Food – Page 80 – Elsie Hui

October 15, 2012October 15, 2012

Sweet Obsession Cakes & Pastries

I love dessert, and while I was in Vancouver, I met up with a good friend that suggested we’d do dessert! Now, why did I not think about a suggestion like that! She recommended that we’d meet up at a place called Sweet Obsession Cakes which by the sound of the name is a place I will be obsessed with – and I am!

This store front is tucked away on a strip plaza and it’s a small but intimate with tons of sweets in the store! I love stores like this, so I was extremely content the moment we stepped foot into this cafe! The display cases were full of cakes even though it was becoming late in the day, and there was still a lot of people in and out of the cafe!

I sat down and ordered my favourite drink, the Chai Tea Latte which was really creamy and flavourful!

I couldn’t decide which piece of cake I wanted, but I finally settled on the Neopolitan Cake which was a chocolate cake with layers of vanilla butter cream and incorporated into the cream was raspberries and raspberry coulis! What a sweet treat, and it reminded a lot of “Black Forest Cake” taken to new heights!

The other piece of cake that I wanted to try was the Roasted Coconut Chiffon Cake, where my friend said she’ll try that piece and give me a bite to sample! It was soo good, and it wasn’t overly sweet – which I really like! You can definitely tell there was coconut flavours in this delicate chiffon cake. In between the layers of the coconut chiffon cake was coconut toffee and coconut butter cream. I wouldn’t mind getting a slice of this myself next time I’m there! I am a huge fan of coconut flavours!

The last piece of cake we ordered for the night was the Dulce de Leche Cake which looks overly sweet, but in reality, it was quite well balanced with the cinnamon flavoured vanilla chiffon layered with dulce de leche and pecans with milk chocolate ganache. The cake did get too sweet when the only thing left was just the ganache and no cake!

Sweet Obsession Cakes & Pastries

2611 W 16th Ave
Vancouver, BC V6K3X5
(604) 739-0555

October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Yummy Yummy 好滋味 – Parker Place

During our stay in British Columbia – well, Richmond really… we stayed at the Radisson 2 blocks from Parker Place which was a Chinese Mall. I love it, since we don’t really have anything like that here in Calgary. One of the days that we were there, we got to break free from all the family events and we found ourselves here… looking for breakfast! We decided on the place with the longest line up, which just happens to be Yummy Yummy in the food court.

They actually move through their line up really quickly – or they tell you to sit down and wait for your order. They were really friendly and speedy! Everyone in the line in front of us was order Chinese HK style Milk Tea so, immediately, we knew we had to as well! It was actually quite a delicious cup of milk tea, one of our favourites during our visit actually!

We were looking for a light-ish breakfast as we knew we wanted a day with tons of food. So, I ordered the Condensed Milk with Toast which has always been one of my favourite breakfasts. I hate ordering it because I always think to myself I can make it at home, cheaper. But, regardless, that’s what I wanted, and that’s what I ordered!

My husband ordered a sandwich too, but his was the Corned Beef with Egg Sandwich which is something he has always loved! I don’t usually make corned beef, since I am not a fan – so I was really happy he ordered it for himself! He ate it in 4 bites, so obviously he was in love!

Then, just for fun, we ordered BBQ Pork Rice Rolls just because another person in front of us was, and there were other tables in the food court who were enjoying this dish as well. We didn’t go wrong, that’s for sure! The rice crepes were steamed fresh, and they had just the perfect amount of BBQ Pork. I loved this dish, and it was just so fulfilling!

Overall, we really liked our food court experience before we headed over to Vancouver for some adventure!

Yummy Yummy

4380 No. 3 Rd
Richmond, BC V6X4E8
(604) 270-8830

October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

BKH Jerky

I watch Dragons Den on TV with my husband, and I love Beef Jerky. When I heard about the Dragons liking BKH Jerky I knew if and when I go west, I would have to give this jerky a try! So, we got our act together one afternoon and made it to BKH Jerky for fresh jerky!

The store was located at:
BKH Jerky
3201 Fraser St
Vancouver, BC

It wasn’t too hard to find, but we did have a GPS with us. The hours they are opened are from Tues-Sun 10-6 and
Monday/Holidays 11-5. They are decent hours and we got there at 3pm on a Monday, and there was no one there. We asked for a bag of Pork jerky and a bag of Beef jerky, and they got it fresh from the back… and then vacuumed sealed the package closed for us! We were excited as there were some that were already pre-packaged!

We didn’t actually have time to eat the Jerky while we were in Vancouver. We brought them home before we enjoyed them. We started with the Pork Jerky which we really liked. The texture was amazing, and there was a hint of smoky taste that we loved. The jerky was really tender, and it was just amazing!

The Beef Jerky, we had high hopes for. At the end of the session, we all felt the pork jerky was just a little bit better. The flavours are so good, and the freshness really makes a huge difference! The store does nothing besides make jerky and I wish they were in action – making the jerky while we were there, but it’s alright! We love this place and next time, I will bring some home to give to people!

October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Yung Ho Soy Drink 永和豆漿

So, we were traveling and we went to Richmond, British Columbia. We stayed at the Radission hotel, which was located at a convenient location. There was a walkway on the 2nd floor over to a food court – and it connects to their T&T. One morning, we decided to have breakfast at this food court – and we settled at Yung Ho Soy Drink.

We were a table of 3, as my father-in-law joined us for this meal – and, he ordered a hot soy drink with Chinese Deep Fried doughnut. He seemed to really enjoy it! The deep fried doughnuts were amazing! They were crispy and light, and it didn’t feel greasy!

I ordered a combo – the Combo 7 which came with a hot soy drink, and original stuffed rice. I love stuffed rice, and these ones were the sticky rice! What a perfect little breakfast, as I love both of these 2 items. The best part of it – the combo was only $4! As funny as it sounds, I actually don’t have a picture of the sticky rice from the inside. I opened it and started eating it… and forgot to stop to take a picture! I guess it tasted great! 😉

My husband ordered Combo 4 which was fun, since we didn’t know what it was. It says it comes with Salty Pastry with Scrambled Onion Eggs and Soy Milk. The salty pastry was pretty much the texture of “Chinese Onion Cake” and Puff pastry mix… and it wrapped some scrambled eggs inside. It tasted really good!

Overall, we loved this place! The people behind the counter was extremely friendly and patient. I don’t speak Mandarin, but they spoke slowly and loudly… and they repeated many times for me. It was definitely an experience and we love it! When we’re back in the area, I’m sure we’ll be back!

Yung Ho Soy Drink 永和豆漿

#2255, 8181 Cambie Road
Richmond, BC V6X3X9
(604) 232-9969

October 3, 2012October 3, 2012

Shady Island Seafood Bar and Grill

So, my first trip to Vancouver – and on the first day right after I got checked into my hotel, I found myself wanting seafood! Calgary doesn’t offer anything great since we’re not near the ocean, and the front desk agent recommended us to Steveston which really wasn’t far away at all! We parked our car and took a walk towards the wharf and saw a restaurant called Shady Island Seafood Bar & Grill. How bad can it be? There was guests in the restaurant constantly at the odd hour we were there… so, we walked in for a try! Right at the door, it advertised Award Winning Seafood Chowder, so I knew I was going to get a bowl of soup!

This wasn’t really a meal and more like a huge sampling snack! So, the first thing we ordered was Mama’s Seafood Chowder which was really delicious actually! It was creamy with quite a few chunks of seafood in the chowder!

Then, we also had some BC Crab Happy Cakes which was a plate of crab cakes with a roasted red pepper aioli and tartar sauce to dip in. The crab cakes weren’t the best I have ever had, nor were they the worst. They were decent, but they were filled with lots of crab meat inside – without too much binding agent.

Our main was the Seafood Melt which was a patty made with baby shrimp & crab with mayo on foccacia – then topped with mozzarella and probably put in the broiler to melt the cheese. It came with a huge bed of fries on the side – which we never finished. Out of the entire meal, and if I had to pick something I didn’t like the most – it would probably be this main. It didn’t taste like there was enough taste to it and it was rather dry.

To our main dish, we shared a side dish, the Lobster Morsels which was lobsters and scallops on a cast iron plate – so it was sizzling! This dish had more of an Asian flair to it as it was seasoned with basically ginger and soy sauce.

My overall experience was decent. The place was a little dark, but it was a gloomy day. The bathrooms were on the upstairs, and it was a tad creepy. The food was quite good, so we left quite satisfied! We definitely can’t get anything like this back home, so we got nothing to complain about!

Shady Island Seafood Bar and Grill

#112 – 3800 Bayview Street
Richmond, BC V7E5W3
(604) 275-6587
Steveston