Tai Hing Congee and Noodle House- Who Here Likes Organs??

Tai Hing Congee and Noodle House is a hole in the wall type of restaurant located on Park road across from Richmond Center.

They specialize in, you guessed it, congee and noodles!

When I come here, the only two items I ever get are the Homemade Style Noodle in Soup ($6.35) and their congees. FYI, the homemade style noodle in soup has a lot of ingredients that might scare a lot of people with conservative palates. But I’ll talk about that later...  :P

Damien's Belgian Waffles- Mmm...Dark Chocolate Waffles

I've been to the Damien's Belgian Waffles in Steveston, Richmond a few times before and have always loved their liege waffles. Last week I visited this place twice because I had a craving... X.X I hate cravings, but when I do get one, I always go out of my way to satisfy it.

The exterior looks very run down and there's actually no storefront sign that says "Damien's Belgian Waffles" except for the little one on the the window.

They sell a variety of liege waffles including Cinnamon, Dark Chocolate (my fav!), Matcha, Maple, Caramel, Cranberry, Banana Chocolate Chip...etc and they are all freshly made in-house.

On my first visit here with Meta Knight, we dined in so I got the Creme Brulee to try.

Hog Shack Cook House- Sweet Jesus That's Good

Last week I saw a Groupon for Hogshack Cook House (10 for $20) so Meta Knight quickly helped me snag one for the both of us to try out. Honestly, Groupon has some pretty good food deals, check them out here! 

We went at 3pm (odd time, I know) but were told they were SOO busy that they have to replenish (their meat stack I assume?) before then next service which is 4:30pm. To kill off time, we decided to take a stroll around Steveston village.

When we came back, the owner/cashier person was too busy chatting with a large group of his friends/customers to serve Meta Knight and I. He knew were waiting but we awkwardly stood there for a good few minutes while they all hugged and said goodbye before he even acknowledged and catered to us... Obviously, we were not impressed with the service at this point.

I was so glad they gave us tons of wet naps! They are so useful when eating delicious BBQ meat.

I saw this on the wall and found it hilarious!!

Going into Hogshack, I knew I had to get the Burnt Ends ($16.00). These aren’t on the menu and they apparently run out of these really fast. I was lucky enough to get the last portion of the day.

Fatburger (Burnaby)- Home Of The Amazing Grilled Chicken Burger

Fatburger has always been on my to-go list purely because of the name and their slogan, “The Last Great Hamburger Stand”. With a slogan like that, I wanted to try it out and see how great (and fat, harhar) their burgers really were!

Meta Knight ordered the special of the day which was called the Big Fat Deal ($9.99). His meal consists of a Bacon Double Cheeseburger with bottomless soda and fries.

I on the other hand ordered the Classic Grilled Chicken Meal with Poutine ($7.29+2.49+5.99). I didn’t seem to have saved any money by ordering a meal so I should have just gotten the poutine and no pop since I filled it up with water anyways.

You pay for your food at the counter first before sitting down so it had a very casual and fast food atmosphere.

Verace Pizzeria- (Verace Amore Package) Who Likes Burrata Cheese? I Do!

I bought the “Verace Amore” package ($15.00) last month from vaneats.ca and I have been itching to go ever since but never really found the time to. I finally made the effort to go and Meta Knight and I very much enjoyed our experience here.

We went during prime dinner time so we were quite surprised to see a pretty empty restaurant, especially with all the hype surrounding this new and authentic Italian pizzeria.

I found the service a bit slow even though there were only a few other occupied tables in the restaurant.

It's random but I liked how the large jug of cold water was kept at our table because I drink a lot of water during my meals. :P

H-Mart (Aberdeen)- Yummy Dukbokki and Horrible Tasting Cake

Since H-Mart’s opening in Aberdeen a month or so ago, I’ve gone back excessively because I love the cool Korean brands of food they have to offer. In addition to buying the groceries, I have tried the cakes from their bakery and a few snack items from their hot food section.

Their hot food items are pretty attractive and it always enticed me whenever I walk by.

Trixie and I wanted to snack so we ordered a few items to share. First we ordered the Fried Vegetable ($1.00) which is basically just a pile of fried shredded carrots and yams. It was a bit oily and fatty, but surprisingly good.

Cafe Medina- "Life Is Too Short for Bad Coffee"... So True!

Since Rae and I were in Gastown already from our Cartems Donuterie run (post), we decided to stop by Cafe Medina for a quick brunch.

Cafe Medina is located next to Chambar and they are well known for their waffles. I hear the line ups get pretty long during the weekend so we were lucky we came on a weekday. Waited only two minutes for a table, oh yeah!

The restaurant itself is very small so no wonder the line ups get long when it’s busy!

I feel like most people order the “Fricasse” when they come to Cafe Medina but I chose to go with the Paella ($12.00) because it was cheaper than the $16 Fricasse and it sounded very interesting. The Paella contains one sunny side up egg, curried orzo, Hungarian chorizo, zucchini, red pepper, roasted corn, grano padano, watercress, tomatoes, and avocado.

This dish came in a large cast iron skillet which kept the food nice and warm throughout our long meal. I personally disliked the three blobs of salsa because they were too sour and overpowering. Otherwise, the dish was absolutely delicious!

Cartems Donuterie- Earl Grey and Maple Bacon Bourbon Donuts

I first read about Cartems Donuterie in the Vancouver Sun and ever since then I’ve wanted to pay a visit. Their Bacon Maple Bourbon donut in particular intrigued me because I wanted to see if they were better than the ones I made for my Marketing class last year! If you haven’t read my not too shabby attempt in making and selling Maple Bacon donuts, read it here. They sold like hotcakes at the SFU campus so I kind of regret not capitalizing on the idea right then and there! Haha

So anyways, Rae and I ventured to Gastown a few days ago and bought ourselves half a dozen to share. The pop up shop is very discreet and you can easily miss it if you don’t see the small white piece of paper that says “Cartems”.

We knew they opened at 10am so we arrived shortly after around 10:20am. As you can see, most of the donuts were already gone! Luckily, there were more flavours at the back so it wasn’t as sold out as we thought. We almost had a heart attack when we thought there was no more Earl Grey donut left!

The service is friendly and I like how they have branded their donuterie to be all about using the finest and most local ingredients. It’s nice to know that everything is handmade and all the ingredients are selected with care.

Rodney's Oyster House- The Story of Nonexistent Service

Not too long ago, Janice, Steph, and I went to Rodney’s Oyster House in Yaletown for their “Low Tide” menu (Mon-Sat, 3-6pm). Rodney’s is known for their freshly shucked raw oysters and cool energetic atmosphere.

I honestly love the vibe and food here but the service always deters me from coming back. I don’t know if it’s just me but I receive pretty bad service every time I come. This time around, our server rarely checked up on us, forgot to give us bread when every other table had theirs, took a considerable amount of time to get the bill, and did not give off a very warm/friendly attitude.

We were seated on the second level and we took great enjoyment watching the guys downstairs shuck endless amounts of oysters.

ABC Cafe (Aberdeen)- Hits and Misses

A while ago, my mom introduced me to new ABC Cafe located on the third level of Aberdeen Center. I don't know why but I had set up an expectation of failure before I even came in.

The previous establishment that occupied this space was called ‘Seventh Heaven’ and it wasn't very good in my opinion.

While looking through their menu, the thing that popped out at me was their Korean Stone Bowl Rice. Apparently you can add Foie Gras for an additional eight dollars! Foie Gras? At a HK style cafe? It is so enticing but I don’t think I can get myself to order Foie Gras knowing the quality will probably be mediocre. But who knows? If you’ve tried it before, leave a comment below and tell me what you thought of it!

Before my entree came, they gave us soup and a bun. I chose the “cream soup” and it was so bad. It was nitty, gritty, and bland. I very rarely send food back at restaurants but this one was just too bad.

I told the (inattentive and honestly quite unprofessional) waitress about my dissatisfaction and she gave me a Russian Borsch soup instead. This was much better.

Gyo-O (Revisit)- Bukkake Udon and Oyster Milk Ramen!

Ever since G-Men closed down, Gyo-o has become my go-to place for ramen in Richmond. I love everything about this restaurant from the casual and cozy atmosphere, to their quality seafood. I have already written two posts on Gyo-o before (visit #1 and visit #2) so you can probably tell how often I revisit.

This time I came with Meta Knight and we ordered two items to share. The first dish was Tako Wasabi Bukkake Udon w/ Egg ($9.75) and it consists of udon (with no soup), seaweed, Tako Wasabi (raw octopus with wasabi), and a barely poached egg. You are suppose to break the egg apart and mix everything together!

It also comes with a sauce similar to soy sauce to wet your noodles and provide some flavour if needed.

Random Thought- Would You Like To Do a Good Deed Today? :) Click Me!

Would you like to do a good deed today as well as get your daily fix of cute animals? Help me and my marketing group by checking out our Telus Spoof Ad below! If you want extra awesome karma today, send  this link (goo.gl/b5QHo) to your friends and help me spread this video! 

We are trying to have as many people view this as possible (and it will actually help our grades :D!) So thank you! I really appreciate it! 


As always, Happy Eating and...