Dine Out Vancouver Festival 2017 - The Boathouse

Wow, a record five restaurants during the Dine Out Vancouver Festival period this year! I took my family out to The Boathouse because I received a promotional email and I got sucked in by the dessert on their $30 menu. I guess advertising does work! A $40 menu is also available but I didn't like the options as much. We braved the snow last night and after driving at a snail's pace for an hour, we all feasted on delicious seafood.

We started with a sourdough bread basket.

West coast seafood chowder. This really hit the spot after being in the cold!

Coconut Pacific cod with quinoa.

Mocha ice cream pie. The whole reason we came to eat here!

I thought the food was delicious! I've also decided I am not that big a fan of cod, which seemed to be the fish that most restaurants were serving this year. The Vancouver Dine Out Festival ends this weekend, so make your reservations now!

BrickCan 2016 - A Weekend Full of LEGO!

The long awaited LEGO convention, BrickCan, happened at the River Rock Casino Resort this weekend. This four-day long event drew thousands of LEGO fans to Vancouver to participate in keynote talks, games and display models in an a public LEGO exhibition. As BrickCan was geared towards AFOLs (adult fan of LEGO), tickets were completely sold out!

Visitors were greeted by a LEGO replica of the Digital Orca sculpture by Douglas Coupland, one of my favourite art pieces in Downtown Vancouver. The orca was also used in the 2016 BrickCan logo. 

A two-hour time slot was allotted to ticket holders to view the LEGO displays and visit vendor tables. There were some incredible pieces that were so awe-inspiring; the creativity and attention to detail on the builds were just amazing and made me want to start building my own models!

The first build I looked at was based on Mouse Guard, an adorable comic illustrated by David Petersen. The builder created an entire medieval village with various scenes from the comics, including the one-eyed owl, an enemy of the mice.

There were several cities that spanned an entire table, complete with motorized trains. It was fun to spot the little details the creator added in, such as a boat in a garage that I heard others commenting on.

These type of builds are one of my favourites - rocks, water and foliage. How they make something with such straight lines like a LEGO brick curve into a natural scene is beyond me; I can really appreciate all the effort that must be put into these models!

Another favourite was the amusement park scene, Brickland. Similar to Disneyland (remember Star Tours?), this diorama had so many fun things going on - a ferris wheel, roller coaster, pirate ship ride, ice cream trucks and lemonade stands. There were plenty of minifigures scattered everywhere to recreate the hustle and bustle of a theme park and it was really fun to pick some of them out with faces that fit so well with the scene. 

The theatre floor had the majority of displays and was packed with people.

There were a lot of amazing pop culture builds that included characters from Predator, Halo, Star Trek, Assassin's Creed, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Marvel superheros and much more!

Neverland never looked so good!

I really enjoyed "Parrot Island". Sometimes you can't beat the classic pirate LEGO sets from the 90's!

This was another great scene with running trains. The build was amazing to look at.

There was even a Smurf village!

There were also several mosaics, which was built from tiny LEGO plates. Can you imagine how long this orca would have taken to make?

This unbelievable diorama based on the game Fallout Shelter was back lit, which created a very eye-catching effect. Each little "room" had a different theme - very cool!

LEGO and technology meet! A clever builder incorporated LEGO scenes into his computer and his music player! This is the side of the CD player.

Visitors were encouraged to vote for their favourite LEGO build. The winning model was "The Wall", created by David Guedes, Keith Reed and Daveed Gagnon. This massive build was several feet tall, and very fitting since tonight was the return of a new season of Game of Thrones!

Let's not forget the vendors! There were LEGO sets, bricks, minifigures to purchase, along with books, art, jewelry and t-shirts. The popular minifigures and sets were flying off the shelves, and it was very fun to dig through the bins to see what you could find! It was also the perfect place to hunt for a long retired set that is now hard to find as the vendors had giant collections for sale. One of the vendors provided engraved LEGO bricks and was so popular, the wait time was 1.5 hours!

Once your two-hour time slot was up, children 12 and under could pick up an exclusive custom-designed BrickCan LEGO kit to take home, which featured the orca whale in the BrickCan logo. I wish I could have gotten one! There was also a Creation Station where anyone could go and be creative with the tubs of LEGO bricks there. Kids young and old (adults too!) were having tons of fun!

I had an amazing time at BrickCan and am looking forward to attending again next year! Make sure to sign up for notifications so you don't miss out on your ticket for BrickCan 2017!

Firebird Cafe

Chinese Bites is launching a new VIP program soon that involves various discounts for loyal diners at certain restaurants. I was invited to try out Firebird Cafe, a Hong Kong style cafe located at Continental Centre in Richmond, along with Mashed Thoughts, The restaurant is pretty spacious and we had plenty of seats to choose from when we arrived at 6:30, though they did get a lot busier later on in the evening.

Firebird Cafe serves a mixture of Asian and Western food, and has customizable menus, particularly for noodle soups and sizzling grills.

Most of the meal sets came with a drink. For a small upgrade, you could get a specialty drink like bubbletea, so that's what most of us ordered. I had the coconut smoothie, which I thought was very refreshing. It was a lot more like a slushy than a smoothie but there was a good coconut flavour. The others got passionfruit calpis, milk tea and horlicks. 

E decided on a noodle soup. You choose your own soup base, noodles and two toppings (additional toppings with extra charge) and a drink. She went with the gingko and pepper fish soup with egg noodles, bok choy, sliced pumpkin and fresh bean curd. The soup was SPICY. It was actually quite good, but I couldn't take the heat! E loved it so much she ended up drinking all the soup and had dry noodles left.

I ordered a custom sizzling grill - it comes with 2 items, a side, sauce, soup of the day and a drink. There was no choice for the soup (some restaurants usually have the option of a cream soup or borscht) so I had borscht. I went with beef shortribs and chicken wings with a side of fries and garlic sauce. The short ribs were very tender and the chicken wings plump and crispy. I rarely get to eat chicken wings so I was in heaven. The fries were similar to Costco fries, with the extra crispy outside. I'm drooling just thinking about it! 

V ordered the Baked Chicken Spaghetti in Meat Sauce. I normally don't order pasta at Asian restaurants, but this was actually very good and everyone agreed it was the best dish of the night. The chicken was very flavourful and tender. Mmm!

Mashed Thoughts ordered the custom steamed rice with free range chicken and pork liver with an egg ($1 charge). The dish was one of the last to arrived, probably because it took time to steam everything. The egg looked like it was microwaved though, so I probably wouldn't add the egg in next time. The liver and chicken were good, and the rice was very flavouful from the ingredients that were cooked on top of it. 

We ordered several appetizers to share, however, they were the last dishes to come out!

First we had Takoyaki, which seemed to be a hit or miss because some were very mushy on the inside but some were dryer. It came on a bed of fried onions which E couldn't stop eating (she actually took the onions home after).

Next was deep fried squid. They were nice and crispy but the batter did not seemed to be seasoned. There was a sweet chili dipping sauce on the side which made it better. The squid sat on a bed of fried onions again.

Last we had a giant bowl of Taiwanese Chicken Nuggets. They were really good and seasoned well. I ate so many even though I was so full! 

Overall, the food was decent at Firebird Cafe and the selection was typical of these type of cafes. Most of the customers seemed to be ordering the fish soup noodles so I would definitely go back when I'm craving noodles!

Disclaimer: The food mentioned above were provided free of charge by Firebird Cafe and ChineseBites. The opinions expressed in this post are those of Savvy Shopping, Deals and Reviews and have not been influenced in any other way. 

Taste Of Aberdeen - Food Adventures at the Aberdeen Food Court

I was invited to Aberdeen Mall last week by Chinese Bites to the Taste of Aberdeen media event to join other foodies to sample items from every vendor at the food court. The food court at Aberdeen is smaller than most malls, but there were still twenty, so I was prepared for a night full of eating.

Clockwise from top right:

We started off with drinks from several vendors:

8 Juice House  - special (mango coconut juice with tapioca, mango and pomelo bits)
Estea Express - Milk tea with pearls
Strike - Matcha soy bean
Saboten - Iced Genmaicha (Japanese green tea)
Teppan Kitchen - Iced honey matcha tea
Bubble Waffle - Iced lemon Ribena

I love drinks and I had a hard time deciding which one to choose, but I ended up with the 8 Juice House special. It was a rich and refreshing drink, though I think because the pomelo is out of season, the fruit bits were hard. The tapioca made it quite filling too!

Aji Hana provided us our first dish - a Sakura roll with prawn tempura, avocado and chopped scallop. This was a pretty good roll and I would definitely try it again!

Bubble Waffle Cafe - I usually have bubble waffles at the night market so this one of my favourite treats. We had the original flavour but there are different flavours you can order as well.

Szechuan House - Hot sour noodle. I am not a fan of spicy things and this one packed a punch!

Pan fried Chinese chives with pork dumplings from Chef of Dumplings. They were served with soy sauce and vinegar. Tasty!

Curry Fish Balls from Bubble Waffle. I used to eat curry fish balls when I was in highschool, so I really enjoyed these. They had a mild spicy curry taste.

Clockwise from top left:

Deep fried chicken wings and deep fried squid from Wu Fung Dessert. I love squid so this one one of my favourites. A bit salty though.

Sticky rice from Leung Kee. This was pretty good and a large serving size!

Lung Kee served prawn wontons. It would have been better with some noodles!

Popcorn chicken nuggets from Yougo Chicken. You can't really go wrong with fried chicken!

Kitchen Korea - Chicken bulgogi & pork belly. These were okay, but it was near the end of the meal so I was slowing down.

Drunken chicken hotpot from Tofu Hotpot. This was a really hearty Chinese soup and you could really taste and smell the wine.

Clockwise from top left:

Club house sandwich from Strike. This was a really filling sandwich with so many layers. Egg, sausage, tomato, cucumber, you name it!

'A' grade ribeye teppan with egg and corn from Teppan Kitchen. This was a really large serving size (a lot of rice) so definitely share. The food comes on a sizzling hot plate so you can mix the raw egg in with the other ingredients. Our plate wasn't hot enough, but it was a really good.

Mambo Café served baked pork chop on rice. The pork chops were very tender, however the tomato sauce tasted like it was from a can, so I wasn't that much of a fan.

Egg rolls from Strike. These crepes were filled with an odd combination of egg, corn and tuna. I wasn't a fan of this dish but I think if they changed the ingredients inside, I would have enjoyed it more.

Two types of chicken from Leung Kee - Soy sauce and Long Gong chicken. Both were very good, though the soy sauce chicken was a tad too salty.

Clockwise from top right:

To start off dessert, we had shaved ice ‐ A Dream in Eden (strawberries, kiwi, mango, mango ice cream) from Frappe Bliss. This was one of my favourites of the night.

Choco banana fresh cream mini crepe from Mazazu Crepe. Delicious!

Mini cream puffs and cheesecake stick from Beard Papa's.

Saboten set (prawn, pork tenderloin, pork loin) from Saboten This came with rice and miso soup. I only tried the pork, and it was decent.

Hainanese chicken on rice from Café D'Lite Express. The chicken was good and the rice was very flavourful. If only I wasn't so full...

Matcha Delight shaved ice (matcha ice cream, chewy rice balls, red bean) from Frappe Bliss. I liked the fruit flavoured one better but I can't really say no to shaved ice!

Some of the food were hit and miss but with so many vendors and food choices, there seems to be something for everyone at the Aberdeen food court!

Disclaimer: The food mentioned above were provided free of charge by each of the vendors at Aberdeen. The opinions expressed in this post are those of Savvy Shopping, Deals and Reviews and have not been influenced in any other way. 

Hakkasan Bistro and Canada Berries

I was invited to an event hosted by Hakkasan Bistro and Canada Berries, a local winery in Richmond that specializes in fruit wines. We started off the evening with a tour of the winery and some wine tasting. The staff were very passionate and knowledgeable about the wines. I never even knew we had a winery in our own backyard! While I am not a huge wine drinker, I do enjoy fruit wines and we got to sample several of their most popular wines. My favourites were the Blackcurrant and Cranberry wines. Popular among some of the other guests were the Peach and the Blue Queen Gold (blueberry) wines. There were also some appetizers to munch on, including grapes that were grown in their own vineyard! The green grapes are smaller than those you find in stores and very sweet!

After the wine tasting, we were shuttled off to Hakkasan Bistro. The restaurant is located in an industrial area so it's quite hidden. It's a small space but very modern looking inside. Hakkasan is a fine dining establishment that features authentic Cantonese and modern Chinese cuisine. Their dishes originate from the Hakka culture with popular Hakka dishes such as Ancient Style Salt Baked Chicken and Hakka Mui Choy Braised Pork Belly, with other dishes that fuse more contemporary styles.

Canada Berries provided fruit wines to pair with the meal.

To start off, we had an appetizer dish of Jasmine tea smoked mushroom beancurd crepes, balsamic cloud ear mushroom, honey roastsed BBQ pork cheeks. The pork cheeks were very tender.

 Next was a bouble boiled whole young coconut pork soup. Easily my favourite dish of the night, this is one of the specialties at the restaurant which require ordering a day advanced. It is double boiled for over 3 hours and the soup is infused with the flavour of coconut.

I was looking forward to the specialty odourless garlic lobster on Jasmine rice. You all know I love garlic! This did not leave any garlic breath, and the lobster and rice were delicious!

Next was the ancient style Hakka salt baked chicken. The chicken is marinated with a combination of herbs and spices, wrapped in parchment paper and the slow baked. The parchment paper allows the chicken to remain moist without being overly salty.

Country style fish fillet - the fish were tender and the peppers and onions gave it that extra kick. 

Hakka homestyle steamed egg, pork and duck yolk. This one another favourite of the night, as my family used to make steamed egg all the time. It has a very smooth texture, similar to tofu, and the duck yolk on top made it even better! I definitely recommend ordering this if you visit Hakkasan.

The braised pork hock comprises of very fatty meat that is cooked in sauce. It was a bit too salty for my liking, but could go well with rice. The restaurant staff will cut the pork hock up into serving sizes for you.

For veggies, we got the mui choy stirfry seasonal Chinese greens. This dish was very flavourful, since it had some pork bits in it too.

We ended the night with a steamed milk dessert. It was very smooth and creamy, and wasn't too sweet. Delicious!

Overall, it was an excellent dinner with many unique traditional and modern dishes that are must tries. They offer fixed and tasting menus as well as a la carte, so you can go and try some of the dishes mentioned above! I had a wonderful time - thank you Hakkasan Bistro!

Disclaimer: The food and wine mentioned above were provided free of charge by Hakkasan Bistro and Canada Berries. The opinions expressed in this post are those of Savvy Shopping, Deals and Reviews and have not been influenced in any other way.