Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cakes (at PNE)

Deep Fried Pop Tarts… tempting…

Deep Fried Wagon Wheels…?

Deep Fried Oreos!

Almost a month overdue post now..since PNE was at the end of August! But anyways, PNE had tons of good food during the Fair, so this is just the beginning of some of the food I tried! I heard from my colleague back when I was interning about Deep Fried Oreos, and I knew I had to try them when I went to PNE. There were a two stands with them, but this stand also had Deep Fried Pop Tarts and such…so I decided to give it a try. They were surprisingly really good! I usually find oreos too sweet, but for some reason, these weren’t as sweet as normal oreos. The batter also didn’t feel too oily. It was basically a soft dough on the outside, and the oreo inside wasn’t extremely gooey or melty, so it was really good! They were extremely filling too. I still wonder what Deep Fried Pop Tarts would taste like, but I guess I’ll have to try next year!

B.C. Sushi

Yam Tempura

Horenso Gomaae

Ebi Sunomono

Massago Cone, Dynamite Roll, Yam Tempura Roll, Kappa Maki, BC Roll, Chopped Scallop Roll

Yakitori

Salmon Sashimi

Agedashi Tofu

Deep Fried Chicken Knee

BBQ Chicken Wings

Tonkatsu

Lemon Chicken

Salmon Sushi, Hokkigai Sushi, Albacore Tuna Sushi, Tamago Sushi

Beef Teriyaki

Gyoza

Chicken Teriyaki

I was craving some late night sushi, so it was either get some cheap late night at Matsuyama, or get all you can eat. I hadn’t had all you can eat for a while, since I never seem to eat my money’s worth. Plus the quality of food is never up to par, so I usually rather pay more for good quality food. And eating all you can eat food with two people is definitely a bad idea. But…we ended up going to try B.C Sushi, since J said that it was pretty good. B.C. Sushi has two all you can eat menus for late night. You can either choose option A, which is $12.95 or choose option A+B which is $17.95. Option B basically includes sashimi and a few other options. We decided to choose option A+B since we wanted sashimi, but we later read that option A also had sashimi if we were to add $1.50 for 6 pieces. We definitely should’ve just gotten option A and added on the sashimi, since the other items in option B weren’t even anything extremely special. We wanted to try so many items but we couldn’t even finish it since we had ordered way too much food! Food quality wasn’t anything amazing, but I would say it’s much better than some of the other all you can eat places I’ve had. The dishes are huge too…which I totally did not expect. I was thinking they would be cheap and give us tiny dishes each time, but not at B.C. Sushi! So much food that we only ordered one round and we were already screaming for help.

B.C. Sushi on Urbanspoon

The Chopped Leaf

Caesar (full salad) – Romaine, bacon bits, parmesan & croutons with creamy caesar

Chopped Signature (starter salad) – Romaine, onion, cranberries, feta, roasted pecans & croutons with chopped balsamic

African Spiced Lentil

M came down to join me for lunch during my internship a few weeks ago. Okay, yes my posts are becoming older and older! I just haven’t gotten time to get over all my summer posts. But anyways, I urbanspooned around for a place to eat in downtown, and also a place that served soup, since I was sick and also had my wisdom teeth pulled out. We ended up going to check out The Chopped Leaf, which is a salad, soup and sandwich place that is actually much nicer than a regular cafe. It seemed like a pretty new place, and I liked how you could see some of the chefs preparing the food when you line up.

Unfortunately, the daily soups change all the time, and all of the soups that were featured that day seemed to have some sort of spice. I opted for a Caesar Salad instead, which was quite boring I know. It was presented very nicely with bacon bits and all, and it was quite delicious. I wish there was a little more sauce, and I love my salads with sauce. Totally not healthy… M got the combo of soup and salad and he said they were pretty good as well.

Overall, The Chopped Leaf is a nice place to grab either take out, or a quick lunch or snack. It’s close by on Robson, and had quite a lot working people grabbing lunch. I found that their prices were a little high though, compared to what I could get at an actual restaurant. The prices are pretty much the same, yet I lack the service and ambiance. But oh well, it’s good if you don’t have much time.

The Chopped Leaf on Urbanspoon

Bella Gelateria Handcrafted Gelato (revisit)

Caramel, Green Tea, Black Sesame, Akbar Mashti – Saffron and Rosewater

Revisit to Bella Gelateria! After Afghan Horsemen, C, K, J and I decided to grab some dessert. We had walked around Granville Island for a bit, and were craving some ice cream on that nice sunny evening. And of course I wanted Bella after my first time there. It’s pretty much my favourite ice cream shop now. We got there pretty late..I can’t recall the time now, but the line up was massive! We couldn’t even see the doorway at the point we lined up at.

We waited around 15-20 minutes, and got inside the shop. I decided to get Black Sesame and Akbar Mashti, which I honestly still have no idea what it is… The black sesame was actually out of stock at my turn, but they had made another batch, and I waited around less than 5 minutes, and they were able to get me some. The black sesame was rich and full of flavour. Really delicious! As for the Akbar Mashti, it was…kind of weird. I mean, the description behind the name was Saffron and Rosewater, so I was expecting something with rose flavour, and it sort of did. But it also had some weird ingredients that I was not expecting. It came with a nut, and even something that tasted like chocolate. I was really confused to be honest. I probably won’t get that again..and I probably should have tried the flavour beforehand. C got Matcha flavour, which is my all time favourite. And J got Caramel flavour, which was actually really good! It was for some reason, pretty melted, and I usually don’t like caramel, but it was really good! It wasn’t too sweet too.

Bella Gelateria is definitely an ice cream shop to check out if you haven’t already!

Bella Gelateria Handcrafted Gelato on Urbanspoon

Afghan Horsemen

Horsemen’s Special Platter (Appetizer) – Hummus & Sabzi Mast, Salata with Feta Cheese, and Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Horsemen’s Special Platter (Main Dish Combination of Meat & Veggie Platter) – Boneless Chicken Shish Kebab, Lamb Shish Kebab, Lamb Shoulder, Baked Rice, Baked Eggplat, Dolmah (cabbage roll), Pakawra (batter fried potatoes), & Chaka (sour cream & yogurt dip)

Kabuli Palaw – Baked rice topped with Kabuli (sauteed carrots, raisins & almonds), served with spinach, cauliflower, potato, and your choice of meat

Vegan Plate – plate of baked rice with Kabuli topping (sauteed carrots, raisins  & almonds), Dahl (lentil stew), cauliflower, Salata & Pakawra (battered fried potatoes), with a vegetarian sauce dip

Dolmah – Cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, tomatoes & herbs, then baked to perfection, Served with Chaka (sour cream & yogurt), & our special veggie sauce

K introduced me to Afghan Horsemen, which I thought was a pretty funny name to be honest. I didn’t really know what to expect, since I did not know what Afghans really ate. I just assumed it would be something similar to East Mediterranean food, which was pretty true. K wanted to try out eating in the actual “Afghan Room”, so we rounded up a group of friends and reserved the room ahead of time. It’s pretty cool with all the cushions, low tables, afghan decorations, and dim lighting. After eating for a while though, my body got kind of sore though, since sitting cross legged and such isn’t as ideal when you’re trying to eat. A little cramped up too with the amount of people we had.

Anyways, J and I decided to try their platters, since we wanted to try a variety of their food. We got the Horsemen’s Special Platter, which came with appetizers that include Hummus & Sabzi Mast, Salata with Feta Cheese, and Whole Wheat Pita Bread, and a main dish combination of meat & veggie platter, with Boneless Chicken Shish Kebab, Lamb Shish Kebab, Lamb Shoulder, Baked Rice, Baked Eggplat, Dolmah (cabbage roll), Pakawra (batter fried potatoes), & Chaka (sour cream & yogurt dip). It’s prepared for two people, and a lot of the servings are divided to serve two, but it was still a lot of food! Should have probably shared it between three people to leave a bit of room for dessert. The Pita Bread was still warm and it was actually really good. It wasn’t too oily and was extremely soft. I really enjoyed the Sabzi Mast, which I’m still quite not too sure what it is, but I think it’s some sort of Spinach dip. The Hummus was good as usual too, but I found the Sabzi Mast to be my favourite dip. Our appetizer also came with a Greek Salad, which I disliked, since it’s got feta cheese, and I’m not a big fan of that. C, however loved it, and she devoured it for us! As for the actual main platter, the meat were all well cooked and delicious. My favourite was the Lamb Shish Kebab, as it was cooked extremely tender. The Chicken Shish Kebab was also pretty good, with lots of flavours. The Lamb Shoulder was tender and it was a huge piece between the two of us! C loved our Baked Eggplant, and since both J and I hated eggplants, that was perfect. The Baked Rice was a lot, and we couldn’t even finish it. It’s for sure a special type of rice, of which I’m not aware of its name, and it also had a special seasoning to it. It smelt good and tasted full of herbs though. The Dolmah, which are basically cabbage rolls, and I’ve tried those at Greek restaurants, was probably one of our least favourites. It just had a funny taste to it (which I beleive were the herbs), and the cabbage was also a little tough for me. Our favourite sides, were probably the Pakawra though. They were potatoes that were deep fried, but they actually didn’t taste too oily! The batter was really thin and it was fried to a very interesting texture. Good stuff! As for the other dishes, I never got a chance to try them, but everyone said that it was pretty good!

Anyways, service was great, with our server coming in to check on us. The room only allows us to stay for around 2 hours though, since everyone seems to want to reserve the room. Apparently, there are also supposed to belly dancers on certain nights and times. That would’ve been really cool. The room is shared with a few other guests though, but the tables are separated so you can still have your own conversations. Would I come back again though? Probably not in a while. I feel like this is a place to go try out for an experience, but it’s not necessarily food that I would enjoy eating often – at least that’s what I think personally. Go check it out if you haven’t though, since it’s a pretty cool experience with some interesting food!

Afghan Horsemen on Urbanspoon

Edible Flours

Cookie Crumble – chocolate ganache dipped vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and chocolate chip cookie crumbles

Cookie Sandwich

Caramel Donut

Continuation of adventure time with K and J! After grabbing lunch at Tera V Burgers, we continued along Broadway to our next destination – Edible Flours! Edible Flours is claimed to be an organic vegan bakery, and the ratings and comments I have seen are above exceptional. The store was modern and clean-looking and we were greeted by a young man. All the baked goods looked dainty and were presented nicely. Taste wise – we were extremely disappointed…

I got the Cookie Crumble Cupcake, which looked so delicious! After my first bite, I was like, “oh, this is just alright”. But after taking a few more bites, it was too much to take. It was the sweetest cupcake I’ve ever had, and I already have a sweet tooth. But no – this was like SWEET. The icing tasted like I was just eating sugar, and I always thought the icing was sweet at Cupcakes, but no! These were beyond sweet. My cupcake batter also tasted extremely weird, having a weird flour taste to it. I swear the cupcakes I made in foods class were better than this. So I thought to myself that maybe it was because these were vegan cupcakes, and clearly as a non-vegan, I probably had a different liking to the taste of food…Maybe I just wasn’t used to the no egg or dairy baked goods. But K, who is also a vegan, thought her Cookie Sandwich was terrible. The filling between her cookies was also extremely sweet, and she ended up just eating the cookie. If K admitted it wasn’t good, I guess it wasn’t just my own problem! J also didn’t really like his Caramel Donut and thought it was too sweet as well. It was such a disappointment that I barely even finished half my cupcake, and I always finish my desserts! It was so sweet, it made me feel sick. Definitely not going back again.

Edible Flours on Urbanspoon

Tera V Burger

Barbecue Tempeh Burger – Organic tempeh, smokey barbecue sauce, fresh veggies and cheese on a whole wheat bun

Barbecue Tofu Wrap – Organic smoked tofu, fresh veggies, cheese, and smoky barbecue sauce in a whole wheat tortilla

Adventure time with K and J! We were originally supposed to try some vegan lasagna at a cafe, but unfortunately it was closed for good when we arrived. We were around the Broadway neighbourhood, so we decided to walk around to find a different place. Problem was, we weren’t exactly in the restaurant populated area of Broadway. We kept walking and started to get hungry and we spotted Tera V Burger. We checked out the menu and learned that it was a vegetarian so we thought it would be perfect. The place is supposed to be like a fast food burger chain and their mission is to try and make a movement for people to start eating vegetarian meals. You order your food first at the counter, and then you take a seat and they will serve it to you on a tray.

Both K and J got the Barbecue Tempeh Burger, which they said was quite delicious. Lots of veggies and an overload of barbecue sauce. For myself, I got the Barbecue Tofu Wrap since I wanted a small snack. It was actually quite filling and I was very full by the end. There were lots of tofu, and again, lots of barbecue sauce. Although the sauce was needed since the tofu was pretty much bland, I thought that it was almost too much, since it got really salty.

Not a bad place to go for some vegetarian burgers and wraps. The place was pretty empty, but I guess it’s pretty new. They also offer a variety of salads, sandwiches, and drinks.

Tera V Burger on Urbanspoon

Sapporo Ramen Shogun

Gyoza

Miso Soup

Bibimbap

ChaShu Miso Ramen

It’s my last day interning at the office so M and H decided to take me out for lunch. And now I’m back in the office blogging, instead of working… All is good 🙂

Anyways, I took out my wisdom teeth last week, so I’m still stuck with eating soft food. At least I’ve moved away from drinking soups and congees all day! H decided we should get ramen since it’s something that I could eat. H and I both agreed that Denman had lots of great ramen places, but it was kind of far from our office, so H brought us to Sapporo Ramen Shogun instead. It’s a tiny little shop with wooden decor and cool Japanese cartoon decorations. It seemed pretty busy during the lunch hour as well.

We were seated quickly and service was prompt. Got our orders in, and food came within 5 minutes. We ordered Gyozas to share, and I thought these were quite good. Quite flavourful, and they weren’t burnt! Not bad! M got the Bibimbap, which I believe came with the Miso Soup and the side dish with what I believe were veggies. I didn’t try, but he said it was pretty good. H and I both got the ChaShu Miso Ramen. It was quite large in size and had lots of ChaShu pieces. The ChaShu pieces were not as tender as some I’ve had, but they were not bad. I liked the ramen noodles though, as they were soft but still had a chew to it. The broth could have been more rich in flavour, but it was alright. Wasn’t bland or anything, but could have been more flavourful.

Overall, a decent place to grab a quick lunch if you’re craving ramen in downtown. I wouldn’t say it is as great as the ones at Denman, but you won’t need to line up forever to get some food. Thanks M and H again! It’s been a pleasure working at the office 🙂

Sapporo Ramen Shogun on Urbanspoon