Late Night Archives - Page 6 of 6

In Bubble Tea

Bubble Queen: Mango Madness in Richmond

July 6, 2012

Bubble Queen is a very popular restaurant in Richmond that serves up a variety of drinks and bubble waffles. I’ve been meaning to check out this place but it took me a while since I don’t live in Richmond.

After going to the Night Market, FoodPunk and FoodQueen decided to come here. I think we were all excited. The place was packed and lots of people were doing takeout. We were determined to get a seat, so I had to stalk tables to snatch one up. A group left and I accidentally ran over a person to grab that table. I felt bad, but I really wanted a table.

Fresh Mango Slush with Mango Cubes is everything a mango lover needs.

The chunks of mango were very large and delicious. You may need a spoon or fork to help you out when eating this.

Overall, they have a HUGE selection of drinks and bubble waffles. You may need some time to figure out what you want to order. It’s a very popular place to hang out, but since the store is very small, most people won’t find a table to sit and chill.

Words of Wisdom:

Cash Only
Free Wifi
Large selection of drink and bubble waffles
Very limited seating
Paid Parking in front or free after a certain time (I can’t remember the time)

We Rate Bubble Queen:

Address:
8888 Odlin Crescent
Richmond, BC

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In Chelsea

Morimoto: Iron Chef’s Restaurant in New York

June 30, 2012

Morimoto is a very famous Iron Chef from Iron Chef (Japan) and Iron Chef America. He has opened up various restaurant all across the world. When I was in New York visiting Chelsea Market, I knew I had to come here. One does not simply watch Morimoto compete in Iron Chef. You gotta try the food to really see why he’s usually a winner. Morimoto is located on the outside of Chelsea Market and it has drapes of curtains by the entrance.

As Alvin was taking a vacation in Waikiki, he went to Morimoto Waikiki and I went to this one. Check out his site to see what the Waikiki location has to offer.

The interior is very gorgeous! Very large and spacious.

They even have an open kitchen concept so you can see what the chefs are up to. Unfortunately, Morimoto wasn’t here.

The big glowing centerpiece of the restaurant looks like it’s made out of cups. When you walk downstairs to the washroom, you can get a close up view of this.

Also downstairs in a bar area.

Morimoto Iced Tea($7) contains fruit flavored iced tea, calpico, and muddled blueberries. It was very refreshing and tasted like flowers. It’s a bit pricey, but it is really really good! Highly recommend it.

Bento boxes ($24.07) comes with your choice of:

grilled wagyu beef box
braised black cod box
vegetarian box

The boxes comes with miso soup, salad, tempura, sushi, seasonal fruit panna cotta.

It is an expensive bento box compared to Vancouver standards, but you are paying for the name of the restaurant, the ambiance, and of course the quality. The miso soup, salad and tempura is very very delicious! The best tempura I’ve ever had!

I ordered the grilled wagyu beef box. There are perfect grill marks and was very moist and tender.

The sushi that comes with it is just magnificent! Very delicate and packed with a good amount of flavour.

Braised black cod box has the same items but you get a different protein item. CanuckGirl got this one. She really enjoyed the overall quality of the box. It was her favorite meal of the trip!

Mango Panna Cotta with fresh berries was very yummy! It was a perfect dessert to end the meal

Also, the toilets are so pretty. I know it’s gross to take photos of the toilets but it’s very modern and cool! The seats are heated and there are so many additional functions.

Overall, the lunch at Morimoto was epic! The food was simple but had so much flavour. I would highly recommend this place if you are in New York.

Words of Wisdom:

Not too busy during lunch
Bento box lunch is the best bang for your buck

We Rate Morimoto:

Address:
88 10th Ave
New York, NY

Website:
http://www.morimotonyc.com/

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In Japanese

Matsuyama: Late Night Specials After 9

March 25, 2012

Matsuyama in Richmond has some great late night specials after 9pm. After hearing so much about this place from Wongers, I had to join her, Mini604, GoMunch and Lensflaaare for some late night nom noms.

The place was packed at night, but I guess everyone was there for the late night menu. Also note that parking here is so bad too. You gotta stalk for a parking space.

Miso Soup ($0.89) was the usual miso soup and nothing too special about it.

Salmon Sashimi ($4.25) was a good size and decent quality. They also have toro and tuna on their late night menu for the same price. Unfortunately, when we got there, there was no more toro.

Chicken Karrage (3.95) was nicely deep-fried but still a bit average. It was a good amount of karrage for the price.

Beer Sashimi ($4.95) is thinly sliced with a bed of lettuce, daikon, and sweet sauce. Yum.

Green Tea Ice Cream was something we all craved at the table. They had other flavours too like mango and coconut. I’m sure they didn’t make it themselves and came in a tub. Still it tasted alright.

Overall, the food is quite average, but the draw to Matsuyama are the late night specials.

Words of Wisdom:

Items from $0.89 to $7.95
Free parking, but lot is usually full
Decent food, some items are hit or miss

We Rate Matsuyama:

Address:
8500 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC

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In Cafe

Thierry Patisserie: Chit Chats & Desserts

March 9, 2012

Thierry Patisserie is located near Alberni and Thurlow and sells some unique treats! From croissants to cakes… they have the tasty treats you want. It’s a great place that is open late and perfect to chill with friends.

The tables are very cramped together inside, but it’s usually hard to find places like this that are open late. I usually come here with friends when we just want a coffee and a snack to talk. Girls like to talk.. sometimes too much, but that’s what we do.

Latte was good as usual, but sometimes it can be a bit more milky than it should be. But, it’s up to your personal

Chocolate Succe Cake was quite hard to eat. It has hazelnut meringue, chocolate mousse and 70% chocolate ganache. The chocolate covering the cake was very thick and was hard to break through it to get into the ganache later inside. It still tasted good, but it was frustrating to eat it.

Chocolate trio was my favorite! It has white, milk and dark chocolate mousse and chocolate sponge. For a chocolate lover, this was my favorite item. It is very easy to eat and is filled with soft creamy deliciousness.

Lemon Tart was really good and best for those who like something more sweet and tangy. AdventureTimeGirl said this was her favorite out of the bunch of pastries.

Overall, Thierry Patisserie is a good place to chill with your friends over coffee/tea and pastries. Spiked Tea is good too if you like something new and different. It is a bit pricey than usual, so do be aware that it might cost you a bit.

Words of Wisdom:

Large variety of pastries
Can be a bit pricey, $5+ per dessert
Lots of tables
Beautiful decor

We Rate Thierry Patisserie:

Address
1059 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC
Website:
thierrychocolates.com

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In Downtown

Nuba on Hastings: Sharing is Caring

March 2, 2012

Nuba serves up authentic Lebanese cuisine which cater to both vegetarians and meat eaters. It’s quite popular and even AdventureTimeGirl heard about it from half way across the world. When she came to town, I knew it was a place that M and I had to take her. I haven’t been disappointed by this location yet. With their 4 locations, some items are a bit different, but I like this one the most.

Since the place is usually packed for lunch and dinner, it always good to make reservations for larger groups. We arrived 10 minutes earlier, but they wouldn’t seat us even though our table was clean and unoccupied. We thought this was pretty weird.

La Feast ($30) is a shared platter and comes with hummus, taboulleh, baba ghanooj, pickles, fattoush salad, najibs special (Baked Cauliflower), vegan stew, falafel, mjadra, macedonian feta, avocado and marinated olives.

The hummus, taboulleh, baba ghanooj, pickles and the pita bread (aka Le Petit Feast ($12)) comes first. Each person had their own personal favorite item of the first dish, but the hummus was really good!

Next, the rest of the items of La Feast arrived. There are more pickles, fattoush salad, najibs special (Baked Cauliflower), vegan stew, falafel, mjadra, macedonian feta, avocado and marinated olives. It’s really great for sharing if you want to try an array of items. Everything in La Feast is vegetarian! The taste of everything was really good and the nijibs special was the most popular item…so we ordered an extra order of it. Yum!

La Grande Feast ($50) is another shared platter that’s NOT vegetarian. It comes with hummus, taboulleh, baba ghanooj, pickles, fattoush salad, najibs special, roasted potatoes, lamb skewers, prawns with eggplant relish and chicken skewers.

The hummus, taboulleh, baba ghanooj, pickles and the pita bread came first too and its the exact same as the La Feast.

Then the rest of the items arrived. The fattoush salad, najibs special, roasted potatoes, lamb skewers, prawns with eggplant relish and chicken skewers! The meat eaters gobbled up all the skewers right away. There wasn’t a lot of meat, but the quality of the skewers were really amazing. The lamb skewers were so tender and medium rare. The prawns were ok, but not too amazing. The chicken skewers were good size, but a tad dry. It comes with a few dips too, so it will counter act the dry texture.

Overall, the food was good. 2 platters + an extra order of najibs special were good for 5 people.

Words of Wisdom:

Platters are good for sharing
Make reservations
Hummas + tabouleh is so good!
Vegetarian friendly

We Rate Nuba:

Address:

207 W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
nuba.ca

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In Japanese

Ebisu Flair Dining Package Review

February 7, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Ebisu flair” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and I brought along Flo (she’s a picky eater) to keep the review as unbiased as I could. This review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant.

I’ve been to Ebisu several times and I see it more as a place for large birthday parties since I only come here for that. For Flo, she sees it more as a place to drink and have appetizers. Essentially its a restaurant lounge.

With the VANEATS Ebisu Flair Dining package, it can either make 1 person really full or for 2 people. The package doesn’t say how many it can feed. Flo and I just shared a package and then ordered an item off the menu. It worked out pretty well.

The Ebisu Flair Dining Package comes with 5 items:

Aigamo Duck Salad
Salmon Carpaccio
Tiger Mayo
Crunch & Munch Roll
Mars Attack

The interior is a good size, but some seating is a bit tight if you’re not sitting in a booth. The package doesn’t seem like its meant for a large group type of setting, but more for a date type of thing.

Tiger Mayo has deep fried Black Tiger prawns with a sweet chilli mayonnaise sauce.

The tiger mayo did not have very much flavour on it’s own. The batter and chilli mayo adds a little bit of a kick since there are bit of spice in it. The batter is coated quite thin, so you can tell the tiger prawns are a nice plump size.

Salmon Carpaccio has Atlantic salmon marinated in olive oil topped with citrus white wine mayo & garlic chips

This dish was good, but I felt that with the mayo and the bundle of sprouts covered up the salmon carpaccio. You kinda have to dig to find the salmon. It’s just a personal preference of mine.

Aigamo Duck Salad is made of roasted duck and sauteed button mushrooms served on greens and peppers in a citrus infused ginger dressing.

The salad was quite good and the duck was nice and tender. I thought the orange slices added a dash of color to the dish. The dressing went well with the salad.

Crunch & Munch Roll is made of prawn tempura, cucumber, tobiko wrapped with unagi & avocado. Its served with unagi & wasabi cream sauce on top.

It’s good to eat this when it arrives before the tempura gets a bit soggy. You wouldn’t want the crunch to disappear. This roll was alright, but it wasn’t too amazing or anything.

Mars Attack is made with a deep fried Mars Bar served with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream on corn flakes.

When this arrived at the table, the atmosphere got way too romantic between Flo and I hahaha. This dessert is perfect for dates since its a fun kind of dessert. I really liked the deep fried mars bar since the chocolate and caramel is a bit melted. The ice cream does cut a bit of the fried taste.

Stamina Beef Don ($10.50) has slices of medium rare beef on rice with yakiniku sauce. Flo and I didn’t like this dish at all. The meat was cut quite large and it was very tough to eat. It was very hard to eat.

Overall, we found the the dining package was worth the $20, if you split it between 2 people all you need to do is add an extra dish to get full. The service can be a hit or a miss. In the past I’ve had good and bad service here. The only thing that I really didn’t like was how they charge $3 for tea when most places don’t charge, plus the waitress never said anything.

You can purchase the Ebisu flair Dining Package at VANEATS.ca for $20 beginning on February 9th. Its a good way to see their variety of dishes that they offer without breaking your wallet.

All the items are on their regular menu too! Seeing the Crunch & Munch roll on its own is already about $11, you definitely are getting a good deal.

Words of Wisdom:

$3 charge on tea 🙁
Some dishes are a hit or a miss
Pay parking in the rear
Reservations highly recommended!

We Rate Ebisu:

Address:

827 Bute St.
Vancouver, BC

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In Dessert

Thierry Patisserie: Caneles and Latte

January 16, 2012

Last time I came to Thierry Patisserie, I found it a great place to chat with people over some delicious treats.

Since I was meeting up with CanuckGirl after work, I thought it would be a great place to just chill.

Everything is quite cute inside and it’s usually packed with people. Sometimes seating can get a bit cramped, but they do have heated patio seating if you wanna go outside.

They have lots of little cakes.

They also have a variety of different chocolates.

Also, they have their famous macarons. The flavours change every season, so it can vary from visit to visit.

Latte was really cute. Some pretty stellar latte art too.

Caneles is a small pastry that originated from Bordeaux, France. It has a soft tender custard center with a dark caramel crust. It tasted alright, but it could have more a vanilla taste to it.

Overall, Thierry Patisserie is a good place to chill with your friends over coffee/tea and pastries.

Words of Wisdom:

Large variety of pastries
Can be a bit pricey
Lots of tables
Beautiful decor

We Rate Thierry Patisserie:

Address
1059 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC
Website:
thierrychocolates.com

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In Brunch

Beth’s Cafe: 12 Egg Omelettes

April 27, 2011

Beths Cafe is most famous for their 12 egg omelets! They have been featured on Man v. Food when Adam takes the 12 omelet challenge. After watching that episode, it was on my ‘to-do’ list for Seattle. Who wouldn’t want to tell the tale of having eaten a 12 egg omelet?

We arrived around noon, which is probably the worst time to go to any popular restaurant. Can you guess why? Line ups. There were people lining up. There were probably a good dozen people or so infront of us, but the time passed by pretty quickly. They have chairs set up outside and the sun was shining! We basically spent most of the time looking at the menu contemplating which 12 egg omelettes to order.

What is super cool about Beths Cafe is that all the walls are covered in customers art work. This is the ultimate hole in the wall restaurant. Old outdated furniture, tons of tape and paper on the walls. It’s actually quite interesting to see a few of the drawings on the wall. I even found a cool Charlie Sheen reference! I also found Angry Birds too!

M was so happy he sat in the exact same seat where Adam Richman of Man V. Food was sitting in! I think it made his day.

Their covers of their menu even has artwork. When flipping through the menu, the only thing we were interested in was the omelettes. 6 different types or you can even customize your own.

TanGuy needed his caffeine fix since we clearly walk around too much. M ordered Mr. Pibb, the Pepsi version of Dr. Pepper. He went nuts when he could order it here. It was his childhood drink that he has long forgotten. They don’t sell it in Canada, so he wanted to get his hands on this drink.

As we waited for our meals, we began doodling! Fabo drew a scary version of the Deuce Panda and the rest of us collaborated to draw a picture of the Nyan Nyan Cat. The Nyan Cat is this viral website featuring a cat non-stop singing. Similar to badger badger badger. No worries there are no viruses in the above links.

M and TanGuy shared the Triple Bypass 12 Egg Omlette ($20.75 + $1.50). You need to add on an additional $1.50 per person sharing the dish. This dish is so huge that it needs to be served on a pizza tray. Inside the triple Bypass are bacon , sausage, ham, double swiss and double american cheese. The egg is folded up and placed onto a bed of bottomless hash browns. Then you also get 2 pieces of toast on top. You also have ketchup, tabasco sauce, salt and pepper to season your omelette if needed.

The girls wanted in on this 12 egg omelette, so the 3 of us ordered the Makin’ Bacon 12 egg omelette ($17.25 +$1.50 +$1.50). this was also massive! It had mass amounts of bacon, sour cream, tomatoes and swiss cheese.

Eating this was quite interesting, I started off with 1/4 of the omelette was a piece of cake, then I ate the hash browns and I started feeling the barrier. The hardest and most filling item is not the omelette, but the hash browns! If you really want to finish the whole 12 egg omelette, your best bet would be to finish the eggs first and then dig into the hash browns.

Just be warned, there is no reward for finishing the entire omelette. It says specifically on the menu to stop people to attempt the hard challenge. The only reward you will get is self satisfaction and bloating. As all women know, feeling bloated is not a good feeling. If you plan to attempt this, make sure you walk around for a few hours to burn it all off.

Overall, it was a great experience and the omelette was actually tasty! I would eat this again if I was in Seattle!

Words of Wisdom:

Try their famous 6 or 12 egg omelettes
Best HashBrowns EVER (Never Frozen)
Psych yourself up by watching Man v. Food (episode about Seattle)
Open 24 hours

We Rate Beth’s Cafe:

Address:

7311 Aurora Ave N
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.bethscafe.com

In Cafe

Well Tea (Richmond)

March 15, 2011

After dinner at Man Ri Sung, M, InsecureGirl, FragileBoy and I wanted to stay in Richmond to chill a bit. We wandered and ended up at Well Tea.

Well Tea is a Chinese cafe, so it serves up bubble tea, snacks and set meals.

I’ve been to the Downtown location near BCIT, and the look is completely different. This one has more of a asian garden type of feel. Very green and the theme carries across the restaurant onto their walls and even the floor. It has these glass boxes with items inside.

One feature I like about Well Tea is how there is a button to call the waitress for orders, more water or even playing the bill. You don’t have to be that awkward person putting up your hand and flagging down the waitress.

InsecureGirl ordered the Calpis Green Tea.

FragileBoy ordered the Green Milk Tea.

M had the Chocolate pudding milk tea. He wanted to get it with real milk rather than the powdered milk. He tends to throw up most of the time. Sadly, they did not have any alternative milk choices for any of their bubble teas.

I was also trying to be healthy. I was looking at all their teas and none of them seemed like usual non-sweet teas. After talking to the waitress, the only option was Hot green tea, no sugar. I did feel a bit cheated of my money because at other places, tea would be free and they would have more variety if they charged. Nonetheless, I was super thirsty, so this did relieve my thirst.

1 tea, 3 bubble teas = $20.44. It was an ok price since our goal going here was just to drink and talk.

Words of Wisdom:

Cool decor, nice ambiance
Lots of varieties of drink and food
Good place to talk over drinks

We rate Well Tea:

Address:
4811 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, BC

Website:

welltea.ca

In Dessert

CheeseCake Etc. Take Out

February 22, 2011

PinappleBun sent me on a trek to grab some take out from CheeseCake Etc. The last time I went here, it was about a year or so ago. A lot has changed since then, their shop use to just be one restaurant but now it has expanded and has an additional dining area. CheeseCake Etc sells NY style cheese cake, which basically there is no graham cracker base.

Looking at their menu, they do not have a large selection of cheesecake. Mostly drinks and a few combinations of desserts and bread.

I came here just for a whole cheesecake to take out. There are not a lot of options…just the original cheesecake ($26), chocolate cheesecake ($31) and a tub of strawberry sauce ($7). I asked the cashier how many slices a whole cheese cake has, and he answered saying about 8. I did bit of calculations and realized it’s not a bad deal at all! You save about $11.

We got the original cheesecake and the tub of strawberry sauce ($33). You have to keep this frozen on order to get a nice looking slice from the cake. If it is half thawed, it will give you can ugly looking slice.

The cheesecake us good with strawberries, it gives you more of a sweet taste and other textures.

If you don’t have a large appetite, you will probably cut smaller pieces and get more than 8 slices.It’s been a few days and we still have this still in our fridge! Cheesecake for breakfast…lunch or dinner. haha.

Words of Wisdom:

Pay parking on adjacent roads
Lots of seating
Good simple cheesecake
Limited choices on menu

We rate CheeseCake Etc. :

Address:

2141 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.cheesecakeetc.com

In Korean

Jang Mo Jib (Robson)

January 18, 2011

NotFauna, Mandu, BusanGirl and KoreanGirl were out at Tunnel for Girls Night to get free cover and free bottle of champaign. We were aso craving Jang Mo Jib, so we left early to get some soju and hot pot. When we arrive, we found out they close at 5am…..5AM! Intense!

The inside is quite big as it has another room in the back. It’s good for large groups of people as well.

They give you tea, but apparently, they have hot and/or cold tea! If you get cold tea, it’s not a mistake.

Since it was nearing 1am, we wanted to order all our alcohol before then. We got 2 bottles of soju ($15 each). It was a bit expensive since you can get it at the alcohol store for less.

They also have deals on Soju on Thursdays for cheaper.

Since I drove, I opted for a less potent drink. Blueberry Soju Cocktail. One part blueberry juice, one part sprite, one part soju.

It came in a tea pot which seemed a bit odd at first. The others wanted it to be strong, so they did half soju and half cocktail.

With anything you order, you get complementary sweet potatoes, seaweed, kimchi and kimchi radishes. Free refills too. Apparently, these dishes are suppose to be eaten with the meal…but since half of us were Chinese…we just ate the like pigs!

Our main item was Gam Ja Tahng + extra 1 person ($27.65 +$15). This is a great meal! My favorite! This has pork back, pork neck, green onion, various vegetables, potatoes in a traditional korean broth. You can have it mild, little spicy, or spicy.

I find it can fill 4 girls pretty well without adding the extra $15.