It was a lovely weekend afternoon when we went to Heirloom Vegetarian for brunch and was seated by the window with sun rays shining through. It definitely felt like spring time despite being February. My friend is vegetarian and luckily Vancouver offers many options including Heirloom Vegetarian.

The menu was decently big but not overwhelming. I chose a lunch instead of a breakfast option by opting for the Heirloom Grilled Cheese. I was a bit surprised that the grilled cheese came with different fillings, so it was more like a grilled sandwich with cheese.

Heirloom Grilled Cheese

Between the sourdough bread was aged cheddar cheese, grainy Dijon, tomato and arugula. On the side was a green salad thoroughly and sweetly dressed. The portion was pretty large and I found the meal very filling and satisfying as everything tasted fresh.

Service was friendly and they constantly refilled our water. The interior is bright and spacious with free WiFi. It is definitely a great place to catch up with friends or enjoy a solo brunch.

Heirloom Vegetarian interior

We were going to try Neverland Tea Salon but they didn't have space for us without a reservation so we walked down the street and found East is East. I have passed by this restaurant before, not quite understanding what cuisine it is. Even after eating here I can't quite pinpoint it but the menu said it's cuisine from the East.

Upon entering, we were given some chai to try which was made with milk and spices. They asked us which side of the restaurant we wanted to sit at because one side was brighter and one side was darker. We opted for the brighter side but it wasn't quite as bright as restaurants usually are for lunch hour.

I ordered the Mango Butternut Squash Rice Bowl with brown lentil rice. The first few bites of my rice bowl was delicious with chunks of butternut squash and a sweet mango puree sauce. When I got halfway through I found it hard to finish because it was like eating dessert (much too sweet!)

Mango Butternut Squash Rice Bowl

My friend ordered the Wild Salmon Rice Bowl with basmati rice. She had the opposite problem where her rice bowl was too salty. I suppose the food is just more heavily flavoured  here.

Wild Salmon Rice Bowl

All in all, it was a cool experience dining here with its unique ambiance.

Ox Tongue Tomato Baked Rice

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.

After walking past Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria on Italian Day I wanted to go back to try it. It's a chain store with restaurants in Alberta and BC. There were TVs on the wall and you can see the oven for the freshly made pizza.

I ordered a margherita pizzetta lunch deal which is only half the size of a regular pizza with a roasted tomato bisque. I thoroughly enjoyed the tomato bisque because it was creamy and I just love tomatoes. My only complaint is that it was not hot enough. The margherita pizza tasted good with a chewy crust, fresh tomato sauce and moderate amount of cheese. However, the crust in the middle of the pizza was slightly soggy and not firm enough to enable you to cut a slice and hold it up to eat. It would flop over. I've been to other great pizza places where it didn't flop over even on a thin crust.

Pizzetta with a side ($10)

Overall I'm still curious to try the other pizza flavours at Famoso and I hope the crust won't be soggy next time!

We were walking down W Broadway with no specific restaurant in mind when we walked past Bob Likes Thai Food. The small restaurant had a bar on one side and some booth seats on the other. When we asked our server, she said that Bob is just a name and not the name of their owner.

The pad thai came hot and had a good mix of rice noodles, prawns, tofu, peanuts, egg, bean sprouts and chives. The first few bites were delicious but the more I ate the more uncomfortable I felt. That was because the dish was too sour. The sauce was too flavourful and the sourness from a pickled vegetable in the pad thai was overpowering.

Pad thai ($13)

The masaman beef curry is made with coconut milk, tamarind broth, bay leaf, cinnamon, star anise, palm sugar, beef, potato and peanuts. The curry was very rich and aromatic without being too spicy. The beef was definitely overcooked and a bit tough to chew. The curry doesn't come with rice which you can order for an extra $2.

Masaman beef curry ($13)

We opted for the Thai iced tea with lime instead of with milk. It was cooling and refreshing but tasted very similar to sour plum juice. The taste is not for everyone so if you know you dislike sour plum juice then I'd suggest ordering the iced tea with milk instead.

Overall the flavouring of their food is quite strong but in general I had a good meal here though I'm not sure if I would return.

A friend found this place and invited me to come along to try and I'm glad I did! When I first entered Waffle Gone Wild I immediately compared it to Nero Belgian Waffle Bar in my head. The physical space was similar in size (small with the kitchen area at the store front and a few small tables further in). However they are not directly comparable because WGW has a more Asian twist.

The menu at WGW is less expensive than Nero and includes matcha waffles and drinks like bubble tea. You can see from the photos below that the presentation of the food is different too with WGW being more "cute."

We shared two waffles ($7.99 each): Japanese matcha waffle and Okonomiyaki waffle.

The Japanese matcha waffle came with a green tea ice cream mochi, strawberry, mandarin orange, red bean, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with matcha powder. The waffle itself had a sweet exterior and chewy interior. I thoroughly enjoyed this waffle because I love matcha and the bunny decoration was too cute!

Japanese matcha waffle

The Okonomiyaki waffle is something new that isn't common. The waffle was sweet and topped with crab meat, okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed, and bonito flakes. The side is a potato salad and three thin slices of apple. It was very yummy with a more solid texture than traditional okonokiyaki.

Okonomiyaki waffle

Overall highly recommend checking this place out! Service was prompt with refilling water and getting our order. I look forward to trying the other waffles on their menu!

Soho Tea Room was all filled up even on a weekday evening, so we had to wait around 15 minutes before we were seated.

Sweet & Sour Fish Meal: I ordered the sweet & sour fish meal which came with a bowl of white rice and two side dishes. The fish dish was pretty flavourful but a little bit too sour for my liking.

Sweet & Sour Fish Meal

Honey Toast Box with Condensed Milk: This toast box tasted better than What8ver. Each piece of bread inside the box was coated with honey and bread mixed with ice cream was delicious. The dessert wasn't too sweet and there was lots of it to share!

Honey Toast Box

Chocolate Lava Cake: This lava cake was baked too thoroughly, causing the middle to be only mushy and not melted chocolate lava. Despite the lost lava texture, the cake came hot and tasted strongly of ooey-gooey chocolate served nicely with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Lava Cake

Overall Soho Tea Room serves pretty good food, especially the desserts!

Ebisu on Broadway is a little hard to find since the front door is not on the sidewalk but it is only a short walk from the Canada Line and even closer to the 99 bus stop.

I went on a weekend evening with a large group at around 8pm and the service was slow. The server was not rude but everyone was inattentive and I had to ask twice before I got my cup of tea. The food also took more than 50 minutes to come. With the slow and inattentive service, I wasn't expecting great food from Ebisu but fortunately it turned out good.

Happy Hour menu is 7 days a week starting at 8:30pm. I wanted to try the raw oysters but they were out. We ordered three things from the Happy Hour menu: gyutan saikyo, dynamite roll and spicy tuna.

Gyutan Saikyo (not pictured): This dish was thinly sliced grilled ox tongue and it was only $4.95! Although the best ox tongue I've tried in Vancouver is still Maruchu, the one at Ebisu is a good deal and tasted pretty good. The meat was chewy and the sauce was buttery.

Dynamite Roll (not pictured): I think every restaurant makes dynamite rolls differently. At Ebisu, it was rice and seaweed wrapped around tempura shrimp and thin cucumber slices. The presentation was nice. I guess that's why the food took so long to come because the chefs were backed up on making the food look presentable.

Spicy Tuna: The tuna was chopped into small pieces and mixed with chunky spicy sauce over lettuce and julienned radish. It's a refreshing appetizer.

Spicy Tuna

Beef Carpaccio: Thin sliced beef Tataki and mixed spring greens, wonton skins, fresh mango, tomatoes served with carpaccio sauce

We ordered the Beef Carpaccio off the regular dinner menu because it looked so good when I saw it on a counter in the restaurant. The yellow heap on top are fried wonton strips, underneath is a pile of spinach and the raw beef surrounded it all. I enjoyed this dish with the raw beef texture, crunchiness of the wonton and freshness of the spinach all soaking up the carpaccio sauce.

Beef Carpaccio

Overall, I might visit Ebisu again on a weekday but definitely not during its busy hours where I will have to wait an hour for my food.

Sometimes I like to search up menus online before heading to a restaurant. Found out that Original Joe's has an active social media campaign across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram (use the hashtag #ojsmenu) 

I had a grilled chicken burger with potato and quinoa salad. Getting to choose two sides with my burger is great compared to other restaurants where you can only choose one or none. Some more sauce on the burger would make it juicier.

The best thing about this OJ location is probably its view. On a nice day the second floor view out the window shows off Vancouver's beauty. If only cables weren't in the way.

Instagram: VivienAvenue

Overall, it's a good place to dine with a big group.

Milestones Crossroads is conveniently located diagonally from the Broadway Skytrain Station so even though it was raining, I didn't have to worry about forgetting my umbrella.

The menu doesn't have that much variety and friends who ordered entrées said the food was all right. I really liked the two appetizers I tried though.

Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip: spinach dip, artichoke hearts, cheese, sour cream, salsa, tortilla chips. There were actually a lot of chips all dusted with a coat of salt and nicely striped to pick up the spinach dip. The salsa smelled fragrant to me, almost like a floral scent.

Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip

Calamari Steak Strips: thick sliced calamari steak, spicy andouille sausage tomato ragu, preserved lemon aioli. These were some of the best calamaris I've had recently (even compared to Greek restaurants). Probably because it was calamari steak, each piece was juicy and not dry at all. 

Calamari Steak Strips

Eating at Lin Chinese Cuisine and Tea House was an interesting experience because for the first time in my dine out experiences in Vancouver, we were the minority in a Chinese restaurant! As in, we were the only one of two tables of Asians at the restaurant that evening.

With that said, the food was all right and the menu items were more catered toward non-Asian diner's taste.

Xiao Long Bao: pork and soup inside of these steamed dumplings

Xiao Long Bao

Beef and green onion

 Rice cakes to me are like Chinese pasta. Each piece is so chewy and soaks up the flavour of the sauce. So of course the sauce makes a big difference on rice cake dishes, this sauce was probably a mixture of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and corn starch.

Shanghai rice cakes

The Beef Sesame Rolls rolls look like Subway sandwiches in the photo but they're definitely not. The "bun" part is actually a flaky pastry and the inside are cold cut slices of marinated beef and some green onion. I prefer beef rolls with warmed beef inside but this one was still pretty good.

Beef Sesame Roll

 The House Special Fried Rice was a bit on the oily side (for me) but there were actually more ingredients in it than I expected: mixed vegetables, shrimp, chicken.

House Special Fried Rice

After dinner, we headed to UBC's Chan Centre for Arts Last Lecture 2013 featuring Michaelle Jean. I was surprised by the number of people who didn't know who she is when I told them I was going to hear her speak. She was Canada's former Governor General and shared her life story from a child in Haiti to moving to Canada and building her career. As a Quebecois, she spoke French at the very beginning and throughout the speech, too even though all the French speakers in the room could also understand English perfectly fine. Well, that's Canadian politics for you.

Michaelle Jean

Sometimes taking photos of food annoys the people you're eating with. So I was relieved when the people I ate dinner with last night all whipped out their phones and snapped photos of their food.

I got a light dinner at Joey Broadway since we were going to dessert after.

Ahi Tuna Tacos
-4 mini tacos
-seared ahi tuna with seasame ginger coleslaw
-wasabi aioli sauce

The ahi tuna was bright red with the edges seared and served cold, there was no fishy scent or taste. The taco shells were petite, crunchy and the right saltiness. Even though the sauce name is wasabi aioli I didn't taste much of the wasabi and there certainly wasn't the wasabi sting. The seasame oil in the sauce overwhelmed all the other tastes but it matched the tacos well. In general: a fun eat!

Next stop was dessert at Cheesecake Etc. which I was always curious about!

Original cheesecake with raspberry sauce

I opted for the Original cheesecake which came with frothy whipped cream. I mentioned in a past post that I like cheesecakes that are thick and sticky which this one was the opposite. It was light textured but thicker than mousse cake. The cream cheese wasn't strong but it went well with the fluffy texture. I really enjoyed it! Plus an elderly man (the owner) came out to sing and play on his grand piano which added to the ambiance.

Original cheesecake