Marble Slab Creamery - Passion Fruit Pearls

Restaurant: Marble Slab Creamery

Cuisine: Ice Cream

Area: Vancouver, BC

Address: 541 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent

Food: 2.5

Service: 3

Price: Expensive

We were suppose to go to Downtown Vancouver on Friday but the weather network side it would rain that today, we listened to it...BAD IDEA! It did not rain AT ALL!! After waiting for like 5 hours to see if it would rain, we went to West Broadway to have a little walk while our dad went to the dentist around that area. It was burning hot (well at least to us) with no clouds in sight, luckily we found a ice cream store! It was Marble Slab Creamery (in case you hadn't noticed yet). We always wanted to go to Marble Slab but we never had a chance and we thought it was expensive too. Marble Slab (for anyone who doesn't know) is where you can choose a flavor of ice cream, and then you choose what you want the ice cream to be mixed with (like smarties, white chocolate etc). And then they mixed the topping and the ice cream together using a spatula in a stir fry sorta way.

On the table: 

 We got a a ice cream to share, we didn't want to buy to much because we still have a whole box and bucket full of ice cream in our freezers that we need to eat.

 Medium Green Tea with Passion Fruit Pearls

 The Green Tea Ice Cream wasn't anything really special, it was just green tea ice cream that could use more green tea flavor, I couldn't taste any. The pearls on the other hand was amazing! The moment you bite into it, it bursts into your mouth with passion fruit juice! The passion fruit it sweet and has a lot of passion fruit flavor in it.

The service is good, the employee answered all our questions about the product and promotions. The ice cream is average and the mix in is nice. We are not too sure if we would come back considering the price and how the ice cream (without the mix in) is something you can get anywhere. But if we were craving for the passion fruit pearls we would definitely come!

Faubourg

Restaurant: Faubourg

Cuisine: Parisian

Area: Vancouver, BC

Address: 2156 W 41st Ave, Vancouver, BC

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent

Food:5

Service: 4

Price: Fair 

Sorry we didn't post anything for a long time! >.< We been so busy! Studying for Provincials, birthday parties and random life events...Anyways we didn't really have a chance to go out and eat...mainly because we were broke. But finally our mom decided that we should have a girls' day out and go out and eat! YAY! FOOD! And since I (Grace) had a orthodontist appointment in Kerrisdale at 1:30pm we decided to go there for lunch. We had a hard time to chose what to have for lunch but we finally decided that we wanted to go to Golden Ocean Sea Food Restaurant because our mom wanted to eat dim sum and since she was paying we were happy with anything. There was nothing really special about the restaurant, all the food was average (we'll post about it later but first I want to do Faubourg). I then had my orthodontist appointment and when I finished, we (Faith and I) were craving for sweets. Even though we were still really full from lunch, we still wanted some dessert, sometime I think we have a separate stomach for desserts, I wouldn't be surprise if we did!

Since my orthodontist was like practically in front of Farbourg and Faith and I have been wanting to got there FOREVER and our mom happy to comply with us, we went.

Faubourg is a coffee/bakery/pastry shop that specializes in Parisian baked goods and desserts. Inside, Faubourg is divided into 2 sections, the coffee shop and the bistro. They offer pastries, breads, sandwiches, drinks an high tea. Because Faith and I had to wrap some birthday presents for another set of twins, we had to take out the things we ordered but even if we wanted to stay and eat we couldn't because there wasn't any room!

On the table:

 Faith and I had been wanted to eat the Lemon Tart ($5.00) because we hear how good it was and that it was their best seller and most famous.

 The Lemon Tart was delicious! The pastry is basically rich, smooth lemon curd on top of a vanilla milk foam in a thin crisp tart shell with pearl sugar lining around the sides and a mini chocolate plaque on top. Personally we don't really like lemon based foods but this was really good! The curd was tart yet has a sweet after taste with a strong taste of fresh lemon! The shell was crispy (we were hoping for a more flaky butter shell) and thin and had a slight vanilla taste to it (it had real vanilla beans in the shell) , it was also a little hard to break. The foam was spongy and moist. The pearls added a nice crunch to it.

 I really wanted to eat blueberries so we got the Blueberry Tart ($5.50). Faith and I also really wanted t o try the White Chocolate Raspberry Bavarois but raspberry make me want to throw up somehow...that makes me miss out on a lot of good food.

Anyways the Blueberry Tart (sorry for the unappetizing photo there) is a vanilla custard in a thin, crispy shell just like the lemon tart with a load of blueberries on top. The blueberries were really fresh and sweet with some sour ones but mainly they were sweet. The custard was fabulous! It was so good! We could have eaten like 50 of these! It was fresh, rich, creamy and smooth with a real vanilla beans as a flavor in it! The Blueberry Tart was our favorite out of the two!

We would definitely come back to try more delicious desserts! Service was good, they answered all the questions we had on the desserts and everything they made was up to our expectations! They're also located near us so we'll definitely come back for more goodies!

What8ver - Toast Box

Restaurant: What8ver Cafe

Cuisine: Taiwanese

Area: Richmond, BC

Address: 1108 - 8328 Capstan Way, Richmond, BC

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent

Food: 4

Service: 2.5

Price: Fair

After we went to Deer Garden, we went around Richmond for a while before Toast wanted to eat the Toast Box Faith and I always talk about since the first time we went. So we went to What8ver Cafe in Richmond. What8ver Cafe is a really small cafe in Union Square (near Yaohan), the same square with Bubble World. What8ver is famous for what else? The Toast Box! Though it's not on the menu, they have 3 flavors, Strawberry, Matcha and Original. They also serve bubble tea, some Taiwanes snacks, sandwiches and desserts. Also on the weekends they have a time limit of 90 minutes. The thing that we both really like about this restaurant is that the HST is included in the price they put on the menu so you know what you're paying for.

On the table:

Since Faith and I were really full, we decided to share a drink. We got the Mango Milk Tea ($4.25)(Middle). It was a average mango milk tea.Toast had the Osmanthus Flower Milk Tea with Half Pudding and Half Pearls ($3.75 +1.00)(Left). It had a nice, strong tea flavor that we liked. We found the pearls a little too hard and the pudding had no flavor.Matcha had the Almond Milk Tea with Pearls ($3.75 + 0.50)(Right). The almond milk tea tasted like almond extract, it had a pleasant taste to it. Matcha really liked this drink.

The Matcha Red Bean Toast Box! This toast box came with red beans, custard cream, matcha ice cream and cereal on top of the matcha ice cream.

Inside the toast box were bread sticks coated in sugar and honey.We found the sticks a lot better than the first time we had it, it was a softer and easier to eat. The actual box wasn't covered with anything so it was quite plain, we did not eat the outside of the box. The red beans were soft and smooth and there was a lot of them, they weren't too sweet and we really liked them. The custard was just custard, there wasn't really a flavor to them but it was a nice contrast to the sweetness of the whole box. The matcha ice cream had a strong, good matcha taste to it and was also a nice contrast against the sweetness since it wasn't so sweet. We thought there wasn't any point to the cereal at the top of th e toast box, though it was a nice decoration it was not necessary.

Last Time:

These are the food Faith and I got the first time we were here at What8ver Cafe. The first time we came it was crowed! But luckily Faith and I got a seat in 5 minutes, some people had to wait 30 minutes!

 

 Of course the first thing we got was the Strawberry Toast Box ($9.99). The strawberry toast box consisted of strawberries around the box. Custard Cream at the corners of the box, strawberry ice cream at the top with strawberry sauce on top of it, it also had rice krispy (?) at the top of it. On the top of everything is had a piece of chocolate (white) on top of the ice cream.

The toast sticks inside the box was a little too toasted, making it hard. It was coated with sugar as honey (like every other box), the sticks was also a dry so we had to drink a lot of our drinks as we ate the toast box. The custard cream was just custard cream and the strawberry were sweet. The ice cream was good, it had a strong strawberry taste but it wasn't too sweet, the sauce was average and the chocolate was good.

 For drinks I got the Sweet Red Bean Milk Tea (4.25) (Right). This drink was basically milk tea with a lot of little small pieces of red beans inside of it. It came in a jug and was a really large drink , like 2 to-go cups, it was worth the money. I really liked this drink but as I was at the bottom of the cup, I got kind of tired of it. Faith got the Milk Tea ($3.50) (Left). So she also really liked the drink. The drink had a stong tea flavor to it that we really liked and wasn't too sweet. It was also in a jug. 

We would totally come back to What8ver Cafe to try their other Toast Boxs! It's a great place to just hang and eat with your friends even though it was a little cramped. The bubble teas are good but it depends on what you get. Some of the bubble tea, like the mango bubble tea, we thought it was expensive and average. The service is a hit and miss, sometimes they are very attentive and sometimes it takes a while to get their attention. But we would definitely come back with some friends!            

 

Deer Garden 鹿園魚湯米線 - Delicious Noodles

Restaurant: Deer Garden 鹿園魚湯米線

Cuisine: Chinese

Area: Richmond, BC

Address: 8580 Alexandra Road, Richmond, BC

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent

Food: 4.5

Service: 3

Price: Cheap

Friday was a Pro-D Day for our school <3

We decided to do our "Sibling Bonding Day" on that day, though it really just a excuse to go out and eat with our brother paying! Free food <3 My brother also promised his friend that he would take her out to eat as a birthday present. So on Friday we set off with my brother (we'll call him Toast) , Faith, Toast's friend (we'll call her Matcha) and me. Faith had been wanting to go to Deer Garden Signature in Richmond so we decided to go there. Deer Garden is a popular Chinese Noodle House in Richmond. They are known for their "build your own noodle bowl."

The restaurant was almost impossible to find. The GPS was no use in this situation >.<

By the time we were able to find the restaurant, it was packed! Lucky we anticipated this and made a reservation! And just as we went in a group of people were leaving so we got a table really quickly. Always make a reservation here if you come in during lunch time/dinner time!

 

The menu to build your own noodle bowl.

On the table:

The noodles all cost $7.95. They come in big bowls! Faith and I couldn't finished the noodles off, we tried though but couldn't do it so we had to take out the leftovers. Toast and Matcha was able to finish it all up! Matcha was the first to finish, we almost couldn't believe it! That girl sure can eat! LOL that's why we like her :) Anybody who can eat is our friend :)

Faith ordered the Laska Soup with Thick Noodles, Homemade Cuttlefish Balls and Beef Brisket. It came with a lot of cabbage, green onions, mushroom and bean curds. The laska soup was good, it was flavorful and delicous. It tasted like curry. The thick noodles was just like the noodles that you get with Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup. It was Al Dente. The homemade cuttlefish balls Faith's favourite in the whole meal, it had a lot of small little cuttlefish in it and was pretty big. The beef was big but average.

I ordered the Orignal Fish Soup with Vermicelli, Beef Tendons and Pork Intestines. The soup also abundant amount of cabbage, green onions, mushroom and bean curds. It also had a sprinkle of parsley on top. The mushrooms and cabbage were tender. The soup I fond was a little too bland for my tastes. The noodles were average, a bit bland. The bean curds were good and soft. There was a good amount of pig intestines, they were a little bit too chewy but good. The beef brisket was soft and there were a lot of beef tendon. They defiantly don't skimp out of the meat!

Toast also had Original Fish Soup with Vermicelli but for the meat he had Beef Tendons and Beef Brisket. He liked everything especially the meat.

Matcha, like me, had the Original Fish Soup with Vermicelli but had Fish Tofu and Sliced Beef. She really liked the noodles and finished the whole bowl!

We also had 2 side dished that cost $1.75. They were Pan Fried Fish Puffs and Deep Fried Pork Chops. The Pan fried fish puffs were pretty good, they were soft and came with a sweet and spicy chili sauce. Faith really liked the sauce. The deep fried pork chop were fried too long, making it dry and hard to bite into. It came with tarter sauce.

Drinks were also included in the price but only if it was hot. Cold drinks cost a extra $1 and drinks from the special menu cost an extra $2.

 For drinks Faith and I had the Hot Hong Kong Style Milk Tea, it came unsweetened, we found it tasted kind of bitter since we preferred our Hong Kong style milk tea sweet, we added like 8 packs of sugar each but no matter how much we put in, it didn't taste sweet at all. We left this drink unfinished.

 Toast had the Hot Almond Milk, it was basically powered almond milk you can get in a Asian Supermarket. Faith and I liked his drink more so we basically finished it off for him which pissed him off. Oh well...

Matcha had the Lemon Tea ($1). The drink was a nice cold drink. Matcha liked it but since we didn't try it, we can't really comment on it (we also forgot to take a picture of it >.<").

Overall we really like this place. The restaurant may be hard to find and may be crowed with a lot of people but it's worth it! The bowl of noodles are big and they aren't cheap with the abundant of ingredients they put in there!  The service is nice and fast but we wish that they could speak English because they  seem to be only able to speak Cantonese and we have no clue what they are saying every time they speak! But we would definitely come back! Of course we would make a reservation first though or else we have to wait like 30 minutes before getting a table!

 

Cake Ya - worth the drive?

Restaurant: Cake-Ya

Cuisine: Japanese Dessert

Area: Port Moody, BC

Address: 2415 Clarke Street

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent

Food: 4.5

Service: 4

Price: Fair-Expensive

One thing that I (Grace) hate about not being able to drive myself yet is that I can’t go to all the restaurants and bakeries that we want to go!! Cake-Ya had been one of the places that we really have wanted to go since like forever!! We been nagging and nagging my dad to take us there but he always responds like “it’s too far!” Finally today my dad said “let’s go to that cake place in Port Moody” We can finally go to the place that we could only dream of!!!!

Cake-Ya is a small Japanese bakery in Port Moody that specialized in Japanese homemade desserts. It is small bakery, well I couldn’t really call it a bakery it’s more like a kitchen with a glass case to display the desserts, which is run by 2 people. There is no seating area so you either had to eat outside, the car or the park. They are famous for their Japanese pudding so of course that’s what we got!

We got to Cake-Ya just when they opened so there wasn’t a lot out especially the pudding, we really wanted to try the matcha flavored pudding but they didn’t make them yet :( The service was really good, they were kind and answered all our questions and let us take pictures of the shop! They also let us sample some cheesecake, original and chocolate cake, they were really good!

On the table:   

Red Bean Daifuku ($1.00 each) we got this right when they made this because we came around 11:20 but we had to wait for 10 minutes but it was totally worth it for us! But our grandpa and grandma was saying how they can make it themselves and that it was expensive, than make it for us!! Instead of saying it!! >:( Anyways the daifuku was big and was filled with lots red bean! The mochi was chewy and soft. The red beans soft and a little chunky and it wasn’t too sweet like we find sometime in some mochi. They also gave us little bags to put our daifuku in.
 

Matcha Roll Cake ($6.00) the matcha roll cake was the favorite of the day! The roll was a matcha sponge cake with cream and red beans in the middle. The sponge cake had a strong matcha flavor that we really liked and it was airy, soft and moist! The cream was a little dense and clumpy, we wished it was a little fluffier also it wasn’t too sweet like some other places. There was a lot of red bean and it was really smooth and soft. We think the cake would have been better if there was more sponge cake and less cream.

 

For the pudding we bought 3 kinds. Original, Coffee, and Black Sesame.

Original Cream Caramel ($2.25 for one, $12.00 for 6). The cream caramel they make isn’t baked but steamed and it comes in a plastic cup. The original was creamy, silky smooth, and not too sweet and it also had an eggy flavor. We found it a little heavy and could have been lighter. I think we found it like that because we went too early and it might have been from yesterday or something like that. The caramel was at the bottom and it was a brown sugar caramel, it was more liquid like but was good.

Coffee Cream Caramel ($2.50 for one, $13.50 for 6). We couldn’t really comment about this since we don’t like coffee but our dad said it was good and had a lot of coffee flavor.

Sesame Cream Caramel ($2.50 for 1, $13.50 for 6) this cream caramel we got right out of the steamer! It was creamy and had a lot of sesame flavor. We can’t say too much about since we only got a bite out of it before it got gobbled up by someone.

Okinawa Shortbread – Black Sesame ($1.75 for a pack of 4 cookies). The cookies were really fine and tender and it was really soft and crumbly. It practically just melts in your mouth. It had a strong sesame flavor but not too strong to the point of overpowering. It was sweet and a dry just like shortbread cookies are. It was really good, the best sesame cookies we ever had.

Overall we really liked the place but we didn't think it was worth the drive. The food was delicious but you can get delicious food in Vancouver and Richmond too!  The service was really good and they answered all our questions and we got to sample some of the cheesecake and chocolate cheesecake which was delicious! Next time we would totally come to get some! We would definitely come back for the roll cake and the other pudding flavors but only if we’re in the area.