Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Aside from a small selection of pastries, Bao Bakery also prominently features a lot of bao . They look like the chinese bao (similar to what you can get at the more dedicated Bao Place ) except the fillings sound decidedly Filipino. A bit strange for me since I was raised on the Chinese tradition but if you don't know bao well to begin with, think nothing of it and consider only whether it's tasty. I tried the one that sounded the most interesting and alien to me, which was "Chicken Deluxe (Bola Bola)", with filling containing chicken, pork, ham, and salted duck egg yolk (how many animal parts can you eat in one bite?). Taste is mediocre. The filling is OK but nothing to write home about. What Bao Bakery does offer however is a really decent amount of filling per bun--although from bun to bun you might get a bit more or less. In the pictures below I dissected two different buns from the same package. Two buns will trump a burger in the quantity of meat you...

Poké Time serves up what looks like deconstructed sushi with marinated raw cubed fish. And if you get the Super Cruncheritto ($11.95), they call it a burrito but it's more like a massive sushi roll so packed with stuff that they can't roll it up without some of the fillings squeezing out the ends. Unlike sushi, you're not tasting the freshness of the fish so much as the marinade -- yeah, there's sauce. Still, the entire construction of the Cruncheritto tastes fresh and light despite being filling because of the rice. Compare how much you get for your money to a couple of sushi rolls at just about any sushi restaurant and Poké Time is a winner. The hole-in-the-wall is basically a take-out place that works like a Quiznos or Subway so there's no point scoring them on ambiance. But you can eat in, and if you do, tell them so they don't give you the plastic container for your non-burrito order but rather the reusable bowl that you return after. TIP: Eat in...

Spotted some intriguing vegan, gluten free "nachos" made from beans and rice at Urban Fare-- Beanfields Nacho Bean and Rice Chips --and decided to give them a try. My mom is into chips (crisps) so now and again I try to get her something interesting because otherwise she'd just buy whatever is safe and familiar from Superstore. Good firm crispiness. Taste is bean-like but not so odd that you focus too much on it. Salty enough that you are reminded of basically "normal" nachos. Overall, a pricey snack unless you are vegan and/or celiac, which limits your choices and sometimes beggars can't be choosers unfortunately. What was most surprising, however, was the colour. The packaging clearly indicated a yellow-ish nacho-like colour. The contents, however, were... not. No way these were gonna pass as regular nachos. Depending on the lighting they looked anywhere from brown to grey, and the black didn't help any. The lighting in the pictures from my smartp...

I was recommended KIMU Japanese Cuisine by friends showing me interesting pictures of sushi. Naturally when I went I didn't get any "rolls" but whatever sounded way more interesting. It's too bad the menu doesn't have pictures but you can check out pics online at Zomato and Yelp to see just how pretty and interesting their creations are and at decent portions for very reasonable prices! TIP: Get a spoon. Unlike "normal" sushi restaurant offerings, the variant construction can mean some pieces falling off the arrangement, so chopsticks will be sort of lousy here. Ask for a spoon right away if you're getting their special stuff, such as what we ordered. Volcano Eggplant Seafood Yaki ($8.95) deep fried eggplant, pan fried seafood with onion, melted mozzarella, cheddar cheese, with special spicy mix sauce and bonito on top We ate this with chopsticks. Don't eat this with just chopsticks. Slabs of eggplant were rather big. No way you'...

Been years since I ate at Bao Bei. Last time we were a large group at a family table in the back. This time there were just two of us doing a Monday evening walk-in right when they opened. And that's probably the best way if you can manage it because the lineup started around 5:15 pm and they were basically full shortly after the restaurant opened for the evening at 5:30 pm ( accepts no reservations except for their family table ). Having grown up on Chinese food at home myself, my take on Bao Bei is that it serves the familiar foods you had at home, but magically made more interesting and tasty. It makes other Chinese restaurants look like lazy home-style. It's like everything had a something-extra something-special treatment. Portions are small for price, so if you want any chance of actually walking out of there full at $25+ per person (that's not including drinks), get the fried rice. bean curd skin ($5.50) king oyster mushroom, chili ginger vinaigrette Look...

For $2.25 you can get a straight stick of churro , and for a buck more you can get a scoop of ice cream to go with it. Sounds expensive, and when the portion comes it looks expensive too, but people will pay $5 for a single scoop of ice cream, so it's hard to discuss price when the dessert market is spendy. I got the "plain" churro, which is coated in sugar and somewhere in there is cinnamon. It tastes okay and as churros go, it's completely fine just like this. And seriously, what do you want? It's a dough of flour, water, and salt deep fried till crispy. You're paying for the novelty, plus a premium for being in a neighbourhood where it's hard to find and maybe a bit of a walk to the nearest churro competitor.

Where once there was a 7-11 on Robson is now The Holy Crab , a seafood boil sort of place. The basics is this: You order seafood. They boil it. You extract the meat (and there's a TV televising the various way to efficiently get meat out of crustaceans), dip it in sauce, and eat it. If you're not sure what sauce to get, they can bring out a flight of samplers. Get this! To me, crab is crab. So I looked at the menu and ordered other stuff instead. Yeah, I even got the chicken. Really. Seafood Chowder ($4.50) Miscellaneous bits of stuff in it. Still came across as slightly on the watery side of a chowder, and definitely not chunky with stuff. A bit bland. If you have the flight of sauce samplers, you can try putting a bit of your favourite sauce into it and stirring it up. Seafood Bisque ($6.50) There's actually stuff in this! Looks like similar stuff as the chowder. Tastes ok. Fried Bread ($2) Two small buns. Price is atrocious unless you are ...