Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Despite having been warned away by someone who had tried one of their Wednesday Suppers and rated it "nothing to write home about", I still gave Kessel & March a go, and with a gluten-intolerant friend no less. The location looks like a dilapidated industrial zone everything-closed-after-5pm neighborhood, but Kessel & March and other nearby eateries were doing surprisingly well, and were pretty packed after around 7.30pm last Friday when even the nearby coffee shop was closed. It's a small looking space, but two-tiered. It would be pretty cozy except for the traffic noise outside. Go a little later on a weekday and that should die down after 7.30pm or so. Some interesting products are also available in the mini-market, including perfect rice and drinking balsamic vinegar. As usual I asked hopefully for fresh-squeezed juice. No fruits ready to be juiced downstairs, but they do carry the locally produced  Cyoni bottled juice and the grapefruit juice wa...

The place was crazy busy this past Saturday evening when our little group went. Non-stop line-ups till probably 9pm or so and they were pretty full with reservations (which you can make online with OpenTable). When a place is that popular, it must surely be good, right? And a Filipino restaurant filled with Filipino patrons was another good sign.   Inside it looks sort of like a large McDonalds. Bright and spacious. Private rooms host larger groups and birthday parties. One of the plusses was that it looked clean and maintained. I also had a report that the handicap washroom was really ace, clean and even with music playing.   Our group was recommended the set menu options, and more or less at random we went with Option C plus a few extra dishes. A "Full Table" order of a set menu is 2 orders of each item listed and recommended for a party of 10. A "Half Table" is 1 order of each and recommended for a party of 5. We were seven persons so we went with...

This week, Superstore is having a sale on various yogurts, including cartons of 16 x 100g packs of Yoplait for $4.98. An intriguing choice here is the " dessert yogurts " pack, featuring flavours such as Strawberry Cheesecake. I did not personally like it much because I felt that although I could taste the underlying dessert flavour, the sourness of the yogurt ruined it. However, you may like it and at $4.98 it's not pricey to try. A safer choice would be the fruit yogurts, also available in 16 x 100g packs, at $4.98 as well -- at least this week, anyway.

I was lured to try this place by talk of good Korean tacos, but Vanbrosia rated the tacos only an average 2/3, so we went with other stuff (but did try at least one taco). This smallish restaurant *does* take reservations, but definitely please be on time because on the Friday night we were there, two really busy waitresses were scrambling to handle the constant stream of customers. If your party is just two persons, you may be able to squeeze in, but be prepared for a wait. Of the items I got a proper taste of, only the one taco was really decent (and hopefully not a fluke). The rest were not badly done, but in between why-did-I-bother-to-order-this and mediocre. Anything that sounds spicy probably isn't very spicy. More like toned-down-for-North-Americans spicy. DFC (Damso Fried Chicken drumsticks; $12.99) Eight drumsticks, slathered with a bright red sauce that wasn't super-spicy, so don't worry too much. For some reason, many drumsticks had broken bones, typi...

I got an e-mail from the Hamilton Street Grill yesterday: " A Special Event you cannot miss! " Hamilton Street Grill is collaborating with Lincoln Motor Company's #SavourTheCity to offer an unexpected culinary experience. Please join us on September 16th to test-drive the first ever 2015 Lincoln MKC and receive a complimentary 3-course meal created by Executive Chef Neil Wyles. Tuesday, September 16th 2014, 5 - 11pm. For reservations call +1-604-331-1511. We will start taking reservations on September 4th. Space is limited so please call early.