Vancouver West

Vancouver West side

Nana’s Green Tea, Japanese Matcha Dessert Franchise in Vancouvr

Nana's Green Tea is a very good matcha dessert shop. They lived up to their name, everything related to matcha has a rich taste to it. It is well controlled so it doesn't taste bitter. The cost of $8 per person on average is a little high, but their premium matcha is from Kyoto. It is very authentic and nothing is watered down. Please note that they also serve Hojicha dessert, ramen, and Donburi. I would definitely recommend Nana's Green Tea.

Vij’s Indian Fine Dining Restaurant in Vancouver

Vij's has been around for a couple of years. In the beginning, there was always line up outside the door. They allowed reservation a year after. I just show up at the door on my visit. It was 6:00 pm and there was no line-up. The food still tastes pretty good, but I do question some of the business decisions they have made. Overall, the curry at Vij's has a lot more complex flavour profiles compared to your normal Indian buffet places. It does cost about $45 per person, and the tips on the credit card machine are set to 18% as a minimum. This pretty much triples any other Indian restaurants. It's a good place for special occasion, but not recommended for daily visits.

Chatime, The bubble tea franchise that started it all

Chatime's drinks cost are considered average compared to most other bubble tea places. Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea costs $5.85 each. The Brown Sugar Pearls Fresh Milk cost $6.35. Most of the tea served here are pre-made and kept in different casks. They might not be the best bubble tea place, but the taste really entice my palate.

Marulilu Cafe, Japanese Cafe Diner in Vancouver

I think the waffles are really worth it. The exterior is slightly charred to give it a crispy texture. Of course, the interior is very fluffy. It comes with unflavoured whipped cream and one with chocolate flavour. Eating the waffle with the whipped cream and syrup is heavenly.

Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar

The meat was ground sirloin meat that is cooked to be slight pink on the inside and it is quite juicy. There were literally meat juice flowing down the side of the burger as I eat. The smoked bacon was sturdy, but could be a bit more crispy. I'm not a big fan of lettuce, tomato and pickles in my burger, but they do make the burger more interesting to eat.

Freshslice Pizza

I ordered two slices of pizza for $4.90, one "basic", one "feast". The serving speed was instant. I even received a smile from the staff. The topping are not overly generous, but acceptable. Nothing taste out of the ordinary. we can see the crust rise evenly, an indication of a yeast with grease premixed dough. The texture is consistent. Nothing too hard to bite. The bottom crust has good structure. I was able to pick up the pizza by the crust without much dipping down. The bottom is not soggy. This is a decent pizza for its price.

La Taqueria, Pinche Taco Shop

Tortilla wrapping has a good structure. It is firm and not sticky. The interior has a good moisture level for my mouth and did not make the tortilla soggy. There is also no weird chemical smell like the ones you get from the grocery store. I was able to eat it with one hand the tortilla wrapping break or unwrap. This almost never happened, and I am very pleased. Some of the rice did drop on my plate, and it would have been better if I had utensil to pick them up. This is the best burrito I have had in Vancouver.

Bubble Waffle Cafe, Cantonese Food Stand

The first bubble waffle cafe I tried was the one in Landsdowne Mall. I considered it a high-school kids operated food station at the time. Their bubble waffle are too awful to call themselves the "Bubble Waffle Cafe". Obviously, their business model took off with all the people whose only consideration for food is the price. Bubble Waffle Cafe can now be found in most malls in the lower mainland. Bubble Waffle Cafe calls themselves "Hong Kong and Taiwanese Cuisine". I can tell you right now that Bubble Waffle Cafe may give their food Taiwanese names, but their food are not Taiwanese cuisine. Their food has lots of carbs. It is similar to Cantonese Style Cafe food, so I guess it is Hong Kong Cuisine.

Hokkaido Butter

Hokkaido Butter is really not in the leagues of other famous pre-packaged frozen desserts. The $9.99 package contain 4 ice cream cones inside, so they are $2.50 each. That is pretty expensive. I believe the careless temperature control during transportation ruined my first bite and the waffle texture. I cannot recommend something that is expensive and has low quality.