booster juice: birthday boost!

if you join booster juice's fan club, you get 1 free juice at your birthday and its the HUGE size. 

(sorry for the ugly picture) 

Mind Over Matcha: Pure Matcha green tea, vanilla soymilk, blueberries, vanilla frozen yogurt & whey protein powder (originally ~$7): I would sadly never pay 7 dollars for this drink but for a freebie it was good! the matcha flavour was prominent and melded well with the blueberry. not TOO sweet from the frozen yogurt but definitely filling. 

4/5 

overall: good place for a "healthier" snack but more like a dessert or meal 

haroo korean homestyle cuisine: bibimbap and seafood pancake

my first every bibimbap experience was at haroo in richmond. i decided to try it here because of the extremely high score on urbanspoon but after having this, and then trying multiple other korean restaurants, i dont think it lives up to the hype as its good but not mind-blowing.

we ordered from the lunch menu which is not bad for the price-portion ratio but our seafood pancake was a bit expensive

banchan - complimentary appetizers (?) not sure what the real name is for these but these were good. i did not have anything to compare them to at the time but i remember enjoying them quite a bit, especially the salad dressing. 

bibimbap and tofu soup set and more banchan ($9.95-$10.95: not sure) but a good deal!

bulgolgi soup: this was my favourite part of the combo! it had quite a bit of meat and veggies in it which was surprising and also some vermicelli type noodles as well. it was piping hot through most of the meal and was quite a large bowl to be part of a set.

4.5/5

bibimbap - because it was part of a set, it was a bit smaller but thats okay with me. good but i feel like they were a bit light on the toppings. it was the first time i had bibimbap so i didnt know it was a bit bland in flavour. the hot sauce mixed in was much better but i still felt something was lacking.

3.75/5

haemul-pajeon: seafood pancake ($17.95) - a bit expensive in my opinion even though it wasn't small, i wish they gave us a choice of m/l. there was a decent amount of seafood and vegetable and the pancake itself was quite good but i was very put off by how oily the bottom was. 

3.25/5

overall, the food here is good but not my favourite korean place so far. i think the expensive pancake put me off but the lunch deals are pretty good! i mightve gone in with my expectations too high but i didnt have anything to compare it to either so maybe a return visit is in order? one thing i did like was that the place was very small and warm which made the meal quite comfortable.

**UPDATE: THEY ARE NOW ONLY OPEN FOR DINNER ): 

phnom penh: those chicken wings though...

if you havent heard of phnom penh and their chicken wings yet...you must not look up vancouver restaurants much. they are extremely popular and i think are now a BIT overrate but regardless, they are some dang good chicken wings. 

phnom penh serves pretty good cambodian and vietnamese cuisine although we all come here for one thing. this restaurant is busy all day, all week, all year. dont expect to come around lunch or dinner without a wait and located in chinatown, there isnt much you can do to pass the time. NOW onto the food..

vietnamese spring rolls ($9.95) - thought they were a bit pricey, they were decent. filled with meat and some noodles (from what i remember..). i actually prefer the spring rolls where the wrapping is more...flakey? these ones taste less greasy that the flaky ones but were still quite oily.

3.5/5

closeup of the spring rolls filling

phnom penh dry rice noodles ($6.95):  - a really good price for a bowl of noodles with a mish mash of toppings including pork parts that i dont even want to know and some shrimp. they definitely dont skimp out on the meat BUT i felt like it could have had more sauce. even when mixing it lots of times, it was a bit bland but since i love noodles, it was alright. 

3.95/5

phnom penh deep fried chicken wings (large - $12.95) - this is what you go all the way to china town for. they have 2 sizes being medium and large (although i remember when i was young, large was WAYYYY larger.) these wings are scrumptious with a garlicky, peppery, salty (msg) flavour and the deep fry is what makes them special. it is super crispy and not like the chinese kind of chicken wings. the batter is much lighter and yes, it is oily but hey, its DEEP FRIED chicken...

4.75/5 (i have personal issues with oily foods) but otherwise 5/5

phnom penh stew beef in hot pot ($12.50) - our last dish was a pot full of beef and some veggies in a spicy broth. i THINK we ordered bread to go with it because you need something to dip into the broth. this was really oily as well (you can see it floating) but the flavour was pretty good although a bit one dimensional

3.75/5

overall: the food is pretty good but i would not trek all the way here if not for the chicken wings. all the other food is good but not BLOW ME AWAY amazing. prices are not high for a lot of the noodles/rice but the special dishes are not cheap either. definitely a must try if you visit vancouver but a person can only eat so many deep fried chicken wings

guu gastown: spicy bibimbap guudness

during the summertime, i went with my day camp co workers to guu gastown for a dinner together. we were all super tired from the days and weeks of running around chasing kids so a good meal was needed and exactly what we got a guu gastown. 

nikuygaza: deep fried panko breaded mashed potatoes with beef, carrots and onions ($4.00) - i shared this with a friend leaving us with 2 each but that was more than enough! these little deep fried concoctions were filled with mashed potatoes and i could taste the other ingredients but could not pick them out. they were nice and crispy on the outside and a delicious appetizer! 

4/5

kimchi pork bibimbap: spicy rice in a stone bowl with ground pork, kimchi, vegetables and an egg yolk ($8.80) - i love bibimbap and this one was absolutely amazing. a nice and spicy hit that was balanced by the abundance of vegetables. there was also enough meat to go around through the whole bowl and was substantial enough that i even packed leftovers! although not really japanese, it was amazing. 

4.75/5

overall: guu has yet to disappoint me! the location at gastown is a bit hard to find and quite busy but the izakaya feel is more obvious than the richmond location. the food was amazing and at a good price making it a relaxing evening out.

freshii: healthy and delicious (the first time...)

social shopper got me again with 2 meals for $12 dollars at freshii on brodway. freshii is like fastfood where you can customize your own wraps, bowls or salads but they also have a variety of preset options on the menu. this social shopper allowed me to anything of my choice with either a soup or frozen yogurt. I LOVE FROZEN YOGURT so this was delicious x100. 

since it included two meals, i got to go twice and unfortunately, the opinions that i express in this post are OPPOSITE of what i experienced the second time. no pictures for that visit but i will rant about it later. anyways, the first visit was awesome with some of the best frozen yogurt i'd ever had and a delicious & healthy wrap. 

small frozen yogurt (regular ~ $4): only one flavour, vanilla, with two toppings (mangoes and oreo bits) granola and/or honey is included - this was some of the best frozen yogurt i'd ever had. the toppings are nothing special (except that they fall very easily) but the yogurt is the perfect sweetness. its not tart but not tooth aching sweet. it is delicious and icy and just PERFECT. a bit expensive but it was SOO GOOD.

5/5

custom made wrap = 6 toppings, a sauce, type of salad greens and a protein (regular ~$8): honey wheat tortilla filled with edamame, black beans, corn, onions, mushrooms, chicken, bean sprouts with pico de gallo and lime cilantro dressing - this was delicious! the counter attendant was extremely helpful and was offering suggestions of what goes together and what tastes the best. she was amazing and put a lot of care into making this wrap for me. enough for 1.5 meals and i loved it. 

4.5/5

now onto my second visit, i went during a bit of a busier time and this might explain why but the wrap was NOWHERE near as full as another attendant made the wrap and while i was watching, she did it with a lot less care. the frozen yogurt was half melted as they were "testing" the machine but ended up giving me the "test" cup. i thought this was horrible because obviously if it needed to be tested, it might not work out and YEAH IT WAS HALF MELTED ALREADY. also, the wrap went bad really quickly afterwards the second time...

i really liked this place but after the second visit, i will definitely be wary about visiting again ): such a shame.