Posted in Breakfast, Brunch, Casual, Egg, Joyce, Lunch, Port Moody, Pub, Restaurants, tagged Brunch, Eggs Benedict, Omelette, Port Moody, Tri-Cities, Weekday Brunch on March 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »
It was Papa Lam’s birthday earlier this month, and I took Mama and Papa Lam out for a day of, surprise, eating and drinking. The first stop was brunch at The Hard Bean Brunch Co. in Port Moody. It was only a Friday, but they have an everyday brunch menu plus other casual eats like burgers, finger appies, and bowls, and oh, an attractive sweets menu.
Posted in Bar, Casual, Culinary Events, Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Joyce, Meat, Pub, Restaurants, Scotch/Whisky, Vancouver, Wine Pairing, tagged Chocolate Praline Bar, Crispy Pork Belly, Dine Out Vancouver, Dine Out Vancouver 2018, Donnelly Group, Empanadas, Glenlivet, Grilled Cheese, meatloaf, Menu Tasting, Monkey Shoulder, panna cotta, prawns, The Granville Room, whisky, Wine Pairing on January 26, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Having done Dine Out Vancouver for so many years now, frankly I’m feeling burnout. To me, a lot of the menus are not very inspiring; or I question the value for the money. So this year, I set out to try to discover gems that don’t require you to pay $40 yet still feel hungry afterwards.
I was invited to bring a guest (guess whom I brought?) to sample the Dine Out menu of a Donnelly Group restaurant of my choice, including wine pairings. They are all $20 menus. After perusing them, I decided on the Granville Room. Why? I will get to that in a moment.
There are two choices for appetizer. Naturally, we ordered one of each. The Coconut Fried Prawns were nice and crunchy. Mr. (ding-ding!) thought the coating was too thick to taste the prawns but I thought it’s okay. The prawns had good texture, a bit bouncy and not mushy. What’s intriguing is the dipping sauce. It’s a coconut hoisin sauce. When it said hoisin I expected the sauce to be darker in colour, but it’s just a tinted creamy white colour. It had a lot of coconut flavour but it’s not too sweet thanks to the subtle use of hoisin sauce. The prawns themselves did not have any coconut; it’s all in the sauce.
Wine pairing: Desert Hills Viognier – The fried prawns actually mellowed out the acidity in the viognier.
Beef Rib Empanada was also a hand-held appy. There were two pieces on the plate, served with a mole sauce. The sauce was rich, thick, and had some smokey flavour that didn’t overpower everything. (more…)
Posted in Dinner, Hang-Out with Friends, Joyce, Meat, Pub, Restaurants, Vancouver, tagged Bratwurst, chorizo, contest, Donnelly Group, giveaway, public house, restaurant gift card contest, Sausage, The Butcher & Bullock on November 26, 2017| 8 Comments »
[Editor’s Note: Read till the end to enter our giveaway!]
The Butcher & Bullock is very close to my office. One time when I was hanging out with friends at the Butcher & Bullock, I discovered the “Build Your Sausage Plate“. You get to choose two sausages crafted in collaboration with Two Rivers Meats + two types of mustard + fries & kimchi. I paid extra for a piece of pretzel on the side because I didn’t think there would be enough food. (Excuse the grainy photo – like the mustard haha – it was an impromptu meetup so I didn’t have my camera with me!)
I chose a bratwurst and a chorizo. The sausages were juicy, flavourful. (more…)
Posted in Beer, Bistro, Brunch, Casual, Hang-Out with Friends, Joyce, Lunch, Product Reviews, Pub, Restaurants, Sandwiches, Special Occasion, Travel, Whistler, tagged Breakfast Poutine, Car review, ExploreBC, Ford, Ford Canada, Ford Focus, Honey Lager, Nita Lake, Reuben Sandwich, Scandinave Spa, Scenic, Stonesedge Kitchen, Test Drive, Travel, Whistler, Whistler Brewing, Woodsman's Bowl on May 10, 2017| 2 Comments »
[Editor’s Note: Sorry we took a writing break, but it’s good to be back!]
When I was contacted by our friends at Ford Canada that I’d have a Ford Focus for a week, the hopeful boy racer in Mr. asked, “is it an ST? Is it a hatchback?”
As it turns out, it was neither. It was a fully loaded (Titanium) sedan with a pretty blue paint job.
It also happened to be the same week as we threw a surprise birthday weekend in Whistler for CL, one of Mr.‘s close friends. So we gave the Focus a thorough test on a 36-hour trip.
We kicked off the weekend at Stonesedge Kitchen, where we surprised CL with a birthday brunch.
There were 6 of us – and there were 5 orders of Breakfast Poutine. Except for me, the adventurous one. I ordered the Woodsman’s Bowl, with pulled venison and roasted butternut squash. Let me just say, I was happy with my choice. There was a good combination of flavours and texture. The slightly gamey venison made the dish more interesting than the maple sausage in the Breakfast Poutine.
Then, a stopover at Whistler Brewing.
Posted in By Invitations, Chocolate, Culinary Events, Dessert, Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Joyce, Pasta, Pub, Restaurants, Salad, Soup, Vancouver, Yaletown, tagged #DOVF, Bangers & Mash, BC Beer, BC wines, Clough Club, Dine Out Vancouver, Dine Out Vancouver 2016, Donnelly Group, Downtown Vancouver, gastown, ice cream, Mac & Cheese, pub, public house, S'more, The Blackbird Public House, The Lamplighter Public House, The New Oxford, Wine Pairing, Yaletown on January 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »
We were invited to go on a tour to check out the various Donnelly Group properties and their Dine Out Vancouver menu. Executive Chef Alvin Pillay has recently returned to the company group, and he’s quite proud of the menus that he’s put together. Ten of the Donnelly Group properties are offering similar items. Specifically, there are 6 core items that can be found at all these locations, which we tried on this tour, along with their respective beverage pairing. Each Donnelly Group location also offers an additional entree option on their Dine Out menu.
Our first stop was at The New Oxford, where we tried the two appetizers.
The Curried Parsnip Soup could definitely warm you up on a chilly winter day. The curry spices really came through; I could taste a lot of ginger. Soup was creamy, and the roasted apple offered some texture in contrast. Suggested wine pairing is the Volcanic Hills Pinot Gris. The apple note in the white wine was a great match with the soup.
The Winter Salad sounded and seemed simple, but there’s an interesting depth to it. The buttermilk sumac dressing brought tartness and spice, black sesame added some nutty flavours, and the Moroccan pita bread gave it some crunch. The 50th Parallel Riesling isn’t as sweet as a typical Riesling, which worked well with this light salad.
Next, on a trolley, we were taken to The Blackbird Public House, right upstairs from Royal Dinette.
The first of the two core entrees was the Bangers & Mash.
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