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Showing posts from July, 2015

Knorr Sidekicks Chicken Fried Rice

When I cooked this packet of Knorr Sidekicks Chicken Fried Rice with the stovetop instructions of 1-3/4 cups water and simmered while COVERED, it came out looking like rice stew -- way more soup/stock than pictured. I recommend using less water if you want your rice more fluffy than wet. Taste was predominantly like Knorr chicken stock -- slightly sweet, mostly salty, but not super-salty. Check your sodium content. Eat less of this a SIDE DISH, not your main rice dish. That said, if allowed to sit, the rice and noodles will eventually absorb the rest of the water (without transforming into a mushy mound). At that point, maybe because you are getting less soup directly, it tastes less salty, and you can eat it standalone as a main. The recommended 1 tablespoon of butter didn't do much for it, and you might be able to skip that. Definitely try the cooked rice first before stirring in butter. It may also be to keep everything from lumping together, though. Final cooked por

Alligga Flaxseed Cooking Oil

The latest sample sent to me by SocialNature is Alligga Flaxseed Cooking Oil. Right now, you can get Alligga Flaxseed Cooking Oil at $3 off the store price with a coupon from SocialNature . The information on the bottle and website basically touts it as a "do-it-all" healthy wonder-oil: Sautéing (pan frying), stir frying, roasting, baking, topping, salad dressing, add/mix with food (condiment?), supplement. It is Organic, non-GMO, Kosher, 100% Natural, and 100% Canadian. The Alligga website also talks about the health benefits of Flaxeed Oil . The taste was very surprising. Caveat: I have never tried flaxseed oil, and do not normally pursue buying special cooking oil for "health benefits". When I tried it straight, or with a bit of bread as a dip, there was a BITTER aftertaste on the tongue. This, I assume, is the "great nutty flavour" they mention (more like "walnutty", I guess). I also let my mom pan-fry a chicken thigh (with ski

The cat does NOT love you at Mimibuloveme

So the fat cute-ish cat with no neck that is their logo actually does NOT love you. According to our kawaii and sweet server (who was the only person running the show in the somewhat dilapidated shop out in the middle of nowhere yet close to Oakridge Mall), "bu" means "not". Mimi NOT love me. To rub it in, their free-wifi password is Mimi[not]loveyoutoo. Are you feeling the love yet? Also, their web presence is useless. Menu pictures on Mimibuloveme's Facebook site are outdated and it looks like no one has been there since August-2014. Their actual web page is also uselessly "under construction". Customer service is A+. Server is attentive. I had no sooner sat in my seat when a glass of water slid onto the table right in front of me. Totally un-rushed service (although at the same time, it was 6pm and the place was dead dead dead). The concept is like Chicco Coffee and Dessert Bar on Robson , except the parfaits are a bit cheaper and they a

Big Smoke Burger Faster than the speed of McDonalds

OK, not really faster than McDonalds, but fast. It's a tiny cafeteria with communal seats. The small kitchen back there is sardined with maybe over 10 people who are probably mostly grilling, because my burger came FAST. They were slammed, but fast service kept things moving with McDonalds-worthy speed. They only *sometimes* asked for a customer's name so some orders got kind of confused, but it's early days and they're working out the kinks. Impressively swift operation with thankfully adequate kitchen staffing to keep the burgers coming (and hence, keeping the customer queue moving). (Signature) Big Smoke Burger ($8.99?) horseradish mayo, caramelized onions, smoked cheddar, tomato, lettuce Really, really, decent grilled-to "medium" rarity burger. Moist enough. No pink, but you are warned that the patties may come out with some pink. Good regulation thickness at approximately 1 cm thick. Rest of the burger is a waste of time. Too boring: Not enough

Slowest burgers ever at the Cannibal Cafe

The Cannibal Café is diner style long-and-narrow place with a single very long 12-seater communal table in the back. 7pm reservation for a large party, so naturally we can't expect plating the entire table to be easy. *Some* food hit the table early and so maybe 1/3rd of the table finished their burgers first. At around 8:25 pm I got my burger in the second wave of orders -- OVER 1 HOUR LATER. Can't remember when the final orders reached the remainder of our party, but it was quite a while. Our server explained that the kitchen grill could only handle so many patties at the same time. You can decide how legitimate an excuse this is. If you decide the wait is intolerable, you can run over to Red Burrito nearby and eat something become coming back to waiting for your meal. (No, I'm serious. Someone in our party had success with this). Gluten-free people can get their burger with no bun. So if you got a "Classic Jr." burger, that's just a patty, lettuc

Chicken from Hell at Malay Curry House

Slightly tricky hours: Closed between 3pm and 5pm. Minimal staff at lunch so table clearing might be a bit slow. Seating is generously spacious. CASH ONLY. Malaysian Roti ($3.50) with Satay Sauce or Curry Sauce Satay sauce is not very peanut-ty. Curry sauce is tasty! Slightly sweet and slightly spicy-hot at the same time. Also quite thick so easy to spoon onto your roti -- IF you had a spoon. TIP: Ask for a small spoon when you order. Strange: We had two orders of roti go in at the same time but one order came very late. Hmm... The roti portion is quite large for $3.50. Looked like two 5"x5" squares, which is slightly more than what you get at Tangent Cafe for $5. Roti was slightly inferior (less flaky) to Tangent Café  but taste was okay and the overall order was much cheaper for comparable portions. Hainanese Chicken From Hell ($8.95 for quarter chicken) With a name like that, obviously I had to order it. On the take-out menu this is "Super Spicy Bo

Icy Bar a great place to hang out

Smallish place that gets really busy at night around 6pm till closing. But if you go too early (around Saturday at noon, for example) they may be out of various items (like their supposedly famous mango pancake) from being wiped out during the late night service the day before. Mixed Icy You get about 1 cup of each topping you ask for. For 50 cents, you can apparently double the portion of one topping. Your huge plate is basically a lot of ice, which is boring unless you squeeze a lot of condensed milk on it. You can have as much condensed milk as you can squeeze out of the squirt bottle (with three nozzles!). Price is not bad for the amount of non-ice you get. But as desserts go... it's cold jellies and fruit. Great for sharing. This is key. Potted Plant Layers of cream and whatever filling you asked or (e.g., durian). One smallish cup filled to the brim and topped with some brown dust (chocolate, I hope). Supposed to have a little mint plant on top (hence "pot

Something for everyone at Tangent Café

Tangent Café offers quite a variety of food from Malaysia or "the West" -- enough to safely say there is something safe and familiar for everyone. "Safe" is a good word to describe the food as there is nothing extreme here -- probably nothing actually spicy-hot, so order curries and such with no fear. Some vegetarian options but it is not immediately clear which are vegan. Roti Canai ($5) flaky pan-fried Malaysian flatbread with a side of either lentil curry or chicken curry for dipping Very salty chicken curry (with no chicken chunks -- which is normal), but this was probably a fluke as someone who had been to Tangent Café before said her curry that time wasn't quite so salty. Lentil curry was very thick, almost like a paste. Easier to scoop this up onto your roti with a fork. Two discs of really decent roti canai that came fresh. Very flaky and still chewy-fun. Portion is a bit light compared to other places that serve this, such as Banana Leaf .

Che-Licious an interesting Bubble Tea alternative

Chè-Licious offers an interesting alternative to Bubble Tea, generally involving more asian fruit ingredients; and is less artificially sweet. The multi-ingredient suggested combinations typically use coconut milk or coconut juice, which are good for you. On the napkin holders at the tables, the benefits of some of the ingredients such as BASIL SEEDS (which look like frog eggs!) and lychee are listed. Available ingredients include: Agar Jelly, Aloe Vera, Basil Seed, Coconut Milk, Coconut Water, Durian, Grass Jelly, Jackfruit, Longan, Lychee, Lychee Jelly, Mango Jelly, Mung Beans, Palm Seed, Pandan Jelly, Pom Pearls, Red Beans, Tapioca Pearls. Price is higher than bubble tea (typically just over $6)  but considering the numerous and exotic ingredients, it's not bad. You can also build your own to get a cheaper drink with less ingredients. And when compared to non-alcoholic drinks at a restaurant weighing in at possibly $6-$7, this is way more interesting and delicious. Bahn M

Banana Leaf Robson looks better in ad copy

After my last experience at Banana Leaf (on Broadway)  I was pretty sure I didn't want to go back to any Banana Leaf. But it was my friend's birthday and her pick, so... back to Banana Leaf. This time on Robson. TIP: DO NOT BRING CAKE. Not only is Banana Leaf unable to help your birthday celebration with anything birthday-like, but you will be charged a "cakeage" fee ($5 per person??) if you bring and serve cake. Large restaurant with an upstairs for larger groups and ground floor outdoors eating. If yours is the only party left upstairs AND you have already paid, expect it to be abandoned while they focus on their walk-ins downstairs. Even if you haven't or aren't the only party there, bussing was also only OK. Empty dishes removed but maybe just one refill of water. Unless you have an extremely sensitive palate, ignore the chilli symbol next to the menu items. It is nonsense. Even the Rendang Beef Curry wasn't spicy-hot. Prices are pretty hi

Zeitoon a pricier Cazba

Portions at Zeitoon are comparable to Cazba with prices of mains is higher by up to a few dollars (partially mitigated by their weekday specials ). Also, you can apparently have "no rice" and shave $1 off the price of your main. A great option if you don't want the carbs. Still, price is okay for a filling meal as long as you realize a lot of that will be from the carbs (which is the same with Cazba). It's a smaller place with good table spacing and easily movable tables, and some outside seating. Since it is not right on busy Denman, curbside seating actually works. No real ambiance to speak of, almost like a diner or cafeteria. You can make reservations! If this is important to you, it may be worth the extra dollars per head on mains rather than hope for large-group seating at Cazba. Contrary to a lot of online reviews I've read, our first visit to Zeitoon didn't see any lousy service. We got an attentive server very patient with people new to th

Kurumba Restaurant: Cuisines of Asia

Kurumba Restaurant is a pretty simple place. Medium restaurant, basically clean. Spacious between tables. Polite and helpful staff. Only two persons on when I went there on a Thursday night, and therefore sometimes service was a bit slow when they were cleaning up tables. Otherwise fine, and kitchen was pretty fast considering we were a party of 7. Although this is in Port Moody, it was surprisingly not that hard to get to from a skytrain station -- the 97 B-Line from Lougheed Mall practically drops you outside. Kurumba's menu has a great concept: Many of the not-too-expensive (like whole crab) popular dishes of various asian / south-east asian countries can be found in it. You have Chinese, Malaysian, Sri Lankan, Thai (What? Not India? Especially given the name Kurumba ). Obviously not everything gets on the menu, but a really good selection of many recognizable items. We tried a bunch of stuff, but here are just the things that I remember most clearly (remember that I d

Hippie Snacks - Coconut Bacon Chips

Thanks to SocialNature , I got to try a free packet of Hippie Snacks -- their "Coconut Bacon" flavour . There's actually no bacon here as it is vegan-friendly (and organic). Even the vegan-friendly part is not absolutely strict, as there is a warning: "This product may contain sesame, milk, soy and tree nuts." (And this particular product does in fact contain soy in their tamari soy sauce.) But unless you are fanatically vegan, this industry standard-issue cover-our-ass used-by-all-companies catch-all disclaimer will probably not bug you. Also comes with a moisture-absorbing pack of silica gel. The good: It's tasty. Which is basically the main reason to buy any snack. I wouldn't say it's very bacony, but the "natural smoke flavour" certainly helps. Neutral: It's a bit salty from special "Himalayan crystal salt", but that's little different from most savoury snacks. Bag has a resealable strip, but there's not

More overpriced Ice Cream - Earnest Ice Cream

With a lineup out the door, it's gotta be good right? Maybe after my recent experiences at Soft Peaks and Marble Slab Creamery , Earnest Ice Cream just starts to taste and look like another overpriced place -- if you are not prepared. It is still overpriced compared to what you can get in a supermarket, so I will really need to stop getting dragged to these places. The good: They have vegan options. Usually a sorbet. The Coconut Lime was really decent. Just not at $5 for a scoop. The bad: Ice cream tastes like ice cream. Guess what: "Tahitian Vanilla" tastes like... vanilla ice cream. Who'd have thought? The TIP: Get it in a bowl. Here's why: They still give you the cone. Probably they scoop it into a cone and then invert it into your bowl. For some reason they don't always mention this. It was offered me (at no extra charge) but my friend didn't get the same offer (why?). You get a spoon. Great for sharing. Steal another spoon from the b

Fast turnover at Sal y Limon

  Sal y Limón has a basically clean space but once it gets busy (around 6pm, maybe peaking at around 7pm or so) clearing tables becomes slower. This is in part due to the mess people tend to make eating the finger foods. Tons of used napkins all over the place. Clean-up is actually not so bad to do yourself, so if you need to secure several seats together, you can clear the tables yourself (there are tubs for dishes near the self-serve cutlery station) and wipe down the top with napkins. Otherwise, if you prefer to wait, table turnaround time is usually pretty fast. Don't be daunted by the lineup. Their nearby competition ( Los Cuervos Taqueria Y Cantina ) is just as busy and supposedly just as good, so pick a line and stick with it instead of jumping around. Table spacing is actually pretty decent with space to move and movable tables. TIPS: Examine the menu and nominate someone to place your group order. This keeps the lineup from inflating. The others in your party can

Wishes + Luck

Been curious about Wishes+Luck since my friend J of Vanbrosia.com rated it highly earlier this year. Place is small. Seating is tight. There is bar-style seating just parallel to the entry ramp, and no shortage of hooks for purses and jackets. Small bit of patio seating. Tables for two are sort of tight on space. No cloth napkins, so don't make a mess. One paper napkin is standard issue per seat, pre-issued on the table. Depending on what you order, you may want more right away. Sadly, they have an equally good and popular neighbour in Jamjar, so if you can't get into one, you can't count on the other as a backup plan. Fortunately Commercial Drive has no shortage of eateries. Dropped in for a late-ish lunch. They are apparently busy during the 11am-12.30pm lunch rush, then starting around 6pm again for the dinner rush through till closing for the late-night crowd. Strangely not that busy Fridays and Saturdays (all this according to my server and memory) when they

Happy belated birthday to me from Starbucks

As you probably know, Starbucks gives out birthday drinks to cardholders . My birthday was almost a week ago, and I completely forgot to redeem it. But the person at the counter was still willing to honour the offer!--And in no way did he hesitate or make me feel bad about it. He said the offer was recorded on my card, so it would just be a matter of checking to make sure the offer was unused and applying it if still valid. Voilà! Free drink, almost a week late. Thank you Starbucks.

Stupidly boring ice cream possible at Marble Slab Creamery

Marble Slab Creamery sent me a birthday buy-one-get-one offer, so for the first time ever, I went to a Marble Slab Creamery. Sadly, my friend was broke so I ended up getting my free cone and buying hers. But anyway... I deliberately chose NOT to research Marble Slab Creamery before going. All I knew was I would be getting a cone and I could get another for free. Yay. As usual, I tried to find something weird. There was, sadly, nothing weird. The girl at the counter lamely suggested mango, but I forgive her for that because the weirdest thing was maybe "birthday cake" and it tasted like vanilla. So I went with lactose-free chocolate. Which is chocolate ice cream where they mix something into it to neutralize the lactose for lactose-intolerant people. No, it is not dairy free. Vegans, back away slowly. Next, she asked if I wanted "Medium" or "Large". I totally fell for this sales trick because I forgot they have small. Anyway, "Medium"

Chambar Medieval Feast

Got too much money? Hate pigs? Love bacon? You may be interested in Chambar 's National Belgian Day Medieval Feast  ( $94.40 tickets here ). Spicy pig ear salad Head cheese terrine, pickled cabbage Rum and lemongrass caramelized pork neck Black pudding sausage, crackling, camembert Tamarind-glazed baby back ribs Lomo, burrata, sun gold tomatoes Pulled pork Vietnamese sub Pork hock consomme, sweet peas Friseee salad, smoked bacon-wrapped prunes Pig feet spring rolls BBQ porchetta, roasted corn chimmy churry Bacon ice cream sandwiches

Birthday Genisys Burger at Red Robin (West End)

If you sign up for Red Robin's eClub , you get a two-week window to enjoy a free Gourmet Burger. The fine print says "Participating Locations Only", and fortunately the Robson Street location participates. As soon as you walk in, there's a banner that says so. What is not included are customized burgers, non-burgers (e.g., their sandwiches), and their Angus Beef "Red Robin's Finest" burgers. Their current Terminator Genisys promotion , at about $1 more than their usual Gourmet Burgers, DOES qualify. As Red Robin touts itself as the "Burger Authority" (as indicated in their colourful, child-proofed-by-lamination menus), I should really not cut them any slack on burger engineering and execution... so I won't. Genisys Burger ($12.99)  jalapeño-cornmeal bun, fresh avocado, roasted jalapeños, bacon, pepper-jack cheese, 100% beef burger patty, comes with unlimited fries (other unlimited substitutions available) Patty check: Dry patt

Why Opentable is actually a viable business

Despite even mom-and-pop hole-in-the-wall restaurants having a website and e-mail address (and probably a Facebook account), probably the number one reason why  OpenTable  actually works as a business model is NOT by dangling the carrot of free dining cheques in front of users. That just encourages them with positive reinforcement to actually show up for their reservations. Without having done any actual surveys, I suspect the number one reason OpenTable works is because a lot of restaurants are absolutely lousy with online reservations. You can e-mail them using their online form or provided e-mail, and any number of these can happen: You never get a response. WTF? You are lucky to get a response days later. WTF? You get a voicemail asking you to call them. WTF? I E-MAILED you because I wanted to handle this ONLINE. Why do you bother having an e-mail address? If you call the restaurant, especially a busy restaurant, you may have to deal with: An answering machine

Very filling meals at Cazba

It's busy and with good reason: Price for portion is really good. In some ways, Cazba is like Chinese take-out noodles. You get some toppings on a ton of noodles. Except here, it's rice. For $12 or so you can be stuffed. Not much of a patio in terms of view, but you can sit outside in an enclosed space if you like, with reasonable privacy from pedestrians. Inside it's somewhat dim and OK. Nothing too special except for some interesting statuary and lamps, but they really didn't pretty up the space so much. Plus, there's so much server and diner traffic there's not that much they can do. Fesenjoon ($11.99 +$1 for half garden salad / half rice) Stew made with Pomegranate , Walnuts and Chicken Served with Basmati Rice; vegetarian option (no chicken) possible at no extra charge I went for the vegetarian option here. Very sweet stew! Quite delicious though so sweet you do really want to temper it by mixing it into your rice. Even so, I really only neede

Canada Day at Kitanoya Guu Garden

It can be a frustrating experience to go to a restaurant that's basically slammed and find they are short-staffed. Like the last time I went to Jamjar . Can it be that management genuinely did not expect it to be so busy? Just home from Guu Garden this evening. Got there shortly after 7.30 pm and there was a slowly increasing lineup. Even after 9pm, new patrons were trickling in. The staff were non-stop scurrying around. Our poor sweetheart server Seiko (?) was nevertheless unfailingly polite and patient. Not once did she look impatient or fail to give us service with a smile. I felt bad that all I could offer her was a few kind words slipped in whenever she came by, and a decent tip at the end. There's a note on the faux wood menus that reads, "It is not rude to yell out 'sumimasen!' [excuse me] calling your server at Izakaya", but we didn't try it. Also, despite the restaurant being so busy, none of our dishes looked like rush jobs or that any c

Redeeming features to BG Urban Cafe (Metrotown)

Some places have an awful location but are great (e.g., BETA5 and Audrey's Moment ). Some places have a great location but are awful. OK, BG Urban Cafe at Metrotown isn't exactly awful. But it's not ace. It does, however, have good things going for it. Good: It's big. You can fit a lot of people in there (which you can't say for just about every other chain cafe that comes to mind, right?), or easily find seating. Plus it's long so there's a long patio-ish sidewalk seating. It's got parking. Tons of mall parking just around the corner. Price is OK now that we have been thoroughly conditioned by Starbucks. Free wifi. And since there aren't tons of people, you'll probably get a great connection. Questionable: Their "large" Dixie Cup drink size is wider than Starbucks but not by much. So it looks small because it looks short, but probably you are getting a Grande sized portion. Inconsistent. I ordered their current promo

Some things surprisingly good at Notch8

Beautiful space with OK lighting until maybe 10 PM when they dim it down to romantic lounge lighting. The dimness and restaurant colours has the strange effect of giving the otherwise brightly lit renovated hotel a "black hole" right in the middle. When you are inside, however, there's definitely an elevated dining ambiance. Seating is not tight so it is still possible to have a sense of privacy. Chairs are comfortable. Staff are seasoned. NOTCH8 Signature Bread ($7) stout, comte cheese, mustard seed How can bread possibly be worth $7? I ordered this as a joke to get the answer to that ( just like I ordered Soffee Café's ham and cheese french toast at $11.75 to see what it's like ). Surprisingly good, BUT you have to eat it right away. If it gets cool or cold, it hardens very quickly and then it's just horrible. That also means you can't really save it to mop up any tasty jus from your dinner. You basically get a small loaf, so it's worth