A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a blogger breakfast at Hawksworth Restaurant. It’s the earliest blogger duty I have ever attended, and I think other ones around the table can attest to this. A large cup of hot coffee, please!
I was surprised to learn that most others didn’t know that Hawksworth serves brunch on the weekends. My mom and I was there just last year for Mother’s Day. The experience was quite positive last time, so I was looking forward to another great breakfast at this event.
Blogger Brunch at Hawksworth
Food
To start the morning, we had a great selection of Artisan Pastries. I was told that the Almond Croissant is always a popular item and often times sold out at Bel Cafe next door, so I went for a piece. It was very good. It’s denser than a regular croissant, more bread-like and less crumbly, and it was fresh and slightly crispy on the outside. Continue Reading »
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Posted in Joyce, Vancouver, Seafood, Special Occasion, By Invitations, Brunch, Food Bloggers, Breakfast, Restaurants, Fine dining, Media Events | Tagged Rosewood Hotel Georgia, Eggs Benedict, Hawksworth Restaurant, Bel Cafe, David Hawksworth, Sablefish, Black Pudding, Croissant, Almond Croissant | Leave a Comment »
And we’re continuing from Part 1 of this recap…
Stuff that piqued my interest and tasted great
SEVA Maple Water
I’ve never heard of maple water prior to this. It’s basically treated maple sap, which is what maple syrup is made from. You can think of it as diluted syrup, to the point where you barely taste the sweetness.
SEVA Maple Water
It’s being marketed as an alternative to sports drinks and coconut water, and I can see the appeal. It tasted quite light and refreshing, but still made a little dance on my taste buds.
Cheese from the Village Cheese Company
What used to be the site of the Armstrong Cheese Company, Village Cheese Company now produces small batched “artisan cheese”. The difference in taste and texture was significantly better than most of the commercially available stuff I’ve tried. Continue Reading »
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Posted in By Invitations, Cheese, Coffee, Healthy Eating, Media Events, Mr., Product Reviews, Random, Snacks | Tagged Goldfish, Grocery Showcase West, Keurig, L'Ancetre, Lactose-Free Cheese, maple sap, Pepperidge Farm, SEVA Maple Water, Village Cheese Company | Leave a Comment »
Crepes, who doesn’t love them?
You can find them anywhere, fill them with anything — it’s like a hand held piece of delicious treasure on the go. Fill it with whipped cream, fruit, and ice cream. Sprinkle it with a little cinnamon and sugar. Stuff it with tuna salad and lettuce.
Anyways, there are a lot of places where you can get them; but in the downtown area, a lot of people flock to Cafe Crepe because of their convenient locations. But, if you want a really delicious dessert crepe, I suggest that you try La Bretagne Creperie.
It is further along Robson than Cafe Crepe, but well worth the walk. I’ve been here a handful of times already, the first time being a few years back when the joint was more popular. The last two visits were within a one month time frame and the place has definitely slowed down. It might just be because of the holidays and/or the location.
The place is in dire need of a renovation. The seats, cutlery, decor, everything looks very dated…and not that nice antique kind of way. Strange orange walls, flat screen in the corner, booth seatings – they don’t add up to a classy or contemporary space. I heard that the place switched owners since the last time I was here and you can definitely feel it. The vibe was quite different since my first visit.
I have had several of their crepes already, but mostly sweet (although I’m a savoury kind of gal). The day I decided to actually photograph, we tried two savoury and two sweet – that’s right, four crepes, two people. Continue Reading »
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Posted in Cafe, Casual, Chocolate, Dessert, Dinner, Lisa, Vancouver | Tagged buckwheat crepe, Crepe, flambe, La Bretagne Creperie, Robson Street, West End | Leave a Comment »
Once again, we received an invite from the VANEATS team to check out its latest dining package, SupaSUIKA by Suika Snackbar. Because I have a visitor in town, and I remember how much I enjoyed the food at Suika, I decided to take him there for some izakaya experience.
Food
The SupaSUIKA package includes 4 items. First of all, a pitcher of their refreshing mojito, which comes in three interesting flavours: watermelon, pomegranate and aloe vera. We chose the Watermelon Mojito Pitcher because well, it’s pink 
Watermelon Mojito Pitcher
Watermelon Mojito
The watermelon flavour was quite subtle, but I could taste all other mojito components: rum, mint and lime. The pitcher pours roughly 6 little glasses, which I thought was a decent amount. Next, the Steak Salad. The beef steak cubes were cooked to about medium so it’s still pink inside, but they were sooo tender and marinated well! Continue Reading »
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Posted in Casual, Dinner, Food Bloggers, Group Dinner, Japanese, Joyce, Meat, Restaurants, Seafood, Tapas, Vancouver | Tagged Battera Sushi, Beef Short Rib, Ebimayo, Hellz Chicken, Izakaya, mojito, Rice cake, sashimi, Suika Snackbar, supaSUIKA, VANEATS.ca | Leave a Comment »
A few weeks ago, Joyce and I were invited to attend the Grocery Showcase West show. It’s a trade show that features new grocery products and equipment to retailers. You can think of it as the EAT! Vancouver for businesses.
So I’d like to take a moment, just sit right here, and tell you about what I liked (and didn’t like) at the Grocery Showcase West.
Stuff that piqued my interest and tasted great
Trugs Gourmet Vodka Tomato Ketchup
The good folks at Schneiders served everyone hot dogs. Condiment makers from the show saw this as a great opportunity to feature their products, and so they did. Among them was the Vodka Tomato Ketchup from Trugs. And holy crap it’s good.
Trugs Gourmet Vodka Tomato Ketchup
Even though Vodka is tasteless, cooking the tomatoes with it apparently releases more of the tomato flavours. I don’t know too much about the science behind it, but I do know it was one of the most fresh/flavourful ketchup I’ve ever had. I walked around the entire show just to find their booth.
Spinach and Roasted Garlic Wheat Thins
All I can say is, bye bye Veggie Thins, these babies are better in every way. Continue Reading »
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Posted in By Invitations, Healthy Eating, Media Events, Mr., Product Reviews, Random, Snacks | Tagged apple crisps, Brothers-All-Natural, Chapman's, coconut oil, Dasani, Grocery Showcase West, ketchup, Mio, sports drink, Trugs, Vodka Tomato Ketchup, Wheat Thins | 3 Comments »
Even though I live in Coquitlam, quite honestly I don’t eat out in the area a lot. If I had to pick a restaurant, it will likely be somewhere in Vancouver. One, I’m more familiar with what’s in town; two, there aren’t many to choose from (or I’m just being picky). We heard that there’s a new Korean grill restaurant near Henderson Place in Coquitlam, so my parents and I decided to give it a try.
Food
The menu isn’t very big. A few items each in categories such as grill, appetizer, skewer and mini hotpot. It’s only until recently that I realized Korean restaurants make great fried chicken — I had to order some here. The Vesta Fried Chicken comes with 3 options: mild, Korean spicy sauce or soy sauce. And you can order 1/2 chicken or whole chicken. We ordered 1/2 chicken with the spicy sauce, but only medium spicy. It was some great fried chicken! The meat was moist (even the white meat), the skin was crispy while each piece was covered/well-tossed in the spicy, garlicky sauce. For me, the spice level at medium was just right. It had a good amount of heat without killing your taste buds or burning your lips.
Vesta Fried Chicken – with Korean style spicy sauce
The skewer section also caught our attention. There are 5 kinds of grilled skewers to choose from, along with hot oden skewers. Continue Reading »
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Posted in Coquitlam, Dinner, Grill, Joyce, Korean, Meat, Noodles, Restaurants | Tagged Fried Chicken, Hidden Gem, instant noodles, Korean Fried Chicken, Korean rice cake, Rice cake, Shin Ramyun, skewers, Vesta Grill | Leave a Comment »
Last year when Mr. and I took a short trip to Kelowna, the sign of Carl’s Jr. caught his attention. We didn’t stop by for a visit, but Mr. has secretly been hoping that they would open one soon in Lower Mainland. Well, his wishes were heard, and a Carl’s Jr. location was recently open in downtown Vancouver. I decided to try it out before taking Mr. there, so I went there for lunch last week.
Food
One of the signs on the window says Jalapeno Chicken Tender Sandwich with a mouth-watering picture of the sandwich. Sold! I ordered the sandwich with a small combo, meaning small drink & fries (it’s actually medium size in Canadian fast food terms). I also paid extra to upgrade my fries to yam fries.
Jalapeno Chicken Tender Sandwich Combo
The actual sandwich was far from exciting. The bun was some dry, plain burger bun, and the cheese was not melted. The choice of using iceberg lettuce was interesting; fast food joints use green leaf lettuce in their gourmet burgers (edited per reader’s comment) and I think iceberg lettuce just has too much water content and can turn the bun soggy faster. Continue Reading »
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Posted in Burger, Joyce, Lunch, Quick Service, Restaurants, Sandwiches, Vancouver | Tagged Carl's Jr., Chicken Tender Sandwich, Jalapeno Chicken Tender Sandwich, yam fries | 2 Comments »
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