Cafe Mai Mai - My Favourite Pho Restaurant. NO MSG!

Often many people ask me what my favourite food in the world is. It's a really hard question to answer, but when I answer I think of the one food item I cannot live without. It's also the one food item I think about whenever I come back from a long vacation eating food from another culture. For me, it's noodle soup. It can be ramen, pho, chicken noodle soup, or fish ball seaweed soup. Any type of noodle in any type of broth is my absolute FAVOURITE type of food. <3

My friend Queen B recommended a restaurant called Cafe Mai Mai not too far from my home and she said their pho is spectacular. She also said they use absolutely no MSG and that once you taste the broth, you will understand.

Since my first visit, I've been back maybe 7 times and I bring absolutely everyone I know to my now favourite pho restaurant. This is the #2 Small ($7.95) and it contains rare beef slices (which gets cooked in the hot broth), tendon, tripe, and beef balls. You'll notice the broth is a bit darker in colour than the traditional ones we're used to eating. It's darker because the owners need to use more beef meat and bones in their broth to make up for the lack of MSG. What you'll get is a richer, more flavourful, yet cleaner broth.

Your typical bean sprouts, basil leaf, and green pepper.

I can't explain how delicious the broth is (just like Queen B), you literally have to taste it for yourself to understand what I'm talking about.

Cafe Mai Mai also has a stamp card so if you eat 9 bowls, you get the 10th one free. What I love is that you also have the option of donating you 10th bowl back to them so they can donate the proceeds to the Canadian Cancer Society. I absolutely adore that idea and I think more local businesses should also adapt that. What an incredible way to promote giving back.

While I've tried their Vietnamese Coffee multiple times, I'm not a coffee connoisseur so I can't say whether this place has the best coffee or not.

For an amateur coffee drinker like myself, it tastes mighty delicious to me!

I also love eating the pho with their homemade chili sauce so I ended up buying one jar to take home for eight dollars. It's legit chili oil guys. So goooood.

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

Overall Rating: 5/5

Happy Eating!


                 Kirby eating noodles. How fitting!

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Taste of Aberdeen - Media Tasting Event at Aberdeen Food Court

I'm so happy to be writing this post because I was recently invited to a ChineseBites media event at one of my favourite places to eat! The Aberdeen food court! It may seem strange to most people but in my opinion, Aberdeen food court serves up some of the most delicious and authentic Asian fusion cuisine you can get in the lower mainland.

The event was great and brought together roughly 60 foodies and tons of delicious noms (and I mean.. TONS) and great conversation. I brought Meta Knight with me as my +1 and he had a great time meeting other bloggers and eating ALL DA FOOD.

Out of the 22 food items and 6 drinks between the six of us (I KNOW!! Crazy!), I've compiled my Top 5 favourite items so it's easier to read and decipher between the good, the meh, and the excellent. :)

1) The Drunken Chicken Hot Pot from the Tofu Hotpot stall was honestly my favorite dish of the night. If you know the 'drunken chicken' appetizer from Shanghainese restaurants, it's kind of like that, except in hot pot form with lots of wood ear mushroom, napa cabbage, crystal Korean noodles, and scrumptious broth. I've never tasted something like this before so it was truly a feast for the palate!

2) Before Pepper Lunch, there was Teppan Kitchen with it's sizzling hot plates! This is the 'A' Grade Ribeye Teppan with Corn and Egg and it has always been one of my favourite items to get at this food court. :) Feel free to check out my previous post here.

 Once everything is all mixed and the sizzling pan crisps up the bottom of the rice, it's time to DIG IN!

3) Bubble Waffle and Curry Fish Balls from the Bubble Waffle Stall make a really great snack. The fish balls give a slight spicy kick without making you reach for the milk. Here is my previous post on this place.

A good sign of a perfectly done bubble waffle is a crisp exterior and a light buoyant eggy interior. This one checks all the boxes and is my favourite bubble waffle in Richmond. :)

4)  Wu Fung Dessert's Deep Fried Chicken Wings are also a must get item when you visit the Aberdeen food court! This was a 50/50 dish between the chicken wings and fried squid tentacles and both were super solid. Here is my previous post on Wu Fung!

5) Saboten is one of the largest tonkatsu (Japanese style deep fried pork) chains in Japan. The first one in North America is right here in Aberdeen and this place is legit. This Saboten Set consists of deep fried shrimp tempura, tenderloin, and loin. My favourite part of their tonkatsu is the ground up black sesame powder. To see my previous post on Saboten, click here.

Honorable Mentions:

Sakura Roll from Aji Hana

(left to right): House Special from 8 Juice (really delicious and fruity btw), Iced Lemon Ribena from Bubble Waffle, Iced Honey Matcha Tea from Teppan Kitchen

(left to right): Iced Genmaicha from Saboten, Matcha Soy Bean Milk from Strike, Milk Tea from Estea Express

Pan Fried Chinese Chives with Pork Dumplings from Chef of Dumplings. This was actually very delicious as well. Didn't make it in the top 5 but was super close.

For those that like the authentic Szechuan taste, you have to try the Hot Sour Noodles from Szechuan House. This was Sherman's favourite and even though it numbed my tongue, it didn't for him and he loved it.

I love my wontons so these Prawn Wontons from Lung Kee were great. Also just barely missed top 5.

Skip the Clubhouse Sandwich from Strike.

Soy Sauce Chicken and Long Gong Chicken from Leung Kee. Both types were actually super flavorful.

Chicken Bulgogi and Pork Belly from Kitchen Korea.

Baked Pork Chop on Rice from Mambo Cafe.

Taiwanese style Popcorn Chicken from Yougo Chicken.

Sticky Rice from Leung Kee.

Tuna and Corn Egg Roll from Strike.

For some odd reason, I actually ended up really enjoying this dish. It is clearly maid with canned ingredients like the corn and tuna. However, mixed with mayo, egg, and LOTS of black pepper, this actually ended up being addicting!

Hainanese Chicken from Cafe D'Lite Express.

Banana Chocolate Crepe (sample size) from Cafe Mazazu

Mini Cream Puffs and Chesecake Sticks from Beard Papa's. Always solid no matter which location.

A Dream in Eden Shaved Ice from Frappe Bliss.

Matcha Delight from Frappe Bliss.

Happy Eating!


                the food kept on coming so we ate like...

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Sura Korean BBQ (Re-visit) - Student Discount on Friday and Saturdays

I recently re-visited the Sura Korean BBQ located on the first floor of Aberdeen. They serve up authentic Korean cuisine and samgyeopsal and there are always line ups at the front. My first visit here wasn't great at all so I was quite skeptical giving them a second chance. This was my first post on them.

Meta Knight and I wanted BBQ so we got the Royal Galbi ($28). When you order BBQ meat, they give you a LOT of banchans (Korean side dishes). We didn't think we'd be full off the two things we ordered, but we were actually really really satisfied!

In addition to the classic kimchi, you get sweet potatoes, some beans, a green onion salad, a full deep fried fish, Korean coleslaw, and fried eggplant. Honestly, the side dishes on its own make a meal!

The Royal Galbi ($28) are premium beef short ribs and it definitely didn't disappoint. It's a little pricey for the amount of meat you get, but the quality is top notch.

Meta Knight and I like to take our time cooking and grilling a little bit as we eat. So we didn't love how the staff came by and decided to cut and grill all of our meat in one go without asking us. It wasn't a huge deal and we didn't stop her, but we would've preferred not having all of our meat grilled at once because we can't get to it all before it starts getting cold.

For carbs, we got the Dukbokki ($15) and the sheer size of this plate really surprised us both. We chose the seafood version and they definitely didn't disappoint. There were plump shrimps, two large mussels with the shell on, and tons of mini scallops and shrimps.

I love eating my meat like this. Wrapping it in lettuce saves me from eating carbs AND I get to hit my daily veggie intake!

Even though my first visit to Sura Korean BBQ left a bad taste in my mouth, I'm really glad I gave them another try because it really was quite great. Meta Knight and I even took advantage of their great student discount that they offer on Fridays and Saturdays between 9pm-10pm! If you bring your student ID, you are eligible to have 50% taken off your entire bill.

I'm not sure how long the student discount will last or if every single person in the party has to be a current student, but please let me know if someone finds out!

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

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!


                       Korean BBQ smells be like...

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