Trees Organic is known to some as the best cheesecake place in Vancouver which enticed me to try when I passed by it while in Gastown. The little shop's tables were all full with customers all eating their cheesecake.

I tried the blueberry cheesecake with high hopes and Trees Organic did not disappoint. This was a cheesecake texture that I have not tried before. It was more dense than Cheesecake Etc. but less firm than the typical New York Cheesecake. It was like firmer mousse cake which made it easy to consume. The cream cheese flavour was just right but the crust could be improved as it was too delicate and crumbled when the spoon hit it. Just personal preference that I like crust that supports the cake and stays together.

Blueberry cheesecake

Overall, although a bit pricey for one piece of cake I do like the cheesecake here and would visit again when I want to treat myself :)

We went to Hapa Izakaya on Robson during their Hapa Hour (5:30-6:30pm) and had such yummy food with great service! All the items on the Hapa Hour menu were under $5 including $1.5 each fresh raw oysters.

Beef Tataki: Lightly seared AAA beef, sesame chili sauce

This was like a Japanese version of beef carpaccio and tasted good in its own way. The sesame chili sauce was flavourful and mixed well with the fried onion pieces and raw beef. There is no cheese like in beef carpaccio.

Beef tataki

Ebi Mayo: tempura prawn, spicy mayo sauce

There were 6 prawns fried to crunchiness and generously covered in mayo sauce that wasn't that spicy. Very yummy appetizer to share with friends.

Ebi Mayo

Hanabi Roll: Spicy tuna, cucumber, wasabi tobiko, spicy miso

The Hanabi roll was one of the most fun dishes on the Hapa Hour menu because when it came, the server took a torch and blasted fire at our sushi dish! It didn't make the sushi hot like I thought it would but just added some crunch to the top pieces.

Hanabi Roll

Joyce Point Raw Oyster: Cortes Island BC - mild, sweet, briny finish

There were three dipping sauces that came with the oysters - sweet, slightly spicy and savoury. The oysters were plump, cleaned well and tasted refreshing!

Joyce Point Raw Oysters

Spicy Pork Ishi-Yaki: Rice, minced pork, flower, chives, egg, tomato,lettuce, spicy miso, served in a hot stone bowl

When this stone bowl came, it reminded me of Korean bibimbap but didn't taste like it at all. Our server mixed all the contents of the bowl thoroughly for us then told us to wait for a minute to let the rice harden on the edges of the bowl which will taste crunchy later. It was a hearty bowl of rice that was quite wet with the sauces and ingredients.

Spicy Pork Ishi-Yaki

Overall, I'm glad that I found out about Hapa Hour here and ate all this good food during dinner time for the price of a lunch meal. Will come again!

On the same day that we went to Le Panier, we also visited another famous bakery at Pike Place called Piroshky Piroshky. It is a Russian bakery and I've never tried that before.

On the way to the bakery, I saw this impressive street performer who was balancing a guitar on his chin while swinging two hula hoops around his waist!

I chose the Smoked Salmon Pate which reminded me of buns from an Asian bakery. The bun was soft bread filled with a creamy smoked salmon filling. The filling was well blended and you do not feel the texture of salmon flakes, only creamy salmon mixed with cream cheese, dill and onion.

Smoked Salmon Pate

Evening though it was pouring rain that afternoon, there were still lots of people at Seattle's Pike Place. When I learned that there was macarons sold at Le Panier in Pike Place, of course I had to go try for myself!

There was a bit of a line up when we arrived but service was quick and we got our goodies in no time.

Le Panier box

Macaron flavours: Hazelnut, Coffee, Pistachio and Raspberry

The macarons had a crispy shell and chewy inside, much like the Thierry ones. They weren't too sweet and the flavours were pretty prominent. I liked the hazelnut one the best because it reminded me of Nutella.

Raspberry, Hazelnut, Pistachio, Coffee macarons

Overall, this was a cozy French bakery to avoid the rain with its self-dispensed water tap and little tables for customers.

Le Panier interior

Ho Yuen Kee is a restaurant that I hear about frequently on the Chinese radio but have not visited in awhile. Since we were hosting a friend from out of town, we decided to go eat some trusted yummy Vancouver Chinese food.

Lobster with sticky rice: We had to order Ho Yuen Kee's famous dish, the lobster and added the sticky rice on recommendation by the server. The lobster was fresh and juicy with the rice soaking up all the juices underneath. The sticky rice just seemed like the texture of normal rice actually and wasn't sticky at all. There were corn pieces mixed into the rice.

Lobster with sticky rice

Bok Choy with Tofu: Cooked bok choy surrounded a plate of soft tofu drizzled in sweet soy sauce. Have to get our dose of veggies!

Bok Choy with Tofu

Beef Brisket & Tendon pot: I really enjoy eating beef brisket and tendons when dining out because it takes a long time to marinate and cook it to the perfect tenderness. This dish was delicious with the brisket and tendons completely soft and marinated thoroughly with the sauce. Great comfort food.

Beef Brisket & Tendon pot

Tofu pudding: Another famous dish here is the tofu pudding. The texture is delicate and smooth while retaining a semi-firm form. Adding a bit of sweet ginger syrup makes this a perfect dessert to end the meal.

Tofu pudding

Heart shaped syrup in tofu pudding

Be sure to make a reservation before eating here because there aren't many tables to fill all the eager customers! We were seated almost straight away with our reservation but I saw some people wait for 15-30 minutes for their table.

Ho Yuen Kee interior

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.

It was definitely a foodie kind of day because we went to Cafe Medina for breakfast and then Phnom Penh for lunch! Although the restaurant was full when we were there at 2pm on a weekday, we were seated within 10 minutes because we shared a big round table with 3 other people.

Fried Chicken Wings (small order): The fried chicken wings at Phnom Penh are well known and rightly so. This small order had 12 wings in it! Each wing was coated in this peppery five-spice flavour and fried until crunchy but not overly oily. All the fried wings were then pan fried tossed in garlic and spices to make the outside even more flavourful. The dipping sauce is made of lemon juice and white pepper powder.

Dipped into the sauce, each wing was slightly sour, sweet, savoury and spicy at the same time which is why everyone loves them so much.

Fried Chicken Wings

Beef Pho Noodles: The bean sprouts didn't come with basil like other Vietnamese pho places. Maybe that is because Phnom Penh is more Cambodian. Anyways there was plenty of noodles inside the bowl and beef balls, beef tendon and beef slices. A hearty bowl of pho is a good combo with fried chicken wings.

Beef Pho Noodles

Lychee Moo Moo: I am not sure why they call it "moo moo" but essentially it is a finely blended slushie with lychee flavour. It tasted pretty refreshing.

Lemon Jelly Drink: This drink was a bit too sweet for me and had strips of jelly (like coconut jelly) in lemon flavouring. I probably wouldn't try this drink again.

Lychee Moo Moo

Lemon Jelly Drink

Although the servers were very busy with the never ending customers, they tried their best to be attentive and were friendly so props to them.

Phnom Penh interior

Overall, I never go to eat in Chinatown but Phnom Penh has changed that perspective and maybe I will go try more things there.