Pike+St,+Seattle,+King+County,+Washington+98109,+United+States&z=16 “]

In lunch

Tealicious Richmond: Taiwanese Cuisine

January 21, 2014

Tealicious Taiwanese Cuisine is located in Richmond in a plaza near Cambie Road and Sexsmith Road. M and I were with CoffeeLover and he took us here to have some good noodles. They were open since August 2013 and serves up authentic Taiwanese dishes.

I’ve never heard of this place but was excited to give it a try.

Beef Noodle Soup ($6.75) has the beef broth some thick noodles and bits of beef. M thought it was ok. Not as good as some of the other places in town.

Black Pepper Chicken With Rice ($8.50) was huge! There is also some cold side dishes to accompany the meal. It was worth the price as you get pretty full. The chicken was tender and had the coating similar to salt and peppery chicken.

Seafood Noodle Soup 海鮮麵 ($8.95) was CoffeeLovers favourite item to order. There’s lots of seafood like fish, squid, and shrimp in it.

Overall, the food was ok. Nothing very special about the items that they have here.

We Rate Tealicious Richmond:

Address:
2116-3779 Sexsmith Rd
Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.tealiciousrichmond.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2116-3779+Sexsmith+Rd,+Richmond,+BC&t=m&hnear=3779+Sexsmith+Rd,+Richmond,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6X+3Z9&z=16 “]

In American

Memphis Blues Barbeque House: Meat Sweats with Elvis

December 27, 2013

Where do you go where you can eat enormous amount of meat like you just don’t care? Memphis Blues of course! After a heartbreaking meeting, the 11 of us decided to drown our sorrows in meat.

I went Memphis Blue’s other location on Commercial drive about 5 years ago and I remember it was pretty good. This time around, we went to their newest location on Robson Street.

The space isn’t that large, but can accommodate large groups if you make a reservation ahead of time. The staff was nice and was able to split the bills without hassle.

Anchor Steam Beer is light refreshing beer with a sweet finish. I’ve never ordered this before, but I liked it.

They also do a lot of different cocktails.

Elvis Platter was massive and around $70. It’s a good size for 5 – 7 people. I shared it with 5 women, and we devoured the ribs and rib ends, but we still had a lot of the other things left. We filled up 2 take out containers.

It comes with:

Smoked Chicken
Pulled Pork
Sliced Beef Brisket
Smoked Sausage
Rib Ends
Corn Bread
Potato salad
Coleslaw
Fries
BBQ Sauce
BBQ Pit Beans

The Elvis platter was fun to eat, but a lot of the meat was dry. We had to smother the meat with BBQ sauce and vinegar to give it more moisture. Memphis Blues is great for group meals since the platter is very convenient and comes with most of the stuff on the menu.

We Rate Memphis Blues:

Address:
430 Robson St.
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.memphisbluesbbq.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=430+Robson+St.+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=430+Robson+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+2B7&z=16 “]

In American

The Rumpus Room: Monday $10 Burger + Beer Special

December 26, 2013

My coworkers wanted a place to grab a drink and enjoy some nibbles. We settled on the Rumpus Room as it was close by the office and seemed like a great after work place to chill. The space is a bit small, but it makes up for it if you were a 80s kid. The menu is in a duotang and theres some cool memorabilia on the walls. Plus, in the Summer their patio is open and there’s a bunch of plastic pink flamingos.

As it was a Monday, we were surprised to hear they had a special! I love specials! A burger and beer for $10. A pretty awesome deal considering the price of a burger is $7 to $15.

Red Racer IPA is a local beer brewed right in BC at Central CIty Brewing. It has a strong taste of hops that lingers till the after taste. It’s not my type of beer because I don’t really like the hops flavour.

Peanut Butter Burger is made with a hormone-free 6oz beef burger patty, bacon, cheddar, lettuce, apple cranberry chutney, tomato, and creamy peanut butter on a brioche bun. I found that the ingredients went well together, but the beef patty was a bit overcooked so it because quite dry.

You also get a side to choose from. The options are fries, yam fries, veggie chili, soup, coleslaw, salad, side wedge salad, mashed potatoes, a waffle or ants on a long. I went with the salad. It was pretty decent as it had beets and sunflower seeds.

Overall, the price of the food is great for large portions. The quality of the food is alright but not too impressive. The servers are nice, but with only 2 people serving, they can tend to forget things…like… our bill. We had to ask twice for our bill, but we weren’t in a rush so we didn’t really bug them.

We Rate Rumpus Room:

Address:
2689 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.rumpusroom.ca/

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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 Insadong

Pomodoro 뽀모도로: Spaghetti in Insadong

December 10, 2013

Our last night in Seoul, we headed to the Insadong area to have some pasta at Pomodoro. M’s sister recommended that we come have some delicious pasta here. She came here a few years ago and recall that it was good.

The space inside is small, so there isn’t a large amount of seats.

Below is their full menu. There’s English, so you won’t have a hard time ordering at all.

Complimentary Pickles and Jalapeños arrive at the table before the meal. It’s customary in Korean meals to have side dishes free of charge. These items were nothing special, but it’s something you can munch on while waiting for your meal.

Insalta mista di stagione (6,500 won) was a strange salad. It had sprouts at the top, greens, cherry tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and corn.

Spaghetti alla carbonara (14,500 won) has bacon and cream sauce.

Penne alla Fiesolana e Melanzane (13,000 won) has mozzarella cheese, eggplant and a tomato basil sauce.

Risotto alla Funghi (15,500 won) is Italian style rice with mushrooms and cream sauce. This dish was quite large and very very rich. I had a hard time eating it as it was quite salty.

Spaghetti ca carni capuliata (15,500 won) has chicken and vegetables in a tomato sauce.

Overall, all the pastas were ok. The food here was pretty expensive and you can get a lot better Korean food with that money. Perhaps something changed over the years because M’s sister also said it wasn’t as good as before.

We Rate Pomodoro:

Address:
6 Gwanhun-dong (28-1 Insadong-gil)
Jongno-gu, Seoul
South Korea

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