There was a lot of hype about The BBT Shop located under Superstore in Richmond. The photos online of their bubble waffles looked good but there's room for improvement.

I ordered the matcha red bean waffle and took the photo from the nicer side. The bubbles on the other side of the waffle were dented and exposed red bean pieces due to lack of batter. There was only a slight matcha taste and uneven distribution of the small amount of red bean. It would have been nice if there was more red bean so that it doesn't taste like a plain bubble waffle.

Matcha red bean bubble waffle

The drink is a lavender hot chocolate and I couldn't finish it. It didn't have any chocolate taste and was much too sweet from the heavy dose of lavender syrup. We requested hot water to add to the beverage to water down the sweetness but it was still much too sweet to consume. They did offer to add more milk to the drink though, so if you're unsatisfied with your drink it seems that they are accommodating to fix it.

Lavender hot chocolate

Overall, I think there is potential for The BBT Shop as it was able to generate hype but they have to improve on the quality of their products.

Coffee Monster is only a short walk from Lougheed Skytrain station and various other establishments on North Road. There is free WiFi, including Shaw Open, and big windows to let in light.

Interior of Coffee Monster

 I didn't try any desserts this time around but there was a good selection.

Desserts

I ordered the passionfruit mango iced tea. On the menu it read "Iced Tea (real fruit)" so I imagined the drink would be seeped tea made cold with slices or cubes of real fruit in it. Turns out it was a well blended concoction of real fruit that didn't taste much like tea at all. I really enjoyed it because it was refreshing with slight tartness to balance out the sweetness.

Overall this is a great place to hang out or study, which we observed many of the other customers doing.

Meat and Bread is a place I have wanted to try for a long time and each time I went it was either closed or I didn't have enough time to queue. Now I've finally tried it! On a Saturday afternoon there was a queue out the door (of course) but it moved along pretty quickly and we were even lucky enough to get a seat by the window.

Roast Lamb
The special that day was Roast Lamb with fennel chutney, romesco sauce, and shaved cabbage. On the side is quinoa salad. The lamb was tender and I liked the romesco sauce, a nut and red-pepper based sauce, which is surprising since I usually don't eat red pepper but I wasn't able to distinguish it from the sauce. The quinoa salad was refreshing with crunchy cubes of carrot and celery all dressed in a semi-sweet dressing.

Roast Lamb and Quinoa Salad

Porchetta
This is the famous sandwich and while watching them assemble it in the queue, I looked forward to the crackling of pork skin that they incorporated into the meat. However, when I was eating the sandwich there was barely any of the crunchy pork skin. I suppose there just isn't enough to share among all the sandwiches! The pork itself was juicy and the salsa verde added more flavour in addition to the rub that the pork is roasted with.

To be frank, I didn't really like the bun. It was dry and on the tough side though I suppose it is good for keeping in all the ingredients and soaking up juice. I repeatedly dipped the bun into the mustard not because the sandwich lacked flavour but because I wanted to moisten up the bun.

Porchetta

Take a look at that yummy roast and the attached pork skin! It's a great view while queuing because it rumbles up your appetite.

Ox Tongue Tomato Baked Rice

Cheesecake

Fricassée Champignon

White Chocolate Pistachio Rose Water Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate

Waffle with orange marmalade

Date bar and hot chocolate

Interior of Bean Brothers Cafe

Matcha latte

Assorted baked goods

Tuna tataki set lunch with broccoli soup

Earl grey tea

Apricot bar

Interior of Doughgirls

Red Wagon Cafe is a small corner breakfast joint on East Hastings. On the sunny Sunday morning when we went, there was already a line up outside. We arrived around 10:15am and had to wait about 20 minutes before we were seated.

I liked the ambiance of Red Wagon with its wooden tables and relatively closely spaced tables. It seemed like a favourite among neighbourhood residents. Service was also efficient and friendly.

Pictured below is only half the portion of the Super Trucker. I'm glad we decided to split it because I could barely finish my half portion! The Super Trucker consists of two eggs, two pulled pork pancakes, crisp pork belly, potato, toast and we added their specialty, the Jack Daniel's maple syrup for $2.75 extra.

Half portion Super Trucker ($15)

This is definitely comfort food and I enjoyed it very much. The pulled pork was thoroughly marinated and paired perfectly with the fluffy pancakes. The JD maple syrup is not necessary but definitely added a fun element to the meal compared to the typical maple syrup taste. The pork belly was probably the highlight with its layers of fat and meat enveloped in the crunchy goodness of the burnt edges. Every part of the meal added together to form the ultimate comfort food combo.

Be prepared to wait to eat at Red Wagon, especially on a sunny weekend morning, but the food is worth it and I'd like to try the BBQ Brisket next time.

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.

Enjoy Cafe 1+1 is located in a busy Asian strip mall in Richmond. Although the restaurant doesn't serve the best food, it always has customers because if its good location and ability to serve a quick meal.

I tried the beef brisket curry rice. The curry wasn't bad as it was quite flavourful and not too spicy for me. There were beef brisket, potato, and green bell pepper pieces in the curry.

For a small fee I chose to upgrade my meal drink to Horlick with grass jelly. I like how the grass jelly makes the drink feel more refreshing. The texture of the jelly is interesting too.

Despite the name of this restaurant, I never quite reach the point of enjoying my meal here. It is more to fill my stomach when I feel hungry and then move on with my day.

Haroo changed their lunch hours again, now only open Friday to Sunday for lunch so when we went on a Wednesday afternoon it was closed. We walked next door to Deer Garden for lunch. All the tables were full when we were there but it didn't take too long until we were seated.

I ordered the noodle soup where you can choose the soup base, noodles and ingredients. The meal also comes with a complimentary drink which I added $2 to upgrade to a Red Bean with Vanilla Ice Cream drink. 

Here are the contents of my noodle soup:

Soup base - tomato and pumpkin

Noodles - udon

Toppings - fish fillet and beef slices

Overall, it was a large flavourful bowl of soup and the service was quick and efficient.

On a weekday evening, we were waiting in line at the Famous Warehouse but we didn't have time to wait much longer so we walked across the street to UFood Grill, a newer restaurant on the block.

UFood Grill

UFood Grill promotes itself as a place that serves fast food that is healthy and delicious. They call it "Un-Fast" food. In a bracket behind the prices on the menu it shows the number of calories in the food item for easy reference.

Chicken Curry Masala UBowl: chicken, curry masala sauce, cucumber, cilantro, yogurt, tamarind sauce

I really enjoyed this UBowl with the flavourful sauce, tender chicken and whole grain brown rice. I was surprised that it was presented so nicely on a ceramic dish with metal utensils despite being self-serve fast food. The sauce was a bit spicier than I expected but I don't have a very high spiciness tolerance.

Chicken Curry Masala UBowl

Chicken Tinga UBowl: slow-cooked chicken in adobo, sauce with tinga salsa

This dish was less hot than the curry masala and much spicier. It is served with the same whole grain brown rice and the chicken was like the texture of pulled pork.

Chicken Tinga UBowl

Fresh Blueberry Frozen Yogurt: I really enjoyed this frozen yogurt because it was blended with fresh blueberries as you can tell from the true purple/blue colour of the photo. It tasted so refreshing after the spicy UBowls, not too sweet and so creamy. Definitely will get this again!

Fresh Blueberry Froyo

Overall, UFood Grill was a surprise find and I appreciate a healthy food choice among all the unhealthy ones downtown.

Looking for some breakfast other than dim sum in Richmond, we went to Bob's Submarine Sandwiches. I knew that they served lunch but didn't know they were also open for breakfast. A Korean couple runs the store and all the condiments are placed on a table in the middle of the restaurant for self-serve.

Bob's Submarine Sandwiches

All the food below including two teas and a coffee only cost $14! Upon calculation, it seemed that tax and tips were excluded.

Steak, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Sandwich ($3.50): Solid sandwich with thin slices of beef and some juicy egg mixed with melted cheese. The beef was a little bit hard to chew but I'd rather that than overly marinated beef that doesn't taste like beef anymore.

Steak, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

Two Eggs Breakfast ($3.50): Bacon, sausage or ham with toast or hashbrown

For this meal, we got scrambled eggs, bacon and hashbrown. The hashbrown was on the cold side but the scrambled egg was pretty good.

Two Eggs Breakfast #1

Two Eggs Breakfast: For this order we got over easy eggs, sausages and hashbrown. The eggs came with the yolk already spilt and the hashbrown was slightly cold like the other breakfast set but it was solid food for the price.

Two Eggs Breakfast #2

Overall, with such inexpensive pricing I want to come again for lunch to try their regular sandwiches! Don't expect superb quality but you get what you pay for and you will be full.

I felt slightly strange that I didn't order chicken wings at Wings but I didn't feel like eating deep fried or bread coated meat so I ordered a chicken quesadilla instead. There are two things that I always can't help ordering when I see it on the menu: fish tacos and quesadilla.

The presentation of this one was pretty with green and red colours. Also enjoyed that they gave plenty of sour cream for dipping.

Chicken quesadilla

There was a good amount of cheese to hold everything together and nothing fell out which can sometimes be a problem when eating quesadilla. The chicken was slightly spicy and the tortilla remained quite soft instead of hard and crispy. Overall I liked it!