Coquitlam, BC
Gosh! I can't believe I have completely forgotten to keep up with my posts! This is what the onslaught of hot, sunny, summer weather can do to me. It makes me lazy and sluggish and all I want to do is sip on an icy cold drink under the shade haha... Anyway, forget about the hot weather for a moment and rewind back to the cool spring day when I went to Pink Sugar Café.
Pink Sugar Cafe is a place that one would not notice if you don't work or frequent the plaza that it is situated in. Open only in the morning and afternoon, this small cafe serves coffee, tea, sandwiches, and desserts for the working crowd nearby. It also has daily lunch specials offering Japanese lunch box sets! Very unusual for a cafe that sells sandwiches but it makes sense once you know who the owners are. The owners are a husband and wife team who have roots in Japan. I believe the husband is Taiwanese(?) because he speaks Mandarin while his wife is fluent in Japanese.
Sometimes their desserts also reflect their Asian background. On the day that I was there, the chilled display case had a green tea pound cake. They also make Japanese style Swiss roll cakes on order!
I was quite curious about their Japanese lunch sets ever since I heard my sis talk about how popular it was with the lunch time crowd. She said it often sells out so pre-ordering is a must! With the help of my sis, I finally got to try it!
Japanese Bento (lunch box set; $9.99)
On the tray are 5 items (clockwise from top):
Minced pork patty in a tangy ketchup-based sauce topped with grated daikon radish and onions - I'm not sure what the stiff, red thread-like pieces are...they are edible though.
Cold soba noodles with nori (seaweed) strips - dressed in a light, savoury sauce
White rice topped with a small scoop of tuna salad and a sprinkle of black sesame
Miso soup filled with spinach leaves, tofu cubes and daikon radish slices
Steamed savoury egg custard topped with shrimp, edamame beans and sliced shiitake mushrooms
Overall, this lunch set had a very home-y feel. It felt like I was eating a delicious home-made lunch that a Japanese mother would make. I think one of the reasons I felt this way was because the sauce that the minced pork patty sat in tasted EXACTLY like the sauce that my mom makes for her steamed pork spareribs!!!
The steamed egg custard was soft and silky with a touch of umami flavour from the mushrooms and shrimp. I really liked it!
I found it a bit odd to see a dollop of tuna salad on top of the rice but I didn't mind it. The soba noodles and soothing miso soup rounded out the traditional Japanese lunch set.
The size of the lunch was just right. It came with a cup of tea too but I found that I didn't really drink much of it due to the miso soup, juicy pork patty and the soft, almost-liquidy, egg custard. Everything just balanced out!
The workers nearby are so lucky to have this cafe around!
A note: the dishes for the Japanese lunch sets varies daily so you may not get the same thing each time!
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