Specialty Shop Archives - Page 3 of 4

In Canadian

BETA 5 Chocolates: Cream Puffs Galore

December 16, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

85% Dark Chocolate and Caramel Cream Puff

Milk Chocolate Praline Cream Puff

Milk Chocolate S’More Cream Puff

Salted Caramel Cream Puff

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

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

We Rate Beta 5 Chocolates:

Address:
413 Industrial Ave
Vancouver, BC

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

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

In Cafe

Le Marché St. George: Coffee Shop in the Neighbourhood

December 15, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

Milk, eggs, cheese, etc.

There’s even fruits and vegetables.

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

London Fog (12oz – $3.90)

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

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

We Rate Le Marche St. George:

Address:
4393 St. George Street
Vancouver, BC

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

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

In Cafe

Tom’s Cat Cafe: Purr-fect Afternoon in Hongdae

December 2, 2013

Tom’s Cat Cafe in HongDae has the most cats compared to some of the other cat cafe’s in the area. About 33 cats to be exact. The cafe was opened by the owner to share his love of cats. M and his sister really wanted to go find a cat cafe to all the cute little cats.

There’s no official fee to enter, but you just need to purchase a drink.

Before you enter, you must change into slippers and sanitize your hands. You also put your purses in a bag to protect it from the cat hair and then playing with it.

You then have to review the rules of the cafe.

Don’t disturb the cat if it doesn’t want attention
Don’t pick up any cats

The drinks are 8,000 won.

I got a green tea latte. The drinks were ok, but what you are really coming into the cafe is to play with the cats.

The cats roam around everywhere, so you better not be afraid.

The cafe is surprisingly clean, but it does smell a bit like litter.

nom nom nom the cats get to eat too.

In the middle of the day, a few of them are just chilling and taking a nap.

Totally didn’t know cats could sit like that on benches. This one was a bit camera shy.

This little guy was cute.

M really got into playing with the cats.

It’s great when some of the cats come to you and wants some attention.

This was the crazy two colored eye cat.

Overall, the cafe is a great place to go if you love cats. The drinks are ok, but it’s more about the cats. If you spend an hour or so here, you’ll definitely be sneezing because of all the cat dander. I’m usually not allergic to cats, but coming here affecting my sinuses.

We Rate Tom’s Cat Cafe:

Address:
3F, 358-125, Seogyo-dong,
Mapo-gu, Seoul-si

Website:
http://www.tomscat.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=3F,+358-125,+Seogyo-dong,+Mapo-gu,+Seoul&t=m&hnear=358-125+Seogyo-dong,+Mapo-gu,+Seoul,+South+Korea+(26+Wausan-ro+21-gil)&z=15 “]

In Busan

Jagalchi Market (자갈치시장): Korea’s Largest Seafood Market

November 11, 2013

One of the attractions in Busan is the Jagalchi Market, which is Korea’s largest seafood market. It attracts lots of locals and tourists everyday. If you’re coming here, its best to bring a friend who knows Korean if you’re buying something. It just makes it a bit easier.

You know you’re in the right area when the air smells a bit fishy.

Outside the market building, there are tons of restaurants, and seafood shops. The most common restaurant near the main road are BBQ eel restaurants. There are so many, you can’t go wrong.

Inside the big Jagalchi Market, the first floor is the fish market and the second floor are the restaurants.

We came here just to look at the different produce. We didn’t have an intention to buy anything as we just had lunch before coming here. It’s pretty cool seeing all the different kinds of seafood in the baskets squirming and flopping around.

To me, it was going to an aquarium and seeing the animals up close.

So many kinds of shrimp.

If you wander around the coast, you can get some nice views of Busan.

More views.

Outside the market, there are even more vendors selling all types of seafood.

Clams, mussels, geoduck and so many other things.

There is dried fish too.

The streets were very busy and crowded. It’s not a place for everyone. If you can’t stand the smell of fish and crowds, this place might not be for you.

We walked around for about 30 minutes looking at all the seafood, but the only fish that we bought was boonguhbbang (gold fish bread). It is a waffle stuffed with red bean and shaped like a fish. You can find it on the street corners and costs about 1,000 won. It’s especially good when it is freshly made and not sitting around.

If you have some spare time in Busan, definitely stroll through this area and perhaps stop by for lunch or dinner. Even if you plan on not buying anything here, its still a great experience seeing something different.

Address:
B37-1, Nampodong 4-ga, Jung-gu, Busan-si
부산광역시 중구 자갈치해안로 52 (남포동4가)

Website: http://www.bsjunggu.go.kr/eng/main.php

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?t=m&cid=0x47b390376ab3b06d&z=16&iwloc=A”]

In American

Chicago Food Planet Tours: Gold Coast & Old Town Food Tour

October 4, 2013

I had a week in Chicago and it’s quite hard to eat everything. There’s only so many restaurants I can go to in one day. I contemplated for a long time if I should take a food tour or not. 7 restaurants in 3 hours is always enticing for a foodie for $50.

Chicago Food Planet Food Tours offered a tour of Gold Coast and Old Town‘s best eats. It’s a cool neighbourhood, but the only reason I went on the tour was to try a slice of deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati’s. I really didn’t want to eat a whole pizza to myself or eat alone.

We explored:

Lou Malnati’s
Delightful Pastries
Kamehachi Old Town
The Fudge Pot
The Spice House
Old Town Oil
Tea Gschwendner

The group was only 16 people, so it was a nice decent size. What made me feel awkward was that everyone else came to the tour as a group or a couple. It made me feel like an awkward turtle.

Lou Malnati’s

Our first stop was Lou Malnati’s for their famous deep dish pizza. This was the starting point of the tour. They are an iconic Chicago-Style Deep Dish pizzeria. It’s been around since 1971.

All 16 of us sat down and started beginning chowing down on our meal.

We began with a salad.

Then the deep dish pizza! So satisfying and the crust is so crispy. Definitely the highlight of the tour.

Tea Gschwendner

We then walked a short distance to Tea Gschwendner. They are Europe’s leading specialty loose Green, Black, Oolong and White teas merchant and have been around since 1987.

We were given a little lesson about different types of tea and how to make tea.

Iced tea was given to everyone as a refresher after the yummy pizza. As it was a hot summer we definitely needed.

We then headed into Old Town and was told about the history of some notable buildings and history.

Kamehachi Old Town

Kamehachi Old Town is Chicago’s first Japanese-style restaurant, sake cafe and sushi bar . It has been around since 1967.

We had 2 types of maki rolls, but only 2 pieces. It was ok, but not great. Coming from Vancouver, this doesn’t even compare to what good sushi is like.

The Fudge Pot

The Fudge pot is Chicago’s oldest chocolate confectioner, butter toffee and home-made fudge shop. They have been around since 1963 making delicious sweets.

We were taken to their kitchen to hear the history of the Fudge Pot and their production.

The butter toffee samples we received were pretty awesome. So addictive.

Spice Merchants

We then stopped by the world-famous merchant of hand-prepared spices, blends and artisan seasonings. Once you step close to the door of this place, you’ll definitely smell the amazing flavours. It’s quite strong stuff.

They have hundreds of spices! They have even made their own special blends. You can probably find any spice you’re looking for.

We looked around the shop and then taken to the back to get a lesson on different spices, best ways to store spices and how to get the most flavourful spices. Interesting stop on this tour, but we only smelled spices.

Old Town Oil

Old Town Oil is America’s premiere supplier of aged balsamic vinegars and 100% extra-virgin olive oils. I’ve never seen so many tins of olive oil and balsamic vinegar before.

We were able to try all the flavours we wanted. Interesting flavours.

We continued walking around the neighbourhood and heard more about the history.

Delightful Pastries

Our last stop of the tour was at Delightful Pastries. It’s an authentic Polish-European bakery serving pastries, pierogies and pies.

Two Macaroons

Two different types of perogies.

The Chicago Food Planet Tour of Old Town and Gold Coast was fun and enjoyable, but if you are a hardcore foodie, a majority of the places aren’t super amazing. The shops are unique and have a long history, but it won’t keep you coming back. Especially if you are a local.

As a tourist, it was a good use of 3 hours to visit so many shops and restaurants, plus learn a little bit of history in these 2 areas. The 2 restaurants that stood out to me was Lou Malnati’s and The Fudge Pot. Mmmm pizza and chocolate.

Our tour guide was great! He was funny and was very personable to each person on the tour.

Website: http://www.chicagofoodplanet.com/tours/near-north-food-tour/

In lunch

Leafy Box: Fresh Salad, Juice and Smoothies

September 19, 2013

Leafy Box serves up healthy salads and juices in Yaletown. If you’re into the cleansing thing, it’s a good option to go to if you don’t have lunch and you’re in the area.

I came here with KoreanGirl during lunch since we wanted to be a healthy. We had too much fried chicken and beer the past weekend for our own good.

The inside was quite large and there are distinct areas to go grocery shopping, make a salad at the salad bar, and a hot food section. All the produce looks really fresh.

The salad bar has its separate fruit and veggie section. For some weird reason, there was even jello as one of the options.

Of course there is a juice and smoothie bar. With all the fresh produce, the juice is mighty enticing.

For my lunch, I grabbed a salad and a bottle of their cold pressed raw juice.

Salad from the salad bar (~$5) I threw in a lot of random ingredients, but you must get avocados because those are mighty yummy.

Essential Greens Juice ($7) has kale, spinach, celery, apple, parsley, cucumber, lemon and ginger. Lots of good stuff bottled up inside. It’s made from 4 pounds of produce in each bottle. The juice was good, but the only ingredient that threw me off a bit was the cucumber, it’s probably because I don’t like cucumber.

Overall, I do like the concept of the store and I would come again for juice. It is a bit expensive, but if you’re lazy to make your own juice, definitely check this place out.

We Rate Leafy Box:

Address:
1155 Pacific Boulevard
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.leafybox.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=1155+Pacific+Blvd,+Vancouver,+BC&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=1155+Pacific+Blvd,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia&z=16 “]

In Dessert

Earnest Ice Cream: Seriously Good

September 14, 2013

Earnest Ice Cream recently opened a shop on Fraser Street in Vancouver.I’ve always adored their ice cream since they used to deliver the jars to my workplace. Once you have their salted caramel, you can’t go back to other ice cream places.

Depending on what time you arrive, there can be long lines, but you don’t wait too long. Near the big arrow in the back of the restaurant, you can see the pint size jars available. Those flavours aren’t the same as what you can get for the ice cream scoops.

The menu is quite simple and you can see the ice cream available for the day. The popular flavours tend to run out fast. My personal favourites are Salted Caramel, Oatmeal Brown Sugar, Peanut butter chocolate chip, and strawberry basil.

Clearly, I’ve bought a lot of pints before. So, it’s quite nice to finally have then open a shop and not have limited flavours to try.

A scoop of London Fog in a waffle cone ($5) was delicious! You can definitely taste the Earl Grey tea. It was so good that the next day, my sister had to order a pint for the fridge.

Affogato ($6) with a scoop of Tahitian Vanilla Ice cream. It tasted good, but my other friend had hers with whiskey hazelnut ice cream. The espresso is made with Matchstick Coffee. It has a nice strong bold taste that pairs well with the ice cream.

There’s a few tables inside, and some people like to sit on the benches outside. The turnover of the tables are quite quick, so you will have to have good timing to grab a table.

Overall, the ice cream is pretty good, but it is quite expensive. It’s not a place you can regularly go to or else you’ll be broke. It’s a nice treat on a hot day.

We Rate Earnest Ice Cream:

Address:
3992 Fraser St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://earnesticecream.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=3992+Fraser+St,+Vancouver,+BC+V5V+4E4&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=3992+Fraser+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5V+4E4&z=16 “]

In American

Hershey’s Store in Chicago

September 11, 2013

In a lot of the tourist book, they highlighted the Hershey’s store on the Magnificent Mile. For some reason, I imagined it as exciting as the M&M store in New York, but sadly, I was a bit disappointed when I arrived. Also the Hershey’s Store in Niagara Falls was larger.

This is not to say this is a horrible store to go to. If you’re in the area, stop by. If not, don’t go out of your way to come here.

There’s lots of see and buy at this store. It’s only one level, so it’s not very large inside. There are high ceilings with lots of natural light that make the interior seem larger.

What I found quite cool large candy bars and large syrup bottles.

There’s also a little cafe area where you can buy cupcakes, cookies and other confections. There’s hot chocolate and other drinks too.

Overall, it was nice to stop by to see all the cool candy products. Some items were a bit pricey, but in the end I didn’t purchase anything since nothing really appealed to me.

Address:
822 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://www.thehersheycompany.com/about-hershey/visit-hershey/retail-stores/chicago.aspx

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=822+N+Michigan+Ave,+Chicago,+IL+60611,+USA&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=822+N+Michigan+Ave,+Chicago,+Illinois+60611,+United+States&z=16″]

In Chinatown

Harvest Community Foods: Mouth Watering Ramen

February 17, 2013

Harvest Community Foods is located at the edge of Chinatown. They are a neighbourhood grocery store and eatery. I’ve heard they had a killer ramen from a coworker, so I just had to come here during lunch to check it out. I’ve already been here 3 times during my lunch break.

They sell a lot of local and organic produce here. You will find Earnest Ice Cream, Beta 5 Chocolates, and many many other products.

Their chairs are old school, it reminded me of the desks from my high school. I thought I would never see that again. There’s not too many seats, so coming in super large groups are probably not ideal.

Ramen with pork shoulder, candied bacon, egg, and radish ($9.95)

This isn’t your typical bowl of ramen you would find. You can’t compare it to Kintaro or Santouka since it’s not remotely the same. I liked this dish because of the candied bacon and the pork shoulder. The pork shoulder is so tender and flavourul that is beautifully falls apart. The egg was perfectly cooked so the yolk is a golden yellow and gooey. You definitely should try this.

Udon with sake kazu chicken, watercress and shiitake ($8.95)

I didn’t really like this dish since the chicken was very dry and tough. I would probably just stick with the ramen…unless you are a vegetarian because they have some other vegan and vegetarian options.

Harvest Community Foods isn’t a place for everyone. If you are looking for 100% authentic Japanese noodles, you won’t find it here. It caters to a different crowd if you know what I mean. If you are in search of local, organic produce, you can find it here at Harvest Community Foods.

We Rate Harvest Community Foods:

Address:
243 Union Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.harvestunion.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=243+Union+Street+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=243+Union+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6A+2Z7&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Bakery

Jenny’s Bakery: A True Hong Kong Treat

December 26, 2012

A visit to Hong Kong is incomplete without a visit to Jenny’s Bakery. It is very famous among locals and tourists. Their original location is in the Stanley Market, but have since open many more locations throughout Hong Kong. They have 5 other locations, so you don’t need to travel so far for their cookies.

They speak English, Cantonese, and Mandarin so you don’t need to fear if you don’t know how to order.

Getting to Jenny’s Bakery can be a bit of a challenge if you don’t know Hong Kong very well, you kinda need to follow some weird route to get there. Most of the locations are located inside a building, so it’s best to have clear directions to that place…or Google Street view it before hand.

8 Mix Box (Small – $95 HKD | Medium – $150 HKD) contains:

Coffee Almond
Cashew Nut
Almond Poppyseed
Hazelnut Macadamia
Walnut
Pistachio
Mixed Nuts
Chocolate Chip/Cashew/Walnut

I love nuts, so I usually get this box. Once you take a bite out of these cookies, you know why people rave about them. the texture and the ingredients are so delicious.

Photo Credit: Jenny's Bakery — Photo Credit: Jenny’s Bakery

4 Mix Box (Small – $60 HKD | Medium – $110) contains:

Shortbread
Butter
Coffee
Oatmeal Raisin

This version doesn’t contain nuts, but may contain traces of nuts…so if you have a friend allergic to nuts, you probably don’t want to get them this.

They make a great gift when bringing it back to Canada. I bought 10 boxes to bring home and it sure did consume my whole suitcase, but it was worth it.

We Rate Jenny’s Bakery:

Address:
1/F, No.11 Stanley New St., Stanley Market
Stanley, Hong Kong
香港赤柱, 新街11號1樓, （屈臣氏樓上）
(tel) 2813-8568, open 10am – 6pm

Website:
http://jennybakery.smugmug.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Stanley+Market,+Stanley,+Hong+Kong&hl=en&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=28.983303,68.203125&oq=+Stanley+Market&hq=Stanley+Market,+Stanley,+Hong+Kong&t=m&z=14″]

In Specialty Shop

I Love Cake Store: Hong Kong

December 24, 2012

In Hong Kong, there are a bunch of hidden specialty shops that cater to a particular niche. There are so many that are hard to find since they aren’t that easy to search on Google. People mostly depend on ‘word of mouth’ and that’s how they get popular. People tell people and with so many people in Hong Kong, word does spread fast.

If people need a place to find cake moulds or ingredients to do their baking, most people know to head here for a particular ingredient.

This shop is hidden on Shanghai street among other cooking related stores. There are even some other places selling huge crock pots for industrial use.

This place is for people who bake at home. There are so many cookie cutters and other gadgets. if you want a Hello Kitty waffle iron…you will probably find it here.

If you are looking into making cute cakes, chocolates or ice cubes, there are a ton of silicon moulds. I bought a few to bring home since the prices aren’t bad at all.

They also have edible paints and different liquors to add to your cake.

Of course your delectable treats need packaging, so they have pouches, bags, and different containers available too. If you are a tourist like me who likes baking, come here to stock up! It’s so much cheaper! I bought a lot of lollipop sticks and chocolate moulds.

There are other cool shops along this street, so make sure you check them out! I Love Cake isn’t a super large store, but they have a lot of different products. I’d definitely come again and buy a few more items.

Address:
334 Shanghai Street
Yau Ma Tei Kowloon
Hong Kong

Website:
http://www.ilovecake.hk/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=334+Shanghai+Street+Yau+Ma+Tei+Kowloon&hl=en&sll=22.311907,114.169621&sspn=0.010223,0.016651&gl=ca&hnear=334+Shanghai+St,+Hong+Kong&t=m&z=16″]

In Food for Thought

FAO Schwarz: Legendary Toy Company in New York

July 14, 2012

F.A.O Schwarz has been around for 150 years and is the oldest toy store/retailer in the US. At the time, it was the worlds largest toy dealer. Now, it has been acquired by Toys R Us and still making kids smile.

CanuckGirl brought me here and I was so amazed by the size and the amount of toys in this shop. It’s also conveniently located near the Apple store too.

Half of the lower level and the entire 2nd floor contains toys of all sorts! Theres also a big lego area upstairs!!

The other half of the first floor is filled with candy!! FAO Schweetz! They have bulk candy, packaged candy, and basically all candy you can think of. There are a lot of tourists and kids here.

The lollipops are elegantly displayed! Very colorful!

They even have the world’s largest jawbreaker. It’s the size of a baseball and I have no idea how anyone would be able to eat it.

There is a section for big candy. Huge gummy bears, gummy worms, nerds, etc.

One thing that blew my mind was this HUGE Rice Krispies marshmallow square. Thats my hand..and thats the size of it! HUGE! It’s also quite expensive! You could probably buy a few boxes of cereal for that price.

Their selection is quite large and they do have candy from around the world. Since it is very popular and in New York, the prices are very expensive. I bought a few Angry Bird gummies for $3.99 and when I came back home to Vancouver, I found them at London Drugs for half the price. Clearly I felt cheated! Nonetheless, it was still fun running around the store looking at all the stuff they have.

Address:
767 5th Avenue
New York, NY

Website:
http://www.fao.com/

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In Specialty Shop

Jean Talon Market: Fresh Produce in Montreal, QC

June 2, 2012

Jean-Talon Market is located in Villeray near Jean-Talon Station. It is a market full of fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and plants. The local farmers come here to sell their goods. They open daily at 7am! CanuckGirl and I headed over here one day as we heard this place is pretty cool to walk around and try some produce.

On one end of the market, it’s a bunch of shops selling food and there are a few tables to sit down.

A majority of the market is outdoors under a roof and many tents. It’s a great stroll in rain or shine.

There are rows after rows of amazing smelling produce. I honestly think this place is so much better than a grocery store. $1 for a box of strawberries!!

What I love most about the market is how you are able to sample the produce before purchasing. Even if you don’t intent to buy that product…you may be tempted to after tasting how sweet and fresh the items are.

Overall, it’s a great place for locals and tourist to shop. There is a ton of produce and makes for a good stroll.

Address:

355 Rue Jean-Talon E
Montréal, QC

Website:

http://www.marchespublics-mtl.com/English/Jean-Talon/

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In Food for Thought

Hershey Store: Best Cupcake Ever at Niagara Falls

May 27, 2012

Hershey has a store in Niagara Falls. I was surprised, but I just had to go inside. I’m such a candy lover. Clearly I was really excited because I loved Hershey’s as a kid. Plus most people like chocolate.

They have tons of items branded with their signature candies such as Reeses. It’s a tourist attraction, but hey…there’s really nothing else to see around Niagara Falls besides the Maid of the Mist.

Instead of merchandise, they sell unique snacks too, such as this Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Cookie. They also have good milkshakes too.

I on the other hand decided to get this Cookie Monster Cupcake for about $3. It’s so cute! I just had to get it. It was not too sweet, but the cupcake portion of it was just a vanilla cake.

Overall, super cute store to browse around and has some yummy desserts and snacks to purchase.

Address:
5701 Falls Ave
Niagara Falls, ON

Website:
http://www.hersheycanada.com/en/discover/niagarafalls.asp

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In Dessert

Loblaws Maple Leaf Gardens: Gelato Time

May 22, 2012

The newest Loblaws in Toronto is located in the old Maple Leaf Gardens near Ryerson University. It is very very large, but has everything you ever wanted from a grocery store. It has a very large selection of ready to eat food and deli section. I was so amazed by the sheer size and modern interior.

As we were waiting in line for Guu Izakaya a few blocks down, we decided to just roam around Loblaws and check it out.

They have a gelato section with 16 different flavours. BaguetteGirl and I were enticed by their flavours and decided to spoil our stomach before dinner.

Lemon Gelato ($2.99) was very tart tasting. The consistency was like a harder sorbet. It’s not the best gelato in town, but it was good considering it came from a grocery store.

Hazelnut Gelato ($2.99) was very fragrant and tasted really good.

Overall, it’s a strange place to go eat gelato, but we were not the only ones. A bunch of others were getting it to-go or sitting in their cafe area. What I like about the design of the store is that they still have left remnants of the old stadium and incorporated them into the design.

Words of Wisdom:

Large Selection of groceries with very modern look
Find ‘Center Ice’ in the Canned Meat section
Decent and Quick deli section and food

We Rate Loblaws Maple Leaf Gardens:

Address:
60 Carlton Street
Toronto, ON

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In Cafe

Mink Chocolates: Willy Wonka of Chocolates

May 11, 2012

Mink Chocolates has a chocolate cafe in Downtown Vancouver near the Convention Center. They have fondue, waffles, parfaits, drinks, and specialty chocolates.

Since it was my last day of work, I had to bring something awesome for my coworkers. Since I am usually strange, I thought I should bring some strange chocolate to the office.

It’s a great place to sit and chill as you have a coffee or desserts.

Open In Case of emergency ($6.25) has mint, bourbon with chocolate ganache inside a dark chocolate shell. I liked the texture and the rich chocolate taste, but I felt that it was quite hard tasting the mint and bourbon.

PB Wannabe ($6.25) has almond butter and grape jelly in milk chocolate. It really brings out the kid in you as it puts together the flavour combinations of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

No Grumpy ($6.25) has espresso in a dark chocolate bar. The chocolate does have a strong espresso taste and will definitely liven people up. If you love coffee, you’ll love this.

Overall, they are quite unique and I love their strange flavour combinations in their chocolates. It’s definitely a great place to bring friends or relative that are out of town! On the downside, it’s not cheap either. Each item is around $5, so it can add up.

Words of Wisdom:

Good Hot Chocolate
Lots of amazing chocolate bars
Makes good unique gifts
Is a bit expensive
Closest Skytrain: Burrard or Waterfront

We Rate Minks Chocolate:

Address:
863 W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.minkchocolates.com/

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In New Westminster

Sherlock’s Cafe: The Case of the Pot Pie

April 17, 2012

Sherlock’s Cafe is located in New Westminster and serves British style food. They are best known for their pot pies, but thats not why they are so special. We’ve all heard of Chinese Grocery stores or Korean grocery stores in Vancouver, but this place has snacks and drinks from Britain.

There are lots and lots of drinks, candies, and cookies.

The other half is more like a cafe.

They even try to have some mismatched decor that reminds people of Britain. Road signs, maps, and pictures.

Apple Lucozade Energy Drink is a sports drink from Glouchester, UK. As with most energy drinks, it is packed full of sugar and quite sweet. I wasn’t a fan of the drink, but if you like energy drinks, you may enjoy this.

Steak and Potatoes Pot Pie was very savory and had lot of meat inside. The beef was tender and went well with the potatoes, carrots and peas inside. I would highly recommend this if you like pies.

The top is crispy and flakey, so it’s quite fun breaking into the top layer to get into the filling.

Chicken Mushroom Pot Pie has huge chunks of chicken, but it was a tad dry. It was still not as good as the steak and potato pot pie.

Overall, the steak and potato pot pie was really good, but I would not have the chicken again. The store is quite neat and does have some pretty unique items that you can’t find elsewhere.

Words of Wisdom:

Close to Columbia Skytrain
Under $10
Unique British snacks and drinks
Great for Earl Grey and meat pot pie

We Rate Sherlock’s Cafe:

Address:
659 Columbia St
New Westminster

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In Cafe

Mink Chocolates: A Chocolate Cafe

February 4, 2012

Mink Chocolates in Downtown specializes in all things chocolate. They are dubbed the chocolate cafe since everything they serve has chocolate. They have fondue, waffles, parfaits, drinks, and specialty chocolates!!

Since it was Friday, the girls in the office wanted to fill our hot chocolate cravings. We decided to go to Mink Chocolates for their special hot chocolate for the Hot Chocolate Festival.

It’s a very cute cafe with a lot of natural light and its quite comfortable.

The Sheba Hot Chocolate comes with your choice of milk or dark chocolate ganache hot chocolate with pistachio. It also comes with 72% chocolate wafer.

The hot chocolate was quite smooth and milky with the subtle pistachio flavour. Its wasn’t over powering and they went well together.

The Mermaids Choice Hot Chocolate comes with either milk or dark chocolate ganache hot chocolate, salted caramel and hint of rosemary. It is also served with the chocolate wafer.

Everyone else from the office got this. They really liked the subtle taste of rosemary! They also have a specialty chocolate called The Mermaids Choice with a similar taste. It’s in bar form rather than in the hot chocolate.

The wafer that comes with it is a perfect complement! More chocolatey goodness!

As we were here, we couldn’t resist their amazing looking chocolates. They have so many unique flavours! When do you ever see chocolates named – “Love Potion”, “Open In Case of Emergency”, “The Girls Favorite”, or “No Grumpy”.

It’s quite unique in my opinion and would make amazing gifts. I’ll probably be back grabbing a few packs of chocolates for friends.

Words of Wisdom: