My New Collection @ Etsy

Davis Bay, B.C.

@ Zell's Cafe

 A great way to start the day is to take some time and enjoy a good breakfast with friends. During our trip to Portland, we found this little cafe where we sat comfortably for couple of hours. The service was really good here, the servers kept refilling the coffee and water. My friend really liked the coffee too. The Oregon chai I had was a bit too sweet for my taste, but I really love the corn scones and raspberry jam they serve complimentary here. I had their German pancake with rhubarb, which was really good, while my friends enjoyed the salmon benedict.

Summer Night

Food-carts on Hawthorne, Portland.

Not to be confuse with night market, this small corner place is a place to hangout where you can sit comfortably and have some good food. This place open late (till 3am) and is super romantic on a summer night. The fries with pulled-pork and the wood-fired pizza, basil lime "hand made soda", and the fish taco we tried were super yummy.

@ Le Gavroche

Lobster Carpacio

Another evening spent with friends and catching up on the latest gossip. This time we went for a fancy fine dining at Le Gavroche. Unfortunately, Le Gavroche was a big disappointment.

The food: the entrees were disappointing. Do not get the fish here, it is tasteless. I had the braised chicken, which was cold by the time it got the table (we had a big party of people). It was covered in a sauce, but nothing specially tasty. I also had a taste of my friends' dishes such as the braised beef tenderloin. For the price we were paying, I expected something better.

The appetizers we had such as the lobster carpacio, beef tartar, and artisan salad were overall ok. I enjoyed the french onion soup (I'm a fan of onion soups!).

The service: our server was friendly at the start, but that changed after we said we wanted to share some dishes and appetizers. We got treated way differently (waitress's face turned 190 degree and seem like didn't want to serve us anymore) and even said "we are not making money." because we are sharing. Well, all I know is that you are charging way too much for food that isn't good!

The ambiance and the setting was great and we even had a room to ourselves. But, I am not coming back for sure!

Minnekhada

Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Hike. Eat. Deep Cove.

Quarry Rock Trail, B.C.

@ Japanese Kitchen

Eggplant with sweet miso

5.30.11.

I was surprised to learn on that night that we were the last customer of Japanese Kitchen because of new ownership.

We enjoyed the hot dishes we ordered such as the eggplant glazed with sweet miso, Renku Manju floating in a flavourful soup, interesting crispy avocado with spicy ketchup sauce. I also had the grill mackerel, which was served in a pretty good soy sauce. The staff was really nice to offer us their homemade cheesecake as the last customers.

So, these were probably the last dishes cooked by the kitchen staff of Japanese Kitchen (whether the staffs or the chef will remain the same, I don't know). The staff told us that a  new Japanese chef/owner will be taking over and the restaurant name will probably remain the same.

Renku Manju

Crispy Avocado

Sechelt, B.C.

Brunch a la french style @ Cafe Regalate

The Lyon Breakfast

The Pulled Pork Sandwich

 

Nothing beats an afternoon, chatting with friend 
and having good food. 

I had a very yummy pulled pork sandwich & 
very flavourful casserole of  bacons, spinach, 
mushrooms, and eggs coated with  red wine based broth. 

These french dishes were very generous in size 
and my tummy was so full I couldn't try their desserts.

Their desserts display & pate selection looks
delicious and unique, I will definitely came 
back and try those next time!

Chilliwack, B.C.

@ G-Be Izakaya

The Triple Salmon Roll

Deco: very interesting & fancy deco. Love the zen wall! Very nice setting and nice plates for the dishes. Very dark lighting, but I didn't mind it since it makes everyone look sexier (I think!).

Food: Interesting & very nicely presented.

Soy Milk Hot Pot

All their sushi rice & rice dishes were made with red rice, which was pretty good. I had the Triple Salmon Roll and the Steamed 7-Grain Rice Mini Pot with Shirasu fish & Spicy Cod Roe. The Steamed rice pot was supper small you can finish in 3 spoonful (ok, since it said mini pot I expected it to be bigger!).

Soy Milk Hot Pot: comes with some bok choy, fried tofu, radom veggies like broccoli. This dish sounded interesting,but taste was disappointing. The vegetables were very raw & the soup wasn't very hot, so the candlelight underneath it couldn't cook the veggies. The white sesame broth didn't have that much flavour so as the vegetables & tofu that come with it. 

Seafood Tataki Salad: can't go wrong with salads (or I hope nobody does).

Overall: Very Tiny Dishes & Overprice (well yes izakaya, maybe just don't go there for dinner or when you are hungry like me). Some dishes a hit or miss.

Seafood Tataki Salad

Shirasu Mentakoi Steamed Sushi Mini Pot

Bleeding Heart :

Enjoy :9

@ Hofstede Country Barn 

Smoked Salmon Quiche + Buttesquash ravioli

French Onion Soup + Pulled Pork Sandwich

Chicken Vegetable soup & ham and cheese quiche

Welcome Cacti

My thorny cacti...even though u r hairy and full of thorns, I find u cute even though not many will think so.....~.~

New Westminster, BC

Dim Sum @ Dung Sing Chin

No table, No problem! use a mah jong table

Dirty Dishes! The dishes, bowl, cups, teapot were all chipped, some stained, some with visible crumbs/debris...the table top cloth we had was the worst one of all--the threads we coming out. You take a look around (where I was sitting in the little corner room), there was so much dirt by the floor & window. I felt so uncomfortable after seeing this.

Food:

Shrimp & chives dumpling in soup: No good. The soup didn't look appetizing, it was cloudy with some stuff floating on top (chicken fat?). Yes, it didn't taste good/flavorful. The dumpling did not have a tail (as in most dumpling in soup) and the skin was too thick. Inside was mostly shrimp, not much chives.

Shrimp and Chives dumpling in soup

Green onion & dry scallop rice flour rolls

The green onion & dry scallop rice flour rolls : barely any dry scallop & barely any onions. So it was very plain. The rolls were very thick and each layer very thick, so not very smooth.

The beef tendon: was ok. I can't comment on the cow tripe 'cause I don't eat them. It has taro at the bottom, but it was very oily.

The other dishes: nothing special or super tasty.

The jasmine tea: taste like water (just the regular low grade). But they don't charge for tea here.

For me, dim sum is all about the tea, food, and ambiance. This place lack all these.

shanghai style juicy pork bun

deep fried tofu with salt & pepper

Baked tapioca pudding

Beef Tendon & tripe

.p

From: Panaderia Latina

    Yummy: pastry filled with custard & dulce de leche

Little things~

Loving:

Even better: try the Four Cheese Flavour! so cheesy!
........there is also bacon cheddar flavour which I haven't try yet~

@ Pho Alderwood

P6: brisket, flank, tendon

Prawn Egg Rolls

Super hungry after all day shopping....me & my shopaholic friend went to Pho Alderwood, which is right across Alderwood mall. This place looks like any other Vietnamese pho noodles places; both the server and the kitchen staff spoke Vietnamese so I guess it is authentically run by Vietnamese. The server was friendly and the service was good.

Ordered beef noodle soup & prawn egg rolls....we were super hungry, but this place is so-so for beef noodle soup.

We both though the beef (flank, brisket) and the tendon weren't the best one. The soup wasn't very flavorful. Nothing special about the prawn egg rolls. The color of the egg rolls wasn't the most attractive--very dark yellow (i think is probably fried twice/refried because of advance preparation or the oil they are using is very old).

Overall, I think there are better places for Pho~

.p