Aoyama Cafe

March 20, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Seafood Curry Japanese Spaghetti

Seafood Salad

Went to Aoyama Cafe at Aberdeen Centre to have a small little birthday dinner with the girls, and the restaurant was surprisingly quite empty on a Saturday night. I’ve been here a few times when it had just opened and I think they had more customers back then. I had the Seafood Curry Japanese Spaghetti and it was alright. Had a good portion of seafood and had a hint of curry flavour that wasn’t too strong. Nothing too special though, and I’ve had better spaghetti. My friend had the Seafood Salad, which actually looked quite appetizing amongst all the greens. Overall, I think it’s decent for some unique Japanese fusion food, but I think it is a little overpriced for the portions and overall taste. I think I’ve had better pasta, but I have to say, I am always pleased with their service since it’s quick and friendly. They also have awesome desserts and drinks, so I would definitely recommend going for that. It’s worth a try if you haven’t been, but definitely isn’t my go-to place.

The Sweet Spot Bakery

March 5, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Friend of mine brought me some sweets from The Sweet Spot Bakery! I’ve been talking about trying this place for ages but they’re closed on Mondays, and somehow I always end up in that area on a Monday, so never got the chance to try it out! I don’t know what the names of these sweets are on the menu, but I’ll give a guess to what I think are in them. Top Left hand corner was a dark chocolate cake, that kind of had mousse in it I believe? Whatever it was, it was delicious! The bottom left hand corner was a hazelnut cake. The bottom was crunchy as it had some type of wafer at the bottom, and a few nuts (I believe they were pecans) along the bottom. Also very good, but I would choose the dark chocolate cake over the hazelnut one! On the right, we have a homemade ice cream. It’s called Malted Kulfi, according to the label, and I really had no idea what it was. So I did some googling, and found that Kulfi is an Indian dessert, that is quite like western ice cream, except that it is not whipped, and therefore is much more solid and dense compared to ice cream. It is also the reason why it doesn’t melt as quickly as western ice cream. No wonder it took forever for me to even be able to grab a scoop! The colourful little grains are what I believe are malted candies. It had an interesting flavour, maybe not something that I’m extremely fond of, as it almost tasted like licorice. But then again, it was interesting! I have never tried a dessert quite like this before. Now I really want to go to the bakery again on my own to see all these wonderful desserts!

Pho Tai Hoa

March 4, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

I actually never even knew Pho Tai Hoa existed to be honest, until my friend brought me there. We wanted to go to Pho Hoa, which is on Alexandra, but of course parking was limited and we had to go somewhere else. So we ended up at Pho Tai Hoa, which is in the mall near Capstan Way. I never even realized this place at the corner! Well, now I know another Pho place to go to! The decor inside was really interesting. It had a lot of cruise ship decor, with painted sky walls, cruise ship railings, and wooden plank floors. I wonder if this was just the decor left from the previous restaurant or they designed it. Kind of weird actually…But okay, let’s get to the food. I usually get the House Special at Pho places, so I got a small Pho Dac Biet. I like getting House Specials since it usually includes an assortment of ingredients, from tripe, beef balls, beef tendon, to beef flank. It was alright, nothing too special about it, and the size was normal. Soup did taste a little different, but it wasn’t something that I extremely liked or disliked. Not bad I guess, but I will have to try their other food to get a better taste of this place. There were probably only 4 other tables occupied though, but then again, it was a weekday and a little early. Maybe I’ll give it another try!

Sunway Restaurant

March 3, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Assam Red Milk Tea with Agar Aloe

Taiwanese Road Side Fried Noodle

Special Deep-Fried Tofu

Mayo Dried Pork Egg Roll

Three Spice Chicken

Popcorn Chicken

Second visit to Sunway Restaurant now! Sunway is a very small Taiwanese restaurant located in Empire Center in Richmond. I believe it is a small family owned business. The whole atmosphere makes you feel like you’re at home. The restaurant it extremely small and they probably only make one round of business during dinner hours, so be sure to go early to grab a seat! Tried their Assam Red Milk Tea this time, and it was so good! They use a special red tea that is called “Assam”, which I really like the taste of! The Agar Aloe was a good addition to it and having it hot was great on a chilly day. The Taiwanese Road Side Fried Noodle was just okay. I expected more from it as it had the words ‘road side’ in the name, but it was definitely lacking some flavour. Quite bland for my taste, and I don’t even eat very feisty food usually! Next, we got the Special Deep Fried Tofu which was so delicious! The sauce made it extra tasty, but after my second tofu, I found the spiciness of the chili sauce starting to kick in! Good regardless though! Next up was the Mayo Dried Pork Egg Roll. I really enjoyed this! It reminded me of those Taiwanese beef rolls, but it had dried pork and egg inside instead. The mayo on top was a great complement to it. We also decided to try the Three Spice Chicken, which I felt was made and tasted a little differently than the ones I have tried elsewhere. They had a lot of vegetables with it, but I found it not to be as flavourful. Lastly, I had to get the Popcorn Chicken again! I swear that I looked around and every single table had this dish. It was pretty much why I wanted to come back. Their popcorn chicken is made so differently that it is to die for. I find that it is not as oily as others, and the fried coating tastes so different from other restaurants! I don’t know what it is, but I would definitely get that again. Delicious meal! And pricing is quite reasonable. I find it a better deal than other bubble tea places like Pearl Castle. Only downside is that seats are limited so go early!

Trees Organic (Richmond)

February 26, 2012April 25, 2013Leave a comment

Plain Cheesecake and Blueberry Cheesecake

I was craving for some cheesecake the other day on a random weekday afternoon, but everywhere was closed during that time! So I ended up going to the library to buy some cheesecake for Steph and myself so we wouldn’t starve ourselves during our meeting. And by library, I mean the Richmond Public Library, where there’s a little cafe you see everytime you walk by. It’s called Trees Organic, which is also the same one that is in downtown, Yaletown and Gastown! They say that they’re Vancouver’s Best Cheesecake, but I think that might be a little overrated. Definitely not the best I’ve had in Vancouver, but not bad! I’ve had the one in downtown before, and it was pretty good. I had the mango one back then, and at this location, they only had three flavours to choose from. There was the Plain Cheesecake, Mocha Cheesecake, or Blueberry Cheesecake. I always have trouble deciding what to get, so I just decided to go by how many pieces were left in the fridge. The less pieces left must mean that they’re the best sellers… well at least I like to think so! So I ended up with the Plain and Blueberry flavours, with whip cream on the side. The lady working was very nice, although service was a little slow since she was the only one on shift. After a long ride to UBC, I open the containers up to see my whip cream had totally smushed everywhere. Not so appealing, but it was still pretty good! I think I prefer the plain one to the blueberry one, but I think the mango one I had last time was better than these two… Not bad! At least it satisfied my cheesecake craving!

Mandalay Lounge & Steakhouse

February 14, 2012May 4, 2013Leave a comment

gloomy Steveston…

and then the sun came out 🙂

Certified Angus Beef Prime Rib Burger

Colossal 8oz prime rib beef patty, lettuce, Guinness cheddar cheese tomatoes, onions, mayo and yam fries

Moo Shu Crab Cakes

A duo of Fresh crab cakes with Shanghai noodles & Lychee Creme Fraiche

Mandalay Prawns

Mandalay garlic spiced pan-seared Black Tiger Prawns. Finished with a savoury Cafe de Paris butter

Pacific Seafood Chowder

A medley of seafood morsels topped with fresh crab, Torogashi spice

Went for a very nice lunch in Steveston with my bestie the other day except the weather was playing tricks on us! It was very sunny in the other parts of Richmond, but as we were heading towards the water, it got gloomier and foggier! Luckily, it brightened up a little later! We always have tough choices deciding where to eat, so I did a little urbanspooning, and found Mandalay Lounge and Steakhouse. There were a lot of likes, so it couldn’t be that bad! And it definitely wasn’t! It was right by the dock, so it had a lovely view. The restaurant was however completely empty when we arrived, but we were still greeted by our lovely waitress who was extremely friendly. I guess it was empty since it was an afternoon weekday – I mean most of the whole village was pretty quiet and empty. I decided to get the burger and my friend got a few appies that we also shared. Food took a little longer than I expected, but everything came all at once and was presented very nicely! I didn’t get a chance to try the chowder, but the crab cakes and prawns were quite good! The crab cakes were a little spicy, but I actually prefer the crab cakes from Water St. Cafe. I really liked the fillings they used. The burger was also really good! It was huge and was actually too big for me to even bite! Yam fries were also delicious with a very nice crisp on the outside and there were plenty to spare – too much that I couldn’t even finish even with my friend helping me out! Overall, I was extremely happy with the service and the food was quite good. The view and ambiance was above average and it would definitely be a great place for a very nice dinner!

Bubble World

January 18, 2012May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Tofu Dessert with Red Bean

Matcha Ice Cream Slush with Agar Jelly

Been to the Bubble World in Richmond a few times already actually, but never really took pictures in the past… Bubble World is usually really packed during after dinner hours, especially on weekends. I went on a random weekday in the afternoon though, so it was basically my table and another table. Quite empty so service was really quick. They’re similar to Pearl Castle, with a variety of food and drinks to choose from. I tried their Matcha Ice Cream Slush with Agar Jelly which was quite large in size to my surprise. The Matcha was not bad, but I wish it actually had ice cream in it. I didn’t really get the ice cream texture, and it was more like all slush and ice instead. It was my first time trying agar jelly, which I heard was pretty good. I wanted a change from the normal pearls and coconut jelly. To my surprise, it didn’t really have any flavour to it, but it had a very nice chewy texture – not as chewy as pearls or coconut jelly. Nice change for once, but I think I still prefer coconut jelly!

Deer Garden

January 15, 2012May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Salted Jelly Fish in Chili Sauce

House Special Desert Wings and Vegetables in Fish Soup (in back)

Probably the most random food you can order at Deer Garden, but that’s cause we had all ate lunch or weren’t that hungry at the time… Deer Garden is famous for their “Make your own noodles”, just like Bubble Waffle Cafe, but it’s supposed to be much better! I always hear people raving about how good their noodles are. Unfortunately, I still haven’t tried them yet, but I will do so soon! Got some appies instead this time and I have to say their desert wings are really delicious! Almost as good as the ones at the Aberdeen food court. I haven’t gone there in a long ti me, but I hope they still exist! Food is good, and service is great here. It’s always packed during lunch or dinner hours though, so be sure to go early to grab a spot!