Dine Out Vancouver Festival 2017 - Oceans 999

Dine Out Vancouver has started this weekend and my family went to our first one tonight. We went to Oceans 999 at the Pan Pacific, which serves Pacific Northwest cuisine using fresh local ingredients. Every Saturday night, they have a buffet with Italian cuisine as well as singers serenading you with popular songs from operas, so we had a glimpse of that while we were there as well!

Crispy pork belly with green papaya salad, fish sauce caramel, micro coriander.

Herb crusted line caught ling-cod with Pemberton purple potatoes, baby bok choy, yellow lemongrass coconut curry, coriander chimichurri.

Star anise braised short rib with pickled 5 spice carrot puree, and king oyster mushroom, roasted cashew chili gremolata.

Exotic chocolate extravaganza: Chocolate chiboust crème, Passion fruit mango mousse, coconut crisp, Asian sponge, Kumquat compote.

Dine Out Vancouver is happening now until February 5, 2017. Make your reservations now to ensure you get a seating at your favourite restaurant!

Calgary Eats: World Bier Haus

My coworker also met up with her friend while in Calgary so I tagged along. We headed to World Bier Haus, a popular after-work hang out. It was busy when we went (they had playoff games on the tvs), and everyone was there enjoying a drink. They offer typical pub food, including appetizers, sandwiches, pizza. I had the Steak Cobb Salad, because you can't go wrong with a salad. The steak was cooked pretty well, and I enjoyed it! World Bier Haus is a good place to go to hang out with friends in a relaxed atmosphere!

Tea Time at Chatime Bubble Tea Shop

First founded in Taiwan, Chatime is a popular bubbletea shop located in 80 cities worldwide, with almost 1200 stores in four continents. Two locations recently opened in Vancouver - 1545 Broadway and 1274 Robson St.

I was invited by ChineseBites to try out some of their drinks. Chatime boasts a variety of drinks on their menu, from milk teas, juices to smoothies and more dessert-like mousse drinks. You are able to customize your drinks with different sugar and ice levels. Eight toppings are available: pearls, grass jelly, coconut jelly, red bean, coffee jelly, aloe vera, rainbow jelly and pudding. Pearls are made fresh throughout the day and had a very soft and chewy texture. They use fresh fruit and fruit juices for their fruity drinks and I particularly enjoyed the mango smoothie, which is in their top 10 list of drinks. It had a rich mango flavour and was very sweet. Others in my group opted for some classic drinks also on the top 10 list: Pearl Milk Tea, Matcha Red Bean Milk Tea and Red Bean Pearl Milk Tea.

We also tried the Taiwan Mango QQ, which had pearls and coconut jelly, Tieguanyin Tea Latte and Kumquat Lemon Juice, which was very sweet - I'll try asking for half sweet next time!

Chatime is located in a great shopping area, so it's easy to pop in for an afternoon drink. I definitely will be back to try some of their other drinks!

Disclaimer: The products mentioned above was provided by ChineseBites and Chatime for review. The opinions expressed in this post are those of Savvy Shopping, Deals and Reviews and have not been influenced in any other way.