Quick Bites at Tapioca Express
My parents and I weren’t too hungry and wanted some quick bites before we braved the Olympics crowd. We went to try one of the newer places around my hood, Tapioca Express.
It’s actually a chain in California and now has 2 locations in BC. The idea of a Taiwanese Bubble Tea chain from the US and being in Canada…doesn’t seem to make sense to me. With this type of restaurant and its popularity in the Greater Vancouver area, I don’t think one needs to be a franchisee in order to do well. But I’m guessing it has something to do with ease of start up and costs.
As outlined on its sign, it’s a casual Taiwanese style cafe that serves ‘Tea, Coffee, Meals, Snack, Juice’. It’s a small place with about 10 tables and looks like one of those joints where youngsters go play Big 2 while slurping their bubble teas. For a tiny cafe, they have a surprisingly lengthy menu of different types of noodles, rices, stir fried dishes, and meal combos.
My parents shared a fried rice which looked similar to the ‘yang chow’ or western fried rice (chopped bbq pork with mixed vegetables)
It was a bit on the greasy and peppery side for me but I liked the ‘home-cooked’ taste of it.
I ordered the simple Taiwanese noodles. I’m not really sure what the proper name is but it’s noodles made out of green bean (cousin of red bean) flour.
It was served in this cool looking aluminum steel bowl on top of a wooden frame. The noodles are very similar to glass noodles but thicker and served with tofu puffs. The soup was very light but also on the overly peppery side.
Tapioca Express is a nice addition to the area and helps diversity my food choices if I’m too lazy to venture further than 10 minutes from my place…. or if I’m having a major bubble tea craving
Tapioca Express
1438-8388 Capstan Way
Olympics Edition of Best Dressed List
This Olympics has been the games of fine tuned athletes, high octane competition, and stylish sporty fashion statements. In the spirit of Winter Olympics, I picked my fave outfits worn by our noticeably good looking fans and competitors. I’ll leave the Worst Dressed to the Oscar folks.
First off, our highly coveted Canada winter gear which has solicited long lineups at the Bay and near violent showdowns for a hoodie
I thought the Russian team looked pretty good too stepping into BC Place
Compared to the overly bedazzled outfits of men’s skating, some of the girls took the simple elegant route….just like skating phenom Kim Yu Na
Our newly minted Canadian darlings, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, looked like a dream on ice
And the pants that stole the limelight
It wasn’t some model who brought these outfits to life….these were worn by admirable athletes, proud Canadians, and smiling visitors to our fair country.
Tempting Tempest Steakhouse
It was the afternoon of the first Canada vs US hockey faceoff. We were running around mad fruitlessly trying to find a spot in downtown and Yaletown. These areas weren’t my first choice by the group of friends wanted to give it a try…and logistically it was maddening in trying to figure out where everyone was. With just us 2 girls left to our own devices, I turned on my mental restaurant gps and then made a mad taxi dash to the SOMA area.
After jumping from one restaurant to the next, we lucked out and found a small steakhouse that still had some spots.
Tempest Steakhouse is a small place right at the corner of Main and Broadway. Even though that night there was a mix of people, I could tell most days it would have an older clientele…guess due to the simple old fashion atmosphere and decor. We sat ourselves at the bar where we had prime viewing spots of the large screen at the back and the multiple tvs at the bar. The menu selection isn’t too lengthy but it has different dishes compared to a standard steakhouse. The Blackened Halibut Fingers (Tomato, Sweet Pepper & Chillies with Sweet Potato Fries and Chipotle Mayonnaise) jumped out at me so we ordered that as our appetizer.
I was expecting a platter of finger food but it was definitely a dish that needed a fork to consume it. The heavily seasoned halibut was covered in a strong tomato stew-like sauce. The flavours were quite piquant and overwhelming. The yam fries were really good though and probably the best I ever had.
To offset the heavy appetizer, I decided to order the Roasted Ruby Beets and Spinach salad (Vinaigrette of Double Smoked Bacon and Reduction of White Balsamic, Goat’s Cheese, Fresh Basil, Baby Spinach) with grilled chicken. The filet of grilled chicken was surprisingly tender and lightly seasoned. The salad itself was simple but I liked the touch of the roasted beets with goat cheese.
My petite friend picked the 8.5oz. Filet (served with Choice of Mashed, Baked Potato or Grat in of Potatoes & Goat’ s Cheese Seasonal Vegetables or Creamed Corn). The meal was probably half the size of her.
I couldn’t believe she nearly finished it. I had a few bites of it and the steak was nicely done for medium rare.
If you want a low key place to check out the rest of the games, and have some robust food to go with the beer chugging, give Tempest Steakhouse a try.
Tempest Steakhouse
2470 Main Street
Casual HK Cuisine: Ho Yuen Kee
Undoubtedly Richmond is the go-to place for Chinese cuisine especially Hong Kong style casual Chinese food. There are a few notable ones around Vancouver (or at least well known with the local folks) like Congee Noodle House. But there are a a few hidden of hidden gems that serve quality Health Board approved foods like my local joint Ho Yuen Kee.
And you know it’s a decent place to go to when you see lineups every weekend during lunch and dinner times.
Ho Yuen Kee serves up traditional Chinese style comfort dishes like congee, rice and noodles. And at nights, you will find surprisingly high quality unique items like dungeness crab, peking duck, their signature lobster cooked fried rice, and ginger flavoured silken tofu dessert. A couple of these dishes have been featured in magazines and won awards.
Like its surrounding family friendly neighborhood, the medium sized restaurant is low key and its interior reminiscent of a classic restaurant in Hong Kong.
We arrived there after the lunch rush so we immediately got a table. We didn’t order anything fancy and chose the basic noodle soups. My friend picked the classic wonton rice noodle soup while I went for the ‘parts of a cow’ one. Hey, I was raised to eat everything so I wasn’t squeamish in slurping up a bowl of tripe, brisket, and tendon. I prefer the rice noodle over the regular one because I find it more comforting to eat and a bit tastier. Even though you must have extreme chopstick and spoon coordination skills to eat it and not have half the soup splashed on you.
The wontons are handmade and packed with pork and shrimp. Just having the wontons would have been a filling meal.
My bowl of cow parts was a joy to eat actually. I haven’t gone to a HK casual dining establishment for awhile so it was a treat.
Both noodles passed my m.s.g. test ie not heaving and feeling nauseous. I’m actually sensitive to m.s.g. so if there is too much of it in the food I feel queasy.
To balance our rather carnivorous meal, we added a side of stirfried garlic peashoots.
I found it to be to on the salty and over garlicy side, and didn’t think it was worth the $8.99 price tag.
For 2 bowls of steaming noodle soup and the peashoots, our bill came to $20….which is actually a bit more than what I expected for HK casual chinese meal for 2.
Ho Yuen Kee has been a popular spot in the Sunset area for many years, and still surprisingly a hidden gem in the city. For late night munchies, this is also a great place for midnight greasy goodness such as deep fried tofu, fried soy noodles, & deep fried silverfish (notice the theme here)
Ho Kuen Kee
6236 Fraser St
Below Par BBQues Grill Yaletown
I’ve had an eagle eye view of the progress of BBQuest for the last few months. And even from where I sat, I saw the slow and disorganized development of the restaurant.
(photo courtesy of @iyaletown)
For awhile even the sign changed a few times with graphics and words dropped or added. And for the longest time, it looked like it was on the verge of opening but didn’t. I did not see any PR about its opening such as articles or write-ups on one of the well known local food editorial sites. When it finally opened right before the Olympics, it was without much fanfare.
I always try to give a place a chance so when it was lunch time I suggested to my coworker that we check it out. It seemed like a good idea since it was sunny and we wanted to watch skiing on their outdoor tv while sitting on the patio.
Their menu wasn’t lengthy as I expected it was created for the Olympics weeks. It had a selection of the traditional BBQ fare such different chicken, salmon, and ribs with a choice of sides like coleslaw, roasted vegetables, and salad. My coworker and I both went for the pulled chicken burger.
When our plates arrived, at first glance, I was not impressed; quoting my coworker, ‘it failed the bun test’. The sesame bun looked like it was the type you would get in bulk at Costco…generic. The whole burger was a sweet slobbery mess. The chicken didn’t taste at all like it was from a bbq and the sauce was overly sweet. And we were baffled why they layered it with coleslaw…which was one of the sides anyways. The coleslaw and sugary sauce completely covered the flavour of the chicken. I wished it included some sort of vegetable in it like onions or lettuce instead. Quality of the side-salad is also a big factor for me when it comes to a meal..and they used the standard boring rough chopped romaine, tomatoes, cucumber, and carrot.
It took awhile before our meal came but I felt more sorry for the other customers. One table sat down way before us and they were still waiting for their food while we were almost done with ours. I do give some credits to the wait staff as they seemed keen and friendly, and would keep apologizing for the lateness of the food.
My coworker comes up with the best lines…so quoting him again “it would be stuff I would make for my family”. Even though BBQues is only a 5 second walk from work, I doubt I will go back again…I’ll just invite myself to my colleague’s backyard bbq parties.
BBQues Grill
1043 Mainland
