Starbucks - La Boulange Flourless Chocolate Cookie

Ever since Starbucks introduced their new cafe and bakery line called La Boulange, I've been dying to try out their pastries. I wanted to know whether they were really better than their previous pastry offerings.

I tried their Chocolate Croissant and it was pretty much the same. It didn't blow me away but it was solid.

Their Gluten Free Flourless Chocolate Cookie is a completely new product exclusive to the La Boulange line. It's even wrapped and sealed to avoid wheat contamination inside the display cases.

Since I am wheat intolerant, I decided to give it a try. It's not cheap. One bag has two cookies and it was $3.95. The cookie is primarily made with egg whites so it tasted quite like a meringue.

Despite it being a tad crunchy on the sides, the center was quite moist and fudgy! I don't usually see a lot of gluten free cookie options around the mall (ex. Timmy Ho's, McDonald's, Cupcakes, Mrs.Fields ...etc) so I will definitely repurchase whenever I want a sweet treat.

Service Rating: N/A
Food Rating: 3/5
Price: $

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!

     
when I see something I can't eat because it has wheat :(

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Black + Blue (The Roof) - Luxury Brunch

'The Roof' is Black + Blue's third floor outdoor restaurant and lounge where you can have brunch, dinner, or happy hour drinks. It's beautifully decorated and kept warm with tons of fireplaces and heaters.

I received a Glowbal gift card so I brought Meta Knight to Black + Blue for some fancy schmancy brunch. I've actually been here once before and had a fancy schmancy $20 salad. To read that post, click here.

I heard a few friends rave about these Mac N' Cheese Sticks ($9) with truffled cheese sauce so I couldn't NOT get it. I mean.. who can argue with fried mac and cheese?! These were as indulgent and sinful as it looks. Thumbs up.

The Roof Hash ($17) has braised short ribs, double smoked bacon, chorizo, roasted peppers, hash potatoes, hollandaise, and two soft poached eggs.

Dat egg yolk doe. This is the epitome of #foodporn, am I right? Anyways, this was as hearty as you can get due to the braised short rib and poached egg. It'll certainly leave you in a food coma but if you have a whole day of shopping ahead of you, you've got nothing to worry about. :P

Meta Knight is a lover of all things benny so he instinctively went with the Black + Blue Benny ($14). Instead of english muffins, the poached eggs were served on a grilled baguette! It also had prosciutto, and dungeness crab. He absolutely LOVED it.

Service Rating: 3/5

Food Rating: 4/5

Price: $$$

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Happy Eating!

                             heh heh heh

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Little Babycakes - Little Bites of Sweetness

The kind peeps of Little Babycakes, a small start-up cupcake catering company, gave me a sample of their little cupcakes to try. They don't currently have a permanent location set up but they will have pop up location inside Holt Renfrew from March 28th to April 4th.

Their concept is simple, they want to give customers a little one-bite indulgence. Think mini donuts or mini tapas- in cupcake form, served at a party.

They have six flavours to choose from with different toppings and frostings

The Coconut Paradise was quite sweet and I liked the addition of the coconut. I found the cupcake a little dense and not fluffy enough though.

Their Red Velvet flavour was by far my favourite. The mini pearls added a touch of elegance and crunch making me feel kind of like a princess eating it. The cake was also really moist and fluffy. Yum, yum, yum!

If you're a fan of chocolate, you'll definitely like the Double Chocolate. There is cocoa in everything including a little dark chocolate chip on the top.

With the majority of the Vancouver population being Asian, you can't forget about the ethnic flavours of red bean and matcha! The green tea frosting on the Redbean Matcha cupcake was surprisingly rich and gave a great punch of matcha flavour.

The Chocolate wasn't super memorable and I remember the cake being too dry and dense.

For people who like the classic vanilla cupcake, this Original one might suit their fancy. It has a simple vanilla frosting with quite pink sprinkles on top. 

These little babycakes are legit mini. My mouth is really small and I can easily fit the entire thing in my mouth. It's truly a one bite dessert/snack so keep that in mind. This won't fill you up but it's an easy finger food to eat while hanging at a cocktail party or networking event.

These babies are $7 for 6 and $13 for 12.

Service Rating: N/A
Food Rating: 3/5
Price: $-$$

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!


               me being classy and sipping my tea like..

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Beard Papa's (No.3 and Westminster) - Relax.. Enjoy... Cream Puffs...

Beard Papa's recently opened up their third location in Richmond! It's very different from the usual ones at either the food court or the mall. It's not a stall, it's an actual "Beard Papa's Cafe". 

Every time I pass by the cafe, I see a lot of people dining there but I couldn't wrap my head around how it could be a cafe. It seemed like such a grab-n-go place.

Meta Knight and I were guided to our seats and given a menu. It's different from the menu on the board which makes it a little confusing. Also they have a display case full of additional cakes and desserts you can choose from. But that is also not on the menu so you just have to go up to the case and look.

   

One thing that stood out to me were there "Floral Mochi Waffles". I've been seeing these on instagram for weeks now and really wanted to try it! Unfortunately we weren't hungry enough so we'll save it for next time. I'm assuming the waffles are made with some glutinous rice flour instead of wheat flour which makes them taste like mochi. :D 

Perfect afternoon snack for two. :)

The Cheesecake Stick (~$2.50) was really light and fluffy. Definitely a very authentic Japanese cheesecake which should not be mistaken for the heavier, dense, cream cheesey ones we're used to ex. the ones from Trees Organic.

We had absolutely no expectations for the Caramel Latte ($3.95) but it blew our mind! First off, how pretty are the three layers?? Everything tastes better when it's visually pleasing. 

It wasn't too sweet at all which was my biggest worry. I highly recommend this.

Of course, we couldn't leave without sharing a Cream Puff (~$2). We chose the Green Tea flavour and it didn't disappoint.

The matcha flavour was strong and as you can see, they stuffed that baby up to the brim.

We surprisingly had a really good time at Beard Papa's and will definitely be returning for their waffles. If I ever have to find a place to chill for a couple hours or have a light afternoon tea with a girlfriend, I'll choose this place.

Service Rating: 3/5
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!


                   I love tea... and coffee..

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Pepper Lunch Canada - Go With Da Beef.

Pepper Lunch Canada is officially open in Richmond!! Theres been a lot of buzz, hype, and talk in the foodie community about this place because it's the first Pepper Lunch franchise in Canada.

Pepper Lunch is apparently quite popular in Asia with over 350 locations and it seems to be a Japanese fusion type of cuisine.

Even though this is a sit down restaurant, you order and pay up front first before being guided to your seat. I wanted to get their Kobe Style Burger with Egg but it was already sold out. :(

The Salmon Steak ($10.95) came with a side of beansprouts, carrots, and peas. As you can tell from the picture, the portion of sashimi grade salmon was more on the small side, though it was enough for my mom. The have the skin side down which made it crispy and delicious.

My dad went with the Chicken Steak ($9.95) and it came with the same side dishes along with a bowl of rice. It was all white breast meat and when I tried it, it was surprisingly tender!!

After finding out that my #1 and #2 choice was sold out, I decided on the Beef Pepper Rice ($8.95). Obviously I got it with extra beef (+$2) and a side of egg (+$1.50).

Getting the extra beef was a good move. And the egg. It made the dish more substantial which is necessary for a big eater like me to be full. I also got a big hit of pepper which I absolutely LOVE but could be overwhelming for people who don't crack pepper over everything they eat.

Once you give it a good mix, it'll look like this! Be warned, whatever you wear into this restaurant will smell like your dinner until you wash it. So don't wear your nice clothes!

Last but not least, they have some table side sauces for you to douse your rice with. I personally like the Honey Brown one more but the Garlic was also nice too.

Service Rating: 4.5/5
Food Rating: 3/5
Price: $$

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Happy Eating!


       after eating Pepper Lunch and smelling like teppanyaki

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Victoria Sushi - A Great Miku Alternative

A new sushi joint has apparently popped up in New Westminster and funny enough, the name of the restaurant kept on showing up in various conversations I had with friends, family, and coworkers! Honest to god I heard it 4 times in a span of a week. The name is Victoria Sushi. 

Victoria Sushi is very similar to Kishimoto, and Miku where they offer Aburi Salmon Oshi or otherwise called "flame torched salmon pressed sushi".

Victoria Sushi is actually located in a very underwhelming suburban area in New Westminster. It's attached to an apartment building and has very little street parking nearby. It's a completely residential neighbourhood.

Their menu is pretty extensive and their prices are reasonable. They even make their own in-house sake ice-cream which I'm totally going back for.

The Kimchi Pork Ishiyaki ($10.50) is from their "Izakaya" section of the menu. It consists of kimchi, pork, onions, egg, and seaweed in a sizzling stone bowl.

After you give it a good mix, it becomes an incredible fried rice that gets a bit crispy on the edges due to the stone bowl. Yum!

Both Meta Knight and I thought the Assorted Sashimi ($16) was a little pricey for 10 pieces of sashimi.

Nevertheless, you can't ignore the quality of the sashimi. It's the real deal and you can tell that nothing was pre-frozen.

The famous Salmon Oshi Sushi ($9). Unlike the Miku ones, it doesn't have a layer of salmon layered in between the rice. It was a solid salmon oshi dish though certainly missing the intense smokey flavour that usually penetrates right through even the rice.

All in all, a very solid Miku alternative!! This location is easier to get to than downtown Vancouver and their salmon aburi sushi is almost half the price of the ones at Miku. Who can complain with that?

Service Rating: 3/5
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $$-$$$

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Happy Eating!


          Finding out Victoria Sushi had Aburi Sushi <3

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