Monday, September 14, 2009

Coco et Olive, Deacon's Corner, White Spot

Coco Et Olive on Urbanspoon Coco et Olive Fine foods is located on Broadway close to ubc area. It is a quaint little restaurant full of homemade quiches, soups, sandwiches, and desserts. Upon Arrival, the place had a few seats left, but as I waited for my friend, the room filled up super quick. Finally, there was only one table left outside that we had to bring chairs from inside out.

You order and pay inside first then you sit down. Looking at the menu, I decided to order the tomato and garlic quiche, and a fruit tart. Only to have the server look at me quizzically.. fruit..ta-rt? she pointed at random cake, only to have me point at the menu behind her. She quickly asks another man only to have him look at me quizzically as well. Am I being weird for ordering off the menu? After asking the baker/cook, we find out there's no more fruit tarts left.. :( So I ordered bread pudding instead.

My friend ordered the lemongrass soup and some dessert, only to have quizzical looks given to him once again. so had a lonely macaroon.

We sat down and the food arrives. Although my quiche looked ugly, it was very tasty. I also liked my cake. The lemongrass soup was definitely different. We were expecting vietnamese tastes, but it was very lemony. The macaroon was hard.

I like this place, it would be great for lunch. Just maybe look at what is on the counter and on the shelves to order, not from the menu.


Deacon's Corner on Urbanspoon Deacon's Corner is a diner in Gastown by Alibi Room. I had ventured here once before only to find the place way too packed and I was way too hungry to wait. After watching many diners drive ins and dives, I was itching to go to a diner and glad I had a chance to before I left.
I ordered the biscuits and sausages and friend had the french toast. The biscuits and sausage came with hashbrowns, which were honestly, the best hashbrowns I've ever had. I usually leave them untouched at IHOP but I ate every last scrap of it. I don't even know why because they are just potatoes, but my god, they were delicious. The biscuits with the sauce and sausages were delicious too, but just a little too filling for me after a couple bites. The hashbrowns were my highlight.

There were a ton of french toast on that plate. The fruit compote that came along with it was the highlight of that dish.

Overall, I really like this place for breakfast and everyone should try it out! the owners also own Cobre up the street, which is another one of my favorites and another place all vancouverites should try =)

I don't usually go to chain restaurants but I went to Whitespot because it was close to the school and transit. The last time I went, I shared the "mountain" cream puffs which unforuntately did not compare to the picture shown on the menu. We were expecting a mountain, and got 6 sad little cream puffs. grrr.



Here, I ordered the turkey sandwich because, it had stuffing turkey and cranberry sauce. Although I don't celebrate thanksgiving, I LOVE turkey stuffing and cranberry sauce. This sandwich to me was obviously the winner. Unforunately, it tasted like absolute crap. I don't remember much of this sandwich because it was unmemorable and I think I was forcing myself to finish it up at the end. I think it was all the damn gravy sauce, made the whole sandwich extremely disgusting. Friends had fish and chips, club sandwich, and burger, which were also all neutral.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

DB Bistro Moderne

DB Bistro Moderne on Urbanspoon A random night turned into going to DB Bistro Moderne over on Broadway/Kitsilano side. We sat outside, and I didn't get a chance to see the room very well. It was during one of the heatwave humid days in August, but nonetheless, sitting outside wasn't so bad. I wanted to people watch. haha. and obviously, the lighting was much better.

We ordered an appetizer, a tarte flambe. For some dumb reason, I thought it was something with fire and tableside. But nah, it's actually thin bread with toppings. For ours, it was onions, bacon and fromage blanc. It was very crispy and nice, the bread. However, I found the onions to be a little overpowering..

For main, I ordered the peasant tortellini and friend had the halibut. We got complimentary bread that was very cold. I didn't touch it. Fyi, for the tortellini, there is an appetizer version and main. Even though I ordered the main, it was still pretty small!!! It was a little salty but the ingredients were so fresh. I can't believe how much of a difference fresh ingredients really does make. Every single bite was great. The Halibut was supposedly very good too. I had one of the potatoes croquette things (the circular things) and yummy. Too bad we were both very very full, or else dessert would have been ordered.

The service was very nice and she wasn't intrusive but did try to converse with us. The only downside was when wind swept leaves and other things from trees into my tortellini. boo.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot, Boston, Flo Tea House, + Alleluia Cafe

Before I left, I went to many asian places.. so here is a condensed review of all of them at once! This is definitely more of a piccy post so get ready to drool. haha



Han Ju Tofu hot pot is a small shop attached to Crystal mall. The room itself is very minimal and bare. The food is based on tofu hot pots and some rice dishes. There are some pictures of them on the menu. We ordered the seafood hotpot and a korean bbq rice dish. Wow, oily much?? the rice was just all oil. It obviously tasted good, but most likely not good for me. The hot pot was adequate.. nothing special. I think I prefer the ones at Sasaya bistro more on Royal oak.. I guess this place is good if you are in the vicinity and need a quick/cheap eat.



Boston Steakhouse on Urbanspoon Boston is a relatively big, more upper scale hk cafe in Richmond. When we went, there were a ton of people inside. We managed to get a seat pretty quickly. The menu was pretty big with various chinese/western chinese dishes. They also have mini stone grills. I don't remember how much, but they did seem a little expensive. I just got a mini stone grill for lamb chops and we also ordered noodles and laksa. The stone grill came with a bun and lobster bisque. The bisque was nice, but nothing amazing. The bun was warm and soft. The mini stone grill came with vegetables and spaghetti (covered in lots of oil). The lamb chops were okay, but there were only two pieces. The noodles were surprisingly tasty. I like this hk cafe, give it a try if you are in richmond.

Flo tea house is down granville street by The place. Inside is very spacious with lots of seating. There are many many drinks to choose from. Sometimes there are so many choices I don't even know which one to choose. I personally don't like ordering drinks at restaurants because then I have to pee (esp before an hour long car ride) but when I see such a large drinks menu, I can never resist. For food, we ordered the noodles and a portugese chicken. Damn did the noodles come in a large enough bowl. The food was fair for a hk diner. The noodles weren't that great but the chicken was fine. I think I was more impressed by the ambience of the restaurant and their drinks menu than the food..



Alleluia Cafe.. I've been here many years ago when it was under different management. The restaurant was very packed when we went and we were seated after about 10 minutes. They have mix and match meals where you can choose two different food with a side and a sauce. I had the beef short ribs with chicken wings and yam fries and a sauce that I don't remember. We also ordered the beef brisket noodles that came surprisingly fast. the beef brisket was tender and the noodles were very good. My mix and match was just ok. I found the beef short ribs to be too fatty and chicken wings too small. The yam fries weren't very good either.