Lunch @ Top Chiu Chow Cuisine

all the dishware are unique from traditional ones

left to right: Pan Fried Oyster Pancake

Steamed Golden Sauce Chicken Claw, not as salty and tender as others

Fried Taro Cake [on menu it says "bang"(meaning flat form) but turns out to actually be "go"(cake form)]

top to bottom: Pan Fried Chinese Chive Cake [with shrimp inside],

Golden Fried Yam Cake, sweet red bean paste inside, [this one is not traditionally made, should be peanut and sesame paste filling]

Sautéed Satay Beef Rice Noodles

does not have enough satay taste, not a good dish, overheard another table even complained to the manager about it

dessert: Taro Paste (based on 1 person order), it was probably pre-made and was just heated up

 a bit too sweet, the Ginkgo biloba were bitter, traditional ones are more oily so i find this one tasting different than traditional

$1 tea/person

interesting that they even have a QR code for a chinese restaurant, however couldn't read it with my iphone

潮州世家 海鮮菜館

Top Chiu Chow Cuisine

1211-8338 Capstan Way (In Union Square)

Richmond BC V6X 4B5

604 278 5698

called in to book a table but still had to wait 15 mins more upon arriving, food took longer to arrive than most dim sum places, steamed food usually arrive first but didn't occur in this restaurant

The Good

-what i like about the oyster pancake is that there's not of pepper added into it, not too oily, but i like having crispy ends more, price is around the same as others
-my favourite dish is Fried Taro Cake, its nice and crispy, only soft taro inside
-has some chiu chow style dim sum not offered elsewhere
-lots of chiu chow style desserts as well
-average dim sum prices for great food

The Not so good
-limited dim sum varieties, around 20 kinds, but have many other of dishes
-slippery floor, around 20 tables that are placed tightly
-overheard from the other table that the marinated sauce is too light, probably because the restaurant is too new to have a strong leftover marinated sauce

-most of the food taste great but don't know how long it will last as most new restaurants taste great during opening
-most likely will visit again in future

Visited on: Jan 29, 2012

Note: I translated all the chinese myself

Ultimate Ears 600vi Unboxing

7 different buds to choose from

compared to my old UE case, prefer the old one since its smaller

glued it back together

-vi is the version design for apple products

-bought UE since had good experience with the Metro.fi series however the build for this was disappointing

-the end of plastic shell started to come off after a few months of usage, had to glue gun to secure it so it won't rip/tear the actual cord (last picture)

-the headphones are more amplified than my previous set of UE, sometimes the lowest volume with my iphone still feels loud in quiet surroundings

-great design that you are able to hook the buds over your ear and won't come off easily

-love the 3 button design unlike my old one buttoned UE

-like how it uses red to differentiate the right ear but i usually differentiate by the remote

-sounds are very clear, bass is great, and noise cancellation is high

Lunch @ Saboten Japanese Cutlet

waited total of 30 mins from lining up to getting the food

their custom order of bread for the panko (bread crumbs) 

like any other Japanese restaurant, models of their food

open kitchen

they had probably 12 employees (10 in front), one at each station

pouring sauce, soup, serving rice, dripping, frying, cutting tonkatsu, cashier, etc

menu is exactly same as the overhead one

they put out a sold out sign for the sandwich

probably because it makes the less profit and required the same frying work

model of what i order

-actual food (in take out form), no big difference for eat-in as they served everything io styrofoam

-meat was very tender and the exterior was very crispy, not oily+greasy

-miso soup is definitely not those regular cheap mixes, very clear miso taste

-comes with one side dish, sour vegetable, seasme mix, tonkatsu sauce

-soft japanese rice 

tastes like traditional tonkatsu (p, definitely better than ones found in HK style restaurants

the size of individual cutlets are smaller than usual, only divided into 2 pieces

wonder how many meals they have to serve to cover just the staff expense

according to the magazine:

-this is north america's first specialized tonkatsu place

-company has over 500 specialized tonkatsu place+600 other types of restaurants worldwide

-bread crumbs are custom mabe by Saint Germain Bakery and is key to crispness

-USA FDA recognized meat

-tonkatsu sauce is directly imported from Japan

-specialized machine for frying, mixing bread crumbs, cutting cabbage

さぼてん

Saboten Japanese Cutlet

Unit 3180 Aberdeen Centre

4151 Hazelbridge Way

Richmond BC V6X 4J7

604 295 9351

-definitely will go back often when there's no line ups

-drinks are too expensive

-high quality food for a food court but can also be considered expensive for a food court meal

side note, they totally owned the other stores in the food court, there is usually a long line up for Wo Fung Dessert, but none on the day i visited, for a second made me wanted to eat that instead

Visited on: Jan 31, 2012

McDonald's Cookies 'N Cream Pie made with Oreo

-i'm a huge fan of limited edition things/food so being a huge chocolate fan, went on to try the new oreo pie

-was not as sweet as i expected, lighter taste than a oreo cookie

-flavour is same as normal oreo expect that everything is in soft form

-pie crust is just like all the other regular pies expect the oreo cookie taste

-the same price as regular flavours

-only disappointment is that they didn't make a special box for it unlike hong kong which made different boxes for all limited edition pies/burgers

red bean pie - hong kong jan 2009

Terrace Restaurant @ Mission Hill

Free Range Pork & Fabian's Lobster 'Hotdog'

-there's plum in the sauce

Maple Brined Sezmu Beef Flat Iron

Free Range Corn Fed Chicken Breast

Terrace Restaurant

1730 Mission Hill Road

Westbank, BC V4T 2E4

(250) 768-7611 ‎
-scenery+atmosphere is excellent, can see the vineyard and the lake-food overall pretty good, most had strong tastes and leaned slighty towards salty side-had to wait around 30 mins since didn't make reservations

Urbanears Plattan Black Unboxing

comes with 2 adapters: nokia + neutral

headphones, adapter, catalog, box

cord comes out from left side

chose black because it won't get dirty

tight fit so pushes towards your ears and feels a bit uncomfortable

inexpensive and lots of colors to choose from

would love it more if able to adjust volume

iphone compatible, can answer calls

bass is not bad

so far so good

What8ver Cafe

Honey Toast

-crisp throughout, cut into 9 pieces

Strawberry Waffle + Blueberry Waffle

-won't be too dry or crisp

Wheat germ Milk tea

-has enough ice cubes to last through whole drink keeping it cold all the way

What8ver Cafe

1108-8328 Capstan Way

Richmond, BC V6X 4B6

(778) 297-5992

visited on a saturday night

The Good
-food is the right sweetness

-decent prices with good quality (not so sure if they will follow other bbt places where the quality drops after a few months of opening)

-closes at 3am

-friendly staff, they will definitely see you since the place is small unlike other places which take forever to get some attention

The Not So Good
-limit of 90 mins of table (can't rmb if its 90 or 120) (posted on wall beside each table)
-even though there's a lot of staff, the drinks came later than the food which already took 15+ mins prep (but guessing that they finish the take out first)

-not a lot of tables of so best to make reservations and toast may sell out so ask before hand to make sure they have it

-can't fit large groups, probably 8 is max for their only big table

-their prices include HST which got confusing when trying to split the bill

-a place that will definitely revisit (hoping that they will expand since there's only 5-6 tables inside, 2 outside)