Dinesty Chinese Restaurant

Autumn is almost here/is already here, but I can still remember the heat in Vancouver this summer (someone told me the temp went up to 33'C one day!?). The worst thing is there isn't any air-con or fan in my house! So I tried to stay indoor as much as I could; it didn't have to be long, but just long enough for me to cool down a bit. In that case, being here at Dinesty is simple: I live near and it got air-con. But most importantly, it's the food that makes me wanna come back again and again! :)

Hong Kong-Loshan Snow Garden Restaurant

As I've mentioned in the last post, we actually finished celebrating my mom's dinner before heading off to Macau. There is always a "Restaurant List for Celebration" in our family, Snow Garden is one of them; we will have dinner here at least once every year for birthdays, festivals, etc. So, here's my last post on my Hong Kong trip this summer. Enjoy! :)

(photo taken by my sister)

Hong Kong-Lock Cha Tea House

My sister is a good party-planner. No matter its my birthday or her friends' birthday, she just knows how to give them an unforgettable birthday. Because of this reason, my dad and I decided to give not all, but most, responsibility to design a memorable birthday for my mom.

Well, the first surprise she gave my mom was flawless. She secretly booked a restaurant for lunch without telling my mom (and me) the location. Then in a sunny Saturday afternoon, she brought us to the...Hong Kong Park. What? A Park? Yes indeed, that was exactly my reaction. We would have our lunch in a park......with a restaurant hidden inside ;)

(photo from Openrice)

Hong Kong-Yung Kee Restaurant

August is a "big month" in my family, probably because it's the last month of my summer holiday so I need to play hard, but the main reason is because there are a lot of celebrations this month. For example, my sister and mom's birthdays; my sister's is on the 20th and my mom is on the 21st. How nice isn't it?
Okay, so here comes the downside. I need time to digest all the stuff I had in my sister birthday dinner before having another feast for my mom's birthday!

For my sister's birthday, we went to a well-known restaurant in Central (near Lan Kwai Fong)...ready to have another feast in August.

(photo taken by my sister, with her new camera)

New Town Bakery & Restaurant-Red Bean Bun Battle Cont'd #6

Finally. I've finally finished taking all the photos I need for this post. The first time when I decided to take some final shots of their steamed buns, I couldn't wait after I got the buns and started to put them into my mouth. The second time, I successfully took the photos, but deleted them by accident. Now, these photos are here. I can finally review on one of the best and one of my favourite bakeries in town :)

To read my previous reviews on other Red Bean Buns I've tried, click here (it also has all the links to other reviews).

Red Bean Bun Battle Cont'd #5

It's gettin' there, it's gettin' there. I think this Red Bean Bun Battle is going to an end soon. I want to try as many bakeries as possible before I (officially) start my summer vacation: a trip to Hong Kong.

These are the previous reviews of all the Red Bean Bun I have tried:
Maxim's at Richmond Centre-Red Bean Bun Battle #1
Red Bean Bun Battle #2 (La Patisserie, Michele Cake Shop, Wheat Garden Bakery, Langley Farm Market Bakery)
Red Bean Bun Battle #3 (Castle Cake Shop, Kam Do Restaurant & Bakery, Pine House Bakery at Parket Place, Regent Bakery)
Red Bean Bun Battle #4 (De Fresh Bakery at Empire Supermarket, Saint Germain Bakery at Aberdeen Centre)

So, here we go again! :) The first stop is the well-known Yaohan Centre.

Red Bean Bun Battle Cont'd #4

The Red Bean Bun Battle is back! Actually I tried all these buns on the same day, but I just tried to post them separately :P To read my first three posts, pleases click here, here, and here.

In order to find the bakeries in Richmond, I, of course, rely on Urbanspoon. However, sometimes I discovered some unfamiliar bakeries that I have not heard of or seen before; De Fresh Bakery is one of the examples.

Red Bean Bun Battle Cont'd #3

After visiting the bakeries around Richmond Centre and Lansdowne (posts here and here), I moved forward to Alexandra Road, of course.

The first bakery I saw is Castle Cake Shop. My impression to it was from my sister's piano teacher, who once recommended my sister to try their buns. It was still early in the morning when I still arrived, so the shelves were reasonably empty. Just when I planned to leave, the owner said all the buns were ready in the kitchen; they just didn't have enough time to pack them individually. Yum, sounds fresh to me. So there I got my red bean bun (again)! ;)

Red Bean Bun Battle Cont'd #2

Right after I finished the buns from Maxim's, I went to the small mall next to the Brighouse Station (where Shanghai House Restaurant and New Town Bakery are), and got another red bean bun from La Patisserie.

Maxim's at Richmond Centre-Red Bean Bun Battle #1

I know this may sound silly because this "challenge" is all about red bean, a.k.a. the insignificant food you see after having dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Yes I used hate red bean, but it has literally become one of favourite foods! Meanwhile, I have always wanted to try all (or most) bakeries in Richmond.

For that reason, I decide to merge these two things together, and turn it into a Red Bean Bun Challenge.

Mandala Iki Asian Bistro-Jap meets Chinese

Yesterday when I was strolling around Kitsilano, I noticed there were several restaurants that I would like to have a try. Originally, we planned to have dinner at Yuji's Japanese Tapas; however, they didn't open today (we did not know that untiil we had parked the car, LOL!). Disappointed enough, EU remembered that was another restaurant that had caught our sight. And so we walked along the 4th Ave, until we saw...

Your Dessert-From heaven to...disappointment

Last Sunday while having a wonderful lunch (as always) from Maple Castella (Past visits: here, here and here), EU spotted Your Dessert in the foodcourt. I've heard of it before but had never got the chance to try it. Given the fact that I'm a huge egg waffles fan, I decided to give it a try.

Maple Castella Bakery #3-Finally a savoury bread!

Okay, I admit I have cravings sometimes. I mean I have cravings for other food apart from Japanese food. Last week, when I was checking the Bakery List in Richmond from Urbanspoon, the pictures of Maple Castella came to my sight. Ohhhh, I was craving for its Pumpkin Bread for the whole night!

For my last two visits to Maple Castella, please visit the following links:
Maple Castella #1
Maple Castella #2

After having lunch today at about 2:10pm, EU and I decided to visit Maple Castella. Also given the fact that it's about 2pm, which is the time for the fresh bread loaves to come out from the ovens, we could not give ourselves a reason for not giving them a visit!

We only had a light lunch, so EU suggested to give their Pork Floss Bread a try. Since we've already tried the other two sweet bread loaves, so yea, why not?

Maple Castella Bakery
#1068-8700 McKim Way, Richmond BC

Ratings
1:Yucks! 2:Improvement needed 3:So-So~ 4:Good 5:Very good 6:Heavenly

Food: 6
Price: 5
Service: 6
Ambiance: n/a (It's a bakery)
Overall: 6

• Mon-Sat 9:30am-7pm (Except Thursdays) Sun 9:30am-6pm
  Closed on Thursdays
• Chinese/Taiwanese bakery
• Baked fresh daily
• Popular to Chinese
• Hole-in-the-wall; location is pretty hard to find.
• Except the flavoured bread loaves, other plain white bread loaves avialable as well.
• Other Taiwanese buns available
• Parking available
• If you want to dig in right after you buy the bread, there's a food court upstairs ;)

Pork Floss Bread-5/6

• $8/loaf ($4/half loaf)
• Other flavours: Taro, Pumpkin
• According to EU, their flavoured bread loaves are a bit more expensive than other bakeries.

• The loaf above was the middle section of the bread. Before I tore the bread into pieces, it looked simple to me. I was thinking: where's the pork floss?
• After I gently tore a pieces of bread, I started to see some brown pork floss coming out.
• The pork floss here wasn't the one I have had before. The typical ones are dry, but this is kind of moist and crumbly.
• Judging by the photo above, some of you may think there's not much filling. However, the pork floss is layered between each piece of bread! Yes, I mean layers. You see some pork floss, then a thin layer of super-soft bread, and then pork floss again. I love how they put the ingredients like that :)

• The bread was topped with some cheese which gave the bread an extra savoury taste.
• The bread itself was as fluffy and as soft as usual.

Even though the Pork Floss Bread tasted well in general, EU and I still prefer the sweet ones, especially the Pumpkin Bread! We like the chunkier filling and the stronger taste in the Pumpkin Bread.

Seriously, I always see their bread as "unbeatable" bread; they are really good. Make sure you give them a visit when you visit Richmond. They will never disappoint you ;)
(FYI: If you're aiming for their bread loaves, make sure you arrive there at about 2pm or give them a call to reserve a loaf!)

Japanese Waffle House-Ordinary name but surprising waffles

EU and I have been going to Burnaby Metrotown so often recently. However, we ususally go to Crystal Mall for lunch because they also offer a large variety of food and sometimes, we can discover something interesting, like this restaurant.

Maple Castella Bakery #2- The King of Bakery!

I always see there's a special connection between Maple Castella and me, maybe because my last visit was the beginning of my blog. And for some reason, EU was craving their bread recently because she always reminded me of their awesome Pumpkin Bread we had last time.

Originally, I planned to visit Kolachy Co. at downtown (because EU kept on praising how good their bun was). Unfortunately, right before we left home, EU found out that they don't open on Sundays. Disappointed enough, we decided to go to Maple Castella. We decided to call them to order half loaf of Taro Bread. It was 10:50am when we called, and they said all bread loaves would not be ready untill 2pm! AHA! Since EU was too desperate to try their bread again, we decided to have our lunch at 2pm today.

I was not really excited about Maple Castella's bread loaf, mainly because I've forgotten the goodness of their bread. But when I entered the store with that fresh bakery smell......"OH MY GOODNESS" again. We ordered half loaf of Taro Bread but decided to change it into Pumpkin Bread; however, we were told that the Pumpkin Bread would not be ready until 2:30pm. So since we have never tried their Taro Bread, let's give it a try!

Maple Castella Bakery
#1068-8700 McKim Way, Richmond BC

Ratings
1:Yucks! 2:Improvement needed 3:So-So~ 4:Good 5:Very good 6:Heavenly

Food: 6
Price: 5
Services: 6
Ambiance: n/a (it's a bakery)
Overall: 6

• Mon-Sat 9:30am-7pm (Except Thursdays) Sun 9:30am-6pm
  Closed on Thursdays
• Chinese/Taiwanese bakery
• Baked fresh daily
• Popular to Chinese
• Hole-in-the-wall; location is pretty hard to find
• Except the flavoured bread loaves, other plain white bread loaves avialable as well
• Other Taiwanese buns available
• Parking available

Taro Bread-5.5/6

• $8/loaf ($4/half loaf)
• Other flavours: Pork floss, pumpkin
• According to EU, their flavoured bread loaves are a bit more expensive than other bakeries.

• Unlike the Pumpkin Bread we had last time, this Taro Bread did not have much filling.

• The taro was not too sweet, but I didn't pay much attention to the filling (especially I didn't find out whether there were any taro chunks in it!) because I was TOO overwhelmed by the texture of the bread!

• Looking at the photos above, can you see how fluffy the bread is? It was super fluffy and soft!!
• Special texture, unlike the typical Chinese/Asian/Japanese/European/Western bread.
• A bread that doesn't taste like a bread, it's waaayyy fluffier than a bread.
• I think they are only available at about 2pm, so remember to make reservation.

• You can easily tear them apart, like a marshmellow!
• It was so soft that it couldn't even stand when I tore the bread in pieces.

• Despite the less filling, the bread was baked in layers (as shown in the picture above).

After finishing half loaf of Taro Bread, we were too desperate to want more! When I returned, it was already fully packed with people. I told the nice and always-smiling old man that I would like to order half loaf of Pumpkin Bread. Though the other young lady said it was not readied yet, he repeated my order and told the kitchen to have it ready...NOW.

Pumpkin Bread-6/6

• $8/loaf ($4/half loaf)
• With some pumpkin seeds on top.

• Can you see the steam? It was piping hot when they gave me!
• LOADED with pumpkin chunks! I am very sure that their pumpkin is fresh instead of the ready-made/canned ones.

• Have you ever seen the pumpkin filling in a bread has its skin on? No I have not. It may look weird or gross in the beginning, but it was very good (The one we had last time did not have its skin on, so we were shocked when we saw these.)
• The mashed pumpkin was naturally sweet. EU and I (especially EU) love it! It smelt sooo good when they gave us.
• Again, it was super fluffy and soft!

• The crust was soft and crunchy, but not the crunchiness you find in crackers.

After trying both flavours, EU and I prefer the Pumpkin Bread more than the Taro Bread. We love it so much and will surely come back for more! Hmm...I wish they have red bean flavor as well...

Bubble Queen #2

After visiting Bubble Queen on Monday, I have been craving for their Matcha Red Beans Egg Waffle lately! So...I decided to satisfy my craving tonight, with my foodie buddy, EU, again.

Bubble Queen
1200-8888 Odlin Crescent, Richmond BC

Ratings
1:Yucks! 2:Improvement needed 3:So-So~ 4:Good 5:Very good 6:Heavenly

Food: 6 (only based on their egg waffles; but I know everyone has a different taste on egg waffles)
Price: 5.5
Service: 6
Ambiance: 5.5
Overall: 6

• Mon-Thur 2pm-9pm Fri 2pm-midnight Sat 12pm-midnight Sun 12pm-6pm
• Cozy place; suitable for teenagers
• Super friendly and patient owner (Vivian)
• Large variety of drinks available
• Flexible choices
• Egg waffles (aka Bubble waffles), snacks, thick sliced toasts, casual meals and seasonal desserts available
• Many egg waffle flavours available (Is Bubble Queen the only restaurant to offer different flavours of egg waffles?)
• Magazines available (English, Chinese and Japanese)
• Free Wi-fi
• TV on the wall
• Dine in/Take out
• Popular to locals (esp. teenagers)
• Take-out menus are not 100% accurate; the menu they have is more detailed and has more choices!
  (For more detailed menus, please visit a little sweet treat for Eu)
• Limited seatings
• *Remember to check the pictures here and the white/glass board next to their counter! All the new flavours of both drinks and egg waffles are on the board!

We arrived about 5:40pm and we were the only customers at that time. The owner, Vivian, was not there, but there's another young lady busy preparing some batter. About 6pm, more and more people arrived and had almost filled up the whole store!

Blueberry Slush with Aloe Vera Cubes-5.5/6

• $4 ($3 for drink, +$1 for Aloe Vera Cubes)
• Made from frozen blueberries
• I don't think they blend in any ice. It's thick but not icy. I like it.
• I ordered "No Sugar Added", and they really did a good job on that :) It's 100% unsweetened (Well, I know some bubble tea places normally ignore this request).

• Loaded with Aloe Vera CHUNKS!

Matcha Red Beans Egg Waffle-6/6

• $3.50
• One of their new flavours
• Like last time, I asked for a thicker batter for this waffle. And the result...it was served warm, very chewy and very soft! It was very soft and chewy that I could gently tear them apart (see below photo)! I like the texture very much!

• LOADED with red beans!!!
• The red beans were not overly-sweetened.
• BOTH green tea and red bean flavour were there!
• With +$0.50 more than the regular ones, I think this is totally worth it.

(Image from a little sweet treat for Eu)

Oreo Cookie Egg Waffle-4/6

• $3.50
• One of their new flavours
• You can compare this egg waffle with the one I had. Apparently, this is harder than the Matcha one. I think it's a bit too hard and crispy for my liking, but EU likes it a lot.

• Same as the one I had, this was LOADED with oreo cookies!

*EU also ordered a Raspberry Slush with Aloe Vera Cubes, you can visit her blog for more info on that :)

Bubble Queen-Queen of Egg Waffles!

I have always been looking for the best egg waffle in Richmond. But after having the waffles from Rainbow Cafe yesterday, I am even more desperate to find one. EU has suggested Bubble Queen before, but due to it's odd location (to me), I have never got the chance to try their drinks and egg waffles.

Originally, we planned to buy a loaf of pumpkin bread from Maple Castella; however, all pumpkin bread were already sold out when we got there :( So, EU came up with a brilliant idea-go to Bubble Queen and try their egg waffles! Egg waffles? Sure, why not? ;D

Northern Delicacy-I LOVE Shanghainese delicacy!

EU was channeling a Chinese vibe last night. Knowing that I am a fan of Shanghainese cuisine, she decided to go to Northern Delicacy at Aberdeen Centre.

I've tried Northern Delicacy before and have introduced to EU for a few times. Since my comment is positive, she was excited to give it a try.

Rainbow Cafe-Waffles?

After buying a drink from Yellow Dots Cafe, we notice there was a long queue next door. They were waiting for the egg waffles from Rainbow Cafe.

I am a huge fan of egg waffles and have heard people saying Rainbow Cafe makes the best egg waffles in Richmond. For that reason, its egg waffles are more expensive than the others ($3.75/each if I'm right). Curious enough, I gave it a try last Christmas. So, any surprise? NO, not at all. The egg waffle was too crispy for my liking, and it was not chewy enough. The waffle was too thin for an egg waffle! I felt ripped off afterwards.

This time, EU wanted to try their waffles. So we chose Order #2, which is two waffles with fillings between them. However, we asked the lady not to put anything on the waffles because we wanted to try the flavour and texture of the waffles. Most importantly, we like plain waffles without the overly-sweetened sauce ;)

Chinese Cold Noodles-Let's Get Your Hands AND Your Kids' Hands Dirtyy!

As I have mentioned in the last Aunt Jemima Pancake post, it is fun (or even important) to encourage the children to cook. For example-case #1, you are stressed out in the kitchen because you have to cook while keeping an eye on your children; case #2, you want to develop your children's interest in cooking so that they can take care of themselves when they grow up. Most importantly, who doesn't like to cook with someone (e.g. friends and family, especially your kids) in the kitchen?

But I know everything has to start with a first step. Before jumping to those gourmet dishes, let's get started with some simple yet delicious recipes! :)

I have a cold noodle recipe which you can choose your own ingredients and combine them with Chinese noodles. You can either serve them cold or hot.

(Image from Serious Eats)

Chinese Cold Noodles

• Easy! This recipe only have 5 steps.
• A fun way for children to learn to cook
• You can use left-overs for this dish
• Practice creativity
• Can be very nutritious
• Can be a snack, lunch, or dinner

Ingredients:

• Chinese noodles 150g (any kinds of Chinese noodles are fine)
• Ham 80g
• Egg 1 whole
• Cucumber 150g
• Salt a pinch
• Oil 1/2 tbsp.

*You can add/change any ingredients you like. I've chosen ham, egg and cucumber which can give the texture to the noodles. You can add corn, carrot, asparagus, sliced mushrooms, chicken...anything!

Seasonings for noodles:

• Sesame oil 4tsp.
• Salt 1 level tsp.

*You can always change the amount added; this really depends on your personal liking.

1. Cool noodles in boiling water, drain, season well and chill.
2. Break and beat egg with a pinch of salt. Make a thin pancake with beaten egg and shred.
   
   *Key points to watch: don't overcook the egg! Watch the sides of the pancake, they will slightly curl up.
   
3. Clean cucumber, wipe with a kitchen paper and shred finely.
4. Shred cooked ham. (You can cook and shred all ingredients at this point.)
5. Serve noodles with all the ingredients you have prepared.
   
   *Children can design their cold noodles if they like :)

DONE! You don't need hours to prepare something delicious. This recipe only have 5 steps and only takes less than 30mins to cook. While you are enjoying the chewy cold noodles, I'm sure your kids have had fun as well.

So, grab your shopping bag and start your grocery shopping! Buy any kinds of ingredients you like. Got some left-overs? No problem. Reheat and shred them, then add to this dish. When you already have all ingredients, then you're ready to go! ENJOY!