5-Star Reviews

Editor’s Picks

Cheap Eats

Share Tea, Under-advertised bubble tea franchise in Vancouver

Aside from the things I have said about the bubble tea served in Share Tea, I quite enjoyed my stay here. I think that is the princess within me talking. The tea is actually not bad once you get past the sweetness. As long as I know the taste profile for Share Tea is over-sweetened, I can customize my drink according to my taste anyway. That is not a big deal. The $4.80 for a large cup of bubble tea is very affordable, considering other places are serving $7 per cup. I was also very happy that the credit card machine didn’t even have a tipping prompt. I would recommend Share Tea but perhaps ask for half sweet with extra ice.

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Meiji Milk Ice Bar

Biting into the ice bar reveals the consistent texture of the interior. I could feel the slight icy texture, but that actually provided a little bit of the refreshing sensation. The taste is wonderfully designed. This ice cream bar has a very rich taste of milk. The sweet taste is complemented by some savory taste to make each bite interesting.

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OneZo Tapioca, The worst bubble tea franchise in Vancouver

If the saying of “There is a reason for everything” holds true, then the purpose for having OneZo Tapioca is probably to demonstrate the absolute rock-bottom quality of a bubble tea. The $6.20 cost for a cup of bubble tea is way too high when the customer is getting powdered milk tea. You can get a cup of bubble tea with fresh milk and specialty tea leaves from other locations. I would definitely not recommend OneZo Tapioca. You can come here to check out how bad a cup of bubble tea can be.

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Kin Kao Thai Kitchen, modified authentic Thai food in Vancouver

Overall, I think Kin Kot is an above-average Thai restaurant. It cost us $35 per person because each main course cost about $20. I like how they are serious about spicy food. They are also comfortable spicy, with no chemical taste. I was sweating like a waterfall by the end of it, but the burning sensation did not linger to cause any discomfort in my mouth. I would recommend Kin Kot, but wouldn’t’ come here often due to the high cost.

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Sushi California Koreapanese Restaurant, A popular fake Japanese chain

Our server brought us tableware and tea. They are the generic plastic material with some graphic to resemble Japan. These tableware are light and feel cheap. It is quite fitting for the Sushi California to use these. They look Japanese, but cheap and lack integrity once you interact with it. I don’t understand how you can have a “Small Party Tray for 2” and give out 9 pieces of nigiri sushi. I mean… Who does that? Let’s not even talk about who gets salmon or the masago. One person is going to eat 1 sushi less and still fork out 50% of the price. This party tray should be called “The Breakup for 2” instead.

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Ham & Eggman’s New Brunch place in Vancouver

Ham and Eggman’s is a very new brunch specialty restaurant that just opened in March 2019. Contrary to other similar cheap restaurants with large portion, the food was very well crafted and have a high quality standard. The $15 per person price point is definitely worth it, even with the 15% min tips preset on the credit card machine.

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Weekend Tea, a bubble tea shop in Burnaby

Weekend Tea definitely used quality ingredients, but I think the cup is a little too small for the price they are charging. I have mixed feeling about this place and not sure if I should recommend it. Zang is a direct translation of “Dirty”. It is to resemble the beautiful exterior marbling of the brown sugar pearl milk in the clear cup. The cup size is comparable to Xing Fu Tang, both are quite small. This one at Weekend Tea cost $6.50, one size only. The milk came shaken. There’s no precipitation of brown sugar syrup at the bottom. I also couldn’t experience the warm and soft pearls. The drink doesn’t taste too sweet compared to many other brown sugar drink from other tea shop. The taste is a little boring at the beginning. Towards the end, the saltiness starts to shine through to give this drink a layered flavour. For some reason, the rim of my cup have some brown sugar syrup. Maybe this is what they meant by “Dirty”? My finger kept getting dirty from touching the rim. I had to go get napkin twice.

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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.

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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.

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