Archive for January, 2008
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
One of Jenkins and my favourite places to go for Vietnamese subs is Ba Le right at the corner of Kingsway and Fraser. We found out about this place a few years ago and it is a great place to go for cheap and delicious Vietnamese-style subs. If you go between 12-1pm, it is usually packed with people waiting for their sub orders.
Ba Le’s main item are their subs but they also have other Vietnamese foods, such as desserts, sticky rice, and ham. Right above the front counter though is the sub menu. The subs all range between $2.50 to $3…pretty reasonable!
I had the “special” sub, which is $3 and has a combination of two types of cold cuts, along with the regular hot peppers, parsley, and pickled veggie mix. I like this sub because the cold cuts are fairly light and the bread is very crispy. Occasionally, it is loaded with too many hot peppers so I have to pick some out. 
Jenkins always orders the chicken sub, which is also $3. It has the same mix of peppers, parsley, and pickled veggies and the chicken is lightly tossed with mayo. I think this is also quite tasty, although the mayo does make the bread a little soggier than the “special” sub…although the bread is still pretty crispy overall.
Depending on how hungry we are, we usually eat between 1-2 subs per person. There isn’t really a place to eat our subs at Ba Le so we usually take it home to Jenkins’ house and eat it there. At $3 max per sub, this is definitely a place for good cheap eats. Jenkins does note that he thinks the sandwiches have some amount of MSG in them because he is often thirsty afterwards.
Details:
21-701 Kingsway, Vancouver
Tel: 604-875-6322
Summary:
Food: 
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Vietnamese, Asian, Reviews | 3 Comments »
Monday, January 28th, 2008
Right after our tasting at Sweet Obsessions, Jenkins and I headed over to the main Anna’s Cake House location, which is located at E. Broadway and Fraser. Anna’s is one of the more well-known Asian bakeries in the Lower Mainland and has a large selection of Asian buns and pastries. What I didn’t know prior to my wedding cake research, was that Anna’s makes about 300 wedding cakes each season…which is a pretty phenomenal amount when you think about it.
Jenkins and I met with Ron, the main wedding coordinator for Anna’s. He recommended that for a wedding of our size, we would be best off with a sheet cake in the flavour(s) that we wanted. We could then rent a fake cake from Anna’s and decorate it with flowers and other things. Delivery, cake stands, and everything else were added on a per cost basis.
Then it was time to taste the cakes. Ron had prepared a plate of five of their more popular wedding cake options. Anna’s cakes are all prepared fresh on the day of the wedding, so their cakes have a very light taste and they also use fresh cream instead of fondant or ganache. He suggested that we start with the lighter flavours and then move on to the richer and more chocolatey flavours.
We started with the traditional fresh fruit cake flavour. Growing up, both Jenkins and I had eaten this type of cake countless times at birthdays and many other special events. We were looking for something a bit more original. They also had a version of this cake but with a crispy cookie layer. Actually, the cookie layer was originally crispy but by the time we ate it, it was a bit soggy. We weren’t sure if the cookie would be able to stay crispy by the time we ate it at the reception so we passed on this flavour as well.
Next, we had a mango and coconut mousse cake. I liked the tropical taste of this cake and the mousse had a very light consistency. Next was the tiramisu cake…Asian style. This was more of a coffee mousse cake with coffee sponge cake in my opinion but was actually quite good. The coffee taste was quite strong and this was a bit heavier than the fruit cakes. Lastly, we tried the chocolate mousse cake. You could really taste the chocolate, but it was still very light and the cake was very moist.
My favourite cakes tasted here would be the mango and coconut mousse cake and the coffee cake. The cakes here were all very light and the whipped cream was a nice change from the ganache, frosting, and fondant that we had tried at some of the other bakeries. Having grown up eating almost all these cakes, they certainly brought back memories of birthdays and celebrations past. Ron was very helpful in explaining the cake process to us and Jenkins likened him to a scientist. The pricing here is also very reasonable, probably due to their almost factory-like efficiency.
Details:
606 E. Broadway, Vancouver
Tel: 604-876-6532
Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Cake, Wedding, Dessert, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Sunday, January 27th, 2008
Jenkins and I continued our search for the perfect cake by visiting Sweet Obsessions bakery in the Arbutus area. I’ve had desserts from Sweet Obsessions a few times now and have always enjoyed them. We booked our consultation a couple of weeks in advance, and I, for one, had been looking forward to this since I booked it.
We started with a couple of cakes that we picked from the array of yummy cakes under the glass counter. I wanted to try the Dulce de Leche cake and Jenkins chose the Chocolate Hazelnut Zucotto. Yum!
Starting with the Dulce de Leche, this was cinnamon chiffon cake with dulce de leche, pecans, and milk chocolate ganache. Dulce de Leche is a sweet caramel-like sauce/syrup that likely originated in South America. I was a bit iffy on how this cake looked, but I must say that it tasted much better than it appeared! The dulce de leche was sweet but the pecans countered it nicely and it was not too rich. My only gripe was that the chiffon cake was a bit dry.
Jenkins’ pick was the chocolate dome zucotto. We were told that if we decided on this for our wedding cake, it would be made in a sheet cake format so that it would be easier to decorate and serve. :) I really liked this cake because it was chocolaty without being too sweet. I also liked the mixture of hazelnuts right in the middle. On the other hand, Jenkins was a bit disappointed with this cake even though he is a big hazelnut fan.
We met with the owner, who told us that our two choices above were a bit unconventional for wedding cakes. We were a bit tight on time so he packed us a couple of more cakes to try out at home. He noted that these two selections were their more popular wedding cake choices.
We ended eating these take-home cakes with our lunch. :) First was the Chocolate Ganache cake. The ganache was very chocolatey and rich but I found this cake to be a bit plain. I think I want my wedding cake to have a bit more pizazz.
The white chocolate raspberry cake is also another popular cake choice at Sweet Obsessions. I actually found the white chocolate ganache on the outside to be too sweet for me, although the raspberry did add some tartness. I guess this cake is popular because it is white like a traditional wedding cake…but probably not the cake for me.
Although the consultation at Sweet Obsessions was not bad, I was a bit disappointed. I have always had excellent cakes and desserts here so I suppose my expectations were a bit high. Our consultation also started late because the person we were supposed to meet with was not there…and even though they served us some tea while we were waiting, we still had to pay for it! :( The cakes that we tried were not bad, but I think Jenkins and I were looking for something a bit different for our cake. The search continues…
Details:
2611 W. 16th Ave, Vancouver
Tel: 604-739-0555
Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $$
Posted in Cake, Wedding, Dessert, Reviews | 3 Comments »
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
It was my grandpa’s birthday the other day and we all congregated for dinner at Four Seasons Hot Pot in Aberdeen Centre. My uncle ordered a set menu for us so we had the traditional 10-course Chinese feast. I didn’t think to take out my camera until the end so I was unable to take any pictures. What I did like about this place though was that they had different variations on traditional pictures. For example, the lobster and crab came on a bed of steamed sticky rice. The rice made this dish very filling and tasty.
The thing I wanted to note was their take on the Chinese birthday buns, which are steamed and filled with lotus paste inside. Normally, these pink and white buns are molded into a peach shape. At Four Seasons Hot Pot, they were molded into the shape of a bunny or cat (depending on your perspective ).
They came in a steamer basket like so:
Each individual bun was SUPER cute. I actually thought these buns tasted better than the regular ones because they were freshly steamed and the lotus paste was very light.
One thing I found out after this meal was that the restaurant puts massive amounts of MSG in almost all their dishes. I like to think I have a pretty high tolerance for MSG but I felt like I had MSG overload afterwards…with a dry throat, constant thirstiness, and my stomach also felt queasy. The food here was excellent but I’m not sure how well the MSG agrees with my system so I feel obligated to mark the food rating down a bit.
Details:
3600-4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond
Tel: 604-304-3331
Summary:
Food: (I would have given this a 4-star rating if not for the MSG)
Service:
Price: n/a (I’m not sure because I didn’t pay)
Posted in Asian, Chinese, Reviews | 4 Comments »
Monday, January 21st, 2008
Derek has been urging me to go visit King Yo, a new izakaya restaurant that has popped up on Denman St. According to him, it was recently rated as one of the top Canadian restaurants for 2007 in a food magazine. To tell you the truth, I rarely venture to Denman St because it’s always hard to find parking and all the good restaurants there normally require you to either make reservations or get there early. Jenkins and I just so happened to get off work early that day so decided to visit King Yo around 6pm.
King Yo is a pretty funky space inside and even though we were there early, it was already packed. We started off with a pot of Sencha green tea.
As with most izakayas, there was a regular menu and also a sheet of daily specials. We decided to start first with the ebi chilli mayo. There was not too much batter on this although the mayo did not have much chilli flavouring.
We also had the ahi tuna capaccio. The tuna was drizzled with a tangy marinade and a little bit of wasabi mayo. There was also a generous clump of thinly shaved fresh onions on top. The sharp onion taste went very well with the pieces of tuna.
Our server recommended that we try the cheese fondue with shrimp and bread chunks. The cheese fondue was a bit tangy and sweet at the same time. It was not too cheesy (which I like) and also had a strong tomato taste. I mentioned to Jenkins that it kind of tasted like warm antipasto dip. :) There were a few pieces of deep fried shrimp and chunks of bread to dip in the fondue, although I didn’t think there was enough to dip with. This dish was around $12.
Jenkins and I noticed by now that most of the dishes at King Yo are quite small, even when compared to other izakayas. We decided to order some noodle dishes for filler. First came the tan tan noodles. In King Yo’s menu, this is listed as “Our Famous Invincible and Undefeated Tan Tan Noodles”. With a proclamation like that, we had to try it! :) These noodles tasted nothing like regular Chinese tan tan noodles but were still very tasty. It had a light sesame and miso taste but also had some seaweed and ground pork on top. These noodles were $8.50.
We also had a cold ramen salad with some thinly sliced egg and pork on top. This salad was quite refreshing and also had some tang from some pickled ginger. I wasn’t sure if the flavours would go together but this was actually pretty good.
For dessert, Jenkins and I shared the matcha creme brulee. It had a very strong matcha taste, which I liked but the sugary topping was not thick enough and the texture was not very creamy. This was around $4.
I found the dishes at King Yo to be a bit hit and miss. The good dishes (tan tan noodles, cheese fondue, tuna avocado) were quite tasty but with its prices being higher than most izakayas and the portion sizes much smaller, you would expect that all their dishes would be hits. I’m not opposed to going back again although I will probably try some other izakaya places first.
Details:
871 Denman St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-608-1677
Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $$
Posted in Japanese, Asian, Reviews | 4 Comments »
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