I've spotted Marulilu Cafe before and thought it was a coffee joint but they actually serve all day breakfast as well! Its convenient location by the 99 bus stop and Broadway City Hall Station is definitely a plus.

To be honest I wanted to try Marulilu because of the matcha latte I saw on their menu online. The presentation was pretty with the heart shaped pattern. It was mildly sweet with matcha powder and mostly consisted of frothy milk. I wouldn't go to Marulilu just to drink this again but it was a good accompaniment to my breakfast.

Matcha latte

I tried the breakfast plate with waffles which included two eggs, two hashbrowns, four pork sausages, and a waffle. The hashbrowns and sausages are store bought so they will probably taste similar to some other breakfast joints.

Breakfast plate

 On the other hand, the waffle was made in-house. I prefer my waffles to be crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside but this waffle was simply soft throughout. It came with maple syrup and two large dollops of whipped cream - plain and chocolate. I've never had chocolate whipped cream come with my waffles before so that was a nice touch. Actually I exclusively used the chocolate whipped cream.

Waffle with breakfast plate

 Overall, the service at Marulilu was good but their breakfast plate was only okay.

Toe Dam Korean Fusion BBQ is located in a plaza with H-Mart and many other restaurants. Kim Yuna ate here when she was in town for the Olympics! On a weekday afternoon the small restaurant only had another table occupied besides ours.

We ordered a set lunch and an off the menu beef soup which was plenty of food for two people. The Marinated Pork with Spicy Tofu Soup set lunch came with banchan and two bowls of rice. The pork came piping hot which I enjoyed and was slightly sweet and mildly spicy. The plain rice tasted awesome after soaking up the sauce from the pork.

Marinated Pork

 The tofu soup was not that spicy either and came with cubes of soft tofu. I suppose it tasted underwhelming compared to the beef soup.

Spicy tofu soup

The beef soup was very hot (temperature wise) and pretty spicy for my low spice tolerance but it was delicious! There were glass noodles, strips of beef, egg and vegetables. It was a meal in itself with the amount of noodles in the soup.

Beef soup

Next time I really want to try the BBQ at Toe Dam because that is what they are famous for!

Sometimes I don't want to eat at Taiwanese restaurants because I know that I will want to order the fried chicken (which is temptingly delicious). I did just that when we went to Pearl Castle at Richmond Centre the other day. The fried chicken thigh was battered and flavoured with simple spices then deep fried to a crunchy goodness without losing the juiciness of the meat.

Fried chicken thigh (approx. $5)

Instead of traditional milk tea bubble tea I ordered the green lattea which I love. It is called different things in different restaurants but essentially it is tea with a layer of frothy cream on top. I added pearls to my drink which was green tea based. It is so delicious! You can drink it separately with a sip of tea and a sip of cream or mix it all together.

Green lattea ($4.95 excluding pearls)

All in all, Pearl Castle at Richmond Centre is often crowded and isn't a great place if you want to sit and talk for a while but it is definitely convenient.

Cumpari's Gelato and Caffe is across the street from Lougheed Mall. The interior is bright with round glass tables well spaced out on one side and an assortment of gelato and cake on the other. I don't drink coffee so I can't really comment on it but Cumpari's seemed to serve a good variety.

There were many cheesecake choices from mango to strawberry to pistachio. I finally chose a slice of Nutella cheesecake. The cheesecake was topped with a thin layer of chocolate and chopped hazelnuts. There was a graham cracker base and in between was the fluffy cheesecake. I enjoyed the texture of this cheesecake because it wasn't too heavy but you will definitely feel full after.

All in all it's a good place to enjoy dessert and catch up with friends, which many of the other customers were doing.

Enjoying brunch is supposed to be leisurely and the atmosphere at Catch 122 Cafe & Bistro captures that with its spacious floor and wooden tables. The service was friendly and the food was delicious just like all the positive reviews I read online.

The Dirty Breakfast: Bit of a funny name for a brunch meal but it caught my attention and it made my taste buds happy. It included duck fat toast, duck confit, sunny-side up eggs, house-made maple beans, and yukon nugget potato hash. The potatoes were crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside and I really enjoyed it compared to chopped potato wedges. The duck fat toast with duck confit on top was savoury with the toast absorbing the flavours. The only thing I didn't like was that the maple beans were too sweet for my liking. Albeit it is made with maple but the sweet taste stood out too much amongst the rest of the savoury foods.

The Dirty Breakfast ($12)

Braised Short Ribs Eggs Benedict: The hollandaise sauce is probably the highlight of this eggs benedict. It was the most buttery, smooth and aromatic hollandaise that I've tried in awhile. This dish included braised short ribs, poached eggs on english muffin and yukon nugget potato hash. Only one poached egg was successful as the other had a fully cooked yolk. That aside, everything on the plate was delicious.

Braised Short Ribs Eggs Benedict ($12)

Overall Catch 122 is a great place to dine with friendly service, comfortable seating, and delicious food. Plus the brunch portions are large enough to fill you up right through lunch.

Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant stands where Hon's Richmond used to be before it closed down. It is now a Chinese restaurant with higher menu prices and fusion interior design.

Deep fried fish flakes and radish ball: The presentation of this dish reminded me of takoyaki balls with the fish flakes on top. The balls are made of shrimp paste and shredded radish so you get the texture of soft radish between the chewy shrimp paste. I quite liked this and wish there was a dipping sauce to go with it.

Deep fried fish flakes and radish ball

Almond sticks: I don't remember the English name on the menu but direct translation from the Chinese name is Almond Sticks. It was oval balls of pork meat covered in almond slices and fried. The almond created a nice crunch and the pork retained its juiciness inside. This is a unique dish that I've never seen at other dim sum restaurants.

Almond sticks

Shrimp and matsutake dumpling: They say that you can evaluate if a dim sum restaurant is good by its shrimp dumplings. Although the previous two dishes were good, this shrimp dumpling was nothing special. The wrapper broke easily and the shrimp didn't have the bouncy texture of fresh shrimp. 

Shrimp and matsutake dumpling

Bitter gourd and chicken shreds rice noodles: This was another dish that fell flat. The rice noodle roll is made with bitter gourd juice so it tastes slightly bitter. It was over-cooked in the steaming process and broke easily. A well-made rice noodle roll would not break when holding it up with chopsticks and retain a smooth texture when you eat it due to the oil used in the steaming process. The dish seems to be creative but not well executed.

Bitter gourd and chicken shreds rice noodles

Baked egg white and cream buns: These buns are really good if you ignore the filling. The outside with the sugar and egg white coating is baked to crunchiness coating a soft layer of bun underneath. The filling of the bun is this white blob-looking custard that is bland. The coating outside offers the only taste for this bun which is slight sweetness and it was not even sweet enough.

Baked egg white and cream buns

Chilled osmanthus jelly pudding: This dessert looked the most different from its menu photo. The photo featured alternating layers of clear beige osmanthus jelly and opaque white jelly. As you can see in the photo below, it arrived as a much brighter yellow and there weren't any opaque white layers. Osmanthus (a flower) is fragrant and tastes excellent in jelly. However, this jelly offered only a mild osmanthus taste and slight sweetness at best. If it was more sweet it would taste more like a dessert.

Chilled osmanthus jelly pudding

Overall there are some unique dim sum dishes that you can try out at Chef Tony but at a similar price point to Kirin I would go to the latter for consistency in quality.

Coast offers happy hour or as they call it "Cocktail Hour" from 3-6pm daily. Appetizers are 50% off , some oysters for $1, and selected drinks are $5.

This promotion drew quite a crowd on the weekday evening I went and we were told we had to return the table within 1 hour and 45 minutes.

While waiting for our server to take our order, we were given a complementary dish to try which was like a fried dough ball with some shrimp paste inside. 

Complementary dish

The oysters were pretty fresh though I did feel some bits of shell in some of mine. There were no shell bits in the raw oysters I tried at Joe Fortes or Chewies. The sauce variety was lacking and weren't flavourful.

Raw oysters

The dungeness crab cake served with fennel salad had shredded crab meat and wasn't deep fried which I enjoyed. It was a bit delicate and broke apart easily under the fork but wasn't too salty like some crab cakes I've tried.

Dungeness crab cake

The garlic fried calamari with fresno chillies, cilantro and lime aioli reminded me of squid I'd eat at Chinese restaurants. The chillies added a hint of flavour without making the calamari spicy at all. Each piece was thoroughly battered and fried to crispiness. It's great for sharing!

Calamari

The bill came to $40 before gratuity and the seafood was pretty fresh. The dining atmosphere during Cocktail Hour was very rushed with our server forgetting to collect our menu after taking our order and having the oysters arrive last after the hot food. Overall I may visit again for the raw oysters and its convenient location.