food & drink Archives - Page 23 of 115

Chun Fun How – Two Visits

September 14, 2020

Chun Fun How is yet another Taiwanese bubble tea chain that has reached Vancouver. I am seriously losing track of all the new bubble tea places opening up! This place caught my eye though because of their beautiful, floral cup designs. This post is a combination of 2 visits.

I finally got the chance to try this place when we stopped by Bin 4 Burger Lounge to pickup takeout for a date night picnic. I suggested that we stop by here since it was only a 5 minute drive from Bin 4.

Walking in, I saw the pretty Instagram corner with a beautiful, floral backdrop and a lush chair. They also had a row of tables but those were closed off due to the pandemic.

I was happy to see that they had many options on their menu.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of their pretty cups. Seriously, major kudos to whoever designed these! They even have a special Vancouver edition cup as you will see with my order.

Sugarcane jade tea: This was not something that the fiance typically orders, but it ended up being a very great choice because it was absolutely delicious. This drink was also on their top 5 menu. Reviews online warned that their drinks came very sweet, so he ordered this half sweet and it was perfect. I would also agree with reviewers that their half sweet is like regular sweetness.

The jade tea flavour was strong and fragrant. The sugarcane gave it a smooth, well rounded sweetness. There was a lot of depth in the drink, from the jade tea to sugarcane.

I normally stay away from caffeine because my body is very sensitive to it, but I couldn’t stay away this time and had more than a few sips.

Wintermelon tea with pearls: I went with my usual, wintermelon tea. The wintermelon tea was great too, no complaints about it. Unfortunately like most places, they don’t allow you to adjust the sweetness here but I enjoyed it anyways.

The pearls tasted fresh and were delightfully chewy and sweet.

Wintermelon lemonade: I came back a second time with Maki, because she wanted to try this place as well! Since I ordered a wintermelon tea last visit, I thought I’d try the wintermelon lemonade.

Wintermelon tea has a light flavour and is easy to be overpowered if mixed with other teas or juices. Such was the case, this mostly tasted like lemonade so I wouldn’t get it again.

Herbal grass tea: Maki ordered this at 80% sweet. Although it is a herbal tea, there is still caffeine in it. She noted that the drink was extremely herbal with a slight bitterness to it. It would be a good drink to have if you are feeling “yeet hay” aka inflamed. She thought that most people would enjoy the drink at 100% sweet instead.

The drink also came with herbal jelly, which was not mentioned in the menu but a nice surprise! The herbal jelly was also very herbal tasting and you could taste the quality in it. Health in a cup.

Wintermelon oolong tea: Can we take a moment to appreciate this dinosaur cup? It’s so awesome. Anyways, Nigiri ordered a wintermelon oolong tea, which sounded good. However, he found it to be just alright.

Overall, we were impressed with Chun Fun How and would definitely come back. Their beautifully designed floral cups are not just a gimmick, their drinks were actually good quality and we would come back regardless if they had floral cups or not.

De Dutch – Oak Street Location

September 11, 2020

I wrote a post earlier this year on the De Dutch location in Olympic Village when we visited for my birthday. If you sign up as a De Dutch member (for free), they email you a voucher for a pannekoek during your birthday month. Unfortunately, the fiance had his birthday during the beginning of the pandemic so some restaurants were closed, including De Dutch.

They finally opened up a few select locations in June and emailed the fiance a late birthday voucher. This gave us the chance to try the Oak Street location because we likely would have just gone back to the Olympic Village location (which would have been a better choice as you’ll soon find out).

The Oak Street location is pretty inconspicuous, like most of their locations. It was clean inside and half the tables were closed for social distancing. I can’t remember if they did contact tracing or not… This is why you don’t wait 4 weeks later to write the review. Oops!

I was wanting to try De Dutch’s chicken strips, but was sad to hear that this location doesn’t have a deep fryer! That knocked off some points for this location already.

Sausage hash n eggs: The fiance picked this for us to share. It was your usual breakfast plate with toast, eggs, hash, and sausage. Personally, I don’t like going for brunch because I find you can easily cook the same thing at home! Such was the case for this dish, so I found it average.

As mentioned above, this location doesn’t have a deep fryer. The hash here was not as good because they were pan fried instead of being crispy. We were expecting crispy hash so it was a bit disappointing.

Here is another photo showing the delicious melted cheese. The dish was alright, but it is easy enough to cook at home so I would recommend getting something else instead.

Pannekoek: For the fiance’s birthday voucher, we redeemed the strawberry Nutella pannekoek again – a happy balance with two of our favourites things. The pannekoek was good, with the texture in between a pancake and crepe.

If you do come to DeDutch, I would recommend the pannekoek as that is their specialty item. It’s good and there are so many flavours or DIY combinations to pick from. You could get better brunch food elsewhere.

All in all, our visit to this location was pretty meh and we wouldn’t come back. I would recommend the Olympic Village location instead since they have a deep fryer, so their potatoes are crispier. There was not much left to be desired here but we did leave full.

Emilio Finatti Pizzeria

September 7, 2020

Emilio Finatti Pizzeria in White Rock came highly recommend by some old co-workers, Latte, and online reviews. Latte and I had plans to get takeout for a picnic, but the weather was cloudy so we went to Pho Sunrise and Mink Chocolate Cafe instead. We tried to come again a month later (with the fiance as well because it sounded delicious to him too) and it was a success!

Emilio Finatti Pizzeria is located in White Rock, a few minutes drive from the beach (but it would be a hard walk due to the steep hills!). The restaurant itself is very small and a bit hole in the wall inside.

Mr Chu Tea and Coffee is across the street too, so you could also get some bubble tea while you’re here. Review coming soon!

They usually have a couple small tables but due to the pandemic, no customers were allowed in. There were a couple tables outside but you’d be better off enjoying the pizza at the beach instead.

While writing this review, I wasn’t too sure what Silician pizza was. After looking it up, I learned that Silician pizza is usually thick crusted and prepared in a rectangular fashion. However, Emilio’s advertises themselves as thin crust. Not that I’m complaining though, everything was delicious as you’ll soon find out!

Roma pizza: The 3 of us shared 3 small pizzas, which proved later to be too much but leftover pizza in the air fryer is delicious! The Roma pizza came with marinara, cheese, genoa salami, red onion, green bell pepper, roasted red bell pepper finished with parmesan.

It was love at first bite! All of the ingredients in the pizza were extremely fresh and great quality. The perfect thin crust pizza. They were quite generous with the toppings too.

Mama mia: The second pizza we ordered was the mamma mia. This pizza came with marinara, cheese, meatballs, green olive, green bell pepper, hot banana peppers, finished with cheddar cheese, parmesan and herbs, Italian parsley.

This pizza was delicious as well! The thin crust was perfect too and the ingredients on top were very fresh. I haven’t seen a pizza with a whole banana pepper before. My only complaint for the Mamma Mia was the olives, because I’m not a fan of olives.

The meatballs on top of the pizza were seasoned well and tender too. You could really taste the quality of the meatballs!

Pepperoni primo: Last but not least, the pepperoni primo! The pepperoni primo came with marinara, cheese, ham, pepperoni, genoa salami, mushroom, artichoke, finished with roma tomato, parmesan, greek pepper garnish.

This was my favourite of the day! The pizza was full of such fresh ingredients and was so good. There were so many toppings on top. I really liked the fresh sliced tomato that was added after. The parmesan dusting rounded out the pizza and elevated the deliciousness even more.

We all really enjoyed Emilio Finatti. The quality of the pizza and the toppings were top notch. A lot of reviews mentioned that the prices are a bit higher than usual, but it’s no mystery why when you taste the quality ingredients and freshness. I would love to come back here during my next trip to White Rock.

Bin 4 Burger

September 3, 2020

Bin 4 Burger has been on my list of to try for awhile now! I’ve heard great things about it, particularly the half price deal after 9 pm (this is currently not being offered during the pandemic). I keep forgetting to try this place though, but we finally ordered some take out for a nice summer picnic one evening.

Bin 4 is located in South Granville. There are many popular restaurants in this area – The Rise, Kyo, Heirloom (which I personally didn’t enjoy but alas), just to name a few.

We drove about 25 minutes until we reached the park, so I was wondering if our burgers would be soggy and gross. Fortunately, they held up pretty well (minus the fries which were not good by the time we were eating!).

Bin 9 “Big Spenny”: The fiance’s burger came with Brant Lake Wagyu, aged orange cheddar, smoked bacon, pickles, Bin 4 burger sauce, shredded butter lettuce, and tomato. It was heaven at first bite for him! He marvelled at how delicious the burger was.

The burger was really big and filling! The party was juicy and cooked perfectly. It was the perfect burger with no complaints at all.

Fries: These were your average fries but since we ordered takeout, they were a bit soggy by the time we ate it. We tried to prevent this from airing out the box during the drive, but it was sitting at the restaurant for a bit already so that didn’t help. I would recommend getting the spiced chips instead as you’ll soon read from my order below.

Deep fried pickles: The fiance loves his deep fried pickles, but unfortunately these were disappointing. He wasn’t a big fan of the seasoning that they used, and said it didn’t go well with the pickles.

Bin 11 – “Wild Mushroom”: My burger came with 63 Acres Premium BC Beef, wild mushrooms, garlic, cream, truffle oil, parmigiano, truffle aioli, baby arugula, tomato. I was sold right away with the truffle oil, mushrooms, and arugula. It was a combination that sounded amazing and I didn’t even look at the rest of the burger menu after reading that one!

This burger was absolutely amazing, one of the best burgers I’ve had in awhile. The patty was so juicy and the truffle oil was aromatic and so delicious. The sauteed mushrooms, fresh argula, and cream, and other toppings just elevated the burger even more. Every bite was a flavour explosion! This is a must get if you like truffle oil and mushrooms.

For the sides, I selected the spiced chips and it was an excellent choice. They were like thick cut potato chips with some sort of spices/herbs mixed in. Since they were just chips, it held better than fries if you’re getting takeout. Between the fries and spiced chips, I’d recommend the spiced chips since they are more unique and the fries are nothing special.

All in all, Bin 4 was absolutely amazing and I have no doubt we will be back. They really know their burgers here and I would assume the rest of their burgers are amazing too. If you’re craving a solid burger, Bin 4 won’t disappoint!

Basil Garden – Multiple Revisits

August 30, 2020

Ever since we discovered Basil Garden almost 3 years ago, we have never looked back. In fact, I think it is probably our most visited restaurant due to how close and delicious it is! Since I only wrote about the first visit 2.5 years ago and we come here at least once a month, I figured that warranted a re-visit post on this spectacular hidden gem.

Most people come to this small plaza for Mr. Sub or Riz Sushi, which has surged in Instagram popularity in the past year it seems. I’ve never gone though because why go next door when Basil Garden is so great? =P

Well actually, we did visit Vallarta Mexican Restaurant a couple of times on the other side of Basil Garden so I guess my argument is not valid hehe. Anyways, this small but mighty strip mall is full of good food, it seems.

One thing I really like about Basil Garden is how clean it always is. Coming here when they opened again after the pandemic wasn’t a big deal because I knew they always had clean handling protocol.

The chopsticks always come wrapped in your napkin, tables are always spotless, the sauce bottle tips are always cleaned, etc.

Pork bone soup: I normally get a pho, but was feeling like something different since I had pho here with my bridesmaids just a couple of days prior. The pork bone soup was delicious, with well rounded flavour and depth. It also came with a fried chip with shrimp inside which was tasty. I would recommend eating that first or it would get soggy in the soup.

I had a choice of egg noodles or vermicelli, and picked egg noodles. They were cooked firmly and reminded me of thin ramen noodles. There were also some fish cakes with dill, and some pieces of pork. Overall, it wasn’t a bad choice and I’d get it again if I wasn’t feeling like a beef broth.

Vermicelli bowl: The fiance picked the pork patty, spring roll, and grilled pork vermicelli. He usually gets this bowl so it wasn’t a surprise or anything new.

The pork patty was grilled nicely. Meanwhile, the grilled pork was fragrant and tasty. The spring roll was fresh, crispy and served piping hot. The only complaint was that they didn’t include crushed peanuts this time.

Also, it’s a bit weird that their vermicelli bowls only include pork (the only alternative is a vegetarian one). I wanted one the other day but they were all variations of grilled pork, pork patty, shredded pork, etc with no beef or chicken options.

Pho: I’ll add in my usual order of pho here in this review too. The soup was delicious and there was a generous portion of rare beef and tripe too. I like how they always crack some fresh pepper on top as a nice touch.

Lemongrass chicken on rice: On another visit, I ordered a lemongrass chicken. They deep fry the chicken here instead of grilling, which I find gave the chicken less of the lemongrass flavour. I’d prefer my lemongrass chicken to be grilled.

In addition, although the chicken was juicy and crispy, I found it too oily for my liking. The batter was also very salty and took away from the lemongrass chicken taste.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good dish. It’s just not how lemongrass chicken is usually served. A more accurate name would be “deep fried chicken on rice”!

Bun bo hue: I didn’t actually realize they had bun bo hue on their menu until recently. The bun bo hue packed a lot of spice, but it didn’t have that much lemongrass taste so I didn’t find the flavour of the broth to be well rounded. With that said, I’d still order it again if I wanted a spicy soup.

Satay peanut soup: Cola ordered this and liked it, so the fiance decided to order it on a subsequent visit. The satay peanut soup had a mild spiciness to it, and was rich and flavourful. It would be a great alternative if you’re not feeling like the usual pho!

Overall, Basil Garden has been consistently delicious and our go-to Vietnamese restaurant for almost 3 years now! We are huge fans of this place. It doesn’t get much attention but I would recommend giving it a try.