Pho 99 (Coquitlam Town Centre)

April 17, 2013April 25, 2013Leave a comment

I’ve been to Pho 99 in Richmond, but this time we went to the one in Coquitlam, It’s a lot larger and was filled with people at around 5pm.

Fried Spring Roll

The Fried Spring Rolls were served sizzling hot and were fried until golden brown. These were quite good!

#14 – House Special – Noodle soup with eye round steak, well-done flank, fatty brisket, soft tendon & beef tripe

I always get the House Special at Pho restaurants since I want everything in my noodles! I got a small #14, which was quite a huge portion compared to other pho restaurants. The tripe was also cooked so it was tender, and not tough. Soup wasn’t bad!

#3 For the Beginners – Noodle soup with brisket & well-done flank

J got #3 under the For the Beginners section. It was filled with mostly well-done flank and brisket.

Overall, Pho 99 seems more popular in Coquitlam than Richmond. Service was friendly and quick. And the place doesn’t seem as dirty as most Pho restaurants – always a plus!

Kimbab Cheonguk

April 8, 2013April 26, 2013Leave a comment

Kimbab Cheonguk which means Kimbab Heaven is located in a small mall on North Road. This area is basically filled with Koreans. Kimbab, which seems to be spelled Kimbap, are essentially the Korean style of sushi rolls. Basically, seaweed wrapped rice with veggies filled inside. Kimbab Cheonguk does sell them, but they seem to be more popular with the other items. The restaurant is basically a quick snackbar.

The shop is fairly small and the seating is very basic. It seems to family run and most diners are Korean. The place seemed to have a constant flow of people even on a weekday afternoon.

Their menu is fairly simple, with only around 12 choices. They are listed across the kitchen counter as well as by the wall next to your table. The menu is basically in Korean, or with Korean written in English, so it’s difficult to understand if you don’t know any Korean. Luckily, they also have pictures stretched across the wall, so you have a sense of what you’re ordering.

Soon Dae

J asked me if I had Soon Dae before. I looked at the picture, and was confused as to what it was. They looked like some sort of meat. He told me that it was basically Jap Chae, but had a weird smirk on his face. Whatever. So we ordered it and when it came, I honestly thought they looked sort of gross. But I guess I would give it a try anyways. It is to be dipped in the seasoning, which gives it a little salty flavour. Still having a smirk on his face, I decided to Google what it was. Turns out, Soon Dae is essentially an intestine filled with pork blood and Jap Chae noodles. The good part is, that the only intestine part of the dish was the outer layer, which I had kept asking what it was made of. I thought it was some sort of thin rice wrapper for the longest time. I guess it wasn’t that bad, and it tasted more like bland noodles compressed together. Apparently, it’s a popular snack in Korea, kind of like how beef stomach is popular for the Chinese.

Mul Naeng Myeon

Since I essentially had no idea what the menus meant, J ordered me the Mul Naeng Myeon. This is a popular Korean dish, meaning “ice water noodles”. It’s made from flour and starch, including buckwheat, potatoes and among others. It is served in a stainless bowl filled with a tangy iced broth, cucumbers, slices of beef, and a hard-boiled egg. Upon serving the dish to us, the server then took scissors to cut the noodles apart.

When mixed together, it looks like this! You then add a spicy msutard sauce and vinegar to add more flavour. I eat quite bland at home, so I thought the addition was a little too tangy for my taste-buds. The noodles were extremely chewy, and had a texture that I hadn’t quite tried before. Really interesting and a great dish to have on a sunny day as it was refreshing. J on the other hand, got a variation of this noodle, which was a spicy version. It was way too spicy for me though!

Oh and another note is that they serve you a beef broth that comes in a teapot. At first, I was really confused what it was. But apparently, this tea is supposed to help you digest your food. How thoughtful! It was rich and tasted extremely good! A little salty, but so tasty.

BG Urban Cafe

April 2, 2013April 27, 2013Leave a comment

Santa Fe Smoked Turkey Wrap

I’ve actually never ate at BG Urban Cafe but this chain cafe is everywhere. I didn’t know what was good so decided to grab a wrap. I got the Santa Fe Smoked Turkey Wrap which they grilled for me. I found that it was way too soggy after a bit though, and the sauce which was watery kept dripping everywhere. I’ve never had so much difficult eating a wrap! The flavour was a little bland which I was fine with since the sour cream helped it a bit.

Jelly Modern Doughnuts

March 21, 2013April 27, 2013Leave a comment

After Tubby Dogs, we decided to head down a few streets to grab some desserts! Jelly Modern Doughnuts is a chic yet casual little shop offering creative gourmet doughnuts in Calgary.

They also seem to have a Jelly Food Truck, which sounds really cool. I’m not sure where they are located though, so any Calgary foodies out there can let me know!

When we arrived, most of the doughnuts were already sold out! The place isn’t packed, but they have a steady amount of customers coming in and out. Look at that kid trying to decide from all the delicious flavours!

Lots of customers buy boxes of their doughnuts for take out as well. If you choose to eat in, you still order and pay at the counter.

I love the atmosphere in the shop. It is girly but also family oriented. They have low sofas and wooden chairs with pink lanterns and couches. If I lived in Calgary, this would totally be a cute place to hang out and chat with friends during the day.

S’mores Hand Filled Doughnut

The customer in front of us actually bought the last ones by the time we got in line, but luckily the baker came out and we asked him if there would be any more. Luckily, he had just made another batch! A few minutes later, he brought us a large S’mores Doughnut! Surprisingly, it wasn’t as sweet as I had imagined. I loved the marshmallow at the top though. The doughnuts are quite big though, so one is already plenty.

Maple Bacon Doughnut

The second doughnut we ordered was the Maple Bacon Doughnut. It was glazed with a maple glaze and topped with some bacon. Sweet and salty at the same time, but it totally works.

Doughnuts are $2.45 each if you purchase singles, but if you purchase more, I believe there are bulk discounts. Of course, they are more expensive than Tim Horton’s doughnuts, but they are gourmet! However, I actually think that Cartems Donuterie in Vancouver are much better! Their bacon doughnut was much better and the general doughnut dough tastes more fresh. I guess this is their go-to place for gourmet doughnuts in Calgary though!

Tubby Dog

March 17, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

Day 2 in Calgary: Shortly after lunch and some presentations, S, H, J and I decided to go explore the city a bit and look for some snacks. S had previously checked out the top places on Urbanspoon, and Tubby Dog was one of them. Since it was quite a far walk, we decided to take a cab instead. Upon arriving, there was a man cleaning the windows, hence the bizarre picture.

They had their menu on their door, and it reminded me of Japadog, but North American style. The prices are quite high for a hot dog, so I was hoping they better be good.

Inside, they have the menu again, but also with some specials. I wish I got a picture of the kitchen area, since you can watch your hot dog get cooked and assembled in the front. You basically order at the counter, and they call your name when it’s ready.

The place is super retro and hipster. If I were still in high school, I would probably think that this would be where the “cool” kids hung out. I love how they had a cabinet full of food items that seemed to be collectibles. They definitely weren’t the typical packaging you could find in a grocery anymore. I’m guessing some of them might’ve been limited editions.

And they even have a mini arcade! I can totally picture some skaters coming here for a hot dog and playing games after school. It’s so old school and almost gives you a “back in the day” vibe. The place has posters hanging around the walls, and they all add to that hip vibe. Even the employees have a retro vibe to them.

Tubby Dog – homemade chili, bacon, cheese, onions, mustard

And now finally onto the food! We decided to share a Tubby Dog since we had just ate lunch. We weren’t sure which hot dog to choose, but I guess you can’t go wrong with the one that’s named after the store! It was layered with tons of chili, onions, cheese and bacon bits along with a mustard sauce. It is definitely quite a large hot dog for one person, and would be decent to be shared between two for a snack. You basically need to eat this with knives and forks though, since there is no way to avoid a mess. I actually found that the bun was a bit soggy though, and wasn’t as crisp and toasted as I would’ve liked it. The onions were also barely cooked so the taste of raw onions were quite pungent. I loved the chili, bacon bits and loads of cheese though!

T-Rings

We also ordered a side of T-Rings. These are essentially double battered onion rings. I can almost be sure to say that they are also double fried… These things are deadly and oily! Because they are double battered, the batter is extremely thick and oily. I actually found that distracting and would’ve liked a thinly battered onion ring instead. It felt so unhealthy eating all that oily batter! The onion rings, however, were huge in circumference! Each order came with 5 onion rings.

Overall, I wasn’t extremely impressed with Tubby Dog’s food. I didn’t think it was as amazing as the reviews said. If I were to pay a price of around $7, I rather buy a Japadog instead. I guess Calgary needs to try some Japadogs, and they may rethink about what a good hot dog is! I do, however, love the atmosphere at Tubby Dog. That retro vibe is difficult to find, and they definitely played it well at this diner. A really cool place to hang out with some friends and devour some greasy food!

Froshberg Gelato

March 5, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

Matcha Gelato

The new Dining Terrace at Richmond Centre has been open for quite some time now, and everyone was talking about the new Froshberg Gelato. I finally decided to go try it out during my break from work, and chose the Matcha Gelato. However, I wasn’t too satisfied with the flavour. I found it really sweet and almost artificial. It didn’t have the true matcha tea leaves flavour to it. It almost felt too milky and creamy for it to be a matcha gelato.

I’ve yet to try the other flavours though, so perhaps the other flavours are much better.

Pho Queen

February 21, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

I wanted pho the other day but I felt like I’ve been going to same places in Richmond, so I decided to urbanspoon what other pho places there were in Richmond. I ended up finding Pho Queen, which I’ve actually passed by multiple times but haven’t tried.

Cooked Bean Sprouts

The place was pretty much empty when we got there since it was an odd 3-4 p.m. time on a weekday. I believe the place is Vietnamese owned since the lady started speaking some language I couldn’t understand to me. Service here is definitely not that great. She was kind of rude actually, just throwing menus at me and all… Anyways, we were given cooked bean sprouts, which I always enjoy since I don’t like them raw.

Pho Tai – Rare Steak Noodle Soup

J got a large Pho Tai, which is basically noodles with rare steak in it. It had tons of cilantro and green onions and was quite a large bowl for only $7.

Pho Queen Dac Biet – Pho Queen Special Beef Noodle Soup

For myself, I got a small Pho Queen Dac Biet, which is their special. I always like to try the specials during my first visit, since they include all the different ingredients. This one had rare steak, tendons, meatballs, and tripe. It was also topped with lots of cilantro, which I did not like. The tripe was also not cut well, so it was a huge piece and extremely difficult to chew on. The other items were decent however. I also found that the soup wasn’t that rich in beef flavour. I love the broths that are rich in flavour since you can tell they made the broth for many hours. This one seemed like it might’ve had some MSG in it. The portion for a small was still decent though.

Overall, Pho Queen is decent for their prices. I would still opt for Thai Son which has better service and quality.

Bubble Waffle

February 18, 2013April 28, 20131 Comment

I was told that the Bubble Waffle that used to have their own store is now in the food court of Aberdeen Centre, so I decided to go check it out. The place was packed and had a variety of food to choose from. There were of course bubble waffles, their signature make your own noodles combo, and some surprisingly items like hurricane potato fries and rice rolls!

Hong Kong Rice Roll Combo – Rice rolls, fish balls, shiu-mai, all mixed with a mixture of sauces

K and I shared some items. We got the Hong Kong Rice Roll Combo because it reminds us of the ones we can get in Hong Kong. I have to say the quality of the rice rolls are nothing special at all, but it’s the fact that you get a bunch of your favourite food all mixed in a tasty sauce in a bowl. I didn’t find the fish balls to be that great, but the Shiu-Mai were pretty good. It was all mixed in a peanut and sweet sauce. Yum! This item, however, took quite a while to be ready. I think I waited 15-20 minutes for it.

Make Your Own Noodle Combo – Oil Noodles in Minced Pork Fish Soup with Fried Shrimp Ball and Fish Ball with Shrimp

We also got the Make Your Own Noodle Combo. We chose oil noodles, and a minced pork fish soup base. I felt like the soup base was full of MSG, but it was quite flavourful. It was filled with tons of cabbage which were tasty soaked in the soup. We chose to add two toppings, so it ended up for only $4.95, which is an extremely good deal for the portion you get. It is definitely enough for 1 person if you are not a big eater. We chose the Fried Shrimp Ball, which was alright, but I really liked the Fish Ball with Shrimp! It was basically a outer layer which was made of fish, and it was filled with shrimp inside. They looked like little dumplings which were pretty cool!