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Chase Tea in Kerrisdale: Cheese Tea, Fruit Tea, Brown Sugar Pearl Milk

May 20, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

Newly opened in Kerrisdale is the second location of Chase Tea (formerly Le Tea). The local tea shop originated in Richmond at Continental Centre. I was invited to try for a media tasting of a few of their drinks. Here’s a look at my experience.

Chase Tea in Kerrisdale: Cheese Tea, Fruit Tea, Brown Sugar Pearl Milk

Interior

Chase Tea Kerrisdale’s interior is simple and modern with a few dining tables and a counter by the window.

Chase Tea Menu

Chase Tea’s menu features Freshly Brewly Cheese Tea, Calpis Tea, Fruit Tea, Uji Matcha Tea, Latte, Brown Sugar Pearl Milk, Milk Tea and Ice Drip Tea. The drinks are around $5 – $6. Click here to see a larger photo of the menu.

What I Tried

Chase Tea offers salty or sweet cheese layers with their drinks. The cheese tops are mousse layers made with cream cheese and heavy cream. They are meant to add more texture and flavour as the tea passes through the layers.

I had the brown sugar pearl milk with a salty cheese layer. The cheese layer made the drink more creamy, smooth and a little more interesting than the classic brown sugar pearl milk. Pearls were nicely soft and chewy..

I also enjoyed one of their most popular drinks, Peach Oolong with a salty cheese layer. The tea flavour was very refreshing and I liked the sweet and saltiness of the drink.

The drink also had a neat leaf design on top.

I’d be interested in returning to Chase Tea in the future to try more of the drinks especially their cheese teas.

Chase Tea
2065 West 41st Ave, Vancouver, BC
1161-3778 Sexsmith Rd, Richmond, BC
www.instagram.com/chaseteacafe

Where to Get Brown Sugar Pearl Milk in Metro Vancouver | 溫哥華黑糖珍珠鮮奶

Le Cassis Pâtisserie & Cooking School [Review]

April 17, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

I love my French pastries and desserts, so I had to check out the newly opened Le Cassis Pâtisserie in Downtown Vancouver. Le Cassis opened just two weeks ago at 910 Beatty St and is part-bakery cafe as well as a cooking school.

Le Cassis Pâtisserie & Cooking School Vancouver Beatty Review

According to their website, Le Cassis is chef-owned and operated by Chef Hoda Shoghi who trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.

Le Cassis Interior

The interior of Le Cassis certainly coasts a touch of Paris with pastel colours, colorful armchairs, an overhanging chandelier and a banquette at the back the shop.

The space along the window showcased many of their macaron towers with delicate, beautiful and intricately designed macarons.

Le Cassis Menu

On the menu at Le Cassis are French pastries, freshly baked baguettes, viennoiseries, croissants, danishes, macarons and so forth. They also offer espresso-based drinks and teas to accompany your treat. The coffee they coffee is from Mogiana Coffee.

In terms of pricing, I did find their pastries a bit on the expensive side for the size but perhaps fair for being in the Downtown core. For example, their regular croissant is $3.95 (versus ~$3.25 elsewhere), Pain Au Chocolate is $5.00 (versus ~$4.00) and Almond Croissant is $5.00 (versus ~$4.00). The desserts are priced at $6.50.

Around the shop, you’ll also notice that they sell a variety of confections like nuts, candies, and madeleines.

What I Tried

I picked up a few items to go including a regular croissant ($3.95), Lemon Meringue Tart ($6.50), Matcha Opera Cake ($6.50), Cassis Cheese Cake with BlackCurrants ($6.50) and two macarons ($3.25 each).

The Cassis Cheese Cake is apparently their signature dessert with a blackcurrant shell, cheesecake on the inside and a blackcurrant filling. I found it to be not to sweet, very moist, and had very nice fruity notes.

Le Cassis makes these charming Hello Kitty and Chicken macarons. They had a nice, thin egg-shell like crust and a smooth, light but not sticky filling.

The regular croissant was a little denser and not as light and fluffy as I would like but still OK. I personally would still drive to L’Atelier Patisserie on Main and East 5th for their croissants.

The Matcha Opera Cake was pretty good with alternating layers of chocolate, buttercream, matcha and almond sponge. I did find a bit on the sweeter side and would have liked to have more of a stronger, bitter matcha taste to balance it a bit more.

The Lemon Meringue Tart was quite good as well and had a nice buttery crust and zesty lemon filling.

Overall Impression of Le Cassis

In terms of selection, pricing and quality, I don’t think Le Cassis would be go-to place for croissants or vienoiserries. However, their desserts and macarons are quite good and I’d be interested trying more of them. Rating: 3.5/5

Le Cassis Pâtisserie & Cooking School
910 Beatty St, Vancouver, BC
www.lecassis.com

Eclettico Art & Coffee: Fraserhood Italian Coffee Shop

April 5, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

Newly opened in Fraserhood is Eclettico Art & Coffee – an Italian coffee shop where coffee is taken just as seriously as art. “Eclettico” means “eclectic” in Italian and this unique coffee shop serves North Italian-style espresso drinks in a cozy art deco space with a touch of steampunk. I was invited to a media tasting. Here’s a look at what you can expect.

Eclettico Art & Coffee: Fraserhood Italian Coffee Shop

Disclosure: All food and drinks in this post were complimentary.

Eclettico is family-owned and operated by Lorraine (a watercolourist) and Miko (a coffee connoisseur hailing from Northern Italy) who combined their love for art and coffee to open this new shop at 4172 Fraser Street.

Art Deco Space

The front of the space is the main cafe area and has a baby grand piano offering live music on select weekend afternoons and evenings.

The back of Eclettico is an art gallery housing art work created by Lorraine and is open for local or international artists to feature their pieces work.

Eclettico Art & Coffee Menu

Eclettico’s menu is simple and focused on Northern Italian-style espresso drinks as well as sweet and savoury items (like panini, pastries, pastries and charcuterie) sourced from ingredients imported from Italy.

The drinks are customizable as they are prepared using an Italian Victoria Arduino lever espresso machine (a manual espresso machine). Lever machines are old-timey and classic ways of creating espresso-based drinks and offer the skilled barista better control over the brewing process.

At Eclettico, they use Carraro 1927 Espresso Specialty Italian Coffee Beans imported from Italy.

Eclettico has a few snack and non-alcoholic drink offerings for aperitivo from 4 pm – 8 pm. For snacks, they offer an aperitivo trio (balsamic onions, sicilian olives, taralli) and a charcuterie board featuring gourmet meat and cheese from Italy and Canada. The non-alcoholic drinks use natural sodas imported from Italy.

What We Tried

To start, we tried two different shots of espresso ($3): one made with a short lever pull and the other with a longer pull. The espresso with the long pull had a longer bean extraction and resulted in a bolder coffee taste which I enjoyed. The espresso was paired with an almond cookie.

Next, we tried their aperitivo charcuterie board ($16) featuring prosciutto di parma aged 18 months, Venetian salami, balsamic onions, Sicilian olives, olives stuffed with pesto, breadsticks, Taralli (mini Italian pretzels) and a fig spread.

For a sweet finish to aperitivo hour, we had a Lavender Caffe Latte ($4) which you can customize with or without espresso depending on how much coffee versus floral flavours that you want.

Eclettico is quite a unique gem in Vancouver’s coffee scene. They are open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am – 8 pm. For more information, visit www.eclettico.ca/.

ECLETTICO Art & Coffee
4172 Fraser Street, Vancouver, BC
www.eclettico.ca/

The Study Public House at SFU Burnaby

March 30, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

Newly open at SFU‘s Burnaby Campus is The Study Public House, an arcade-inspired pub and social space located inside the Maggie Benston Centre. The Study is a collaborative venture between the university and the Joseph Richard Group, one of B.C.’s fastest growing food, beverage and entertainment organizations with more than 20 public houses, restaurants and liquor retail outlets in BC and Alberta.

The Study Public House SFU Simon Fraser University Burnaby Campus Joseph Richard Group JRG

I was invited to a media event this past weekend to see the new space and to try some of the menu offerings. Here’s a look at what you can expect.

Arcade-Inspired Social Space

The Study Public House seats 320 along with an expansive patio with views from Burnaby Mountain.

The lower level features an arcade complete with pinball machines, a shuffleboard table, a pool table and so forth.

The Study Public House Menu

The Study menu features local, craft, made-from-scratch products, traditional fare and tasty classics.

The Study Public House SFU Simon Fraser University Burnaby Campus Joseph Richard Group JRG menu

For shareables, there are the classics like nachos, chicken wings, poutine, and panko crusted pub-style onion rings and so forth. Featured handhelds include the JRG Double Cheeseburger, Cajun Chicken Club, Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken and so forth.

You’ll also find other entrees like Bangers and Mash, Cottage Pie, and Szechuan Chicken Rice Bowl. The menu also has a a few plant-based items like the Black Bean Burger, Szechuan Tofu Bowl and Baja Tofu Tacos. For drinks, you’ll find craft beer, signature cocktails as well as wine.

What We Tried

At the media event, we tried a variety of offerings on the menu.

Cocktails

We tried a few signature cocktails including the Watermelon Mojito ($6)(raspberry vodka, fresh cubed watermelon, mint sprigs, syrup) and Apple Mint Fizz ($6) (wisers apple, pineapple, mint & bitters).

Appetizers & Share Plates

Nachos ($18.75), the perfect shareable in a pub setting, came fully loaded with pickled onions, jalapenos, black olives, tomatoes, green onions, sour cream, fire roasted salsa, and shredded triple blend cheese.

The Carnitas Street Tacos ($10.50) were a trio of braised pork shoulder tacos with pico de gallo, sriracha aioli, and cilatro served on a double-stack of corn tortillas.

The Panko Crusted Pub Style Onion Rings ($10) come either with truffle maple bacon glaze or jalapeno cheddar. We went with the truffle maple bacon glaze which resulted in sweet and salty onion rings.

Salad

The Farmer’s Market Salad ($17) was very refreshing. The sauteed lemon herb chicken had a sweet and sour taste and was accompanied by pickled golden beets, grapes, shaved vegetables, candied sunflower seeds, feta cheese, dried cranberries, champagne vinaigrette and topped with avocado.

Handhelds

For handhelds, we tried the 4-hour braised Canadian beef sandwich ($15.75) with horseradish aioli and onion rings on garlic toasted filone loaf. You can either have au jus or gravy for dipping.

Sit Down Stuff

The Fried Chicken & Waffles ($16) had maple bacon glazed chicken topped with scallions. The batter for the fried chicken was nicely seasoned and the meat was juicy and tender.

Plant-Based

The Black Bean Burger ($13.25) had a tender (not crumbly or mushy, tasty black bean patty with lettuce, tomato, sweet red onion, pickles, burger sauce and potato roll.

Dessert

You wouldn’t need to wait until the PNE to get those mini donuts, because The Study has them on their dessert menu. The Sack-O-Doughnuts ($6) are tossed in cinnamon and sugar and served with house made strawberry compote and chocolate sauce for dipping.

A more decadent dessert offering is the Peanut Butter Chocolate Stack ($7) featuring a dark chocolate brownie layered on a soft and rich peanut butter cookie, topped with crispy milk chocolate and peanut butter ganache. Served with whip cream and crushed peanuts all drizzled with caramel sauce.

My top choices for a 3-course would be the nachos, plant-based Black Bean Burger, and the Sack-O-Doughnuts.

The Study officially opens their doors April 1. They are open Monday – Saturday from 11am – 1am to Sunday from 11am – 12 am. For more information, visit www.jrghospitality.ca/establishment/the-study/.

The Study Public House
8888 University Drive
Maggie Benston Centre, Burnaby, BC
www.jrghospitality.ca/establishment/the-study

New Vancouver Fruit and Juice Bar: Edge Yuandian

March 4, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

Edge Yuandian Tea is a new tea and juice bar which opened last November by West Broadway and Oak.

New Vancouver Tea and Juice Bar: Edge Yuandian Tea

Edge Yuandian Tea Menu

Edge Yuandian specializes in Fresh Fruit Teas and they have some unique fresh tea offerings.

On the menu are Fresh Fruit Tea (like Fresh Citrus, Golden Orange, Tropical Pineapple), Tea Milk Floats (like Rose Oolong, Lychee Black), Tofu Tea (like Mango Tofu, Young Coconut Tofu), Fresh Milk (like Matcha and Mango), Slush (like Blueberry and Avocado Mango), Fresh Tea (like Jasmine Green and Marble Black) and House Specials (like Crazy Mango and Mojito Tea). The drinks are around $5 – $7.

They also offer a few extras like Cheese Milk Floats, Tea Jelly, Coconut Milk, Boba and so forth.

They also have a blackboard menu with special features like Puppy Love, Raspberry Noel, Peach Strawberry, Pink Lady and so forth. Edge Yuandian Tea also offers Black Sugar Pearl Milk after 2 pm.

Drinks at Edge Yuandian Tea are customizable for sugar level and ice level with a few exceptions.

Cloud Installation

A unique aspect of Edge Yuandian Tea to enhance customer experience is their Insta-worthy cloud installation that is perfect for photos.

Disclosure: I was invited for a media tasting. All drinks were complimentary.

What I Tried

To start, I had their Signature Fresh Fruit Tea ($7) which had a good balance of sweetness and tart citrus flavours. The drink was nicely rereshing nad had slices of kiwi, orange, watermelon and pineapple. This drink certainly emanates tropical vibes. I would recommend it.

I also tried a few of their special features, Puppy Love ($6.25) and Raspberry Noel ($5.75). These drinks had more of a berry flavour to them.

Edge Yuandian Tea
Address: 106-950 W Broadway, Vancouver
Instagram: @edgeyuandian

Newly Opened: Dalina Second Location on West Broadway

February 27, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

Resto-cafe DALINA has just opened their second location at 992 West Broadway, just a short distance away from Vancouver General Hospital in the Fairview neighbourhood. I was recently invited to their media grand opening. Here’s a look at what you can expect.

Dalina Menu

Both the original DALINA location in Chinatown and their second location feature grab-and-go meals and snack-packs, with dozens of freshly prepared meals including salads, sandwiches, wraps, and pastries, on offer. All dishes are created by DALINA Executive Chef Simona Bonelli, who brings her blend of healthy, innovative, and authentic fare to this takeaway menu. Most menu items will run between $10 to $15 (aside from baked goods) and will come in compostable packaging.

While DALINA is known for being a coffee hot spot, they also have Superfood Smoothies and Hoochy Booch Kombucha on tap.

Their baked goods selection includes in-house prepared items as well as items from other suppliers like Dipped Doughnut Co.

DALINA INTERIOR

The new 900 square foot Broadway location has seating for 35 and features white tile, white oak, concrete, stainless steel, and marble. Round globe lighting fixtures and tall marble standing tables are a nod to European cafes, while the worn leather benches are perfect for those looking to settle in.

WHAT TO EAT

On a separatge visit, I enjoyed their Vegan Cinnamon Bun ($4.25), Chocolate Croissant ($4.15), Breakfast Bacon Roll ($7.95) and Beetroot Latte.

The Vegan Cinnamon Bun was absolutely delicious and was made of organic coconut milk, organic plant based butter, vegan cream cheese and organic cane sugar. The Breakfast Bacon Roll was also excellent and made of bacon, egg, cheddar, sundried tomato, sriracha mayo, sprouts, seeds in a croissant roll. The Chocolate Croissant was on point being butter and flaky with a good amount of dark chocolate. I also enjoyed my Superfood Beetroot Latte which was not too sweet and had earthy flavours.

Broadway DALINA is open Monday to Friday 6:30 am to 6:30 pm and Weekends 7 pm to 5 pm.

DALINA
992 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC
www.dalina.ca

Newly Opened: Ugly Dumpling on Commercial Drive

January 4, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

Newly opened on Commercial Drive is Ugly Dumpling, a restaurant specializing in pan-Asian comfort food with a farm-to-table approach. Ugly Dumpling takes over the space formerly occupied by the Merchant’s Workshop at 1590 Commercial Drive.

Ugly Dumpling Commercial Drive Vancouver

The restaurant is co-owned by Chef Darren Gee (formerly The Farmer’s Apprentice, Kinome and Le Crocodile) and Van Doren Chan (formerly Le Crocodile, Hawksworth and Ugly Dumpling’s sommelier).

Ugly Dumpling Menu

The menu changes seasonally as the ingredients are sourced from organic and local farms. Chalkboard specials featuring drinks, the daily dumpling and staff meal are posted on the restaurant’s Instagram account.

The name of the restaurant is a bit of a misnomer as the restaurant isn’t a dumpling house. There is just one daily dumpling and these are sometimes handmade by Van Doren Chan’s mother.

The rotating beverage program features sake, sherry, wine, and local craft beer. Also available is house made kombucha and soda.

The beverage menu is whimsically presented as a coloring book. Crayons are presented on the table so that you can color at your leisure.

Interior

The decor seemed pretty minimal with dining tables of 2 – 4 and an L-shaped bar.

10-Course Family-Style Omakase

I visited Ugly Dumpling with my fellow foodie friends David (pickydiner.com), Hanson (noshandnibble.blog) and Kristina (drunkenoms.com). We went with the 10-course family-style omakase priced at $60 per person.

Note: None of the food nor drinks in this post were complimentary. This review is done anonymously.

The simple dishes that we had throughout the evening certainly exemplified the theme of food tasting better than it looked. In a previous article, Van Doren Chan had noted, “food doesn’t always need to look good to taste good.”

What We Tried

Homemade Pickles

To start homemade pickles featuring shoyu fennel, onions and oshinko (Japanese pickled radish).

Marina’s Gold Oysters, pickled grape, fresh horseradish

These wonderfully plump oysters have a salty and sweet flavour profile with a green melon finish.

Winter Greens Salad, Asian Pear, Pickled Radish, Bonito

Spicy Marinated Burdock Salad

I’m not sure that I have had a burdock salad before so this was interesting.
The burdock had a crunchy texture and had a sweet, spicy and mild flavour. The salad also had celery and carrots.

Pork, duck and mushroom pate with persimmon relish

The pate was mild in flavour and was delicate in texture., The persimmon relish was unique and added some sweetness to the pate.

Steamed tofu and shirako with XO sauce and ginger

The most unique aspect of this dish was shirako otherwise known as salmon sperm sac. The sac was creamy and custard-like in texture, and had a slightly sweet and subtle savoury flavour.

Daily Dumpling: Pork, Spicy Cod Roe, and Cheese

Too bad we only had one dish of dumplings because they were really good! The dumplings had a crispy, golden exterior (although some were a bit burnt) and a very interesting savoury filling of pork, spicy cod roe and cheese. The filling tasted more meaty than fish and cheese.

Steamed Radish Cake with Soy Bacon and Sour Cabbage

Tamarind Glazed Whole Lemon Sole, Komatsuna

I enjoyed the sweet and sour glaze with the tender meat of the sole. This dish was cooked with Japanese mustard spinach.

3-Week Aged Whole Quail, Turnip, Ginger, Scallion

Our group enjoyed the quail with the gently crispy skin and flavourful, tender meat.

Housemade Noodles: TanTan Ramen

The ramen was not as good as we expected as the sauce was overpowering the noodles; there was just too much of it. I think that there should be just enough sauce to coat the noodles. The noodles weren’t very al dente.

Steamed Black Sesame Cake, Quince, Matcha Milk

The steamed black sesame cake was very light and fluffy but the black sesame and matcha flavours were too subtle for me.

Red Bean & Yuzu Marble Cheesecake

Similarly, the marble cheesecake didn’t have very pronounced red bean and yuzu flavours.

Ugly Dumpling vs Mak and Ming

The last time I tried a similar Japanese-influenced set menu (which is not sushi) was at Mak and Ming (see post here). I would say that Ugly Dumpling is more on the casual side with homestyle eats whereas Mak and Ming is modern fine dining. I thought that the dishes at Mak and Ming were somewhat more memorable than Ugly Dumpling.

Overall Impression of Ugly Dumpling

I thought that our omakase exerience at Ugly Dumpling was only OK because it was largely unmemorable despite having tried many of their dishes. I appreciated the simplicity, finesse and uniqueness of some of the farm-to-table ingredients but as a whole I couldn’t find too much that really stood out to me.

If I had to pick out some notable moments, that would have to be the daily dumpling, the persimmon relish on the pate, the shirako (salmon sperm sac) with the steamed tofu and the 3-week aged whole quail.

All the dishes we had for the omakase are available a la carte. I would recommend trying the Daily Dumpling, the Tamarind Glazed Whole Lemon Sole and the 3-Week Aged Whole Quail.

Rating: 3.5/5

Ugly Dumpling
1590 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC
uglydumpling.ca

Newly Open: Spiritea at Aberdeen Centre

January 2, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

Newly open at Aberdeen Centre in Richmond is Spiritea, a modern tea house serving fruit and milk teas made with all-natural fruit, pastries and features an Instagram-worthy interior. Although this location is just freshly opened, plans for locations in New York and Irvine, CA are already in the works. I was invited a media tasting recently. Here’s a look at my experience.

Spiritea Aberdeen Centre Richmond Tea House

Disclosure: I was invited for a media tasting where all food and drinks were complimentary.

Modern & Elegant Interior

Spiritea’s modern and elegant interior features plush velvet chairs, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a tall ceiling with overhanging lights. It seems like a very inviting and warm space for people to gather over drinks and desserts.

Teapresso Machine

What sets Spiritea apart from other tea shops is that they brew all of their teas on the spot in a special Teapresso machine. They use premium tea leaves, fresh fruit, Avalon Dairy organic milk and pure cane sugar made in France. Their focus is to provide the freshest and highest quality ingredients without the use of artificial fruit syrups or powders.

Spiritea Menu

Spritea’s drink menu is focused on fruit and milk teas made with all-natural fruit and not bubble teas. These include Cloudteas (which are salted cheese cap drinks), Lattea, Fruitea, Puritea and Glacier Cold Brew.

Their Glacial Cold Brewed Tea involves soaking tea lives in low-temperature glacial water which will release tea tannins and caffeine. The result is a smooth taste and highly aromatic.

Their drinks are priced higher at $7 – $10 due to the use of premium ingredients (ie, real fruit, organic milk and pure cane sugar).

Spiritea’s Desserts

Spiritea also offers a small selection of desserts which are made by an external supplier. These include the Snowflake Cheesecake ($9), Chocolate Mousse ($9), Very Berry ($10) and Xmas Tree ($9). They also sell macarons in Salted Caramel, Earl Grey, Matcha and Lychee flavours ($2.75).

Chocolate Mousse
Xmas Tree
Snowflake Cheesecake
Very Berry

What I Tried

Hanson (noshandnibble.blog) and I tried a variety of drinks and pastries at the tasting.

We started off which a selection of Fruit Cloudteas including the Pineapple ($9), Strawberry ($9) and Very Berry ($10). The drinks feature real fruit mixed with tea and a salted cheese cap to intensify the flavours of the tea as it passed through the cheese cap layer. I found the Pineapple Cloudtea to be particularly refreshing with its tropical flavours.

We also tried the TanCho Black Tea ($7) which had a great milk and black tea flavour. Next was the Superfruit Combo Fruitea ($9) which had real grapefruit, orange and lime. This was also very refreshing and it felt like a healthy drink since it had a few different fruits.

We tried all their desserts: Very Berry ($10), Snowflake Cheesecake ($9), Chocolate Mousse ($9) and Xmas Tree ($9). I liked their presentation and they tasted fine for externally supplied pastries. However, they did seem a bit on the expensive side given the size.

The Snowflake Cheesecake was more or less a standard cheesecake but I thought it could have used a graham crust. The Xmas Tree was a composite of Very Berry, Matcha and Passionfruit.

Overall Impression of Spiritea

I like Spiritea’s commitment to using quality ingredients (real tea leaves, real milk and pure can sugar). Their setting makes for a lovely way to pass an afternoon with others over drinks and desserts. Their drinks were refreshing and I hope to see perhaps more desserts in the future.

Spiritea
Aberdeen Centre 4151 Hazelbridge Way, #1968 Richmond, BC
spiriteadrinks.com

Hon’s Wonton House Olympic Village Vancouver

January 2, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

In the past, I have declared that I’m a fan of Hon’s Wonton House. Growing up in Richmond in the 90s, Cantonese-style fast food was the type of Chinese of food that was dominant in town and Hon’s was my family’s go-to Chinese food restaurant.

Hon’s has deep roots in Vancouver’s Chinatown having opened in 1972 and being known then as the city’s only place to get wonton noodles and potstickers. Now as a West End resident, I still head to the Hon’s on Robson regularly for my Cantonese-style fast-food fix.

Hon's Wonton House Olympic Village Vancouver

New Olympic Village Location

With the Richmond and Vancouver Chinatown locations now closed, I was surprised to hear that Hon’s had opened a new modern, location in Olympic Village.

The current owner of Hon’s partnered with restaurant-chain company, Box Concepts Food Group, to relaunch Hon’s restaurants with new branding and a new menu.

Hon’s Olympic Village Menu

The menu at Hon’s Olympic Village is much more focused compared to other locations. You’ll find noodle soups (like Wonton Noodle Soup), lo mein (like Beef Brisket Lo Mein), beef or veggie rice dishes (like BBQ Pork on Rice), and popular combos (like BBQ Pork Noodle soup combo) and so forth.

What I Tried

I decided to order takeout via foodora and went with Curry Beef Brisket on Rice ($12.50) and Curry Fish Balls ($8). The packaging seemed a bit more up-to-date as well compared to traditional styrofoam containers.

Note: The food in this review was not complimentary. This review is done anonymously.

The Curry Beef Brisket on Rice is a customer favourite and staple from 192 and features Hong Kong-style slow-cooked curry beef brisket and potatoes with rice. The savoury curry was pretty creamy and aromatic with hints of coconut milk while the beef brisket and potatoes were nicely tender.

The fish balls used were nicely bouncy in the tasty curry sauce.

Interior

I was only at the location to pick up my takeout but I noticed the nice, modern interior that made for an inviting yet casual environment for dining.

Overall Impression

There are plans for more Hon’s rebranded locations to open in the coming year. While I thought the food they serve at Hon’s Olympic Village was good, they don’t serve my go-to and favourite fried rice and noodle dishes. Because of that, I’d probably be visiting the older Hon’s locations rather than the newer ones. Rating: 3.5/5

Hon’s Wonton House Olympic Village
25 E 2nd Ave, Vancouver, BC
www.honswontonhouse.com

Newly Open: Xing Fu Tang Vancouver

December 26, 2018 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

The latest entrant to Vancouver’s bubble tea scene is Taiwanese-based Xing Fu Tang. Their shop opened up a few weeks ago in the South Cambie Neighbourhood in Vancouver at 3424 Cambie Street.

Xing Fu Tang Vancouver Cambie Canada Brown Sugar Pearl Milk Tea

Since opening up for business, Xing Fu Tang has generated a lot of interest from bubble tea lovers in Vancouver. Customers reported having to line up for almost an hour. Yesterday, after Christmas brunch at Dockside, I visited Xing Fu Tang where the lineup was minimal.

Stir-Fry Brown Sugar Peals

What makes Xing Fu Tang unique is that they stir-fry their tapioca pearls in brown sugar in order to add an extra charcoal flavour to the drink. Customers can watch the stir-frying process right at the counter. Here’s a video that I took.

All ingredients are imported directly from Taiwan and follow the same recipe as their stores in Taiwan.

Xing Fu Tang Canada Menu

The drinks at Xing Fu Tang range between $6.50 – $6.95. Drinks that feature the brown sugar pearl include the Brown Sugar Pearl Milk, Brown Sugar Pearl Milk Tea, Brown Sugar Pearl Black Tea Latte and Brown Sugar Pearl and Herbal Jelly Milk.

Xing Fu Tang Vancouver Cambie Canada Brown Sugar Pearl Milk Tea Bubble Tea

Other drink offerings include Matcha Pearl Milk; Soda and Handmade Jelly; Lemon Green Tea and so forth. They do not offer customization options for ice level and sweeetness.

Xing Fu Tang Vancouver Interior

The modern interior of Xing Fu Tang Vancouver features a few dining tables for two and a counter by the window.

Xing Fu Tang is known for having in-store interactive activities for customers and a culture of spreading “joy, warmth and love.” At the Vancouver location, you can randomly pick out a fortune stick which has a number on it. You then find the corresponding fortune in a cabinet on the wall. I got #86 and the fortune was, “It is not the end of the road if you make a turn.”

What I Tried

I tried the Brown Sugar Pearl Milk ($6.50) and the Matcha Pearl Milk ($6.50).

The top layer of the Brown Sugar Pearl Milk is torched like a crème brûlée and has a bit of caramelized texture.

The pearls are warm while the rest of the drink is cold so it’s interesting to hold the drink by the bottom and feel the heat.

After mixing up the drink a bit more, I found the Brown Sugar Pearl Milk to be nicely creamy and milky. The drink tasted of a mix of brown sugar, caramel and roasted milk tea. It wasn’t overly rich which was nice. The pearls were on point being soft and chewy and properly cooked on the inside.

The Matcha Pearl Milk had a very decent matcha flavour but not an overly bitter aftertaste. The pink pearls didn’t have a distinct flavour to them but were appropriately chewy although were a bit firmer than the brown sugar pearls.

Parking

There is metered parking on Cambie. You can find free Parking on West 18th Ave and West 19th Ave between Yukon Street and Manitoba Street.

Overall Impression of Xing Fu Tang

I enjoyed the drinks that I tried from Xing Fu Tang but the Brown Sugar Pearl Milk Tea moreso than the Matcha Pearl Milk tea. I also liked the fact that you get to see the pearls sweetness. I would be interested in trying more of their Brown Sugar Pearl offerings. Rating: 4/5

Xing Fu Tang
3432 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC
www.xingfutang.ca

Interior

Chase Tea Menu

What I Tried

Le Cassis Interior

Le Cassis Menu

What I Tried

Overall Impression of Le Cassis

Art Deco Space

Eclettico Art & Coffee Menu

What We Tried

Arcade-Inspired Social Space

The Study Public House Menu

What We Tried

Cocktails

Appetizers & Share Plates

Salad

Handhelds

Sit Down Stuff

Plant-Based

Dessert

Edge Yuandian Tea Menu

Cloud Installation

What I Tried

Dalina Menu

DALINA INTERIOR

WHAT TO EAT

Ugly Dumpling Menu

Interior

10-Course Family-Style Omakase

What We Tried

Homemade Pickles

Marina’s Gold Oysters, pickled grape, fresh horseradish

Winter Greens Salad, Asian Pear, Pickled Radish, Bonito

Spicy Marinated Burdock Salad

Pork, duck and mushroom pate with persimmon relish

Steamed tofu and shirako with XO sauce and ginger

Daily Dumpling: Pork, Spicy Cod Roe, and Cheese

Steamed Radish Cake with Soy Bacon and Sour Cabbage

Tamarind Glazed Whole Lemon Sole, Komatsuna

3-Week Aged Whole Quail, Turnip, Ginger, Scallion

Housemade Noodles: TanTan Ramen

Steamed Black Sesame Cake, Quince, Matcha Milk

Red Bean & Yuzu Marble Cheesecake

Ugly Dumpling vs Mak and Ming

Overall Impression of Ugly Dumpling

Modern & Elegant Interior

Teapresso Machine

Spiritea Menu

Spiritea’s Desserts

What I Tried

Overall Impression of Spiritea

New Olympic Village Location

Hon’s Olympic Village Menu

What I Tried

Interior

Overall Impression

Stir-Fry Brown Sugar Peals

Xing Fu Tang Canada Menu

Xing Fu Tang Vancouver Interior

What I Tried

Parking

Overall Impression of Xing Fu Tang

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