Moii Cafe Cambie: An artsy Japanese x French cafe

I re-docorated my home!

Just kidding! This is actually the interior of Moii Cafe, a spacious coffee/snack cafe located on Cambie & Broadway. At first, I thought it was weird that it's "Moii" with two i's and how it translates to "me cafe". It is actually quite interesting and here is their explanation: "Moii is a combination word from French "moi" (I) and Japanese "なつでもいい" (It is ok/whatever) forms an idea and spirit of "it's ok to be myself; this is who i am." How creative! 

The entire place is very nicely decorated. Relatively, it is large and spacious, yet it gives a cozy and homey feeling once you step inside. Turns out that the owner is a graduate from Emily Carr University and wanted a place for artists to showcase their work for others to enjoy. What a great idea that I'd totally support. Already liking this place. Now on to the food. 

This is the tuna and cheese crepe and a cup of green tea. Now I think I prefer sweet crepes over savoury crepes. Nonetheless, I always find myself ordering savoury ones - probably so that I don't feel like I'm having dessert. The crepe was pretty good but I cannot say it's the best I've had. Though I do love the fact that it's freshly made.  So, once in a while, the shop would be overflowed with a very nice smell that'll suck you into ordering a crepe. 

Tuna and cheese crepe

They also have a variety of drinks. I got the matcha green tea - I love matcha. This was very good - creamy and not too sweet. The only thing I'd change is to add less milk. 

matcha green tea latte

 School has been back for almost a month now and I'm sure coffee shops have gotten busier as well. When I was a student, I did not really like studying in coffee shops because I get distracted easily. However, I'd be up for catch up with a friend or for "people watching" anytime at a coffee shop! I think this is a perfect place for those who enjoy studying in cafes. Look at the space and they even have a study room for group meetings/projects. 

Study room/ group meeting

Thirsty? They have complimentary lemon water! Have I mentioned that it's perfect for studying? Homey feel, crepes to order, study room, spacious... it's the whole package.

If I knew about this place earlier, I'd probably love studying here. I wouldn't be too surprised if this place gets busy during exam periods. 

Moii Cafe Menu

Moii Cafe menu

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Tropika at Robson 星馬印: "gym locker" soup

Yes, I'm back! My hibernation is over and I'm back with a new post and new exciting things to come :)

My friends and I went to Tropika on Robson for something satisfying yummies and to fill up our tummies a bit. Tropika is a Malaysian and Thai restaurant with 2 locations in Vancouver (and the one at Aberdeen is closed).  We decided to get a couple items from the appetizer and then a soup that my friend claims is "really, really good". Now, let me start with the appetizers.

Satays $1.30 each (beef and chicken)

Satays were nicely seasoned and grilled skewers from a choice of chicken, pork, beef, lamb with a peanut buttery satay sauce. Pictured above is beef and chicken.

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Shiro Japanese Restaurant: Stunning Salmon Sashimi Rose

For me, there are so far two Japanese restaurants in Vancouver that serve the freshest ingredients. One being Ajisai Sushi Bar and the other one is Shiro. Similar to Aijisai Sushi Bar, they are also very busy and they don't take reservations. So prepare to wait if you go at a popular time, as the place is relatively small. 

Shiro Japanese Restaurant

Shiro (Cambie and 17th Ave.)

You can sit at the sushi bar where you can watch the chefs prepare the dishes infront of your eyes.

Shiro sushi bar

Now, before I go on to the food, I'd like to mention that I really like their toasted rice green tea. It tastes different than the green tea from other Japanese restaurants and I'm going to say it's probably more authentic even though I'm not sure what that exactly means. I also like how their cups are customized to their restaurant. (Bonus points for that). Now on to a more exciting topic. I ordered the salmon don and I was not one bit disappointed. 

Salmon don

First, the salmon don is visually stunning. Just look at that rose. Look at the colour of the fish. Wow. It wasn't like the average fatty smooth salmon sashmi. The wasabi is homemade and goes great with the fish and the Japanese rice. If you get this for lunch, you also get a miso soup. Not too fond of miso soups and haven't had enough to tell if this one was any special.

Of course the salmon rose deserves a close-up. Beautiful. There's actually alot of pieces of salmon so I was very satisfied. This was around $12 and is great for salmon sashimi lovers or those who only eat raw salmon (like myself).

Salmon sashimi rose

My friend got the chirashi don. Again, visually stunning. I think I've been paying more attention to food presentation (thanks to MasterChef). My friend absolutely loved it because everything was so fresh.

Chirashi don

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FlyOver Canada: The Ultimate Virtual Flying Experience

I've always wanted to fly over Canada! FlyOver Canada is a new attraction site in Vancouver and I'm so happy I was able to attend the advanced with my family. Thank you Virgin Radio for the tickets! 

The whole experience lasts 30 minutes, starting with a pre-show, "Uplift!" created especially for FlyOver Canada by Moment Factory. It's meant for participants to stand and watch as it's shown on a 360° screen showing the landscapes of Canada and lives of 4 Canadians. After that, we entered into the pre-boarding zone where we watched a brief safety video. And now, the flight ride. It was absolutely beyond amazing and unfortunately pictures/videos were not prohibited (duh!) so the following pictures do not do justice. More reasons for you to go and experience it yourself! 

seats

seats

We were seated in to comfortable seats - nothing like economy flight seats, but also obviously not like business class either. (You wouldn't want to be lying down.) Then the gates drop and the row of seats move outward, into the "sky" and I heard some screams (including my own).

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Gold Train Express II (火車頭牛肉粉): Fast and Satisfying

I often refer to restaurants by their location rather than their names. Sometimes it's because I can't read the Chinese name, difficult to pronounce, or simply just difficult to remember. Gold Train Express II is one of them. Actually, the front of the restaurant looks like this... (picture below) so their name is hard to identify from the noise if you're just walking pass. 

In fact, they abbreviated it to "GT Express II". But why would you not just refer to this place as "the beef noodle soup place" at the Sasamat stop of the B-line? It's super convenient as the B-line stops right infront of it (if you're coming from UBC. I've been here a few times for a quick and satisfying dinner as a studying break too. And you guessed it, it won't hurt your wallet either. What more can a student ask for?! 

Weird, I never noticed these TVs with different channels on them before. I seem to be noticing more things about a restaurant since I've started this blog and when I'm taking more pictures. 

Interior of Gold Train Express II

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One More Sushi

I had a work dinner at One More Sushi, located at the village of UBC's campus. I wouldn't say the restaurant is small, but my workplace had the entire restaurant booked so there wasn't anybody there who wasn't with us. 

Here, I got the bento box. Bento boxes are one of my favourite items to order because you get a bit of everything. 

Bento Box B with teriyaki beef, tempura, California roll, salad and oranges

Tempura from Bento Box B

Teriyaki beef

Salad

Rice is a huge part in the Japanese culture, even in their alcoholic beverages. Fermented rice is what's used to make sake. The sake was served warm. It was nice to try the sake, but not a fan of it.

Sake

While the California rolls and teriyaki beef with rice in the bento box was delicious, it was typical and mediocre. However, the green tea ice-cream amazed me. Usually I hesitate to get green tea ice-cream because I find that it's not like vanilla or chocolate ice-cream where it tastes good regardless of where it's from. With green tea ice-cream, I've had ones where I did not want more than a spoonful. I figured that since I was in a Japanese restaurant, I'd give the green tea ice-cream a try. This one was absolutely delicious and I wanted seconds.

Green tea ice-cream

Though there are a handful of places for sushi on campus, One More Sushi is a convenient and affordable restaurant for students who are looking to dine-out on campus.

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City 1 Cafe: Laksa Soup Noodles

City 1 Cafe is located in the King Edward Safeway Square and can be easily missed. This place have never really caught my eye so I'm so glad my friend suggested to eat here. Yes, I'm trying to be more observant now. Their menu is simple and their specialty seemed to be the Hainanese chicken as their menu features these: few pieces of chicken with a bowl of rice, half a chicken with 3 bowls of rice, or a whole chicken with 5 bowls of rice. I couldn't make up my mind whether to try the Hainanese chicken or the laksa noodle soup, but I ended up ordering the noodle soup and decided to try the Hainanese chicken next time with a larger group.

Laksa noodle soup

I was happy to see that the laksa noodle soup came with two pieces of Hainanese chicken as well as fried tofu, fish cake, and some parsley. It was very flavourful and of course, a little spicy. The boneless Hainanese chicken was extremely tender and I definitely wanted more.

I will definitely come back here for their Hainanese chicken!

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