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

Hapa Izakaya (Robson) – DOVF 2015

February 3, 2015February 3, 2015Leave a comment

Beef Tataki

For my last Dine Out, I went to Hapa Izakaya on Robson Street. I had a pretty bad experience at the Yaletown location, but the Robson location had an $18 menu and the choices seemed pretty good. The restaurant wasn’t fully booked like most of the other dine out restaurants, so it made getting a table last minute very easy. We decided to share all our dishes and started off with the Beef Tataki. The lightly seared AAA beef was fresh and cut to the right thickness. It was topped with a sesame-chili sauce and came with some garlic chips.

Bintoro

The second appetizer was the Bintoro, which is lightly seared Albacore tuna sashimi. The tuna was seared just so the edges were cooked, and the sashimi itself was tender and fresh. It came with a ponzu sauce and was paired with a salad.

Raw Oyster

The third appetizer we chose were the Raw Oysters, which features the Chef’s selection oysters with daikon ponzu sauce. The oysters were rather large, but were still very fresh. I found it interesting that they gave you pickled ginger and wasabi, but none of us gave that a try. A pretty good deal since you get three oysters for the order.

Taster Plate (2pc ea. Ebi Mayo, Karaage, Gyoza)

For our second course, we chose the Taster Plate, which included 3 types of snacks. There were two pieces of each snack. First were the tempura prawns, which came with a spicy mayo sauce. I wasn’t a fan of these since the prawns were very small, and the batter wasn’t crunch. These were sort of soggy. In the middle were the Karage – deep-fried boneless chicken. This came with a soy ginger sauce, which was also just average. Lastly were the Gyozas, which did not really look like gyoza. It was essentially minced pork layered with lotus root and tempura battered. Overall, the taster plate was just average. Nothing too special.

Gindara

Another second course we ordered was the Gindara, which was baked sablefish with a sake-miso marinade.It came with some grilled vegetables. The sablefish was very moist and tasted great with the sake-miso sauce.

Kakuni

The third second course we got was the Kakuni. This was an interesting dish, featuring soy-braised pork belly with steamed buns. It also came with some Japanese hot mustard and salted cucumber. The bun was soft and the pork belly was tender with a good amount of fat. One of our favourite dishes.

Spicy Pork Ishiyaki

For our third course, we chose the Spicy Pork Ishiyaki. The rice was mixed minced pork, garlic sprouts, egg, tomato, lettuce, spicy miso, and served in a hot stone bowl. Sort of like the Korean bibimbap. It was slightly spicy, but not overpowering. Very flavourful!

Tartar Sushi Donburi

We also got the Tartar Sushi Donburi, which was probably my favourite. Essentially a chirashi don, with assorted chopped sashimi, shiso, and ginger-soy mayo. It featured salmon and two types of tuna. Perfect for those who love sashimi.

Mentaiko Udon

Lastly, we got the Mentaiko Udon. The udon noodles were mixed with a spicy cod roe sauce, but I found this to be just average. I prefer Guu’s yakiudon.

Overall, I wouldn’t say any of the food was too memorable, but everything was decent. I still prefer Guu if I want izakaya food. Hapa is more bar like and somewhat more formal. It’s still a great place for happy hour or to grab drinks.

Pros:
– Reasonable prices
– Ambiance is pretty nice

Cons:
– Service was just average
– Food isn’t too memorable

Price Range: $20-30

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

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

Maji Restaurant – revisit

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015Leave a comment

I’ve been wanting to revisit Maji for some time now, since I found that they had some pretty decent Taiwanese eats. However, parking here is just a nightmare, with Alexandra Street filled with diners on Friday nights. The restaurant itself is also packed! Luckily, we made last minute reservations while driving here and we were seated right away upon arrival. So be sure to make a call first!

Deep Fried Oysters

First up, we got the Deep Fried Oysters. These were big juicy oysters battered and deep fried. Along with a squeeze of lemon and this sweet chili sauce, it was very delicious. All of Maji’s dishes are meant to be shared, so this is great with a larger group.

Deep Fried Shrimp with Salted Egg Yolk

We also got the Deep Fried Shrimp with Salted Egg Yolk, which would have been perfect with white rice. The shrimps were deep fried with mashed salted egg yolk batter. You get tons of that egg yolk and I like how it was crispy and gave it a nice texture.

Taiwanese-Style Stir-Fried Noodles

Last but not least were the Taiwanese-Style Stir-Fried Noodles. A dish of oil noodles stir-fried with shredded cabbage, carrots, shredded pork, and basil. The basil flavour was very strong, and there was a good ratio of ingredients to noodles.

Overall, I was quite pleased with Maji once again. The only disappointment was they didn’t have their Taiwanese fruit beers that night, which I have been wanting to try. Prices are reasonable, and it’s a great place to share dishes with larger groups.

Pros:
– Great Taiwanese dishes for sharing and reasonably priced
– Ambiance is rustic, but modern

Cons:
– Parking is a nightmare
– Long waits if you don’t make reservations

Price Range: $10-20

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

Food: 4
Service: 4
Ambiance: 4
Parking: 1
Overall: 3.5

Flying Pig (Gastown) – revisit

January 26, 2015January 26, 2015Leave a comment

Not too long ago, I visited Flying Pig at their Gastown location for lunch. A few months later, here I am again checking out their brunch menu. Restaurant was busy, but we made reservations ahead of time, so we were seated right away.

Complimentary Banana Bread

Service begins with their complimentary Banana Bread. I love this since it’s very moist but a little sticky. It’s also not too heavy or dense.

Featured Corn Beef Hash

They offer some daily features and that day they had the Featured Corn Beef Hash, which SP got. It came with two poached eggs on top of corned beef and hash. It also came with Hollandaise sauce and a side of salad. I really liked the sauce it came with and the potatoes were crispy on the outside.

Smoked Salmon Benedict

For myself, I got the Smoked Salmon Benedict, which also came with a salad. The house smoked salmon came with dill cream cheese on top of a piece of toasted bread. The Hollandaise sauce topped the poached eggs which I asked to be done to medium. The yolks oozed out as you broke the egg, and was delicious when mixed with the cream cheese and smoked salmon. My only concern was I found the bread to be too toasted, hence it was difficult to cut into with a knife.

Country Style Breakfast

SK got the Country Style Breakfast, which came with 2 eggs, back bacon, baby greens, and some sourdough bread. She got the eggs sunny side up.

Brunch is pretty good here, but the prices are slightly higher for the food you get. Service was also very cold this time around. Our server took the wrong order for my friend and when the dish came and we said we hadn’t ordered that, she got very defensive and said we were wrong. Quite disappointed, since I had some pretty good service the previous time I visited.

Pros:
– Conveniently located in the heart of Gastown
– Great place for brunch type of food

Cons:
– Prices are slightly high for the portion size and what you get
– Service wasn’t so great this time

Price Range: $15-25

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

Food: 4
Service: 2
Ambiance: 4
Parking: 3
Overall: 3.5

Bump N Grind Cafe (Media Event)

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015Leave a comment

Last night, I was invited to the Bump N Grind Cafe grand opening media launch party. This South Granville location is their second location, with their first in the Commercial neighbourhood. This location had actually opened on December 18th, 2014, but last night was their official grand opening.

The interior has high ceilings with a concentration on wood and minimalist designs.

Bump N Grind offers alternative brewing methods, including Pour-over coffee, Aeropress, and French press coffee. The friendly baristas have an in-depth knowledge to answer all your questions.

Owners Cheryl and Kyle Wright were present that night as well. They pride their multi-roaster cafe as one of Vancouver’s top 10 best cafes according to the Vancouver Sun in 2013. At Bump n Grind, the coffees are rotated on a weekly basis, so there is always something new when you visit.

At the media event, they offered their signature drinks, including some that were spiked!

Their everyday menu includes coffees, teas, and snacks.

Around the store are coffee-related items you can purchase. Here, there are a variety of coffee beans for sale.

They even sell the Aeropress coffee maker.

And the famous Mast Brothers artisan chocolate. They are famous in New York for their bean-to-bar chocolates.

We also got to sample some of their goodies, including baked goods and sandwiches.

There were white chocolate as well as ginger molasses cookies.

I sampled the Smoked Salmon Croissant, which was super flaky! Cucumbers and smoked salmon can never go wrong. Their Cookies are also some of the best I’ve had. They are soft, yet still chewy. My favourite of the night had to be the Matcha Green Tea Brownie though. The super soft matcha brownie is mixed with white chocolate and melts in your mouth. Delicious!

Almond Chocolate Gibraltar

First up, we tried the Almond Chocolate Gibraltar, which came in a highball sized glass. This was essentially a double shot of espresso topped with milk. I opted for almond milk, so I found it much lighter. The glass was rimmed with chocolate sauce and roasted almonds. I loved the aroma of this drink and the nutty flavour worked very well with the coffee.

Spiced Chai Latte with Bourbon

I also tried their Spiced Chai Latte with Bourbon, which was aromatic and slightly spicy with a kick of the Bourbon.

Duetto – Macchiato & Maple Whiskey

K went for their Duetto, which she had no idea what it really was. It ended up coming in two parts. Her macchiato in an espresso cup and a straight shot of Maple Whiskey. She enjoyed the coffee, but found the whiskey to be too strong. Perhaps something a little lighter would have worked better.

We also got to take goodie bag homes! What a treat! Inside, we got some of their freshly made in-house baked goods. On the left is the Earl Grey Shortbread. I would’ve liked a stronger Earl Grey essence, but I thought it was interesting how it was topped with salt. Salty and sweet at the same time. We also got my favourite Matcha Green Tea Brownie. Last but not least was the Mookie, which is dairy free. It’s sort of like a muffin and cookie at the same time. It was filled with oats, coconut flakes, dark chocolate, walnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg. You get a nice chew, but it’s also light enough at the same time.

Included were also some of their signature teas, including the Almond Rooibos, Citrus Sencha and Organic Earl Grey. I have yet to try these but the Citrus sencha already sounds really good!

Overall, Bump N Grind Cafe offers some really tasty baked goods. They have your typical coffees and teas, but also some really interesting signature drinks like the ones we tried last night. A great place to hang out with friends!

* All food and beverages were complimentary.

Pros:
– Great coffees and baked goods
– Prices are quite reasonable

Cons:
– Not too many seats, especially for larger groups

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

Earls Kitchen + Bar (Richmond) – revisit

January 13, 2015January 13, 2015Leave a comment

Fish and Chips

Making reservations on the day of New Year’s Eve proved to be a difficult task. In the end, we resorted to Earls Kitchen and Bar in Richmond since they had more seating compared to other restaurants. A short wait and we were seated. It seemed that people were rushing to their New Year’s Eve parties. S got the Fish and Chips, which came with two pieces of beer battered Icelandic cod, house tartar, coleslaw, and a side of fries. S said the fish was moist and the fries were crispy. He said Earls does fish and chips pretty well and probably better than most places he’s been to.

Fettuccini Alfredo

K got the Fettuccini Alfredo, which came with the classic cream sauce and topped with grana padano parmesan. It looked rather plain, but she said it was pretty good.

Italia Pizza

For myself, I got the Italia Pizza, which was topped with Virginia ham, Genoa salami, chorizo, and Provolone cheese. A 10 inch pizza, this was actually quite a lot and could easily feed two. I liked the thin crust and the chorizo made gave it some heat. Pretty good for a chain restaurant, but also a little on the oily side.

Overall, Earls is your typical chain restaurant, but their food is pretty consistent in quality and flavour. Service was also pretty good. Plus, there’s an abundance of parking at Lansdowne which makes things more convenient.

Pros:
– Food is always consistently decent
– Service and ambiance is nice

Cons:
– Your typical Chain restaurant menu
– No reservations ahead of time for parties with less than 6

Price Range: $15-25

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

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

Kingyo Izakaya

December 16, 2014Leave a comment

Yuzu Gin Tonic

I’ve always wanted to try Suika’s sister restaurant, Kingyo, so when K and U told me to decide, off we went to Kingyo. I made reservations beforehand and was told that there was only a seating at 6:00pm and that we would need to leave by 7:30pm. This place is packed! Anyways, we started off with their cocktails, since U said they are really good. I went for the Yuzu Gin Tonic, which was essentially a gin and tonic with yuzu juice. It was topped with some yuzu zest and a slice of lime. Loved how it was refreshing and not overly sweet.

Fresh Melon White Wine Sangria

K went for the Fresh Melon White Sangria, which consisted of fresh melon juice, calpico, melon liqueor, white wine, soda, and lime. His was slightly more sweet, but really good! As for U, she got the Kingyo, which had rum, shiso, lime, 7up, soda, tonic, goji berries and yuzu juice. Again, the drink wasn’t overly sweet.

My Ebi Mayo

To start, we had the My Ebi Mayo, which I loved! The ebi were huge black tiger prawns and were tempura battered, then deep fried. The prawns were so juicy and fresh. Dipped in the spicy chili mayo sauce and topped with paprika powder, it gave the dish just a bit of heat.

Rock’n Kobe

Next up was the Rock’n Kobe, which came with a large stone to self-grill. The kobe beef was already marinated, but it also came with 2 kinds of Kingyo’s original sauces. One was a spicy sauce and the other was more like a garlic sauce.

There aren’t too many slices of kobe beef for $22, but the meat was definitely a nice cut. Very tender and the marinade was flavourful. Just make sure you don’t overcook it!

Deep Fried Chicken Breast Tender

The Deep Fried Chicken Breast Tenders were marinated in plum and shiso. It was served with lemon, wasabi, and a side of chopped jelly fish marinated in plum sauce. I thought they were pretty much like chicken strips, but nevertheless, they were good.

Invincible & Undefeated Tantan Noodle

The server recommended the Invincible & Undefeated Tantan Noodles. These noodles were similar to instant ramen, but they were cooked in a pork bone and shrimp broth. It was seasoned with sesame oil and miso, then topped with cashew nuts, ground pork, chili marinated Chinese chives and black sesame. A mouthful of flavour! I wish it had more of a kick to it though, since it wasn’t spicy at all compared to your typical tantan noodles.

Cheese Tofu

Lastly, we added a dish off their December special menu, which was the Cheese Tofu. Sounded weird, so we gave it a try. It came with a few slices of toasted bread, and 4 slices of “cheese tofu.” It looked like tofu, but it tasted like cream cheese! It was definitely odd, but not bad at the same time. Not sure what I was eating really.

Overall, we were extremely pleased with Kingyo. Even though we felt a bit rushed at the end, the service was still there. Definitely make reservations ahead of time if you want to eat during the busy dinner times. Otherwise, a great place for food and drinks. Definitely coming back!