All Entries Tagged With: "Cake Meet"

Ebisu Japanese Restaurant on No 3 Rd and Ackroyd Rd, Richmond

Polly and I went to the Ebisu Japanese Restaurant for lunch during the Olympic weeks as we do not want to go to Vancouver with all the restricted parking. It’s kind of hard to find new dessert places too. Recommendations are most welcome. The only requirement is that it must open for breakfast or lunch at least.

The Ebisu Japanese Restaurant in Richmond is located in the Ackroyd Mall. There are two other Ebisu in Vancouver, Ebisu on Robson and another at West Broadway.

What brought me to Ebisu in Richmond is the above advertisement. I wanted to try their Izakaya items. But, unfortunately, the above are only available at dinner time. What a bummer.

Luckily, they have the lunch special going during our visits. It’s $2.88 per item, minimum order of 3 per person. Polly and I opted for the lunch special since they are light tapas.

Ebisu has clean lines and spacious setting. We were there at 11:30 am when they just open for lunch and I managed to take a photo without the crowd. It was quite full during lunch time. Most of them look like office workers. Service is prompt but not rush.

We ordered the miso soup for 50cents extra. The miso soup has generous amount of tofu and green onions. Just right for the rainy winter day when we were there.

We started off with Sesame Seaweed for appetizer. Love the crunchiness of the seaweed and the mild sesame flavour.

Next, we had the Chikuwa Cheese which is fish cake filled with cheese and deep fried. The melting cheese adds richness to the lightly crunchy fish cake. You have to eat this immediately when served.

The Prawn and Vegetable Tempura came with … More on following page. Click here to continue reading

Wicked Cafe on W 7th Ave and Hemlock St., Vancouver

Polly and I wanted to check out the street car installed for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic which travels between the Olympic Village Canada Line Station and Granville Island from Jan 21 to March 21.  So, we had our Friday cake meet at Wicked Cafe at 1399 W 7th Ave and Hemlock St., which is on the way to Granville Island.

It was a bright sunny day with some chill in the air. When we arrived at Wicked Cafe around 11:00 am., it was absolutely full house. We had to sit at the patio even though it’s a bit chilly. Fortunately, the sun was out and seated at the patio felt like a spring day.

Polly had a Latte for $2.90. It is very common for coffee shop to serve latte with some latte art. If you like latte art, check out this post and click on more for some amazing latte art.

I decided to have a Chai Latte for $3.55 since… More on following page. Click here to continue reading

Where Can We Find Shaobing in Vancouver?

This is a continuation quest for a reader, Michelle who wrote to me to find restaurants which serve Shaobing. I contacted a few of my Taiwanese friends and two of them recommended me to this place which sells traditional Taiwanese Shaobing. So, I made it a point to check out this place during my ladies meet day with Polly.

My Taiwanese friend, Emily told me that Shaobing stuffed with Chinese donut is a very typical breakfast item.

The place that my friends recommended is located on the second floor of President Plaza in Richmond, next to T&T Supermarket and across Aberdeen Center.

It is a stall at a small foodcourt. The stall name is Yung Ho Soy Drink. Apparently, this name is quite famous in Taiwan.

Yung Ho Soy Drink serves various types of shaobing, sweet and savory. Click on the images above to have a clearer view.

Without a doubt, I wanted to try … More on following page. Click here to continue reading

Waves Coffee in Steveston, Richmond

Polly and I resumed our ladies meet on Friday after a long winter break. It’s great to have some time off with a girl friend for girl talks.

Arkensen was not feeling too well that morning but he insisted to go to school. I told him if he is not getting better, he should come home and call me to let me know. So, I told Polly that we should go to somewhere in Richmond in case Arkensen comes home and I can get home quickly.

We ended up going to Waves Coffee in Steveston Village. This franchise coffee house began in 2005 at the corner of West Hasting St. and Richards in downtown Vancouver. The Richmond location is located at 12231 1st Ave, Richmond. There are 2 other major coffee chains in the near vicinity like Starbucks and Blenz Coffee. Canadians sure love coffee a lot.

Surprisingly, this place is very big. It has various types of seatings like sofas, counter seatings facing the glass wall and normal table seatings. They even have a kid table with kid chairs. No wonder, there are lots of toddlers here. We also saw some seniors, workers and people having a meeting here at the comfortable sofas. They offer baked goods, sandwiches, hot and cold beverages.

Polly got herself a Belgian Hot Chocolate. You have a choice of dark, milk or white chocolate. Polly opted for the dark chocolate. A small cup costs $3.89. I got something from the African Rooibos Tea section. The small cup of  Red Tea Latte costs $3.29. My homemade Red Espresso seemed to have stronger flavour than this.

We had three baked goods to share. The first item is a Cinnamon Twist. It is very flaky and … More on following page. Click here to continue reading

Yavis Club Cheesecake in Union Square, Richmond

It is great working four-day weeks for the rest of the year.

Well, my company is now forcing every employee to clear their accumulated vacation days by the end of the year, saying that if we don’t use it, we will lose it. I used to bring forward 2-3 weeks of accumulated leave every year. So in the effort to clear the days, I decided to take Fridays off for the last 7 weeks of the year.

I did not realize that Fridays are also Suanne’s Cake Meet day with Polly. Suanne was so sweet and decided to spend Fridays with me. So, to make it up to her, I told her I will be her Cake Meet date and we could go to visit the restaurants that are opened in the afternoon and evenings.

We went to Yavis Club which we heard so much of their cheesecakes. The Yavis Club is located in the Union Square (along Capstan Way) in Richmond.

Yavis Club is opened from 6PM to late on weekdays. On weekends, they open earlier at 3PM.

Nanzaro decided to tag along on our Cake Meet date. He is just bored to death at home because, well, he had been “discouraged” from playing the PS3 for some “transgressions” (to borrow the word from Tiger Woods).

The 2 year old Yavis Club is painted in a pleasant combination red, black and white with polished concrete floor. It is spacious in here but it also kind of dark.

The place is very much like a hangout for young Asian girls. We are about the only older customer there. Guys will not be seen in this kind of place if not for bringing their girlfriends here.

As for the menu, it does not have a lot of items but for each item, they have written a story behind it. The menu also described how Yavis came about and that the name is an acronym for “Young, Attractive, Verbal, Intelligent and Successful”. That acronym is based on the book “Psychotherapy: the Purchase of Friendship” by William Scofield.

Every cheesecake house is judged by how well they make their plain no-frills cheesecake. They name their cheesecake “The White Romance” ($5.25)

It was very good. It has the rich smoothness which melts in your mouth. Suanne loves this but I find it a bit too rich for my liking. It is presented with a flower made of fruity sauce outlined with chocolate.

Their other signature item is called the “Rainbow After The Dark” ($6.25). It is actually not a cheesecake in the true sense but instead it is … More on following page. Click here to continue reading

Steveston Cannery Cafe on Moncton St, Richmond

Polly had to drive her twin daughters to the Richmond Oval for a class field trip.  It’s almost lunch time before Polly and I met for our cake meet.   We had to go to somewhere nearby as we only have two hours before Polly have to pick her girls up from school.  So, we headed to Steveston Village.

We decided to have a light lunch at Steveston Cannery Cafe located at 3611 Moncton St.  The Steveston Cannery Cafe is a cute building with very festives decorations on it’s windows.  That reminds me of Christmas is coming soon.

The menu is written on black boards high above the counter.  It is a self service place.  You place your order at the cashier, pay for your order and pick up your order there and then.  It is a very down to earth family run cafe.

Since we wanted only light lunch, we had the Soup of the Day which is squash soup each.  The soup with a seedy roll costs $4.65.  You can just have the soup alone which costs slightly less.  The squash soup is slightly spicy with lots of pepper.  If you like squash soup, try out this Butternut Squash Apple Soup recipe.

When we entered the cafe, we saw one of the customer was having a cinnamon bun and who can resist a gooey cinnamon bun.   More on following page. Click here to continue reading

Pastry Club Dessert Cafe on W 41st Ave, Vancouver

When Joanne recommended the Pastry Club Dessert Cafe to me, I thought it sounds familiar.  Upon checking my list of places to go for cake meet, apparently it was on top of my list.  What a coincidence.  So, without further delay, Polly and I went to check out the Pastry Club Dessert Cafe in Kerisdale.  They are close on Sunday and the rest of the days, they are opened from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm.

Parking seems to be a problem here.  The servers keep watching out for the parking meter enforcer and we overheard them saying that the parking meter enforcer comes to check the meter everyday.  So, make sure you feed the meter if you park your car in this area.

Pastry Club Dessert Cafe is a small cozy neighborhood type of cafe.  It has 9 tables that serve 2 each.  During our visit there, we noticed that the servers know everyone of her customers except me and Polly.  When a server came to serve a customer seated next to our table, she predicted what the customer is going to order and said to the customer “something never change”.  That shows that the server really knows the customer well and the customer is a regular.

Polly and I were there quite early i.e. way before lunch time.  So, we ordered our regular coffees and desserts from the counter buffet.  Polly had latte while I opted for a stronger cappuccino.  The small coffees cost $2.95 each.

There is only one type of cheesecake that day which is Chocolate Marble Cheese Cake.  A slice costs More on following page. Click here to continue reading