The last couple months of 2017, we took 2 trips to Vancouver as our breezing getaway from Seattle.
1. Accident, parking tickets, not so much good memories. I planned to go there for a very good dim sum, as I heard from people that's where you go for an authentic dim sum. Not so much in my case, no dim sum cart, no surprising dim sum dishes ( at least in the restaurant we tried), however, the mall where the restaurant is located in, has a giant Daiso store, and a bunch of Asian stores, worth 1-2 hours for any of you out there, who are away from home, and can drop by for reminiscing of Asian atmosphere.
2. Promised my sister to take her for a good bubble tea and food, ended up waiting 2 hours at immigration border. This time though was actually better than the last, we had a good Korean chicken experience, good Japanese Izakaya, but not so good bubble tea times for my sister, and still didn't make it into Granville Island market.😐
Do I like Vancouver? No.
I do like Asian food there. Hell yes, and the Asian market over there too.
But still, No, I don't like Vancouver.
Unfortunately, for me, Vancouver is like a copycat hipster, not fully Asian but also not fully western.
Some of the places you'd like to check out in Vancouver besides my previous recommendation in a blog post, that I collected from various sources ( jk, just Instagram)
- Mountain grouse/Burnaby mountain
- Vancouver public library
- Capilano suspension bridge ( I don't have money for this fancy one)
- Surrounding downtown Vancouver ( Gastown, harbor, English Bay...)
- Granville Market
" Korean
https://www.yelp.com/biz/seoul-truck-coquitlam - good Korean chicken
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/cocoru-richmond alright, decent.
bubble tea
https://www.yelp.com/biz/yifang-fruit-tea-vancouver black sugar boba latte , available at 3 and 7 pm.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/gong-cha-richmond Gongcha Richmond is better than Gong Cha Robson
Poutine:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-belle-patate-vancouver?osq=poutine -> variety, good
https://www.yelp.com/biz/smokes-poutinerie-vancouver?osq=poutine tradition, generous cheese curds
Dim sum/hotpot
https://www.yelp.com/biz/r-and-h-chinese-food-richmond?ylist=i3RCHsvS55srggC8NO6wuA - famous xiao long bao
https://www.yelp.com/biz/chef-tony-richmond?osq=truffle+dimsum fancy dim sum, same owner with fisher's man terrace
Taiwan/Hong Kong
Desserts
https://www.yelp.com/biz/snackshot-vancouver-2?osq=Dessert recommend dessert platter
https://www.yelp.com/biz/nero-belgian-waffle-bar-vancouver-2 " not good waffle" - from my dear sister, who loves sweet food like her child ( hmm, bad writing comparison, but u know what I mean" 😓
https://www.yelp.com/biz/mister-vancouver creme brulee ice cream
" food doesn't look good and make it to this list is just because... why not"
Japanese
https://www.yelp.com/biz/zakkushi-on-denman-vancouver - izakaya style, good chicken cartilage
https://www.yelp.com/biz/ramen-gojiro-vancouver - supposedly having a bunch of meats on a ramen bowl
Breakfast/American
don't ask me why there aren't any coffee shops on this list, until you're able to eat at all of these places, come back and ask me then. "
Cocoru - waiting an hour for this one, we ordered half spicy and soy sauce Korean chickens, the food was alright, though the experience was something else... This place is as authentic as it can be if you want to see how Koreans/Asians are like. Literally, there was only 1 white guy eating there during the span of us waiting for our table, and the table with that white guy was also the table that the quickest. The rest of the tables pretty much enjoyed their time there: drinking, talking for god knows how long, literally there were 2 guys on the table next to us, just casually stopped, got out for a smoke and came back and continued eating, stopped again and came out for a smoke again. So, if you just want a place to enjoy your food, prolly not a good choice, especially at night. But for a group of friends for a chimac night? Definitely.
When I was back to Da Nang, I tried Gong Cha over there and O.M.G, it was so bad =)), It was way too sweet just made me feel gross. Almost as if I straight up drank sugar water, despite the 2nd time of putting no sugar in the drink.
But then the gong cha at Incheon airport turned out to be pretty good as well as Gong Cha in Vancouver ( only Richmond location though), the one I tried on Robson street sucks. And btw, if you travel to Vancouver, Richmond is a place to go for authentic Asian foods there.
Corduroy coat: YesStyle
Hat: thriftshop UGG 😊
Robson Street, the main street of Vancouver downtown.
My plan originally was going to see Vancouver Christmas market near Harbour flight center, However, after seeing the entry price of 10$ I believe, I turned around as quick as those water helicopters taking off nearby. My tip if you go next year: Skip it, go up to the stairs nearby and look down like I did because I firmly believe the food outside is way better, but for the experiences, I guess you gotta go figure it out yourself and let me know then ;), that stair also took you to the awesome view of the harbor with Vancouver mountains btw.
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| The market |
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| This is the scenery I'm talking about, minus the mountains. |
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| here are the mountains for you😀. |
Fisherman's terrace Dimsum in Aberdeen center. Not a pushing cart dim sum I've known of, their dim sum tasted alright, nothing special here.
Despite taking photos of Tim Hortons, I didn't try a single bite of any of their donuts
Every time with my sister, I would either drink something sweet or eat something sweeter😂
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| This is one of the sweet snacks I ate with her: Croissant Taiyaki from Snowy village. |
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| Or the Belgian waffle I refused to eat after our stuffed stomachs. |
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| My sister drove back to Vancouver not too long after that with her friends just to eat here: Korean chicken with fried spicy rice cake. Still it does not stand a chance to Bonchon, for me yet, very tasty, especially their soy garlic with tiny garlic crunches. |
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| Korean patbingsu, I told ya, this is what I always end up getting when going on a day with her. |
Snackshot: features 9 kinds of Hong Kong/ Taiwanese desserts on a platter, a pleasant surprise to end our 2nd trip. All the desserts were not too overly sweet with a generous portion of each sample. I'm a kind of person, who is extremely indecisive and don't like eating a single dish for a huge amount, I prefer having small plates, tapas-size like how Japanese eating their food ( I sound so fancy lady😂 ) which makes this place a perfect to check out if anyone asks me.
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| Poutine because why not, you are in Canada after all. 💃 |
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| Trust me, green is a new black ... - said nobody ever. |
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| Zara knit coat |
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| Once you go green, you go full mode. 😂 |
From Phone.
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| Yi fang! |
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| nah, just waiting for my sister's drink, have been parting away Starbucks for such awhile. |
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| hmm |
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| better!👌 |
Describes perfectly who I am now, in writing especially, I rarely write anything lately as with reading, besides work stuff, highly doubt I'd spend my times to write something else. Is there any way to solve this problem when you're an extremely lazy person compared to who you were just couple months ago? I tried to push myself to read more, contract my brain out to put words into paragraphs and next thing I knew, I found myself listening to some random online podcasts, youtube videos or scrolling Instagram. Let me tell you, it's exhausting, I tried not to let the depression monster getting into my mood, but boy, it was hard. I feel like every single damn day passes by and every tiny little unsatisfaction would add up on myself, wishing it won't build up into a delayed-action bomb ready to blast someday. I'm pissed at myself now, but I know the only solution right now is me, working hard towards a better turn, not letting my mind having any negative thoughts waiting to creep in, I'll see how it's gonna go and I see you in another blog post. till then!
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