I was wrong about The Viet Noodle Guy. They are not a trendy Vietnamese restaurant. It’s just your typical pho restaurant in a new building that charge you higher price. The poor service is definitely a downside that hit this restaurant hard. After all, why would I pay to be treated like I did if the food did not even attract me that much? For $20 per person, The Viet Noodle Guy is way too costly for what they have to offer. Not recommended.
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.
HouCaiLei is an artistic tea house perfect for hipsters. The interior is very beautifully done. Everything from this tea house are beautifully done. It’s a perfect place to spend an entire afternoon, but I hope there are more seats. It cost about $6 per person. The drinks are a bit on the sweet side, but they can be customized.
I am a firm believer that the pho special in a Vietnamese restaurant is the best indicator to see if the restaurant is good. The pho special usually have a bit of everything they offer. I would use this to find out which ingredient is better at this restaurant. The soup was very hot. It is perfect to cook rare meat. After cooked, the meat was quite tender. Other ingredients that are good include beef brisket and tripe.
Dolpan Seoul BBQ has good customer service. The ingredients look fresh and beautiful when they are raw. I like how I can enjoy the company of my friends without having to cook my own Korean BBQ. For $50 per person, it is very expensive. I hope they can pay more attention on the cooking because over-cooking these beautiful ingredients is such a waste.
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 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.
For $9.99, you get quite a bit of Xiao Long Bao in the plastic box. You can clearly see that these buns are made by machines. I agree these are not authentic Xiao Long Bao. I see them as tasty emergency rations when I feel lazy to go out. I cannot recommend this to everyone because they fail as Xiao Long Bao. If you add on the convenience factor, but they are not bad.
Martini’s is a bar-restaurant. They have been around for a long time. To be honest, this was my first visit. I was a little shocked at their operation. The food is definitely above average bar-restaurant. The drinks selection is not as wide as most craft beer places. However, they are solid on the price, service, and atmosphere. It is no coincident that Martini’s is still one of people’s go-to bar. Definitely recommended, especially on Wednesdays.
