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Archive for the ‘Cafe’ Category

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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Cakes n Sweets Bakery – Hidden Gem for Afternoon Tea

Posted in Afternoon tea, Baked Goods, Bakery, Cafe, Coquitlam, Dessert, Joyce, Neighbourhood Gem, Restaurants, Tea, Tea House, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

A couple of weeks ago I managed to steal a couple hours of free time from CC, so we went for afternoon tea at Cakes n Sweets. It’s a small bakery tucked in the corner of a strip mall in Coquitlam. It’s my second time for afternoon tea there; first time, I took Mama Lam and we quite enjoyed it.

Cakes n Sweets

Food

For $19.95 each person receives a selection of sandwiches, sweets, scones and a pot of tea.

High Tea at Cakes n Sweets

The Buttermilk Scones were freshly baked. The scones were flaky, slightly crumbly. They were still hot to the touch, so the devonshire cream kind of melted as I spread it on. (more…)

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Catfe – Irresistible Cuteness in Our Furry Friends

Posted in Baked Goods, Cafe, Casual, Coffee, Dessert, Joyce, Restaurants, Vancouver, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

In case you haven’t heard, and I would seriously question where you’ve been in the last two months, there is a cat cafe in Vancouver! Catfe is located at the International Village/Tinseltown on the edge of Chinatown.

Last year during our trip out east, we visited Cafe Chat L’Heureux, one of the cat cafes in Montreal. So when there was an invitation through the YVR Bloggers group to visit Catfe, I jumped onto the opportunity. I was curious to see how they compare.

Catfe

The Experience

Catfe isn’t the same as Cafe Chat L’Heureux, as it’s not a sit-down restaurant. In fact, Catfe has two components, a cafe where you can make your food & beverage purchase or even to sit down to enjoy your drink, and the cat lounge, where you can hang out with the cats.

Inside the cafe, the menu items are reasonably priced. (more…)

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Chatime Surrey – Customize Your Drinks!

Posted in Asian, Cafe, Casual, Dessert, Drinks, Hang-Out with Friends, Joyce, Restaurants, Surrey, Taiwanese, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »

A 5th location of Chatime, a bubble tea franchise originated from Taiwan, has just opened in Surrey. Thanks to our friends at ChineseBites, I checked out the location before its grand opening day.

Drinks

At Chatime, not only do you get to choose from some 80-90 different drinks off the menu, you also get to customize your drinks by adding toppings and selecting your desired ice and sugar level:

  • Toppings ($0.50 each): Pearl / Grass Jelly / Pudding / Coconut Jelly / Coffee Jelly / Red Bean / Aloe Vera / Rainbow Jelly
  • Ice Options: 0% / 80% / Regular (100%) / 120%
  • Sugar Options: 0% / 30% / 50% / 80% / Regular (100%) / 120%

Chatime Pyramid

With that, here are the few drinks I tried:

Mango Green Tea (80% ice, 80% sugar, with Coconut Jelly) – This is often my go-to bubble tea because I’m a big mango fan. I only ordered it with 80% sugar, so it wasn’t overly sweet like most other ones I’ve had in the past. I could taste both the mango flavouring as well as the green tea. Nothing too special because it’s just a mango green tea, but definitely one of the better versions I’ve had in town.

Matcha Tea Latte (80% ice, 80% sugar) – Matcha Latte seems to be a popular item everywhere, including chain coffee shops such as Blenz and Waves. Naturally, I decided to order one at Chatime. (more…)

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