Foodology
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In Bubble Tea

Shiny Tea: Bubble Tea Ice Cream in International Village

Shiny Tea inside International Village is serving up soft serve ice cream. They still have their classic milk teas and other drinks. After work, I came with a few friends to begin the long weekend and to enjoy some ice cream. It was close to the office, so we thought it would be great for a visit. It got busy later into the evening.

Interior

There are about 14 seat inside, so it’s not great for really large groups. But, the food court is a few steps away, so you can go there instead to sit and eat.

Soft Serve Ice Cream “Italian Gelato”

They have 2 flavours on rotation – Peach Mango Green Tea and their Sri Lankan Black Tea. You get 1 sauce and toppings are extra. The flavours change every week, but they usually have one tea-based flavour and a fruity one. They let you taste the flavours before you purchase, which is nice.

There is only one size, so it’s still good for individual consumption or sharing.

Yaaassss…condensed  milk.

I got the Sri Lankan Black Tea with white pearls, black pearls and condensed milk.

They did have suggested toppings and sauces, but I wasn’t feeling it, so I crafted my own and it turned out delicious.

My friend got the Peach Mango Green Tea with brown sugar honey and it was a bit on the sweet side.

Milk tea

There are lots of drinks on the menu to choose from, but my favourites are the milk teas.

My friend got the 3Q milk tea. It has black pearls, white pearls and coconut jelly.

Overall,

We Rate Shiny Tea: 

Address:
88 W Pender St,Unit 2113, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.shinytea.ca/

Shiny Tea Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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In Dessert

Wild Sweets: Cocoa Bean To Chocolate Afternoon Tea

Wild Sweets just introduced their Cocoa Bean To Chocolate Afternoon Tea experience at their retail store in Richmond. The session lasts approximately 75 to 90-minutes and each guest is served a multi-course set menu of about 13 chocolate-based items for $39.99.

Chocolate Tea

You start off with their chocolate tea infusion made with whole cocoa beans and can potentially be aromatized with fresh elements like citrus zest. Their chocolate tea is delicious and quite unique.

Cucumber

Each bite is very interactive, so you get to play with your food and design how you want it to look like.

This dish has Cocoa nibs bread, Goat cheese gelée,  Pickled cucumber, Puffed peas crunch, and Mint oil.

Biscuit

The biscuit has Tuscany ham, Jarlsberg cheese, cocoa nibs & Kalamata dried figs. It is also served with Mustard oil, pickled red onions and Crème fraîche. The biscuit was pretty dry.

Coco-Air

This has Dark chocolate & hazelnut praliné ‘Air’,  Foamed Chantilly cream and Puffed rice crunch. I loved this item! I love porous the item is and the texture was awesome.

Egg Salad

Put this item together with Cocoa nibs bread,  Sous Vide egg shavings, crispy shallots, Salsa Verde and Chives oil. It was so cute and reminded me of a mini breakfast sandwich.

Interlude

The vials has a Citrus chocolate consommé with the Lemon Vodka and Semi-candied Kalamata olives. On the left, you have Olive Madeleine.

This definitely wasn’t for me.

Tomato

This has Cocoa nibs bread, Grape tomato confit, Pesto pulled Mozzarella, and 2 pieces of Crispy back bacon. It was delicious especially the back bacon.

Cream Puff

This has Textured pâte à choux,  Crispy praliné , Orange caramel compote,  Milk chocolate Chantilly, and Orange zest oil. It was absolutely delicious.

Cheese and Fruit

On the bottom, you have Biscuit sablé, Pear panna cotta, Pear vanilla bean confit, and a Crunchy cheese chip. It was ok, but that cheese chip was delicious.

Merveilleux

You will find Crispy meringue, Dark chocolate thin, White chocolate Chantilly, Caramel banana, and Almond banana crunch. A nice combination of textures.

Tarte

On the plate was a Almond streusel cookie, Créme brûlèe, Baked apple shavings, French Brandy mist and Apple chips crunch.

Scone

You will find a Chocolate & dried cherry scone, Red fruit confit, Crème fraîche Chantilly,  Kirsch mist, and Lemon zest oil. This was delicious as well.

Truffe du jour’ in vintage origin dark hot chocolate

This was a nice way of ending the meal.

Chocolates

A great way of ending the 13 course session with chocolates.

Final Thoughts

It was a fun interactive meal if you are looking for something different than the regular afternoon tea. The items I had will probably be different based on seasonality. For $39.99, it’s a good price and you’ll be full by the end of it.

We Rate Wild Sweets: 35rating

Address:
2145 – 12191 Hammersmith Way, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://dcduby.com/

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In Chinese

The Deluxe Chinese Restaurant: Dim Sum in Richmond

The Deluxe Chinese Restaurant is located in Richmond just off of No 3 Road by Aberdeen Mall. We were invited to try their dim sum items on the menu and of course I couldn’t say no. This restaurant just opened up recently and they serve up dim sum, sushi, sashimi, and regular Chinese dinner items.

The dining room is large and they also have a few private rooms too. I can imagine a lot of weddings, birthdays and other celebrations here.

Dim Sum

There was no shortage of dim sum during my visit. It was pretty damn epic. Of course they knew we were coming, so they made sure all the food arrived at the same time.

Ha Gau (Prawn Dumpling)

This is a classic item to order at dim sum and it comes with 5 pieces in each basket. The skin was a decent thickness and the shrimp inside was very delicious.

It’s always something I order no matter where I go. You can pair it with XO sauce or spicy sauce for an extra kick of flavour.

Truffle Siu Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumpling)

They do their siu mai a bit differently with the added truffle. The dumpling is still delicious. 5 pieces per basket too.

House Special Wild Rice Noodle Roll

Inside the pinky rice roll due to the wild rice are crispy fried vermicelli surrounding each piece of shrimp. There are 9 pieces to the order.

Baked Portuguese Tarts

These unique looking baked Portugese tarts were amazing. The flakey crust and the silky smooth egg mixture. Yum.

Garlic Prawn Spring Rolls

3 pieces in an order served in a cup. The spring rolls were crisp on the outside with the prawn mixture inside.

Steamed Pork Spareribs

Lots in this basket and there was a good amount of meat in each piece.

Country Style Steamed Honey Comb Cake

One of my favourite Chinese desserts. It’s slightly sweet and it’s not too sweet. A good asian amount of sweetness. We don’t really like our dessert overly sweet.

Green Tea Glutinous Pancakes

On the inside is mango and the green tea glutinous pancakes rolled around it. It was ok, but not my favourite dessert.

Steamed Creamy Carrot Custard Buns

A sweet custard filling inside these are great when its hot and fresh.

Steamed Buns with Mushroom & Taro Roots

Very cute concept of having the bun look like a mushroom, but I didn’t like a lacklustre taro root filling.

Shredded Chicken with Cucumber

This dish was one of my favourites too, but it does have quite a bit of sesame oil. Served cold and it also has crunchy taro strips to give it more of a crunchy texture.

Pumpkin Congee with Sparerib

I love congee and this was very savoury with all the ample amount of meat inside. I would order this again.

Preserved Egg and Pork Congee

A classic and what I instantly noticed was the amazing amount of preserved egg and pork. Very impressive and I would order this again too.

Soy Sauce Chow Mein

A good dish to share among the table. Nice texture and flavour as well.

Singapore Fried Noodles

It had a good amount of ingredients in this fried noodle. The texture of the noodles were a tad on the dry side, but it was still enjoyable.

Nigiri

They surprisingly have nigiri on the menu with tuna, salmon or hamachi. Each piece is pre-sauced, which I didn’t like as much. I personally like mine with a slight dab of soy sauce to keep the natural flavours of the fish.

Tamago

They have pieces of tamago as well, but it was missing something. It’s really hard to find a place that makes a good tamago.

Speciality Japanese Rolls

For a Chinese restaurant, they had a good selection of specialty sushi rolls. Still strange to see sushi here when you order dim sum.

Mango Roll

They craft them nicely, but the rice ratio is a bit much. When they roll it, there is a slight flaw. The mango roll was refreshing with their thinly sliced mango, which is in season.

Dragon Roll

Dragon roll has alternating toppings of eel and avocado. Inside is salmon and asparagus. It was good but it was a tad pricey.

Salmon Oshi Sushi

It has tobiko, salmon, sauce and layers of rice. Delicious but it had a bit to much rice and also it still doesn’t compare to Miku, where this type of sushi originated from.

Final Thoughts

A good spread of items for dim sum, but I would stick with the classic. There’s nothing inherently wrong with their sushi or sashimi, but the flavours don’t blend as well when you go from congee to a California roll. Their dim sum is solid and I really fell in love with their congee.

We Rate The Deluxe Chinese Restaurant: 

Address:
4260 No 3 Road, Richmond

The Deluxe Chinese Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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In Four Beakers

Jinya Ramen in the Telus Garden on Robson Street

Jinya Ramen Bar is opening up on April 21st at the Telus Garden on Robson Street. They have all their classic ramen dishes with an expanded menu with more appetizers and drinks. Jinya has been one of my personal favourite ramen shops in Vancouver and it’s funny how they are moving a block to Telus Garden.

I came here for a preview of the space as well as to try a few items off the menu.

Interior

The interior is really nice and modern with some brick accents. There are large windows to let in a lot of natural light. The space is larger than their previous location, so should seat more people.

I love staring at their amazing chefs creating each bowl of ramen. Stacks and stacks of ramen bowls linking the kitchen.

Their staff were pumping out ramen non-stop.

I love this picture. “No Ramen, No Life” is absolutely correct.

Drinks

They have local craft beers on the menu, which is fantastic!

Moody Ales, Steel & Oak, Fuggles & Warlock, Parkside, and Four Winds. Love the local flair in this international ramen chain.

They also have spirits like sake on their menu. Of course they also have whiskey and other harder drinks too.

Appetizers

Brussel Sprouts Tempura

It is crisp on the outside because of the batter. It also have white truffle oil.

Salmon Poke Mini Tacos

The salmon poke is served in a crispy wonton taco shell. Very addictive!

Takoyaki

These are octopus balls. It has battered octopus over egg tartar topped with kewpie mayo, okonomiyaki sauce, green onion and bonito flakes. It came piping hot, so let it cool before popping it into your mouth.

Ramen

Cha Cha Cha Ramen

This is for garlic lovers. It has pork and fish broth, pork chashu, seasoned egg, bean sprouts, chopped onion, green onion, garlic, chili powder, and served with extra thick noodles.

Vegetable Soup Ramen

It has a vegetable broth, mushroom, greens, broccoli, cauliflower and pepper. It is served with thin noodles. This was ok, but not my favourite.

Spicy Creamy Vegan Ramen

It has their vegetable broth, tofu, green onion, onion, spinach, crisp onions, garlic chips, garlic oil, chili oil, sesame seeds and served with thick noodles. This was so good! The additional of the garlic and chili oil are so amazing. I thought I loved the Tonkotsu black broth, but this broth is killer!

Spicy Chicken Ramen

It has chicken broth: chicken chashu, spinach, spicy bean sprouts, green onion, and served with thin noodles. You can choose it to be mild, spicy or hot.

Kaedama Noodle Refill

If you are done slurping up your noodles and have extra broth, you can order an additional portion of noodles to keep on enjoying the ramen.

They have different types of noodles too.

Final Thoughts

Their new location will bring more menu items that are pretty standard with their other North American locations. Plus, the decor and space is a lot nicer, but nothing was wrong with their previous location either. You still get the same great ramen, but this time I found my other favourite ramen – spicy creamy vegan ramen. Jinya Tonkotsu Black is awesome too.

We Rate Jinya Ramen Bar: 

Address:
541 Robson Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://jinya-ramenbar.com/

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In Burnaby Central

Moment Dessert House: Cafe in Burnaby

Moment Dessert House is a another cafe in South Burnaby for coffee, tea and cakes. It is a bit hidden as it is just off Kingsway. I came on a weekend when all the other cafes in the area were super busy. We came here as it was a place we haven’t been to before and it wasn’t as busy.

Interior

There were white walls and then accents of wood all over the cafe. There are lots of tables to sit and chat with friends or study.

Apparently it’s exam time, so there were a few people studying here. Even though it was busy, there were always still tables available for smaller groups.

One odd thing we did notice is that we order up at the counter and we can pay later. I’m use to paying up front as its easy to forget to pay.

Coffee

Some coffee is a requirement when hanging with my friends. They had a coffee and an americano.

I got a cappuccino and it had lots of foam on top. I felt it was a bit on the weaker side with a bit too much milk under it.

Cake

Strawberry Chiffon Cake is what we had to share It wasn’t sweet, which makes it a great asian cake. It looks pretty but it was mostly whipped cream, cake and some strawberries. It was decent, but it was pricey for what it you get.

They also have other types of cakes written on the walls too if you want to know what they are. This place looks cute, but the coffee and cakes weren’t as memorable.

We Rate Moment Dessert House: 

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

Address:
7-4300 Kingsway, Burnaby

Moment Dessert House Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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In Pop-Up Shop

BETA5 Chocolates’ Spring Pop-Up Shop

Beta5 Chocolates is back with their Spring Pop Up Shop at 3345 Cambie St (near the corner of 17th and Cambie). They currently have their Springtime in Vancouver 2017 Easter Collection and an upcoming season of ice cream social creations. We were invited for a sneak peek of what they are showcasing for spring.

From cream puffs to ice cream sandwiches, they are ready for your sweet tooth. I’ve been a fan of Beta5 for quite some time now and they always knock it out of the park for creativity and originality in the products they create.

Peanut Butter Rain Drops

The bags of Peanut Butter Raindrops were so beautiful and absolutely delicious.

In a nod to Vancouver’s wet west coast weather, chocolate clouds shower peanut butter raindrops to encourage Easter eggs to blossom.

Corcus Buds

Beautiful inside and out, this year’s intricately layered eggs are truly works of art. It comes in 3 types – Raspberry + Cocoa Nib, Coconut + Passionfruit, and Hazelnut Praline flavours.

Featuring alternating flavours of dark chocolate and house made praline, the eggs are available in two sizes – single-serving “bulbs” and larger “buds” that make the perfect shareable dessert.

April shower brings May flowers right?

Cream Puffs

BETA5 Chocolates recently introduced three new tea-infused flavours to their cream puff family: Mango Bubble Tea, Strawberry Jasmine and Matcha.

Hopping in for Easter are their Peanut Butter Cup and Lemon + Yogurt Cloud cream puffs.

Lemon and Yogurt Cloud cream puff has lemon curd, yogurt panna cotta, and a baked meringue cloud.
Peanut Butter Cup cream puff has dark chocolate cremeux, peanut butter mousse, and a blue peanut butter egg. Of the two, this was my favourite. I am a sucker for peanut butter.

Ice Cream Socials

Keep an eye on their social media as they always have sold-out ice cream socials. The next ones are April 21 and May 5 starting at 7pm until they sell out.

This one was the Rhubarb Crumble composed of toasted oatmeal and rhubarb-vanilla swirl ice creams, rhubarb-hibiscus compote, granola crunch, strawberry marshmallows and vanilla chantilly cream.

Final Thoughts

The BETA5 Chocolates Cambie Street pop-up will be open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11:30am to 6:30pm, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11:30am to 10:00pm, and Sundays from 11:30am to 5:30pm, starting April 4 through May 15.

The 413 Industrial Avenue location will be keeping their regular hours of Tuesday through Sunday, 10:30am to 5:30pm. Select items from the Easter collection are also available to order online.

Address:
3345 Cambie St, Vancouver

Website:
beta5chocolates.com

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In Bubble Tea

Teapressu: Bubble Tea Shop on Wheels in Vancouver

Teapressu is a mobile trailer that sells bubble tea drinks on the go. I was passing by with a friend and had to make a U-Turn to get here. I’ve never seen a bubble tea food truck, so we had to come here for a visit.

They have hot and cold drinks available. What I like most is their ability to customize your drinks by selecting the sweetness level and ice level. Similar to some other bubble tea shop around town.

There is no bubble tea shop near my work area, so I was really excited to check this place out.

Grass Jelly Milk Tea with half sweetness and minimal ice. It was really good. I usually order this when I go to a new place to see how it compares. They made a great milk tea and I would recommend this place. The grass jelly is delicious as well.

My friend got the cold honey lemon with no sweetness. Very brave, but she’s on a pretty minimal sugar diet. She did say she enjoyed it.

Red Bean Matcha Milk Tea is what a few people recommended to me. They suggested 100% sweetness to counteract the matcha as it is slightly bitter. It was good but I still really enjoyed their milk tea. Does that make me basic?

Final Thoughts

I gotta say, I did really enjoy their bubble tea. If you see them around town, definitely give them a try. I would highly recommend their milk teas. You can taste the difference in the teas and ingredients they use.

We Rate Teapressu: 

Address:
Varied

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Teapressu-1674957589488689/

Teapressu Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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In Chinese

Flower and Horse in Spring: Yunnan Cuisine

Flower and Horse in Spring is a new restaurant serving Yunnan Cuisine with their signature ‘crossing the bridge’ rice noodles. The legend of the noodles comes from the Yunnan Province where a scholar was studying for the imperial exams and his wife would make a long walk crossing a bridge to bring him his midday meal. The meal consisted of hot chicken soup with a layer of oil to keep the meal warm. She would carry the ingredients separately and combine them together when she gave him the noodles until he passed his exam.

This story was passed down from generation to generation inspiring the creation of the noodles that symbolizes the wifes love for the scholar.

Interior

We passed by this place as it looked quite different from the outside. Looking at the menu and seeing this place was packed, we decided to line up. It was a 15 minute wait but the food smelled good.

The bright decorations really reminded my friend of China. She definitely felt nostalgia.

Traditional Crossing the Bridge Noodles

I ordered A5, the first overall pick according to the menu. Not sure what that means, but I felt most of the menu was lost in translation. This set has crispy pork, prawn, kelp, squid, marinated pork, fish, spam, corn, chives, bean curd, quail egg, yunnan pickle, tomato, carrot, bean sprout, parsley, and green onion.

There are instructions at the table on how to put together the noodles, but I learned quickly that I was so hangry that I can’t follow instructions.

It says:

  1. Beat the quail egg
  2. Coat the sliced raw meat with egg and place into the boiling soup
  3. Add cooked meat to soup
  4. Put Veggies into the soup
  5. Add rice noodle to the soup

We just dumped all the meat in first to cook it while the soup is hot. We then put in the rest of the veggies to cook. Then lastly, we throw in the noodles.

Once all the items were put together, it looked and tasted good. I wish it had more spice, but there was some chili oil that you can add a kick to the noodles.

Rice Noodle with sauteed pork sauce

The dish has a soup on the side too. The egg on top was delicious. The menu said the sauteed pork sauce was spicy, but it really wasn’t.

Noodles with with house special braised pork sauce in soup

It also has with shitake mushroom, bean curd sheet, bean spouts, chives, and other stuff. The menu had a big HOT warming on this item, but my friend said it wasn’t very spicy.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a great experience to try something a bit different in the city. The ‘crossing the bridge’ noodles were delicious and I’ll be back. It’s a small space and they don’t do reservations, so make sure to come earlier or have a bit of patience waiting.

We Rate Flower and Horse in Spring: 

Address:
1741 Robson St, Vancouver

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In Cafe

Cactus Club Cafe: Lunch and Dessert in Coal Harbour

Cactus Club Cafe in Coal Harbour near the Vancouver Convention Centre is their most beautiful location. It’s always packed and has a great view if you reserve a table near their window overlooking Coal Harbour.

I came here for lunch with a few friends to food and of course dessert.

All the Cactus Club Cafe locations across Canada from April 4 – 10, they will be donating $1 from every dessert sold to Make a Wish Foundation. They help support children living with life threatening conditions. The Sweet Dreams Dessert week will be helping 13 year old Morgan to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with her family.

Rain Coast Greens

This has fresh greens, grilled chicken breast, avocado, tomatoes, feta, spicy pecans, cucumber, egg, and a lemon-thyme vinaigrette.

Baja Fish Tacos

It has beer battered ocean wise lingcod, shredded cabbage, chipotle aioli, fire roasted tomato salsa, pickled red onions, and jalapeño peppers. Instead of fries, I substituted it with a salad. This was a filling meal and the beer battered lingcod was a good size.

Grilled Tuna Club

This has ocean wise rare-seared albacore, tarragon tartar, bacon, cilantro, pickled ginger, and ciabatta. It is served with fries on the side.

Chicken Tacos

These have mexican-style braised chicken, avocado, lettuce, pickled radish, onions and jalapeños, feta, sour cream, cilantro, and sea salted fries. There are 3 tacos that come with this dish.

Key Lime Pie

Has lots of freshly squeezed key limes in the pie with a graham cracker crust and hand whipped cream. It was very good and had the right amount of tang.

Chocolate Lava Cake

The delicious molten dark chocolate cake is served with raspberry coulis, and tahitian vanilla ice cream.

This was my favourite dessert as it is so gooey and rich. It hits the spot for those chocolate lovers out there. We gobbled this up so quickly.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bar

The crunch bar is served with tahitian vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, and a few crunchy chocolate pearls. It was pretty sweet and dense. It’s a very popular dessert, but I wouldn’t be able to eat the whole thing. Sharing is great with this dessert.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a good lunch with friends and trying their different desserts. The food is solid and consistent.

We Rate Cactus Club: 

Address:
1085 Canada Place, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.cactusclubcafe.com

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In Commercial Drive / Grandview

77K Freeze: Nitrogen Ice Cream on Commercial Drive

77k Freeze is a new nitrogen ice cream shop that just opened on Commercial Drive. I came with a friend for a sneak peek of their shop before their grand opening. They are named after the low boiling point of liquid nitrogen – 77 Kelvins.

The owners, which are scientists discovered the joy of using liquid nitrogen to make frozen desserts while doing cryogenic experiments. They created a Cryogenic Control Unit to control the liquid nitrogen for making ice cream.

Interior

The interior is all white with snowflake decorations and blue accents to give the space a cool atmosphere.

There are seats out front, but they also have this lounge area that can be booked for events.

It’s great if you want to host an ice cream party or some gathering.

Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream

You can create your own ice cream selecting the base, flavours, toppings and sweeteners. Or, they also have a few creations of their own creations like Snowflake, Oh Canada, Blueberry Pine, and Vancouver Red Velvet.

When you choose what you want, they start mixing it up and thats when the liquid nitrogen works its magic.

I tried a few of their flavours but I really enjoyed the Oh Canada with the milk base, a bit of maple to sweeten it and it has crunchy bacon bits and poppy seeds. I loved the crunchy texture of the whole ice cream, but at $8 for their signature flavours, the price needs a bit of work as it’s very expensive compared to the other shops in town.

As they just opened, they have some kinks to work out, but hopefully with more customers giving feedback, they will improve.

Website:
http://www.77kfreeze.ca/

Address:
2240 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

77K Freeze Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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In Downtown

Masaladobo: Indian Mexican Cantina in Downtown Vancouver

Masaladobo is a Indian Mexican Cantina in Downtown Vancouver. This fusion cuisine is almost entirely gluten and dairy free, which is great for those with dietary restrictions. They now bringing healthy and delicious food to those who need a quick bite in the area.

The skytrain is just located a few steps away, which is very convenient for those taking the Canada Line.

Interior

The interior is fun, casual and full of colour. During peak hours, you order at the counter, but for other times, they can serve you at your table instead of going up.

There are lots of tables inside, so there shouldn’t be a problem finding a table.

Tacones

Tacos rolled up into a cone shape for easy eating. It has roti-taco-handroll hybrid red shred, masaladobo (spicy sweet indo salsa), raita verde, in a plancha tortilla, which is all gluten-free on corn tostada.

There are many kinds you can order but we tried the ginger duck kebabs and it has a very unique taste, which blends Indian and Mexican flavours together. The OceanWise options are great too with wild salmon pekora or the seared albacore & shrimp kebab.

Blackened tuna tikka taki

This has dry tikka spice and the albacore tuna is seared lightly. The item is on their Cantina Menu, where on Monday to Friday, it’s 2 for 1 from 2pm to closing. A good deal and it tastes great.

Masaladobo bowl

Masaladobo bowl with added ginger duck kebabs also has golden basmati and sofrito-coconut gravy with fresh greens , pickles and masaladobo.

Margaritas on Tap

They have margaritas on tap. It’s not a party without margaritas. A great item to have after work or sometime closer to the Summer during the hot months.

Indian Cola

A unique non-alcoholic beverage with all the syrups made in-house. It’s very different that your average soda.

If you want something stronger, they definitely have that too. Try a shot of tequila and a fresh-pressed juice chaser.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a unique concept mixing Indian and Mexican flavours. You won’t find a lot of red meat on the menu besides duck, but if you have dietary restrictions, they cater well to those people that are dairy-free or gluten-free, and vegetarians.

We Rate Masaladobo: 

Address:
433 Granville Street, Vancouver

Website: 
http://www.masaladobo.com/

Masaladobo Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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In Greek

The Greek by Anatoli: Happy Hour in Yaletown

The Greek by Anatoli in Yaletown has just introduced Happy Hour and we were given a sneak peek into what customers would have on the menu. Some dishes in this review aren’t the right sizing for happy hour and may be a bit smaller.

From Monday March 27 -31 2pm – 5pm, the Happy Hour food items will be only $2 and then they go back to regular price. A pretty good deal since you really can’t get anything for $2 these days.

The hours are a bit hard to make if you work 9-5 Downtown, other happy hour places end at 6pm.

They also have 12oz 1516 Lager for $4, Glass of Anatoli Meritage or Viognier for $6 or a Ouzo shot for $4. A good way to start the evening with some drinks and food.

Keftedes

These are traditional pan-fried meatballs served in tomato sauce. The meatballs were moist and full of flavour and the tomato sauce worked well.

Homous

There is chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and parsley served with a side of pita bread. The portion is a little bit different than this image as they gave us more to share. A good item to fill up on and the homous is delicious.

Dolmathes

These are grape vine leaves stuffed with beef and rice, cooked in avgolemono broth which is a egg-lemon sauce. I love this stuff. It’s so good but I know some people don’t like it.

Spanakopita

This was everyone’s favourite. This portion is actually 2. It has spinach, feta and herbs, wrapped in filo and baked. It comes with a Tzatziki Sauce on the side. I loved every part of this dish from the flakey filo to that Tzatziki sauce.

“True Greek Pork” Souvlaki

The Souvlaki is served kalamaki style on pita bread with a side of tzatziki. It was really good, but then again when is pork not delicious? It was seasoned well, but had a slight toughness about them.

Calamari

It’s classic, crispy and served with a side of lemon and tzatziki. An item that will definitely be very popular. It was really good and I would order it again.

Greek Salad

This items isn’t on the happy hour menu, but sometimes you need veggies. It has fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, feta from Greece, capers and olives.

Mythos Beer

Mythos is a Greek Lager Beer. It is light, refreshing and pairs well with the food.

Anatoli Caesar

The caesar is garnished with a pickled bean, lime, a grilled prawn and a rim of salt and pepper. The drink looked great, but it needed more spice and heat to this drink. I like my caesars hot, but I could mostly taste vodka.

Karpouzi Watermelon Basil Mojito

Outside of the happy hour dishes and drinks, there were a few different items we tried like this Watermelon Mojito. Very refreshing and perfect for the warmer weather.

Final Thoughts

It was good to see what their happy menu has. Although it’s not extensive, it has a good amount of dishes that would keep customers happy. I do love good cheap food especially during happy hour.

We Rate The Greek by Anatoli: 

Address:
1043 Mainland Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://thegreekbyanatoli.com/

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In Downtown

Earls Test Kitchen: Happy Hour in Downtown Vancouver

Earls Test Kitchen is the place to go for happy hour before watching a movie at night. What is different about this Earls is that it is a culinary playground to craft different dishes and drinks that may influence the other Earl’s menu in North America.

The place was packed and we wanted to come here to catch happy hour. All items are smaller versions of what on the regular menu, but cheaper.

They have this menu every day from 3:00pm – 6:00pm and  9:00pm – close.

Interior

The interior is nice and there are tons of tables. Best to come earlier for happy hour as it is very busy.

Rhino Beer

Sleeves are $3 and Pints are $5. I got the lager as I wanted something light and fruity to go with the meal.

Garlic Fries

The garlic fries were crispy, skinny and full of potent garlic flavour. The fries seemed oddly short.

Super Avocado Toast

There are 4 pieces to this order for $7. It is smashed avocado on olive oil toasted baguette, garnished with confit tomato, sriracha drizzle and radish. I enjoyed it as a nice bite to help fill me up.

Bigger Better Burger

This burger has vine ripened tomatoes, onion, lettuce, pickles, mayonnaise and mustard, on a freshly baked brioche bun. You can also add cheese or mushrooms to the burger. M went with cheese. It was an ok, burger but it wasn’t too outstanding. For $9, this was the burger only.

Baja Fish Taco

The crispy battered cod taco is topped with fresh cut salsa, cabbage slaw, on corn tortillas with a wedge of lime. It’s a pretty big size and for $3, it’s a good price.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a good quick meal before the show. It’s funny how the servers can guess who is here for dinner before a movie. It’s just steps away from the theatre and the food is solid.

We Rate Earls Test Kitchen: 

Address:
905 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://earls.ca/locations/test-kitchen

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In Indian

India Bistro: Indian Cuisine in Vancouver

India Bistro is located on Davie Street and they have an all you can eat lunch buffet. I actually came here with a friend for dinner to try out a few different items from their menu. I love Indian food, but I don’t eat it as often as I do.

There is lots of paid parking outside on the street.

Interior

The restaurant has lots of tables and if you don’t have a reservation, you’ll be ok. It’s always best to have reservations just in case they get super busy. The interior has dark and has dim lighting.

The menu is pretty large and has a good amount of items on the menu. It’s easy to identify any vegetarian or gluten-free options here.

Mango Lassi

A classic drink made of yogurt and mangoes. They make it all fresh here and was delicious. Pairs well with the food here.

Fish Tikka

Fish Tikka was one of my favourite items of the meal. It has fish marinated in fresh ginger, garlic, Indian spices & char-broiled to perfection. It is also served with other veggies too.

The spices were aromatic and the inside of the fish was very moist. I would definitely order this again.

Indian Salad

This salad wasn’t what I expected. It has sliced onion, tomato, cucumber, lemon and green chilli. It was a bunch of chopped vegetables and I think I should of gotten the cucumber salad or buddha salad as it’s more of a traditional salad.

Papdi Chaat

It has thin crisp papdi topped with potatoes, yogurt, sweet and sour tamarind with mint chutney. This is a dish served cold, which was interesting and unique.  When the papdi arrived at the table, it was n’t as crisp anymore due to the sauces.

Palak Paneer Naan

Instead of the usual naan, I wanted to try something a bit different. It has white leavened bread stuffed with spinach and cottage cheese. Delicious and it goes well on its own or dunked in curry.

Raita

It has homemade yogurt with cucumber, carrots and seasonings. It was delicious and paired really well with the naan.

Butter Chicken

A classic dish and it has pieces of boneless chicken breast. You can have different levels of spice in this and we got it medium. It had a nice kick and we could have definitely gotten it hot, but then again, I love my food really spicy.

Lamb Rogan Josh

This has lamb cooked with onions, garlic, ginger and traditional Indian herbs & spices. We got this at medium spice as well. Really good lamb dish and I enjoyed it.

Rice Pulao

To go with the curry, we had to order this. It has basmati rice cooked with cumin, onions & aromatic spices.

Gulabjamun

The dark brown round shaped cheese balls comes in a honey syrup. We got ours served warn and it was really delicious, but it is sweet because of the honey.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food was really good here, but there were a few items I would pass up. The curries were delicious as well as the fish tikka. The location is great as it is in Downtown Vancouver. Good friendly staff and yummy food.

We Rate India Bistro:

Address:
1157 Davie Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://indiabistro.ca/

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In Culinary School

VCC’s International Culinary Arts: Spring 2017 Chef’s Table pop-up kitchen

VCC’s International Culinary Arts students are bringing the Chef’s Table pop-up kitchen back to the VCC Broadway campus for spring of 2017 and runs until April 21st.

It’s one of the hottest tickets in town since it’s only $30 for 5 courses and $15 extra for wine pairings. Sadly, all tickets are already all sold out for all seatings. You definitely want to sign up for the mailing list to get an email when the next time they are having this again.

This was my 4th time being here and it’s always a delight seeing the hard work the students and chefs put into this program to help grow future chefs of tomorrow. Having these kinds of Chef’s Table gives the guest a unique dining experience outside of the restaurant environment.

The tables are set up in a ‘U’ shape and everyone gets a good view of their meal being put together. Some students put together dishes and some other students do the serving. As it was the first week of the Chef’s Table, I could see some students weren’t as experienced talking to guest and explaining what some of the drinks were.

Tuna cannelloni

To start the meal, there is a tuna cannelloni stuffed with Dungeness crab. It also has Side stripe prawns, cucumber, avocado, and truffled soy pearls.
Their paired it with the Invisibull Sauvignon Blanc. A good pairing as it has lime, green apple and white peach notes.

I love the light delicate seafood dish to start. I love every part of this dish especially the avocado puree. The textures of the different ingredients worked so well together.

Grilled Octopus

This dish also has chorizo, navy bean, olive, salsa romesco with some crisps on top. Heavier in spices, this dish followed nicely and the chorizo and salsa romesco tasted so good. A lot of my friends wished they could take this dish and put it on tacos.

The wine paired with this is the See Ya Later Ranch Riesling.

Puffed foie gras

The puffed foie gras comes with apricot puree, candied almonds and a honey bubble ready to be popped. This was a similar dish I had back in Summer of 2016 when they had the Chef’s table too. A nice revisit to one of the unique dishes from last time.

This was paired with the Conviction Pinot Noir “The Priest”.

Roasted beef Tenderloin

There were 2 delicious pieces of the roasted beef tenderloin, Oxtail, potato croquette, carrot, and Cipollini. It was a delicious hearty dish, great for the meat lovers.

It was paired with the Lost Inhibitions By Church & State.

White Chocolate and Strawberries

Lemon curd Ice cream, strawberries, and topped with coconut crisp. It was a good sized dessert and it was fun watching them make the dessert with liquid nitrogen.

It is paired with Grey Monk Reflection Muscat.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a fun time watching all the future chefs put each plate together carefully. This time around, there were some hiccups like an items accidentally being omitted from one person’s dish and somewhat awkward service, but they are all here to learn and every guest was very kinda and understanding.

The food is always great and instructors like Tobias MacDonald really pass on their amazing knowledge to the students.

Address: 1155 E Broadway, Vancouver

Website: http://www.vcc.ca/services/eat-shop–more/the-chefs-table-pop-up-kitchen/

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In Kensington

The Eastwood: Pub on Fraser Street

The Eastwood is a new restaurant on Fraser Street. They serve brunch and lunch, but we decided to come for a visit for dinner. The place got busy later in the evening with people coming here to enjoy the game, have some bites and of course beer.

Interior

As the sun goes down, the TV screen light up the space. It is a bit dim, but a lot of people were enjoying the different games playing on the screens. There was cheering whenever a favoured team would score a point. For me, I was really here for the food.

Drinks

Beer is a must to go with the pub-style food here. I got the Kronenbourg Blanc and a radler. Fruity and refreshing.

Dirty Sanchez Burger

This burger has a 6oz beef patty, Monterey Jack, Guacamole, pickled onion, pickled jalapeno, lettuce, tomato, garlic aioli and a pretzel bun. It comes with a salad or fries. Since we had ordered other fries, we went with a caesar salad.

The burger had a nice kick from the jalapeno, but I felt the ration between the bun and patty were a bit off.

Fraser Fries

This is their house fries with bacon, sundried tomatoes, herbs and garlic. The fries were nicely fried and was crisp on the exterior. You can get ketchup or other aioli dips to go with it. We got ours with a garlic aioli.

Mussels Vino Blanco

It has a full pound of mussels, white wine, butter, shallots, garlic, parsley and served with grilled bread and fries. The mussels are Ocean Wise certified mussels. The broth was delicious and enjoyable to dunk the bread of fries into.

Tuna Poke

The tuna poke is made of mango salsa, avocado, ahi tuna, sesame seeds, herb chili oil and green onion on top of the tortilla chips. The delicate flavours of the poke didn’t go too well with the tortilla chips.

Final Thoughts

It’s great to finally have a pub in the area to watch the game and enjoy some beer and bites. Some items on the menu is a hit and miss, but there is a good selection of pub favourites that will appeal to customers.

We Rate The Eastwood: 

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/TheEastwoodVan

Address:
4245 Fraser Street, Vancouver, BC

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In British Columbia

Starbucks Canada: Spring Cups are here

Starbucks Canada is celebrating the season with its first-ever spring hot beverage cup, available now at Starbucks stores across Canada for a limited time.

Each tall, grande and venti size gets its own cheerful colour and will have either a blank circle or something pre-drawn depending on what the store has in stock.

I drew a cat on my Venti cup and my friend grew a lady on her Tall cup for St. Patricks Day. We aren’t the best drawers, but we found it really fun customizing the outside of our cups. A few people were asking us where we went to get drinks, so its an awesome conversation starter.

My Earl Grey Tea Latte has never been so bright and purrr-fect.

The cups are available in participating stores for just a few days, so get one to welcome the season while you can.

Website: https://www.starbucks.ca/

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In Cafe

Mikan Cafe: Japanese Pasta and Poutine

Mikan Cafe is the sister restaurant of Cafe de L’Orangerie. They have poutine, Japanse spaghetti, sandwiches and other items on the menu. This cafe use to be called Jean Talon, but they changed up their menu and has a new name.

Interior

The interior is cozy and has a few tables inside. The days that I’ve been here, it’s been a bit quiet. I’ve never had to make reservations here. The staff are very nice and helpful.

Poutine with Mikan Style Beef Stew

The crispy fries is topped with beef stew and cheese curds. We got a smaller order and it was a good size for 3 people to share. The fries are really crispy and I like how it’s not soggy at all.

Masago Creamy Spaghetti

This popular spaghetti has squid, mushroom, asparagus, roe, and cream. It was very delicious and I love the use of the Japanese ingredients that meld with pasta.

Strawberry Cream Roll

A great way to end the meal is by getting some of the desserts. The strawberry cream roll is light and fluffy.

Final Thoughts:

I love the addition of Japanese pasta on the menu. If you love Cafe de L’Orangerie, you’ll love Mikan Cafe, plus it’s not very busy. I love this location as I don’t have to travel so far to get their delicious pasta.

We Rate Mikan Cafe:

Address:
670 East Broadway, Vancouver, BC

Website: http://mikancafe.cafedelorangerie.ca/

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