Top 10 Restaurants to Go to During the Winter Time

When I think of winter, I think of scraping frost from my car in the morning, curling up in my blanket- burrito style (best way to sleep in my opinion), Mariah's 'All I want for Christmas is you" blasting in my car, and eating hot soupy anything to keep my insides warm.

There are so many amazing restaurants in Vancity that serves up delicous hot eats, perfect for combating the nippy air and chilly wind so I thought I'd share a few of my favourites with you. These restaurants are in no particular order. They are all my favourite go-to places during the winter time.

1. Burgoo - Must Get Item: Soup and Sandwich Combo


Burgoo by far makes one of my favourite grilled cheese sandwiches because it's made with an obscene amount of butter and cheese. *Drool*.... and when you pair that with their hot Seafood Potage soup? It's the perfect lunch combo to warm you from inside out.

2. Dinesty - Must Get Item: Soup Pork Dumplings


The last time I blogged about Dinesty was back in 2011 and I wrote about my less than stellar experience. I've returned many times since then, and they've surprised me with improvements each time. Their Xiao Long Baos (soup dumplings) are pretty spot on and if you've never had them before... You are missing out. These little soupy meat purses will change your life. Like legit.

3. Crackle Creme - Must Get Item: Honey Lavender Creme Brulee


Honey. Lavender. Creme. Brulee. Need I say more??

4. Marutama - Must Get Item: THE EGG


Oh god. Their glorious egg still haunts me in my sleep and I'm constantly depressed at the fact that I live so far away from this place. Marutama serves up extremely rich, chicken broth-based ramen with an egg so delicious it'll make you sing to the heavens. Just go and try it.

5. Swiss Bakery - Must Get Item: The Cronut (or Frissant)


It's really hard to explain in words how a cronut tastes but all I can say is... if you like doughnuts, and you like croissants, you will love these cronuts from Swiss Bakery. During my hibernation in the winter, my body craves carbs and this is its calling.

6. CHAU Veggie Express - Must Get Item: Diving For Pearls Pho


What's the first thing that pops into your mind when I say "vegetarian pho"? I can tell you the word 'delicious' was not on my mind. However, after trying their Diving For Pearls Pho, I am now a convert. This particular broth made with lychees and dates is still one of the most flavouful and delicious pho broths I've ever tasted to date. Give this place a try even if you have doubts. Most likely you'll love it.

7. Chez Meme - Must Get Item: French Onion Soup and Bourguignon Baguette


One look at this picture and I'm sure you already know what I'm talking about. In addition to their AMAZING french onion soup, this local mom and pop shop located in Burnaby will surely blow your mind when you taste their baguette sandwiches. Meta Knight and I both love their short rib baguette called "Bourguignon".

8. Gokudo Shabu Shabu - Must Get Item: Hot Pot Combo


Everyone knows hot pot tastes better when it's rainy, snowing, or windy outside. :) During the winter, I like Gokudo because their hot pot combo gives you tons of veggies, tons of meat, a drink, a carbolicious side, and a dessert, all for about $15 bucks. Plus, their individual hot pots mean no-calling-in-sick-the-next-day-when-you're-too-nice-to-ask-your-sneezing-friend-to-hold-off-on-double-dipping-her-chopsticks.

9. House of Tofu Soup - Must Get Item: Seafood Tofu Hot Pot and Fried Dumplings


I'm no vegetarian but these fried dumplings are the bomb. Also, Korean tofu soup is like the modern day chicken noodle soup. A little spicy, hearty, soupy, the perfect medicine to any cold.

10. Forage - Must Get Item: Their Award Winning Seafood Chowder


Soup. Soup. Soup. Soup. Did I mention I like soup? As an avid seafood lover, I can't imagine anything better than this award winning smokey seafood chowder on a cold windy night. As if that's not enough, it's topped with a soft boiled quail egg and pork rinds. Yes. I said pork rinds *wipes drool off keyboard*.

That's it! Hope you enjoyed the post. :) And if you're anything like me in the winter time... you'll relate.



Happy Eating!

Read More

Western Lake - I Can No Longer Go To Another Dim Sum Restaurant

I have the luxury of choosing from a plethora of amazing restaurants when I want dim sum because I live in Richmond. However, I think I've finally found my favourite one, and the dim sum restaurant is not in Richmond.

I was recently introduced by Meta Knight to a new (but not actually new) restaurant in Vancouver called Western Lake, and as the name suggests, it blew my mind. Click here to see my earlier post on their dinner menu. Meta Knight and his brothers already gave me high expectations but it still exceeded them.

For dim sum, you will usually see a line up of people waiting for a table outside the door at any given time because it is THAT popular. On weekends, don't even try to get a table without a reservation. We called in the day before and they surprisingly had a table for us the instant we arrived. Apparently that usually never happens.

 The Pan Fried Chive Dumplings ($4.50)  were absolutely gigantic. They are easily the size of eight regular dumplings you get at any other dim sum restaurant.

I wasn't only wowed by the quantity, I was also super impressed by their quality as well. The entire dumpling consisted of shrimp and chives with very little filler. What a steal for just $4.50.

The Hand Shredded Chicken was off their speciality menu and consisted of chicken, celery, carrots, pickled vegetables, crispy wonton skins, and jelly fish! Delish.

Meta Knight's favourite dish: Deep Fried Squid with Spicy Salt. I absolutely agree with him because the squid was not chewy, drowned in garlic spice, and deep fried to perfection. A bit too oily but that is to be expected of a deep fried dish. The dish behind is Rice Rolls in Clay Pot with Beef Inner. It actually says "beef inner" on the menu.

Meta Knight's bro said the Sticky Fried Rice was a bit small compared to previous visits.

Top Row:  Steamed Beef Balls with Steamed Sheets ($4.00) , Steamed Siu Mai Dumplings ($4.50), Steamed Fish Mau with Shrimp Paste ($5.25). 
Bottom Row: Steamed Chicken Feet, Steamed Prawn Dumpling ($4.50)

You can't really get the full scope of how large each of these items are in this picture but let me tell you... these shiu mai and beef balls were the size of my palm each and were the largest dim sum I've ever seen in my life.

One shiu mai is the size of the entire bowl! And it was mostly shrimp with 30% pork. They don't skimp on the ingredients here at all.

The Panfried Turnip Cake with XO Sauce was good but to be honest, it didn't appeal to me as much as the other dishes. Plus, my stomach was occupied eating all the MEAT.

  Panfried Eggplant with Shrimp Paste ($4.50) was very large and oh so delicious.

Western Lake absolutely did not disappoint and having finally had dim sum here, it's hard to go back because I don't see other dim sum restaurants comparing in size of quality.

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

Overall Rating: 5/5

Happy Eating!

 

Read More

Bestie - Delicious Sausages.

I don't think I've ever talked about this before on my blog, but I love sausages. If I had to choose between bacon, ham, or sausage, I go for sausage 99.9% of the time. I know...I know... its bad for you. But somehow ground up meat (and other stuff) stuffed inside a nasty casing just tastes so darn delicious and juicy!

A new (hipster) sausage parlor called Bestie opened up in Chinatown a few weeks ago and they serve traditional German street food like warm salted pretzels, currywurst, and sauerkraut. 

Apparently, they now open till 2:30am serving late night sausages through their little window. I'm sure clubbers will find that convenient.

They serve four types of wurst, the most popular being Pork Thuringer, followed by BBQ Turkey (+$1), Smokey Bison (+$1), and Veggie Wurst. The staff and co-owners Clinton and Dane were extremely welcoming, always refilling our water, and following up with us to make sure we liked our sausages. :D

I wanted something a bit more substantial than the currywurst so I opted for the Pork Thuringer Sausage + Sauerkraut ($9.50) as well as the Stinky Cheese Sauce (+$2.50 I think) on the side.

The sausage was plump, juicy, and just enough for one person to finish without feeling like they're in a food coma. The slightly acidic sauerkraut was a great accompaniment to the sausage and hot mustard. And when I say hot mustard, watch out, because it is HOT.

I actually didn't find the stinky cheese sauce that stinky but I think thats because I'm Asian. Nothing is stinky to me. Not stinky tofu, not durian, and certainly not cheeses. Nevertheless, this sauce made for a good coating for my sausages and fries.

One thing I noticed was that in addition to a shaker for pepper and salt, they also one for cumin! Cumin is a spice that adds much flavour and depth to meat so I added some onto my sausage...and fries... and sauerkraut.. and... ok let's be honest here, I sprinkled that thing on everything!

Along on this foodie adventure were Amy (foodqueen) and Curtis (foodobyte) and they both ordered the Pretzel & Mustard ($3.50). The pretzel is made daily with a traditional salted skin and served warm.

I only had a bite but the pretzel tasted like the ones I get from Cirque Du Soleil concession stands, not the soft pretzels from Little Monk Pretzels at Metrotown. Not necessarily a bad thing, I just have a higher preference for soft pretzels.

They also both got the Currywurst ($8) with Pork Thuringer which comes with a sausage, cut up, fries, and curried ketchup. They both enjoyed the curried ketchup a lot and thought it went nicely with the pork.

As far as sausage goes, these bratwursts are one of the better ones I've had. The price is a little hefty for what you get, especially if you are a big eater, but I wouldn't let it discourage you from trying this place out at least once.

Service Rating: 4.5/5
Food Rating: 3.5/5
Price: $$

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Happy Eating!

Read More

Phnom Penh- Chicken Wings, Butter Beef, MSG Overload

Phnom Penh has been on my food radar since FOREVER and I have tried numerous times to go but it just never ends up happening. Luckily, Janice (goodeat) and Steph (krispybites) also have not tried this ever-so-famous restaurant yet so all three of us decided to go on a chilly Sunday afternoon.

Phnom Penh is located in a kind of sketchy part of Chinatown so you may want to bus instead of drive. Or if you are going to drive, don’t park too close to this area.

We purposely tried to go early to avoid long line-ups, but we still ended up waiting 10-15 minutes for a table.

Right when we sat down, we were given a huge textbook-like menu. They have some interesting items like frog legs but since we already knew what we wanted, I’ll keep it in mind for next time. First came a side of bean sprouts and dipping sauces.

Read More