Bestie

April 5, 2015April 5, 2015Leave a comment

I’ve been to Bestie before, but the last time I went, I was too hungry to even bother taking pictures for the blog. This time, we did a midnight run and took the food to go to G’s place. Bestie is located in Chinatown and is definitely the definition of a hipster spot. They are a sausage and beer spot and makes the perfect midnight snack.

The menu is inspired from German street food, and they are famous for their currywurst, which originates in Berlin. I’ve tried the real currywurst in Berlin, but I would say Bestie does it just as good or even better! Currywurst is really just sausage on fries with a curry powder mixed ketchup sauce.

Currywurst – Classic Pork Thüringer

At Bestie, there are really two main sausage menu items: the currywurst or sausage with sauerkraut. I’m not a huge fan of sauerkraut, so S and I chose the currywurst. You can then choose from the type of meat you want in the sausage. We went for the Classic Pork Thüringer, which was very delicious. You can tell the sausages are made with fresh meat. The curry ketchup is slightly spicy, but not overwhelming. I also liked the tangy flavour of the ketchup, which was more like tomato paste. The fries themselves, aren’t anything special. I wuoldn’t say they are crispy, but the sauce makes the fries flavourful and tasty.

Currywurst – Turkey Chorizo

G go the currywurst with the Turky Chorizo as the meat in the sausage. The chorizo gave the sausage a slight more heat than the classic pork sausage. Very good as well. If you like ketchup and spice, you will like Bestie’s currywursts.

I do find that the prices are on the high side at around $8.50 per order. It’s almost like paying for a full meal! It does fill you up, but knowing that it’s just fries and sausages makes you wonder how much they make from this.

Pros:
– Great spot to try currywurst
– Quality sausages

Cons:
– Pricey

Price Range: $10

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

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

Crackle Crème

November 25, 2014November 24, 2014Leave a comment

Crackle Crème has been the talk of the town for quite some time now. To my knowledge, we don’t really have a shop that specializes only in crème brûlées. Well now we have it! It’s located in Chinatown, but on Union St., which seems to be a pretty nice area now. The shops around it were all very modern.

The shop is run by one man and offers what I would like to call hipster crème brûlée. It’s literally all those flavours that you find people talking about these days, especially with ice cream. From earl grey, salted caramel, to black sesame, the flavours are always changing!

Other than crème brûlées, they also offer liege waffles. The crème brûlées are pretty expensive, at $5 each. You can get the mini trio for $7.50, but you cannot select your flavours.

The crème brûlées are taken out of the fridge and the owner will torch the sugar in front of you. You can also take these to go, although they should be eaten within 4 hours.

We chose three flavours. They look pretty much the same from the top.

Honey Lavender, Earl Grey, Matcha

The crème brûlées were very smooth and creamy. I’m actually not a huge fan of crème brûlées, since the traditional ones are very eggy in flavour. However, these are completely different! Full of the flavour you choose, they are extremely delicious! The crystallized sugar is also torched perfectly, so it’s not burnt. I found the Matcha to be quite average. It’s good, but nothing too special. The Earl Grey was very strong in flavour. My favourite had to be the Honey Lavender. At first bite, you will think that it’s very “herby”, but soon after, the flavour sinks in, and it’s absolutely delicious! Perfect, if you like floral flavours.

Overall, we were extremely pleased with Cracke Crème. Quite pricey, so it’s something to splurge on, but I will definitely be revisiting to try the rest of the flavours!

Phnom Penh (Revisit #2)

June 15, 20141 Comment

Marinated Butter Beef

I’ve been to Phnom Penh before, and although I really enjoyed it, it’s a bit far for me. When M and J suggested going there though, I said sure why not! However, when we got there at around 7pm, the place was packed as usual! We were told to wait an hour… I would’ve probably left, but M and J had never been, and we made a trip all the way down, so we waited. We ended up going over to Besties to get some German sausages first, which I wish I took pictures of… Next time! Anyways, by the time we got back, which was around an hour later, our seat was ready. We were all half full by now after the snack, so we tried not to order too much. I suggested we get their famous Marinated Butter Beef. I absolutely love this dish! The beef is so soft and tender! The sauce is what really makes the dish, but I do find it a little too acidic. It’s really sour but good at the same time. This time, I tried eating it with the cilantro (although I hate cilantro). Surprisingly, it worked really well together, and I didn’t mind it as much. A must order here.

Phnom Penh Deep Fried Chicken Wings

Next, we hard another famous dish – the Phnom Penh Deep Fried Chicken Wings. People say it’s the absolute best chicken wings, but I can’t say if they are the best. They are pretty damn good though, with a light batter on the outside, and a great salt and pepper seasoning. I’d probably wait half an hour for this, but probably not an hour again. We couldn’t end up finishing all of this, so M packed them home. This was the portion for a large size.

Filet Beef Luc Lac on Rice with Egg

If you look around, you’ll see that most diners order somewhat of the same dishes. The Filet Beef Luc Lac on Rice with Egg is again a very popular dish. It seems like such a simple dish, which anyone could make at home, but that filet beef is so delicious! The meat is so soft and tender and the sauce makes the dish perfect. Break the egg yolk and mix it with your rice, and you’ve got yourself a perfect comfort dish.

Chiu Chow Fried Oyster Cake

We decided to get one more dish and asked our server to recommend something. He suggested us to try the Chiu Chow Fried Oyster Cake. It was a huge portion, and at first bite, I thought it was average. I wouldn’t say it was amazing, but then soon after, J mentioned that it tasted disgusting. M and I were still eating it, and she began to describe how sticky it was. Indeed, the batter was very sticky. It was a clear goo, which is very common in say Taiwanese oyster cakes. The more she described it, the more we felt disgusted by it. I could understand that odd taste she was describing too. I’m not a huge fan of Taiwanese oyster cakes since they have a very gooey texture compared to some other oyster pancakes, so this literally eating a huge piece of goo. We ended up barely finishing half of this pancake, since the texture just really didn’t do it for us.

Overall, I had another good meal at Phnom Penh. Next time, I will stick to their signature dishes though. It seems that some of their other dishes are either a hit or miss. Look around and see what others have on their tables, and it’s probably a good one. The wait for an hour is a bit of a stretch for me though. Definitely would not wait for more than half an hour next time.

Check out my previous on Phnom Penh: https://everydayisafoodday.com/2012/07/18/phnom-penh/

Phnom Penh

July 18, 2012May 3, 20131 Comment

Mango Moo Moo Shake

Iced Rainbow Drink

Butter Beef

Special Combo A – Deep Fried Spring Roll, Vietnamese BBQ Beef Brochette, Prawn Supreme on Sugar Cane

Filet Beef on Rice with Egg

Phnom Penh Rice Noodle (no broth)

Phnom Penh Curry Chicken Hot Pot

Phnom Penh Deep Fried Chicken Wings

I cannot tell you how excited I was to finally try Phnom Penh. It’s been on my wishlist ever since I heard it was one of the top restaurants in Vancouver on Urbanspoon. The only thing really stopping me was where it was located. It’s in the Chinatown neighborhood, which can be a little sketchy at night, but luckily, Phnom Penh is located in a smaller street. The street is mostly small groceries, and is actually pretty quiet, other than the line ups at Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh doesn’t take reservations unless you have a table of 6, but luckily, we got our seat quite quick. We did however have to share a table with another group of 4, but it wasn’t too awkward as it was a long rectangular table.

We decided to grab some drinks, and I got the Iced Rainbow Drink. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the drink since I don’t like bits of red beans in my food, but my mom said it was the drink for Vietnamese cuisine so she wanted to take a sip from it. It was alright, and I liked the green jelly bits in it. Next up, we got the Butter Beef. This is one of their most popular dishes, and it was really good! It is basically half cooked meat, topped with a lot of cilantro and a special sauce. I really dislike cilantro, so I picked it all out, but the meat was still really good. I loved the sauce and the meat was not tough at all. We also got the Special Combo A, which included Deep Fried Spring Rolls, a Vietnamese BBQ Beef Brochette, and a Prawn Supreme on Sugar Cane. They were all very delicious and I especially liked the Beef Brochette. The beef was extremely tender and flavourful. We also got the Filet Beef on Rice with Egg, which seemed pretty typical, but their sauce was quite distinct. It had an interesting taste that I cannot describe! Next, we got the Phnom Penh Rice Noodle (no broth). I found it a little dry, but I guess it’s supposed to be like that since it said no broth! They have one with broth too, so maybe that one is better. It also had a very unique flavour again. I think the sauce had garlic or something, but I’m not quite sure. This one was just alright. We also wanted to try their curry, so we got the Phnom Penh Curry Chicken Hot Pot. I really enjoyed the curry, but I found it quite different from the usual Vietnamese curry I get back in Richmond. The curry wasn’t as thick, but rather very thin and was perfect to pour onto vermicelli to add some flavour. They also didn’t use potatoes, but instead yams, which was an interesting change to the usual. And lastly, we got the famous Phnom Penh Deep Fried Chicken Wings. People tell me they’re the best wings around, but maybe because I had such high expectations for them, they didn’t really live up to my expectations. They were still really delicious and I loved the dipping sauce that came with it. I have to say my favourite wings around the town are these, and the ones at Wo Fung Dessert in Aberdeen Mall.

Overall, Phnom Penh lived up to their high ranking on Urbanspoon. They definitely have great food. I’m still however confused what exactly is authentic Cambodian and Vietnamese food. Maybe I ordered the wrong dishes. But I’ll definitely come back again for more. The prices are however more expensive than I had expected, but it’s decent. Oh and to add, the interior was newly renovated, so it was actually really clean with brand new furniture.

Every Day is a Food Day

Category: Chinatown

Bestie

Crackle Crème

Phnom Penh (Revisit #2)

Phnom Penh