Soft Peaks

March 8, 2015March 8, 20151 Comment

Soft Peaks just opened over a month and it has gotten a lot of hype. I was fortunate enough to be invited to try their media samples. Located in the heart of Gastown, it’s very convenient and it was no surprise that there was a long line up on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The shop is owned by two Korean brothers and they focus on ice cream that is made with Avalon organic milk. Everything about the shop is about local – from their local ingredients to their cups and spoons which come from local suppliers.

They are famous for their honeycomb topping, which comes from the Okanagan and Fraser Valley. The honeycomb on ice cream was the craze in South Korea last year, so it’s great that they’ve brought it to Vancouver.

Other than the honeycomb, they offer many other premium toppings, including Himalayan pink salt, Tim Tams and yuzu marmalade.

Honeycomb Peak

Of course I went for their signature ice cream – the Honeycomb Peak. It featured a piece of local honeycomb on top with corn flakes at the base. The honeycomb is sticky and sweet and the honey oozes out of the comb. I love the mix of honey with the creamy dairy based ice cream. Makes it super smooth and the sweetness of the honey is just right. However, I wish that I could dig into the corn flakes earlier on. You can’t really get to it until the end.

Green Forest

K chose the Green Forest, which features organic Premium Matcha powder, sweet red beans, and condensed milk on top of the soft serve. I actually really enjoyed this as it wasn’t too sweet. K said she wished there were some mochi balls as well. That would’ve been perfect!

Overall, we were quite pleased with Soft Peaks. They come at a premium price and are good treats once in a while. A good change from your typical gelatos. Service is friendly, but expect long waits since everyone is checking out the shop these days. They also have some seating upstairs if you want to enjoy your ice cream indoors.

* All food were complimentary.

Pros:
– Ice cream is smooth and ingredients are all local
– Interesting toppings to choose from

Cons:
– Long waits
– Premium prices

Price Range: $5-10

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 4
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 3
Overall: 3.5

Yah Yah Ya Ramen

March 3, 2015March 3, 20151 Comment

Yah Yah Ya Ramen opened next to Richmond Sushi just last year and replaced the previous Taiwanese restaurant. I thought the name was pretty funny, so I suggested we give it a try. They specialize in a le-kei soup, which is their pork soy sauce soup. Pork bone, chicken bone, konbu, and vegetables are boiled for over 12 hours to make this soup. It is then flavoured with soy sauce, green onion, and garlic.

The restaurant is not too big and is clean and simply decorated. We arrived around 6pm and were seated immediately. The restaurant began to get packed after a while, and by the time we left, there were some patrons waiting for seats. Seems like it’s quite popular.

Shoyu Ramen

S got the Shoyu Ramen, which is their number one ramen. The menu is fairly simple with really only shoyu, miso, shio, or spicy miso to choose from. For each bowl of noodles, you can choose whether you want the noodles: hard, normal, or soft; the taste: heavy, normal, or light; and the oil: more, normal, or less. S went for hard noodles, with heavy taste and normal oil. The shoyu ramen came with chashu, toasted seaweed, spinach, and half a flavoured egg. He also added extra toasted seaweed. I enjoyed this broth a lot more than the miso. Even though he chose heavy taste, I found the broth to be much lighter than many ramen joints. It wasn’t as salty as I would’ve imagined.

Miso Ramen

For myself, I got the Miso Ramen, which came with chashu, bean sprouts, seaweed, and half a flavoured egg. I chose hard noodles, normal taste and normal oil. The noodles were cooked to al dente, but I found the broth to be quite average and slightly too salty. I would stick with their shoyu soup, which is what they are famous for. The chashu was soft and melted in your mouth. The portions are pretty good and you get a good amount of the toppings for the price.

Pros:
– Reasonable prices and portions
– Service is friendly

Cons:
– Stick with the shoyu – miso was slightly too salty
– Line ups at peak hours

Price Range: $10-15

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 4
Overall: 3

Liquids & Solids

March 2, 2015March 2, 2015Leave a comment

Liquids & Solids is just a few blocks away from work and is perfect whenever you feel like some soup and sandwich. You can grab lunch, which will fill you up for around $10, which is pretty decent around the Broadway area. The shop is bustling at lunch time and you need to first line up to order. They then call your name and you can grab your order to go or to dine in. They offer mainly soups and sandwiches, but also quiches. They change their menu daily, so you may see some daily specials.

Heavenly Pesto Chicken and Salmon Chowder

On the first occasion, D recommended I try the Heavenly Pesto Chicken. This was delicious! The sandwich was filled with slow roasted chicken topped with aged cheddar, spinach, tomatoes and their popular pesto aioli. This was grilled up on sourdough, which was toasted perfect. The sandwiches are around $7.95, and you can add an extra $2 for soup. I chose the Salmon Chowder, which was filled with salmon pieces and vegetables. Very flavourful!

Cheesus Crust and Chili

E got the Cheesus Crust, which features a blend of cheddar, provolone, Parmesan and blue cheese. It is topped with a cilantro pesto, roasted red pepper antipasta and a touch of sour cream. She said it was very cheesy and had a slight heat. She also added the Chili to her meal.

Jack Daniel’s Pulled Pork and Chili

On another occasion, I had the Jack Daniel’s Pulled Pork, which featured slow roasted pork cooked for hours in Jack Daniel’s sauce. It was topped with carmelized onions and served grilled on Yukon gold, scallion foccacia bread. I also had the Chili which was filled with beans and shredded meat. The chili wasn’t too spicy, but full of ingredients and flavour.

The pulled pork was very moist and was slightly sweet. You couldn’t really taste the alcohol in it. Overall, great sandwiches and soups and reasonable prices. Not much service, but they are still friendly.

Pros:
– Great variety of sandwiches and soups
– Reasonable prices

Cons:
– Not much service
– Not too many seats for larger groups

Price Range: $5-15

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 3
Overall: 3

Diva at the Met

March 1, 2015Leave a comment

For Valentine’s Day, S took me to Diva at the Met, which is located at the Metropolitan Hotel. On the day, they only offered the set menu and you were not able to order off the a la carte menu.

Complementary bread and butter

Dinner started off with complimentary bread and butter. There were two types of bread. One had raisins, while the other had nuts. The bread was pretty good, but I would have preferred if it was served warm.

The restaurant has an open kitchen concept with glass, so you can see the cooks prepare your food. That night, they offered a four course menu for $80 a person. There are two choices: the Diva or the Divo. The Diva is supposed to be catered for the girl, while the Divo is for the guy. However, you are open to choosing either depending on which menu you prefer more. Of course, I wanted to try everything, so I went for the Diva, while S got the Divo.

Lobster Bisque

The Divo menu starts off with the Lobster Bisque, which has a truffle cappuccino foam. The consistency is rather thick and you can definitely taste hint of the truffle cappuccino.

Octopus Carpaccio

For the Diva, it starts with the Octopus Carpaccio, which was probably my favourite of the night. The dish was beautifully presented, with lots of colours. It featured lobster, quail egg, and heirloom tomatoes. The octopus was thinly cut and cooked perfectly. It had just the right chew and the tomatoes made the dish very refreshing. The lobster was fresh and the meat was tender.

Smoked Ham Hock Terrine

Divo’s second course was the Smoked Ham Hock Terrine, which featured pickles, onion jam, and bread tuile. The terrine had a smokey flavour and the ham wasn’t too salty. Paired with the onion jam, it made a great dish. The bread tuile was thin and crispy, but there could have been more of that to complement the terrine.

Arugula & Granny Smith Apple Salad

The Diva’s second course was the Arugula & Granny Smith Apple Salad. I wasn’t too happy with this dish since I felt like I already sort of had a salad like dish for my first course. Seemed like they thought the ladies only eat salads… Anyways, this was a huge portion of arugula, and it was topped with a cider vinaigrette. It also came with blue cheese, which I’m not a fan of, so it wasn’t something I really enjoyed. However, I liked the candied walnuts, grapes, and Granny Smith apples that were paired along. The apples were slightly sour so it was really appetizing.

Grilled Angus AAA Rib Eye

The Divo’s main course was the Grilled Angus AAA Rib Eye. S ordered the steak medium rare and indeed, the inside was cooked to a beautiful pink. It was dijon herb crusted with a brandy jus. The cut was perfect and so tender. I wish I had ordered this myself. It also came with roasted honey garlic and a potato and gruyere pave as sides.

Roast Pheasant Coq au Vin

The Diva’s entree was the Roast Pheasant Coq au Vin. The pheasant was stuffed with stone fruit, and came with red rice, barley and honey carrots. The meat was actually pretty moist and the fruit stuffing gave it some sweetness. It came with a red wine sauce. Everything about the dish felt a little too healthy though. Not bad, but I probably wouldn’t order this again.

Passion Fruit Curd and Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse

Lastly, for dessert, both the Diva and Divo’s came on the same dish. For the Diva, it was the Passion Fruit Curd, while the Divo’s was the Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse. The passion fruit curd was filled within a genoise, or Italian sponge cake, and had layers of white chocolate mousse. It came with some berry coulis and fresh fruit. I enjoyed both the desserts. The chocolate mousse wasn’t too sweet and I liked the hint of hazelnut flavour. Tasted sort of like eating a Ferro Rocher. I also liked how it was presented so you can share the plate with your significant other.

Chocolates

Lastly, as your bill comes, they bring you a plate with chocolate truffles and a rose for the girl. Pretty sweet. Service was attentive and friendly. It didn’t feel pushy at all and the ambiance was nice but not over the top. Great place for date night.

Pros:
– All our dishes were pretty good and presented nicely
– Service was attentive and friendly

Cons:
– Wish we could’ve ordered off the a la carte menu

Price Range: $80/person for Valentine’s Day set menu

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 4
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 3
Overall: 4

Guu Garlic (revisit)

February 23, 2015Leave a comment

Okonomiyaki

Went for a revisit at Guu Garlic on Robson Street again, and the izakaya spot is always a full house. Luckily, we got a seat at the bar. We started off with the Okomiyaki, which is a deep fried squid and cabbage pancake. It came with a tonkatsu sauce and mustard mayo and was topped with bonito flakes. The pancake gets quite messy and it falls apart easily, but has a good amount of ingredients. Very flavourful, but I found it to be a little salty.

Karaage

Next was the Karaage, or deep fried chicken, which came with a garlic mayo on side. Large pieces of chicken, but I also found that it had too much batter on it. The seasoning was just right though.

Kabocha Croquette

We also got the Kabocha Croquette, which is a croquette of mashed pumpkin squash with a boiled egg in the center. I always love getting this. Crispy on the outside with the mash being slightly sweet. It comes with a mayo sauce for dipping.

Yaki Udon

Lastly was my all time favourite – Yaki-Udon. The pan fried udon comes with beef, mushroom, green onion, soy sauce, and butter. Something about their sauce makes it my favourite yaki-udon of all times. However, the beef was slightly over done this time and I found it very tough. Otherwise, flavour was on point again.

Overall, Guu Garlic consistently executes good izakaya food. It’s also very noisy in there, but that’s the ambiance they are going for. Service is friendly and attentive. Great place for izakaya snacks and drinks.

Pros:
– Consistently good izakaya food
– Reasonable prices

Cons:
– Seating may not be the most comfortable
– Can get quite loud

Price Range: $15-30

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 3
Overall: 3.5

Happy Date

February 15, 2015February 15, 2015Leave a comment

Happy Date has been around for a long time, and they are famous for their pineapple buns and HK style food. Not the best looking on the outside and inside, but they are known for great food. My mom told me that they now serve Chinese dishes for dinner time, rather than just the HK style food during lunch, so we decided to go give it a try. The restaurant is packed inside and surprisingly, it has been renovated and is decent looking. Nothing special, but it was clean.

They have a few set menus for dinner, including lobster or pigeons. We went for the Pigeon Special Set Menu, which came with two crispy pigeons and your choice of 3 dinner dishes served with soup, rice and dessert for $69.88. First up was the soup, which had meat and vegetables. Your typical home-made soup which had been boiled for many hours.

Crispy Pigeons

Then came the feature of the set menu. You can choose more or less pigeons depending on how large your group of diners are. The choice of dishes increase when you add more pigeons as well. We went for two pigeons, which was more than enough. Everyone had around 2 pieces to eat. We found that the skin could have been more crispy though. Flavourwise, I liked how it wasn’t overly salty.

Pork Chop with Honey and Peach Glaze

With our set menu, you can then choose three dishes from a long list of choices. We chose the Pork Chop with Honey and Peach Glaze, which ended up being a huge dish! It was definitely glazed with lots of sugar, since the honey was very apparent. The pork chop was deep fried, but we all found it to be just average. The batter was sort of too thick and I found it to be too sweet.

Vegetable and Bean Curd with Lettuce

The second dish was the Vegetable and Bean Curd with Lettuce. This came in a fish broth, which I found to be too milky for my liking. The veggies were fresh, but other than that, nothing too special. Your typical veggie dish.

Deep Fried Chicken with Fish Sauce

Lastly, was the Deep Fried Chicken with Fish Sauce. The skin was crispy, but didn’t seem to attach to the chicken itself. The chicken was moist and seasoned well, and I liked the fish sauce that came with it. Not bad.

Dessert was red bean soup, but I guess it’s whatever they decide to make that night. Not a fan of red bean soup, so I didn’t have any to comment on.

Overall, Happy Date was pretty average to me. Good prices and large portions, but I wouldn’t say the food is too memorable or above average. Service was also very friendly, and it’s honestly pretty clean although you shouldn’t expect much ambiance here. It’s super basic and simple, but somehow still attracts all these diners!

Pros:
– Reasonable prices
– Large portions

Cons:
– Average eats
– Ambiance isn’t the best

Price Range: $15-20

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3
Service: 4
Ambiance: 2
Parking:2
Overall: 3

Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France

February 14, 2015Leave a comment

It’s the 5th year that Vancouver has hosted the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival. From January 17 until today, February 14, 2015, a list of shops offer hot chocolate flavours that may not normally be on their normal menu. We decided to check out Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France, which is hidden away just off Main Street. The sign is so small, that it was actually difficult to locate.

They offered the following hot chocolates which they said are exclusive to this festival:

“Marocchino”
Classic Italian drink: half drinking chocolate, half espresso.

“Praliné Chocolat”
Liquid house made Nutella: drinking chocolate + hazelnut praline.

“Lavande Classique”
Available only once a year, during the hot chocolate festival, the simple but classic lavender hot chocolate is back by popular demand.

“Aztec Glacé”
Anne’s favorite iced hot chocolate. Spicy, hot, cold, salty and sweet. Purely addictive.

All hot chocolates are also served with a meringue of your choice. They didn’t have any meringues, but offered either their house-made truffles or toffee.

The interior is really small and homey, but there are still a few seats if you want to sit down and drink your hot chocolate. They offer chocolates, waffles, and take home products like jam.

A display case of chocolates and as you can see, their meringues were sold out.

I chose the Orange Blossom Truffle which was complimentary with my drink. Loved that hint of orange blossom.

Lavande Classique

I chose the Lavande Classique. Very strong in chocolate flavour, but I found that the lavender aroma wasn’t strong enough. Very smooth though.

Orange Blossom Hot Chocolate

K decided to go for their original menu and went for their Orange Blossom Hot Chocolate. You can order just plain hot chocolate for $4 and add a flavour of your choice for $0.50. It tasted basically like my truffle, but I still found that the flavour wasn’t very strong in their drinks. If you order from their regular menu, then you don’t get a complimentary truffle or toffee.

Overall, we thought the hot chocolates were decent. They didn’t look special like the ones at Bel Cafe or Mink. Just came in a simple paper cup and no decorations. we found it pretty pricey since they weren’t really special, other than the flavours. Friendly service though.

Pros:
– Cute coffee and hot chocolate shop
– Decent hot chocolate and friendly service

Cons:
– Nothing too special for the price you pay

Price Range: $5-10

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3
Service: 4
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 3
Overall: 3

Legend House

February 6, 2015Leave a comment

Just across Coquitlam Centre is Legend House, a restaurant that specializes in Northern China and Szechuan cuisine.

Walking in, you can see the chefs preparing handmade noodles and dumplings.

Chicken with Spicy Sauce

We started off with the Chicken with Spicy Sauce. The free range chicken was tossed in a spicy Szechuan peppercorn dressing & garlic. I found the sauce to be very spicy, but I’ve had a spicier one. I’m sure Szechuan diners would think that this is not spicy enough. The chicken itself was also difficult to eat, since the chicken was chopped up in a way were there were bits of bones everywhere. Not a lot of actual meat to be honest.

Dan Dan Noodles

Next were the Dan Dan Noodles, which came in a huge bowl for a cheap price of $6.95. Eating this on your own would definitely fill you up very well. The noodles were handmade, but I found that they stuck together a lot. The texture itself is pretty good though, with a nice chew. The sauce was a spicy, tangy peanut sauce, and included minced pork & spinach. Of course, there were crushed peanuts as well. Slightly spicy, but I could still handle it.

Shanghai “Xiao Long Bao” Soup Dumplings

Next up were the Shanghai “Xiao Long Bao” Soup Dumplings, which were filled with minced pork and ginger. The soup inside was sizzling and creamy. The skin was also a good thickness. Pretty good and comparable to some of the ones in Richmond.

Legend Beef Rolls

We also got the Legend Beef Rolls, which were ginormous! The five spiced beef were rolled in a crispy green onion flat bread and filled with sweet hoisin sauce. We thought the outside was pretty burnt, but the roll itself was pretty good, with a good amount of filling. I found it difficult to eat since it was such a big roll though.

Szechuan Hot Chili Dumplings

Last but not least, we got the Szechuan Hot Chili Dumplings, which were filled with pork filling and tossed in chilli oil, garlic, vinegar & spinach. These were actually not very spicy, and we found it too oily. It was literally just dumplings in chili oil.

Overall, Legend House was decent, but not memorable. Service is actually pretty good here and the ambiance is much nicer than many Chinese restaurants. Very reasonable prices and there’s free underground parking. I guess this would be a good choice for Shanghai/ Szechuan food in Coquitlam.

Pros:
– Ambiance and service is pretty good for a Chinese restaurant
– Reasonable prices for decent eats

Cons:
– Some hits and misses for dishes, but overall not very memorable

Price Range: $15-20

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 4
Overall: 3

Every Day is a Food Day

Category: British Columbia

Soft Peaks

Yah Yah Ya Ramen

Liquids & Solids

Diva at the Met

Guu Garlic (revisit)

Happy Date

Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France

Legend House