Type Archives - Page 45 of 125

In Kid Friendly

JapaDog: Dining at McArthur Glen Designer Outlet

October 2, 2016

JapaDog has a location at McArthur Glen Designer Outlet in Richmond just a few stops away from YVR Airport. For those who have a short layover at YVR but want a little taste of Vancouver, this is a good option if you’re around.

They are best known for their Japanese street style hot dog that has taken the world by storm. I remember my relatives would want us to take them here when they visit.

Drinks

They have draft beer, bottled beer and cocktails. I went with a Sapporo to go with our meal of JapaDogs and shake fries. Sapporo just pairs so well with fries and hot dogs. A combination that is perfect.

Cocktails are exclusive to this location only. There are 4 different ones to choose from.

Shake Fries

There are a few flavours of shake fries to choose from:

Regular
Black pepper
Ume katsuo
Aonori
Butter & Shoyu
Shichimi & Garlic

The most popular of them all is butter & shoyu. Shichimi & garli, and aonori are most other favourites too. The size of the fry reminds me of McDonalds but it’s a bit more limp that crisp.

JapaDogs

Avocado JapaDog has a beef hot dog topped with cream cheese, Japanese mayo, and avocado. Surprisingly good if you love avocado.

Ebi-Tempura Japadog has the crunchy shrimp tempura on top of rice and seaweed.

Love Meat JapaDog has Arabiki pork sausage, cheese, and a Japanese meat sauce made of beef. It is saucy, but great for meat lovers.

Okonomi has kurobuta pork sausage, Japanese traditional sauce, Japanese mayo, fried cabbage and topped with bonito flakes. It’s okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) in hot dog form.

Kurobuta Terimayo JapaDog is the most popular item. It has Kurobuta pork sausage, teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayo, fried onions and topped with lots of seaweed.

Oroshi JapaDog has pork bratwurst with radish/daikon, green onions and their special soy sauce. One of my favourites cine I love radish.

Final Thoughts

Since I live in Vancouver, getting a JapaDog is not a regular occurrence. I have it once in a while but it’s very accessible in Downtown Vancouver as there are various locations. They have expanded a lot but the quality is still there.

It’s definitely a good food option at McArthur Glen Designer Outlet if you want a quick bite.

We Rate JapaDog:

Address:
1064 Templeton Station Road, Richmond

Website: http://www.japadog.com/

In Bakery

Shop the Neighbourhood with French Made Baking

October 1, 2016

Shop The Neighbourhood by Yellow Pages celebrates small businesses all year round, and reminds Canadians how shopping locally makes a difference in our lives and directly impacts the local economy. Small businesses are our economic backbone: they create jobs, funnel funds back into the community, keep decision-making power localized, and generally contribute to building healthy, thriving neighbourhoods.

In partnership with Yellow Pages, I wanted to highlight my favourite small business – French Made Baking located in Mount Pleasant.

French Made Baking

Mount Pleasant is a vibrant neighbourhood known for its unique stores, heritage buildings, artistic residents, and fun community festivals. The area is popular with urban professionals and young families. What better place than a French patisserie shop to appear. The Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Area has worked with them over the years to help promote their business at local events and on social media.

David and Catherine Introligator

French-from-France couple, David and Catherine Introligator produce authentic and tasty French pastries. They are dedicated to their craft and have been around since 2011. I remember meeting them at various bakers markets and special events before they had their storefront.

Yummy Treats

They have croissants, madeleines, caneles, and other items but their most popular items are their macarons.

Their macarons are fabulous! The texture and the flavours have always been spot on. I don’t think I’ve found one I didn’t like yet.

My usual order at French Made Baking is a canelé and a pack of macarons.

Canelé is a classic French pastry made from eggs, milk, flour, and sugar. It is a small pastry with a balance of sweet and savoury flavours. What I love most is the crunchy caramelized crust.

Macaron is another classic French treat characterized by 2 pieces of meringue cookie sandwiched with filling like ganache, buttercream or jam. It is generally made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar and ground almond.

They have rotating flavours, but a few of my favourites are:

L’Anglais: Earl Grey tea infused milk chocolate ganache
L’Oriental: rose & litchi white chocolate ganache
Le Provençal: lavender & honey white chocolate ganache
Le Praliné: hazelnut & almond praliné buttercream
Pistache: roasted pistachio white chocolate ganache

Sometimes they make limited edition macarons for special events. I remember one when they made totoro macarons.

They also have larger macaron cakes.

They also sell 11 kinds of Kusmi Tea, a tea company which has been around for 140 years. Delicious high quality tea.

Classes

What to learn how to make macarons, croissants, or choux pastry? They offer hands-on classes with David at their “Atelier” kitchen on Kent Avenue.

A fun way to learn how to make French pastries the correct way while having fun with friends or coworkers.

Go for a visit

French Made Baking is one of many amazing local businesses in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. When you come for a visit, say “hello” or “bonjour” to their amazing staff as they serve their customers in both English and French.

Local businesses are neighbourhood-oriented. Business owners and staff share the community’s interests, and are personally invested in the welfare and future of the neighbourhood.
If you want to learn more about Shop The Neighbourhood, follow Yellow Pages on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Address:
81 Kingsway, Vancouver

Website:
http://frenchmadebaking.com/

In Event

Crunchtime Cereal Bar: Pop Up by Milk Creative Communications

September 30, 2016

Crunchtime Cereal Bar is popping up in Gastown this weekend on Saturday October 1st and Sunday October 2nd 8am – 6pm. This pop-up cereal bar offers domestic and imported cereals with all proceeds donated to local charity Backpack Buddies.

After Cereal Killer Cafe in London opened up, word spread about an amazing cafe serving up over 100 different types of cereal from around the world. With 30 different varieties of milk and 20 toppings. Vancouverites were really excited when a similar pop-up concept was coming to Vancouver.

Milk Creative Communications launched in Vancouver today using Crunchtime Cereal Bar as the official launch event for Milk, an eight person Vancouver-based agency, previously known as Heth PR.

Interior

They created a neon-meets-tropical escape in the heart of Gastown inside the space of Timbertrain Coffee Roasters. You can see floral flourishes, brightly coloured accents and a cereal curtain.

Cereal selection

There are 12 different cereals to choose from:

Krave
Frosted Flakes
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Fruit Loops
Cookie Crisp
Batman Chocolate Strawberry Cereal
Lucky Charms
Smorz
Cap’n Crunch
Nature’s Path Choco Chimps
Golden Nuggets
Lion Cereal

A majority of these cereals were not very interesting, but there are a few ones that I haven’t seen before.

Price

All pop-up proceeds will go to local charity Backpack Buddies, which supplies hungry schoolchildren with food during non-school hours.

Bowls of cereal with regular milk for $5
Almond, soy and chocolate milk available at an additional charge of $0.75
Toppings will be available for $0.50 per topping

Cereal Bowls

You can craft your own bowls in any way you want. You can definitely make it into a super sugary treat by adding extra toppings.

Final Thoughts

At first, it wasn’t known who was behind Crunchtime Cereal Bar, it seemed a bit strange but who doesn’t like a good bowl of cereal? Milk Creative Communications wanted to treat their rebrand like how they would do for their clients, by offering an array of creative communications strategies and solutions.

It definitely drove a lot of attention, but customers coming here on the weekend can still enjoy bowls of cereal that will benefit Backpack Buddies.

Details:
Saturday October 1st and Sunday October 2nd, 2016
8am – 6pm

Website:
http://www.crunchtimecerealbar.com/

Address:
311 W Cordova St. Vancouver

In Bubble Tea

Peanuts Bubble Tea: Richmond Public Market

September 29, 2016

Peanuts Bubble Tea is located inside the Richmond Public Market in the food court. This bubble tea stand has been here since 1996 before the wave of all the other bubble tea shops opened across town in huge numbers.

While having lunch at the food court, we decided to make a stop here to quench our thirst.

Original milk tea with pearls and oolong milk tea.

I got the oolong milk tea half sweet. A good tea flavour with a good mount of milky balance.

They also serve Che Lung Bing for $0.60 each. These are the little wheel cakes with fillings inside. The fillings can include peanut, chocolate, coconut, radish, cheese, cream or red bean.

I didn’t end up getting the wheel cakes since they ran out of the cream flavour. $0.60 is such a good price since most places at the night market charge $1 or more.

Overall, a good place to get bubble tea at the Richmond Public Market.

We rate Peanuts Bubble Tea:

Address:
2130-8260 Westminster Highway, Richmond

In Brunch

Bao Down: Hawaiian Brunch

September 27, 2016

Bao Down has a Hawaiian Brunch every weekend at their Olympic Village location. Since Hawaiian cuisine is all the rage this year, I thought it would be great to check it out with a few friends.

One thing I’ve always adored was their amazing painting on the wall. So bright and vibrant with the rustic decor.

Drinks

Coffee is a must at brunch since we are all still waking up. They have drip coffee with milk and sugar.

They even have espresso-based coffees too if you want something a bit more fancy.

Thai Iced Tea was a cool item on the menu so my friend ordered it. When it came to the table, the drink was super sweet, so she asked if they could do it half sweet, but unfortunately it’s pre-mixed, so they can’t adjust the sweetness. They were nice enough to take this off the bill.

Island Brunch

The Swartz has crispy corned beef and potato hash with 2 eggs, garlic fried rice with tomato and onions.

Under Pressure has panko fried spam, 2 eggs, garlic rice, hash browns, sweet shoyu, tomato and onions.

I found this dish to be quite heavy for brunch. It was pretty hard starting the day off with fried foods and rice. I thought there would be a few lighter items on the menu, but most of them were meaty and heavy.

Overall, I didn’t really take a liking the brunch items we ordered. I prefer their lunch menu with poke as it is more light and fresh.

We rate Bao Down:

Address:
115 West 2nd Ave. Vancouver

Website:
http://baodown.net/

In Chinese

Empire Seafood: Dim Sum + Dumpling Trail

September 26, 2016

Empire Seafood Restaurant is located in Richmond on No. 3 Road and New Westminster Hwy. Surprisingly, I haven’t been here for dim sum before. With so many amazing dim sum restaurants in town, this is one of the popular ones to go to.

We were invited by Tourism Richmond to experience the Dumpling Trail. Empire is one of the restaurants features in the trail for their diverse selection of dumplings from crispy to chewy to all types of textures.

Interior

Dumplings

Shrimp dumplings (Har gow) are a staple in Chinese dim sum. The dumplings are filled with shrimp and wrapped in a tapioca starch pastry. It is them steamed in a bamboo basket.

It comes with 4 pieces in each order. I enjoyed the bounce of the shrimp inside and the skin was a good thickness. Best eaten with some hot sauce or XO sauce.

Pork and Shrimp Dumpling (Siu Mai) is a dumpling stuffed with pork, shrimp and then topped with roe. It is wrapped in a yellow wrapper. It is also steamed in a bamboo basket.

It comes with 4 pieces too. Good mixture of shrimp and pork inside without too much fat.

Taro Dumpling (Wu Gok) is made with steamed mashed taro with mushroom, shrimp, and pork in the centre. It is deep-fried so it gets the wispy texture on the outside. It comes with 4 per order too. You typically get this cut in half before eating.

A nice texture since you get the crunch from the outside and the savoury filling inside.

Fried Pork Dumplings (Ham Siu Gok) has a crisp crust on the outside and inside the the minced pork centre. The filling is pretty good.

Other items

Spring Rolls come in 4 pieces but are cut up into 8 for easy sharing. These are deep-fried and filled with a delicious shrimp centre.

Chicken Feet is a staple in dim sum but not everyone can stomach it. I grew up with chicken feet at most dim sum meals, so this isn’t out of the ordinary for me. It has a nice sauce and essentially you are eating away at the skin and cartilage.

Spareribs with squash comes in one serving in a bamboo basket.

Shrimp Rice Roll comes with 3 pieces and are cut in half. The shrimp is nice and fresh, good colour and tastes great when you pour the soy sauce over top.

Veggies

Pea tips in broth is a delicious dish. The sweetness from the pea tips is really good. Do be careful of bugs since I did find a caterpillar in my portion.

Sweets

Egg Custard Tart is a bit different here since they add some coconut into it. It was good, but unexpected as we devoured these.

Egg Yolk Bun is pretty good here too. The steamed buns have a week yolky centre. Very delicious and you can’t leave here without one.

Final Thoughts

Empire Seafood has some pretty solid dim sum and good prices. Just be aware that they do charge for tea. So don’t be surprised when that pops up on the bill. Try to make reservation in advanced and try to go earlier in the day before some key items run out.

We Rate Empire Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
London Plaza, 5951 Number 3 Rd #200, Richmond

Website: http://www.empirerestaurant.ca/esr/dimsum/

In Four Beakers

Kilala: Japanese Restaurant in Burnaby

September 25, 2016

Kilala has been in the North Burnaby neighbourhood for about 10 years now. After all that time, I finally came here for a visit with M. It is a small sushi bar, so it can get pretty busy around dinner time. The outside of the shop may not look like much but their sushi is delicious.

They started us off with some tea and even gave us a whole pot of it so we could refill it ourselves.

We started off with some nigiri to see how it compares to other places.

Tamago was nothing like other restaurants. I loved the layers of the egg and how it towered over the ball of sushi rice. M loved it and i think its so far his favourite tamago.

Hokkaido Scallop Nigiri was really fresh and the pieces of scallop were very plump.

Next was the Unagi Battera with eel on top of pressed sushi rice. I love the car on the unagi and its so flavourful. It’s a pricey item to order, but its so good.

Look at that. So So good!

Toro Sashimi comes with 7 pieces and it is nice and fatty. The chef really knows his stuff.

Assorted Nigiri comes with 14 pieces of sushi – 1/2 tekka maki, 1/2 kappa maki, and 8 nigiri selections from the chef. There is a little wasabi hidden under the sashimi, so watch out.

All of the nigiri were pretty delicious. My favourite were the tamago and saba. All the others were pretty standard.

Overall, it’s a nice hidden gem in North Burnaby for good Japanese sushi. The prices can be high for some items, but the quality is here. You won’t find too wide a selection for cooked food. It is mostly sushi rolls and raw items.

We Rate Kilala:

Address:
4749 Hastings Street, Burnaby

In Gastown

Kozakura: Japanese Cuisine in Gastown

September 24, 2016

Kozakura is a new Japanese Izakaya located near Gastown. They specialize in Kappo-style Japanese food and the menu is seasonal, fresh and local.

Foodgressing, Food Wench, Maggi, Nosh & Nibble, Picky Diner and I came here for dinner as we were so curious about what they served.

Interior

The interior is pretty small and narrow. Best to make reservations to make sure you have a seat. The restaurant is also dim and has a cozy atmosphere. We came here early in the evening, so it wasn’t very busy. They seat about 25 people in total.

Drinks

Sapporo was my drink of choice at Japanese restaurants. Gotta have Japanese beer to go with Japanese food. It’s a light and fruity beer that pairs well with the flavours.

A few of the others ordered Sake and it comes in such a cute rounded bottom decanter. They have a wide selection of sake, which goes well with the dishes they create.

Food

Osentamago Ohitashi has a poached onsen egg, snap peas, and dashi soy. Definitely not a dish to share. The flavours are very delicate and the egg is just so delicious.

Aigamo Sumiso has sweet soy cooked duck breast, sumiso, and flowering chives. It comes with 4 pieces to an order. The duck was tender and went well with the sauce.

Honjitsu no Osashimi is their daily selection of sashimi. Since we were in a group of six, we payed a bit more to make sure there were 6 pieces each so everyone could get a bit. They used some good cuts of sashimi.

Tako no Yawarakani has sous vide octopus, smoked ponzu, and mizuna. The octopus was tender but still had a bite to it.

Sake Kasu Salmon was moist and flaky inside. You can definitely tell they spent their time marinating the salmon.

Madai Sakamushi has steamed seabream with seared skin, bok choy, and a thick soy dashi. Better presentation compared with the other dishes. Light and delicate taste.

Sanshou Steak is made with ribeye, sanshou peppercorns, and shungiku. The peppercorns were an interesting touch and is tongue numbing. I like the way the cooked it so it is at a medium rare.

Sunomono was served with crab, mozuku, sliced cucumber, and tosazu vinegar. It was pretty good, served cold, and had a clean taste.

Yuzu Miso Buta Niku is sous vide pork loin, yuzu miso paste, and a apricot glaze. That paste was so spicy, but I loved how it cleared your sinuses.

Anago Dashi Chazuke has slow cooked eel, steamed rice, dashi, and mitsuba. Of all the dishes, this was more filling than the others. I could of definitely had the whole thing to myself.

Overall, the food tasted good and has a good clean feeling at the end of the meal. For a large group to come here, it was hard to figure out the best way to order, so we got 2 of every dish on the menu. It seemed like it would be enough but the size of the dishes were pretty small. There is also auto gratuity of 18% when dining with 6 or more people.

We finished our meal and decided to go to another place to fill up a little bit more.

We Rate Kozakura:

Address:
280 Carrall Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.kozakuragastown.ca/

In Cafe

Cup Full Dessert Cafe in Coquitlam

September 23, 2016

Cup Full Dessert is located in the food court at Henderson Mall in Coquitlam. They serve up a few different desserts, cakes and drinks. If you’re a fan of Soft Peaks, they serve up their delicious soft-serve ice cream. If you live in the suburbs, you can now get Soft Peaks without driving all the way downtown.

Drinks

Cappuccino is what I needed in the early afternoon. They even put a cute little bird on top. They use their own blend of espresso beans in all their drinks.

Coffee Float is super nice and strong. It even has Soft Peaks soft serve ice cream inside.

Grape Fresh Fruit drink is so good! You can tell they only use real grapes are their natural sweetness really shines through.

Grapefruit Fresh Fruit drink was great as well, but I still preferred the grape version.

Full Cup Shaved Ice

Green Tea has the shaved ice and green tea in different layers.

It is topped with red beans, almonds, and sponge cake and some more green tea.

Red Bean has the shaved ice, red bean, more shaved ice and then topped with more red beans, almonds and whipped cream.

Mango was my favourite of all of them. You really can’t go wrong with the fresh mango taste and the shaved ice.

Soft Serve

Mudslide has the Soft Peaks soft serve ice cream with chocolate syrup and crushed up Tim Tam Cookies. Great for chocolate lovers. One of my favourite items here.

Roll Cakes

Chocolate Banana Roll Cake is made by Cake Ya, a Japanese bakery about 10 minutes away. The cakes were decent, but I much prefer going to the store to get my roll cakes fresher.

Because these have been in the fridge a bit longer, its not as fresh.

Strawberry Roll Cake I had similar feelings too. This would be an item I get from Cake Ya all the time too.

Matcha and Red Bean Roll Cake was ok too, but I wished there was a bit more whipped cream inside.

Overall, the desserts are decent. I will definitely come back for the drinks and the Mudslide again.

We Rate Cup Full Dessert Cafe:

Address:
#2079-1163 Pinetree way Coquitlam, BC

In Bubble Tea

CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice: Bubble Tea in Downtown

September 22, 2016

CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice is the world’s largest Bubble Tea company and they have locations all over Asia and North America. The interior is pretty small, so most people do take out.

Bubble Tea

Classic Bubble Tea with pearls was what I got. I opted for half sweet. It was pretty good, but ChaTime inches out slightly ahead since I like more of the roasted flavour.

Taro Milk Tea with Sago was what Maggi ordered. Check out her blog to hear what she thought.

Overall, it’s a pretty solid bubble tea place in the Downtown area. Nothing fancy or different that really differentiates them from the other shops in town.

We Rate CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice:

Address:
609 W Pender Street, Vancouver

Website: http://cocobubbletea.com/

In Chinese

Moral’s Village: Hot Pot in Richmond

September 21, 2016

Moral’s Village is a new a la carte hot pot restaurant in Richmond. They are a chain restaurant in China and has now expanded to Toronto and Richmond.

The main difference in the Toronto location is that they have all you can eat, which isn’t the same as Richmond.

I was invited to try out their signature dishes on their dinner menu by the crew at Chopstick Fest.

Interior

They have private rooms for larger parties or private functions. You should call ahead of time to reserve these rooms. The private room that we were in also came with our own washroom.

Starters

Before the hotpot began, they shared with us 4 starters. All cold dishes to get our appetites going.

Creating your sauce

There is a cart in the hallway with a bunch of sauces and ingredients to create your own sauce.

Hot Pot

Our table got 2 soup broths – preserved egg and pork bone soup. They have a bunch of different broths that range from mild to spicy.

They even have a soup base called Beauty in the Golden House. It’s quite elaborate and at $68, its not any regular broth. It needs to be ordered in advanced and will really impress guests.

As the different ingredients arrived at the table, we put them into the hot pot one by one. The quality of their ingredients are pretty good and it’s reflected in the price they charge.

Meat

Deluxe Lamb Roll came with quite a lot of slices for an order. Fresh and not frozen when it arrives at the table.

Ox Tongue was sliced nice and thin, so it more tender than usual.

Angus AAA Short Rub was very nice quality too. Very fresh and a good amount of marbling.

Standard Joshu Wagyu Kobe Beef is mouth watering. Very expensive cut of meat for $58 for only 5 large pieces.

Look at all those delicious ratio of meat to fat. So good. Since it is such a nice cut of meat, we made sure not to overcook it.

That marbling is awesome.

Beef Balls with cheese, fish balls, pork balls and prawn balls were all fresh and went well with the hot pot. My favourite was the prawn balls.

Seafood

Deluxe Seafood Platter is decadent and costs over $100. It has fresh crab, abalone, prawns, oyster, and grouper. It was so fresh that the prawns were still moving. The presentation is very nice and comes with a cup of smoking dried ice. Fancy Fancy.

Other items

Pea sprouts are one of my favourite veggies to have with hot pot.

They have fresh handmade noodles and its a nice option to have here.

Bean Curd Roll has 7 pieces and it is deep fried. You dip this into the hot pot until it becomes a bit soggy.

They have a lot of different mushrooms that are great too.

Corn is a great item to add to hot pot to add a bit of sweetness.

Deep Fried Chinese Donut with fish paste and tokibo was an interesting item to have as I’ve never seen anything like it.

Overall

The quality of the hot pot was superb, but it can cost quite a bit. They have pretty premium options when it comes to selecting broth, meats, seafood and other ingredients. Definitely not your everyday hot pot place.

We Rate Moral’s Village:

Address:
4540 Number 3 Road, Richmond

In Downtown

Pokérrito: Burritos, Bowls and Salads in Vancouver

September 20, 2016

Pokérrito is one of the new poké shops opening in Vancouver this year. The poké hype is real and during lunch time, there was a 30 minute line up out the door. Vancouverites are going nuts over the poké.

Building your meal

When you get to the counter they first ask you what protein you want and if you want it as a burrito, bowl or salad.

The protein you can choose from are ahi tuna, spicy tuna, albacore tuna, salmon, sockeye salmon, scallop, shrimp and octopus. Some protein choices cost extra.

You can add in as much cucumber, kale, green onion, sweet onion and cilantro.

You can choose 5 from the following list – Sprouts, masago, jalapeño, pineapple, grape-tomatoes, ginger, wasabi, sweet corn, furikake, and chili flakes.

You can choose 2 of the below as your sides. Avocado, edamame, crabmeat, seaweed salad or spicy seaweed salad.

You then can top it off with some sauce – Umami, wasabi-basil, citrus ponzu, sweet chili or creamy mayo.

There’s a lot of items to put into your creation, but it can also be quite confusing to decide what you want.

Bowl

The most popular item to order is the bowl as you do get a bit more ingredients in it. There is a base or rice either white or brown rice.

It comes in a durable container, so its good to eat in or take out. A lot of people ended up getting take out.

Salad

The salad is similar size to the bowl, but with romaine lettuce instead of the rice.

Burrito

I ordered the burrito and I had added sockeye salmon, avocado, seaweed salad, corn, sprouts, masago, tamago and umami sauce. This is all wrapped up in white rice and seaweed.

Overall, the burrito was good, but next time I would get the bowl just to get a little bit more ingredients. All of us liked all 3 options and is quite healthy. Price is decent too.

We Rate Pokérrito:

Address:
558 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.pokerrito.ca/

In Chinese

Liu Yi Shou Hot Pot Restaurant in South Burnaby

September 19, 2016

Liu Yi Shou Hot Pot Restaurant is a new hot pot restaurant in South Burnaby on Kingsway. They are a chain restaurant from China quickly expanding in Vancouver.

They have over 600 restaurants in China. They have 2 more locations on Robson Street and in Richmond. What is unique about their menu compared to their other locations is their pan fried hot pots.

I was invited by the Chopstick Fest, a Chinese Cuisine Festival happening in October later this year to try out a few of their signature dishes.

Interior

The interior is nice and has lot of seating. Depending on your group size, the seating can be quite squishy. For us, we had a group of 7 and it was very tight. We also found that for a hot pot place, there wasn’t very good ventilation.

All of us smelled quite intensely of hot pot afterwards.

Pan Fried Hot Pots

We started with the Pan Fried Crab with ginger onion and short rib soup in the centre. Apparently, you eat the items in the outer rings and then drink the soup in the centre.

The crab was hard to pick at since there were no metal seafood crackers. The taste of the soup was very nice.

The second pot we got was Pan fried fish and sauteed beef in a hot and spicy soup.

This pot had a lot more flavour. The sauteed beef went really well with the hot and spicy soup and spices.

Hot Pot

More spicy soup base is added to the pot. I thought this was pretty strange since the broth would be super oily from the pan fried ingredients originally in the pot. This was definitely a unique experience. We assumed we would get a new pot to switch over but it seemed like it wasn’t the case.

The spicy soup base has quite a kick to it. I always find that spicy is good for cooking meat. It’s a great match to have beef and a good amount of heat.

More of the short rib broth was added to our non spicy hot to cook some meat, veggies, seafood and other items.

To accompany both hot pots, all the extra items are a la carte. So, it’s not all you can eat.

Some of my favourite items were the frozen tofu, quail eggs, and veggies.

Some items were felt were not very fresh like the shrimp. Also the diced beef had bits of shell inside it.

Other menu items

Deep fried buns with condensed milk comes with 6 pieces of buns. Crisp on the outside and I like how there were 2 slits on the top so you can get some condensed milk in the cracks.

Green onion pancake was not good at all. It was only and didn’t have a lot of green onion taste to it. Mostly dough.

Yang chow fried rice was good and an easy item to share with the group.

Fresh young coconut was great for the meal as it quelled the heat from the spicy hot pot.

Overall, we felt like the items were a hit and miss. We also didn’t like how they added the broth into the pan fried hot pot as it made it super oily when we were doing the regular hot pot.

We rate Liu Yi Shou Hot Pot Restaurant:

Address:
5507 Kingsway, Burnaby BC

In Four Beakers

Peaked Pies: Aussie Meat Pies in Whistler

September 18, 2016

Peaked Pies in Whistler Village is a popular place to have a good ol’ Aussie Meat Pie. What makes them so popular is their beautiful looking ‘peaked pies’ topped with mashed potato, peas and gravy. I came with a few friends to indulge on their massive peaked pies.

The interior is pretty small and there aren’t a lot of seating. Most people ended up eating outside or getting it to go.

They have different pies available – traditional, chunky pepper steak, butter chicken, veggie, etc. Lots of pies to choose from.

Look at all those pies. On the outside, they all look the same.

They have an electronic ordering machine if you don’t want to line up at the counter. It’s super fast and easy to use.

Traditional Aussie Meat Pie which has ground beef, onions, and gravy. I also got it peaked for an extra $3.25, which adds mashed potato, mushy green peas and gravy on top. It’s so worth it. You can’t come here without getting it peaked.

All of us got it peaked. The savoury meaty mixture inside the flakey crust is made even better with the peas and mash. This is the ultimate comfort food.

We Rate Peaked Pies:

Address:
105-4369 Main Street, Whistler, BC

Website:
http://www.peakedpies.com/

In Brunch

Southside Diner: Breakfast in Whistler

September 17, 2016

Southside Diner is a cozy little diner in Whistler. When you drive along the highway, you’ll be able to see it. It’s one of the only diners in the area. They open early, so we made sure to come here to grab a bite.

Interior

Nothing says a diner more than their decor. Coca Cola memorabilia on the walls and old pictures. The old school booths and stools.

Rules of the house

There are rules of the house, all 12 of them. TL;DR be respectful and don’t be difficult.

Drinks

They offer many drinks on the menu, but most popular drink in the morning is coffee.

Breakfast

Monte Cristo has ham and swiss stuffed between 2 slabs of golden french toast. It also comes with warm syrup and homefries. The monte cristo was so indulgent. Mmmmm.

I also ordered a side of bacon. I love bacon, so this wasn’t complete without it. The bacon was nice and crisp, which is a bonus.

The Southside Slam has your choice of bacon, sausage or ham. Then you get 2 egg, 2 pancakes and their homefries. A very traditional Western breakfast with a bit of everything.

Overall, the diner is super cute and it’s hard to find anything like it anymore. Good solid breakfast and we enjoyed it.

We Rate Southside Diner:

Address:
2102 Lake Placid Rd, Whistler, BC

Website:
http://southsidediner.ca/

In Chinese

0755 Restaurant & Lounge: Dinner in Richmond

September 16, 2016

0755 Restaurant & Lounge looks like a club on the outside, but surprisingly, they have really good dishes. They showcase dishes from different regions and provinces in China. They are named after an area code of Shenzhen.

I was invited to try out their signature dishes on their dinner menu by the crew at Chopstick Fest.

Interior

The 2 sides are split up between the restaurant and lounge. It has a dark atmosphere and doesn’t look too much like a regular restaurant setting.

Drinks

Their drink menu is pretty large but I found that most of the drinks are very sweet.

Appetizer

Sweet Olive Chin-Yam was an interesting dish on the menu. I really didn’t like it as it was strange to be slightly sweet. It might of been better if this dish was colder.

Sour Jellyfish Head was really good, I liked the amount of vinegar in the dish, plus the jellyfish pieces were large.

Chongqing Spicy Chicken was another delicious dish. It wasn’t too spicy and it added a lot of flavour to the chicken.

Spicy and Sour Lotus Roots was delicious, but I didn’t like the chopped up into smaller pieces.

Mains

Braised Spot Prawns was bathing in the spicy sauce with corn pieces. They give you plastic gloves so you can peel off the shells with your hands. They try to tone down the messiness, but I still found some seeped into the gloves.

Lobster Noodles had a good amount of lobster and the noodles soaked up all the precious lobster juices.

Garlic Steam Scallop had a lot of garlic on the noodles with the piece of scallop on top.

Pepper Steam Mandarin Fish was a surprising dish. I thought I wouldn’t like it, but the fish was so juicy and well executed. It wasn’t spicy at all. From the looks of it, I thought it would be, but just good flavours.

Spicy Sour Beef in Soup looked unappealing, but the flavours of the beef and enoki mushroom were good. A subtle amount of spice but not too strong.

Roast Duck Slices with Spring Pancakes was ok, but the taste of the duck is masked by all the sauce that its covered with.

Steamed Garlic Loofah was another surprising dish. Even though it was stuffed with garlic, it wasn’t too pungent.

Sauteed Pea Sprouts in Broth is a good refreshing veggie dish. I love pea sprouts.

0755 Stir-fried rice with preserved ham came in a tall bucket with the rice packed in it. Lots of ingredients inside the rice.

Soup

Stewed Chicken Soup came in a jar for everyone that orders it. It was a nice clear soup with pieces of vegetables and chicken. There was a good amount in the jar.

Dessert

Ice Cream Toast was large and a good item to share with a group. They make all the ice cream in-house and the green tea ice cream was delicious.

Coconut Pudding was electrifying when it arrived at the table. It had a sparkler inserted up top and lit when it comes to you. When you pop off the top, you will see the milky pudding up top, but when you did deeper, you’ll find the clear coconut water is gelatin form underneath. It tastes so good and refreshing after the heavy meal.

After you eat the pudding, you can then eat the flesh off the inside of the coconut. I would highly recommend this.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the food here. As a restaurant and lounge, I wouldn’t expect them to have a killer dinner menu. I came here once before for some nibbles and alcohol. I was impressed.

Some dishes were a miss, especially the drinks, but there were a few items that I really enjoyed.

We Rate 0755 Restaurant:

Address:
3779 Sexsmith Rd, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.0755lounge.com/

In Late Night

Zog’s Dogs: Late Night Eats in Whistler

September 14, 2016

Zog’s Dogs is open till 2am in Whistler and it’s the perfect drunken snack. After drinking so much wine at dinner, we wandered towards Zog’s Dogs for hot dogs since we were needing some late night comfort food. The aroma of grilled onions will really take notice of Zog’s Dogs.

Besides hot dogs, they do have other items like poutine and burgers.

Chili Cheese Dog was what I ordered. The chili on top stayed intact and wasn’t too messy. I wish the cheese on top melted a bit more since pieces of it kept falling off onto the ground. The taste was alright.

My other friends ordered the hot dog and the Zog’s Dog. The hot dog didn’t really cut it, but the spaghetti sauce on the Zog’s Dog was pretty good.

Overall, it was a nice late night spot to quell our drunken food cravings. It’s super popular, so you will always see a group of people eating or lining up.

We rate Zog’s Dogs:

Address:
4340 Sundial Cres, Whistler, BC

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

In Naramata Bench

La Frenz: Wine Tasting on the Naramata Bench

September 13, 2016

La Frenz Winery and their wine shop is open daily from 10am to 5pm. Their winery and their wines are internationally recognized and have won award after award. They have 4 vineyard sites to be able to grow the different grape varieties for their wines.

The tasting room was packed and our group of 6 didn’t have a reservation.

We didn’t realize they highly recommend reservations during July and August.

We waited a little bit, but they were able to seat us outside in the patio.

It was one of my favourite tastings of the day as we were able to relax on a table and not feel rushed to finish the tasting.

They also have a misting machine up top to help cool you down in the hot summer heat.

As they sat us down, they gave us a cup of bread sticks to munch on as we started our tasting.

We ended up doing the Portfolio Tasting flight where we can select up to 4 wines from their daily featured list for $5. The fee can be waived if you buy a minimum of 2 bottles.

I went with all white wines and I had:

2015 Sauvignon Blanc
2015 Riesling
2014 Chardonnay
2015 Alexandria

All really good wines that I would highly recommend. If I had to choose one, it would be the Sauvignon Blanc since I like a good dry white wine.

My other friends went with the red wines and they did find a few they liked.

Overall, it was one of my favourite tasting places because of the atmosphere on the patio. Wines were great. Definitely try to get a reservation on the patio.

Address:
1525 Randolph Rd, Penticton

Website:
http://www.lafrenzwinery.com/

Type

Menu

Drinks

Shake Fries

JapaDogs

Final Thoughts

French Made Baking

David and Catherine Introligator

Yummy Treats

Classes

Go for a visit

Interior

Cereal selection

Price

Cereal Bowls

Final Thoughts

Drinks

Island Brunch

Interior

Dumplings

Other items

Veggies

Sweets

Final Thoughts

Interior

Drinks

Food

Drinks

Full Cup Shaved Ice

Soft Serve

Roll Cakes

Menu

Bubble Tea

Interior

Starters

Creating your sauce

Hot Pot

Meat

Seafood

Other items

Overall

Menu

Building your meal

Bowl

Salad

Burrito

Interior

Pan Fried Hot Pots

Hot Pot

Other menu items

Interior

Rules of the house

Drinks

Breakfast

Interior

Drinks

Appetizer

Mains

Soup

Dessert