dessert Archives - Page 13 of 18

Q Shi Q Japanese BBQ

December 12, 2015

When I first heard about Q Shi Q, I knew that I definitely had to try it. While trying to find a place to eat with a friend, I suddenly remembered this place and was so excited when he agreed to try it with me!
Q Shi Q opened its doors in late October, so it is still pretty new. It is located just on the border of Olympic Village, a walking distance from the pubs in OV and Earnest Ice Cream. Since this area is mostly industrial (for now), with an exception of new restaurants popping up here and there, it was really quiet in the evening and easy to find parking.

Q Shi Q was the only lit up building on the street, so I definitely knew I was at the right place. I’m predicting that over the coming years, this place will be populated with more restaurants and night life as Olympic Village continues to expand.
After finding parking effortlessly, I made my way into the restaurant. The exterior reminded me of a night club rather than a restaurant, as they had a small rope fence and waiting area.

I was greeted warmly by the owner, and this welcoming tone set the mood for the rest of the visit. Service was very friendly and welcoming, though our waitress was trying very hard to sell us certain items.
Pictured left is a cocktail made out of egg white, lemon peel, and ume (a type of delicious plum wine). The ume made it sweet and refreshing, but the lemon gave it a subtle sour taste as well.

Shouga soda, $2.50: It was very rich, strong and spicy, as ginger is supposed to be. At first sip, you are greeted with a strong blast of ginger that carries out throughout the drink. I drank this very slowly, and the potency of the ginger was lessened near the end of our meal as the ice cubes had melted.
Nana fries, $3: They have two types of fries, shio and nana fries. Shio fries are seasoned solely with sea salt, while nana fries are seasoned with 7 different spices. The fries arrived fresh and piping hot, and were absolutely delicious! I loved the seasonings, and there was a hint of spice as well.

These fries are a great alternative to your standard fries and I would recommend trying these! I would come back just for these fries. They start off salty, savoury, and spicy and end with a slight, well rounded hit of sweetness.
Lobster miso mayo skewer, $9.50: This was one of the daily specials that night, and came highly recommended by the server. The sauce tasted very well rounded and was slightly sweet and creamy, although there wasn’t any cream or dairy ingredients inside. I double checked because since I recently became lactose intolerant, so I have to be very careful and avoid dairy. =(

(Yes, I did a lab test which confirmed the intolerance, which can develop suddenly. Mine is bad so I have to be careful when I’m eating out now. Also, yes that means no more ice cream, cheesecake, cheese, etc unless I take pills but even those don’t help sometimes! Boo).
Skewers, any 5 for $11 (excluding specials): Q Shi Q has two standard flavours- oishii which is a blend of green onion, garlic, ginger, soy, lemon, and other things, and shio which is just sea salt. Pictured here are the oishii pork, oishii sirloin, kirashi sirlion, oishii chicken, and oishii tsukune.

While mid way through the pork skewer, I noticed that the pork was pretty pink in the middle so I stopped eating it. However, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. The lighting was pretty dark in there so maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me? But after the meal, I got a stomachache so it was probably from the under-cooked meat.

Other than that, the other skewers were pretty delicious and all had a nice hint of smokiness to them. My favourite was the oishii chicken, which was moist, juicy, and bursting with grilled and seasoned flavour. My least favourite was the oishii tsukune because it was a chicken ball skewer. It had a light and somewhat fluffy texture and did not have as much flavour as the oishii chicken.
Skewers, any 5 for $11 ( excluding specials): oishii salmon, two ponzu salmon, ebi fritter and broccoli

Just like the pork, I found the salmon to be undercooked. Some areas flaked off nicely and were a nice light pink but some parts in the middle did not look cooked. I ended up avoiding the areas that looked undercooked. Looking back, I’m not too sure why I didn’t just ask for them to grill it a bit more.

The ebi fritters were very small and had was composed of mostly batter instead of prawn. This was disappointing and I wouldn’t order this one again.

Considering the meat and two pieces of broccoli are the same price (any 5 skewers for $11), it is more worth it to get the meat. However, it is still important to eat veggies (says the girl who barely eats veggies) so we decided to order one broccoli skewer. It was fresh and crunchy, and tasted a lot better since it was grilled (can you tell I don’t like veggies?).

Matcha amasake parfait, $4: My friend ordered this for desert and was going to let me try some, but we were notified by our server that the rice pudding had cream and milk in it. However, my friend really enjoyed the dessert and said that the matcha was really strong and delicious!

All in all, we both enjoyed Q Shi Q except for that some meat might have been undercooked. The service was excellent, the atmosphere was great, and the food was very flavourful. It is a good place to hang out with friends and share some good skewers!
I took the boyfriend here the following week because I wanted him to try the nana fries! We ordered pretty much the same thing as my first visit.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Neverland Tea Salon

November 27, 2015

I can’t believe that I forgot to talk about Neverland Tea Salon. I was in the middle of switching phones in the summer, and the photos were taken on my old phone and I completely forgot about them after I got my new phone. Nonetheless, a late review is better than no review – especially if it is a place as magical as Neverland Tea Salon.

I first stumbled upon this place after a meager dinner experience at Ramen Sanpachi, over a year ago. We were walking around the street after dinner, and although the lights were off and the place was closed, I knew I had to come back to Neverland Tea Salon one day. I kept this place at the back of my head until Bubble suggested to go to high tea!

We also had Entertainment Book coupons for high tea so decided to go before things got busy in the Fall (Hah, it’s practically Winter now).

Neverland is very cutesy and girly. You step into a fairy tale setting and everything about this place is just so princess-y, classy, and cute. Luckily, we got the best seats in the restaurant that day, which was a big pink sofa spot at the front.

There were four of us, and we ordered two separate sets of high tea. We ordered the high tea ($30 each) and the demi high tea ($18 each), but it was slightly cheaper from the coupon. With the high tea, you get bottomless tea (!!!!) but with the demi high tea, you are only able to select two teas per person.

I’m not going to go to detail over all the teas that we ordered, but trust me when I say their tea was pretty good! All of the teas that we ordered were full of flavour, and can be sweetened with honey or sugar cubes on your table.
Demi tea ($18/person): This is the smaller and cheaper selection of high tea. The pastries and sandwiches offered with the demi tea are the same as high tea, but it does not include some items. Since Rainbow, and Stitch had already been here many times and weren’t that hungry, they split the demi tea.

Fun fact: The owner of the tea salon actually made all the high tea trays herself! She bought all these vintage plates, and glued them together into beautiful stands.

High tea ($30/person): Bubble and I split the high tea, which ended up being cheaper since we had a buy one get one from the Entertainment Book! As you can see, there are more items offered from the high tea.

Although I’m not a big fan of scones, I was told that I had to try the scones here because they were really good. And yes, they were delicious. They were soft, warm, and buttery. So good!

If you’ve been following my blog for awhile now, you know that I prefer savoury food over sweet food. In fact, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth at all so naturally I gravitated towards the bottom plate with the savoury selections.

Since their sandwich and pastry selection changes often and this visit was over three months ago, I don’t think it’s much use to describe each of the food items in detail. Although the sandwiches look very simple, they were actually really delicious and the quality was definitely there.

Here is a picture of both the demi and high tea! Since you are drinking A LOT of tea, you definitely get full really fast. We ended up packing most of the pastries home because we were so full from the sandwiches and amount of tea we were drinking.

I would recommend trying out Neverland Tea Salon if you like girly and cute themed places. The service is very friendly and knowledgeable, although a bit slow. Maki came here last month too and mentioned that it took so long for her to ask for the bill, that she ended up with a parking ticket when she left because the meter expired. She asked for the bill 15 minutes before the meter expired so that really sucks. 🙁

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Cafe Medina

November 15, 2015

I finally, finally, FINALLY, went to Cafe Medina. I know that I say this for many restaurants I visit, but Cafe Medina has been one of my top picks in terms of restaurants that I have been wanting to try. But waiting in line for a hour or more didn’t really entice me, which is why it took me so long to try this place out.

Originally, I had made plans to go to Yolk‘s for a weekend brunch with my cousin. However, since she lives in downtown, I asked if she would want to have a sleepover and we could walk over to Cafe Medina afterwards. She agreed but said we would have to go right when they open at 9am or else the line up would be crazy.

We arrived right at 9am, and there was already a line forming. This restaurant is crazy busy at all times, but the worst would probably have to be between 11-1pm.

But I did hear that they allow you to put your name down and walk around for a hour or so to kill time, then go back to the restaurant.
I have been told that their waffles are a must-try when coming here. I was actually able to try some of their waffles at an event last month. Since it was outdoor and in the evening, the waffles were cold but still really good. I couldn’t imagine how delicious they would be if it was fresh and warm, and finally got that chance!

Liege-style waffle with passionfruit, $4.15: I actually didn’t know that the toppings were an extra $1, I was obviously too blinded by all the delicious flavours and missed that part. I was torn between the white chocolate or passionfruit, but am a huge fan of passionfruit desserts and thought it was more unique so I ended up going with it.

The waffle was warm, fluffy, and incredibly soft. Additionally, the passionfruit topping was slightly more on the tart side, which I preferred because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. 10/10 would recommend the waffle. I was thinking of packing one home for the boyfriend, but decided that it’s a lot better trying it fresh in the store and this also gives me an excuse to come back here 🙂
Cyoni organic freshly squeezed apple juice, $5: This was unlike any apple juice that I’ve had before, but I enjoyed it as well. I don’t think I’ve had freshly squeezed apple juice before, the flavour was definitely a lot softer and purer than the bottled apple juice I’m used to. There was also a bit of pulp in it too.

Paella, $15: This is one of their most popular dishes, and comes with a fried egg, avocado, spicy chorizo sausage, and spicy tomato salsa. Everything in this dish balanced perfectly to a top-notch, hearty goodness dish.

I had a few bites and I really loved the spicy chorizo sausage mixed with the spicy tomato salsa. Very well done dish, I was in love at first bite!
Cassoulet, $17: I had a hard time picking what to eat, but my cousin assured me that everything on the menu is delicious as she’s been here a couple times before. I finally decided to try this dish because of the smoked bacon and andouille sausage.

My goodness, did I ever enjoy this dish. Everything was bursting with flavour, I don’t even know where to begin. I loved the andouille sauce and smoked bacon.
Here is a beautiful closeup of the cassoulet. I sent this picture to my boyfriend to show him what their bacon looked like but it turned out to be a really nice and crisp photo!

I was just expecting regular bacon strips, but obviously Cafe Medina took it to a whole ‘nother level. It was pretty thick and full of smoky and amazing flavour. The meat was extremely tender and flaked off perfectly.
Liege-style waffle with chocolate, $4.15: Both of us were really full and suffering from food coma after the meal as the dishes were really comforting, hearty, and filling. But since it was so good, we didn’t want to stop eating. After much consideration, my cousin decided to order a chocolate waffle for dessert but had much difficulty finishing it. I was too full to even attempt to have a bite, but she said the chocolate tasted like nutella!

There has been so much hype around Cafe Medina, and is it worth the hype? Yes, I definitely think so! Now, I understand why the lines are so long and why this place is popular. I’m already looking forward to my next visit, although I’m not sure when that would be!

As a side note, this place also reminded me of Toulouse in Seattle, which my boyfriend and I wandered across last year. Toulouse is one of Trip Advisor’s top 5 restaurants in America. We use Toulouse as a standard of rating because the food there was also top notch (and a 45 minute wait, haha). When asking me if the food was as good as Toulouse, I agreed that it was definitely on par, which shocked the boyfriend because Toulouse was probably one of the best brunch places we’ve been to thus far!

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

UYU Ice Cream Parlour

August 15, 2015

The newest addition to premium soft serve has made its way to Gastown by the name of UYU Ice Cream, which means ‘milk’ in Korean. After eyeing this place on social media, the boyfriend and I decided to give it a try as they have a soft opening promotion deal until tomorrow (Sunday).

I rushed home to write this review, so that you can hopefully read this before the deal ends tomorrow!

After a satisfying lunch at Tuc Craft Kitchen just a couple of blocks down, we set out to look for UYU! Initially, I thought that this place was deeper inside Gastown but turns out it is across from Tinseltown, on the same block as The Pint and Prado Cafe.

We totally unknowingly walked pass this place when going to Tuc, and surprised at how close it was to Tinseltown! But to be fair, we were walking on the other side of the street and didn’t know that it was on the outskirts of Gastown.

It wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be, but I’m sure this place will become more popular as the weeks go by. That, and plus the fact that it’s a bit chillier and colder than usual today! The lineup was halfway to the door when we got there, but the space here is quite small.

The designers of UYU also designed Small Victory Bakery in Yaletown. I could definitely see the resemblance in the minimalist design here as well. There are also no tables or chairs for customers, only a small window ledge that you can lean against.
When we went today, UYU had three flavours of soft serve to choose from – Belgian chocolate, Earl Grey, and original, all are made with organic milk.

After ordering with the cashier, your receipt with your name is printed out and put in the queue. There are then two other workers who then call out your name, and ask which soft serve flavour/ice cream bar you would like.
Here are the many toppings you can choose from. The soft serve comes with one topping, but you can add up to three toppings for 0.50 cents each.

The freeze fried fruits seemed to be the most popular from what I saw other customers eating or on social media, but what caught my eye was the chocolate almond bark in the back!
After the toppings are finished, your soft serve is completed with a complementary drizzle!
I ordered the original soft serve with milk chocolate almond bark and caramel drizzle, which was $3 with the soft opening special. Originally, this would cost $4.75 without the promotion.

The original soft serve was very creamy and smooth, but not too rich. It had the perfect amount of sweetness for me, and the caramel drizzle was a nice touch! There was a nice milky taste as well.
The boyfriend ordered the Belgian chocolate soft serve, with coconut flakes and honey drizzle. He really enjoyed his cup as well, being the crazy dairy lover he is. Seriously, I have not met anyone who loves milk and cheese more than him, LOL.

Again, the Belgian chocolate soft serve was very smooth and milky. There were also pieces of Belgian chocolate that are finely grated inside the ice cream, it looked like little brown dots!

We both enjoyed our soft serves a lot, and glad that we got a cheaper deal on them with the soft opening promotion. I would recommend checking this place out if you enjoy having soft serve.

Compared to Soft Peaks, which is also located in Gastown, UYU’s soft serve is slightly sweeter but Soft Peaks gives out more toppings. Both places are excellent at making quality and organic soft serve!

Which flavour would you pick – original, Earl Grey, or Belgian Chocolate?

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Richmond Night Market 2015 – Part 2/2

June 28, 2015

Hi everyone!

Continuing part 2 of my trip to the nightmarket with some friends a few weeks ago! Here is part 1 if you missed it =)

As we were walking around, I noticed a stand from Mogu Street Eats. I’ve read about their food truck and heard great things about it, and my friend said that she saw it on The Food Network. So, my other friend decided to get the chicken karage and see if it was actually that good!

Honestly, it didn’t look too appetizing to me because the batter looked pretty old and it looked pretty oily. He insisted that I try it and my opinion was right – it was soaked and dripping in oil.

It’s probably prepared better at their actual food cart because there’s no way that this chicken could get such great reviews.

The nightmarket was almost closing, and we saw that some places were beginning to offer closing specials (they weren’t super good deals though so no point waiting to come later). Decided to ask this stand if they were offering any closing specials, and they said no, but offered us a cheaper price.

After some negotiation, we settled on a price we were both happy with (sorry forgot what it was)! We got the lamb, prawn, and chicken skewer.

The chicken skewer was still a bit raw inside, so I didn’t eat it because I didn’t want to risk feeling sick afterwards. The prawn was also slightly raw too =( If they were both cooked fully, it would have been pretty delicious as the seasoning was great!

The last thing I got was a mango shaved ice!

The mangoes tasted really fresh and ripe. Drizzled with condensed milk, it tasted heavenly!

The ice cream tasted very cheap and like ‘cardboard’ to quote my friend. It wasn’t exactly the best quality ice cream, you could definitely taste the lack of quality in it.

As for the shaved ice, it was just crushed ice with no flavour because well… it was just crushed ice LOL. I was expecting something like this, but maybe this is a different style. There was more ice than toppings, so it was hard to combine the ice with the mango/condensed milk/ice cream to make it taste better.

Overall, this dish was definitely not worth the price.

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