moii cafe cambie: pre class crepes and bubble tea!

the only perk about late classes last year was that i could eat something with my mom before she had work once in a while. we had a social shopper for moii cafe on cambia which included any 2 crepes and any two drinks for $14!  the food and drinks were a GREAT DEAL AND DELICIOUS! 

match smoothie ($5.25): this was delicious and HUGE! it lasted me almost the entire day but was a bit creamier than i liked masking the matcha flavour a bit. 

4/5 

berry tea ($3?): my mom got a nice berry type tea and i believe it was mighty leaf. overall it tasted really great with the crepes! 

4/5

the great canadian - smoked salmon, spinach, mozzarella and cheddar cheese ($9.50): this was really really good! they make the crepes fresh when you order them and it looks really small and like its not enough but they pack it with fillings! 

4.5/5

terimayo crepe: bbq chicken, cheese, bonito flakes, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, okonomi sauce and wasabi ($9.50): this was the best crepe i think id ever had… it was filled with chicken and cheese and the sauce ontop wasn't overwhelming but enough to imagine eating a japanese pancake instead of a crepe! 

5/5 

overall: the prices here are a bit high if paying regular price but the coupon was a GREAT DEAL and the food was great!
favourite dish: terimayo crepe
overall score: 4.5/5
would i return?: definitely with a coupon! 

milk and sugar cafe: oreo green tea cheesecake ice cream bubble tea…yeah

milk and sugar cafe has some of the best bubble tea combos with ice cream and fresh fruit slushes as their specialties. they have specials all the time that cost only TWO BUCKS and you can get pearls for 50 cents although the ice cream is already more than enough. they also have a bunch of cheap food items but the only downside is that there is only a mom and dad working there so service can be pretty slow although they are super super friendly. 

oreo green tea cheesecake bubble tea ($2 special): my 3 favourite things all in one…seriously this bubble tea is cheap and amazing. they scoop like 4 scoops of green tea and cheesecake ice cream then blend it with oreo and ice. it tastes amazing although super sweet and thick. the indulgence is worth it 100%

5/5

ps. the owners are really nice and game me a small cup for sample of leftovers from the previous batch 

visit 2:

oreo green tea cheesecake slush again :D (still 5/5)

overall: i come here as often as i can for bubble tea and am ready to try their different flavours but who can resist oreo + green tea + cheesecake?! 

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

dragon ball tea house: those perfect pearls

bubble tea, my old friend. i had heard a lot about dragon ball tea house as some of the best in vancouver so my mom and i popped by and it lives up to the hype. 

honey green milk tea (hot ~ $4.00): my mom loved this. she said it was the right amount of sweetness and creaminess that milk tea should have! 

4.5/5

oreo cookie slush + pearls (~$5.00): again this was delicious. the oreo cookie flavours and bits were blended into the drink amazingly but the best was the PEARLS. chewy, not hard or mushy and just a tiny bit warm. just thinking about them....some of the best pearls around. 

5/5 

overall: delicious bubble tea, tiny shop, AMAZING PEARLS 

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

peanuts bubble tea: custard-y wheels!

 looking for dessert after lunch with my mom, we hit up richmond public market and seeing that peanuts bubble tea is raved about, i wanted to try their bubble tea. 

along with that, we got 4 different custard wheels which are basically little buns filled with a custard cream flavour of your choice. 

they had many choices including chocolate, vanilla, red bean and peanut

my mom's red bean wheel: she really enjoyed it, still warm from the display. light and fluffy batter with a center that is not too sweet! 

my nutella (or chocolate...) i dont remember which it was but it was quite good! i loved the actual wheel as it was light and fluffy but had crisp edges. the filling was not as smooth as i had hoped but was just the right amount of sweetness.

4/5 

at a price of 4 for $2.25, these little wheels are a delicious treat especially when eaten warm!

on the other hand, i was not very pleased with the bubble tea. 

matcha...something (~$3-4): i ordered something that was written on a chalkboard and labelled as matcha. i asked for half sweet and it was basically flavourless. it tasted like matcha powder mixed not even with milk...but with water. it was tasteless and i DO NOT recommend this.

1/5

overall: maybe i made a bad choice but peanut's bubble tea was a let down. the wheels were delicious though and i would definitely return for them. 

bubble queen: fresh mango and mochi bubble waffle

bubble queen is an extremely well known bubble tea place in richmond that specializes in huge, thick, milkshake like bubble teas. they have many flavours that derive from chocolate bars like bueno and ferrero rocher but also fresh mango slushes that can have mango mochi added to them. 

yes just talking about it makes me feel full but it is indeed delicious! 

fresh mango cube slush with coconut jelly ($5.95) - when you get one of the "special" bubble teas, coconut jelly/pearls are included so its not as expensive as it seems, but still a bit pricey. 

this is legit delicious x100000 and a MUST TRY if you like anything mango. the thick fresh mango blended with milk is cool and refreshing going down your throat and the half a mango sitting on top is perfectly ripe and amazing. 

5/5

green tea mochi bubble waffle (~$4-5) - these are not your typically bubble waffle. firstly, they have a slight matcha flavour (not too much, wish there was a bit more) and the texture is also completely different. bubble waffle are usually crisp and light but the added mochi makes it more of a chewy snack. these were very interesting (in a good way), delicious if you like moch but i dont think i'd order it again as it was just too much carb in each bite. a note, the wait time for the bubble waffle is very long but at least you know it's fresh made! 

4.5/5

as delicious as bubble queen is, the portions are really big and EXTREMELY filling. i shared both of these things with my mom (yes, after having lunch but still...) and we had to save half of both the bubble tea and the bubble waffle for dessert after dinner and the next day... (they were pretty good after being baked in the oven!) 

the prices may seem high but honestly, compared to other slush bubble tea places, it is only about $1 more and it is DELICIOUS and enough for 2...or more...

the one: carb-heavy portions

after church one sunday, a huge group of 15 went to the one for some food and drinks. the one is really popular because of their huge portions, especially the slushes, and the food's not bad either.

its not my favourite taiwanese place in the are (pearl house!) but it is bigger and we had some hungry people. 

japanese green milk tea with coconut jelly large size (~$6.00) -  my friend ordered this but she said it was pretty good. she was also able to pack half of it for home but its not as large as their slushes. 

no rating

dry noodle with braised beef flank, spicy ($8.95) - i have a new love for noodles without soup but with a thicker sauce instead to mix together. this was good being quite spicy and flavourful with a HUGE amount of noodles underneath that were actually a nice al dente. main complaint: the amount of meat was really little..each piece was small and there just wasnt much. 

3.85/5

overall: i would come back with a group of friends but a huge portion of just noodles to me, is not worth it. 

aberdeen food court: asian food mecca

aberdeen, although this place does not provide a good shopping experience, it holds one of the best food courts in the lower mainland. they have a huge selection of asian foods from noodles, cha chan teng, malaysian, pho, and even crepes and cream puffs. this place is perfect for people who cannot decide what cuisine they want to sample because they can have a little bit of each.

this time, i went to estea for bubble tea, shanghai shanghai for pan fried pork buns and cafe d'lite for their famous hainanese chicken with oily rice. 

estea express: honey green milk tea half sweet with grass jelly(regular - $4.50): this was actually very delicious with the right amount of sweetness. i also discovered i LOVE grass jelly. its not as sweet as coconut jelly and its like eating jello through the straw! 

3.75/5

(i had ANOTHER big city perks deal where i could get 5 bubble teas for $13. this was such a great deal but AGAIN i didnt use it until the last 2 weeks before it expired forcing me and my mom to consume 5 bubble teas in 14 days. anyways, they had quite a few restrictions so i went very basic) 

cafe d'lite: hainanese chicken with rice ($7.75) - everybody talks about how good the chicken and rice are here including my mom so we decided to share a plate of it and it was very good! maybe not as amazing as some people say but the rice was fragrant without being too oily and i love when the chicken is covered with a soy sauce. pretty good portion for the price too. i would definitely come back to aberdeen just for this.

4/5

shanghai shanghai: pan fried pork buns ($4.95) -  very good and juicy. they were very fresh since i had to wait a good 15-20 minutes for them (so if you plan on getting anything from shanghai shanghai, go there FIRST) although the juice inside was a bit oily, it was steaming hot. the bun was delicious as well but again, quite oily but you cant really complain since most pan fried buns are like that.

3.85/5

all in all, a very delicious and diverse lunch at aberdeen that will satisfy more than one of your cravings. 

tealips: waffles and drinks (or water)!

during the summertime, i went out to eat a bunch and one place i visited with friends was tealips bubble tea and coffee. we came here after having a huge sushi meal looking for dessert. there was also a menchies downstairs which i opted for instead of the waffles but here are pictures of what my friends ate. they said it was pretty good and not too expensive but they would rather pay more for the quality at neros. really nice ambiance there with lots of people studying and its just like a peaceful aura throughout the store. 

leige waffle with ice cream and caramel sauce add ons ($~5) 

matcha red bean brussels waffle (~$6-7)