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Archive for the ‘Cafe’ Category

Nana’s Green Tea in Vancouver

Posted in Cafe, Dessert, Japanese, Joyce, Restaurants, Tea, Tea House, Vancouver, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 5, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Matcha lovers rejoice! Considered the Starbucks in Japan, Nana’s Green Tea has arrived in North America. In fact, their first ever North American location will be right here in Vancouver! On June 6, their Kerrisdale location will open its door to the public.

Established around 10 years ago in Japan, Nana’s Green Tea was brought to us by Kazuto Kutami. He was inspired by the Starbucks concept while wanting to preserve the history and tradition of Japanese tea culture. Their matcha is sourced solely from Uji, Kyoto. To-date, there are more 80 Nana’s locations around the globe.

Food

Lucky for me, I was invited to a media preview of their menu. Here are a few items we’ve tasted:

(From left) Hoji-cha Shiratama Float, Matcha Chocolate Latte, Azuki Strawberry Latte

These are only taster size. Of the three beverages, my favourite was the Hoji-cha Shiratama Float. Shiratama in this case means sticky rice, which means there are mochi (aka sticky rice) balls in them. Hoji-cha is roasted green tea, so there’s some nutty flavour in the drink, as well as in the Hoji-cha ice cream. It’s quite unique and I don’t think I’ve seen something like this in Vancouver yet.

Azuki (red bean) Strawberry Latte is on the sweeter side, but not overly sweet. There is red bean paste and small pieces of strawberry in the drink so it’s quite fun to drink. It kind of reminds me of the HK style Iced Red Bean Drink 紅豆冰.

Although tasty, relatively the Matcha Chocolate Latte wasn’t super interesting. That being said, the matcha flavour was very strong, with just a hint of sweetness from the chocolate.

Hoji-cha Shiratama Float, Matcha Chocolate Latte, Azuki Strawberry Latte

I should note that there are many other options for beverages on the menu. There are 12 matcha options, 5 for hoji-cha, 5 azuki, and 5 options for just green tea.

Fresh Tuna with Curry Tartar Sauce Donburi

The only savoury dish we tried. This donburi was very good. Tuna was flavourful; the curry tartar (think curry mayo egg salad) was fragrant with a hint of spices.

(more…)

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Mon Paris Patisserie + #vanfoodiesturn8 Giveaway

Posted in Afternoon tea, Baked Goods, Bakery, Burnaby, Cafe, Chocolate, Contests, Dessert, Joyce, Neighbourhood Gem, Restaurants, tagged , , , , , , on December 17, 2017| 6 Comments »

[Editor’s Note: The giveaway is now closed.]

I was quite excited when Mon Paris opened up in Burnaby. I was following them on Instagram and the cakes were just beautiful! I also love that it’s near the Metrotown Skytrain station, which means easy access from Coquitlam or downtown.

I took my mom there, who also loves some good pastries. We had the Passionata (left), Opera (right), and a Canele (back in the pic) over Espresso and Americano. I really liked the tartness of passion fruit and mango pieces in the Passionata; the Canele had a crispy, caramelized exterior and soft centre; and the Opera was rich and decadent. We were there for an afternoon pick-me-up and it just hit the spot!

Mon Paris Burnaby

Giveaway

Continuing with our #vanfoodiesturn8 celebration, now is your chance to try some goodies from Mon Paris. (more…)

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[Travel] Gabriel’s Cafe, Nanaimo BC

Posted in Breakfast, Brunch, Burger, Cafe, Casual, Eat Local, Joyce, Lunch, Nanaimo, Restaurants, Sandwiches, Sustainable, Travel, Vancouver Island, West Coast, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 23, 2017| Leave a Comment »

For those of you who follow me on social media, you would know that we took a trip to Vancouver Island. It was a pretty epic trip — travelled from Nanaimo to Port Hardy and San Josef Bay in the northwest corner, and everywhere in between — 2,300km in 9 days.

First stop, Nanaimo. It was brunch time when we arrived in Nanaimo. Downtown Nanaimo has no shortage of brunch options, and Gabriel’s Cafe caught my eyes. Gabriel’s is about eat local, farm to table.

Gabriel's Cafe, Nanaimo

Food

Ordering wasn’t an easy task for me, because I was just recovering from a bad stomach flu. I had to pick something light so I avoided pulled pork, braised beef, or anything rich and heavy. I opted for the Breakfast #11 — Coconut Milk Pancakes with Roasted Apples, Seasonal Fruit and Yogurt. I thought coconut milk pancakes wouldn’t be too heavy and there would be a good dose of fruit on the plate. Haha the portion size was not for the faint of heart. (more…)

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Snowy Village Coquitlam – Everything Mochi!

Posted in Cafe, Casual, Coquitlam, Dessert, Family-friendly, Joyce, Korean, Neighbourhood Gem, Restaurants, Sandwiches, Snacks, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 23, 2017| 2 Comments »

Snowy Village opened its Coquitlam location in late December. The cold winter and rainy spring didn’t seem to stop people from getting their shaved ice/bingsoo fix. Everytime I went (3 times now, in the last 2 months), there was always a short lineup at the door.

So we noticed some new items on the menu – Mini Watermelon and Honeydew Bingsoo, Golden Cheese and Injeolmi Toasts, and Cheesy Mochy. Naturally, we gave some of these a try.

Food

Cheesy Mochy sounds like a perfect item for the night market (by the way the two night markets are now open) and would make a nice savoury option here. There were 9 pieces of oblong shaped mochi, topped with gochujang sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan sprinkles. As I picked up the mochi ball I got a tiny bit of cheesy pull, but nothing Instagram worthy so to speak. The texture of the mochi ball was harder than I thought; not jaw breaking hard, but dense and chewy much like the ones at Korean restaurants. The mochi balls are stuffed, with what looks like cheese, but there was zero pull and nothing gooey ooey. And no flavour too! The gochujang sauce was good, sweet, slightly spicy, and with mochi balls they have formed a great combo. But, overall it was a bit underwhelming.

Cheesy Mochy

The Injeolmi Bingsoo is one of my favourite flavours so I was really curious about the Injeolmi Toast. It’s like thick toasts you find at Taiwanese restaurants. It was an almost inch-thick mochi sandwiched between two pieces of bread, toasted.

Injeolmi Toast

The heat of the freshly toasted bread melted the soybean powder on top so it kind of turned into a nutty syrup. (more…)

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Small Victory Bakery – Brunch over Mont Blanc

Posted in Baked Goods, Bakery, Bread, Cafe, Coffee, Dessert, Hang-Out with Friends, Joyce, Lower Mainland, Lunch, Restaurants, Sandwiches, Vancouver, Yaletown, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 7, 2016| 1 Comment »

On the rare occasion that CC and I got to hang out we chose to check out CandyTown in Yaletown, and we decided to first grab a bite at Small Victory Bakery.

Food

While CC opted for a sandwich, my eyes were set on those fluffy croissants in the showcase. I didn’t simply go for a butter croissant, though; I wanted a Breakfast Croissant. Sadly they sold out of it, so I went for the Bacon & Cheese Croissant instead. It’s light, fluffy, buttery. Then, as I got to the middle, there’s melted cheddar cheese with some meaty bacon. Of course, for the meat lover in me, I wish there’s more bacon. But because the cheddar cheese was also salty, too much bacon would’ve shot the salt level through the roof. This was perfectly balanced, and seriously, I could’ve easily had another one of these.

Bacon & Cheese Croissant

Christmas is just around the corner, so obviously I had to order a seasonal item. Cue the Mont Blanc. (more…)

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Choco Coo Cafe – Dessert Cafe in Coquitlam

Posted in Burnaby, Cafe, Coffee, Coquitlam, Dessert, Hang-Out with Friends, Joyce, Restaurants, Tea, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 27, 2016| 1 Comment »

I was quite excited when Choco Coo Cafe opened in Coquitlam earlier this year. There are not many dessert/cafe options in the area, so it’s always nice to see another addition, especially seeing all the beautiful photos on Instagram. I was intrigued.

So one weekend evening after dinner with a bunch of friends, we all went to Choco Coo for desserts.

Choco Coo Cafe

Food

It wasn’t a super hot day, so I ordered a hot Green Tea Latte. Check out the cute bear latte art! haha it looked a bit sad/grumpy/mischief depending on how you look at it, and it took me awhile before I finally decided to stir it in! The latte was light and frothy, yet rich and creamy, with a right amount of matcha flavour. I tend to like my drink hot, so I found this to be just on the luke warm side.

Green Tea Latte

Mr. is a huge red velvet fan so we shared a slice of the Red Velvet Cake. The sponge was airy; and I liked the even layers of cake and frosting. (more…)

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Snowy Village Richmond – Line Up for Bingsoo!

Posted in Cafe, Casual, Dessert, Hang-Out with Friends, Joyce, Korean, Restaurants, Richmond, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 7, 2016| 1 Comment »

There have been a number of shaved ice shops popping up around Vancouver. One of them is Snowy Village in Central Richmond. It’s been a few months and there’s still lineup out the door. Finally one Friday I was determined to try Snowy Village, whatever and however long it takes!

Taking Mama Lam and Papa Lam with me, we waited for 30 minutes before we were seated. We had ample time to study the menu, Instagram photos, and what other customers were eating, and we ordered a few things to try.

Food

To start, the Taiyaki, the fish shaped waffle with filling. This is commonly found at night markets and I’ve seen them at Korean supermarkets as well as street carts. The texture of this Taiyaki is quite different from the other ones we’ve had around town because it uses croissant pastry. Other ones are more like Belgian waffle, crispy outside and fluffy inside. This Taiyaki is more like Leige waffle, more dense and chewy, and it had speckles of sugar on top. We went for the traditional red bean filling but the Taiyaki was rather thin so it didn’t hold a lot of filling inside. For that reason I think I prefer the fluffy kind, even though this one tasted really good and I quite liked the texture of the pastry.

Red Bean Taiyaki

As for the shaved ice, here they call it Bingsoo, a derivative of the Korean dessert (I think it stands for “iced water” in Korean). (more…)

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