CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice (Marine Drive)

October 25, 20171 Comment

IMG by ukijojo on 500px.com

Disclosure: All beverages were complimentary, but all opinions are my own.

CoCo’s latest location at Marine Drive has been open for some time now, and they will have their official grand opening this weekend. The location is short walk across the street from the Marine Gateway and Canada Line skytrain station.

IMG by ukijojo on 500px.com

The location is brightly lit just like their other stores and has a decent amount of seating to enjoy your drinks. At Coco, you can customize your drink’s sugar and ice level. Most drinks go for around $5 for a large. Regular is around $4.20.

IMG by ukijojo on 500px.com

Of course they have the famous CoCo mascot here!

IMG by ukijojo on 500px.com

Roast Pearl Milk Tea, Matcha Macchiato with Red Bean, Sago Taro Milk Tea with Pearls

I have tried a few of their famous drinks like 3 Guys and Bubble Gaga so I decided to try some drinks I haven’t tried before. The first was the Roasted Pearl Milk Tea which seems to be a new menu item. We had this at 50% sugar level but I think I would’ve preferred it at 70% sugar level as it was too strong in the roasted flavour. I think I still like Chatime’s roasted milk tea the most. In the middle is the Matcha Macchiato with Red Bean which I really enjoyed. Strong in matcha flavour and paired nicely with the red bean, it tasted like matcha red bean cake. Lastly, the Sago Taro Milk Tea with Pearls was my favourite. Although there are no taro chunks in this drink, I still enjoyed the tiny sago paired with the pearls. It’s like having Chinese dessert!

IMG by ukijojo on 500px.com

To celebrate the Marine Drive’s grand opening, the Marine Drive location is having a buy one get one free promotion. From October 27 – 29, 2017, if you purchase any Top 10 Drink, you will receive a free medium Pearl Milk Tea. This is only valid at 491 SW Marine Drive.

The Top 10 Drinks include:

Red Bean Matcha Milk Tea
Lemon Yakult
Mango Smoothie
3 Guys
Bubble Tea
Lemon King
Bubble Gaga
Black Tea Macchiato
Black Tea Latte
Sago Taro Milk Tea

Seasons in the Park

January 8, 2015January 8, 2015Leave a comment

After a day in downtown, S and friends suggested we go to Seasons in the Park for dinner. Located within Queen Elizabeth Park, the restaurant had some pretty nice views overlooking the city’s skyline at night. The ambiance in the restaurant is dim and romantic, but very traditional with rustic decor. Dinner starts off with complimentary bread and butter.

Braised Veal Cheeks with Porcini Mushroom Risotto

For myself, I got the Braised Veal Cheeks with Porcini Mushroom Risotto. Two veal cheeks braised in red wine sat on top of the Arborio risotto. The veal cheeks were extremely tender and flavourful. However, I thought the risotto was just average.

Fraser Valley Chicken

S got the Fraser Valley Chicken, which was seasoned with lemon, thyme and garlic. It came with some vegetables and mashed potatoes. S said it was just average and thought it was slightly bland.

Overall, we found the food to be just average. You are really paying for the view and ambiance here. The food itself isn’t very memorable.

Pros:
– Nice city views
– Great ambiance

Cons:
– Food was average – nothing special
– Only paid self parking or valet parking.

Price Range: $30-40

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

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

Mimibuloveme (Revisit #2)

June 23, 2014Leave a comment

White Pasta – bacon and creamy Parmesan cheese

On my last day of final exams, that feeling I got walking out of the exam room was actually sort of bittersweet. I felt so relaxed, but at the same time, it would be my last final exam of my university life. I decided to celebrate so K came to pick me up along with others. She wanted her parfaits again, so we ended up going to Mimibuloveme. It was packed as usual, but we luckily scored a tiny square table for the four of us. I was extremely hungry after my exam, so I decided to actually get a meal. They recently added pastas to their menu, so I went for the White Pasta. I had originally wanted the Yellow Pasta, which is curry based, but they sold out! I like how it seems like their food is fresh as they will actually sell out! Anyways, the White Pasta reminded me of a Carbonara. A creamy white sauce with Parmesan cheese and loads of bacon. It also came with a small side of salad. I would say that their portions are quite small for the price, but the pasta was cooked to al dente.

Brownie Banana Parfait – chocolate ice cream, organic banana, brownie

The rest of them got some desserts. E got the Brownie Banana Parfait. It had a huge scoop of chocolate ice cream and a slice of brownie on the side. Underneath were slices of banana and topped with loads of whipped cream.

Black Sesame Parfait – black sesame ice cream, vanilla bean ice cream, mochi balls, gluten free graham crackers

K got the Black Sesame Parfait. It came with a scoop of the black sesame ice cream and lots of mochi balls which I liked! The black sesame ice cream was also rich in sesame flavour.

Chocolate Banana Waffle

Dad got the Chocolate Banana Waffle. The waffle itself isn’t too special, but you get loads of ingredients on top and on the side. They don’t cheap out on the slices of bananas, and there’s also a lot of chocolate brownie cakes on the side. A huge scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and whipped cream to top it off.

Overall, the food is always quite good at Mimibuloveme. The service is also very friendly, although the wait time can be a bit long. They only have 2-3 people working, so don’t expect fast service here. Prices are average like anywhere else. I guess the seating is the biggest problem here. This place is good for a maximum of 4 people. It’s also extremely difficult to find a seat during busy hours and weekends.

Mimibuloveme

May 21, 2013May 21, 2013Leave a comment

I’ve been seeing everyone posting delicious dessert pictures from Mimibuloveme so I dragged J along to go check it out. Weirdly enough, the outside of their store says Bubble House. We were sort of confused for a second, but I walked closer and saw that they sold the same things I had saw on their Facebook page. I’m guessing they haven’t switched the sign from the previous shop?

The place is fairly small, and is actually the same location where Dots Desserts used to be. Their tables reminded me of what Dots had too. They also have this awesome panda bear sitting on a chair. Totally wanted to hug him.

They also have these paintings around the shop, and they also sell greeting cards with these characters.

Matcha Crepe – red bean, matcha ice cream

I chose the Matcha Crepe to share and it was filled with red bean and a few mochi balls inside and on the top. I wish they put more mochi balls, because those things are my favourite! It was then topped with a scoop of matcha ice cream on the side. Not bad! It’s also decently priced at around $5 compared to many other crepe places which charge at least $8.

Matcha Ice Cream

Because I enjoyed the Matcha Ice Cream so much, I asked for another scoop of it for just $1.50. Not bad at all considering a scoop of ice cream is usually over $3 at most dessert shops!

Overall, Mimibuloveme is a cute little shop to grab some desserts and chat with friends. I’m guessing that it gets really busy on weekends and late nights, and therefore hard to find a seat.

White Spot (Oakridge Mall)

October 14, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

After a late morning hike up the Grouse Grind, we decided it was time to grab some food. Well basically our super late lunch. We decided to head back to Vancouver since we didn’t really know where to go in North Van. And we ended up at Oakridge Mall – more specifically, White Spot. I hadn’t ate here in a while actually, other than those random days at UBC’s Triple O’s, but that’s different.

Baked Potato Inspired Poutine

Signature fries with cheese curds and gravy loaded with classic baked potato toppings – bacon, sour cream and green onion

I decided to share two dishes with K. First up, we got the Baked Potato Inspired Poutine. It was new on their menu, and it sounded like something amazing. And let me tell you, I LOVE poutine. I used to eat it almost every week during my breaks in the mall at New York Fries, but the mall’s renovating so I’ve had to resort to other food 😦 This was a large plate, but I didn’t think it was that great. It was lacking cheese curds, although I liked the bacon, and surprisingly the green onion on it (just because I typically arent’ a big fan of green onion). I would’ve rather gotten the Butter Chicken Poutine at New York Fries. Oh, how much I miss it…

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Spaghetti tossed in our signature marinara sauce and topped with three house-made meatballs and Parmesan. Garlic Panini bread.

E got the Spaghetti and Meatballs. It looked pretty good, and he said it was decent. I took a bite from the Garlic Panini bread and felt it lacking flavour though.

Toasted Shrimp Sandwich

Shrimp, lettuce, mayo & our chili sauce on toasted white

And the second dish I shared with K was the Toasted Shrimp Sandwich. It came with more fries and a coleslaw. I didn’t like the salad since it came with something like flax seeds. I know those are healthy, but I just don’t like the taste of them!

Here’s a closer view of the Toasted Shrimp Sandiwch. The sandwich was actaully pretty small compared to what I had imagined, but it was filled with lots of shrimp. I really enjoyed the mayo mixture combined with the shrimp and it definitely made it a light and fresh lunch. It could have had a bit more of the mayo as I found it to be lacking a little of the sauce, but good thing the shrimp was moist so it didn’t make the sandwich too dry.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal, but I have to say the service was lacking. I’m surprised that White Spot has so many people around the 3pm time, but even so, the wait to get seated and food was too long. I saw seats available inside, but the hostess still had to take at least 5 minutes to be ready for us. And remember, we were starving by that time after the hike. Perhaps we should have just gone to the food court instead… The server also took forever to take our orders. We had sat down, read our menus and were ready in no time, and our server kept walking by us saying give me one more minute. No! It’s been like 10 minutes! And then we wanted to make use of our time, so K and I went to a shop to look for something she wanted to get, hoping that our food would arrive by the time we got back, but nope. Food took way too long to arrive, and our dishes weren’t even difficult to make. Our server pretty much only had a real conversation with us when she was waiting for us to pay. So service was definitely poor! Food-wise, it was typical White Spot food.

Dot. Desserts

June 22, 2011May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Matcha Parfait

Dots Desserts is a small shop near Oakridge mall. They offer a variety of parfaits, bubble teas, slushes and crepes. The matcha parfait contained green tea ice cream, red bean, corn flakes, cake, and whipped cream. The shop is extremely small though, so it’s best for a small group of friends. A great dessert shop overall!