Excellent Tofu & Snack
160 – 4231 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, BC

Almost two months ago, I was in Edmonton and, while there, I visited Corso 32 with Edmonton food blogger Chris, who writes Eating is the Hard Part. During our conversation at Corso 32, I briefly made mention he should visit us and, indeed, that’s what Sarah and himself did a couple of weeks ago during Family Day weekend – also Louis Riel Day as well as Islander Day, but, for us in BC, the holiday that, as of 2011, we don’t have. While it was “late” and despite they could have easily taken the Canada Line, I offered to pick them up at YVR. Why? Hey, would I leave out a chance to eat out? Of course not! Now, since they have had dinner already, I gave them the options of something “light” and that one option became Excellent Tofu & Snack.

Located in one of the several strip malls in Richmond, Excellent Tofu is just behind Aberdeen Centre. Getting there wasn’t that much of a problem. Finding a parking space was! In fact, one car was double parked. Bastard! Fortunately, as soon as I turned around, there was an opening so I grabbed it.

Due to the layout, there was no table for three (or four); instead, we just grabbed a spare chair. Once given the menu, I started tossing around the options and ended up with these three:

What are these? Dou Fu Fa, aka, silken tofu. Top down are the black glutinous rice, red beans with coconut milk and, finally, grass jelly (all of them warm). And, on the first picture, there are the two squeeze bottles with syrup: one “regular” and one with ginger. One thing I mentioned to Chris and Sarah was that these will be really plain (you might need to try really hard even with the toppings) but, despite that, they liked it! (Check Chris’ post, here!). And they liked it even more when they added some of the ginger syrup. As for me, well, I am Chinese, what do you expect?

Out of the three, I will have to say I prefer the red beans and coconut milk more than the others. Part of the reason is the coconut milk, as it gave a really light hint of nuttiness. The one requires a bit of an acquire taste is the grass jelly. By itself, other than a light herby hint, it was quite bland.

Given its hours and type of food (which you can also have to go), one can imagine why it is a popular stop for a quick stop for snack. Alas, for me, it is in Richmond so I am not necessarily in a hurry to go back. Even if I was in Richmond is the issue of parking in this tight strip mall. So, in the end, it is almost a perfect storm type condition for me to go back but, if they were met, definitely.

Et Voila! Crepes, Galettes, Tartines & Frozen Yogurts
555 West Hastings
Vancouver, BC

Last week, I wrote about Arturo’s Mexico to Go but, prior to that, I wrote a general “complain” they were not using Internet to their full potential. How so? By not setting up a Twitter account (or something on those lines), short of going there, there wasn’t really an easy way to find out whether they were open or not. In my couple of trips to that corner of Howe and Cordoba (and failing to find them), I had to look for something to eat nearby and quick. Waterfront food court? Nah, nothing attracted my attention. Dim Sum Express? Been there, done that. That left me with Sinclair Centre food court and Harbour Centre food court. For some reason, I was attracted to the later, so, to Harbour Centre I went. While I ended up going to more than one stall, this post is specific to one: Et Voila. More of that in a moment…

When I got there, it was barely before noon so, while all the stands were open, there weren’t many customers yet. That didn’t last for every minute I walked around undecided. In the end, I went to one (which name will be skipped to protect the innocent/guilty) which had a special. As in this special:

Now, just like a lot of you, I was your hungry student as well. OK, OK, I was living with my parents (hence home cooked meals) but my classes started late after work and, a lot of times, ate pretty much anything just because I was hungry. I don’t think the Freshman 15 applies to me. It was more on the lines of Freshman 20 (if not more!). But, still, you are always under a budget and whatever you can get for cheap was usually what ended up in your belly. So, for the plate above, it was just under $5 and it included a piece of pork, rice and a “salad” (which ended up being mostly lettuce and dressing). Again, for $$$, I won’t complain and the fact it is not processed food (sauces aside, that is) is something that can to be admired. So, if I was under a budget, it would certainly work great. But, let’s just say, on that day, I wasn’t. In fact, I didn’t finish everything and left me slightly hungry, which gave me an excuse to try Et Voila.

I have been mentioned a lot of times I am not a dessert person; yet, once again, against all logic, I chose to have something sweet to finish this visit. I mean, there wasn’t anything stopping me from going upstairs, get a slice of pizza and go back to work! However, there was a particular reason why I ended up going for this French dish: compare and contrast my preferences for this dish with that of Kimono Koi Crepes (KKC).

While looking for the different options, the first one that popped my attention was the Nutella and banana. OK, can somebody tell me if there is anything wrong with that combination? I mean, how many of you didn’t grow up eating a peanut butter banana sandwich? (Those with peanut allergy aside, that is). OK, Nutella ain’t peanut butter, it is made with hazelnuts but, hey, add some chocolate and you have a beast of your own! However, here an even bigger twist: that day, they had pears and could customize my crepe by switching the banana for crepe. Or, as the person behind the counter was telling me “however you want it!” (Did I mention with a French accent?)

After making my order, he started pouring the batter and spread it thinly. After that, he starts cutting the pear and hands me a small piece to make sure if it is good to my liking (on that note, it was red d’anjou pear). The pear was sweet and soft, let’s just say I do have a liking for pear over apple so there wasn’t really a need but, still, a good gesture. So, when the crepe is cooked and flipped, he takes a jar of (soft) Nutella and drizzles it with the pieces of pear. The end result? A warm crepe.

Yup, a bit un-inspiring look but don’t let looks deceive you (and, sorry, I know the second picture looks horrible in all senses but I was trying to capture it as fast as I could to start eating!). While the tip side was doughy, the wider side was crisp, which is a characteristic I really like from the crepe, i.e., a mix of soft doughy with a bit of crispiness. And the pear… It was so soft that in a way, it melted itself away but provided a hint of its unique taste, which contrasted the nuttiness and slight bitterness of the Nutella. I definitely don’t mind having this as a dessert!

At just over $5 (taxes included), this would be something I don’t mind having as a snack. In fact, I really wished this is what KKC would have been rather than the Japanese inspired motif/version. But, once again, this is my personal preference and I am sure others will have their own and prefer KKC’s over this.

Jules Casual French Bistro
216 Abbott Street
Vancouver, BC

On Monday’s post, I made reference to my visit (along with Sherman) to Luda. I am sure some of you might wonder how we come up with ideas of where to go and when. Well, it is as simple as this:

(Receiving an email with the subject “Random dinner”)
“Do you want to go to restaurant X”
“Sure, why not!”

The only issue at times is when there are more people. Don’t get me wrong, when it comes to food, to me, it falls in the category of the more the merrier. However, that also involves a bit of logistics to make sure everybody can make it, to a place everybody wants to go. After all, we want to eat, not fight over minor details. But, in this case, Sherman suggested Jules Casual French Bistro in Gastown. While I am not a fan of Gastown (nor Yaletown, Kitsilano or West Side for that matter), I am willing to venture to these areas, if I know there is something worth trying or with good company. For the food itself, not necessarily so because, more often than not, based on previous experiences, it is over-hyped, over-priced and, for the most part, it is more of a be-seen type environment. But, given I was in good company…

And talking about good company, I was with Darina, Anita, Sherman and, taking from Sherman’s naming convention of people he goes along for dinner, “Whipping Girl” (WG, from here on). Don’t ask me how WG got that nickname, I will let Sherman answer that! After everybody arrived and seated (actually, this take a little bit of effort, as *somebody* got lost on their way there!), it was time to decide what to order. Now, usually this would involve some argument of its own, i.e., don’t get repeated dishes and what not; however, in an interesting twist, everybody had an idea of what to order and didn’t really conflict with each other. That was specially true with Darina as she called shotgun for the three course prix fixe. However, that wasn’t the case with WG and myself, as we had a quibble over one dish we both wanted to order. So why not both of us order the same dish? Well, that goes against our food blogging principles! Eventually, we got that resolved when our waiter informed us of the special and it just happened they had a second version of the same dish. Can anybody say… Problem solved?

I usually do not describe the setting and/or the dining room because, well, there is only that much you can enjoy (or at least that’s what I do). To me, it is what it is presented at the table. But, in this case, I have to do it because of how the pictures. Similar to my experience in Le Pichet in Seattle, lights at Jules while workable weren’t necessarily bright. Normally, that would have meant flash; however, because the restaurant was open, that would have generate A LOT of disturbing flash shots which would have certainly bothered the rest of the customers. I warned this to Sherman but he wanted to take a shot anyway… Just to find out that, indeed, it would have bothered the rest. Ah, nobody listens to me… Anyway, first the drinks.

Anita ordered the Kir Royale, while Sherman ordered a mojito. The oddity is that both Darina and I ordered white wine, specifically, Riesling. Now, Darina’s perspective, that would have been business as usual; however, in my case, I am not much of an alcohol drinker so there were some risks in it (however, that does not mean I do not know what I like if I choose to drink). In our case, we both ordered a glass of Riesling, what I believe is one of the most underrated wines around. However, the one we had was a bit too dry for both Darina and my liking. But, when it comes to wines, everybody has their preferences/expectations and it didn’t work for either of us.

Moving to appetizers, I will have to openly admit I didn’t take a picture of one dish: Darina’s. It just happens she had a salad and from the looks of it (I was seated diagonally opposite to the other end)… Well, I didn’t see much so no comments! I neither had a chance to try Anita’s shrimp cocktail so… Sorry! As for the rest…

Sherman had the lobster bisque. I tried a little bit of it but found the lobster taste was a bit too hidden behind the rest of the components and some spices. It was good in its own ways but by hiding the lobster taste, it ended up being slightly moot. What I did find was that it wasn’t as heavy/thick as other bisque so, depending on your like or dislike, it could hit both ways. In my case, the consistency before adding some side of cheese was good on its own. But, ah, having the lobster taste being slightly covered up…

WG ordered the onion soup. Visually it is similar to most onion soups, probably with the exception of Corner Suite Deluxe Bistro, where the amount served was minimal. Anyway, as for this one, there was one small fault: It was quite light. In fact, rather than the dark colour I am used to in onion soup, it was still light yellow-ish. It was good in its own ways, just that expectations weren’t met.

As for myself, I went for one of the specials of the day: gazpacho. For the most part it was good, except for one small preference detail: I like mine chunkier. Now, it wasn’t completely smooth (as a puree), there were small bits here and there but, I know what I want… Other than that, I would have also preferred it with more of a garlic taste; however, there might have been a reason why they might have wanted to hold back on it: after all, you don’t want your taste buds obliterated by the garlic! Another interesting touch was that it had a hint of heat. Not really strong but you could tell. In the end, I suggested everybody dip their pieces of bread rather than using their spoons.

Anita’s entree, duck confit. Didn’t get a chance to try it.

Moving to entrees now, as part of the three course dinner, Darina had the steak frites. She was kind to share a piece of the steak and I will have to admit it was quite tender. Not necessarily the absolute best steak but, for the price, it was indeed worth the price of admission. I didn’t get to try the butter but I would have been happy without it.

Sherman, on his side, got the Cote de Porc, aka, Seared Pork Chop. On this night, I will have to say that both Darina and Sherman got the definite winners, as the pork chop was not only good, it was extremely good. It had a good searing on the outside, while juicy still. Of course, the fact it was a double cut pork chop, rather than the thin one you get in local supermarkets would be the defining factor for this winner.

As mentioned initially, WG and I were fighting over who would order mussels and fries, in the form of the classic white wine, garlic and parsley. Yup, just over one dish! Fortunately, that day there was a mussels special in the form of a tomato based version. Unfortunately, the description was better than the execution. While the mussels were of the plump Pacific variety, the qualities of the broth were substandard. For example, WG’s was too salty (if you choose to drink the broth), while mine were… Bland? (For the lack of a better word). OK, it was slightly bitter but still not the way I was expecting it to be. The major oddity was that WG and I ended up switching our plates! So much for fighting over food, hehehe. Another fail of the dish was the side fries. To put it bluntly: McD’s makes them better. In fact a lot of other restaurants makes them better! It wasn’t starchy, it was borderline similar to a “stick”. C’mon, fries aren’t THAT complicated, are they?!

By then, it was already starting to get late and the restaurant was starting to empty out. That meant one thing: for desserts, we were now free to use the flash! And, to start off, Darina’s chocolate terrine. I will admit I don’t have much recollection of this one, sorry!

Anita’s dessert of choice was the Fondant au Chocolat Chaud or simply Melting Chocolate Cake. Let’s just say that, based on visuals alone, we were having some laugh. I mean, doesn’t it look like something else? But, as for the cake itself, it was decent, though I wished it was a bit more on the melting side but that would be me…

WG went for a creme brulee which a bit of a hit or miss. The burnt sugar on the top was a hit; however, the custard below it was sort of a miss: it ended up relatively soft, almost runny. Flavourwise, it was OK, not much to talk about.

For myself, I went for a pear clafoutis. I was having a discussion with Darina about the naming convention of this dish: I was telling her that, technically, this ought to be called a flaugnarde because it was made with pears, rather than cherries, figs or berries. However, in the end, it was a matter of semantics. As for the clafoutis itself, something similar to the melting chocolate cake happened here: It ended up being too cake-y, rather than custardy. Again, it is a preference thing…

As mentioned previously, in this visit, Sherman managed to order all the good dishes and, by going simple, once again, he hit the winner in the form of mixed berries. Why this was a winner? It was simplicity at its best: the syrup just accentuated the berries with a light refreshing mint taste. One note that we kept arguing but I failed to notice was the presence of pepper. Supposedly there was but I tried really hard and could taste any, something that WG agreed. However, Darina and Anita mentioned there was some pepper but that was after trying and thinking about it for a while. Oh, well…

Once again, the dinner was interesting thanks to the people I sat with. From what I wrote above, you can easily guess my thoughts: It is a bit of hit and miss. Some dishes worked fine, others not so much. So, if you consider it part of the adventure, by all means. As for me, probably if I am going in a group of at least four to make sure our chances to get the good dishes increase.

Paul Croteau Confections
650 W 41st Ave (location to be closed on 20100912)
1020 Main Street (location to be opened by end of September 2010)
Vancouver, BC

I originally had this post schedule for some time later but, due to a particular circumstance, I rescheduled it for today… That circumstance, as seen in the address information above, their currently open location will close today (i.e., September 12, 2010) so I thought I should make it available today.

As mentioned last week, I seldom attend events organized by the PR group of the restaurant. Supposedly, I was sent an invite for Paul Croteau Confections by the end of August. If I was, that email most likely ended up in /dev/null so I am not sure about the details. Regardless if I got that one or not, one thing was quite obvious: I wasn’t going to go. This is specially keeping in mind they extended the invite to those who couldn’t attend and have their goodies to be picked up later. So, does that mean this post is based on these samples? Nope. Instead, one day, I was in Richmond and took the Skytrain to go back to Downtown Vancouver. On my way I thought “Hey, isn’t there a place in Oakridge that is making a bit too much noise, right now?”. Well, since I was in no hurry, I might as well give it a try!

One thing should be mentioned right away: As seen in the picture above, they don’t have an actual storefront in Oakridge Mall; instead, it is a vending cart inside the mall. Furthermore, it will be closed and (as per report) the new location will be right above Campagnolo in Main Street, near Main Street Skytrain Station.

I am repeating myself here: Given I am not much of a desserts/sweets person, I wouldn’t have even stopped by here. Instead, I had to check with somebody who does like sweets and have her thoughts. Yup, you guessed it: Mijune!

In this picture, from left to right, paté de fruits, almond square, biscotti, macarons, chocolate sablé cookie (with the blue ribbon, also a vanilla option), grignotine and soft salted caramels. I didn’t take a picture of the marshmallow or the nougatine so… Wooops! ^_^;;;

Out of all the options available, I decided to go for three of them. It might not be representative; however, I thought it was a good reference point. These three were the macarons, the chocolate sablé cookies and grignotine.

I ended up choosing three flavours (there were several more): Lemon (?) with white chocolate, chocolate and pistachio. Sizewise, they were slightly larger than those from Bakery Nouveau to the point Mijune initially thought there were 2 macarons per package! Let’s just say she was slightly disappointed they were one per package… As for the macarons themselves, I am not sure if it falls into a comparison similar to cookies, i.e., chewy vs. crunchy. OK, bad comparison; however, the analogy somehow works. In this case, the centre of the macarons were slightly moist, as if it had a semi-soft filling. Compared to the other ones I have had previously, I fill file this under unexpected. Past that, though, the rest of the package felt into the category of fail, as there wasn’t much of the flavours they were named after. In fact, all of them had an almond taste and felt as if the only difference was the colouring.

Just when I thought I missed some pictures, I skipped also the picture of the chocolate sablé cookies! However, suffice to say that there were 5 cookies but I just thought they were regular shortbread cookies. Nothing extraordinary from any perspective.

Finally, the grignotine. Out of all the items I ordered that day, I will have to say this one was the one that won hands down. In fact, I brought some for my friend PR (not “Public Relations”, rather whom I went with to Mistral French Bistro), who likes her stuff bitter and she quite enjoyed it! These hazelnut dusted chocolate morsels were really dangerous in the sense you could eat a full container without realizing it!

Update: After this post went live, I was contacted by a representative of PC Confections. Some of the points mentioned below were dismissed/clarified and, as a result, my initial conclusion is no longer valid. Until a revisit, my initial thoughts is no longer consider valid.

I will admit that I did not order some of the items on purpose, namely the almond square (described as the chef’s personal favourite item) and paté de fruits for one reason – and that reason I believe is the major flaw for this place: price. In the case of both the paté and almond square, they were $10 a box (5 pieces each)! If we compare it to Thomas Haas, for example, they would be in the losing end as a box of 12 pieces of paté de fruit is at almost the same price! Granted, their morsels might be slightly smaller but not by much. Furthermore some items weren’t that extraordinary to begin with so I am not sure how it can command the prices listed. Is it possible I am missing the point? May be but, as I usually make reference to, my likes (and dislikes!) are at times a bit skewed compared to the most people. And, based on what I observed (and tasted), it wasn’t good enough to make me say I would like it. Still, I will give them the benefit of doubt of operating in this location and will give it a try once they open their store. Until then, it is a pass for me.

Marble Slab Creamery
Locations in several countries
142 – 12101 72nd Avenue (Location visited)
Surrey, BC

After Desi Dosa Madras, I was almost ready to call it a day; however, since I was in the company of Mijune, one thing was certain: we will have to stop for dessert! Alas, unlike, say, Downtown Vancouver, there are only that many such places in Delta. In fact, I would have been OK going to a DQ (for a Blizzard) or MickeyD’s (for a McFlurry). However, Mijune came up with the idea of Marble Slab Creamery. Since the idea of an ice cream wasn’t that far from a soft-serve (in principle, that is), sure, why not!

I might be boring you ad nauseum that I am not a fan of sweets; but, there is something I am even a less fan of is fuzzy, complicated food. To paraphrase somebody, I like simple things in life. I mean, what is wrong with the basics? Sure, splurge once in a while but, the more complicated you make it, in my mind, it better blow me off. Otherwise, it is just short of a cash grab. That’s why I have never been too enthusiastic of Marble Slab’s concept despite I had countless opportunities of visiting it. I just don’t see the enticement of taking some ice cream, mash it with some toppings, serve it and, as a result, charge double or triple. Am I missing something here? Well, I guess I was about to find out…

Since it was my first experience, I decided to make things “simple” and ordered one of their different preconceived options: here, their s’mores “tasty creation” – Swiss chocolate ice cream, chocolate chips, marshmallow and graham cracker. I am not sure if it is because I am so used to eating dark chocolate (darker, bitter, the better), that going back to a chocolate coloured-concoction with a hint of chocolate flavour will cut it for me anymore. In this case, I thought it was extremely sweet (though, keep my sweet tolerance in mind).

To make matters worst, the toppings did no justice to the name s’mores (and this is coming from somebody who didn’t experience the real s’mores experience during childhood!): the marshmallow were flat, almost doughy, the few pieces of graham crackers had the feeling of soggy, heavy cake (think pound cake) and the pieces of chocolate chips were hard. Well, the chocolate chips was an attempt from me to make it overkill – even the McFlurry or Blizzard would have those pieces hard as well. However, the other parts simply didn’t work. I would have preferred to get a pint of ice cream, a bag of marshmallow, graham crackers and chocolate chips and make it myself. Granted, it might be more expensive but, by then, I still have enough material to make more than one serving!

Since Mijune knows her stuff better than me, she went for a sweet cream ice cream which sort of allows her to mix things based on the topping she wants. If memory serves me right, Mijune went for pistachio, pecans and pound cake and had that served in a waffle. I am not sure if I tasted the pound cake but the nuts were good (well, the only way to go bad would be off, old nuts… And calling a peanut a nut!). Then again, should I have expected something different? Regardless, at least this was somewhat better than my s’mores (again, Mijune knows her stuff!)

One common issued shared by what was served is the consistency of the ice cream: As seen in the pictures above, they were quite soft by the time we were eating them, almost to the point of a soft-serve. Was it on purpose or because I took a bit of a long time in my photo shoot? Regardless, I prefer my ice cream harder (though not frozen) so that was yet another point that detracted me. I mean, if I wanted something this soft, I would, once again, fall back to a McFlurry or Blizzard!

Overall, my original opinion didn’t change. I do appreciate Mijune’s effort to try to bring the best but, alas, my bias trumped over. While even with a bias I could have given them a bare pass, one thing really did not work for me. At $7 each of these, I believe there are way better options: at a cheaper price, the before mentioned soft-serve offerings, not to mention Mijune’s version; at the same price, offerings like gelato. As a result, marble slab is a pass for me.

Voodoo Doughnut
22 SW 3rd Ave
Portland, OR

Voodoo Doughnut Too (Location visited)
1501 NE Davis Street
Portland, OR

There are times that restaurants will do almost anything to get an edge over its competitors. Adding something extra can entice customers to come back and, who knows, make it a local attraction. In Vancouver, Cactus Club has celebrity chef as “food architect” but, still not all dishes work for me, not to mention the environment in general. However, such “innovations” can be more basis. As basic as making it visually appealing while maintaining the regular/default recipe. Such is the case of Voodoo Doughnut, a successful doughnut shop in Portland. The premise is these pieces of fried dough serves as a blank palette for some wacky decoration and motif. The question for me would be: how does the doughnut actually taste in the end???

Original location.

Voodoo Doughnuts Too, the location where I ended up purchasing the good.

Now, when such small independent join opens and success hits, it would be only a matter of time it would expand. In the case of Voodoo Doughnuts, it seems being open 24 hours wasn’t enough, it opened a second location in Portland as well as a third location in Eugene, OR. When I originally decided to go to Voodoo Doughnuts, it was already past 8:00 p.m. when there was still a small line. However, after queueing up for over 5 minutes and looking that it wasn’t moving (not to mention the people ahead of me was already waiting for a while, I decided to call it quits). So, before I drove back to Vancouver, I decided to give it another try. Alas, this time, the queue went around the corner! Nope, I wasn’t that willing to wait so, instead, I chose to go to their second location in Portland.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that busy but, still, the same goods were available. So, without further ado…

Clockwise from 12:00, Old Dirty Bastard, Lemon Chiffon Crueller, Marshall Matters, Apple Fritter (below it), Arnold Palmer, Voodoo Doll, Dirty Snowballs, Triple Chocolate Penetration and, in the middle, between the two Dirty Snowballs, the Mango Tango. Below some of these, the Maple Bacon.

And, just in case, some close-ups.

Lemon Chiffon Crueller, Marshall Matters with the Apple Fritter below it.

Mango Tango, Arnold Palmer, Voodoo Doll and Dirty Snowball.

Now, for the most part, I am not that much of a doughnut eater. Sure, once in a while for kicks but, given the option, doughnuts will not necessarily “cut” it. So, when I dropped by Mijune’s place (as she is the first person after border crossing), my expectations weren’t that high. That also brings a side note: there were a couple of hours between I got them and actually eating them. So, there might be small chances things will be skewed due to transit time.

Anyway, for the most part, I didn’t care for them. Reasons are several but, in general, if you take away the fact they have that decoration motif, there isn’t anything else that makes them stand out from the rest. In fact, some added parts takes away from the doughnut instead. For example, in the case of the Triple Chocolate Penetration, the cocoa puffs were flat which resulted in some wacky biting experience. One that went really south was the Mango Tango – in this case, the jam inside had a wacky taste that wasn’t too “natural” and didn’t match the overall “sweetness” of a donut.

Three of them sort of work: the Voodoo Doll which has a raspberry jam filling that actually worked (unlike the mango one), plus the pretzel can provide some savour overtones if required; the Old Dirty Bastard, which chocolate was able to salvage some of the overall doughnut and the Maple Bacon which provides some savouriness, though, without it, as a maple doughnut, it didn’t work (the sweetness was really strange).

Yeah, one of their signature doughnuts, the infamous Cock-N-Balls. When I was at Mijune’s place, her parents arrived and, to say the least, they had a giggle as well. But, how to eat this doughnut? At first, it was cut as if the penis was castrated, just to find out there was no Bavarian cream in the portion. So, we had to end up cutting the testicle side so to show the cream. Well, at least anatomically that is correct…

Actually, I will admit, this doughnut wasn’t bad. I think had the cream distributed more evenly (at the cost of anatomic precision), it might have been easier for consumption. Otherwise, for giggles, oh, well, it works.

Overall, I didn’t believe it was worth the hype. Again, for giggles at first, it would be fine. In fact, I was tempted to write something in Twitter on the lines of: “Who wants some Cock-N-Balls?” and list a couple of food bloggers. Of course, that would have lead to all sort of misunderstandings. But, past that, I am not convinced it is worth the price of admission. In fact, I would rather go to Tim Horton’s. Now, I know some of you might be looking at this funny but, hey, at least when I can do this:

Yes, as suggested by Matt of Vancouver Slop in this post, I went to Timmy’s and order a Canadian Maple donut (actually, I ordered it as part of a meal with a sandwich) and asked for a side of bacon (the challenge was to “convince” them to have the bacon as a side rather than “in” the sandwich. How does it compare? As mentioned by Matt, it is not as crispy, thinner and was a bit more oily. However, it had a more smoke-y taste than the Voodoo Doughnut ones. Furthermore, there is one winning point specially if you are up for cream: The Timmy’s version have cream inside. So, since the novely wore off for me, I don’t have a hurry to go back.

Fireside Cafe – House of Cheesecake
13593 King George Highway
Surrey, BC

After we finished our meal at Afghan Chopan, Sherman suggested “cheesecake!”. Well, since we were already in Surrey, hey, why not! I mean, with some exceptions (ahem, Jenny and Sherman), the rest of us seldom go there right? So, in the end, R, Jenny, Miss Y and Sherman went to Fireside Cafe – House of Cheesecakes.

Now, JS and TS didn’t join us due to other reasons; however, I am not sure what would have their reaction be… OK, let me put it this way: there were some interesting characters there, namely drag queens who were there for a live show later that night. If you aren’t used to it, you might feel quite uncomfortable. In fact, that is actually what happened. Given I am not that familiar with Surrey, I arrived last by several minutes. When I park and start walking, I turn around and see Sherman and Miss Y still in Sherman’s car. I walk to his car and he looks at me funny, as if he had second thoughts about this place. I look at the place and look back and Sherman with a confused face. In the end, I think it was because I was looking at them with a “well, we are already here, we might as well go in” face that we decided to go in. And, then suddenly, R and Jenny jump out of their car. WTH?!

When we walked, we noticed a display with several single pieces of cheesecake. The oddity is that, just after they sell one, another piece pops out. IS this a case of one WTH followed by another WTH? My guess is that they do not want the whole pie out there and put a piece as they are ordered. I am not sure if that’s the best approach but, oh, well, it is not my business… As for my piece, I went for the “regular” NY cheesecake naked, i.e., no chocolate shaving or whipped cream. To repeat what I told Sherman: this is a textbook cheesecake, specifically, as Jenny suggested, probably purchased from GPF/Sysco/Neptune.

Jenny went for the white chocolate blueberry cheesecake and Sherman went for the key lime cheesecake. In the case of the blueberry cheesecake it was OK, though it was a bit too sweet for the liking of most of us. As for the lemon one, I told Sherman, while it had qualities of its own, it had a hint of that lemon/lime smell from dish washing liquid, that is, artificial. The killer was that the key lime cheesecake was still frozen in the centre. Mass produced and stored in the freezer until the piece outside is sold? Hmmmmm….

Here is where a somewhat odd situation happened. As mentioned above, there was going to be a live drag queens performing on stage later that night. Now, nothing strange but singing and similar acts in a small stage. The oddity is that we caught their attention while we were taking pictures of the cheesecake (as if, by then, five Asians are eating cheesecake in Whalley wasn’t strange enough). We might not have attracted much attention if it wasn’t because somebody was using flash… ^_^;;; So… WTH situation #3???

In the end, the food is just average at best; however, if you go, you might not necessarily be going for food. Even then, I won’t deny I actually had some fun. But, again, if you are uncomfortable with that, it might further discourage you from going. So, for the show, give it a chance. It might change your opinion. (On that note, just before we were leaving, the drag queen was “performing” Anne Murray’s Daydream Believer).

Bella Gelateria
1001 W Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC

It is said that Vancouver is a “foodie” (and, darn I HATE that word) city. However, from what I have seen, to a lot of people, that “foodie” mentality is not related to that spirit of adventure on finding and trying new food/dishes but to go to places to been seen and/or follow a hype. So, whenever there is a lot of hype about a restaurant, for the most part, I am dubious about how good the food is – it does not necessarily help when they focus on how “nice” a bathroom is. In the grand scheme of things, chances are, if “a lot of people” like it and I sense some hype, chances are I don’t necessarily like it. Take, for example, Coast (my post here), which has been lauded by a lot but, to me, it is nothing but overrated. And, except for a couple of bloggers whom I have serious doubts about their opinions, I will have to say that, when Vancouver food bloggers say it is good, I have to check by myself. I certainly “help” when those bloggers are Mijune, whom I call the Queen of Desserts, and Sherman, whom we agree one time too many, say that Bella Gelateria is really good…

(On that note, Mijune’s post is here and Sherman’s post is here)

I admit I do eat gelato/ice cream once in a while. However, me growing eating soft serve (like this), there are times that I don’t necessarily differentiate one from the other… OK, probably with the except of the really soft mass produced ice cream. I know this might sound I am snobbish about this; however, let me put it from my perspective: Not being that much of a dessert person, if I were to actually eat some, I would go for broke – and that usually ends up meaning to go for either (1) something I grew up eating, like the soft serve mentioned above or (2) go for more denser type ice cream. So, growing up eating this type of “dessert”, that also means it creates some type of expectations.

But back to Bella Gelateria. Unlike Mijune, let’s just say I didn’t interact that much with the owners or the staff. Instead, I had some samples and made my order. But, given there are interesting notes about this place, like the origin, where the “chef” learned his craft, the batches of gelato, et al, you might want to check her post (again, link here), as well as Sherman’s (again, link here). As for me…

I have a really odd habit while in gelato places: I seldom ask for samples. Let’s just say the visuals and the description rather than tasting it. I know I shouldn’t be doing this, after all, these samples are “Free”. OK, let’s just say I would rather trust my gut instincts as to what to order and stick with it. In this case, this order conveys that dichotomy of flavours: either you are a vanilla person or a chocolate person. As for me, how about ordering both?

In this case, the vanilla is Tahiti Vanilla and the chocolate was chocolate Grand Marnier. On the vanilla side, while I had a hard time finding the specks of the vanilla beans, I will have to say there was a deep vanilla taste in it. It wasn’t a plain vanilla… It was a bit difficult to describe but there was an unique vanilla flavour in it… As for the chocolate Grand Marnier, it was a bit mixed. The chocolate was there and there was a hint of orange in the back. However, not sure that combination work that well, as the bitterness and the sweetness was conflicting somewhat. But, overall, it was a pleasant surprise…

Just for kicks, on another day – namely, Canada Day, I decided to drop by again. This time, I did sample a couple of flavours, including flor de latte and lime cilantro, which after talking to others, confirmed it tastes like a margarita (i.e., the drink), I decided to order a combination of flavours that sounded good in theory but didn’t realize that it looks horrible for picture taking purposes. In this case, it was nougat and dolce de leche. In this case, it was almost white on white… >_<

In the case of the dolce de leche, it tastes like an extremely sweet version of the vanilla gelato. Probably a bit too sweet for my liking but, to those who have a sweet tooth, this might work fine (probably even better than any vanilla offered). As for the nougat, it was also sweet but a different type of sweetness – one that had a bit more nuttiness. It was good but, again, it went above my sweetness tolerance threshold.

At this point, I will have to agree with Mijune and Sherman’s assessment this place is really good, specially compared to other gelato shops in Vancouver. However, it is not perfect. In a move that will make the authenticity policy shake their heads, I didn’t really like the fact it melted extremely fast, though this is mainly because I am used to the denser ice creams. Don’t believe me it melts fast? Look at the pictures above and check the drops of the melting gelato! Now, when I mentioned this to Mijune (and re-read her blog post), it was mentioned that, in Italy, it usually melts this fast. And, despite I eat fast, it was going a bit too fast for my liking. The other issue (that can go both ways) is that some flavours are not there the whole time – partially due to the small batches. As a result, some of the other suggestions given to me weren’t available. But, again, that might not be necessarily a bad thing – if you are used to ordering the same flavour over and over, it gives you a reason to try another flavour. So, would I come back? Well, if I am in the area and crave for an ice cream-like dessert, I will have to say I will…

Michi Waffle & Expresso Bar
1319 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

To quote Sherman, “you got lots of good eats here!”. Now, he wasn’t referring to Surrey or Delta; he was referring to the West End, where Mijune, Sherman and I was after the event in Prestons, which we left early. Normally, after such event, it would have been everybody going home or some other activity. But, in this case, it wasn’t that hard to “convince” them to try a semi-new waffle/coffee bar in Robson Street, near Hon’s. Hey, we are all for some good time and, well, food! (Not to mention, we had the subject-matter expert in hand for this!). That place was Michi Waffles & Expresso Bar.

The setup of Michi is more similar to that of a lounge and, since it was empty when we arrived, we snatched the couch (and the small coffee table). OK, it was supposed to be shared by all customers; however, considering that we were sharing the food (not to mention some goodies Sherman graciously brought from OUTSIDE this shop) plus three drinks, we pretty much grabbed all the space available. Yeah, we can be such space hoarders at times!

Given that the place’s name includes waffles that automatically meant we were going to order waffles. Now, none of us are coffee drinkers so we left that part of the equation out. One thing I am not sure if I should be disappointed or should be OK with it was the fact all the waffles were sitting in a cool display. Won’t that affect the texture of the waffles? Shouldn’t it be on display outside? Shouldn’t it be made to order? I guess each business has there own way to prepare food and, rather than arguing on those aspects, we rather make a judgement based on what is on the table, starting with the drinks.

Matcha red bean smoothie

Ice Wild Berry

Tea, Earl Grey, Hot!

I didn’t try either Mijune’s (matcha red bean smoothie) or Sherman’s (ice wild berry) drinks so I can’t say for certain how good/bad they were. Instead, I will suggest you check their posts, here and here… As for me, yeah, tea (Earl Grey, by now you can pretty much guess it!). I know I ordered something “bland” but, hey, at least, it is something that allows you to determine how good the company is about the supplier of things like this. I mean, if they don’t pay particular attention! As for the tea, I will have to say it was quite good. It had a dry taste which matched quite well that hint of Bergamot orange taste. And, now, the reason why we came here…

Originally served with only two waffles, we ended up adding a third waffle to share. One each, you know! The three waffles are the original, matcha and chocolate. It was served with a sliced banana drizzled with chocolate, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a compote – in our case, blueberry. The banana and chocolate was OK; it is a good combination but it is one of those borderline basic tried and true ones so I won’t go into deeper details. The ice cream was actually quite decent. Not necessarily the best in the world but I won’t complain about it. But, the compote was really good. While it wasn’t that sweet, had it been sweeter, it would have turned into a blueberry like sauce, something I might have not enjoyed it that much. As it is, it was a winner. And, now, the waffles, themselves…

Now, I am not that much of a waffle fan in the straight sense of the word. I would eat it but not necessarily in a hurry to go and get one. For the most part, I would rather go for a crepe but that’s a different story. In the case of the waffles here, starting with the original, I thought there was some level of chewiness which I found OK, though at the same time I wish there was some more crispiness on the exterior. Since used that as a baseline, when moving to the matcha, I found… Emptiness? I don’t know about you but, to me, the current use of green tea in products is darn overrated/exaggerated. In this case, I didn’t taste that much of matcha (which is already subtle to begin with). In fact, had it been a blind taste, I would have easily confused it with the original version. And, finally, the chocolate… The one word that can describe the chocolate version would be “cake”. Given its texture, it tasted more like a cake than a waffle so you can draw your own conclusions. It wasn’t bad but, given I prefer eating dark chocolate, there is a limit on how much I can tolerate. But, if I had to choose, I would easily go for the chocolate version among the three.

One thing I will have to admit was that service here was top notch. As mentioned above, Sherman brought some other goodies which required some re-heating. Mijune had the guts to ask them if it could be nuked in their microwave and they were fine with it (the assumption was that we would eat it there). Not only they re-heated it in the microwave, they plated them before bringing it out! Furthermore, everything that required attention from them was done without any fuzz and almost discretely.

But, as for the shop in general, well, I am not a fan of sweets and all that. While I had a really good time with Mijune and Sherman, it didn’t change my mind about waffles and certainly not about sweets. However, it is a good place to hang and might be better than Starbucks a couple of doors away but, as for food, well, I am not convinced. Probably somebody else will like it better than me…

Universal Bakery
3815 Rupert Street
Vancouver, BC

On Tuesday, I wrote about my visit to Cinco Estrelas, a Portuguese-Chinese greasy spoon type restaurant. In an interesting twist, I did something I seldom do: go get some sweets. In an even more interesting twist, I chose to follow the theme of that day: Portuguese-type sweets! That reminded me of a bakery I found the day I went to Chong Lee Market but was closed that day: Universal Bakery

Now, this isn’t the first time I have head/read about them. Fellow blogger gastronomydomine of the Foodosophy team wrote about it previously so I had a pretty good idea of what to order. Yes, I ordered exactly THAT.

Yes, Portuguese egg tarts aka pastel de nata. Given we have our share of Chinese readers, think a more rustic version of the egg tart (of course, keeping in mind that Chinese egg tart has its roots from this dish). Along with the egg tart, I ordered a… OK, I might have missed this one but I am sure the attendant said cheese tart…

In a sweetness level, it was sweeter than most Chinese egg tart (with the caveat I am not that much of a sweets person). Furthermore, its consistency wasn’t that smooth (again, compared to Chinese egg tart. If you check the picture above, you should notice it has a quite rough consistency and didn’t collapse after I “tore” it into two. If I had to choose between a Chinese version vs this, I think I will go for the Portuguese one: that “burnt” top was a really nice, different touch.

The “cheese” tart wasn’t savoury at all. In fact, it was extremely greasy and even sweeter than the egg version. If I had to draw some comparison, well, unfortunately, I don’t think I really can. Since I am not that much of a sweets/desserts person (again, this visit being sort of a fluke), I can’t really describe that different taste and texture.

Should I mention I went overkill? This is their creme caramel. Well, Cake-Ya is not the only player in town! Compared to the Japanese version, this one wasn’t as smooth. In fact, I thought it was quite dense. It wasn’t bad but, hey, again, not a dessert/sweets person! Aside from it sweet taste, the one other unique characteristic is the burned top (which, when it is flipped, it will be the bottom). That layer provided something different (as in some “chewyness” which would have otherwise be a “regular” custard.

I saw some breads and, while not necessarily Portuguese, they still looked quite good. As for sweets, well, I won’t mind coming back for some of their goods – which is quite a statement for me! Hmmmm… Should I bring one of the female bloggers/readers for her to try? I am sure they will have a way better line of thought/opinion!