zephyr: hot pot and milk tea

a chinese group buy website brought me and my mother to zephyr for taiwanese style hot pot, appetizer, drinks and dessert. for only $24.99, we got to choose 2 full sized hot pots and 2 milk teas as well as a grass jelly and a salty peppery chicken. 

chicken with sesame oil and wine hot pot (originally $12.95): a pot on a burner came to our table...turned off.. and our server took a long while getting it to start up again but she was very kind! 

this pot was filled with napa cabbage, quite a bit of chicken (chopped up leg) and vermicelli on the bottom. it also came with a bowl of rice and some vegetables to put into the soup and cook. taste wise, this was my favourite because of the sesame flavour not being too strong. also, you get lots of chicken meat but because it was so full, it took forever to cook the meat leaving some veggies soft and raw chicken. the bowl is a bit small for the amount of vegetables but overall, good.

3.95/5

taiwanese style popcorn chicken (originally $5.25) : very well done here! lightly breaded and fried nice and crispy! 

4.35/5

japanese sukiyaki hotpot (originally $11.95): similar to the other hot pot, it came with some veggies, rice and a pot of soup. the soup base was really sweet though and strangely goopy. the meat was majorly fat chunks and not as enjoyable as the other hot pot.

2.75/5 

hot grass jelly (originally $3.00): this was really good! i love grass jelly obviously and being warm and slippery soft, it was super yummy! 

4/5

cold green milk tea with grass jelly (originally $4.25 + 50c): good milk tea and but didnt love the floating jelly and nothing special

3.75/5

hot green milk tea (originally $4.00): mom really enjoyed the display and said it kept the tea nice and warm. it was also a huge pot and sweetened well! 

4/5

overall: with a group coupon, this was a great deal but for the quality of meat, especially in the beef hot pot, i would probably try another dish if i were to return

corner 23: spicy spicy noodles!

quick post! corner 23 after church on a Sunday afternoon and we were STARVING. 

still pretty busy around 3 o clock but were seated quickly and served quickly as well. 

beef with spicy noodle soup ($7.95): my go to at all taiwanese restaurants. executed quite well with nice thick pieces of beef shank (NOT BRISKET!!! :D :D :D) and the typical taiwanese noodles served just a little softer than al dente. the soup wasnt TOO oily but had a nice spicy kick to it. as i mentioned before, i was starving and finished the whole thing...

3.95/5

deep fried chicken nuggets ($6.50) - i didnt try this but there was quite a large portion for the appetizer size and my friends said it was good! 

overall: a good place for typical taiwanese food. portions aren't huge but food is tasty and match the price that they are given. 

3.95/5

beefy beef noodle house: good group buy deals!

i love group buy deals. big city perks, living social, social shopper and groupon are all my best friends and imagine my joy when i found one for beefy beef noodle house! it was 6 dollars for 12 dollars worth of food and since i didnt have time to go down there, my mom got take out and boy was it delicious. yes a bit oily but delicious nonetheless. 

salty peppery chicken($6.50): deep fried chicken pieces covered in salt and a bit of pepper. delicious and still crunchy after being put in a box, good portion too

4/5

taiwanese fried noodle ($8.50): good portion full of veggies but there was a lot of liquid, either condensation or oil..cant complain too much since it is take out! 

3.85/5

soho: super tasty bubble tea & honey toast box!

 i went to soho tea house during the summer as a catch up with some friends and we wanted to go mostly because we wanted to try the infamous honey toast box. for those that dont know, its basically a huge square of toast with the middle cut out, baked in some kind of sweetener and them put back into the box then topped with sugary sweets. while we were here i also got their beef noodle, salty peppery chicken and a bubble tea (that was shared) AND TASTED AMAZING.

their beef noodle ($8): i didnt know it was udon ): next time i'm going to try and ask for the regular noodles that come in taiwanese beef noodle. huge portion though! 

salty peppery chicken: pretty good but expensive ($6) for the amount given

fire on ice (lychee, peach, mango and strawberry with mango stars $5.50) was a 30 minute wait but tasted so good. a bit expensive but big enough to be shared! 

the honey toast box: ($8) we got chocolate but its just the sauce that makes a difference. bread inside was tasty but its mostly for looks.