western Archives - Page 11 of 11

Yolk’s Breakfast Restaurant and Commissary

March 25, 2014

After hearing all the hype about Yolks, I decided it was time to give it a visit. I went with two friends to their restaurant location on Hastings & Clarke. We all enjoyed our experience and left with happy stomachs. Service was also really friendly, and personable.

The place is a bit small, but it’s really cozy and they work with what they have. We noticed that there was fake sriracha (we are avid sriracha lovers!) and that kinda became a laughing stock throughout our visit 🙂
Menu. I thought their menu was unconventionally designed, and it was pretty cool. You start at the top and go down depending on which choices you want for the poached egg sandwiches. Although the original price is decent, it can get pricier as you include the “addons” listed such as goat cheese, or hash browns. There were some items on the menu that we were confused about, and the server happily and patiently answered our questions.
After much contemplation, I settled on ordering their daily special. Tall stack of berry pancakes with a choice of ham, bacon, or bangers for $13.50.

I enjoyed every bite. The pancakes were extremely fluffy and soft, and tasted really buttery and rich. Peeeeerrrrffeeeccttttt. There was also a generous amount of berries inside the pancakes! So. good.

I also really loved the ham, which tasted even better with their dijon mustard.

My friend’s customized breakfast plate! I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I believe he chose the hand carved honey ham, with the two eggs & double everything option, under a bed of truffle lemon hashbrowns, fresh spinach, and dijon.

This again, was SO GOOD. I really enjoyed the hashbrowns- savoury and perfectly cooked.
My friend’s iced Callebaut chocolate milk. Callebaut is a Belgium choclatier The quality of the chocolate was definitely a lot better and fancier than regular chocolate milk. It was rich, indulgent, and smooth.
My other friend’s dish, she got the customized breakfast plate as well. I really enjoyed their hashbrowns, it was flavoured differently than usual breakfast joints and tasted really unique. Delicious! The spinach bed on the bottom was delicious as well.

All in all, we loved our visit to Yolks. Their breakfast dishes were savoury, filling, and fresh while the service was really friendly and attentive.

A&W – Fast food coupons!

March 19, 2014

I’ve had a pretty school-intensive week, so this post is just for fun, short and sweet. Seeing that we didn’t have anything to cook and didn’t want to spend a lot of money, we saw forgotten coupons hidden under a few clothes and decided to go there.

I was so excited for the 30 minutes we were at home waiting for my laundry to finish so that we could go! I love this location because they give you these awesome frozen mugs for your root beer and cool metal fry baskets.

a&w root beer! SO GOOD, especially in these frozen glass mugs. The foam on the top actually turned to ice because of the mug.
Our two teen burgers, root beers, and fries.
YUMMMM. A&W claims to have 100% natural beef, free of preservatives, hormones, and ll of that unpleasant stuff. The onions and pickles in here were also so fresh and crunchy. Definitely an amazing burger for a fast food joint! I didn’t feel stuffed or gross afterwards like I usually do after having fast food, so I guess their ingredients are pretty good for fast food.

Also, I thought this wall was really cute 🙂

-Carmen

East Cafe

March 16, 2014

East Cafe has this certain charm to it. Maybe it’s the atmosphere, or the genuine service, or their vintage Vancouver decor and photographs. I came here with two friends recently and we had a wonderful time.
I love the vintage bicycles on their walls. They also have pictures of Vancouver from the past, which I really love..

It also gives East Cafe a really local feel to it which I love. There were a lot of pictures from hockey teams in the 1900s, different bands, as well as what different neighbourhoods looked like.

Vegetarian panini on grilled foccacia with roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, roma tomatoes, Swiss cheese, spinach, and pesto mayo. All paninis are served with a hot pepper and Lays chips.
Prosciutto panini with boccincini cheese, roma tomatoes, red onions, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and pesto mayo. The prosciutto and pesto was amazing!
Montreal smoked meat panini with Swiss cheese, mustard, and caramelized onions. Again, this was so good! The melted Swiss cheese was so delicious and dreamy.
Almond croissant with filling. So good! Light, fluffy, and crispy!
Nutella cookie. It tasted like homemade cookies, which is good and bad. Good because it’s delicious and gives you a comfy feeling, but bad because you can easily just bake this at home for a cheaper price.

This was my second time, and I didn’t order espresso this time. I ordered a wildberry tea, which I asked for iced and they gladly accommodated my requests. I have had the espresso here before though, I would say that it’s quality espresso and has a sweet and fresh finish to it. You can really taste the quality in it.

All in all, although East Cafe is relatively new, it has made it’s mark in Vancouver’s coffee culture. East Cafe exhibits an authentic and local character, while still staying cute and charming. Of course, their food and drink is absolutely delicious as well.

Tuc Craft Kitchen

March 9, 2014

Hi everyone!

Nestled in the trendy neighbourhood of Gastown, Tuc Craft Kitchen fits in perfectly with its vintage, but modern-type ambiance. Tuc features high ceilings and big windows, which makes it seem roomier and there are wooden board accents on the wall too.

My friends wanted to try this place after hearing good reviews, so we decided to go one afternoon. We all had a lovely experience here, from the accommodating and friendly staff to the delicious dishes they had to offer.
Picture taken from (http://www.vanbrosia.com/2013/08/tuc-craft-kitchen.html). Here is the exterior of the restaurant, pretty simplistic and minimal design but enough to be noticed!
Some of us got there 15 minutes before they opened for lunch, but the owner was nice enough to let us in so we didn’t have to wait outside. I really like the wooden interior and design of the restaurant, and think the white chairs make a good accent as well.
I finally settled on ordering the Tuc pot pie ($11), which consisted of Fraser Valley free run chicken, nugget potatoes, sweet peas, and carrots in a white wine/thyme creme sauce. I liked that there was a generous amount of quality chicken inside.

The top itself was really soft and flaky, which I ended up cutting into separate sections and dipping it in the sauce and chicken. It was very creamy, warm, and comforting. The salad was pretty decent too, it came with a lot of spinach which I loved and there was a sweet taste to it!
This was the chicken dip sandwich with parsnip fries ($12). I didn’t try this, but my friend said it tasted pretty good and thought it was unconventionally delicious with the dip.

The parsnip fries were definitely new to me, but I enjoyed them. More on those later…
Here is where Tuc’s service really shines through! My friend couldn’t eat meat that day due to religious reasons, and asked the server what vegetarian options were available. She told us that there weren’t many vegetarian options but that they would be happy to make a dish for her off the menu. They ended up making a customized vegetarian pasta that my friend enjoyed very much.
This was the beef brisket and pork crackling sandwich that came with a side of smashed potato fries ($13). Even though I only had a bite, I fell in love with this sandwich! The beef brisket was very tender and the pork was very crispy. When you took a bite, it would be soft but there were bits of crispy pork pieces in it too. It came on sourdough bread, with dijon mustard and pickles. So. good.
Next up was the mini shepard’s pie and soup ($9) (I believe the server told us the soup of the day was tomato and basil). My friend enjoyed her dish and I liked the presentation of it, so cute!
To share, we decided to get parsnip fries and smashed potato fries ($8~ for both), even though two of the dishes we ordered came with them already. What really made these fries stand out for me was the dipping sauce. They said it was their homemade ketchup but I have never tasted such delicious ketchup before! It was made with coriander, which made it a bit smoky and spicy but it had a hint of sweetness to it. I would order their fries again just for the ketchup.

I thought their lunch menu was really delicious and crafted with great quality. Their service was also very accommodating, fast, and friendly not to mention the beautiful decor.

Thanks for reading!
-Carmen

The Keg Steakhouse & Bar – Burnaby location

February 13, 2014

Hi readers!

Going to The Keg is a pleasure and treat for my family and I. It’s a treat that we all enjoy, and we usually have a great experience seeing that all three of us are steak lovers. This time, I surprised the boyfriend and he joined our family as well (he had no idea where we were going until we arrived at the parking lot! my surprise was a success!)

It was also his first time ever at The Keg, which was pretty surprising for me, but I’m glad he finally tried it and was able to share that experience with my family. My parents and I noticed that the dishes this time around were not as great as they were before, it seemed as if The Keg had cut down on their quality and quantity of food. That said, it wasn’t bad, just not as good as we had before.

The location we went to was in Burnaby, right beside the Costco. They have an ample parking lot, and also lots of street parking. We had a reservation at 7:30 and arrived on time, but we had to wait around 15 minutes to actually get seated.

We were seated at a booth at the far end corner of the restaurant. It was a good seat as it was quieter in that area than the rest of the restaurant. Our server was prompt to greet us. Right off the bat, he informed us that they were running low on prime rib that night, and to tell him if we were planning to order that so he could reserve it for us. After about 10 minutes, he returned and told us that he reserved some for us and took our order. Here’s our dinner!
This was the complimentary sourdough bread that came with our order. We were disappointed because last time we came here, there was a variety of bread in a bigger basket. The Keg really cut down on their bread, which is a disappointment.I really liked the quality of their strawberry margarita. I thought it was blended perfectly, and the strawberries tasted really fresh. I enjoyed the texture and the taste of this drink a lot. It was a pretty big glass too!
Granville Island Winter Ale.
Mom’s 12oz prime rib medium rare with twice baked potato & onion rings. It was too big of a portion for her, she regretted ordering a 12oz because she felt too full. Ended up packing the twice baked potato. She thoroughly enjoyed her prime rib though. It was very tender and soft.
Dad’s 12 oz prime rib with stir fried vegetables, medium well. I don’t think he enjoyed this as much as before. Said it wasn’t juicy enough and felt dry. I think he was a bit disappointed, he would have probably liked it done medium or medium rare instead!

The boyfriend’s New York Striploin with Keg Fries. His striploin was noticeably more juicier than our prime ribs. You can tell by the second picture how juicy it was! It wasn’t as tender as our prime rib, making it have a tight texture and a bit of chew, but that’s to be expected since it’s a striploin.

He thoroughly enjoyed his dish, except for the fries. The fries were extremely, extremely, salty to the point where I could’t even handle it. It was coated with so much salt that we couldn’t eat it! That was a bit disappointing but overall, the NY striploin itself was great!

My 10 oz prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes. I thought this was pretty delicious. The meat was really tender which is a sign of great preparation and cooking. It was seasoned perfectly as well!

I remember last time we came here, the prime rib came with four different sauces so I was disappointed it only came with two this time. Overall, it was good and I liked that it was soft and tender. The garlic mashed potatoes were done perfectly and delicious!
For dessert, we ordered the mini fudge brownie with a side of vanilla ice cream. I can’t even begin to tell you how delicious this was! For starters, we were really surprised when this came because it looked pretty big. We thought the server accidentally brought us the full size.

The chocolate brownie was delicious. On the top was melted dark chocolate, and the brownie itself was really warm and decadent. What made the vanilla ice cream stand out was the caramel on the top. It brought out all the flavours of the dessert perfectly, and balanced the taste of the brownie. Details like this is what I really appreciate and look for when I write my food reviews. We mixed each bite with the brownie and ice cream, and it was like heaven on earth. It was really the cherry on top of a great meal.

-Carmen