Romer's Burger Bar

Romer's Burger Bar (Kitsilano)

It was my friend's birthday and so we had a dinner gathering with a large group at Romer's Burger Bar (1873 West 4th Ave.) in the Kitsilano neighbourhood. They have another location on Kerr Street in the Killarney neighbourhood and a new location opening next month in Yaletown. Since we had ~20 people, my friend booked the vault, which is just a private room downstairs and so we were also able to get their set menu. They have 3 sets to choose from: Bronze, Silver, Gold at $19, $21, $25/person respectively. We all agreed on the Silver menu - continue reading to see the food featured in their silver menu!

Toasted pepper wings

Edamame

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Matsuyama Japanese Restaurant

Japanese night! We went to Matsuyama Japanese Restaurant in Richmond on Alexandra Road (where many, many restaurants are located). We chose Matsuyama because we had a relatively large group and the place seemed to be able to handle large groups.

I wasn't that hungry, so one of my friends and I decided to share a bento box and a roll. We settled for the dragon roll and obento box C. The dragon roll came with only 4 pieces, but I guess they were relatively big.

Dragon Roll $4.95

Box C $12.99

Box C came with miso soup (not pictured), salad, tempura, 6 California rolls, 4 pieces of sashimi (tuna and salmon), chicken karaage, and rice. I think this bento box

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YSpa Beauty + Wellness Center

My friend and I bought a voucher for a full contour body wrap at YSpa, a beauty and wellness center. YSpa (1033 Cambie Street) is located in Yaletown just off Cambie Bridge. I was very excited as this was be my first time visiting a spa center (in Vancouver) and the concept of a body wrap was still fairly new to me.

As they knew that my friend and I came together, they organized us into the one room with two facial beds - very considerate of them. We got to choose from 4 different contour body wraps: hydrating, firming, slimming, detoxifying. I was told that the slimming body wrap is cold and since today was pretty chilly, I didn't feel like being wrapped in something cold. I ended up with the hydrating wrap.

We were then brought to a room so that we could prepare for the body wraps. They provided us with disposable panties and towels to cover ourselves.  Two girls came in and started the body wrap. They covered our entire body with facial mask-like thick material and then wrapped us in a plastic bag. After that, the towels came on to keep us warm. It was very comfortable and relaxing. They also did a foot/head/shoulder massage and it was amazing. Both of the girls were extremely friendly and fun to talk to. They did a good job! 

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Kam Do Restaurant & Bakery 金都餐廳餅店

I love bakeries and freshly baked goods. Among the abundant Chinese bakeries here in Vancouver and Richmond, Kam Do is my favourite for winter melon cakes (alternatively called sweetheart cake). In Chinese, they're called 老婆饼, which directly translates to "wife's cookie". Why such a name for a pastry? There are a few legends that describes the origin of this pastry. One legend says that winter melon cakes were invented by a man and dedicated them to his wife. His wife had sold herself in return for money that was needed for medicine for her father-in-law.

I've tried many winter melon cakes from many different Chinese bakeries here, and I have to say that I fell in love with Kam Do's after the first bite. Be gentle with them as the outside is flaky and delicate, but the inside is filled with a paste that makes it chewy. I think Kam Do does an excellent job of making the outside flaky as well as the taste of the paste and the degree of chewiness. And as you may know, I love chewy food! 

老婆饼 Winter melon cake

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Pho Tan's Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup

Basil leaves, bean sprouts, serrano chili, lime

On a chilly day, all I want is something nice and warm in my tummy - fast. My friend and I settled for a bowl of pho in Kerrisdale. I fell in love with pho the first time I tried it. I find that the pho noodles are very unique, love the soup base, and love the beef as well. At Pho Tan's, all of their beef noodle soups (pho) come in a small or large for a reasonable price of $6 and $7, respectively. I ordered the phõ tái sách, which is sliced rare beef and beef tripes with rice noodle soup. (Don't worry, they have a nice and simple description of each one underneath their name).

They also serve each table with bean sprouts, basil leaves, serrano chili, and lime. I've never eaten bean sprouts raw, so when my bowl of noodles came, I put a bunch of bean sprouts deep into the bowl to "cook" it. As you can see as well, the beef is rare and I don't like it to be completely rare, so I'd usually push it down into the hot soup first. While they take your order at your table, I believe customers are expected to go up to them to pay.
This place is a very casual place for relatively cheaper priced, but just as delicious, pho.

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Gyoza King 餃王 & Gelarmony Gelato

Gyoza King is located on Robson street and is part of the Vancouver Japanese Izakaya Tapas along with Gyo-O Fish King in Richmond and Chicco Cafe, a dessert place. At Gyoza King, there are low Japanese-style seatings, western-style seatings, and seatings at the bar.

 The mini-sized rice bowls are only around ~$5 and I got the mini salmon don as salmon is basically the only raw type of fish I eat. My friends got a mini tuna don and mini negitoro don, which is spicy chopped tuna. I thought the salmon was very fresh and I liked it a lot.

Mini salmon don

Mini negitoro don

Mini tuna don

One of my friends decided that he was hungry so he got a regular-sized katsu don, deep fried pork cutlet with rice. I'm glad I got the

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Schneider's Lunchmate + Fruit

I feel like a kid. Today, I had Schneider's Lunchmate + fruit (since I received a coupon from them). This brought back a lot of memories from when I was young. Lunchmate stackers were quite popular at my elementary school and they also seemed so fun, stacking ham and cheese on crackers or making pizza. To be honest, even though I really wanted a Lunchable for lunch back then, I never got one. So I was quite excited to eat my Lunchmate + fruit today.

Turkey Lunchmate + Fruit

Turkey Lunchmate + Fruit

In my lunch box, I had 8 wheat crackers, 8 slices of turkey, marble cheese cubes, Del Monte fruit in juice, and conveniently, a plastic spoon. I must admit, I did have fun eating my lunch today! Haha.

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Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant 紅日大酒家

Ever since I was young, I've always been excited to get up on the weekends for yum cha aka dim sum with my family. Most places that offer yum cha in the morning are also opened in the evening for dinner. Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant is located on Fraser Street and 19th Ave and I've been here quite a few times for dim sum as well as for dinner. Unlike traditional dim sum restaurants where they have people pulling out carts of dim sum, this restaurant provides you a menu in which you check off the items that you want.

One of my favourite dim sum is "zha liang" (炸两). It's basically steamed rice noodle wrapped around a  "Chinese doughnut" (油條), usually served with dried shredded pork, soy sauce peanut and hoisin sauce. Yum. For some, I know that they have to have some rice in their tummies to feel full. Rice dishes are also popular dishes for yum cha and the spare ribs with pumpkin is especially popular in my family. The server will usually pour some soy sauce over this dish and it came with a lot of spare ribs too.

zha liang 炸两

Rice in hot pot with
spare ribs and pumpkin

Steamed rice noodles dishes are my favourite because they are so smooth and tasty. We got another rice noodle roll, this time wrapping around beef (牛肉腸粉).

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Kent's Kitchen 權記小菜館

Kent's Kitchen (Chinatown)

Kent's Kitchen has two locations:  Keefer Street in Chinatown and Victoria Drive. I visited the Chinatown location today where customers can choose to dine in or take out whereas the location at Victoria Drive is only take out. The Victoria Drive location also has BBQ duck, BBQ pork, soy sauce chicken, etc. available.

Kent's Kitchen's menu

Allow yourself lots of time because they are bound to be packed with people, especially during meal hours. As shown in the picture, it was quite packed when I visited. Good thing they have the number system so it helps keep people in order. Remember to take a number right when you get there!

Wondering why they are so popular, I talked to a several people, including non-Asians. Basically, there are 3 main reasons: cheap, big quantities, and yummy.Their lunch specials are very reasonably priced and does leave you very full. However, if you just want some extra dishes for lunch or dinner, you can also order that specific item in two sizes: large or small. Most of the time, I just look at what they have out and let me senses tell me what I want instead of looking at the menu.

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Jethro's Fine Grub

One of the first things I've heard about Jethro's, is their large and fluffy pancakes. As a fan of pancakes, I had to go and try them. We went there for brunch on probably the most popular brunch day - Sunday. The place is pretty small and it was packed as we were leaving and there was even a line up. I've heard that people wait over an hour for seats, so it's best to arrive there earlier as they don't take reservations. I guess we were quite early (10am) because thankfully, we were lucky as we were seated after only a few minutes. Jethro's is located on the corner of 16th and Dunbar Street.

The Rooster (buttermilk pancakes with a shot of
espresso and dark chocolate chips)

We ordered The Rooster (~$10) - buttermilk pancakes with a shot of espresso and dark chocolate chips, topped off with whipped cream. You have the option of getting chocolate gravy for an additional $1.50 but we decided not to after talking to the waitress and she told us that it's already quite chocolate-y with the chocolate chips. The dish came with only two pancakes, but they were huge. I have to say, they were very fluffy and filling - we couldn't even finish it. The whipped cream melted on top of the pancakes and I think that made it yummier.

Crab cake benedict (with hashbrown and toast)

We also got the house made crab cake benedict ($~11). Those were some yummy crab cakes! The rest of the food on the plate was pretty normal - poached eggs with hollandaise sauce, potatoes, and toast. The description on the menu says hash brown, but it's basically just potatoes. I thought they were a little plain, but other than that, I did enjoy this dish.

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YYoga - Flow Wellness Location (Downtown)

Yyoga Flow Wellness (888 Burrard Street)

My very first experience at YYoga was a hot yoga class in 2010 when Yyoga gave out complimentary cards during the Vancouver Olympics. Soon enough, I fell in love with hot yoga and YYoga. I have been to almost all of their locations (total of 8) and my favourite one is Flow Wellness (888 Burrard Street), their largest and first location. In my opinion, it is also the nicest and newest-kept location. However, regardless of location, all the staff and instructors that I've interacted with, are extremely nice. 

Lounge

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Ap Gu Jung 압구정

Ap Gu Jung is a Korean restaurant on Robson street. The restaurant is casual with 2 floors and my friends and I sat on the upper floor. The was literally one light above our table hanging down so it was quite dimmed, hence I apologize in advance for the pictures - I definitely need to work on my skills in dim places. 

I realized that whenever my friends and I go for Korean food, we order relatively fast. That's because we basically order the same thing each time! Seafood pancake has always been popular among my friends and I. It's basically batter mixed with a variety of seafood, most noticeably squid. One thing that makes me not want to eat seafood pancake is that it is very oily.

Jap chae (당면)

Jap chae is a stir-fried dish made of sweet potato noodles. I really like the noodles as they are unique and chewy. I actually tried making jap chae before at home and it is actually fairly easy.

Traditional Seafood Pancake ($15.95)

Spicy rice cakes (떡볶이)  ddukbokki

One of my favourite Korean dishes is ddukbokki (spicy rice cakes). I actually don't like spicy food very much, but I love these rice cakes - I love them because of their chewy texture. This dish came with fish cakes and glass noodles, which is very typical. Ddukbokki from Ap Gu Jung was actually not exactly the best I've had - not very chewy. In fact, I prefer ddukbokki from In the Cup more than this one.

Yogurt soju

Ap Gu Jung also has a great selection of soju and we shared a bottle of yogurt soju. The picture shows a cup of yogurt soju. (The size of the cups are actualy like shot glasses, it just looks big in the picture due to my poor skills!)

Ap Gu Jung also has a great selection of hot pot dishes and we got a beef stew dish, which was pretty good but I didn't get a picture of it. It can get pretty hot in the restaurant if you order a hot pot dish as the gas stove will be turned on and heat the hot pot dish continuously. Of course, like all Korean restaurants, we had a nice portion of their side dishes too. With all these dishes, our bill came to a total of ~$130 after tax.

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Italian Day 2012 on The Drive

Italian day - 1st Ave.

On June 10th 2012, the streets of Vancouver's Little Italy (Commercial Drive) were filled with people celebrating Italian Day. 1977 was the birth of Italian Day, but it was abandoned after 1982 due to large, uncontrollable crowds. However, this year marks the third consecutive year of having Italian Day as it was reintroduced in 2010. There was a lot going on that day and the cultural, heritage, and traditions of Italy were certainly displayed.

Italian Day 2012 on the Drive

One of the two stages on the Drive.
From fashion shows to eating contests.

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Europeans Breads Bakery

Europeans Breads Bakery has many retailers, but only 2 cafes and I visited the one on Fraser Street (4324 Fraser St.). This bakery values artisan baking and everything is made by hand. Upon entering the shop, I could sense the comfortable environment where people can sit down for some pastries and coffee. 

Napoleon cakes, poppy seed slice, light rye bread

I got a slice of poppy seed roll ($3), 2 napoleon cakes ($2 each), and light rye bread (~$5). The poppy seed roll was rich in poppy seeds, but overall, I found it too sweet. The cake was also quite heavy and not the usual soft angel cakes that I like. However, it may go great with tea if you are a fan of that type of cakes.

As this is an authentic European bakery, I had high expectations for the Napoleon. I love Napoleon cakes, but I've only tried them from Chinese bakeries. Unfortunately, the Napoleon cake from this bakery was a disappointment. It did not taste like the ones I've had before and it did not taste good. It really makes me wonder how Napoleons cakes from France would taste like.

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Lindt Chocolate Outlet Boutique + Meeting Tessa & Scott

Lindt all started by a pair of father and son in Zurich back in 1845. A few days ago, I had the honour to attend the grand opening event of BC's first Lindt Chocolate Outlet Boutique at Queensborough Landing in New Westminster (805 Boyd St.) and met Canadian's super cute duo, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. I'll let the pictures speak a bit: 

Lindt Outlet in New Westminster

Finger Food

Drinks




  Not only were there boxes of chocolates, but also a ton of  individual Lindor balls that you can buy by weight. I never knew there were so many different kinds;I was only familiar with the red ones - milk chocolate.



Black wraps = 60% cocoa dark chocolate



Gold wraps = Lindor White: white chocolate, Green wraps = Lindor Tulip: milk chocolate shell with white chocolate center

Making fresh milk chocolate Lindors one by one 

They showed us how the Lindors are made by hand. Seems quite tedious and tiring having to hold that thing and slowly filling in the shells one by one!

Lindt is a sponsor of Skate Canada and so 2010 Olympic gold medalists ice skaters, Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, were there. The choreographer of their winning dance, Kurt Browning (four-time World Champion, four-time Canadian national champion) was also present. All 3 of them were very friendly, nice, and funny. It was an honour meeting them as I love watching them on the ice and I love figure skating myself too.

Scott Moir, Tessa Virtue, Kurt Browning

Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue

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New Richmond IKEA



Chocolate covered marshmallow
from Ikea

 April 25th was the grand opening of the new IKEA store in Richmond. That day, Ikea gave out a range of prizes from hot dog vouchers to gift cards of values up to $250 to the first 1000 people in line. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend their grand opening day, but I visited their new store last weekend. It is located next to the old store and upon entering the new one, I was surprised that I was greeted with food sampling! So while you're shopping for furniture, home decorations, and storage ideas, you can do some grocery shopping too thanks to IkeaFood.

I've always loved going to Ikea as it gives me inspiration to rearrange my room in a better way as well as innovative ideas for storage. I actually really like looking at the different show rooms, similar to how I like touring my friends' houses. The new Ikea is definitely bigger, with more show rooms and a bigger restaurant too.

One thing I especially notice during this visit is shown in the picture below. You can take all your light bulbs and batteries for recycling at Ikea. I've always wanted to recycle my dead batteries as they are classified as hazardous waste, but I did not know where to recycle them. So while you're shopping for new items for your home, you can also clear out old light bulbs and batteries.

Later that day, I met with my friends and they had a bar of giant Toblerone. I had to use a real hammer to get a piece. Sugar overload that day!

Giant Toblerone

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T&T Green Tea Cake Pastry

As I've mentioned in my previous post about Bon Crepe, green tea is one of my all-time favourite flavours. My mom surprised me with a green tea cake pastry from T&T today! I think this is one of their rather newer products as I've never seen it before. I have definitely noticed that T&T have been constantly creative with their products and developing new products for consumers.

T&T Green Tea Cake with
pastry surrounding

I don't think I've had cake with a pastry surrounding it before, so I was very excited when I first saw this. It looked extremely good to me and I do really like how its wrapped in a crust-like pastry, which adds a twist to typical cakes. Indeed, this was very good, but I wouldn't say extremely good. Inside, the cake is soft and moist at just the right level of sweetness and a tasty green tea flavour.

The outside of the cake makes the cake more interesting to eat as it adds a bit of crispiness to it. However, I think I would enjoy just the green tea itself without the pastry just as much as the pastry is more on the oily side. I try to limit my consumption of things that make my fingers oily as that adds extra calories. Nevertheless, a slice of green tea cake with pastry once in a while is nice for a change.

Bon Appetit! 

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