Quick Strawberry Yogurt Parfait

 

Strawberry Yogurt Parfait

It is summer! And strawberries!

I think of parfaits as breakfast food, typically because all its ingredients (yogurt, granola, fruit) are associated with breakfast. But this was a nice, super quick dessert on a hot night. I love yogurty desserts like this: crunchy granola, sweet fruit, cold gooey yogurt. It is so healthy, yet desserty at the same time! Of course, if you wanted to indulge you could sub the yogurt with ice cream. And you can layer it with whatever fruit or granola or cereal you desire. Though berries are the best choice. I just happened to have some fresh local strawberries from W&A Farms on hand, and some yogurt and granola. Just layer, and repeat. 

Parfaits are fun to make! You can dress it up pretty fancy Gourmet-cover-shot style, but I think it will turn out pretty decent looking even if you’re just throwing things together randomly and messily like I did here. Just find a pretty glass. You can’t really go wrong. Great for entertaining when time (and skill) are limiting!

Ladner Village Market

  

 

Ladner Market

 

Drove down to Ladner on Sunday to check out the Ladner Village Market, held 10AM-4PM, every other Sunday until September. It is one of the biggest open air markets around, and spans several blocks, so naturally I was excited about going, despite having to wake up early on a Sunday to get there just before 10AM. The market had already opened and there were quite a few people already, and not long after I had arrived the music started! Early birds!

 

music

 

It wasn’t even 10:30AM and there was already a huge line-up in front of the Fieldstone stand (I knew they would be here, it was the first stand I looked for. The same two friendly ladies are working here as when I went to the Steveston Farmer’s Market last weekend ). The line up was so long that it blocked the next stand over, and we were told to nicely shuffle over and not stand in the way. Hahaha. 

 

Fieldstone

After standing in line for a bit we got a parisian baguette and a cranberry and currant loaf:

Cranberry and currant

 

Since I didn’t really have breakfast I found that in a little under an hour I had already nibbled through half of the cranberry loaf. I liked it: it was whole grain, and had a lot of dried fruit in it. The crust was hard and tough, and the crumb was dense but not too moist. The bread itself was not sweetened, just kind of like a regular loaf of bread. There was a similar cranberry loaf out for sampling at A Bread Affair’s stand that day (they were also at Steveston), and that one I found to be sweeter and softer and more like a fruity bread (Fieldstone’s is more like a bread, with some fruit. If that made any sense at all).  

 

Stopped by the Granola King’s little tent. I’m not sure if this guy is Granola King but he sure looks the part! And was really nice and friendly too! I have never tried their granola before, but there were several samples out and they were all great! All their stuff is natural and have no preservatives, or added sugar. 

granola king

 

So I bought a small bag of the hazelnut hemp heaven (because it just sounded so… hmm… exciting!)  and some almond butter which the King also graciously shared on a bit of apple. I liked it a lot and even though I could get natural almond butter at the supermarket for cheaper I decided to get a small jar here. More on the granola in another post.

Hemp heaven and almond butter

 

More cheese from Little Qualicum. This time I tried their raspberry Fromage Frais - it was really really good! Definitely get some if you’re passing by here.

More cheese?

 

There were many craft stands here. My favorite was the canned planes one:

canned planes... plane cans. Recyclables

 

There are also the usual jams and preserves and some dried fruit stands. Some coffee places. I didn’t find there to be a whole lot of produce (for the size of the market). There was the one Okanagan cherry stand, one large tomato stand, some strawberries/berries, some carrots and potatos and such. Nothing too out of the ordinary. And for some reason there was a lot of garlic. The produce wasn’t that cheap either, so I didn’t buy any.

 

It got busy really fast! All the dogs were out in full force too! There was pretty constant entertainment and music, there were tons of people, the sun was shining… So it felt very summery and festive. What I really liked about this market- even though there wasn’t as much produce as I had wanted- was its size compared to the others. It takes up several streets. There are also more food stands (pizzas, gyros, hotdogs, the mini donut truck, not to mention all the bakeries), so you could grab a decent lunch/snack/dessert while strolling around. I ended up having lunch at the awesome Taverna Gorgona though, that will be in a later post! 

Ladner Market

 

Ladner Village Market

@ the Ladner Village on 48th Avenue, Delta

Sundays 10AM-4PM
June 08 & 22 - July 13 & 27 - August 10 & 24 - September 7

A sea of Siegel’s day old bagels

Made a trip to Granville Island just to buy 2 bags of Siegel’s day olds… hmmm 2 dozen bagels.

 … YUM!

You never know what you’re getting (well, you do, you can see it, but what I guess I’m saying is that you never know what kinds they have left over and bagged up), but still…both T and I agree it is simply.. aaahhhhhhh. Bagelicious. This time it was a dozen poppy seed and a dozen of mixed (mostly rosemary and rocksalt, some cranberry). Went through half a bag before the rest made it into the freezer (hence the two bags. I made the mistake the first time I got these: I bought only one bag and had only 3 bagels left to freeze).

Now when I open my freezer I see a sea of bagels. Hm, in fact the freezer is mostly bagels and bread right now. There’s some frozen halibut (emergency rations for when it’s no longer halibut season), several bags of shelled edamame (my snacks), some frozen berries and mango (for shakes), a pack of smoked salmon, and a few small bags of frozen fish and meats. But seriously, over 80% is bagels and bread. MWAHAHA!

Steveston Series IV: Sockeye City Grill

view of the pier from Sockeye City

Sockeye City Grill is one of the most popular restaurants at the Steveston pier. Especially on sunny days, their patio will be packed, and there will be lineups. Their fish and chips platters are always giant and look pretty good, but I prefer the other seafood dishes. 

 

crabcake

 

For shellfish fanatics, both their Fisherman’s pot and seafood paella offer a variety of shellfish and other seafood, and I find both are quite substantial and can feed 2-3 (especially the paella- what they say serves two can probably serve 4):

Fisherman's Pot

 

As for the other seafood, their fish is pretty ok, and you often get a big slab of fish. The pesto that comes with this halibut is really nicely done (I had ordered on the side):

Halibut

 

 This is the wild salmon salad… Although I like their salmon, I find that the salad underneath is a bit plain:

 

Service is OK here, nothing out of the ordinary. They are happy to accommodate special requests on menu items. House bread comes with dinner, but it is just plain white bread. If you don’t mind sitting inside you don’t usually have to wait. But on a sunny day it’s worth waiting a bit to get a seat outside and watch the all goings on at the pier and out on the water. I’d say the seafood paella is one of the best dishes on the menu (just because I’m not at all a big fan of fish and chips). 

 

Sockeye City Grill

108-3800 Bayview Street, at the Steveston Pier

604-275-4347

Steveston Series III: Cimona Cafe

If you are feeling like a casual, down-to-earth meal, and pretty generous-sized, value-for-money deals, this is the place to go. Cimona Cafe makes the kind of food you can probably make in your own kitchen, so don’t expect anything fancy, but the quality will not disappoint. This place is like a homey diner. It is in a second floor/elevated log house, with a patio where you can watch the Steveston hustle bustle on Bayview Street from above. They’re really friendly here, and it feels like it is a family owned and operated little cafe, but don’t count on super speedy service, and on weekends they tend to be quite busy during brunch/lunch and there tends to be lineups. Have a little patience.

Many healthy options are offered on the menu: whole wheat wraps and breads, low fat dressings, egg white omelets, vegetarian dishes. It’s a casual spot with casual food but there are a lot of more “exotic” options too, and for a good price - Veal. Lamb. Sole. Halibut. Salmon. I’ve come here for dinner which I have enjoyed, but definitely find that it’s an awesome lunch/brunch place. Probably because breakfast is served till 3pm.

W and I came here for lunch recently, so I figured I will throw this post into my Steveston Series. We grabbed a menu and luckily found a table outside in the patio, which was almost full, and had a nice, relaxing time watching the …er… action… on Bayview:

cimona view

Looking around I noticed that many people order the wraps here. W chose the chicken wrap with pineapple curry sauce. I tried a bit of it. It was pretty big and stuffed with tons of lettuce. The sauce was good too (you can choose from 3 different ones) - It wasn’t so heavy that W ate the whole thing (when usually she can only eat half a big wrap).

 

Cimona chicken wrap

 
 

I was feeling like a lighter lunch so I had the tzatziki and grilled pita:

Pita and Tzatziki

 

With a green salad:

 

Green salad

I thought this was a pretty big size for the “small” portion. Veggies were quite fresh and crisp. The pita bread I liked - it didn’t seem like crappy quality packaged pita thrown in a toaster (though I am not sure exactly what type it was). The tzatziki was pretty standard tasting, but not bad. Couldn’t tell if it was homemade. You can also get hummous if you wanted.

Overall, both W and I were happy with our lunch. I still have to try a lot of the other stuff on their menu so I am going to keep coming back (on days when I have time to spare and relax though)!

Oh, and I’m not sure if this is an “issue” for anyone, it is for me on thirsty days when I down literally gallons of pop, because I would go to restaurants and get refills until my server gives me funny looks and offers me a jug since they get so tired of coming back every few minutes to refill my glass. Since this place is a cafe/diner, the pop you order will come in a can, and you won’t get refills.

 

Cimona Cafe and Catering

#201-3791 Bayview Street, Steveston

604-275-3753

Steveston Series II: Fieldstone Artisan Breads @ the Market

Baguette

 OK, so this is not so much a Steveston post than it is a Surrey post, since Fieldstone is actually located in south Surrey. Nevertheless, they have decided to grace those of us up north with their fine, fine breads and pastries at the Steveston’s Farmer’s Market. Hence, Part II of the Steveston Series is entirely devoted to Fieldstone. 

Fieldstone uses organic flour, and all of their country breads are made by natural leavening. Basically, to me, their naturally leavened breads taste much less yeasty and has a nice, mild and not commercial tanginess to them. Of course one of the very first breads I pick at a bakery is a plain baguette, so I tried their Parisian Baguette, pictured above. It was delicious, one of the best. Really chewy, crispy crust, chewy inside. I had it with some of the lobster oil I got from the Cannery. Really good.

This past weekend I went and got their multiseed baguette. The various seeds that I could find were poppy, fennel, and pumpkin. The fennel was definitely present but not too overpowering, which I liked because I don’t really like licuorice-y tasting things. And it coupled nicely with the poppy seeds- fragrant, aromatic, chewy and tastey! This was so good I went through almost a whole baguette while walking around the market and went back to get another one. 

Multiseed Baguette

I liked how they shaped their multiseed baguette- it’s definitely rustic looking, and it’s got two horns at the end! (It’s not that long though, didn’t seem as long as your typical baguette- either because flour prices have gone up, or those horns were the results of some shaping screwup.) ^___^

 

 

Multiseed and Bar

 

Also tried their cranberry granola: pretty good like a home-made bar. Hard, partly crunch and partly chewy, and sweet. Also awesome were their large ooeygooey cinnamon buns and croissants.

 

Granola Bar

 

This bakery is not to be missed, hence all the line ups. If you only come by here (or south Surrey) once in a blue moon, stock up!

 

 

Fieldstone Artisan Breads

#2- 12823 Crescent Rd, South Surrey

(604) 531-7880

Steveston Series (Part 1): Sunday Farmer’s Market

Here is Part 1 of my multi-part series on historic Steveston: the first annual Steveston Farmer’s Market.

 

The market is located next to Gulf of Georgia Cannery at the end of Moncton St. It’s been on for several weeks now, and runs every Sunday from 11AM-4PM. (Which I like, because a lot of markets run from 9-1…hm, let’s just say my day starts at about 1PM.) This was arriving right when the market opens:

Steveston market

The first stop was the Fieldstone Bread’s stand, because from previous visits to this market we know the longest lineups are here. More on Fieldstone later in the series.

Fieldstone stand

 

European Breads Bakery: Another popular one. A lot of people were seen holding their Georgian baguettes: 

 

European Bread Bakery

 

 

Try the cheese at Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, they have awesome cheese, and the guys are really friendly. My favorite was their Island Brie:

 

The CHEESE stand!

I’d have taken more pics of the fruits and veggies- there were mainly strawberries, cherries, summer veggies, organic tomotos (bought a pound of sweeeet cherry tomatos)… but the giant pods of okra were cool, and of course the squash blossoms from my previous post. They were fat, and about 6 inches long, probably almost twice as big as the okra that I usually get at supermarkets! 

Giant okra

 

Also bought some locally grown, Richmond strawberries, which were quite sweet, but not super sweet. A pint for 5 bucks… Tried out some Okanagan cherries but they weren’t as sweet or as crunchy as some of the US of A ones I’ve been buying. So didn’t get those. Overall it kind of sucked that these “local, organic” foods were a lot more expensive than what I find at Asian markets. Pricier, and not necessarily as good. 

 

In terms of entertainment, there was a cooking lesson/show, live music, and dancing!

Dancing

 

Still, you can spend a fun day here, even though some stands aren’t really worth the time. Just make sure you get here early, you’ll be sure to find a free, nearby parking spot, and get first pick at fresh produce. Once you get bored you can always take a stroll out to Garry Point or the Steveston Village. That’s all for now! Next up in the series: review of Fieldstone Breads! 

 

 

Steveston Farmer’s Market

Sundays 11AM-4PM

At the end of Moncton St, by Gulf of Georgia Cannery

Zucchini blossoms stuffed with shrimp and garlic

The first time I heard about zucchini blossoms was on an episode of Bobby Flay’s Boy Meets Grill, where he fried these yellow squash blossoms that were stuffed with pork and cheese. I have never seen them in markets here, but finally came across these beautiful blossoms at the Steveston’s Farmer’s Market this Sunday. (More posts about the Market later! Stay tuned!)

 

Since I’ve never tried them before, I only bought a few flowers. I got about 1/2 a dozen for 50 cents! I’m going back to get more for sure. I didn’t cook them like most people do, ie. batter, deep fry in oil, because, heck, I am always looking for the healthier way out. Since I happened to have bought over a pound of fresh shrimp from one of the boats parked at the Steveston Pier that day, I decided to stuff these blossoms with a few of the smaller shrimp I had. And nothing else accents shrimp like garlic. So it was a whole clove of garlic too. It was great! 

 

 

Zucchini Blossoms Stuffed With Shrimp and Garlic:

1. Cut the stems off the blossoms and soak the blossoms in water/ rinse very well but very gently. Rip out the stamen/ style/stigma inside. Pat them dry on a piece of paper towel.

2. Carefully place a small shrimp (cooked, I used fresh, but can be from frozen) inside the blossom, then place a clove of garlic on top of the shrimp. If one clove is too much for you, just mince some up and throw a bit in instead.

3. Twist the top of the blossom to close. 

4. Grill on high for about 5 minutes, turning once (again, careful, because it’s easy to un-twist the blossom and have everything fall out.)

5. Eat! Just stuff the whole blossom into your mouth!

Moofia: I found Mozzarella. And got Latte.

MI first got the Moofia Baby Bottle at Paper Ya last year, but since then they have ran out of the little milk cartons and no longer sell them. But last week I found a bunch of Moofia toys at Hills of Kerrisdale. Naturally, I bought a whole bunch, including Mozarella - which I have been searching for for a while now. I’m so glad I finally found her! Hills have some other tokidoki toys (a large but an incomplete collection) like Skeletrino and Bastardino, and a bunch of the little 1″ Cactus Pup blind boxes. I got a few of those, and another blind milk carton, which had Latte in it. Latte’s pretty cool. Now I want to complete my Moofia gang. And get Bulleto. And the Mozarella plush.

 

ozarella and gang

Father’s Day Brunch @ the Fish House, Stanley Park

 So, June I had been uber lazy with blogging. Probably because I was too busy eating. Seriously, I think I gained nearly 10 pounds in the past month. Anyway, so this Father’s Day post is 3 weeks late, but what the heck. Anyway, I had wanted to make a reservation at the Sequoia Grill at Stanley Park for Father’s Day. Unfortunately, I was a little late and they were fully booked. I decided instead to try the other Stanley Park restaurant, the Fish House, which I have never been to before. 

Fish House

 

I came here with my parents and my aunt and uncle. It was a really nice beautiful sunny Sunday, and pretty much the entire city was out, rollerblading, biking, walking, suntanning at the beach. Yeah, downtown and Stanley Park were crazy busy. We got to the Fish House and since we had a reservation, were seated right away. There was a couple in front of us without a reservation and I think they were told to wait; the restaurant was pretty packed with families big and small (many were tourists). It’s pretty nice inside, high ceilings, spacious dining rooms with large doors and windows, beautifully lit with sunlight, nice patio. 

I liked their menu - their fresh sheet menu has a LOT of different fish (probably the most I have seen) that I would have liked to try except it was a lunch thing and I wasn’t too hungry, so I didn’t order from there.

Fish House menu

Everybody gets a complimentary pastry to start. Their pastries are made in house, and carried out in a giant basket and you get to pick from a muffin, croissant, or scone. I tried a bit of everything - the croissant was the best, flakey and warm and not too buttery. The blueberry scone was great too, especially with the blueberry preserves that was served with the pastries. The apple muffin was the least exciting.

croissant

 

muffin

scone

 

Hmmm…. Flakey fresh croissant:

 

Unfortunately there are only a few pics of the rest to post, as everybody had the warm salmon salad, which was garnished with some daikon, tomato and chives. It was a good salad although nothing too spectacular. You can upgrade to from pink to sockeye for a few bucks more.
 

salmon salad

 

Except for my dad who always picks burgers (doesn’t really matter where he goes, it’s always burgers. And fries. And occassionally, a boring Caesar salad. You guessed it, he was also the one who chose the boring muffin):
 

burger

 

Our server was a most proper and warm guy who was really pampering. The service is not speedy at all, but that is to be expected - you’re there to relax and enjoy your brunch. And they get everything right. We ordered a few coffees and I an Americano and Dad got some Merlot and all of that was pretty good. I was the one who paid (of course!) and the bill only came out to be about 20 bucks per person. 

Overall, quality and service and the atmosphere here is great. I would have loved to try some of their fresh fish, so maybe next time. If I had the choice though, and was in the neighborhood, I would definitely pick the Sequoia Grill over the Fish House, any day. Both places are excellent. The Fish House probably has a better, larger fish menu, and is more “fine-dining”, but personally I like sitting at the Sequoia Grill, and I find they put more effort into making and presenting their food. That’s just me.

 

The Fish House in Stanley Park

8901 Stanley Park Drive, Vancouver

Tel: 604-681-7275

Caffe Artigiano 06.28.08. Betty’s 86th.

I think there was a new guy at the Artigiano I go to at Kerrisdale. Well, whether or not he is new, he made a pretty nice heart the other day. Then again, everybody seemed to have gotten the same heart…

 

This day was special: it was one of E’s old neighbor Betty’s 86th birthday. We didn’t know this - we had drove by to see E’s old place in the neighborhood, and happened to see Betty’s niece in the garden and were invited in to say hello. E hasn’t seen Betty for over a decade and Betty’s starting to suffer from dementia but still remembers E fondly. After we found out it was her birthday that day (and after having said latte at Artigiano), we went down to Michelle’s Cake house on W. Boulevard and got her a tiramisu. Too bad I didn’t take a picture of it, it looked quite pretty. I would have chosen the fresh mango cake but Betty seemed more like a Tiramisu kind of gal. Anyway, Michelle’s Cake House is an Asian bakery, and makes fabulous cakes and pastries. There was a gigantic lineup when we were there; they take numbers.

We brought the cake back to Betty’s place just in time as her friend told us she was just about to call and order a cake for Betty. ^__^

 

Michelle’s Cake House

6033 West Boulevard, Vancouver

604-261-3284

Tiptree Apricot fruit spread. Straight-up PB and J.

This is my recent favorite jam - Wilkin and Son’s Tiptree no sugar added Apricot spread. It is yummy. It is really, seriously pretty darn good quality jam - made from just apricots, some fruit pectin, lemon juice, and grape extract. But most chain supermarkets don’t sell it, and I haven’t seen it at a lot of the “organic” places either. I buy mine from the British Home Store in Steveston. I do remember seeing it somewhere else, I don’t remember where anymore.  

I can eat this straight out of the container, and recently I have taken to mixing it with my favorite PB - Adam’s creamy all natural peanut butter and just eating spoonfuls of it. Not even in a sandwich. It’s just straight-up PB and J on a spoon. PB and J lollipop. I know, fat and sugar on a stick, but it’s absolutely delicious. Heh, one of weird ways I enjoy food, I guess. Everybody has those.

 

Speaking of PB, I like peanut butter, but it’s not one of those things I constantly eat. That being said, there is always PB in the fridge, and for years the resident PB is the natural stuff from Adam’s. I can’t remember the last time there was any Skippy in the fridge. It was probably years ago when I was a little kid. Anyway, recently I’ve reignited a love for PB, and have been on a PB binge. Often times going through half a regular jar of Adam’s in a day. (And by “go through” I mean eating it straight by the spoonfuls, not using it to make batches of cookies.) Anyway, one day I had a friend’s Skippy. The smooth kind. A giant pat on a spoon. Like I said, it’s been years since I had Skippy. The moment I put it in my mouth I gagged and spat it out. Imagine: flavorless fat with no taste or aroma of peanuts, and the strangest, most revolting mouth feel… like body lotion or something. Just unpalatable. Gross stuff. I can’t believe they call it peanut butter. Stick with natural stuff!

The Bridgehouse Restaurant @ the Capilano Suspension Bridge

 

It’s been years since I went to this place - the bridge and the restaurant both. The Capilano Suspension Bridge is a bit of a drive, and really, it’s one of those tourist spots you go to once or twice in your life, and you don’t really go again unless you have to bring relatives from out of town (who also happen to like walking around outside and crossing a long wobbly bridge). Anyway, it was a hot, sunny Vancouver day, and just felt like coming to the place, because it’s been years. The weather was just perfect for sitting outside the restaurant, under an umbrella. The food was totally awesome too.

Situated directly across from the Capilano Suspension Bridge info booth, the Bridgehouse Restaurant is only open until 5pm - a shame, as they would probably serve up some awesome dinners. Nonetheless, they have a great lunch menu and there is also high tea served from 2-5pm. (Most people I saw didn’t order the high tea, one table did and the pastries looked OK but not quite as exciting as their actual food to me.) On a sunny day you would really rather not sit inside the big log house but outside in their front/back yard/patio area under some umbrellas and watch the tourists wander about. Which was essentially what we did.

 

The food was great - all the ingredients, especially the salads, were really fresh, and every thing was cooked to perfection and presented nicely. This was the star of the show: The Portabello mushroom and garlic cream cheese panini:

 

The Tuna Melt with bay shrimp and aged cheddar:

 

And the Greek salad with grilled pita. I loved the pita - it was hot and crispy:

 

P enjoyed a nice, really fragrant Shiraz but I forgot the name of it. They have salmon and other stuff on their menu and are part of Ocean Wise. The service was good here and I’d come back again and again if only it wasn’t such a long drive. Highly recommended.

 

 

The Bridge House Restaurant

At the Capilano Suspension Bridge, North Vancouver

 

An entry I don’t want to make: Gogo Tea Cafe

I have been M.I.A. for a bit. I’ve just been lazy - it’s not that stuff at the food-front has been boring, I have been stuffing myself and gaining the pounds and eating out - so I am terribly backlogged for posts! ;D

Anyway, I don’t really like to blog about restaurants I don’t like, so this post has actually been sitting in my drafts for a while now. It is a bit mean to give bad reviews, though at the same time wouldn’t it be cruel to not spread the word about places that are not worth dining at?

Anyway, so here it is, Gogo Tea Cafe - a tea house in Richmond that have waitresses in Cosplay. If you live under a rock, then it doesn’t really matter that you don’t know what Cosplay is - this would just be another tea house with waitresses in funky uniforms. Unfortunately, it is worse if you are into Cosplay, because this would just be another tea house with waitresses in funky uniforms. And not Cosplay. Whatever. When it first opened it was like the “have you been there yet?” “we have to check it out” type of it place. Trendy? Not really. Oh they try. But I expected more from a so called  ”maid” cafe.

I will say though, it’s nice that the cafe is upstairs (though the view is not all that spectacular), and the place looks pretty slick:

Unfortunately, there is a very bad stench from their bathroom, and unfortunately, their bathrooms are located right at their entrance, conveniently killing whatever appetite you have as you walk in.

Again, I will say this: their menu is quite big, and varied, so there are endless choices: fried snacks, noodles, hotpots, sizzling hot plates, all kinds of meat. Not bad. Typical tea house stuff.

First up, chocolate, and mango milk tea. They come with the set lunches, which is good. Unfortunately, the latter tastes just like this instant bubble tea powder mix I bought once at some Taiwanese tea house:

Tomato rice with an egg on top:

Vegetable hot pot. There are quite a few things in here, which is good I guess. Although, this is not vegetarian - their choice of soup base is either chicken or pork, or beef. They did not have a vegetable soup.

Rest of the hotpot sides: more of what’s already in the hotpot - tofu, mushrooms, cabbage etc. There was also a bowl of white rice. Soy and spicy sauces for dipping, as well as minced ginger and green onions. And I guess it is pretty thoughtful of them to give you a little lychee jelly snack as a dessert:

Herb Chicken hot pot. They’re not skimping on the chicken, I guess:

The sides, same kind of stuff, but with (ugh) SPAM:

I will say I always like little heated pots you get all to yourself for a meal. One of their stoves didn’t really work though, so the pot of stuff never boiled up or even stayed warm. (We ended up just switching the pots mid-meal, nobody bothered to replace the stove.) Neither the drinks nor the food was great enough to have me going back ever again. It was also very empty for a weekend lunch. Despite this, the service was slow and rather unattentive.

Ugh. And I am so done with this post.

Gogo Tea Cafe

2170- 8188 McKim Way, Richmond

604 244 7336

Lunch @ the Cannery Seafood House

The Cannery Seafood House is really one of my favorite restaurants in the city. As you know, they made headlines a little while back because they will be moving from their current (hard to access) site at the Port of Vancouver in 2010. I really hope they will stay in town and end up somewhere … deserving. 

I’ve been backlogged for posts in May (busy busy times), but I really need to make this one before May is over. I took my Mom here for a belated Mother’s Day lunch 2 weeks ago, since she ended up sick on the actual day when I booked for the Cannery’s annual Mom’s Day brunch. It was the perfect day: blue skies, warm, just beautiful. Even sexy Dodge convertibles came out:

I don’t know where the Cannery Queen can bask outside like this elsewhere in the city after they move:

And little things like their own herb garden at the back- I just hope they find a nice, new, happy home after 2010:

And the view of the North Shore from inside…:

 

Mom wondered whether they could move the entire lodge when they relocate. Would be a shame to have to tear down this cozy little house:

Enough about views, because it’s making me sad that they will have to move. Let’s get to the food! Oooh, the famous lobster oil (and bread that just SOAKS it up like heaven!). This is truly great oil - so fragrant, with this sweet sea aroma…. I have never really had other oil quite like it:

 

Hmmm, bread … thick slices of bread…. thick slices of BREAD AND LOBSTER OIL!

Menu of the day:

Mom ordered the seafood salad, which has A LOT of seafood. More seafood than salad, speaks for itself:

I had the snapper, simply poached. It was really fresh, and sweet:

 

Of course, we didn’t leave empty handed. 20 bucks goes to a bottle of lobster oil (maybe I should have ordered a box?):

 

The Cannery Seafood House

2205 Commissioner Street
Vancouver, BC 

Tel : (604) 254-9606