Belgard Kitchen

September 4, 2015September 4, 2015Leave a comment

Belgard Kitchen has been on my list for a long time and thanks to K’s gift card, I finally got to go try it! Belgard is located in a very random area east of Gastown, and past Ask For Luigi near the Railtown area. It’s mostly industrial area there, but those who know about Belgard Kitchen will make their way here.

The building is actually called the Settlement Building and houses Belgard Kitchen, Postmark Brewing, and the Vancouver Urban Winery. High ceilings and super cool area for the Postmark Brewing. You can also purchase beer in bottles here.

The interior is rustic and hip.

Be ready to wait for a seat though… We arrived on a Saturday at around 2 pm and wanted to make it before brunch ended at 3pm. Even though it was really late already, the place was packed and we still had to wait for around 15 minutes. We were still able to get the brunch menu though! A very late brunch for us!

They change up what’s on tap and they usually have food features.

Tasting Paddle

I started brunch off with a Tasting Paddle. You can choose the beers you want or have the waitress choose for you. I told her to choose some lighter beers for me. If I remember correctly, from left to right is the Lager, Pilsner, Strawberry Blonde, and West Coast Pale Ale. My favourite was the Strawberry Blonde since it had a hint of fruitiness to it. The West Coast Pale Ale was too bitter for my liking. For $8, this is a great way to try different beers.

Raspberry Lemon Zest Hefe

S got the beer on tap which was the Raspberry Lemon Zest Hefe. I actually really enjoyed this one since it was light and fruity.

Steak and Eggs

For food, S got the Steak and Eggs, which featured Argentinian spice rubbed flank, chimichurri, and poached eggs. It normally comes with Parmesan cream, but he asked for it without. I thought the portion looked a bit small, but it’s still quite acceptable.

S said the steak itself was a bit chewy though and wished that there was a bit more seasoning to it.

Brunch Spuds and side of Grilled Sausage

The Steak and Eggs also come a side of Brunch Spuds. These are basically roasted potatoes. Not bad, but could be more seasoned. We also added an additional side of Grilled Sausages to share. These came in a glass jar and the sausages are cut in half. It basically equals one sausage but is quite pricey for $5. Flavourwise, we thought it was just average. I personally thought it was rather dry.

Belgard Meatball Brunch Skillet

For myself, I got the Belgard Meatball Brunch Skillet, which features fresh mozza, San Marzano tomato sauce, poached eggs, smoky onion and Parmesan cream, and a side of brunch spuds. I loved the meatballs! The Parmesan cream sauce mixed with the tomato sauce was delicious. At first, I thought four meatballs and 2 poached eggs would not be enough, but the heavy cream made the dish very filling. I loved how the poached eggs were cooked just until the yolks spilled out.

Overall, I was quite pleased with the food and drinks at Belgard Kitchen for brunch. Definitely the place to go if you want drinks. Prices can be a bit pricey and there is often a wait. Cool hip ambiance though and service was decent.

Pros:
– Large variety of beers and wine
– Decent eats

Cons:
– Some items can be a bit pricey
– Usually a wait to get a seat

Price Range: $20-30

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

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

Li’l Cheese Steak Spot

August 28, 2015August 28, 2015Leave a comment

Li’l Cheese Steak Spot recently opened up in Royal Centre’s food court. Since I was nearby for work, I headed over to grab take out. The food takes a little longer to get prepared since they make the sandwich when you order. You can wash the cook grill your steak and veggies on spot. They also have other sandwiches and soups to order.

Cheese Steak Sandwich

I went for their signature, which is the Cheese Steak Sandwich. It doesn’t look appealing because it was all wrapped up and the sauces got all smothered, but this was delicious! If you love steak and cheese, this is for you. The beef was tender and you actually got quite a lot of it. It was also filled with onions, melted cheese, banana peppers, tomatoes, and a white sauce. Only downside is that the sandwich is quite pricey at $9. Nevertheless, it’s filling and the quality of steak is great.

Pros:
– Steak is tender
– Sandwiches are made to order

Cons:
– Pricey sandwich for food court

Price Range: $10

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

Food: 3.5 Service: 2 Ambiance: 2 Parking: 3 Overall: 3.5

Mango Yummy

August 22, 2015Leave a comment

Mango Yummy started out at the Richmond Night Market, and late last year, they opened their first store just across Richmond Centre on No. 3 Road. The interior is rather small, so you may need to get take out if it’s really busy. You first order at the front and then they will call your name for pick up.

Durian Shaved Ice

I came here looking to get some mango type of cold dessert, but I have no idea how S convinced me into getting two durian desserts… Apparently there is a durian menu and so we ended up with the Durian Shaved Ice as one of our desserts… A big bowl of ice with blobs of durian and topped with vanilla ice cream and condensed milk. I wished that the condensed milk was unlimited, but it wasn’t. Well the durian was creamy and fragrant and I think durian lovers will enjoy this dessert. This is one of their pricier shaved ice though since durian is expensive.

Durian Pancake

And next was the Durian Pancake. The pancake was thin and soft, but very smooth. It was topped with some whipped cream and chocolate pearls.

The durian again was very creamy so this dessert is quite mushy with all the cream. You get quite a good amount of durian though.

Overall, based on these two durian items, I thought Mango Yummy was pretty good and I would revisit to try their other items. I guess this visit should be called more like Durian Yummy for us though…

Pros:
– Large variety of desserts – hot and cold
– Reasonable prices for what you get

Cons:
– Not much seating
– Don’t expect any service

Price Range: $15-20

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

Food: 4 Service: N/A Ambiance: 3 Parking: 4 Overall: 3.5

Icy Bar 利源冰店 – ChineseBites Media Event

August 20, 2015August 20, 2015Leave a comment

NOTE: As part of the ChineseBites media event, all food and beverages were free, but all opinions are based on my own experience.

I attended another ChineseBites event a few weeks ago and this time it was at Icy Bar, located on Kingsway near Boundary. They also have locations on Kingsways and Knight, Parker Place, Crystal Mall, and the Richmond Night Market. I’m sure you have seen everyone holding those mango desserts if you’ve been to the night market!

The interior is simple and nothing too fancy. Their menu is basically only Taiwanese bubble tea drinks and desserts. Some interesting notes are that their mochi are made from scratch, pancakes are made fresh everyday and their fruits are fresh cut everyday.

Lychee Slush, Fresh Taro Milkshake, Mango Slush

We all started off with some drinks. I had the Fresh Taro Milkshake and this was very smooth and creamy, but the taro flavour was quite light. Their bubble teas are quite large and you can also let them know if you want it less sweet.

Traditional Eight Mix Icy 八寶冰

We started off with two varieties of Traditional Eight Mix Icy. You can customize your shaved ice with a variety of toppings. Pictured above was fresh mango, strawberries, lychee, pineapple, watermelon, melon, rainbow jelly, popping pearls and a scoop of green tea ice cream. Eight toppings go for $10.00, four toppings for $6.75 and three toppings with coconut milk cup for $5.50. Ice cream is extra and can range from an additional $2-4 depending on the flavour.

This customized mix icy has fresh mangoes, red bean, green bean, kidney bean, taro, peanuts, mochi balls, green tea mochi balls, mango mochi balls, almond jelly, grass jelly, chendol, basil seeds, and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The shaved ice are huge, so you can share with friends. Minimum charge per person is only $3.50, so quite affordable.

Strawberry Mango Ice Cream Icy 芒果草莓雪糕冰

You can also order their icys with topping that are pre-set. These are their most popular combinations. We tried the Strawberry Mango Ice Cream Icy topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a mango sauce drizzle. You sure get a ton of fruits!

Mango Ice Cream Mochi Icy芒果雪糕冰

The Mango Ice Cream Mochi Icy was one of my favourites since you get fresh mangoes, mango mochi balls, original mochi balls, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and mango sauce on top. Their mangoes are fresh and sweet. I also love their homemade mochi balls.

Pancake Series 班戟

The Pancake Series come in four choices for flavours: taro, durian, mango, and strawberry.

These pillowy pancakes are filled with fresh cream and the respective fruits. I tried the durian pancake and it was definitely very creamy and strong in durian flavour. The taste lingered in my palette for quite some time…

Black Rice with Coconut Milk 椰汁黑糯米

The Black Rice with Coconut Milk was slightly sweet and very coconuty in flavour. The black rice gave this dessert a nice chew.

Tea Egg茶葉蛋

One of their very few savoury items is the Tea Egg, which is a very common snack in Taiwan and Asia. The cracked appearance comes from pre-boiled egg which is cracked and boiled again in tea and other sauces.

The yolk is fully cooked and firm and I liked the star anise and tea flavour.

Chocolate Honey Toast 巧克力金磚

Back to some sweets, we had the Chocolate Honey Toast. The toast is cut into the cubes and topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Surprisingly, this wasn’t too sweet and the toast was crunchy.

Plant Pudding 盆栽布丁

The Plant Puddings were both pretty to look at and tasted great. There are five flavours to choose from: Original, durian, mango, Oreo, and tiramisu. My favourite was the tiramisu as the ingredients like the cream and coffee just naturally went well together. If you like durian though, you will find this the durian plant pudding quite satisfying as there are chunks of durian in the dessert.

Red Bean Green Tea Ice Cream on Thick Toast 红豆抹茶冰淇淋

Another thick toast was the Red Bean Green Tea Ice Cream on Thick Toast. Green tea and red bean naturally go well together, so this was quite good. The toast also kept its firmness and the dessert was not overly sweet.

Tofu Pudding豆腐花

To finish off our night, we got to sample the Tofu Pudding with a variety of toppings (same toppings as shaved ice). Even though I piled a lot of toppings on top, the tofu pudding wasn’t too sweet, which I liked.

Overall, Icy Bar has a large variety of desserts and there is something for both the hot and cold days. My favourites of the night were their shaved ice and tofu pudding. Great spot to chill with friends and share some desserts.

Amsterdam Cafe Pub

August 14, 2015Leave a comment

Canadian Beef Dip

I actually didn’t try many new restaurants this time around up at Whistler since I wanted a relaxing trip where I could just eat and enjoy my food without needing to get pictures before. We did end up trying Amsterdam Cafe Pub for an early dinner. They have a patio area outside with heated lamps, so great since we were up on the mountains on a rainy and chilly weekend. The pub has minimal service, with you going in and looking for your own seats and a waitress coming to take your order. We shared two dishes including the Canadian Beef Dip, which featured a roasted beef inside a toasted baguette and a side of au jus for dipping. It also came with a serving of fries. At around $12, this was a relatively reasonable price knowing that Whistler can be quite expensive for average food. I like it when my roast beef is medium rare, but this was definitely well done, so it more rough and dry than I’d like. The good thing is that you get the au jus to dip in, so it moistens the beef. However, the au jus was overly salty. Fries were average.

Honey Garlic Chicken Wings

The other dish we got were the Honey Garlic Chicken Wings which came with a ranch dip. The wings were dressed heavily in sauce and topped with chopped green onions. I thought they were okay and would’ve gone great with beer. Wings were crispy on the outside and moist in the inside.

Overall, based on the items we tried at Amsterdam Cafe Pub, I thought it was average. Your typical pub food, so don’t expect too much. Service was also a bit slow since it was basically one waitress running around to serve all the tables. Good spot if you want food at Whistler that’s priced reasonably though.

Pros:
– Reasonable prices
– Decent eats but not amazing

Cons:
– Service can be a bit slow

Price Range: $10-20

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

Food: 3 Service: 2 Ambiance: 2 Parking: N/A Overall: 2.5

Zabu Chicken

August 9, 2015August 8, 2015Leave a comment

KH and KC finally made our trip to Zabu Chicken after months of talking about fried chicken and beer. We headed over on a random weekday after work, and we were surprised that that it had a decent amount of diners. Zabu Chicken offers Korean fried chicken and beer, and most of their diners are Korean. By 7:00 pm, the place shut off their lights and had some night club music going on. Contrary to what many people had said about their poor service, I actually didn’t find it a problem and the service was quite attentive. Food did take quite some time to come out, but since we had our drinks, it wasn’t too much of a problem.

Complimentary Coleslaw and Pickled Radish

After you place your order, you get some complimentary dishes. They served us Coleslaw as well as some Pickled Radish. At first, we thought the dishes were pretty underwhelming, but once you have some beer and chicken, you will appreciate it. The sourness of the pickled radish will help you cool down from the spicy chicken.

Sapporo

With fried chicken, you have to get some beer. We ended up getting two pitchers of Sapporo for the night. Not the cheapest, but at $17, it was a reasonable price to share. I like how they provide you with beer mugs which have been put in the freezer so that your beer is kept cold.

Zabu Hot Combo (M)

We decided to share a few dishes and started off with the Zabu Hot Combo. You can choose between medium and large size. We went with the medium, and you get a mix of wings and drumsticks. These were delicious! They are spicy, but a tolerable one and great with beer. The batter is so crispy! Something about it just tastes a lot different compared to American fried chicken. The sauce makes the chicken moist, but you still get the crispiness. The meat is also kept moist and tender.

Zabu Soy Combo (L)

We also got their original Zabu Soy Combo, and we got this in large. These were also very delicious, and it had a nice sweet taste to it. A must order! It’s funny because you can also order a whole chicken… When we asked the server about it, she said they literally chop up the whole chicken and fry it…

Overall, we were extremely satisfied with Zabu Chicken. The fried chicken isn’t the cheapest, but I’ve realized that fried chicken can be quite expensive. I also liked how we were able to sit around and chat and continue drinking our beer and the servers didn’t kick us out. Cool place to chill at night!

Pros:
– Chicken is crispy and moist
– Fun, chill place to drink and hang with friends

Cons:
– Prices aren’t exactly cheap

Price Range: $15-25

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

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

Save On Meats

August 7, 2015August 6, 2015Leave a comment

Save On Meats has been on my list of “to try” restaurants ever since it was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. So when K suggested we give it a try, I was excited to see what it’s all about. What’s cool is that the building was actually built in 1891, so it has over 100 years of history! You cannot miss this building driving down Hastings because you’ll see the neon pig sign. Save On Meats also has a butcher shop next to the diner, so you can conveniently head over there for some fresh and local meats.

You can see that the interior has that retro old diner feel to it, but the seats and tables were well kept and clean. Funny paintings and signs decorate the walls of the diner.

Coffee SOM Milkshake

SOM is famous for their milkshakes, so I decided to share the Coffee SOM Milkshake with K. It’s quite the large one and it’s great since they give you all the leftovers from making it in a metal cup. You end up getting 1 and a half cups of the shake for under $5. The milkshake is thick spun and I loved the light coffee flavour we chose. It reminded me of an iced cappuccino! There are also various other flavours you can choose from.

Real Nova Scotian Seafood Chowder, Caesar Salad

We were supposed to be here for brunch, but it ended up more like lunch as usual… Well lucky us, since they feature breakfast and brunch items until 4pm on weekends. Both of us didn’t end up going for their breakfast menu though. Instead, K went for a simple soup and salad. She had the Real Nova Scotian Seafood Chowder, which came with a cheese scone on the side. She said the chowder was not as thick as she had expected, but filled with lots of ingredients. She was thinking it would be something like canned soup, but nope, it seemed to be homemade. She also got a side of Caesar Salad which was lightly dressed and topped with croutons and Parmesan.

Shepherd’s Pie

For myself, I was feeling like it was a pie day. I chose the Shepherd’s Pie, which showed up on a skillet with a side of green salad. I was slightly disappointed at first because I was expecting a pie, but this was rather deconstructed. Nevertheless, it actually tasted pretty good. There was a mixture of ground beef and vegetable stew and it was topped with a cheesy mashed potato crumble. It was very simple and probably something very easy to reconstruct at home but tasty.

Overall, I was quite pleased with Save On Meats. You will find simple diner food here – nothing extravagant or fancy. I wouldn’t say it blew my mind, but I don’t think I was expecting much anyways. Prices are kept low and probably the most expensive item is roughly $12. Plus, I think what makes SOM very special and worth a visit is that they are a strong supporter of the Downtown Eastside community and partner with various organizations in giving back to those in need. They also have a token program where you can purchase a token for $2.25 and this will allow you to redeem a Breakfast Sandwich. You can either distribute this yourself or have SOM do so. A great way to help those in needs and I personally think it’s a better way than donating money. Definitely a cool place to check out!

Pros:
– Cool retro ambiance
– Cheap simple food

Cons:
– Service was a bit slow at times

Price Range: $5-15

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

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

McDonalds’ Great Canadian Taste Adventure

August 4, 2015August 4, 2015Leave a comment

Yes, I am extremely behind in my posts… and it has been more than a month since McDonalds’ Great Canadian Taste Adventure ended… Anyways, in June, McDonalds in Canada had a limited time offer where they promoted 5 of their Canadian menu items for each province. The big one being the McLobster, which I had been dying to try and I had made it my must try if I went to the east coast. Well, luckily we were able to try it at home here, so off we went to grab take out at the first McDonalds in Canada – the one on No.3 Road in Richmond…(who knew, right?).

McLobster

Not the most glamorous picture here, but the McLobster is their feature for the East Coast. The sandwich is a bit different here as it is in a roll, and it is filled with lobster chunks, lettuce, and a mixture of celery, lemon juice and mayonnaise. We actually had a decent amount of lobster, but I heard that others had experienced less in their lobster rolls. The lobster was actually pretty good with a nice chewy, bouncy texture to it. However, the sauce had way too much lemon juice to it and I didn’t like that celery flavour. It’s also quite pricey at $7.49 for just the sandwich and it is literally the size of my hand… More like a snack, but a pricey one.

To feature Quebec, they had the maple and Bacon Poutine.

Maple and Bacon Poutine

I’ve actually never tried their original poutines, so I was surprised when the fries used for the Maple and Bacon Poutine were the exact same fries from their original menu. The only difference is that there is bacon, cheese curds, and maple gravy on top. This was okay, with the sauce being sweet and salty at the same time. However, I’d much prefer the fries on their own. It was also quite pricey at almost $5 for a small box.