Taione Trading Launches New Chic Fruits in Vancouver

February 21, 2016February 21, 2016Leave a comment

NOTE: As part of a media tasting event, all food and beverages were complimentary.

Earlier this month, I was invited to a media tasting hosted by Taione Trading at Fresh Street Market in West Vancouver. Taione Trading is a company that imports premium exotic produce from Taiwan.

Just in time for Chinese New Years, they hosted a traditional dragon and lion dance at the event as well.

A sampling booth was available for us to try a few of their fruits that are in season right now. We learned that most of these fruits are harvested in Kaohsiung, a city in Taiwan known for their agriculture industry. They are handpicked by the farmers and are air shipped.

Emerald Jujube

The first fruit we sampled was the Emerald Jujube. A fruit that looks like a green apple, but is really a fresh date. When these are dried, they become what we know as dried dates. The Emerald Green Jujube is the biggest of its kind.

The Emerald Jujube is crisp and tastes like a mix of pear and apple. They have a high source of Vitamin C and are used as a natural nutritional tonic, a blood cleanser, and to help strengthen the stomach in traditional Chinese medicine.

Black Diamond Wax Apple

One of my favourites was the Black Diamond Wax Apple. It is also known as the Black Pearl Bell Fruit sometimes. I first tried these in Taipei and found them to be very refreshing, especially after eating a lot of greasy, oily night market food.

These wax apples are seedless and have a slightly sweet flavour with a scent of rose. I found the texture to be similar to a pear. The fruit has no saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, or sugar and is high in calcium, niacin, potassium, and very high in both vitamin A and C.

Overall, we are excited that we can now enjoy these exotic fruits in Vancouver. They are now available at select Fresh Street Markets and IGA stores.

Commodity Juicery

February 17, 2016Leave a comment

NOTE: All food and beverages were complimentary. All opinions are based on my own personal experience.

Last month, I was invited by Zomato to enjoy a private tasting at Commodity Juicery on Fraser St. I drink juices I make with a blender at home, but this whole cold-pressed juice thing is fairly new to me. I brought along M and E who were keen to learn more about cold-pressed juices and what a juice cleanse was all about.

The store is fairly small and is more of a take-away place. There’s really only three stools at the counter plus some chairs against the window. As mentioned, they focus on cold-pressed juices and these are listed with colourful numbers along with the ingredients for each.

In addition to juices, they offer plant-based ready-to-go meals. They range from salad bowls, soups, and desserts. When they say plant-based, it basically means vegan (so no dairy, seafood, or meats).

On the side, they have a fridge filled with their freshly made cold-pressed juices in take-away bottles. Carissa, the co-owner who hosted our private tasting said these can last up to 4 days unopened.

Sample of Cold Pressed Juices

We got to sample some of the cold pressed juices which were customer favourites. This colourful array of fresh juice from left to right included:

10: Sunrise: grapefruit, apple, lemon, mint
8: Orange Roots: carrot, turmeric, apple, lemon
6: Purple Puppy: beet, cucumber, cilantro, orange, apple
1: Sweet Greens – pineapple, kale, romaine, cilantro, green apple, lime
7: Morning Love: carrot, yam, lemon, cinnamon
4: Bright Greens: romaine, cucumber, kale, parsley, green apple, celery, lemon

My favourites included Sunrise, which is the perfect drink if you love fruitier flavours, and Sweet Greens, which again was a sweeter juice. I’m a sucker for fruiter juices even though it may have more sugar. You could really taste all the ingredients in the juice and it tasted very clean and fresh. M even mentioned why he had never tasted these kind of flavours in a juice before. These go for $10 a bottle normally.

Kale Chips

We then got to sample some of their Kale Chips which are lightly seasoned with chili. These were delicious and addicting. E and I both agreed we could snack on these all day long at work.

Minestrone Soup

A new addition to the menu is the Minestrone Soup which Carissa said is from her grandmother’s recipe. This was hearty and flavourful with a good assortment of vegetables and beans. No chicken broth is used, so this is vegan friendly.

Kale Caesar

The Kale Caesar is again a vegan version as the Caesar dressing is actually cashew-based yet still giving that anchovy flavour. To substitute Parmesan cheese, the salad is sprinkled with Rawmesean, which is a raw vegan substitute and tastes just like cheese! We could hardly tell! The salad was a mix of kale and romaine and this is normally topped with coconut bacon which is the bomb!

Mighty Greens

One additional juice we tried was the #3: Mighty Greens. This was made with cucumber, green apple, mint, romaine, celery, kale, and lime. This juice is supposed to help with weight management, liver cleansing, digestion, and suppressing appetites.

Matcha Mylk

Moving on, we tried one of their milk based drink, the #12: Matcha Mylk. This is made with cashews, almonds, matcha, maple syrup, and vanilla bean. I found this to taste like those Vita-Soy drinks but much more clean and less sugary.

Macaroons

For dessert, we tried their Coconut Macaroons. These were surprisingly very delicious even though they are vegan. A subtle sweet flavour and it gives you that feeling of begin full. Carissa said these would be good to have just before you go to a yoga class.

Relief Shot

We were all curious about what these “health shots” were so Carissa let us try the Relief Shot. This is usually taken in the morning to get you going and powered up. The Relief Shot’s ingredients included lemon and ginger and was topped with some cayenne. Wow, this took us by surprise and that spicy and gingery flavour really woke us up. I could really use this every morning.

Overall, we had a great time at the private tasting and enjoyed the introduction to a plant-based diet. Who knew vegan could taste so good! The staff are also very knowledgeable and passionate to help find you the best fit and flavour profiles you enjoy. Juice cleanses are available as well so if you are looking into something like that, Commodity Juicery is a great option. A location is also in Smithers for those of you up north.

Bufala – Dine Out Vancouver 2016

February 10, 2016Leave a comment

For my last Dine Out Vancouver Festival of 2016, I checked out Bufala in Kerrisdale with MH and MW. They offered a lunch menu for $20 for two courses or $25 for three courses. Since the lunch price is cheaper than dinner for the same menu items, it was a better deal to visit at lunch.

They didn’t take reservations for Dine Out, but the restaurant wasn’t super busy on a Saturday, so we got a seat right away.

We were able to order off their regular menu during the festival as well. However, their dine out menu pizzas ranged from $14-17 anyways, so the dine out menu was a pretty good deal. We ended up being able to try all their dine out menu items since we had three people.

They don’t use a wood oven here, but they still make the pizzas fresh. Love the fun and bright decor in here.

Beef Carpaccio

The first appetizer was the Beef Carpaccio which were topped with fennel and salted kohlrabi, a type of turnip cabbage. It was also drizzled with an anchovy and black olive aioli. I found it slightly on the saltier side and the beef stuck together a lot for some reason. It was alright.

Meatballs

Their famous Meatballs were my favourite appetizer. It came with ricotta cheese, basil leaves, and some bread to soak up the tasty homemade tomato sauce. These were large meatballs but very moist! The sauce was also very flavourful with the right amount of acidity.

Kale Caesar Salad

The Kale Caesar Salad was also very delicious with the green and purple kale seasoned with anchovy and topped with Parmigiano Reggiano. It was also topped with a couple of slices of crispy bacon and a salt-cured egg yolk. The kale was fresh and crispy and I loved the use of the egg yolk.

Before our pizzas arrived, the server brought us three oils to use along with our pizza. This included the herb, parm, and chili oil. We were told to drizzle some on our plate and dip our pizza into it rather than drizzling straight onto our pizza. However, we found that the oils were not very strong in flavour. The herb oil was the only one that we could really taste the rosemary. I ended up eating the pizza on its own since it was already very flavourful.

Margherita Pizza

The first pizza we had was the classic Margherita Pizza. A beautiful marinara sauce topped with basil and fior di latte. Fior di latte is made of cow’s milk rather than water buffalo which is more costly. However, the mozzarella was still extremely stringy and I enjoyed the cheese very much.

Pesto & Ricotta Pizza Basil Pesto

Next up was the Pesto & Ricotta Pizza Basil Pesto of which we added an additional $5 to add prosciutto. In addition, the pizza was topped with fresh ricotta, pine nuts, Grana Padano cheese, and pesto. Loved the flavours of this pizza and I think the salty prosciutto really added flavour to it.

Finocchiona

The last pizza was the Finocchiona. This had a marinara sauce with fennel sausage, Castelvetrano olives, carmelized onions, provolone cheese and basil leaves. This is perfect for those who are meat lovers.

Classic Affogato

The Classic Affogato featured a vanilla bean gelato soaked in a single origin espresso. You can never go wrong with an affogato for dessert!

Salted Caramel Budino

I tried the Salted Caramel Budino which came in a jar. This was topped with a vanilla bean Mascarpone cream and Maldon sea salt. The budino was smooth and not overly sweet.

Overall, we were quite pleased with Bufala. The pizzas are thin crusted, fluffy, and crispy. Large portions and their meatballs and kale salad are delicious! Service was pretty friendly with our server extremely proud of the dishes.

Pros:
– Great pizza dough and flavours
– Meatballs and Caesar Kale Salad are flavourful

Cons:
– Some of their gourmet pizzas are a bit pricey on the regular menu

Price Range: $25/person for DOVF lunch menu

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

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

John 3:16 Malaysian Delights

February 9, 2016February 8, 20161 Comment

Seeing all the posts about John 3:16 Malaysian Delights and the restaurant being a drive away from my home, I suggested to S that we give it a try on Friday night for dinner. Situated in the strip mall on Buswell next to Dairy Queen, many would pass by not noticing this restaurant.

The interior is very small and decor is quite shabby to be honest. Tacky wallpaper with religious quotes, so definitely not the greatest ambiance.

Roti Canai with Curry Sauce

Although the ambiance may be poor, the food here is of great quality. We started off with the Roti Canai with Curry Sauce which I had heard great things about. It didn’t disappoint as the roti was extremely flaky and buttery. I just wished there was more curry sauce for the two large pieces of roti!

Penang Char Koay Teow

S got the Penang Char Koay Teow and this was amazing! The flat rice noodles were stir fried with shrimp, egg, bean sprouts, Chinese sausage, and fish cake. The flavours were amazing and had that nice “wok” flavour. Very comparable to the ones in Singapore!

Hainanese Chicken Rice

For myself, I chose the Hainanese Chicken Rice. This came with a large portion of flavoured rice, but we still found that the flavours lacked compared to the ones in Singapore. As for the chicken, it was extremely tender and I liked the touch of the fried garlic on top.

Overall, we were very pleased with the quality and flavours of the dishes at this hidden gem. Prices are also very reasonable with most of their entrees around $9. Good for sharing or if you want the whole dish for yourself. Only downside is the poor ambiance and how small the restaurant is. Service is friendly but slightly hard to get attention of since there is really only one girl running the front of the restaurant. They also only take credit card for bills over $30.

Pros:
– Great flavours and quality in dishes
– Reasonable prices and portions

Cons:
– Poor ambiance and very small
– Service is friendly but hard to get attention

Price Range: $10-15/person

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

Food: 4.5 Service: 2 Ambiance: 1.5 Parking: 3 Overall: 4

Oyster Express

February 8, 2016February 7, 2016Leave a comment

Looking for a place to catch up with my girlfriends, I suggested we go to Oyster Express during their happy hour, which is from 4:30-6:00 on Sundays. There are other happy hour times listed on their website.

Located in Chinatown, the shop is really tiny and fits around 20 diners only. One thing we noticed is that it was very warm inside. We were all sweaty during our meal.

Of course we had to get some oysters here. They serve the oysters with a variety of sauces. There is the basic mignonette sauce, the cocktail sauce, and Tabasco sauce. Then they have their housemade spicy sauce. I didn’t try their housemade sauce but K said it wasn’t that spicy.

Glacier Bay and Kusshi

The oysters on sale for the day during their happy hour were Glacier Bay oysters. They were $1.50 each. Their Kusshi oysters were also on sale that day for $2.50 so we got some of those. The Glacier Bay oysters were rather tiny but still sweet. However, we enjoyed the Kusshis a lot more. Much bigger and plump and very fresh. For the most part, the shucking was pretty good, but we still had a little bit of shell in some oysters.

Manhattan Clam Chowder

Their menu is quite limited, but we did order some items to share. First was the Manhattan Clam Chowder. This was actually a tomato based chowder rather than a white cream. The soup was filled with tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, corn, celery, onions and of course clams. Served with some bread and cracker on the side, we really enjoyed the flavour of this chowder.

Fried Oysters (1/2 order)

The half order of Fried Oysters came with three large oysters which were breaded and deep fried to a golden brown. The oysters were very fresh and the breading was very light.

Steamed Mussels

Lastly, we had the Steamed Mussels, which featured a pound of these sweet and plump mussels steamed in white wine, shallots, tomatoes, garlic, and butter. It came with a side of baguettes but not enough to enjoy the remaining sauce.

Overall, Oyster Express did not disappoint although the oysters can be quite expensive if they are not on sale. They do however have an extensive list of oysters compared to many other restaurants. Service was quite friendly. No reservations unless you have a party of 6 or more, so finding a seat can be difficult at times since it’s a rather small shop.

Pros:
– Oysters are very fresh and good variety
– Other menu items are tasty as well

Cons:
– Really warm inside the restaurant
– Some of our oysters had a bit of shell pieces

Price Range: $20- 30/person

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

Food: 4 Service: 3 Ambiance: 2.5 Parking: 3.5 Overall: 3.5

Supermarine – Dine Out Vancouver 2016

February 7, 2016Leave a comment

My second Dine Out Vancouver Festival restaurant was at Supermarine, a relatively new restaurant tucked away in Kitsilano in an area I was not even aware of. Located on Yew St and W 1st Ave, the restaurant is quite the hidden gem.

The interior is very small, fitting around 35 diners, with a rustic charm.

Their Dine Out Vancouver Festival menu was $30 so very reasonable, considering we were beyond full by the end of our meal.

Smoked Whitefish

For appetizers, we ended up trying all three choices on the menu. I got the Smoked Whitefish, which was presented a little funky looking with their bottles of homemade hot sauce and creme fraîche served on the plate. On the side were buttered saltines to place your smoked whitefish on. We all really enjoyed this and it reminded me of Fable’s canned tuna.

Crispy Brussels Sprout Salad

SP got the Crispy Brussels Sprout Salad with soy, honey vinaigrette and yogurt. I had a bite and the brussel sprouts were cooked to tender with nice crispy edges. I don’t usually like brussel sprouts, but these were delicious!

Littleneck Clam & Ham Hock Chowder

SK got the Littleneck Clam & Ham Hock Chowder. It comes with oyster crackers and is topped with a green garlic pistou sauce, which is similar to a pesto.

Octopus Chips

We also added on a side of Octopus Chips for around $9. Served in a jar, these were sliced octopus and fingerling potatoes battered and deep fried. A slightly spicy tomato aioli was served alongside for dipping and this made a great snack. The octopus was very tender and potatoes were nice and crispy. Too bad we found that there were way more potatoes than octopus.

Salt Spring Island Mussels

SP and SK both got the Salt Spring Island Mussels for their entree. The mussels came with chorizo, fennel and were cooked in a smoky tomato broth. The mussels were plump and fresh. No empty shells in the bowl! A generous serving alongside with a huge bowl of fries and tartar sauce. The girls could barely make a dent in the fries after finishing the mussels!

Grilled Flat Iron Steak

I sort of wanted the mussels as well, but being a foodie, I had to order something different, so I went for the Grilled Flat Iron Steak. The already sliced steak came on top of a nori potato puree with smoked fingerling potatoes and covered with watercress. The steak was cooked to a beautiful pink medium rare and was very tender. At first I thought the plate looked small, but there were actually a lot of meat and potatoes. Was definitely stuffed by the entree!

Chocolate Semifreddo

For dessert, the girls got the Chocolate Semifreddo. I stole a bite and really enjoyed it! A nice firm chocolate cake with toasted marshmallow, graham crumbs and smoked salt.

Calamansi Lime Curd

For myself, I chose something different again and went for the Calamansi Lime Curd. When I saw it, I was pretty confused at what I had, but it turned out to be a lime curd with whipped ricotta, shortbread crumb, candied citrus and topped with cilantro. The flavours worked very well together with that herb taste coming through from the cilantro. The lime curd was quite sour but when mixed with the sweet ricotta, there was a nice balance. Not bad!

Overall, we were quite impressed with the flavours of the dishes at Supermarine. Prices are also very reasonable and if you enjoy cocktails, they have a great list. Only downside was that our service started out pretty good, but at the end, apparently they had a huge 10 people reservation right after us, so they kept pushing all the diners along one side of the dining table to leave. Felt like the service lacked because of wanting to maximize capacity from Dine Out, so will need to come back on a regular day.

Pros:
– Great portions and reasonable prices
– Flavours in dishes are unique

Cons:
– Service during Dine Out wasn’t very good
– Seating was a bit tight (not sure if it’s like this during regular service)

Price Range: $30/person (DOVF menu)

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

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

Torafuku – Dine Out Vancouver 2016

February 1, 2016February 1, 2016Leave a comment

Our first Dine Out Vancouver for 2016 was at Torafuku. I’ve been wanting to try this new restaurant ever since having a good meal from their sister food truck, Le Tigre. The Dine Out menu was $30 per person.

The interior is minimalist with barely any renovations. There is one long communal table and some booths on the side. We had made reservations early in advance but unfortunately we were still given bar seats. S was quite disappointed since he had wanted a more intimate seating. Bar seating was fun to watch the kitchen, but it definitely wasn’t very comfortable.

Love the wooden plates. Definitely has that hipster ambiance.

Since we were seated at the bar, we got a good view of what was going on in the kitchen.

One Fish, Two Fish

Apparently, we were only allowed to choose one appetizer per two people for the Dine Out menu. We were slightly upset with that since we had already heard that portions would be small. (It did say in fine print at the bottom of the online menu, so my fault for missing that!) Anyways, we chose One Fish, Two Fish. This was a bowl of sashimi salad with salmon, tuna, and geoduck sashimi on top of salad greens and wakame mixed with a sesame dressing. I quite liked this as the mix of seaweed and greens gave a nice texture, but I wish there was more dressing as it was slightly bland. Loved the texture of the geoduck though and the sashimi was quite fresh.

Pickled Cucumber and Radish

While waiting for our entrees, the server brought us a complimentary side dish of Pickled Cucumbers and Radish to share. I enjoyed the pickled flavour and it definitely opened up my stomach for more food.

Call of Duty (CoD)

For my entree, I chose the Call of Duty (CoD). If you go through Torafuku’s menu, they have such witty names! This consisted of crispy ling cod, clams, root veggies, and handmade gnocchi in sake a kumbu broth. The fish was moist and my favourite was the handmade gnocchi. The broth was very flavourful as well and I could’ve had a whole bowl of this. Veggies were slightly undercooked for my preference. Overall, a good dish, but the portion was way too small! The fish was almost half the size of usual portions.

Kare Kare

S got the Kare Kare, which I preferred out of the two entrees. It came with seared beef blade steak, on top of a 3 grain risotto, with pickled veggies, oxtail, and peanut ragu. The flavours were delicious and the beef was cooked to a beautiful medium rare. Again, portions were way too small though. This was more like an appetizer.

J-E-L-L-O

For dessert, the menu online had said we could choose between two options and I had seen pictures of others from the week earlier order the second option. However, our server told us that there was only the J-E-L-L-O that night. Quite disappointed since I wanted to try different desserts. However, the J-E-L-L-O has got to be one of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time. It was an oolong infused yuzu jello, with condensed milk ice cream and topped with crispy salted caramel. The dessert was light and refreshing and the milky flavour paired well with the slightly citrus jello. I had nothing to complain about this and could eat this over and over again!

Overall, I was quite pleased with the dishes from the Dine Out menu. However, we both agreed that the portions were way too small! Especially the fact that we had to share an appetizer between the two of us and it still costed $30 per person. Service was also a bit cold. No one really checked up on us. We also ended up having to pay a visit to McDonald’s to fill up. I’m curious to see what it’s like during regular service though and will need to make a revisit to try their regular menu.

Pros:
– Great flavours on Asian-inspired dishes
– Jello dessert was the bomb!

Cons:
– Portions are small
– Seating isn’t very comfortable

Price Range: $30/person (DOVF menu)

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

Food: 3.5 Service: 2.5 Ambiance: 2.5 Parking: 3 Overall: 3

Sanpoutei Ramen

January 31, 2016Leave a comment

Sanpoutei Ramen opened up a few weeks ago and has been the talk of the town. Located just between Parker Place and Aberdeen in the new Kam Do Square, they feature Niigata style ramen. They have been having crazy line ups for the past few weeks so I would suggest trying them once the hype has died down if you don’t want to wait. We went on a Friday night around 6pm and luckily only waited around 15 minutes.

In the waiting area, you will find their ramen noodle maker. They make their noodles in house whereas many other ramen shops purchase their noodles.

I think the biggest differentiation of Sanpoutei is how nice and spacious the interior is. Decor is beautiful and you don’t need to be cramped with bar seating in front of a steamy kitchen like many other ramen shops.

Tori x Miso Spicy Ramen

I got the Tori x Miso Spicy Ramen which comes with 2 slices of aburi chashu, half a flavoured soft-boiled egg, stir-fried vegetables and minced chicken for $13. Unfortunately, I think my bowl missed the egg. Their spicy broth is much thicker than the others. The noodles really soaked up the broth so I was left with very little at the end. However, I liked the broth as it had just the right amount of spice level without covering the miso flavour. The noodles are a flat wide wavy type and very different from the usual. If you like chewy noodles, this is perfect for you. I quite liked this change from the usual.

Niigata Shoyu Ramen with Special Full Topping

S went all out and got the Niigata Shoyu Ramen with Special Full Topping for $14.50. This comes with 4 slices of aburi chashu, a full flavoured soft-boiled egg, dried seaweed, bamboo shoots and spinach. I tried the broth and it is definitely very different from your typical pork bone broth. It had a strong fish stock and they mention in their menu that this is from the dried sardines they use. We both agreed that we loved the aburi chashu very much though. It has a very nice char and the ratio of meat to fat is perfect with the fat melting in your mouth. Soft-boiled eggs were pretty good but Marumata’s is still the best.

Deep Fried Spring Chicken with Oroshi Ponzu Sauce

We also got one of their appetizers which were the Deep Fried Spring Chicken with Oroshi Ponzu Sauce. No gyozas here but three choices of fried chicken. The fried chicken itself was very crispy and well made, but the ponzu flavour wasn’t very apparent. For $6, this only came with 4 pieces, so it was pretty pricey.

Tsukemen

On another occasion, K visited Sanpoutei and tried the Tsukemen which she raved, so I might as well include it here. For $12.50, this comes with a flavourful broth of dried sardines and bonito and a side of cold noodles which you dip into the hot broth. It also comes with a full flavoured soft-boiled egg and bamboo shoots. With this menu item, you get 30% more noodles, so perfect for bigger eaters. You also get a jug of wari soup, which is a plain soup stock. Your pour this into the dried sardine soup to finish your noodles.

Overall, I was quite pleased that there is a new addition to ramen choices in Richmond. The style of ramen is quite different so a nice change. However, ramen is on the pricier side starting at around $12 a bowl. Friendly service and nice ambiance.

Pros:
– Quality chashu and noodles
– Beautiful decor and ambiance

Cons:
– On the pricey side for quantity
– Long waits

Price Range: $15/person

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

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