Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Small bright space open for lunch and dinner with a bit of a break in between. Get ready before you go in: Menu is accessed from a QR code available at each table. If you don't have data, you can probably connect to the free Wifi provided by the City of Vancouver. Pay attention to the menu! It tells you about the complimentary tea (it smells a bit like coffee but it's made from beans) and the bowl (it's not as deep as it looks). Premium Bowl ($18.95 + $5 for cold tofu) Conger Eel, Shrimp, Kakiage (mixed seafood tempura), Soft Boiled Egg, Seaweed, Green Bean For $5 even though it's got fancy stuff on it I'd pass on the cold tofu next time. Nothing really special there. Tempura came hot but it's not going to stay hot. Neither will the rice, special bowl or not. Tempura wasn't particularly crispy probably because of not just the rice which was probably more than room temperature at some point, but also because they pre-drizzle their special sauce on the te...

Back to Red Robin! Again! This time for my friend's birthday. She's got a soft spot for Red Robin even though her last burger on my birthday burger outing wasn't that great. In fact she said her cheeseburger this time was strangely very salty but because it was a free birthday burger, she didn't say anything about it at all. This time since I wasn't choosing a birthday burger, I decided to order Fish and Chips. Yeah, who goes to Red Robin for fish and chips right?  But that's why I ordered it. For science! Arctic Cod Fish & Chips ($15.99) Premium hand-battered cod fillets, fried to crispy perfection, with our Bottomless Steak Fries. Served with Dill'd & Pickl'd tartar sauce. Terrible. Do not order this. Price for fish portion is atrocious plus it's pretty basic. A bit overcooked so it came out on the dry side, sadly. Came piping hot and definitely nicely crunchy-crispy on the outside. There was some issue with their usual tempura batte...

Fooling around with deep fried bread again. The result comes out lightly crunchy on the outside, puffy and airy on the inside, and much lighter than a donut. Best eaten fresh and fast. You're probably good to go with any basic bread dough but the recipe/process I used is very simple: 2 cups water 1 tablespoon yeast 1 tablespoon sugar Once the yeast has foamed a bit, mix it into: 5 cups all purpose flour 2 teaspoons salt -- this is a cautious amount and your dough will come out on the blander side 1/4 cup oil Mix it, knead it, let it rise. Once it's risen once and maybe doubled in volume at least, you're ready to prep it for frying. You can keep portions of it in the fridge/freezer for later as well. For my first batch, I tried just cutting a portion of the dough then, without kneading at all, just cut small chunks and put it into the oil for frying. This produced good puffy results, but not as many units (slides 1-2). The the second batch, I used about the same amount of d...

Normally I'm nowhere near Port Moody but I was hanging out with a friend today and we wandered there. Very spacious on the inside, especially now that Covid has forced restaurants to space people out. Very generous spacing between tables. There's the usual bewildering array of Chinese restaurant staples in their menu but also a "Chef's Special Recommendations". Any two items on the list plus rice, daily soup, and daily dessert, for $42.95. So this would work out to over $20 per person, but you're likely to end up with one or two meals worth of takeout so it's actually closer to $10 per person. So whatever you think of the food quality, price for portion is definitely not lacking. Daily Soup (included in price of Chef's Daily Recommendations) Honestly this looks like stray bits too small to use and just tossed into a pot to brew until the soup is flavourful. It's okay, although the chunks of corn are awkward to eat. It will NOT be doggy bagged. I...

My mom sometimes buys chips of flavours she hasn't tried before, and she's partial to the Pringles brand. Today she got Pringles Groovz and it was remarkably disappointing. Really weak spicing on each chip means I could basically not taste the "tangy southern BBQ flavour" at all. The chip itself didn't taste like potato or even a Pringles chip. I can't even believe I'm saying this but honestly the chips tasted literally like paper or cardboard. Slightly smaller, but thicker ribbed chip. This is okay and I suppose it helps with preventing the chips from shattering inside the tube. But I seem to remember once upon a time the chips fit the tube better so that there was less movement and therefore less likely they would shatter. Overall, extremely disappointed. But maybe more shocked than anything at the remarkable lack of quality here. What happened to this brand? View this post on Instagram Barely...

The newest free sample I received from SocialNature is Sahale Snacks -- this time very conveniently found at my nearby Superstore. They apparently carry three products, but last time I went, two were out of stock. Today, only one was out of stock, so I bought just the two types available: Pomegranate Vanilla Glazed Cashews (with pomegranate, apple, and vanilla bean) Maple Glazed Pecans (with walnuts, apples, cherries, and cinnamon) Not gonna lie, at $6.48 for a 113g pack, it's pretty pricey for my budget. But! Flavour is actually, really, amazing. The product inside of course isn't at perfect as the magnified picture on the outside, but it's reasonable. And of course the main part is the taste, and both types I got were winners. Obviously they would be gone in a hurry if you ate fistfuls of them like boring salted nuts, so DON'T DO THAT. Savour them literally one nut at a time. The strong, clear, flavours will come through even with just one nut so you...

Back to Red Robin for yet another free Birthday Burger! Easy peasy this time -- our waitress said any burger would qualify. She even steered us away from the Tavern Burgers because they were "cheap". For a change, instead of plain bottomless fries I went with the garlic fries upgrade. My friend who came out with me got a Madlove Burger on her own dime. The Southern Charm Burger ($16.99) brown sugar glaze, candied bacon, Whiskey River BBQ Sauce, cheddar, caramelized onions, shredded romaine and mayo on a toasted brioche bun Bun was good. Soft, slightly sweet. It compresses very easily, but there's no so much bread to get in the way of tasting the actual burger. The light toasting also added a little something to the overall flavour. Had to review my pictures to find the caramelized onion. Oh look! There's a small ring. Needless to say the flavour didn't come through at all. Candied bacon not very sweet and not very bacon salty either. As burgers go, thi...

This restaurant has been around for a very long time and still has a decent number of customers -- which is generally a good sign that it's got something going for it. Overall, price for portion is really good and it's not just filler. Even the smaller "Mini-Set Meal" available from 12pm-6pm and 9pm-1am are of a decent, filling portion though at a couple dollars less than the regular menu. That's what we ordered from for lunch. Taste is around slightly better than mediocre but on the salty side. For a Chinese restaurant where the servers weren't good at English, service was really decent. Not brusque like it can be in Chinese restaurants. CASH ONLY. CASH ONLY. 25. Curry Chicken or Beef Brisket with Rice ($10.75) My friend went with the Curry Chicken. Chicken not at all overdone so I suspect it might have been freshly boiled and then added to the soup. Same with the vegetables, which were still on the crisp side instead of having sat in cur...

Hunnybee is a pretty busy little brunch place with rather limited seating. There's seating outside, but the tables are on the low side and given the neighbourhood I wouldn't really recommend the counter. Price for portion is good! And that's hard to find these days. It's diner style so you order at the counter and pay first, and the credit card machine prompts you to tip first, which is sort of weird as you end up with really not much service except they bring the stuff to your table. So if that irks you, look around the interface for how to skip it, especially as the first tip option is 15%. Shakshuka ($12) red pepper & tomato stew, two poached eggs, lentils, labneh, toast Tasty, and given the portion and price, it's a win. Spicing might be slightly on the tame side, however. Lacking in some of the more traditional aspects, chief of which is not being in a skillet. This means it can get cold really fast, so dig in right away. Based on the presentat...

DISCLAIMER: I got a Yelper discount e-coupon for J&G Fried Chicken as an incentive to try the place. I dragged along a couple of friends who live downtown and who happily turned out to have already been curious about it so that between the three of us we could try many things. The place is tiny. Basically it's a take-out joint, except you probably don't want to take home freshly deep fried food because it'll be horrid by the time you get it home, especially with the current low temperatures. Seating is minimal, but since people generally walk out with their purchases, you could just eat it right there. Price-wise there are a couple of meal options but mostly it's snack-sized. So if you try to put together a dinner with the various snacks, it's gonna end badly dollar-wise, just as if you were to try to put together a dinner with just appetizer portions of, well, appetizers. KFC coupons will probably get you more bang for your buck and comparable tastine...

Caught up with a dear friend over Sunday brunch and Burdock and Co. was her pick. Busy busy busy but they take reservations! Table spacing is tight AND the tables are light and not bolted to the floor, so don't bulldoze your way around. Didn't get a non-alcoholic drink menu right away so ask about it. Coffee and tea available of course but also a small selection of Fentimans . Risotto ($17) biodynamic aged rice , sunchoke, walnut Looks deceptively simple and therefore can look initially disappointing. Even if you overlook the biodynamic aged rice portion of the item, it is actually surprisingly tasty thanks to the flavourful oil. Portion may seem small compared to whatever your dining companion is getting but it's not very watery so it works out to be a decently filling portion. Fentimans Dandelion & Burdock Not overly sweet, interesting flavour, and strangely very little aftertaste. My friend had the rather hearty-sized looking chickpea tagine tha...

Ended up at White Spot for a friend's birthday party. Been absolutely ages since I was at any outlet. Maybe I remember them a bit too fondly but for what I got, price felt outrageous. Even their french fries were so disappointing my mom said not to reheat them and just throw it out for the birds (no really -- she actually suggested that). Crispy Cauliflower Bites ($10.49) glazed in sweet chili sauce and served with mango herb salsa over cilantro sour cream; toasted almonds. Taste is quite decent although prone to being covered up by the various sauces and flavours on the plate. Not even remotely crispy. Avocado Beyond Burger™  ($17.49) Chargrilled 100% plant-based Beyond Meat® patty with fresh avocado, pickled onions, roasted corn, lettuce & tomato. Jalapeño ranch & edamame hummus. Comes with choice of Caesar Salad, The Spot's Salad, or Creamy Coleslay and Endless Signature Kennebec Fries. Mediocre tasting burger. Not even particularly big. At $17.49 it ...

Bright clean place that looks suspiciously like a Freshii outlet. Decent-to-good food at a rather good price for mains. Price for portion is actually rather good and they aren't skimpy with ingredients like the chicken in my chicken curry. 46. Basil Garden Chicken Curry (with choice of Vermicelli or Rice; $12) This was a pretty big bowl for what you get. Obviously the curry soup is a part of what you get but they weren't skimpy with the chicken. Sweet potato made this a bit more interesting and gave the soup a slight sweetness. Not especially hot-spicy. Chicken pieces looked dry, unfortunately, but of course there's curry soup all around. Otherwise pretty decent bad and the price for portion is rather good. 1. Garlic Butter Chicken Wings ($12.50 - about $1.60 per wing) Came piping hot, juicy, crispy on the outside. But it was also the last item of our order to come, despite being an appetizer. Overall pretty decent. I think I would have liked the butter and/o...