Icepik Shavery - So Refreshing During the Summer

Icepik Shavery is another shaved ice restaurant on Kingsway, similar to Icy Bar. I came here on two occasions to try out their frozen treats since the weather has been getting really nice here. 

On my first visit, I came with Diana, Amy, and Curtis. We all tried to get different combos so we could try a bit of everything. On my second visit, I came with Meta Knight after a run and OH MY GOD it was amazing.

Meta Knight and I shared a Large Emperor's Pik ($6.85) which consists of matcha shaved ice, diced mango, grass jelly, rice cakes, and coconut jelly. This combination is fantastic and tastes even better with condensed milk (you can grab the bottle from the counter).

This is also the Emperor's Pik but in regular size.

The Fresh Pik'd Fruit ($5.85) is the fruitiest combination of all with mangoes, strawberries, housemade rice cakes, and mango jelly, all on top of mango shaved ice.

This one is called Penguin Pik ($5.85), probably because it's completely black and white. This one has black sesame shaved ice, rice cakes, oreo crumble, grass jelly, and pearls. It looks delicious but Curtis thought the sesame shaved ice was really bland.

I think the toppings on this ice pik combo is really good, but next time I might try this with a different flavour of shaved ice. Perhaps green tea or 'original' yogurt flavour.

The matcha shaved ice flavour is my favourite so I definitely would recommend that!

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

Overall Rating: 3/5


             the weather is too hot to handle... :D

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Sekai Udon Bar - Fresh Handmade Udon

I never did like the Sui Sha Ya location in Metrotown. Even though my mom says their lunch combos are good, their mediocre sushi and noodles always left me wishing I went elsewhere. Luckily, another restaurant has now taken its place. It's called Sekai Udon Bar.

All of their udon noodles are fresh and made on-site. They even have white or whole wheat to choose from which is great for people who want to bit a little bit healthier.

It's located right next to Pet Habitat and The Bay within Metropolis at Metrotown.

They have other menus as well but I took a picture of their udon specific menu. Since they're an Udon bar, I always go for their udons over their sushi rolls. Why mess with their signature product?

The Curry Udon ($10) consisted of a thick curry broth with beef, carrots, and green onions. Meta Knight liked this udon but thought the broth was a little thick to drink with the noodles. The Japanese curry was true to taste with just a hint of spice.

My favourite is the Kitsune Udon ($7). Generally for udon, I like clearer broths so this was totally up my alley. You can tell the broth was made with kombu, soy, bonito, maybe a bit of sake. Clear, light, delicious!

A soft poached egg for good luck and yolky goodness.

The Tonkotsu ($11) is on the pricier side because of the richer broth and cha siu. My friend Calee had nothing bad to say about it.

Niku Udon ($8) comes with sukiyaki beef, onions, green onions, and bok choy.

Another Kitsune Udon ($6) I had on another occasion. I think all in all I've had the Kitsune Udon about 5 times.

Sekai Udon Bar is relatively inexpensive and is a comfortable restaurant to sit and slurp back a bowl of hot noodles. I would definitely recommend them to shoppers wanting a break from the mall madness.

Service Rating: 4/5
Food Rating: 3.5/5
Price: $

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Happy Eating!


                 dat egg yolk... i heart eggs.

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IKEA Restaurant- Dat IKEA Meatball Doe

You know you've been to too many restaurants when you can't think of a new place to go eat, and finally suggest 'IKEA' for lunch. 

Meta Knight and I were craving dem Swedish meatballs so we took the opportunity to scope out some furniture for our future home. Plus, it was raining outside so naturally we gravitated towards any option that allowed us to be indoors for a couple hours.

 We noticed instantly that IKEA's food prices have increased pretty dramatically over the past couple of years.. I remember the meatballs and mash use to cost $2.99!!! I miss those days. :(

 The IKEA restaurant is pretty much the same system as a cafeteria. You grab a tray, look through all your options, slide on down, and pay at the end.

To be honest, looking at this picture I'm not sure what prompted me to eat at IKEA. It doesn't look particularly appetizing and it's not longer ridiculously cheap.

One bite though....and I'm sold again. Dem meatballs. And that gravy. It's like heaven in your mouth.

This $5.99 combo gives you 10 Swedish meatballs smothered in gravy, fries (or mash potatoes), and lingonberry sauce. For whatever reason, this was so satisfying.

 The Fish and Chips ($6.99) were not bad but considering it's almost the cost of Pajo's, it's overpriced. Next time I'll stick with the meatballs and gravy.

 Am I the only one who buys a whole bag of frozen Swedish meatballs after eating and being addicted to these at the restaurant?

Their soup of the day was Thai Curry Chicken ($1.99). Surprisingly it was pretty good!! Not too spicy but just enough for a little kick at the end. I was also greedy and took a lot of veggie/chicken chunks so it was really hearty. :P

All in all, IKEA remains a solid choice for those craving horse meatballs (harhar), gravy, carbs, and dessert. The walk around the huge showroom is also very nice when you're slowly slipping into a food coma.

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

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!

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Le Petit Saigon - Alright but Not Amazing

After our throwback party at PNE with BoyzIIMen, my friends and I went to Le Petit Saigon for some hot comforting pho. Who doesn't love pho on a chilly cold night? :)

We've heard of Le Petit Saigon before so we had some pretty high standards Walking in, the atmosphere was homey though service was lacking throughout the entire meal.

They had some pretty cool smoothie varieties including Durian, Sour Sop (what's that?!), and Avocado. I was SO tempted to get the Durian Smoothie but decided to spare my friends the car ride with me and my durian-breathe. :P

Number 22: Tai Sach ($7.75 Sml) consisted of only rare steak and tripe. For rare steak, I was surprised by the chewiness of it as it should be quite tender having just cooked in the boiling broth.

Though the broth had an intense umami flavour to it and was without a doubt delicious, we all thought it had a lot of MSG and slowly felt its effects thirty minutes after our meal. All in all, for eleven bucks and two toppings, I didn't think this was worth it.

Rae ordered the same thing as me except she had meatballs and Fon ordered the No.1 Special. Both were average and none of them were wowed at all by the pho.

I'm surprised by the 93% rating on Urbanspoon because I didn't think it was impressive at all. Their prices are on the higher range compared to my favourite pho spot Thai Son, and they use way too much MSG in their broth.

Service Rating: 2/5
Food Rating: 2.5/5
Price: $-$$

Overall Rating: 2/5

Happy Eating!

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Yeti Yogurt (SFU) - Froyo Yolo

Vancouver already has an abundance of frozen yogurt establishments like Menchies, Qoola, Pinkberry, Scoop!, Timothy's, and Yogen Fruz, so its no surprise for another one to hit the market!

This new froyo place is called Yeti Yogurt. There are two locations in Vancouver, one on the North Shore (North Van) and one on SFU Burnaby campus (Cornerstone area).

Look, it's the abominable snowman! Their interior design is super cute and there's even a big Yeti mascot figure eating froyo near the door.

For all you lactose intolerant folks (like my friend Piggley), there are some options here that you might enjoy. Not only do they have lactose free options like sorbet, they also have lactose free yogurt Forget the icy fruit 'slush'-like ice cream... there's actual creamy 'ice-cream'!

They have 16 different flavours to choose from including french toast, nutella, sweet coconut, euro tart, pink pomegranate, yogi yeti 'green tea', and salted caramel.

We also noticed that they have a lot more toppings to choose from including four different kinds of popping pearls (near the back), two types of mochi, cookie dough chunks, and cheesecake chunks.

Normally I only see one type of gummy offered but here they have 6! They also have chocolate covered espresso beans, chocolate rocks, kit kat bars, yogurt covered pretzels... cool stuff.

Doesn't this look like a breakfast cereal station?

Meta Knight and I went with two tart flavours: Euro Tart and Pink Grapefruit ($5.60). These two flavours actually complimented each other very well and tasted oh so delicious with sweet fruit, chocolate chips, gummies, lychees, chocoalte rocks, and popping fruit pearls.

Their Pink Pomegranate tasted really fresh and like it was made with pure pomegranate juice. The lactose free yogurt was indeed creamy and not like a sorbet at all.

I found their frozen yogurts to be creamy, light, and very true to its flavours which I appreciate. It also wasn't saturated in colouring (which shows they don't use food colouring) nor had any weird after-taste like "watermelon flavoured froyo" I've had in the past.

In my opinion, Yeti Yogurt is a big contender for the froyo market in Vancouver even though they only have two suburban locations right now. For all you SFU goers and North Burnaby residents, don't miss out on this 'cool' little place. :D

They open till 10:00pm on Sundays, 10:30pm from Mon-Thurs, and 11pm on Fri and Sat.

Service Rating: 2.5/5
Food Rating: 4.5/5
Price: $

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Happy Eating!

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Boiling Point (Burnaby) - Yummy Dipping Sauces

The Boiling Point in Burnaby is one of twelve locations all over Seattle, Southern California, and Canada region. They specialize in individual Taiwanese hot pots, stinky tofu, and drinks.

Their main menu consists of 10 different hot pots, all with a different main protein has the star. For example, they have lamb, beef, curry fishball, Japanese miso, tomato veggie...etc. You usually order them as a 'set menu' which gets you a bowl of rice and a drink as well for $10.99.

What I really enjoy about Boiling Point are their dipping sauces. I don't know exactly what they are but they taste AMAZING with meat and rice.

Both the Black Tea and Green Tea were super aromatic and more concentrated than expected. It was quite good but I actually would have preferred something lighter to wash down the rich flavours of hot pot.

 I don't know what it is about me but I keep on making the same mistakes. Last time I got the Lamb ($10.99), didn't enjoy it, vowed to not get this next time, and guess what I ordered this time? Gah! Anyways, I just didn't like this hot pot mainly because the copious amounts of sour mustard turned my broth all sour.

The Beef Hot Pot ($10.99) contained nappa cabbage, vermicelli, beef, enoki mushroom, tomato, tofu, tempura, corn, meatball, kamaboko, imitation crab, and tofu skin. Having the broth simmered on low heat with all those ingredients made it incredibly rich and complex.

All in all, Boiling Point is pretty average and an okay place to go if you are craving something hot on a chilly cold day. However, my favourite place for individual hot pots is still Gokudo Shabu Shabu in Richmond.

Service Rating: 2.5/5
Food Rating: 2.5/5
Price: $$

Overall Rating: 2.5/5

Happy Eating!

  

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