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

Mom's Grilled Cheese Truck

WOWZA! here is some friggen good grilled cheese!! On the corner of Howe Street and West Georgia by the Vancouver Art Gallery is Mom's Grilled Cheese Truck. We came at peak hours at about 12:15pm on a Friday. There was a huge crowd so we figured it had to be something good.

We waited about 35 minutes in line to order and another 10 minutes to pick up our food. But it was definitely worth the wait!

Bryan ordered one of "Mom's Specialties": The Meatloaf Grilled Cheese Sandwich ($8.50)

Topped with marinara sauce, and surrounded with melted Mozzarella and Parmesan

Honestly, this photo doesn't give it justice, but it was hella good. You can choose add-ons as well like red onion, sliced tomato or dill pickle or bacon. As she was grilling it, she asked Bryan if he liked bacon and gave him some complimentary bacon on it for the long wait. He chose sourdough for the bread. Oh so delicious! 

 I chose a gluten-free bread with lactose-free swiss cheese and fresh sliced tomato. I reeeeally liked it! I ate it too fast though! The cheese is melted so perfectly Nom nom nom. Both our sandwiches are also served with a sliced pickle on the side and potato chips.

They also have tomato soup shots for $1 and a few other things on the menu. But to order a typical sandwich, you choose from white, sourdough, marble rye or multigrain bread and then your cheese: cheddar, havarti, swiss, pepper jack or provolone. Plus any of the add-ons.

You definitely need to check this food truck out! Eating street food is a fun experience too!

Here's the website: http://momsgrilledcheesetruck.com/
9.5 out of 10 rating!

Happy Eating! xoxo,

Bryan & Dina

Fresh Healthy Cafe

I'm always in the search for healthy food fare and also places that offer gluten free choices/menus.
Found Fresh Healthy Cafe at Morgan Crossing in South Surrey. It was a sunny day and we were there about 4:30pm. No one was there. Its a small little cafe with few seats. They specialize in wraps, paninis, salads and smoothies.

Bryan chose a Full Panini Combo. You choose a panini or wrap (full size, im assuming theres a half size) and any med smoothie.

Mediterranean Panini: roasted chicken breast, lettuce, green peppers,
olives, feta cheese and tzatziki sauce

with Green Tea Matcha Smoothie

The panini was very filling. The bread had a great toasty crunch and the combination of the sauce with chicken and feta was perfect. yum yum! The Matcha smoothie was a sure win as well. It had a nice light refreshing taste. 

I had a Turkey Pesto Wrap, Gluten-free!

 Turkey Pesto: turkey, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and pesto

The wrap was actually pretty good! Sometimes with a gluten-free product the texture is vastly different than what you're used to, but with their wraps, I almost forgot that it WAS gluten-free! The ingredients definitely tasted fresh and the pesto was nummy in my tummy :) I have to admit though that they went a little overboard with

This is a great place if you're wanting something healthier than Mcdonalds or are tired of subway and quiznos. The only downside is its a bit pricier. For all you see in the photos, we paid a little over $18.00. I was surprised that the debit machine even prompted for a tip..but I declined that lol they don't bring you your food, they just call you and you pick it up at the counter.

We'd probably come back here if we were in the area because its a 35 min drive from my place in Vancouver and a 30 min drive from Bryan's place in Surrey (Guildford).

Overall, we give this place a rating of 7.5 out of 10.

Happy Eating, xoxo

Bryan & Dina

Romer's Burger Bar

I live near some trails and Bryan and I like to ride our bikes on them. It leads us down to the river district on Kerr Street, which is where Romer's Burger Bar is located. It has an urban look with a modern atmosphere. Great looking restaurant inside and out. They have sliding windows for the summer along with a great patio. They've got big screen tvs as well, great for watching the game and enjoying a burger and a beer :)

We went there for lunch one day. Got there at about 11:45am on a Saturday. It started to fill up real fast after 12! A friendly server brought us to a table by the window, as I requested, and set down our menus. She came with our menus, and when I asked her about one of the burgers, she was really informative and patient.
It was the weekend so they were also serving dishes on their brunch menu, which is where Bryan chose his meal.

This is the "Big Cheesey Omelette". It doesn't look so big, but it was definitely loaded with cheese. We were both disappointed in its size at first, but actually at the end we were both stuffed, so the portion is alright. The omelette had aged cheddar, amber ale, reggiano, boursin cheeses and green onions. Served with breakfast potatoes which were nicely seasoned and tomatoes. The omelette was heaven with melted combo of cheeses :p $9

Along with this he had a "Kickstart Power Juice" $4

Fresh orange, mango, protein, B-pollen and ginger. It was different, with more of the orange standing out in taste. More tangy and sourish than sweet. But it was nice to try something different than we're used to.

I ordered "Romer's Righteous Burger" $12 

I chose to "make mine green!" for 75cents extra. HOLY MEAT! this was frickin delicious! Bryan and I both agree! Thick-sliced applewood bacon, braised short rib, sweet onions, Gorgonzola garlic sauce, fresh thyme leaves. The meat was sooooo juicy and tender, I was sad when I had finished all the meat :( It left me wanting more! I'm glad I had it on the crispy fresh iceberg lettuce, it really showcased the meat. The sauce was to-die-for! They have the lettuce shaped like a bun too, so it was possible to eat it like a regular burger with your hands but I preferred a knife and fork. It was served with a garlic olive and pepperoncini.

Since the burger wasn't served with fries, we decided to order some yam fries. $7

Classic yam fries, yummy taste. served with chipotle garlic aioli and spicy banana ketchup for dipping. A little expensive for the amount of fries, but it still tasted good.

We were paying with debit, so our server brought the machine to us and while we were paying she chitchatted a bit with us, which was nice. Friendly servers is a must!

The bathrooms are nice and clean too. Even has like a mini tv with slides of ads playing.

We'll definitely be back here again, perhaps for dinner to see what the ambiance is like at night. It's also so close to home we could take a 10ish minute bike ride to it or 20ish minute walk.
Overall, Romer's gets a rating of 8.5 out of 10

Happy Eating! xoxo,

Dina & Bryan

The Wallflower Modern Diner

As my diet changes compose of sticking to gluten free and wheat free food, I looked up some places that offered a gluten-free menu. The Wallflower was one of them. (located at 2420 Main Street).
Bryan and I went there for a late lunch after my work shift on Friday. It was about 1:45pm and the place was just about full, but it also looked like lots were finishing up from the noon lunch rush. We were told to sit wherever we wanted. It took a few minutes before someone actually came over with some menus. Water came 5 mins after.
The decor was very artsy with some statement pieces on the wall

and one wall covered in "wallflowers". You can kinda see it behind Bryan to the right.

On the menu you'll find sandwiches, wraps, salads, some pastas, burgers - the food you usually find in a typical american cuisine restaurant. They have lots of Vegan choices as well. Most things on the menu can be requested to be gluten-free for an extra $1 charge.

Bryan chose the Philly Cheesesteak

Beef, swiss cheese, onions, mushrooms and peppers on garlic toast with au jus on the side. Served with fries. He really liked this sandwich. The garlic bread was nicely toasted and beef was juicy. He said he would definitely order it again. But the fries...yuck! they tasted like the frozen ones that had been heated up. Gross. not fresh at all! He should've went with a soup or salad instead. $12

I opted for the Pesto Foccacia Sandwich, but on gluten-free bread.

So, technically it wasn't foccacia bread. Inside my sandwich was grilled tofu, lettuce, tomato, avocado and cucumber with a side garden salad. nom nom nom! soo good! 

 I loved the PESTO! It went great with the tofu. This was my first time having tofu in a sandwich, but I really like it :) $12 (it was $12 on our bill, so I guess she didn't charge me the extra $1) And the bun was pretty good too. A person not used to gluten-free might think otherwise though! And all the veggies were fresh and crisp.

Our table was small and cramped though. The whole restaurant isn't so big either. I enjoyed my meal, but I'm on the fence on whether or not I should return. Bad fries and cramped table....something to think about I guess. 

Overall, we give The Wallflower a rating of 8 out of 10.

Happy Eating! xoxo,

Dina & Bryan

red velvet cake pops :)

This isn't a new restaurant post, but it's still yummy food :) i looooove cake pops. I've been hooked ever since I tried one at Starbucks. So one day, I decided to try and conjure up my own batch of cake pops. I just bought a redvelvet cake box and a tub of cream cheese frosting, candy coating and lollipop sticks. They turned out so good! It's tedious work having to shape the cake into balls. It was fun tho...but more fun to eat them!! muhahahaha :) CAKE MONSTER!!

before they get dipped in coating (I only crumbled half of the full cake to make cake pops, so it would actually be twice as many as this!)

voila!! time to eat; nom nom nom nom nom

Happy Eating! xoxo,

Dina

Sushi S

My mom and I needed lunch after doing some shopping at Costco, and I said we should try S Sushi because it was new and on the way home. Sushi S was formerly Hibiki Japanese Restaurant but is now under new management. They're located at 4739 Willingdon Avenue near BCIT.
We walked in and it looked great! I had never been to this place before, but I was told they underwent major renovations.

We were seated promptly and given our menus. The waitress was very friendly. So we put our order in.

3 mins later we were told that they had run out of oysters!! But they were soooo nice about it and very apologetic. I think the guy said "We're so sorry" like 3 times. And I had asked for brown rice for my roll claiming it was only $1 extra charge, which I was fine with. ...Then another 2 minutes later...he says they are out of brown rice, but could offer me black rice. I was like what does black rice taste like?? sounds weird..I was assured that it pretty much had the same taste, so I agreed to it. And also, I was told that the girl waitress had told me $1 extra but it was actually $1.50. Again, they were very apologetic and super nice about it all, trying to accommodate to us as much as possible.

 I like the colorful glasses they use for the lemon water :) And the plates had modern shapes.

So here's our food!!

My green salad that I absolutely lovedddd. Fresh and crisp vegetables which were also showcased with different cutting techniques. fancy! This salad was different than all the other Japanese green salads I've tried because along with the traditional dressing, it was also covered in another white dressing. I didn't ask what it was, but it made the salad so much more delicious and mouth-watering. This was $4.

Chicken Yakisoba. It came on a hot plate and was sizzling when it was brought to our table. The sauce was good, chicken was tender and an all-around good dish. Plenty to go around, even took leftovers of this home.

 Ika Karaage (squid). We ordered this in place of the oysters. I didn't try this, but my mom enjoyed it. Came with chili sauce for dipping.

Here's my beef teriyaki roll with "black rice". My first words when I saw it was "It's purple!" Nonetheless, It was oh so yummy. I like it better than with white rice! I think because it had a sort of sweetness to it. My mom and I both said that it reminded us of Biko ( a filipino dessert). This roll truly didn't disappoint; although the meat was a little on the dry side. But I would get this dish again. It was $4 plus the $1.50 for brown/black rice.

Yakitori: chicken skewers. $5. These were fun to eat. Basically just chicken with teriyaki sauce, but it's simplicity was nice. yum :)

Then..to our surprise, a server came over and gave us an appetizer on-the-house! I guess to make up for not having oysters or brown rice.

Potato/corn and pumpkin croquettes. These were super delicious. It had a crispy outside and a soft melt-on-your-tongue texture on the inside. And being free, it made it even tastier :) hehehee

Then again....he came over with another plate of food on-the-house!

It was the black rice with avocado and cucumber. It had a nice light taste. It was so nice of them :) Truly great service and extra friendly staff. 

I guess they also want to impress us, to get repeat business. He even told us that they'd have more oysters in 3 days lol 

But, I'm sure I'll be back here again in the near future, perhaps with Bryan this time.
Sushi S, overall, a rating of 9.5 out of 10

Happy Eating, xoxo,

Dina