Dinesty

August 1, 20132 Comments

Dinesty is next to Starbucks and Ebisu in Richmond, and I believe they recently opened one in Downtown on Robson. I’ve gone by this restaurant multiple times, but I don’t think I’ve actually ate here before. At last, J and I decided to grab an early dinner, and he suggested we go to Dinesty. It seems to be his favourite place to go.

I think we got there around 5 pm, so it was quite empty. However, shortly after sitting down, the place quickly became filled. Apparently, there are usually long waits during dinner time, and it’s almost impossible to get a seat without reservations. The food here seems to be a mix of Taiwanese and Shanghainese food. Decor is simple and clean, and I like the open kitchen they have. You can see the chefs preparing your food, just like Shanghai River. Sort of a similar concept in terms of their floor plan.

Steamed Pork Dumplings

I wanted some Steamed Pork Dumplings, or better known as Xiao Long Bao! An order came with 8 hot and steamy dumplings. The wrappers were thin, yet held the pork, and inside, it was juicy. The soup was very delicious!

Ma Po Tofu

J chose the Ma Po Tofu. It was a large serving, and definitely too much for two people to share. The tofu was soft and the sauce wasn’t too spicy. It would’ve been perfect with white rice, but we had ordered another rice. We ended up mixing it with our Shrimp Fried Rice, since it would be too spicy and salty to eat alone.

Shrimp Fried Rice

Lastly, I chose the Shrimp Fried Rice. It had a hint of shrimp paste flavour, and the rice was cooked so it wasn’t too moist and sticky. There were also an abundant of shrimps inside.

Overall, I enjoyed the dishes we had at Dinesty. I can see why people enjoy coming here for meals. You get a good amount of food, which is of decent quality, at a decent price. I hear that service isn’t as great once it gets really busy during peak times, so perhaps going early is the way to go here. I also like how all their menu items have pictures, so you get a sense of what you are ordering beforehand. Perfect for beginners of Chinese food!

Boiling Point

July 6, 20131 Comment

I’ve been seeing people’s pictures of their miniature hot pots and of course I decided to check it out on one of the hottest days… Bad idea, but I guess it satisfied my craving. Boiling Point is located in a small plaza on No.3 Road and boy did I never think parking would be so bad there. We literally waited around 15 minutes, circling around the lot. It’s weird because there really isn’t that many restaurants here, so you would think that parking would be relatively easy…

Inside, the place reminds me of Taiwanese bubble tea spots. I have to say the service is quite mediocre. It took forever to get the attention of a server just for us to place an order.

Green Tea

Apparently if you dine before 3pm, then you get a complementary choice of Green or Black Tea. I chose the Green Tea, and it was a refreshing way to enjoy your hot pot.

Curry Fishball Hot Soup (Tiny Spicy)

I’m not sure what’s up with me and curry fishballs lately… probably because I keep eating them at the night market, but after minutes of indecisiveness, I ended up getting the Curry Fishball Hot Soup with tiny spicy. It included Nappa, Vermicelli, Pork Sliced, Enoki Mushroom, Imitation Crabstick, Kamaboko, Fishball, Fired Tofu Skin, Corn, Tempura, Mountain Yam, and Chinese String Bean. I have to say I wasn’t too impressed with it. The curry was so thin that it lacked flavour. I was expecting a thicker soup base, but it was more like curry powder in water. The fish balls weren’t even coated in curry, which was quite disappointing.

Beef Hot Soup (Very Spicy)

N got the Beef Hot Soup. It included Nappa, Vermicelli, Beef Sliced, Enoki Mushroom, Tomato, Firm Tofu, Tempura, Corn, Meatball, Kamaboko, Fired Tofu Skin, and Imitation Crabstick. It looked pretty good and apparently it wasn’t too spicy for her. We did find that it was weird how the beef was still quite pink, even though it was cooked for a long time.

Beef Hot Soup (Flaming Spicy)

J is crazy for spicy food, so she also got the Beef Hot Soup, but with flaming spicy. I like how there was a warning sign on the menu, but she clearly did not think it was spicy at all. I tried a piece of her cabbage in it, and I thought it was really spicy!!

All hot pots also came with a bowl of rice, so the meal is quite filling in the end. I like how you get a variety of ingredients and the choice of how spicy you would like the soup base. At a price of around $11 for most of the hot pots, it’s a great place to grab a filling meal.

Chef Hung

January 13, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Looking for food on Christmas is always a headache! Pretty much every restaurant is closed on Christmas Day…well except for Asian restaurants! And so we headed over to Aberdeen, and the parking lot was just a mess. Aberdeen Centre is the only mall open on Christmas in Richmond I think…so I guess everyone just crowds there. After long waits stuck in traffic in the parking lot, I met up with K, JW, and JZ for some Taiwanese food at Chef Hung.

Pan-fried Crispy Pancake with Green Onion

I didn’t try these, but they looked nicely pan-fried. At least they weren’t burnt!

Braised Beef Shank & Tripe with Thin Noodle in Soup

I’ve tried their noodles a few times before, and their Champion Beef Shank is always popular. This time I chose the Braised Beef Shank & Tripe. As always, the soup broth was tasty and wasn’t overwhelming in flavours. The soup is supposed to be MSG-free. The tripe is basically the cow’s stomach, and had great texture. It wasn’t too tough which is always good.

Overall, not bad! I always seem to go back whenever I want Taiwanese noodles. It also won 2012’s Vancouver Restaurant Award for being the Best Noodle House, so I guess that says something. Worth giving it a try.

Leisure Tea & Coffee (Revisit)

December 27, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Crispy Chicken Sandwich

I’ve revisited Leisure way too many times by now. But there still seems to be items that I haven’t tried. I always tend to go for my favourites, but this time I decided to try some other menu items. These are actually two separate visits, but I’ll just put it in one post. The first item was the Crispy Chicken Sandwich. I’ve heard great things about their Club Sandwich, but I was curious to see what a Crispy Chicken Sandwich was. So glad I got this because it was really delicious! They come in a plate of four triangular sandwiches in white bread. Each sandwich has three layers of bread, so it makes it quite large in size. With the crispy chicken inside, which is really their famous Taiwanese chicken, the sandwiches are too big to take a whole bite of. But I didn’t mind that. Inside was also tomatoes, cucumbers and mayo. I would definitely recommend this.

Crispy Chicken Waffle

Then, on Christmas night after my Christmas potluck, I joined some friends to go to Leisure again… Only Asian restaurants are open on Christmas, so the place was surprisingly quite packed. With all Asians of course. Sadly, I wasn’t too satisfied with my potluck dinner, so I was actually craving some more food by then. I’ve had their Ice Cream Waffle before, but what was a Crispy Chicken Waffle?! I decided to give that a try and it was oh so delicious! It’s really the same thing as the Crispy Chicken Sandwich but in a waffle form. The waffle also had a lot more chicken than the sandwiches. It wasn’t too salty and all the ingredients just worked well together with the vegetables giving a refreshing feel.

Overall, extremely satisfied with both visits again. The food never seem to disappoint!

TaiwanFest 2012

September 29, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Again, I’m pretty much a month late on my posts. But anyways, TaiwanFest occurred during the Labour Day weekend, and was a festival to celebrate Taiwan culture and food! Since Vancouver is multicultural and has tons of Taiwanese, it made sense to have it here. And also Toronto I believe. It was hosted by Telus with all sorts of entertainment, with live performances, DIY art, music, and of course food! The event was held around the downtown Granville area and was free to public – well other than the food! Funny how J didn’t know about the event even though he’s Taiwanese, but I dragged him along nonetheless.

Family Lin

Taiwanese Soup Noodle ($5)

The streets were pretty packed and we saw a huge lineup to the booths for the Tainan Street Banquet. Some teen volunteers however, told us to go check out the other food booths since it would take a while to get in. Shouldn’t have listened to them since the lineup when we got back was even longer! But anyways, we ended up going to the International Food Fair area, where J got the Taiwanese Soup Noodle. I took a sip of the soup and thought it had a strange taste. Apparently it’s the taste of onions…? He said it wasn’t too bad though.

Sasaya Bistro

Oyster Omelet ($6)

A lot of the food I saw weren’t actually too familiar to me. Or they were fried food that I wasn’t craving that day. I ended up spotting a booth that sold the Oyster Omelet and purchased that instead. The wait was quite a while as they had told me beforehand. I guess it takes a little longer to cook this dish. I’ve had a really delicious oyster omelet at a family Taiwanese restaurant in Richmond a while back before, and I have to say this one wasn’t up to par. The outside of the omelet didn’t have that crispy texture and instead had a very glutinous jelly-like substance – something that I didn’t find too appealing for my taste. I also wasn’t too used to the sauce which was a little sour and spicy. I’m guessing the sauce is what they usually use though, but I would’ve liked it on the side.

Totoro

Passionfruit Slush ($5)

J got thirsty and also got a Passionfruit Slush. This was actually really good since it was refreshing on a hot sunny day. The passionfruit flavour wasn’t too sour as well, since I’ve had ones that were really sour. We then realized that the booth was Totoro, which is a bubble tea shop in Richmond. I don’t think they’re even Taiwanese operated, but oh well. It was still good.

Tainan Street Banquet

Fatty Pork with Young Bamboo on Vermicelli ($5)

Steamed Rice Pudding ($5) – Glutinous rice steamed with mushroom, minced pork and shrimps in circular pudding shape, served with sauce and coriander

We got filled up a bit now, so we decided to walk around and explore the other booths that were not related to food…After an hour or so, we decided to head back to the Tainan Street Banquet to check out why there was always a lineup. We waited roughly 10 minutes, and finally got to the entrance where we were given a tray. This area was actually all owned by the same restaurant/chef, and there were basically around 10 different menu items to choose from, and as you move along the line, you can let the people know what you want. They then place it on your tray and you proceed to pay. All items were $5, which wasn’t too bad, considering you’re at a special event and the portions were pretty good too. They also had tables to sit down at in this area. I was pretty confused with what to get, since I wasn’t familiar with most of it. We ended up getting the Fatty Pork with Young Bamboo on Vermicelli and the Steamed Rice Pudding. Good choice since we soon realized that almost everyone got those items too. The vermicelli wasn’t soup based so it was just moist. The fatty pork was actually really good, although it was lots of fat. I felt kind of unhealthy eating it, but I have to admit it’s good. The Steamed Rice Pudding was something that I had wanted to try since I got there. I saw other people eating it and I thought it looked really pretty! I really liked the mixture of minced beef, mushrooms, shrimp, and the sauce. It was flavourful and sort of reminded me of the sticky rice my mom makes. Good stuff!

I wish I posted this earlier so others could read and go, but I’m sure they will be back next year again. A great event to check out with family and friends!

Leisure Tea & Coffee

August 23, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Shaved Ice with caramel pudding, tapioca pearls, red bean, peanuts, raisins and much more..I don’t remember!

Strawberry Crepe

Revisit for Leisure again! I swear I revisit this place too often… But that’s cause the food and drinks are so good! This time, I decided to try their crepes. I got the Strawberry Crepe and it was presented really nicely. The middle was filled with lots of strawberries, and then it was topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. I found the strawberries a little sour, but the ice cream helped add some sweetness to it. Not bad!

Facing East Taiwanese Restaurant

August 6, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Milk Tea with Tapioca

Five Spiced Beef Wrap

Soy Flavoured Chicken – (Three Cup Chicken) with fresh basil

Shrimp Fried Rice

Off I went to Bellevue for the weekend to do some shopping for the weekend. It seems to be a tradition by now that we head down to the south for some shopping during the summer. And even when I’m on vacation, I love to try new food, so of course I urbanspooned some places to eat! My sister ended up finding Facing East Taiwanese Restaurant, which is basically sort of like our Pearl Castle, where they offer bubble tea and Taiwanese food. It was rated 93% on Urbansppon, so we thought it better be good!

The mall was quite small, but was jam packed with cars, and we basically had nowhere to park during the lunch hours. We ended up having to park a few blocks down and walked over to restaurant. The restaurant was quite packed with families and young adolescents eating, but we got a seat quite fast.

We had just ate breakfast during a stop on our way, so we weren’t too hungry. We ended up just sharing a few dishes among ourselves. My sister and I decided to share the Milk Tea with Tapioca, and I have to say I was extremely disappointed. It’s not even up to par with some of the worse bubble tea places I’ve had back in Richmond. We could see the milk tea powder floating up, and when we tried to stir it in, we realized there was no point since our drink was cold. So they basically didn’t even dissolve all the powder to begin with before adding the ice. You could taste the powder, and it definitely wasn’t great. We also got the Five Spiced Beef Wrap as an appetizer, and it was alright. I personally don’t like cilantro, so it wasn’t exactly my favourite. I’ve definitely had better at Chef Hung as well. Next up, we got the Soy Flavoured Chicken. I found it a little too salty and the chicken was a little overcooked, so it was a bit rough. The chicken pieces were however huge. Lastly, we got the Shrimp Fried Rice, which I found was the best dish out of the 3. The flavour was just right, not too bland and not too salty. It also had loads of shrimp, and the rice was cooked well.

Overall, I don’t really understand why Facing East has such high ratings, because I honestly think it was just average. I’ve definitely had better in Richmond, but maybe that’s because Richmond is full of good eats!

Leisure Tea & Coffee

July 5, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Caramel Pudding on Shaved Ice

Honey Milk Tea?

Coffee

Combo of Taiwanese Chicken, Deep Fried Tofu, and Fishcake

Ice Cream Waffle

French Fries

We had a big group hangout before Jane left for vacation a few weeks ago at Leisure since they always have good food and drinks. Taiwanese owned and has a very nice vintage feel to it, which attracts both young and older crowds.

I didn’t try all the food above at this sitting, although I have tried many of them in the past. The Caramel Pudding on Shaved Ice is one of my favourites. The sweet caramel works well with shaved ice, although I can get a brain freeze after too many spoonfuls. It’s still a great dessert to share though. Another one of my favourites is the Ice Cream Waffle. The waffle is served warm, and accompanied with the ice cream, making a delicious dessert. I’ve also tried the French Fries which are also really good. They aren’t too oily, yet they are crispy. This time, I tried something new though. I got their Combo of Taiwanese Fried Chicken, Fried Tofu, and Fishcake. I have to say, I was a little disappointed with this dish, as it wasn’t presented too well, and was extremely oily. I’ve had their Taiwanese Fried Chicken as a separate dish before, and I thought it was really delicious. I didn’t find that tofu or fishcake to be any special, and they were way too oily. The whole dish was also spicy, which was good, but I also found it a little too salty. I would definitely recommend getting the chicken on its own though.

Overall, Leisure is always one of my favourite places to go to for late night desserts or bubble tea. They are also always extremely packed at night, especially on weekends.

Every Day is a Food Day

Category: Taiwanese

Dinesty

Boiling Point

Chef Hung

Leisure Tea & Coffee (Revisit)

TaiwanFest 2012

Leisure Tea & Coffee

Facing East Taiwanese Restaurant

Leisure Tea & Coffee