Omega Cafe

1 - 2929 St. John's Street
Port Moody, BC

With the addition of a baby in my sister’s household, she and her husband have been pretty much confined to dining around their neighbourhood. She has been to Omega Café in Port Moody a few times for lunch and thought the food was pretty good so she recommended it to me and my parents. With good value and freshly made food, it was definitely a suitable alternative to Tim Hortons (which was once our family favourite)!

Just like Timmy’s, you order at the counter and they’ll make your food for you. They also serve coffee and home-made donuts too!

Eggs, sausage and toast - served with panfried potatoes

Chicken vegetable soup(?) - Soup of the day

My bro-in-law had one of their breakfast options and tacked on the soup of the day to round out his meal.

Salmon Burger - served with fries, pickled jalapeno pepper; topped with sprouts, cucumbers, tomatos, lettuce, onions

My sis went with the salmon burger which was on their ‘special of the day’ menu board. Seeing how it was difficult for my sis to lift the burger up and eat it without having the contents spilling out, I’d say it was a pretty big burger. The pan-fried salmon still looked moist too. Along with a huge a pile of fries, this was definitely a hefty lunch!

Clubhouse Sandwich - Turkey, bacon, tomatos, cucumbers, lettuce on ciabatta bun

The Clubhouse is always my mom’s go-to sandwich anywhere. At Omega, their version has turkey and bacon as the meat, with tomatoes, cucumber slices and lettuce filling up the rest of the layers.

It also came with pickled jalapeno peppers and a gherkin.

Ham and Cheese Omlette - served with toast and panfried potatoes

When W’s omelette arrived on the table, we didn’t expect it to look like a breakfast pizza! Haha! Rather than the typical egg crepe folded with fillings inside, it was round and pan-fried with ham and cheese on top of the egg. Despite the appearance, it was still a tasty breakfast. The Pan-fried potato hash was crispy and delicious too. We noticed that their toast was made with a Panini press haha!

Shepherd's Pie (featured special of the day) - served with side of gravy, small salad

As for me, I decided on the Shepherd’s Pie because I’m a meat-and-potatoes kinda gal! The cashier/owner(?) advised that it would take a while because it’s baked to order. When it came out it was piping hot with a nicely browned mashed potato topping. The shepherd’s pie came in a pie crust, which I thought was unusual because all the shepherd’s pie I’ve had before just consisted of the ground meat filling and the mashed potato topping. Nonetheless, it was still a very hearty pie! On the side was a small bowl of gravy. At first I wasn’t sure what it’s for because the pie was moist and flavourful by itself. However, as I was getting to the middle of the pie, the mashed potatoes were a little dense so the gravy helped moisten the topping making it easier to eat. The “salad” also provided a break from the rich meaty goodness.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and prices of the food at Omega Café! My only complaint was that the jam they provided for the toast was not “jammy” anymore =P It’s been sitting there for a long time so the jam inside the plastic containers turned gummy and dry…yech.

Side note: we went for a second visit around Chinese New Year and the owner gave us a plate of complimentary donuts to celebrate the holiday! The home-made donuts were pretty big and they were not too dense and not too sweet. Pretty good donuts!! The owner (I’m guessing he’s the owner since he had the power to give away donuts!) is a really nice man and I am glad to support these local “mom ‘n pop” shops.

Moncton Cafe

120 - 3651 Moncton Street
Richmond, BC

On a late Saturday afternoon, W and I were just chillin’ inside a Starbucks in Richmond when a friend of W texted him asking if he could join us for dinner. Well sure, why not? They threw out some ideas like sushi, Korean food, or hot pot but they were all vetoed (by me LOL). Finally, I suggested trying Moncton Café out at Steveston because I read a food blog about it and the Houji ice-cream they served really intrigued me. W and his friend were game so off we went to the quiet seaside town!

Moncton Café actually serves Yoshoku cuisine, which is a Japanese take on Western/European cuisine. Some typical items include curry (which is milder and sweeter than Indian curry), tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlet, similar to schnitzel), and pasta.

There were a few tables occupied inside the café when we arrived but generally it was pretty quiet. Good for a nice quiet dinner and chit-chat with friends! We sat down and started perusing the menu. We wanted to have some tea but they charged money for a pot (I’m so used to getting free cups of tea) so we just had water…

Seafood Carpaccio ($10.25) - thin sliced assorted sashimi with olive oil garlic dressing

The 3 of us decided to start with an appetizer so we chose the Seafood Carpaccio. It consisted of 3 slices each of salmon, tuna, and scallop atop some salad greens and thinly sliced radishes. Haha, the portion turned out just right because we all had equal amounts of sashimi. The sashimi was fresh but I thought the overall flavour was average. Nothing to shout out about.

House Hamburg ($14.95) - hamburger steak with demi-glace sauce

For my main, I ordered their House hamburg. On the iron hot plate, there was a substantial beef patty pan-fried to a nice brown caramelized colour and a juicy flavourful inside! It was laid atop grilled onions and smothered with a rich demi-glace sauce. Yum!! Corn niblets, veggies and fries rounded out the plate. I actually would have liked to have rice as the starch component instead of fries but they were still pretty good when they soaked up the sauce.

Prawn Curry ($14.50) - breaded shrimp with curry sauce over steamed rice

W was trying to decide between having the katsu curry or the prawn curry. Finally, he went with the prawn. When the dish came, I thought it was quite small. There were only 5 pieces of the panko-crusted prawns on top of the rice. And it didn’t seem like there was enough curry to go with the rice either. I tried a bit of it and I found the curry to be a little spicier than usual. I think they used the medium heat level of Japanese curry. On the side was a small pile of pickled radishes which helped to break up the constant bite of curry after curry. I think I would opt for the katsu curry for a more filling meal.

Mentaiko Pasta ($14.00) - spaghetti with mentaiko (spicy cod roe) cream sauce

W’s friend, Mr. E, declared that he was very hungry so he went for the pasta dish on the menu. Well! When it arrived, we were all taken aback by the size of the dish! It was small!  Even when Mr. E loosened the noodles with his fork, there was not a lot of spaghetti. Despite the small portion, he said the mentaiko sauce was quite tasty.

Chicken Sukiyaki Udon ($10.50) - chicken, vegetables, tofu and udon in sukiyaki soup

Since Mr. E was not filled up after the pasta, he ordered the Sukiyaki udon as his second main dish haha… It came bubbling hot in a shallow sukiyaki pot filled with chicken pieces, tofu, various veggies and udon in a deep-coloured sukiyaki broth. With a dash of Shichimi spice powder, Mr. E gobbled up the hearty noodle soup, so I think it’s safe to say that he found the udon good.

After our dishes were cleared away, we studied the café’s dessert menu. Right from the beginning I knew I wanted to try their Houji ice-cream. The full name of Houji is actually Houjicha or Houji tea, which is a roasted Japanese green tea. I love regular green tea ice cream (usually made from matcha tea) that is common in a lot of ice-cream parlours and restaurants so I wanted to see how different the flavour of Houji ice-cream is.

Houji Ice-cream ($4.00) - Japanese houji tea ice cream

I found it quite pricey for such a small scoop of ice-cream but I’m guessing the restaurant decided that the uniqueness of the flavour warranted this price tag. The Houji flavour was apparent in the first few spoons. I loved the taste of roasted tea in the ice-cream! However, maybe because my palate got used to the subtle tea flavour, it slowly faded away with each bite. The ice-cream was also more on the icy side rather than the creamy side. The dessert was garnished with a sweet and crisp waffle cookie which made the bowl look less bare.

Melon Cream ($5.50) - Espuma melon soda with ice cream

Mr. E was intrigued by the photo of the Melon Cream dessert. Even though it was described as ice cream with melon soda, we were wondering where the (liquid) soda was! The photo just showed a scoop of ice-cream with some light green cream piped around it!

When he took the first bite, his eyebrows raised and had a pleasantly surprised look on his face. Curious, I took a scoop of the light green cream to try. My reaction? I also raised my eyebrows and went “Ohhh!!” I was hit by a fragrant (although artificial) melon taste with the fizzy carbonated soda feeling on my tongue! The green cream was actually melon cream soda in solid (creamy jelly) form!!! We had unknown expectations for this dessert so in the end, we were captivated and pleased by it.

Places that serve Yoshoku cuisine are hard to come by around Metro Vancouver. Even though Steveston is quite out of the way, I would gladly pay another visit for their hamburg meals and desserts! Except, beware of attack chef!! LOL Oh Engrish....

Jean Philippe Patisserie [Las Vegas, NV]

Aria Resort & Casino

Las Vegas, NV

 

On our last day in Vegas, we were too depressed to eat. LOL just kidding. It was the opposite of that. We went to Bellagio for a buffet lunch and walked around with bulging tummies throughout the day! I didn't write a post about the Bellagio buffet because it wasn't anything spectacular. I found the buffet at Wynn way more worthwhile.

 

Anyway, since we were stuffed from lunch, we just went the simple route for dinner and ordered a sandwich to-go from Jean Philippe Patisserie inside Aria. I was paranoid that we were going to miss our flight so I convinced W to take the sandwich to the airport and eat dinner there.  



 

Jean Philippe Patisserie offered a lot of variety in their shop. There were cakes and pastries, chocolates and cookies, and in a section of their chilled glass case, there were different sandwiches and savoury goods. We ordered one of their sandwiches to go and they kindly re-heated it and packed it up for us!

Roasted Chicken and Basil sandwich - roasted chicken, basil leaves, carmelized onion jam, cheese

Since the sandwich sat in the plastic box while we went through security, it got a little soggy from the condensation. Nonetheless, the bread still held up and the chicken was quite tasty. The basil did not play a big role flavour-wise but it was still detectable when my bite included a leaf. Rather, the onion jam provided a nice sweet and savoury hit to the sandwich, and it also made the sandwich less dry. If we ate it while it was hot, I bet the cheese would have made the sandwich gooey and more delicious too.

As a quick pre-flight meal, this take-away sandwich certainly did the job. I think it would have tasted much better if we had eaten it right after it was heated up. Oh well. Maybe next time! Though, with so many cafes and restaurants in Vegas, I'm not sure if I would be able to make a re-visit! Hmm...we'll see! 'Till next time, Las Vegas!

Jean Georges Steakhouse [Las Vegas, NV]

Aria Resort & Casino
Las Vegas, NV

By staying at Aria for our trip, we received a $100 dining credit that is good for any restaurant inside the hotel! Sweet! Since W and I had to go see a Cirque Du Soleil show later that evening, we had to have an early dinner nearby. Thus, we decided pay Jean Georges Steakhouse inside Aria a visit for a quick fine-dining excursion.

This place was opened by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, another famous chef, cook book writer, and restauranteur with many restaurants opened in Boston, New York, Arizona, and Las Vegas. W and I had previously eaten at his first restaurant in Canada, Market by Jean-Georges, and we had a good impression of it.

We arrived at 5:30pm and we were quickly greeted. We had to wait a few minutes for a table to be ready though. The interior of the steakhouse had a dark, sleek and contemporary design. There was a partially enclosed private dining area with walls lined with bottles of wine which created a unique focal point to the floor.

When we were seated at our table, our server handed out menus and an iPad to us!! The iPad was actually their drinks menu and it was opened to their own application that showed their extensive wine list, cocktails, and other libations. I was in the mood for a cocktail and after perusing their list, I narrowed my choice down to 2. I had a hard time deciding and asked my server for a recommendation. He said his favourite was the Orange Elderflower Cosmo so I took his advice!

Orange Elderflower Cosmo (feature cocktail) $16

Our server's recommendation was good! The Cosmo was soooooo delicious!! One of the best cocktails I've had! There was a fragrant aroma of elderflower with a bit of floral aftertaste while the blood orange was sweet and a little tangy. I forgot what type of liquor was in it but it went down very easy (it definitely gave me an Asian glow though).

Warm salted pretzel, cherry pecan bread, French baguette, some sort of spiced crisps, butter

After making our order, we were presented with a complimentary bread basket to start. I loved how they included a variety of baked items! The flat, thin crisps were dusted with some spices (I didn't catch what they were when the server described it); crispy and savoury, the chips-like cracker were quite addictive.

The pretzel looked like a large sausage. It was dense but the bread was still soft and easy to eat. It's the type that you can easily get full from so we refrained ourselves from eating too much of it. My favourite was the cherry pecan bread. It was soft but still held up when I spread butter on it and I liked the pops of sweetness from the fruit embedded inside.

Grilled Wagyu Filet Mignon $65 - roasted broccoli, soy-miso butter, grilled to medium

Our server told us that they were featuring an excellent 5A Wagyu steak that night for $30 an ounce. $30 an ounce!!!! And the minimum size was 6oz!! That would be $180 for a steak!!!! Omigoodness....ummm no thanks!

We opted for the more "affordable" $65 Wagyu filet mignon in the regular menu. Hey, we still wanted to try Wagyu beef but baby steps, people, baby steps... No need to go for the very best for our first time.

When we took our first bites of this steak, we knew we fell hard. Badly. It was just SO RIDICULOUSLY DELICIOUS!!! The beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender because of the marbled fat all throughout the meat, but it still had a little chew to it. The soy-miso butter sauce was freakin' fantastic and full of umami flavours!! It was sooooo good but it didn't overpower the beefy taste of the Wagyu steak either. The roasted broccoli was a good agent to soak up the remaining sauce. YUM-O!!!

JG Cheeseburger $26 - Truffle mayonnaise, brie cheese, yuzu pickles and truffle fries, patty grilled to medium

When I saw this on the menu, I really wanted to try it because the description sounded like a genuinly gourmet burger without a hefty price-tag. If we didn't order the Wagyu beef, I would have thought that the JG burger was awesome but unfortunately the Wagyu filet mignon stole the show and the burger had to play second fiddle to our foodgasm foodie gushings LOL...

I opted to have the patty grilled to a medium-rare and it was done perfectly with a light pink hue in the middle. The beef was really juicy and delicious. I loved the yuzu pickles because they were made from fresh cucumbers so it still had that fresh crisp crunch. The brie cheese was a bit too mild so it was lost amidst the flavours of the other ingredients. Same with the truffled mayonnaise; I couldn't detect much of it in the burger either.

The fries, on the other hand, were filled with the earthy aroma of truffles and they were topped with shaved black truffles too! I'm new to the world of truffles so I thought this was absolutely decadent.

After finishing up our food, we wanted to linger longer but we had a show to catch. I was afraid we were going to be late because our server was too busy to come over. Since we were at a fine dining establishment, we didn't really feel like flagging him down like we were at a HK-style cafe but we just wanted to pay and leave! Despite that little hiccup, this was the best dinner I've had in Vegas! (And I can't go back to regular beef now! My standard for steak has risen to a new level now! Doh!)

Market Cafe Vdara [Las Vegas, NV]

Vdara Hotel & Spa
Las Vegas, NV

W and I decided to include a "lazy day" in Vegas. We planned to sleep in, hang out in Aria's hot tub and pool, watch tv back in our room, have a nice dinner and then head over to Bellagio to watch the Cirque du Soleil O Show. Such a nice leisurely day!

After waking up, we made our way over to Vdara to try its cafe for a quick but relaxed brunch. There weren't many dining options inside this condo-hotel. It only had the Bar Vdara, which served sit-down meals and alcoholic beverages, and Market Cafe Vdara, which was more of a casual, grab-n-go type place. The Market Cafe included a small gourmet grocery section where you could pick up items (like meat, pasta, cheese, frozen meals, wine etc.) to cook in your hotel room (Vdara's rooms included a small kitchen). The other section had some tables to sit and eat, and a chilled glass case with various sandwiches, cakes, and breakfast items that were re-heated when ordered. There was a menu to select made-to-order food, coffee, and other beverages like smoothies too.

 Quiche Lorraine - eggs, cheese, ham

Coffee ($3.50), Caramel Macchiato ($5)
 

Despite it being early afternoon already, we wanted to have some breakfast food haha... Technically, we just woke up so it's still breakfast time for us! From the chilled display case, we opted for the Quiche Lorraine. The server then had it re-heated for us. The size was a little small and no additional sides came with it so the plate seemed a little sparse. The quiche was tasty though and even though it was re-heated, the eggs were not too rubbery and overcooked.

 

To wake ourselves up, I drank a comforting Caramel Macchiato while W had regular coffee.

 

Breakfast Pizza ($14) - scrambled eggs, avocado, mushrooms, onions, ham, bacon, cheese

 

From the made-to-order menu, we selected the breakfast pizza because it sounded like an easily shareable item. The pizza consisted of a long list of ingredients that we could choose to have what we wanted on top. The scrambled eggs were, of course, the basic requirement so next we opted to have avocado, mushrooms, onions, ham, bacon, and cheese as the toppings. There were other options like smoked salmon, tomatoes, sausage among many others.

 

It took some time to come out since it was freshly baked. Although the eggs were obviously liquid scrambled eggs from a carton rather than freshly beaten scrambled eggs (the texture was not fluffy), the pizza was simple and good.

 

With our tummies satisfied yet not filled to the brim, we immediately went to relax in the hot tub back at Aria after brunch! Ahh this is the life :)

Bouchon Bakery [Las Vegas, NV]

The Venetian Resort & Casino

Las Vegas, NV

 

Lately, I've been in a pastry-craving phase. I kept wanting to visit all these different bakeries and patisseries while in Vancouver and that phase stuck to me while heading to Las Vegas too. While I was researching about places to eat in Vegas, I saw on a food blog that talked about Bouchon Bakery and I immediately added it to my list of places to visit.

 

Bouchon Bakery is owned by Thomas Keller, a chef, restauranteur and cook book writer who is reknowned for his multiple-award winning restaurants The French Laundry in Napa Valley and Per Se in New York. Bouchon Bakery first opened up in Yountville, which is home to Bouchon Bistro, then Beverly Hills and New York. In 2004, Bouchon Bistro opened in Las Vegas and the bakery followed! 

 

It was kind of hard to find the bakery inside The Venetian. We had to look at the directory a few times in order to grasp the location and direction to get there. I was initially looking for a shop but the bakery was actually just a kiosk by the theatre entrance.  It's a modest-sized place that didn't have a tonne of items but I think all the baked goods housed there would be delicious no matter which one you chose.

There were so many goods that I wanted to get and I really wanted to buy some to take home but alas, we were in the middle of our vacation and I knew I probably wouldn't have the time to go back on our last day...so no flaky pastries to take home :(

Top left: Sticky Bun

Butter brioche, pastry cream, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, candied pecans

Top right: Chocolate Almond Croissant

Bottom: Peanut Butter & Jelly Macaron

It was 6pm when we arrived and I KNEW it would ruin our appetites for dinner but I didn't care!! I chose the Sticky Bun because BRIOCHE!!! OMG it was so sinful...soft, sticky, sweet and nutty all wrapped by a buttery brioche bread. The bread was so buttery that it almost resembled a flaky pastry, not a doughy, chewy bread-like texture.

I also chose a macaron because they looked really pretty (perfectly round, smooth, no bumps, and it was a pretty large size. It was around the same size as the macarons from Thierry). Compared to the other regular flavours (chocolate, coffee, lemon etc.), the peanut butter and jelly flavour jumped out at me due to its uniqueness. I don't think I've seen PB&J macarons up in Vancouver. The cookie was just as good and it wasn't too sweet with the addition of the creamy peanut butter.

W went for the chocolate almond croissant. It didn't really look like the usual crescent-shaped pastry as it was more square. Of course, that didn't alter the texture and taste of it! The croissant had two bars of dark chocolate embedded inside along with a small amount of almond paste. It was quite messy eating the croissant since it was so crisp and flaky. With each bite, little bits of almond, icing sugar and pastry rained down onto the table. It made me look like such a messy eater but I swear it's not my fault!

I'm glad I got to pay Bouchon Bakery a visit. It (temporarily) satiated my pastry cravings and I got to cross it off my "to visit" list in Vegas :D