Eating With Kirby

Mosaic Bar and Grille- Italian Chef Tasting Menu

The barely cooked runny yolk is meant to be popped and enjoyed along with the risotto...and enjoy I did. The golden lava coated every kernel of rice with its warm embrace and made the risotto that much more comforting.

Adorabelle Tea Room- Catching Up With the Girls

This is an Onion, Chive, and Bacon Savoury Cupcake. Even the icing was savoury! It was super delicious and was really innovative. Overall, the ambiance was great (loved the fake sky ceiling!), food was well thought out and executed, and the service was attentive.

Forage- Pretty Decent Food.

All six of us ordered their Award Winning Seafood Chowder with soft poached quail egg and crispy pork rind. While the soup was smokey, full of flavour, it was too thick and tasted a bit more like sauce than soup. The quail egg added a certain richness to the soup too which was nice.

Jethro's Fine Grub- That's Some Tasty Grub.

Overall, Jethro’s is an awesome breakfast and lunch diner serving up good eats with a twist. I most definitely will return for some alligator nuggets or pancakes!

Teppan Kitchen and Mambo Cafe (Aberdeen Food Court)- Crazy Sauce.

They serve this to you with a little sleeve around the plate to catch any splattering oil that radiates from the oven hot iron plate. If you are noob (hehe) at this Teppan Rice business, you can read the "How To Cook" instructions on the sleeve.

Basho Cafe - Quaint, Cozy, Delicious

You get the real deal here when it comes to their Matcha Latte. Served in a traditional Japanese bowl the way its suppose to be (not cup), its not only fragrant but it has incredibly depth. Be forewarn, this latte isn't sweet. There is no additional pre-sweetened sugary stuff here.

4 June 2014

Blueberry Matcha Protein Smoothie Recipe

As a lover of the "Mind Over Matcha" smoothie at Booster Juice and an avid smoothie maker, I came to a sudden realization that instead of spending $8 for a smoothie each time, I should try replicating it at home instead! 

The Mind Over Matcha smoothie from Booster Juice contains: "Pure Matcha green tea, vanilla soymilk, blueberries, vanilla frozen yogurt, and whey protein powder. Hey! Whaddya know? I have pretty much all those ingredients. The smoothie (for 710ml contains 446 calories, 3.8 g of fat, 4g of fibre, 28g of protein, and 41g of sugar).

Here is my version of the "Mind Over Matcha" recipe:

Ingredients:
2 tbsp of Kiss Me Organics: Organic Matcha Powder
2 tbsp of 0% M.F Greek Yogurt
1 banana
1 rounded scoop of North Coast Naturals Unflavoured Whey Protein
1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
1 1/2 cup of Silk almond milk

1) Put all the ingredients listed above in a blender and blend.

Feel free to play around with the recipe and substitute where needed. Also the brand of almond milk, matcha powder, whey protein I use is most likely not what you have at home so just use whatever is available to you.

I have to say, the result of this 'experiment' was absolutely amazeballs. It tastes almost exactly like the smoothie I love without breaking the bank (you gotta admit, Booster Juice is not cheap by any means). Not only do you get a caffeine kick from the matcha, the blueberry matcha flavour combination is out of this world. I've also experimented by putting a handful of spinach and chia seeds to boost up the nutritional content and it tasted equally as delicious.

Happy Drinking!

3 June 2014

EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival 2014

Every year since I started my blog, I've been fortunate enough to be invited to attend the ever popular EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival at BC Place. I always love coming with Meta Knight every year because it's a great way to view your favourite food brands and sample their products.

Check out my EAT! Vancouver reviews from: 2012 and 2013.

First up was the "Mexico" travel booth. They were serving up some nachos with a chocolate mole sauce. It wasn't my cup of tea.

There are some outrageous things in this world...A $2,600 bottle of water from Urban Fare being one of them.

Urban Fare also brought a ton of exotic fruit to sell including mangosteens, square watermelon, and durian.

I very much enjoyed the ever-so tiny Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese icing from Bluebird Cakery! You can find their products at Urban Fare.

 I was intrigued by this ramen stand thinking they were giving out samples of ramen! Turns out you need food tickets (which can be purchased inside the festival, on top of your admission fee) so we decided to be cheap and not get any. :P

 KFI had a booth and they were serving samples of butter chicken. Meta Knight and I both didn't get any chicken in our sample so I think they were really just letting you try their sauce (they were selling it at the booth).

 Ra Energy is a company I've never heard of so I was super intrigued by what they had to offer.

They created a topping using a combination of buckwheat, sesame, chia seeds, flax seeds, and shelled hemp. What makes them unique is that they recommend you to sprinkle this topping onto your food three times a day for greater energy, less food cravings, and better sleep.

I tried the garlic flavoured topping on top of avocado and oh my god was it amazing... I can eat this by the buckets because not only is this delicious, you know you're putting good food into your body.

I was also SUPER excited to see Peanut Butter & Co at EAT! Vancouver too because I've heard so many great things about their dark chocolate peanut butter.

They also have flavours like Cinnamon Raisin Swirl, White Chocolate Wonderful, Dark Chocolate Dreams, The Heat is On, and The Bee's Knees. They were selling 4 for $10 which is an incredibly deal.

Even Starbucks got in on the action and gave samples of their refreshers.

 Bruce Cost Ginger Ale is made with REAL ginger (not ginger extract) and is flavoured with a bunch of cool teas and fruit pulp.
I would definitely recommend this to all ginger ale lovers but just know that this is REAL ginger ale, and it doesn't taste anything like Canada Dry. You'll either love it or hate it.

 Liberte and their sample greek yogurt truck.

Oikos being one of Liberte's largest competitor obviously couldn't let Liberte distribute samples without a little friendly competition.

 Bosa Foods gave out free lattes and biscotti.

 I tried this Porcini Mushroom Sauce and absolutely fell in love. Cooking pasta with this sauce will probably give any mushroom lover a foodgasm. No joke.

 Hungry for samples.

Of course, EAT! Vancouver wouldn't be complete without Matt and Steve's extreme bean and caesar sample!

 Ok vegans.. would you ever try Vegan Coconut Bacon?? It's flaked coconut, seasoned with bacon seasoning... :D
 BKH Jerky (as seen on Dragon's Den) made an appearance this year.

 They were sampling out Pork Jerky, Beef Jerky, and Spicy Pork Jerky. All were very delicious and not the least bit tough.

 A ton of people were purchasing them in larger quantities.

Before leaving, every visitor of the festival received a SunRype Fruit Activ Orange Tangerine juice to take home as well as Reggae Reggae Jerk Sauce. Apparently this jerk sauce is the product of UK Dragon Den's winner, Levi Roots.

That's it for this year!

Happy Eating!

 Urban Fare on Urbanspoon Urban Fare on Urbanspoon Urban Fare on Urbanspoon Bluebird Cakery on Urbanspoon Bosa Foods on Urbanspoon

1 June 2014

The Sweet Spot vs Diplomat Bakery - War of the Sweets!

The Sweet Spot Patisserie located in Steveston, Richmond is a favourite among local Richmondites. Diplomat Bakery is also another bakery in Richmond that has a large fan base so I'll be reviewing both bakeries here in a little 'bakery showdown' post! 

The Sweet Spot is quite hidden so it'd be hard to just 'stumble' upon this patisserie. When my mom and I came to pick up some desserts, there was an endless turnaround of customers coming in minute after minute.

From heavenly coconut macaroons to lemon madeleines, their gluten heavy choices are sure to captivate your eyes the minute you walk in.

Every dessert item inside the glass case looked delectable! You can really tell each piece of cake was made with a lot of love and care.

A lot of people commented about how amazing the service is here. However, on the two occasions I've visited The Sweet Spot, I actually didn't feel very invited or welcomed. The ladies (not sure if they are the owners) didn't try to help my mom and I in recommending a dessert when we asked for their advice.

The Pistachio Opera Cake ($4.50) was very light and creamy with just a hint of pistachio.

This chocolate caramel mousse (sorry, forgot the name) was not overly sweet which I appreciated. Overall, loved the presentation yet wasn't wowed but it.

I really enjoyed the freshness of the Fruit Tart with Vanilla Bean Custard ($4.25). Their dense shortbread like crust was also delish (albeit a tiny bit hard- takes a lot of force to cut it).

My favourite one was the Lemon Curd Tart with Italian Meringue ($4.25). Not only did it look amazing, the curd wasn't too sour which is a common lemon tart error from other bakeries.

Lastly, my second visit consisted of a Tiramisu and a Peach Frangipane Tart. I didn't try either of them so I can't judge the taste.

Overall, The Sweet Spot is a good spot for refined French desserts if that is what you're craving. However, the prices are steep and the service wasn't particularly friendly, so in my opinion, they are a 3/5.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Now, on to Diplomat Bakery. This bakery is also in the middle of nowhere and is definitely not a walk-able distance from Steveston (contrary to popular belief). It is located on London Road in Richmond.

Their cakes are similar to True Confections in both variety and size.

In addition, they have a lot more simplistic pastries and desserts like chocolate covered cream puffs, cream horns dipped in chocolate, danishes, croissants...etc. Their prices are also reflective of their simplistic approach.

I ordered the Almond Croissant (~$3.00) for breakfast and I was surprised to see it being served on a cafeteria like tray. The croissant itself was not incredibly flaky and lacked the fluffy, moist custard inside. To this day, I have yet to find an almond croissant better than the one at Thomas Haas.

All in all, Diplomat surprisingly didn't excite me as much as I expected it to, especially with all the hype around their baked goods. Maybe I also didn't choose the right item to represent this bakery so perhaps I'll give them another try and order a slice of cake instead.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Based on both ratings, The Sweet Spot wins!!!!

Happy Eating!


The Sweet Spot Bakery on Urbanspoon Diplomat Bakery on Urbanspoon