Crystal Mall Archives | Foodgressing

Crystal Mall Bubble Tea: Cafe Eggstatic

January 14, 2017 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

If you ever visit Crystal Mall, you might have noticed a sweet smell in the air just outside the market area. It’s coming from Cafe Eggstatic, a small eatery serving bubble tea and bubble waffles. While Cafe Eggstatic isn’t the only place serving bubble drinks and snacks in Crystal Mall, they are the only one located on the ground level. And because they are near an entrance, they tend to be noticed right away. On a recent shopping trip to Crystal Mall, I decided to try out some of their items.

Cafe Eggstatic Menu

Cafe Eggstatic offers a variety of beverages including milk tea, fruit tea, slushes, smoothies, cream floats and more. Prices seem to be on par with other bubble tea houses in the city ($3.50 – $5). One of their more unique drinks involve using bird’s nest, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. Cafe Eggtastic incorporates it into a coconut or mango slush. Below are images I scanned of their menu.

For snacks, they offer bubble waffles in classic ($3.50) or season flavours ($4.50). Bubble waffles seem to be a popular item offered by Cafe Eggstatic. The area where they make them is viewable and is very active.

On this particular visit, I noticed their seasonal flavour was a cheese egg waffle (choice of cheddar or mozzarella) topped with Parmesan cheese.

What I Tried

At Cafe Eggstatic, I ordered the following:

Matcha bubble waffle ($4.50)
Cheese bubble waffle ($4.50)
Hot taro milk tea ($3.75)

Let’s start off the bubble waffles. They were just OK and I’ve had better elsewhere (Bubble Waffle Cafe, Bubble Queen). It wasn’t super crispy on the outside and the dough was a bit tougher and chewier than I would like. The waffles were average at best. The matcha bubble waffle had reasonable matcha flavour.

There was disappointment regarding the cheese waffle. On their sign, it said that it would be topped with Parmesan. However, when I received it, there were no Parmesan toppings. I asked the server about this and she mentioned that the Parmesan topping would have been included as a filling *if I made the request ahead of time* I mean, if your sign says that it is a topping (as seen on the photo above), the customer shouldn’t need to have to make sure that it is included. In a way, I felt like it was a scam to get you to buy the cheese waffle with the thought of having extra Parmesan. It just wasn’t a very good way of treating customers.

The taro milk tea was too sugary and masked the taro flavour.

Overall Impression of Cafe Eggstatic

If an eatery says that something is included on their own sign, the customer should not need to have to *confirm it.* It’s just shady behaviour. The matcha bubble waffle was the only reasonable item I thought and everything else was just disappointing. Rating: 2.5/5

Epic Dim Sum Feast at Victory Seafood Restaurant

May 29, 2016 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I was invited by Chinesebites.com to attend a complimentary media tasting at Victory Seafood Restaurant. Opinions are my own.

Most of the time when I visit Crystall Mall, I head straight to the food court for some quick eats. Victory Seafood Restaurant is one sit-down restaurant that I have passed by frequently (on my way to the food court) but have never tried. Recently, I had the opportunity to taste a wide selection of dim sum dishes offered by Victory Seafood Restaurant at a media event.

Grandiose Dining Area

When I entered Victory Seafood Restaurant, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the grandioseness of their space. Floata in Chinatown still has got much square footage on them, but for a restaurant inside a mall, it is sizeable.

Dim Sum Menu

Victory Seafood Restaurant’s pricing is more line with a more upscale dim sum restaurant. Dim sum prices are as follows: small ($4.49), medium ($4.99), large ($5.79), special ($6.50), chef’s special ($7.49).

What We Tried

Check out my video of our table full of dim sum dishes:

The 37 dishes that we had included:

Victory’s shrimp dumplings
Steamed mixed meat & mixed vegetable dumplings
Mixed meat & shrimp dumpling in cordyceps flowers broth
Glutinous rice rolls with laver
Steamed mixed mushroom dumplings
Steamed pork dumplings
Steamed pork ribs with taro & garlic
Steamed chicken feet in black bean sauce
Steamed beef tendon in Chu Hau sauce
Steamed beef balls with orange peel
Steamed Shanghai style juicy pork dumplings
Steamed pork stomachs and preserved veggies in black pepper sauce
Steamed sticky rice in lotus leaf
Steamed BBQ pork buns
Steamed chicken feet & pork ribs
Steamed bean curd wraps with mushroom & pork in abalone sauce
Steamed rice with chicken & black mushroom
Steamed rice with pork ribs & chicken feet
Pan fried Chinese pancakes with cured meat & leek
Pan fried lotus root cakes
Deep fried dumplings with shrimp & minced prok
Deep fried shrimp spring rolls with garlic
Pan fried radish & shredded taro cakes
Deep fried dumplings with pork & dried shrimp
Pan fried Shanghai dumplings
Deep fried traditional honeycomb taro dumplings
Steamed rice rolls with minced meat & Chinese donuts
Steamed rice rolls with crispy deep fried fish paste
Steamed rice rolls with beef & oarsley
Steamed rice rolls with supreme fresh shrimps
Steamed rice rolls with mushroom & vegetable
Steamed plain rice rolls
Steamed red rice rolls with shrimp
HK style milky egg tarts with ginger sauce
Baked BBQ pork buns with crust topping
Golden BBQ pork pastries
Smoked salmon with fruit salad sauce tarts

I tried several items but definitely not all as I had gotten very full. In general, I thought that the dim sum I tried was good. I quite enjoyed the Golden BBQ pork pastries which had a nice flaky pastry shell and juicy BBQ pork filling. Victory’s shrimp dumplings were on point with plump and meaty shrimp fillings with a slightly crispy texture. The wrapper was thin, translucent yet firm. The steamed rice rolls that I tried (supreme fresh shrimps, mushroom & vegetable, and crispy deep fried fish paste) had a nice smooth, silky texture with a savoury filling. The steamed BBQ pork buns were soft and fluffy on the outside with a moist and sweet filling. I enjoyed having the pan fried lotus root cakes plain rather than dipping into a sauce; they were crispy in texture. The pan fried Chinese pancakes with cured meat & leek were just okay and not too greasy.

I thought that the steamed Shanghai style juicy pork dumplings could improve with a juicier filling. The smoked salmon with fruit salad sauce tarts was my least enjoyed dish – the sweet flavours of the fruit salad with mayo did not go well with the smokiness of the salmon.

Overall Impression of Victory Seafood Restaurant

All in all, I thought that Victory Seafood’s dim sum dishes were good though perhaps priced on the higher end. Of the dishes I tried, there were certainly more dishes that I enjoyed than disliked. Rating: 3.5/5

Website: http://victoryseafoodrestaurant.com/

Refreshing Eats at Cherry Fruit Tea & Icy Bar

May 22, 2016 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

After a heavy fast-food meal at the Crystal Mall food court, you might just want some refreshing sweets. One of the food stalls that I love to visit at Crystal Mall for bubble tea or shaved ice desserts is Cherry Fruit Tea & Icy Bar. I am familiar with the Icy Bar chain having visited two of their Kingsway locations (3618 Kingsway, 1475 Kingsway). The food stall version has smaller portions for cheaper prices compared to the Icy Bar restaurants. I visited Cherry Fruit Tea & Icy Bar a few times in the last year and here is a review of my experiences.

What I Tried

I have tried the following from Cherry Fruit Tea & Icy Bar:

Mango mochi shaved icy ($7)
Mango tapioca icy ($5.50)
Taro bubble tea with pearl ($5)

As a mango lover, I have recommended mango desserts from Icy Bar. The mango mochi shaved icy I had was delicious as usual except the mochi that time was a bit harder than I would like. They normally are quite soft and chewy.

The mango tapioca icy dessert drink was absolutely delicious and not too icy. It had a lovely mix of mango puree, mango slices and tapioca. I am just sorry that I shared this with my husband and son because it was so good I needed one just for myself.

On one visit, I ordered the taro bubble tea which is my husband and son’s favourite. It had a nice taro flavour and the pearls were soft and chewy. However, I still prefer the taro bubble tea from Chatime since it has taro flesh in it.

Overall Impression of Cherry Fruit Tea & Icy Bar

Still loving the delicious and refreshing desserts and drinks at Icy Bar. An ideal place to go for some inexpensive sweet eats particularly after Crystal Mall fast-food. Rating: 4.5/5

For more Crystal Mall eats, follow the tag Crystal Mall.

Shanghai Dimsum House’s Xiao Long Bao

March 8, 2016 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

I love a good xiao long bao. These steamed Shanghai soup dumplings are bite-sized delights with the a thin wrapper, seasoned pork filling and rich, flavourful savoury broth. I had heard from some fellow foodies that Shanghai Dimsum House made very good xiao long bao, so I eagerly headed there to try out their take on it.

Crystal Mall

First of all, Shanghai Dimsum House is not a sit-down restaurant. It is actually a food stall located in a very non-obvious back corner of the Crystal Mall food court in Burnaby.

Shanghai Dimsum House Menu

Aside for the xiao long bao, Shanghai Dimsum House offers a variety Northern-style eats including buns, dumplings, rolls, and pancakes. If you are not in the mood for dimsum, they also have noodles and wonton in soups. All their items are under $10 with English and Chinese names provided.

What I Tried

I ordered one round of xiao long bao (5 pieces for $4.95) and the Shanghai-style pan fried pork buns (5 pieces for $5.55).

When I received the xiao long bao, I noticed that they weren’t xiao, meaning “small” at all! In fact, they are practically double the size of a regular XLB – an XL XLB (extra large!) if you will. Because of their size, the XLB seemed to be stuck together or stuck to the sides of the bamboo tray. This caused a bit of tear when my husband or I extracted it from the bamboo tray.

It barely fit on my plastic spoon! The XLB had a slightly thicker skin probably due to the need to hold a larger amount of filling. The savoury broth was indeed rich and the pork filling was tender and nicely seasoned. I would have to say the flavour was on point.

I really loved the Shanghai-style pan fried pork buns which had a lovely crispy skin. The flavour and texture of the pork filling was the same as the XLB, but the crispy oily outside was oh-so-good.

Overall Impression of Shanghai Dimsum House

All in all, I would recommend giving Shanghai Dimsum’s super-sized xiao long bao a try. The flavour is on point even though they aren’t mini size like the authentic ones. The Shanghai-style pan fried pork dumplings are also very good and are great comfort eats. Rating: 4.5/5

For more Crystal Mall food reviews, visit here.

Bubble Waffle Cafe at Crystal Mall

January 11, 2016 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

It had been quite a while since I last tried food from the Crystal Mall food court. So when I came across a Social Shopper deal for Bubble Waffle Cafe, I was eager to try this place out. The deal was $14.50 including tax but was valued at $27. It included two soup noodles with two toppings, two drinks (bubble tea or lemon tea) plus choice of Korean twisted potato, Takoyaki, curry fish balls or fish siu mai to share. The deal seemed pretty good considering the amount of food given. Yesterday, I headed to Bubble Waffle Cafe to find out if the deal was as good as it seemed.

Bubble Waffle Cafe Menu

The Bubble Waffle Cafe at Crystal Mall is one of four locations in Metro Vancouver. The others are at UBC, Kingsway and Aberdeen.

Bubble Waffle Cafe serves up some Hong Kong-style street snacks including curry fish ball, bubble waffles, rice noodle rolls, stinky tofu, fish soup noodle combos, fruit drinks, tapioca drinks etc. I actually tried their bubble waffle before at a media event at Aberdeen Centre and thought it pretty good.

They have signature noodle combos to choose from, but you can also build your own. They provide a small form where you can check off your choice of soup base, noodle type and toppings.

A noodle with two toppings is $7.29 or $8.49 with a drink. When you have a noodle combo, small snacks are slightly cheaper than when you order them stand-alone. Bubble waffles are between $1.00 – $1.50 depending if you order a drink with the combo. Other snacks like curry fish fall, takoyaki and korean twisted potato are between $2.50 – $4.50.

What We Tried

I went with a rather fishy noodle combo: original fish soup, fish ball, fried fish cake and ramen. My husband had the mixed mushroom chicken soup with sliced pork jowl and sliced lamb. The noodle combos were piping hot and had reasonable portions of toppings and noodle. My soup base did not seem overwhelmingly MSG-ladden.

The two drinks we had were original milk tea and green tea. Yay for the original milk tea but nay for the green tea. The latter simply tasted too artificial and we end up throwing it out.

Our side order was a Korean twisted potato in sour cream and onion. The sour cream and onion flavour was delicious and I would recommend it. The texture was not the crispiest compared to what I had elsewhere, but still acceptable.

The bubble waffle was $2 extra and was just okay. It was nicely crispy on the outside but seemed a big under-cooked on the inside.

Overall Impression of Bubble Waffle Cafe

All in all, the eats from Bubble Waffle Cafe were filling and reasonably tasty. The deal was very good for $14.50 given the amount of food you get and overall seemed fair at regular price. Rating: 3/5

For more information on Bubble Waffle Cafe, visit their website or Facebook. Check out my other Crystal Mall food reviews here.

Crystal Mall Bubble Tea: Cafe Eggstatic

Cafe Eggstatic Menu

What I Tried

Overall Impression of Cafe Eggstatic

Epic Dim Sum Feast at Victory Seafood Restaurant

Grandiose Dining Area

Dim Sum Menu

What We Tried

Overall Impression of Victory Seafood Restaurant

Refreshing Eats at Cherry Fruit Tea & Icy Bar

What I Tried

Overall Impression of Cherry Fruit Tea & Icy Bar

Shanghai Dimsum House’s Xiao Long Bao

Crystal Mall

Shanghai Dimsum House Menu

What I Tried

Overall Impression of Shanghai Dimsum House

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