Type Archives - Page 103 of 125

In Bubble Tea

Bubble 88: A Great Addition to Surrey

March 15, 2012

Bubble 88 is a Taiwanese restaurant that serves bubble tea and food. They are located very close to the SFU Surrey Campus, so it does draw a lot of traffic from students in the area.

It was a long day at school, so a few of us decided to head off to Bubble 88 for some light snacks before heading home.

The interior is quite nice with lots of modern decor. It’s good for large groups.

Coffee Milk Tea with Milk ($2.95) is essentially the coffee and tea mix that you would find in other restaurants. I requested that they use milk instead of the instant milk powder stuff. I tastes so much better and I’m sure much healthier too if you substitute with milk.

Deep Fried Squid Tentacles ($4.50) is good! A good amount of seasoning is added to the batter, so when it comes out, its delicious.

Wonton in Chili Sauce ($3.95) was not very spicy at all. The others at the table had some too and it was the right amount of spicy. It comes with 10 pieces, which is awesome because places like Bubble World give you less and charge you more.

Hot and Sour Soup ($5.25) was quite large. It seemed like it was never ending, so I decided to pack it to go. The taste was good, but not everyone will like it.

Deep Fried Pork Chop with Curry on Rice ($6.95)

Popcorn Chicken with Curry on Rice ($7.25) was also good. M liked it since the curry is more spicy than other places.

Overall, the food was good and the prices were affordable. It’s probably not the best Taiwanese food, but it will satisfy your cravings. It’s good to have another bubble tea place in Surrey besides Bubble World. I much prefer this place.

Words of Wisdom:

Lots of parking in front for free
Service is a bit slow
Good prices and decent quality

We Rate Bubble 88:

Address:

10209 King George Hwy
Surrey, BC

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In Brunch

EBO Restaurant and Lounge: Sunday Brunch Buffet

March 13, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited to taste their Brunch Buffet, but I tried to keep the review as unbiased as I could. The review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant.

EBO Restaurant is located in the Delta Burnaby Hotel and Conference Centre.The restaurant is led by internationally trained and award-winning Chef Daniel Craig who brings his love of local ingredients and simple, yet elegant food. They have won several awards in the Province and within Canada.

Every Sunday, EBO offers up an amazing brunch buffet for $30.95. It includes over 70 items and their signature mimosa! The items listed in this post may change a bit, but the quality is still there.

You can start off with tea, coffee, juice, water and whatever thirst quencher you need.

Breakfast Basket

Chef’s selection of Baked Breads and Rolls with Butter
Assorted Danishes, Croissants, Breakfast Loaves, Fruit and Fiber Muffins, Scones

This section has different pastries, bread, fruit, muffin and scones.

Out of this section, I just ate the fruit since I didn’t want to fill my belly with unnecessary carbs. I do love carbs, but when it comes to buffets…I have to think strategically what I want to eat most. I had my eye on …lots of prime ribs and meat!

Breakfast Classics

Grilled Farmer Sausages and Smoked Bacon
Eggs Benedict
Designer Omelet Bar
Cinnamon and Orange French Toast

Designer Omelet Bar is available and you can create your own omelette with the choice of smoked ham, shrimp, mushrooms, spring onions, or tomatoes. Once you choose these ingredients, they will make your omelette for you with free run eggs and aged cheddar.

Fresh Hand-made Roti with Curry sauce was amazing to watch them make it. The roti was fresh and delicious!

The omelette comes out really amazing and tastes just as good! I threw in mostly mushrooms, shrimp and green onions. Even though it was a bit watery, the taste of the egg was really good and it had such a nice color.

Eggs Benedict has ham, egg and hollandaise sauce.

I was very impressed by the eggs benedict because the yolk was still quite gooey! Even though it was in the warmer, the quality of the eggs benny was so good.

French Toast looked quite too and it was in small bite size pieces, but I avoided it since I wanted to eat more bacon and sausages.

Grilled Farmer Sausages and Smoked Bacon were awesome. Anything with sausages and bacon can’t be denied…unless you are a vegetarian.

Salad

Medley of Baby Salad Leaves, Seasonal Fresh Vegetables, and Assorted Vinaigrettes
Traditional Caesar Salad
Traditional Greek Style Salad
Roma Tomato Salad
Marinated Potato Salad

They have lots of salads to choose from. Maybe a bit too much hahaha…I’m just teasing. They do have a great selection if you don’t want the usual salad.

Baby Salad Leaves, fresh vegetables with a bunch of optional vinaigrettes.
Caesar Salad has Grana Padano and Brioche Croutons

Greek Style Salad has kalamata olives, feta, red wine and oregano dressing.

Roma Tomato Salad was my favorite. It also has a basil pesto, marinated boconccini, and artichokes . I just love anything with artichokes.

Marinated Potato Salad has lemon, tarragon, and roasted red pepper.

Platter

Charcuterie, Pates, Smoked and Cured Meats
Domestic and International Cheeses with Crackers
Assorted Sushi and Maki Rolls
Poached Prawns

Assorted Sushi and Maki Rolls was alright. I thought it was a bit strange they would have this here, but the quality of the rolls were pretty average.

Liver Pate with brioche bun I wasn’t a fan of that item, but at least you can be cool and tell people you are eating liver.

Smoked and Cured Meats is always yummy. Too bad they didn’t have prosciutto.

Domestic and International Cheeses with Crackers! I wasn’t a fan of all the cheeses, but they did have some delicious brie.

Smoked Salmon was good and yummy.

Poached Prawns are only good with the cocktail sauce. I was fixated on getting prawns, I totally forgot about the sauce.

Entree

Carved Slow Roast Beef
Penne Pasta
Assorted Dim Sum, Har Gau, Su Mai, Springrolls
BC Seafood Stew with Crispy Puff Pastry
Roast Baby Potatoes
Local Vegetables

On the cutting board was prime rib and roasted pork! There was also deep-fried shrimp wontons, and chicken skewers.

Prime Rib was perfect at medium rare with some gravy! It was so good, I could have sat there all day eating this if I had an unlimited stomach!!!

Roasted Pork reminded me of Chinese BBQ Pork, which I guess are the same thing. Nonetheless, it was good, but I felt like I needed a bowl of rice to go along with this. hahaha.

Chicken Skewers were also pretty awesome. SO tender and flavourful!

Assorted Dim Sum – Har Gau, Sui Mai, and some meatball looking things.

I thought the dim sum was a bit random for this buffet, but some people like their brunch with dim sum. I wasn’t feeling in the whole asian mood, so the taste to me was just ok.

Steelhead Salmon with lobster sauce was so good! If you see this, go eat it! The salmon was perfectly cooked with an incredible flavour from the sauce. Yum!!

There was also rice, but I didn’t have any since .. I needed to save room for all that prime rib.

Roasted Baby Potatoes and an assortment of vegetables. These looked good too, but I skipped this since there was too much to try at the buffet.

Dessert

Assorted Cakes, Pies and Mousses
Custard (Vegan, Dairy, Gluten Free)

Desserts galore! Theres really a lot of different items to choose from. I had a hard time paying attention at this table. The desserts were literally everywhere.

They also had a good amount of eclairs to choose from.

More nom nom nom yumminess.

If you are not a chocolate lover, there are other items that may appeal to you.

This dessert has almond pudding in a really cute little glass.

They even had mini macarons! I wasn’t particularly crazy about the cream puff, but I did enjoy the chocolate desserts.

The buffet is perfect for kids since they have a good selection of cereal, desserts, donuts and jello. It’s meant to be fun and they do pull that off.

The hand-made donuts were really good! It wasn’t too dense, but had a good texture!

I really couldn’t resist and I had to grab a jello just for fun.

Overall, I think this brunch buffet is worth the $30.95. It’s probably one of the better priced buffets. I’ll definitely be coming back.

All the items were well executed and I was not disappointed. They don’t put too much food out at once to keep the quality and freshness in their items. The servers are really prompt on refilling items that run out.

Words of Wisdom:

Make Reservations
Tons of items to choose from
Kid Friendly
Lots of Parking in parkade

We Rate EBO Restaurant and Lounge:

Address:
4331 Dominion St
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.eborestaurant.com/

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Vancouver

In BBQ

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ: $7.95 Lunch Combo and Happy Hour

March 11, 2012

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ is a new Japanese restaurant that opened up Downtown. It’s located beside Relish Gastopub and below Guu Garden.

They have a lot of good lunch combos and even a Happy Hour special. They sell Japanese BBQ grill dishes, noodles, rice and other dishes. You can have a good lunch for under $10 after tax.

The interior is really quite nice and there’s lots of space. Perfect for games too since they have a projector.

Fried Chicken Karrage (Reg. $5.50 | Happy Hr. $3.50) this was really delicious! I’ve had a lot of chicken karrage in the past and this is my favorite Karrage at the moment. The chicken meat is very moist and the fried exterior is crispy and perfectly flavoured. There is also mayo and lemon if you need extra taste.

Spicy Tuna Volcano (Reg. $6.95 | Happy hr. $3.95) comes with 4 pieces. The rice is deep fried with tuna and a wasabi sauce on top.

The rice inside was actually moist looking normal rice. The tuna was tender and had a good texture. The thing that some of us didn’t like was the wasabi sauce. If you aren’t a wasabi person, ask for the sauce to be removed.

BiBimBap (Reg. $7.95 | Happy Hr. $5.95) was not very good. Unlike typical Korean BiBimBap, there wasn’t much oil in the stone bowl, so a lot of the items just burned. MeatLover really didn’t like this dish.

If you order some lunch combos, you will get an additional salad or miso soup.

The salad was good and refreshing with egg, cucumbers, greens, pepper, radish and a mild sauce.

The miso soup was quite standard. Nothing too special

Chicken Karaage Bowl Combo ($7.95) comes with miso soup and salad. The chicken karaage is similar to the appetizer but with seaweed, mayo and green onions over rice.

Kuppa ($7.95) comes with salad. Don’t get this confused with Koopa from Mario. It has a rich broth soup with rice, beef, egg, and some other items. I liked it because I have this weird fascination for soup and rice.

Overall, price-wise was good and affordable for lunch. The Happy Hour deals were a bit confusing since it says you need a minimum of $15 spent per person. For all of our appetizers, we expected to pay the regular price, but to our surprise the happy hour price was applied even though we did not spend $15 per person.

Words of Wisdom:

$9.99 pitchers of beer of Canucks game day
Some items are a hit and miss
Under $10 lunch specials
Happy Hour Lunch deals

We Rate Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ:

Address:

888 Nelson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://www.gyu-kaku.com/

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In American

Pourhouse Restaurant: Sandwich + Side + Beer = $14

March 10, 2012

Pourhouse Restaurant in Gastown has a good lunch deal for $14, where you get a sandwich, a beer and a side. Since it does come with beer, the price isn’t too bad.

Mandu, KoreanGirl and Jojocake came here for lunch on a weekday, but once we sat down, we really didn’t want beer since we will had some work to do in the afternoon. It would have been awkward smelling like beer in the office. Pourhouse gives you the option of having other drinks instead.

Cappuccino was just what Jojocake needed. She thought it was alright, but the temperature definitely could have been hotter.

Macchiato is what Mandu needed. Similar to Jojocake, her coffee was just lukewarm and not hot.

Tea is what KoreanGirl and I needed. The tea was a good temperature and the tea cups came warmed too.

Pulled Pork Sandwich with Cream of Cauliflower Soup. This is what everyone else at the table ordered. The pulled pork sandwich has pulled pork, BBQ sauce, aged cheddar and slaw. They thought it was bit small at first, but when they had everything, they were all full.

Portobello Sandwich with Cream of Cauliflower Soup. It has bits of portobello mushroom, garlic aioli, and asiago. It was #meatlessmonday, so I had to choose this option.

I thought the soup was a bit rich, but it did have a good strong flavour of the cauliflower.

Since I do love mushrooms, I did enjoy this sandwich a lot. The portobello mushroom had a great taste that went well with the other ingredients.

Overall, it was a good lunch deal since it came with beer, but the service was very slow. If you are short on time for lunch, best not to dine here since you will be late. It took us about 1.5 hrs to dine here. If you do have a bit more time, it’s a good option if you are craving some beer.

Words of Wisdom:

Slow service
Luke warm coffee isn’t good…ask for hotter
Good sandwiches
Good lunch deal

We Rate Pourhouse Restaurant:

Address:
162 Water St
Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://www.pourhousevancouver.com/

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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

Hapa Izakaya Coal Harbour: New Beginnings

March 8, 2012

Hapa Umi was the higher-end restaurant of the Hapa Izakaya chain. From hearing much feedback from the customers, they decided to change Hapa Umi into Hapa Izakaya Coal Harbour. The prices are much lower and you will be having similar items to the other Hapa Izakaya restaurants.

Flo heard about the Grand Opening and how the first 40 people to make a reservation gets 30% off through Twitter. Since we like deals we quickly made a reservation online and came here after work. I also forgot my memory card at home, so I’m sorry the pictures aren’t as good.

The interior is the same and has a nice modern vibe. The hostess and the service was really good.

Kakuni ($10.99) is braised pork belly green pepper sauce and grilled garlic bread. This was my favorite dish. The pork belly literally just melts in your mouth and the green pepper sauce accompanies it very well. Definitely something you need to try!

Just look at that pork belly! If you are afraid of fat, just eat it! Sometimes fat is good for you. Flo and I just gobbled this whole dish quite quickly. YUMMM.

Seafood Rissotto Ishiyaki ($11.49) has scallops, squid, halibut, mushrooms, parmesan, shiso leaves and yuzu zest. It’s like a soupy rice in a stone bowl. It was good, but we both didn’t like the addition of the shiso leaves. It just has a minty taste to it. Just a personal preference.

Trout carpaccio ($10.99) has salmon style steel head trout with potato wedges, grainy mustard, vinaigrette and wasabi sour cream. This dish was quite different from any other carpaccio dish I’ve seen. The trout really looked like salmon, but was very delicious. At times I found that the potatoes were a weird pairing with the salmon. But… that’s just me since I’m not a potato person. Regardless, it was something new that no other izakaya place has created.

Ebi mayo ($8.99) is tempura wild shrimp and spicy mayo sauce. This was a disappointing dish since we both felt the tempura of the shrimp became very mushy because of the sauce. Flo said she preferred the mayo on the side.

A good thing about this dish is that the shrimp is quite large!

Banana Chocolate Cake was good, but different for a place like Hapa Izakaya. The banana bread has lots of chocolate chips inside but I felt like the cake could be much warmer. This dessert was just so-so.

Overall, it was great to see the change in their menu be similar to their other locations. If you like the other Hapa Izakaya locations, you’ll like this one too.

Words of Wisdom:

Great taste
Order their Fresh Sheet items
Can get a bit expensive
More higher end compared to other Japanese Izakaya Restaurants
Great place for special occasions

We Rate Hapa Izakaya Coal Harbour:
Address:
909 W Cordova St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://hapaizakaya.com/

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In Brunch

Slickity Jim’s Chat n’ Chew: The Breakfast of Broken Dreams

March 6, 2012

Slickity Jim’s used to be located on Broadway and Main, but due to a bad fire, their business was destroyed. They did reopen on Main and 19th serving brunch, lunch and dinner. It’s a popular place to have brunch on the weekend. I came down here with the YVRBreakfastClub! They have a few tables in the back that can accommodate large groups, so it was perfect. We did have to wait a while.

The interior is very ornate with a bunch of strange items on the walls and ledges. This is the main dining area, but there is another room at the rear of the restaurant with additional seating.

Their menu is the best! They have some very appealing dishes with unconventional names. It’s not everyday that you can have the breakfast of broken dreams or the Revolution Eggs.

It’s a fun menu to explore, but I found the titles distracting since you can be so concentrated on the unique names rather than the description of the dishes.

All the items are quite affordable and are mostly around $10.

Coffee is needed when eating any breakfast… or at least for me since I always manage to only get 4 hrs of sleep.

They also have soy instead of milk or cream!

Breakfast of Broken Dreams ($9.50) comes with poached eggs served on top of english muffins, spinach, caramelized onions and gorgonzola cheese sauce. Also side of potatoes.

KC Dilla and Sunshine Salsa ($9.25) has roasted chicken with brie in a grilled tortilla with mango salsa and a salad.

Sweet Fancy Moses Benedictions ($11) has prosciutto, brie and artichoke on top of english muffins. It also comes with a side of potatoes.

The Morning Yearning ($9.75) has 2 eggs with bacon, chorizo, tomato, with rye bread and potatoes. You can have any style of eggs you want and for the toast you can choose from rye, sourdough or multigrain.

A Woman In A flowing Dressing Kissing her Lover Omelette ($9.75) has prosciutto, spinach, and asiago cheese in the omelette with potatoes and rye bread. Seriously this was the name of the omelette! No joke! I was a tad embarrassed to order this, but it had to be done. The taste of the dish was ok, but the food wasn’t outstanding. Nothing really stood out too much.

The side of potatoes were not very good, nor were they very hot when you bite into them.

Side of bacon ($2.50) was very disappointing, unless you like limp bacon. I like mine cooked a bit more so you get the crunchiness.

Overall, all the dishes were decent, but not outstanding. They have a great sounding menu but the expectations fell a but short. The service was mediocre as well. It took a while for our meals to arrive.

Words of Wisdom:

Unique menu items, but don’t be lured by the titles…read descriptions
Around $10
No reservations
Busy during brunch times

We Rate Slickity Jim’s Chat n’ Chew:

Address:
3475 Main St
Vancouver, BC V5V
Website:
http://www.slickityjims.com/

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In Fast Food

A&W: New Buddy Burgers with Grilled Onions

March 5, 2012

Last week, A&W introduced their new line of burgers called the “Buddy Burgers“. These are smaller burgers that are under $3. Pretty good prices and good for people who don’t wanna eat so much. Their images look really good, but in reality they don’t look very appealing. I think A&W is starting to run out of names.

They have 4 different burgers, but the variations don’t really vary too much.

Little Buddy Burger ($1.75) they messed up my order…imagine this without the cheese. It has one patty, mayo, and caramelized onions between the toasted buns.

Little Buddy Burger with Cheese ($2.25) is similar to the one above but WITH cheese.

Buddy Burger ($2.45) has 2 patties with mayo and the caramelized onions between toasted buns.

Buddy Burger with Cheese ($2.95) is the same above but with the cheese.

You can make any of the above a combo by adding $3 for fries and a drink. If you are wondering if I ate all 4 of these with a combo…yes I did…I was way too full afterwards. A normal person will be ok with just 2 burgers to get full.

The burgers were ok, but I did like the addition of the grilled onions. The 4 burgers don’t vary much except for the extra patty and cheese. Even though these are cheap, I probably wouldn’t order them again.

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Bandidas Taqueria: Vegetarian Mexican Brunch

March 4, 2012

When AdventureTimeGirl was in town, I took her to Banditas Taqueria since it is a very popular vegetarian restaurant for bunch. We actually went twice in one weekend since she enjoyed it so much. The prices are quite fair and they just serve good vegetarian food.

Horchata is a traditional Mexican rice beverage. It’s refreshing, sweet, milky, nutty and has a nice cinnamon taste. M enjoyed it and I also stole a few sips from him.

2 Wolf and Goat Taco with Rice + Beans ($5.25 +$2.25) has fresh guacamole, purple cabbage, pinto beans, roasted salsa, cheese and cour cream. Delicious tacos and I really enjoy their guacamole and the purple cabbage. The beans and the rice were ok, but it was still a decent side since it fills you up.

Baked Breakfast Burrito ($7.50 + $2.25) has scrambled eggs, roasted salsa, pinto beans, sour cream and cheese in the whole wheat tortilla. The burrito was quite large and will really get you full. M enjoyed it!

Breakfast Burrito ($7.50) not baked, but it is still nice and large!

It’s packed with lots of eggs and beans! It’s a very hearty breakfast indeed.

Morgan Taylor ($8.50) is a new burrito they are serving at the restaurant. It has roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, roasted salsa, cheese and sour cream. AdventureTimeGirl really enjoyed it and was the perfect size.

Baked Morgan Taylor ($8.50 +$2.25) is the same thing as above, but with the added sauce and cheese. M actually liked this more than the breakfast burrito because of the texture from the potatoes.

Becky’s Omelette ($11) is another new item on their menu. It has roasted red pepper sauce, spinach, caramelized onions, cheese, hash, beans and purple cabbage. ScarFace enjoyed it and didn’t mind too much that it was meatless.

Egg Muffins with Veggie Sausage ($8.5 + $2.25) has 2 cornbread muffin tops, topped with guacamole, cheese, fried eggs with a tangy tomatillo sauce. I also really loved this dish because of the crispy cornbread and the taste of the tomatillo sauce. Definitely recommended!

Lemmy ($11) is also a new dish. It’s a poblano baked with pinto beans, cheese and sauce. It is also topped off with 2 poached eggs. On the side there is tortillas, purple cabbage and hashbrowns. AdventureTimeGirl also enjoyed this dish.

All the dishes were quite good and the picky boys also enjoyed their meatless meals, so it was quite a success.

Words of Wisdom:

Breakfast items are good!
No reservations
All Vegetarian food
Service is mediocre
Good quality ingredients
Closest Skytrain: Commercial/Broadway stn

We rate Bandidas Taqueria:

Address:

2781 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.bandidastaqueria.com

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Vancouver

In Brunch

Jimmy’s Place Restaurant: Epic Hash Browns

March 3, 2012

Jimmys Place Restaurant is super hidden near North Road and they serve of breakfasts and lunch. WIth my last experience here, I wasn’t eager to come back, but M kept on insisting we have their eggs benedict and hash browns.

The interior seems a bit dated and has a diner feel to it. It’s cash only, but the food is quite cheap and affordable. It’s known as a neighbourhood favorite for their breakfast.

Pop ($1.95). It’s the classic bottles! In my opinion, it tastes the best from the bottles compared to the plastic bottles or fountain drinks.

Jimmy’s special burger ($8.95) comes with bacon and cheese as well as a side of fries.The bun was nicely toasted on the outside, but the patty wasn’t good at all. The fries were alright too. I probably wouldn’t get the burger again.

Black Stone Benedict ($8.95) is M’s Favorite items from Jimmy’s Place. This is all he will ever order. The eggs are nicely poached with lots of hollandaise sauce on top with bacon, green onions and tomatoes. The hash browns are also super crispy on the outside. After I tried a bit of this, I totally wanted to steal his whole dish away from him.

Overall, the food is ok, but the only item that is super good are the eggs benedict! The hash browns are super amazing too. Whatever you decided to get, you must have the side of hash browns!

Words of Wisdom:

Cash only
Some items are hit and miss
Eggs benny with hashbrowns are the best items
Lots of parking
Lots to choose from in their menu
Cheap and affordable

We Rate Jimmys Place Restaurant:

Address:
435 North Road
Coquitlam, BC

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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 Bakery

Cartems Donuterie: Pop-up Shop of Donuts

February 27, 2012

Cartems Donuterie opened up a pop-up shop in Gastown and another near Commercial. A pop-up shop means its only temporary. They sell unique donuts with very unique flavours and cater to people who are gluten-free and vegan.

My coworkers and I have heard a lot of buzz about Cartems Donuterie on Twitter and in the papers, so we decided to check them out during lunch. We also heard they like to be sold out quite fast, so we just monitored their twitter account to see what flavours were coming out next. On their first batch of donuts, they sold out in 39 minutes! So, we waited for their next batch to be ready before we headed out of the office.

They take online orders ( 2 days in advance) as well, just in case you don’t want to run into the problem with sold out donuts or the flavours you want aren’t there. They do free delivery in Downtown too.

Everything is made fresh with local ingredients! They don’t do their baking in the Gastown location since its just delivered to that location. It’s not a bad thing since it’s still fresh!

The shop is very small. When we went there, there were only 2 flavours left. 🙁 They are popular donuts.

It didn’t bother us too much since there were at least some donuts left and the guy serving us was very nice! There are no tables inside, so all the donuts you get at the store are for takeout.

After walking back to the office with our rain-soaked box of Cartems Donuts, we just dug in!

Since there were only 2 types of donuts left, we just grabbed a box of half a dozen ($15). They gave us an extra one since one of the donuts were a bit smaller. I didn’t notice the size difference, but a free donut is a good donut (hehehe…that was my asian side of me speaking).

Cinnamon Sugar Donut ($3 each) was coated with a lot of sugar on the outside. It was beautifully fried! When you bite into it, the outside is crunchy and the inside is spongey. There was a good balance between the ingredients.

Sweet Heat Donut ($3 each) tasted like a slightly dense chocolate donut. The dominant flavour is the chocolate, but there is a very very subtle taste of the chilies.

Overall, the donuts were good, but since I am not a donut fanatic…I don’t exactly have a huge love for them. With $3 per donut, I would probably try more of the other flavours that are more unique.

Since I wanted to try more of their flavours, Angela of Munchkie’s Munchies and I decided to order a dozen and split them during lunch. Such a healthy lunch right? Don’t attempt eating a whole box of 12, since thats really just unhealthy on many levels. The dozen donuts cost $30.

Ordering online was quite painless, choose the donuts you want in multiples of 12 and pay through PayPal. You just need to make your order 2 days in advance. The order arrived on time and I had no issues.

Even though we ordered one of each flavour, we couldn’t try the Bee Sting donut since they didn’t have it. The donuts came in various shapes and sizes. Some were smaller, some were larger.

Triple Chocolate Threat ($3 each) is made with a base of chocolate cake, then topped with ganache and crispy chocolate pearls.

This donut was a bit dense and slightly dry. I liked the texture of the chocolate pearls that complimented the donut.

Flourless Bouquet Gluten-Free Donut ($3 each) but it’s still made in an area with gluten. Eat with caution depending on what your level of sensitivity is towards gluten. The donut has a berry tea glaze on top.

I found the glaze to be quite sweet, but it did have a strong berry taste to it.

Cinnamon Sugar Donut ($3 each) was coated with sugar and cinnamon on the outside. The quality of the donut could have been a bit improved since the shape of it was a bit weird.

What I like about this donut is the crunchy exterior and then the soft inside of it. This donut isn’t super special or unique, but it is good.

Sweet Snow Donut ($3 each) has a white chocolate glaze with large organic coconut shavings.

I’m not a big fan of coconut, but I liked how the taste was subtle and didn’t dominate the flavour. Good balance.

Sweet Heat Donut ($3 each) tasted a little bit different this time around.

The chili flavour was more prominent but not too overwhelming. It just tickled your lips a little. It was kinda a cool feeling.

Earl Grey Donut is infused with organic earl grey tea and a earl grey glaze with edible flowers.

I really liked this donut because it has a good subtle flavour of the tea. Very unique and its a must order.

Breakfast Donut has organic figs, flax seeds, and honey. This was definitely a donut for the wee mornings.

It was quite dense and packed with a lot of ingredients, but it kinda tasted like a bran muffin.

Carrot Cake Donut has carrots in their donut dough with a caramel glaze and topped with candied carrots and oats.

I felt like it didn’t represent a carrot cake since it needed a bit more cinnamon to really bring out that taste.

Classic Donut is topped with a vanilla bean glaze.

I liked the simple taste of the donut. Good fresh ingredients done right.

No Animals? No problems! Vegan Donut has chocolate cake, topped with chocolate ganache and chocolate sprinkles.

I LOVED this donut! Even though it’s vegan, it was so moist and chocolaty. I would definitely order this again!

Overall, there is a bit of a consistency issue with the donuts, but Cartems has a great concept in trying to bring unique flavours and ingredients into their donuts. Plus, they do cater to vegans and gluten-free individuals. I am sure in time they will improve on their products! Don’t forget to check out Munchkie’s Munchies‘s review of Cartems!

Words of Wisdom:

My Favorite: Earl grey, Sweet Heat, Vegan, and Classic
Pricey for just a donut
Order Online to be guaranteed the flavours you want
Free delivery to the Downtown core
Under $10
Closest Skytrain: Stadium
Follow them on Twitter (@cartemsdonuts ) for availability of supply + flavours
Vegan + Gluten-Free Options

We Rate Cartems Donuterie:

Address:
408 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://cartems.com/

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In Downtown

Ensemble Tap: To Tap or Not To Tap

February 27, 2012

Ensemble Tap is opened by Top Chef Canada’s winner – Dale MacKay. They sell pub-style food with a large array of beer on tap, thus the name. It’s a spin off of his other restaurant – Ensemble, which is a higher end dining.

Since I helped Flo assemble some furniture, she treated me out for some food close to her place. Since Ensemble Tap was just downstairs, it seemed like a good place to go.

Steam Buns ($14) has seared albacore tuna, Mama Cho sauce, and fresh kimchi. The bun was cold and we felt it might have been better if it was warm like those Chinese-style steam buns. It was hard to taste the tuna since the kimchi and the Mama Cho sauce overpowered the tuna. It was a tad spicy and has a little sour taste to it. I really didn’t like the flavour combinations.

Thai Chicken Wings ($12 – 1 lb) The chicken was deep fried and came with the thai sauce on the side. I didn’t find it very amazing at all since it’s quite expensive for a pound of chicken wings.

Tap Burger + Bacon ($15) has mushrooms, caramelized onions, onion, lettuce, Swiss cheese, horse radish, and a side of fries. The beef patty was quite large and the added bacon was nice and crunchy. I really liked the burger since it was a good price and tasted delicious.

Key Lime Pie ($8.50) has whipped cream, toasted coconut, and lime zest. It was light and airy, so it was not a heavy dessert. It has a really nice lime flavour, but you know there was definitely some food coloring in this. I’ve never had a key lime pie, but this was good.

Overall, the appetizers are definitely expensive. The burgers are delicious and priced well. Service was ok.

Words of Wisdom:

Good burger
Around $15
Some appetizers not worth the price
Good array of beers
Closest Skytrain: Burrard

We Rate Ensemble Tap:

Address:
990 Smithe Street
Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://www.ensembletap.com/

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In Fast Food

McDonalds: New McBistro Sandwiches

February 26, 2012

I was walking at Metrotown and I saw that McDonalds has new sandwiches called the ‘McBistro’. They are a new line of chicken sandwiches, which are for people who are a bit health conscious. You can have the option of having grilled chicken or fried chicken in your sandwich. The sandwiches come in 3 types:

Chicken BLT
Southwest Chicken
Swiss Mushroom Melt

A combo costs $7.59 and just the sandwich is $5.19. These were the prices at Metrotown, but may be different at other locations.

Southwest Chicken McBistro with fried chicken was nothing interesting. It just had lettuce, swiss cheese, tomato, southwest sauce and the patty between the whole grain bun.

The fried chicken is so uniform in shape that it looks kinda gross. For a second I almost mistook it for a hashbrown. We didn’t take a particular liking to it since it was just so plain. I think it would have been better if it was the grilled chicken instead of the deep fried.

Chicken BLT McBistro with grilled chicken has mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, and chicken between the whole grain bun.

The chicken looked pretty good and natural. It didn’t have the same uniform shape as the fried chicken. The chicken looked like it was real chicken meat.

There was also a good amount of bacon on the sandwich, so I was not disappointed. I would have to say the Chicken BLT is probably the best out of the bunch. I haven’t tried the swiss mushroom, but that might be good.

Overall, the McBistros are pretty good only if you get the grilled chicken option. They are probably only available for a limited time, so get them before they’re gone.

In Brunch

Bons Off Broadway: Grease-tacular Breakfast

February 21, 2012

Bon’s Off Broadway is known for their super cheap $2.95 breakfasts and has been a popular place for University students to eat ridiculously cheap food. The interior has lots of space.

They have been around for a long time and it’s just a good place to get cheap food.

Coffee is the normal black drip coffee. It’s definitely a must for the tired people of the world. It was hard getting a refill since the service wasn’t very good, so it was hard to flag down a server.

Corn Beef hash with a side of bacon was quite large! It comes with a few slices of toast and a mountain of potatoes, onions and corned beef slices. I also ordered bacon on the side too. The food was quite average and greasy, but I was super stuffed by the end of the meal.

Overall, the food isn’t super amazing, but you do get what you pay for. The service is a bit lacking, but they are quite busy in the mornings and on weekends.

Words of Wisdom:

Very affordable and cheap!
Under $10
Free parking in the residential area
Large portions

We Rate Bon’s Off Broadway:

Address:
2451 Nanaimo St
Vancouver, BC V5N

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In Cafe

Leonidas: Waffles, Hot Chocolate and Chocolates

February 20, 2012

Leonidas is a Belgian Chocolate shop inside the Convention Center near Waterfront Station. They sell lots of signature chocolates, macarons, waffles, drinks, and other chocolate goodies. The interior is quite small, but can fit a few small groups.

M and I were in the area and we wanted to redeem our Social Shopper deal good for 2 waffles, 2 hot chocolates, 2 chocolate covered strawberries and a box of 6 chocolates. Since it was Valentines Day, it seemed like a good day to redeem it.

Dark Hot Chocolate was good! It was very smooth and had a nice rich chocolate taste.

Leiage Waffles were not good at all. The waffles were pre-made and reheated. I found this very strange since I’ve heard lots of good things about their waffles. Perhaps they made them ahead of time since they knew the shop would be busy during Valentines Day. M and I really thought the waffles were hard and bland.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries were good. The strawberries were big, plump and juicy with a good coating of milk chocolate.

The chocolates you can choose any 6 from their display case. I chose anything with dark chocolate and they were really good!! If you have no idea what to get, you can always ask them for advice. They have tons of choices to choose from.

Overall, the chocolates are the best items here. I would go back just for those. As for this experience, M and I felt that the service was quite poor. Some customers were ignored when there was no line up, so they just left. Our table was left dirty for a long time and as I went back to get the chocolates, they forgot I was already dining there. Granted it was a busy Valentines Day, I can understand the staff was flustered by the amount of customers. Since they are still quite new, I am sure they will improve on their service.

Words of Wisdom:

Delicious Dark Chocolates!
Under $10
Closest Skytrain: Waterfront

We Rate Leonidas:

Address:
#29 – 1055 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://www.leonidaswaterfront.com/

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In Lynnwood

Red Lobster: 4 course meal for $15

February 15, 2012

It has taken me two trips to Lynnwood to figure out where Red Lobster is located. The first time, my GPS led me to a residential area and I gave up. I didn’t want to use data on my phone cause…you know…I’m asian and I hate being charged for unnecessary things I don’t need.

Red Lobster is a chain seafood restaurant in the United States. They specialize in seafood and usually draw in large crowds on the weekends. We saw that they were having a $15 4-course meal, so TaiwaneseGirl, CanuckGirl and I decided to try it out. It’s a good price and it didn’t seem like it could go wrong. In the 4-course meal it gave you a few choices below.

Soup

New England Clam Chowder
Creamy Potato Bacon Soup

Salad

Fresh Garden Salad
Fresh Caesar Salad.

Entree

Grilled Honey-BBQ Shrimp Skewers
Garlic Alfredo Shrimp-and-Scallop Pasta
Garlic-Herb Shrimp and Chicken
Cajun Chicken Linguini Alfredo
Wood-Grilled Fresh Tilapia
Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp
Hand-Breaded Shrimp

Dessert

Triple-Chocolate Brownie á la Mode
Apple Crostada with Caramel Drizzle

When we arrived, there was already a line forming. We had to wait about 30 minutes to be seated. For others, they would have to wait over 1 hr to be seated. It’s always good to make reservations to avoid these long waits on weekends.

The whole interior looked like a boat!

Look Lobsters!

They even give your these taser-like devices that signal you when your table is called.

The dining area was very wooden as well. I guess that works with the theme of the restaurant.

New England Clam Chowder was alright. It had minimal clams and wasn’t very amazing.

Cheddar Biscuits are unlimited!! It was very fluffy on the inside and you can tell there was lots of butter to make these. Despite that, it was hands down very good biscuits!

Fresh Caesar Salad was alright as well.

Fresh Garden Salad had the addition of tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. I had a balsamic vinegar dressing on top.

Garlic Alfredo Shrimp-and-Scallop Pasta is probably the best entree out of the seven choices. TaiwaneseGirl and CanuckGirl did enjoy it, but it wasn’t the most amazing pasta they have had. It had a good amount of sauce, scallops and shrimp.

Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp is just gross! Stay away from this at all times. I really don’t know how this is even considered an entree. It was overly sweet and it really ruined the taste of the shrimp. How is this even somewhat healthy?

Apple Crostada with Caramel Drizzle was alright as well said CanuckGirl. It really could have used a side of vanilla ice cream.

Triple-Chocolate Brownie á la Mode was good! The brownie was warm and super moist with the side of vanilla ice cream. It’s not too sweet and it was a good end to the meal.

The dishes were ok, but nothing amazing. I am glad I didn’t have to pay more than $15 for this meal because most of it kinda sucked. We probably should have gotten lobsters, but the special was just at such a good price.

Words of Wisdom:

Very busy on weekends
Lots of rear parking
Make reservations
Avoid anything with coconuts and shrimp

We Rate Red Lobster:

Address:
4231 196th St SW
Lynnwood, WA 98036
Website:
http://www.redlobster.com

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In Fast Food

Chipotle Mexican Grill: Delicious Food Beyond the Border

February 14, 2012

Chipotle is a chain fast food restaurant in the United States, they have a few on the eastern side of Canada too. Since TaiwaneseGirl was raving about how she wanted it SO badly, we went to grab some lunch. We arrived 30 minutes too early, so we sat in the car and waited for them to open. Surprisingly, we were not the only ones waiting for their delicious Mexican food. There was already about 5 people in front of us as we went inside.

The inside was nice and large. You line up, build your item, pay and eat!

Lots of space and even though it is empty in this picture…it got full fast! People really love Chipotles for some reason.

You first choose from a burrito, bowl, taco or a salad. Then, you can choose what you want to put inside. They have so many options! Oh hey look… calories!

Steak Bowl + Guac ($6.35 +$1.80) may look plain but its amazing inside. It’s like a burrito but without the flour tortilla. TaiwaneseGirl put everything in here and asked for extras, thus her bowl became quite tall. She really liked it. Guac is extra, but its worth it!

Steak Bowl + Guac ($6.35 +$1.80) CanuckGirl got the same thing, but didn’t get as much toppings compared to TaiwaneseGirl.

Caritas Burrito + Guac ($6.35 +$1.80) was stuffed with so much filling, it was so hard for the lady to wrap up. It was a bit messy, but there’s a bowl for you in case it all falls apart. In the end, I just ripped it apart and ate it like a bowl. Delicious and I love the tenderness of the carnitas. Yum!

You can also get free water too. Just ask and you’ll get a cup.

Overall, we quite enjoyed this experience and later in the day…we bought a few takeout orders back to Canada. In a way, it was comparable to Red Burrito in Vancouver. Its best to get the bowl a takeout if you aren’t intending to eat it on the same day. Everything still tastes good.

Words of Wisdom: