cappuccino Archives

In Cafe

Serious Coffee: Caffeinated in Victoria

August 1, 2014

Serious Coffee is a local coffee chain on Victoria Island. Serious Coffee opened in 1994 in Duncan, BC and has now grown to 25 locations on the island. 20 years has passed since they first opened, but they are still as serious about good coffee since day 1.

I was in the Mayfair location needing to grab a quick coffee before work. Unfortunately for me, everyone else decided to grab a coffee at the same time, so there was a long lineup. The line moved quickly though.

The interior is cozy, but slightly dated. It definitely does have a nice charm to this place. It’s like home.

Small Cappuccino ($3.39) was good! No complaints here. Delicious beans were used and it was nice and strong.

Steak and Egg Breakfast Wrap came with a side of salsa. The wrap was grilled in a panini press and had nice grill marks.

The wrap held together quite nicely and it tasted alright. Nothing revolutionary, but it was a good solid breakfast wrap. You can’t go wrong with this.

Overall, a good alternative coffee shop if you love supporting local businesses.

We Rate Serious Coffee:

Address:
Unit D – 3075 Douglas St.
Victoria, BC

Website:
http://www.seriouscoffee.com/

In Italian

Novo Pizzeria and Wine Bar: Burrata and Creme Brulee

June 23, 2014

Novo Pizzeria is located in Kitsilano near Burrard and West 5th Avenue. There is street parking and underground parking as well. Novo Pizzeria serves up Neapolitan pizza created in their wood burning oven. Owner Carmine Paradiso opened Novo in 2011 because he loves Neapolitan pizza and couldn’t find any authentic ones in Vancouver.

M and I decided to give Novo a try after work one day. We have been to a bunch of other pizza places in town and wanted to see what people were talking about.

The interior has a comfortable and relaxed setting. You ca see the open kitchen at the back of the restaurant. It’s pretty fun to see them making pizza and preparing all the other dishes.

Burrata ($14) is served with arugula, oven-dried tomatoes, and house made bread. Oh boy, was this delicious! It had a soft texture, so, when you put it on the bread, it just oozes all over it. Highly recommended.

Sicilian Meatballs ($10) also is packed with currants, pine nuts then topped with reggiano and marinara sauce. The meatball were a nice size, but M thought it was just an average meatball. Nothing is noticeably different.

Ravioli ($19) has roasted pecans, gorgonzola pear balsamic cream sauce, and prosciutto.

I wasn’t a fan of the dish because it was rich and had a sweet taste. When you take a bite with prosciutto, it helps cut away the sweetness.

Novo DOP Margherita Pizza ($20) is made with DOP (denominazione di Origine Protetta) marked ingredients. These items have been made it it’s traditional ways to set a high quality of standards of produce in Europe.

This pizza is made with imported DOP San Marzano tomatoes, DOP Bufalo mozzarella from the Campania region of Italy, basil, Frantori Cutrera DOP, cold extracted olive oil, DOP parmigiano reggiano, and pesto.

Clearly, there is a lot of love and passion for quality ingredients that went into this pizza. You can really taste the freshness of the ingredients.

Tartufo ($21) has fior di latte, truffled mushrooms, fennel sausage, and truffled oil. This pizza was ok and I was surprised it didn’t have a strong truffle taste.

You can ask for chili oil for your pizza. It’s not spicy, but it adds a bit more flavour to the pizza.

Toasted Hazelnut Creme Brulee ($9) has Frangelico ganache under the creme brulee, rosemary and pinenut cookies, and a orange granita. Best creme brulee that I’ve ever had! The flavours were great and I could eat this over and over again.

Cappuccino was ordered at the end of the meal to finish off the evening.

Overall, there were items that were a hit and a miss. I didn’t find their staple items – pizza or pasta exciting. But, this is based off the few items I tried. My most favourite items are the burrata and the toasted hazelnut Creme Brulee!

We Rate Novo Pizzeria:

Address:
2118 Burrard Street
Vancouver

Website:
http://www.novopizzeria.com/

In Cafe

Cafe Joie: Coffee and Buns in South Burnaby

June 3, 2014

It’s about time there is a nice independent cafe near Metrotown. What more do you need than coffee and some yummy pastries with friends. KoreanGirl and I were killing time before dinner, so we headed to Cafe Joie for a snack. The cafe is very close to Metropolis at Metrotown. A few minutes walk and you would never expect a place like this to be in the area.

The interior is quite beautiful, spacious and adorable. It’s a great place to do some homework or just catch up with some friends.

Latte is so cute! KoreanGirl was impressed that they took the extra effort to make a little bear on top. The coffee tastes great as they use JJ Bean coffee. I would just come here for the latte art.

Cappuccino was what I ordered. Nice, strong, and delicious. A definite winner if you want to just slowly sip away and have some pastries with it.

Almond cookie was delicious!! I liked the texture and how it was crunchy. I had an obsession with pastries with nuts and almonds. Yum.

Original Coffee Bun that they have here was enjoyable! It’s uniformly shaped and has a coffee aroma from the crust on top. KoreanGirl liked this coffee bun the most compared to some other places in town.

They also have tons of macarons and a few cakes on display too. They also have shaved ice.

Overall, we enjoyed this cafe and would highly recommend it.

We Rate Cafe Joie:

Address:
110-6125 Sussex Ave
Burnaby BC

Website:
http://www.cafejoie.com/

In Cafe

Continental Coffee: Independent Coffee Shop on Commercial Drive

June 1, 2014

I was walking down Commercial Drive and I saw Continental Coffee House, so I decided to stop here and grab a coffee. It was cool to see an independent coffee joint in the neighbourhood. The place was packed in the middle of the day with people having meeting, people hanging out with friends, and people doing homework. It’s been around for a long time since 1979. They have been voted one of the best independent coffee shop in Vancouver.

There is also a second location on Main Street, that opened on December 2012.

Cappuccino was what I ordered. It was good coffee with a rice strong flavour.

I’ll definitely be back.

We Rate Continental Coffee:

Address:
1806 Commercial Dr
Vancouver BC

Website: http://continental-coffee.ca/

In Cafe

Aroma Espresso Bar: Coffee Time

May 23, 2014

M, Fabo and I were taking a very long stroll to the movie theatres near Eglinton. It took us a while to figure out its a long walk from Bloor and Younge. We took a break half way and went to Aroma Espresso Bar to have a drink.

We have seen several Aroma Espresso Bars around town. Aroma Espresso Bar actually first opened in Jerusalem in 1994, but it wasn’t until 2007 when the first Canadian store opened in Toronto in the Annex area.

It was a Sunday afternoon and this place was busy. They serve coffee, sandwiches, pastries, salads, and even breakfast.

Brewed coffee ($1.70) is made with their own house-blend of beans. It comes with a piece of milk chocolate.

Cappuccino ($3.95) is made with a short shot of espresso, blended with steamed milk, and topped with froth. It also comes with a piece of chocolate.

Mango Smoothie ($4.85) is apparently made with 100% real fruit. M thought it was ok, pretty average. But it was nice that it came with a piece of chocolate too.

Overall, it a nice place to stop by for a drink. We saw some people study and some other people catching up over drinks.

We Rate Aroma Espresso Bar:

Address:
1407 Yonge St
Toronto ON

Website:
http://www.aroma.ca/