Solly's

There are 3 Solly's Bagels, Bakery and Deli locations in Vancouver. On this particular trip we visited their location at 368 W 7th Avenue on the corner of Yukon close to Cambie Street. My boss actually always buys bagels from here and so we decided to try them.

Solly's bagelry is a Jewish family bakery and deli. From what we saw, they offered lots of Jewish pastries, soups, other traditional foods and of course their bagels! Their bagels are 'boiled and baked in the traditional way' which makes them dense and chewy.

As Bryan and I walked inside the store, we had a feeling of entering someone's home; the atmosphere was friendly and inviting. So many choices to make! We waited in line for about 5-8 minutes though, I was starting to get impatient and then they made me repeat our order like 3 times because the first guy at the till didn't write it down and then went to go make it on the other side of the store. ANYways, it was a bit of a mess at first, but I'm willing to let it go because the food was just too good!

I chose the 'staff pick' of the day: plain bagel with Herb and Sundried Tomato shmear (low fat cream cheese) topped with red onion and tomato. $2.85

Oh.my.goodness. That was one frikin delicious bagel!!! I'm drooling now just looking at it! The bagel was moist tender perfection and the shmear!!-it was sooo delicious! everything about it, i loved! 

Bryan ordered Smoked Salmon shmear on a parmesan something bagel (can't exactly remember the bagel). $3.35

This one looks plain, but it was oh so tasty! smoked salmon shmear! mouth-watering on top of the hot bagel.

For desserts, we also got a cinnamon bun $2.85

They're supposedly the best cinnamon buns in town. They look kinda blah in this photo, but it was a pretty good bun. You can add cream cheese icing for an extra charge. It's best when it's warmed up too. It was really sweet and cinnamony on its own without the icing. I don't know if it's the best thought, I guess it depends how you like your cinnamon bun.

 

And to take home we ordered a Chocolate Babka Bun $2.95

We couldn't resist! We actually liked this one better than their cinnamon bun. It was so soft, sweet, chocolatey, moist and oh so good! almost sinful! If you love chocolate like I do, you'll definitely love this! It was huge too! Definitely big enough to share between two people (same with the cinnamon bun).

If you haven't already, go grab a midday snack or lunch at Solly's. You really won't be disappointed! I think it's almost a bad thing that I work near one of their other locations, I'll be going all the time!! ....but maybe not such a bad thing.. =)

Solly's gets a solid 9 out of 10 rating.

Happy Eating, xoxo,

Dina & Bryan

Ogenki Sushi

Ogenki Sushi is located on 4342 Main Street in Vancouver. We came here for my sister Danelle's birthday on a Monday night. This place is great! Plenty of seating, good food, decent prices and good service.
It's a 2 part restaurant; one side is Ogenki Ramen, which is the side we sat in. The seats were rectangular wooden stools, which gave a modern feel. The 7 of us got seated right away and was given hot tea.
Here are some of the food we ordered:

Golden California Roll $5.95

This tasted soooo yummy! not too greasy, great portion size and the sauces drizzled on top made them taste even better :) 

Karaage Ramen $9.95

Deep fried boneless chicken, egg, bok choy, green onion, bean sprouts in a Shoyu base. This was a nice big bowl and Bryan seemed to enjoy it very much. It was nice that they served the karaage on the side instead of letting it get soggy in the soup. 

My dad had also ordered Ramen. Genki Ramen $10.95

Chashu, karaage, bean sprouts, black wood ear mushrooms, egg, corn, seasonal fresh vegetables, green onion, nori in a miso base.

He said it was very filling and quite delicious!

Salmon Teriyaki Bento Box was a 'special' that day. I think it was $8.95

The salmon teriyaki was really moist and tasty! It was a nice alternative to beef or chicken. Also included california roll, salad and tempura. A great meal!

 Here's Denise enjoying her Beef Teriyaki Bento Box - her fave!

And here's the bday girl, enjoying her edamame!!!

Bryan and I will definitely be back here again, many times I'm sure!!

no complaints! Ogenki gets 9 out 10 stars.

Happy Eating! xoxo,

Dina & Bryan

Kiso Island

Kiso Island on 2718 Main Street. We recommend not going here. We came a little after 4pm for an early dinner which is when they also have "happy hour" - 20% off eat in. The place is a nice size, actually quite large. No one was there when we came in though, and the whole time we were there, only 2 others came. The seating/decor was a little confusing, they had the traditional japanese looking booths which we sat in, but then they also had tables that looked like they belonged in a fancy chinese restaurant or something, it almost had a victorian feel to it. weird... Anyways, after looking through the menu, the prices were fair, but we were pretty happy with 20% off the menu price.

Bryan ordered the Unagi Don, which I believe was $7.95 before the 20% off.

He wasn't too thrilled about this one. Firstly, everything was kinda dry. And he was upset with the portion size as well, hardly any rice. He gives his meal a 4 out of 10.

 Bryan pretending to be happy with this experience lol

I ordered this Bento box, BUT since it was on a different menu, I didn't get 20% off :( deceiving...

 My bento box was 8.95 I think. It had a salad which was average. The veggie tempura had too thick of a batter; it wasn't light and crispy at all. California roll was probably the best part, because the beef yakisoba wasn't very pleasant. They tasted plain like there wasn't any sauce, and wow were they every greasy! so oily I couldn't finish it and didn't want to! yuck! my meal is a definite 3 out of 10, the 3 goes to the roll.

The tea served was pretty bland too. And to top it off, when we went up to pay, the lady forgot to give the 20% off for Bryan's meal. When we told her, she looks at the receipt and checks their menu. She's either new or thinks we're trying to rip them off.. Well in the end she applied the discount. 

Kiso Island gets a 3.5 out of 10 overall

save your money for elsewhere!

Happy eating! xoxo,

Dina & Bryan

Co-Zi on Fraser Cafe

2 days ago, on a rainy Vancouver day, Bryan and I made our way to Co-Zi Cafe for a late afternoon snack. Located at 4376 Fraser Street, this cafe is a 5 minute walk from our place. 
This place is new to the neighbourhood, opening its doors earlier this month of October.
Like their name, this place is small and cozy, almost a bit cramped. If there was a morning rush of people I could see it getting a tad too tight in there. There's seating for about 16 people more or less. We ordered at the front, and the friendly server brought the food/drinks to our table.

It was cold out so we had some warm drinks. I chose the organic peppermint tea. It's cute how they serve it in a mini teapot. For $1.85 it filled up my teacup of a generous size 3 times.

 And we also chose to share a cinnamon bun. He was nice to ask us if we wanted it warmed up and of course we wanted a warm gooey cinnamon bun. For $2.95, it was an OK cinnamon bun. The size was big enough to share, but I don't know what the server thinks the definition of "warm-up" is, because it wasn't warm at all..

The taste was satisfying enough though, not dry and even had raisins in it. 

Bryan ordered a medium sized Mocha. $3.85. He said it tasted average. It would've been nice to see a design on top.

 The seating was comfy with modern decor and an almost elegant look. I like the design on the cushioned booth type seating as you can see in the picture above.

p.s. the sun was coming out! but as you can expect in Vancouver, the rain came back quick minutes later..

d

There's a tv in the corner too.

The music they played was nice too - a sort of modern hip jazz with a touch of pop. haha if that makes any sense!

We might come back here another time, but we'd be more inclined to if they have wi-fi, which we're unsure of.

Co-Zi gets a 7 out of 10. 

It'll be interesting to see how well this business turns out.

Happy Eating! xoxo,

Bryan & Dina

Marulilu Cafe

Last month, my lovely took me to a new Japanese breakfast place. Marulilu Cafe is on the corner of Cambie and Broadway (451 West Broadway). It's very accessible as it is right across from the Broadway-City Hall skytrain station.

When she said, Japanese breakfast, I didn't really know what to expect. I was like, sushi for breakfast?? hahaha but I was pleasantly surprised, we were promptly greeted by 2 very friendly staff. We order at the counter and then they bring you your order. The place isn't huge either, it could probably seat about 25 - 30 people.
Everything on the menu was reasonably priced.
Here is my order:

Eggs Benny with one hashbrown with my choice of ham

I must say these are the best tasting eggs benny I've ever had. I've only had eggs benny maybe 5 times in my life, but this one tops them all.

Presentation is superb and the taste was very delicious, served warm as it should be.

I believe my dish was just under $8.

Here is Hambie's order: a Japanese style Breakfast

It came with a bowl of steamed white rice, miso soup, tofu, plain egg omelet and her choice of salmon. I believe everything was tasty, but I do recall her mentioning that the tofu was kind of dry and would've been nice with a sauce.

Well presented dish as well

We are happy happy! and so are our tummies! :)

The only concern I had was that I don't think there was air conditioning, it was pretty stuffy inside especially with the sun shining through the window.

I know that my opinions on this place aren't fresh, seeing as I'm writing this post almost 2 months later, but it's to the best that I can remember.

All in all, I give Marulilu Cafe an 8.5 out of 10 and will definitely come back again to try some other items on the menu.

Bon Chaz Bakery Cafe

I know it's been a looong while since our last post, but we've superduper busy. But we're here now :)
Our next stop is at Bon Chaz on 426 West Hastings Street downtown Vancouver. We've been here a few times now and also their other location on the corner of Main St and Broadway.

It's a cute little place to grab a warm drink and a treat or even some lunch. Aside from baked pastries, they also serve daily soups, sandwiches and pastas.
There was a bunch to choose from on our first visit, but we were definitely going to satisfy our sweet tooth.
Their 'bonchaz" buns are made of buttery goodness and you can choose from original and other flavors depending on the day, like matcha or chocolate. We had a coupon for a free one (which is also what led us to this place!) so we tried an original.

It's a cute little bun regularly $1.95. It was so-so for me, but it definitely was moist and just the right amount of sweet.

I was more excited when we also got these!

Oh.My. Gosh. Bryan and I could not get over how good the chocolate croissant is!!! Heaven! The croissant is so soft and buttery and with the chocolate baked into the inside as well, you can't not like it! definitely worth the $3.95

Next up, we had the pecan and brown sugar cupcake. I believe every day they have a different cupcake. It's a regular sized cupcake and we thought it was a little expensive for $3.95, but we wanted to go for it anyways. wow, is that ever sweet. The brown sugar was a little overwhelming actually. You couldn't really enjoy it much because it was overly sweet. 

And lastly, the black and white cookie. It's a pretty big double chocolate cookie. The texture is more of a cake to us, but nonetheless, deeelicious. This one is definitely a winner.

 

The prices are little up there for us, although they do have a different deal every day. For example, every Friday, pastries are 10% off. The people that work there are really nice too, very friendly.

We give BonChaz an 8 out of 10 overall. The croissant gets an 11 out of 10 ;)

*we went back to BonChaz specifically for a chocolate croissant the other day only to find out that they wont be making them anymore :( 

Happy Eating, xoxo

Dina & Bryan

Ki Sushi

I have a little extra time before it gets all hectic before our trip to CUBA!! (sooooo excited! yeeee =D)
Yesterday, I had a lunch date with Grace - it was looooooong overdue and we headed over to Ki Sushi at 31 8th Street New Westminster. The location is very convenient: right across from the skytrain station.
The restaurant gave off a fresh modern feeling and was clean. Grace was already waiting for me at a table, but we both wanted to request a booth and they were able to grant our wish with a smile. So we transferred over to a booth table by the window. We took a look at the menu and everything was reasonably priced, I've seen cheaper but I've also seen much more expensive menus so this was just right.

It didn't take very long for our food to come out, which was very nice because I was very hungry!

I ordered, I believe it's "Set B" Lunch box

It included chicken yakisoba, 4 california roll, salad and vegetable/prawn tempura. All for just $7.95 :)

The yakisoba had a somewhat dry texture but as if it is meant to be like that because it was really tasty in my opinion. It was a also a good portion with enough pieces of chicken. I was expecting not much noodles because of the price but I was pleasantly surprised :) The california roll was average and so was the salad. I actually didn't like the way the salad was shredded, the taste was lost. But I really liked the assortment of tempura you get: yam, eggplant, mushroom, and 2 pieces of prawn. Yummy!!

Grace ordered the Beef teriyaki bento box.

 Her's included a good portion of beef teriyaki on rice, assorted veggie and prawn tempura, miso soup, 2 california roll, and 3 tuna maki.

Grace said she found that there was too much teriyaki sauce, but I on the other hand like it saucy and moist so I tried a bit of it and I quite like it :) I guess it's based on personal preference. We both thought that perhaps next time you could order the sauce on the side and dip/pour as much to your liking. Again, a great deal at $8.95

The service was pretty good too. The servers came by twice to refill tea/water and had a pleasant attitude-always important!!

I think I would definitely come back here again if I was in the area. I believe they also have free customer parking which is a plus in that part of New Westminster.

Ki Sushi restaurant deserves a solid 9 out of 10.

Happy Eating! xoxo,

Dina

Benny's Cafe

Last week, Bryan and I took our cruisers out for a ride and rode down to Kitsilano to pick up some of our favourite chocolates from Thomas Haas and to have a late lunch here at Benny's Cafe. I believe it was formerly known as Benny's Bagels, and I found out why when we were there. They have a wide assortment of fresh bagels :)
The place has wood furnishings with touches of a funky modern feel. It's really cozy in there and also has seating upstairs. Really cool vibe! Only problem we had was that there wasn't any air conditioning inside and with it being 19degrees outside and us warm from the bike ride, it felt really cooped up inside with humid air.

So we walk up to the counter and place our orders. What to choose?..what to choose?...The menu had a lot of things I wanted to try :) I gave my name and Bryan and I took a seat upstairs in the loft. We found a table by an open door so that was accomodating to us, letting a cool breeze in. 10 minutes later and they bring our food to us.

Bryan ordered a "Benny's Benny"

Eggs benedict with ham on a pizza bagel (Bryan's choice!)

I stole half of one! It was mouthwatering delicious!! The pizza bagel went really nice with it and the egg with the sauce was heaven!! We both love it!! 

I had a Turkey BLT on a Sundried Tomato bagel

Wow! I loved it! The bagel was sliced into 3 layers. All the ingredients were so fresh and had a great crunch to it. Very delicious! The sauce they used was nice too it had a tangy and almost spicy, but not spicy taste lol.

We both really enjoyed this place, both the food and the atmosphere. Will definitely be back numerous times!

We rate Benny's Cafe a 9 out of 10.

See you soon Benny! :)

Happy Eating! xoxo,

Dina & Bryan

Applebee's

We were running errands in Coquitlam and came across Applebee's. This location in Port Coquitlam is the closest I think and one of the few in BC without having to cross the border. It's style is like Red Robin or the Pantry; a typical American-food family restaurant.
We came in at about 2:30pm for a late lunch/early dinner so there was hardly anyone else in there. I think we only saw 3 other tables occupied, so it was real quiet. It was kind of dark in there too and no liveliness.
Nonetheless, we decided to go with their 2 for $25 deal. You get to choose 2 entrees plus an appetizer (from a separate list/menu) for $25.

First up, for our appetizer we chose Cheese Quesadillas!

Melted cheese and freshly made pico de gallo between 2 large flour tortillas. This was cheesey ooey gooey goodness! This could easily be an entree for me, it was huge! and filling too! 

For Bryan's entree, he chose Provolone stuffed Meatballs with Fettucine. That sounds delicious to me without even looking at the picture!

But to my surprise, Bryan wasn't very satisfied. He was complaining that the meatball tasted bland and fake. So I had a bite...I thought it was just okay, but with the melted cheese stuffed inside it was definitely better. But he kept insisting that even the meatballs at Subway were ten times better! The fettucine itself was not bad, it was moist and tasty. This dish was so-so and gets 6 out of 10 stars. 

I went for the Double Crunch Shrimp basket.

It really was a heaping platter of succulent shrimp fried to perfection. It's served with coleslaw, fries and tangy cocktail sauce. This was a yummy meal! Great taste and crunch of the shrimp and the sauce makes it so much better. I've had better fries , but I wasn't complaining too much about those.

These are the prices if bought separately: Provolone stuffed meatballs with fettucine $15.99, Double Crunch Shrimp $13.99 and the appetizer would be $9.99.  So we saved about $15! 

Our waitress wasn't extraordinary, pretty much just did her job with no extra effort and sometimes not even saying anything when she gave us our plates, so minus points on that, which reflected on how much we tipped. We also waited about 15 minutes for our food which seemed long to us since there was hardly anyone there! Seeing as this location is pretty far from home and the food and service wasn't spectacular, we probably won't be back, sorry Applebee's!

Overall, including Bryan's dissatisfaction lol, we rate Applebee's a 6.5 out of 10.

Happy Eating! xoxo,

Dina & Bryan

Lucy's Eastside Diner

This diner is pretty yummy :) It was Bryan's first time here, but I had come here a couple times before. It's located in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood at 2708 Main Street.

 It's a really cute diner and easy for us to get to.

They have those classic diner bar stools that you look for at a diner. love it! We came here after work so we were there at about 1:30pm for a late lunch. There were a few others there so it wasn't too crowded. The server brought us  a couple waters with the menus already waiting at the table. We waited about 8 minutes for our food to arrive.

I ordered the Montecristo sandwich with fries. $8. A chicken, ham and cheese sandwich dunked in egg and grilled to perfection. SOOOO GOOD! Fresh off the grill goodnes, and the shoestring fries were great with their special dipping sauce. WIN!

Bryan went with one of their footlong "HoooDogs"

"Chili n Chips" 

Topped with homemade meat chili, a splash of hot sauce, avocado, monterey jack cheese and crumbled tortilla chips. $7. Bryan said it was deeelicious. The chili was really the star of the meal. It was steaming hot too when it came. One big dog with big taste :)

I believe I'm correct when I say they are open 24hours and serve breakfast all day! There's so many choices, take a look at their menu! I won't be surprised if Bryan and I find ourselves in here again!
 Overall, Lucy's Diner is 9 out of 10 stars.

Happy Eating! xoxo,

Dina & Bryan

Donburi Ya Robson Street

I've been a bit lazy the past month-ish and haven't been keeping up with the blog, but we're here now :) This one was from a while ago at Donburiya for lunch after some shopping on Robson. It's like a fast food style restaurant where you order your food at the counter and you sit and wait, but they bring the food to you. We didn't wait any longer than 5 minutes for the food. I ordered a simple chicken teriyaki don in a small size. I like how they have different sizes of the bowls so you can choose according to how hungry you are and how much you can eat. It wasn't anything special, just a regular tasting don. I was still satisfied because I was craving teriyaki at the time.

Bryan ordered from their curry menu. I can't remember what his was called (this is what happens when I put off a food blog! :/ ) But I think it had croquettes in it with the curry, well anyways he enjoyed it a lot!

Both our meals together came to about $14, which wasn't too bad. It's a small restaurant though, could probably only fit about 18-20 people at one time..tiny! We'd come back here only if we were in a hurry and we were near it.

Donburi Ya gets a rating of 7 out 10.

Happy Eating! xoxo,
Bryan & Dina

Cora (Coquitlam)

I had heard some good things about Cora's so I wanted to try it out. Cora is located in Coquitlam 3025 Lougheed Highway. There's also one in White Rock, Richmond and 2 other in Kelowna and Kamloops.
Got here at about 10:45am for brunch on a Friday. The restaurant was a good size with lots of bright colors like yellows and baby blues. It has the same vibe as DeDutch. We were seated promptly and took a look at the menu which was also very appealing to the eyes with many pictures which is nice to get an idea of what you might be ordering.
It took both Bryan and I a little longer than usual because everything looked so good, it was hard to choose just one!
Finally I decided to go with Buckwheat Blessing. Our orders also arrived 10 minutes after ordering, not too long of a wait.

3 sausages wrapped in buckwheat crepes and topped with cheese (cant remember which kind) and served with a very beautiful arrangement of fruits! My plate had cantaloupe, apples, strawberries, mangoes, pineapple, kiwi, orange, grapes, banana and watermelon. Fresh and healthy! Love it! 10 stars!

Bryan decided to order "Eggs Ben & Dictine" (cute play on words there :))

Two poached eggs on an English muffin covered with Hollandaise sauce, served with roasted potatoes and fresh fruit. Very delicious as well!! He chose the asparagus and swiss cheese option plus ham. It was sooooooo yummy. Also 10 Stars! Just plain goodness :)

Pouty face cuz he doesn't want a photo, he wants to dig in and eat!! I don't blame him! :)

Also noticed the cute sunshine logo on their napkins, couldn't help taking a picture of that too :)

Cora's is a great place for a healthy breakfast/lunch and also a filling one! I wasn't hungry again until about 6:30p without any snacking. The prices are average or slightly above. Our two plates with just water to drink totalled just a little over $31 including tax but not tip.

Regardless, we will definitely be back soon!
Overall, 9.5 out of 10 rating!

Happy Eating, xoxo,

Dina & Bryan