Maple Castella - Pork Floss Bread

Restaurant: Maple Castella - Pork Floss Bread
Cuisine: Bakery/Breads/Pastries/Desserts
Last visited: March 7, 2010

Area: Richmond, BC
#1068 - 8700 McKim Way (In Admiralty Cenre)
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5 (6 for hits, 2 for miss)
Service: n/a (biased b/c they know me now)

Ambiance: 2.5

Overall: 5

Additional comments:

• Taiwanese bakery in Richmond
• Specializes in Taiwanese buns/baked goods (sweet & savoury)
• All breads/buns made on site daily
• Amazing breads and buns - cookies not as great though
• Bread are more on the sweeter side
• Always busy, familiar to locals and Chinese
• Taiwanese bakery not Cantonese - so buns are different than Chinese bakeries like Maxim's
• Closed Thursday
• Smells absolutely delicious inside and outside the bakery

**Recommendation: Pumpkin Bread, Pork Floss Bread, Pork floss bun with the egg wrapped around it

Maple Castella is still one of my favourite Asian bakeries. Sure they have some items that are better than others, but the stuff that is good is really really really good! For example the famous pumpkin bread that I have recommended to everyone – so far I haven’t received any negative feedback from it.

Everything is made daily and seriously the bread (the loaves) sells out as soon as it comes out of the oven. They only make about 12 loaves of each type of bread a day. It’s small bakery with a small operation so believe me when I say PRE-ORDER. Any of their loaves, even their white bread sells out at the end of the day. The pumpkin bread is a guaranteed sell out in like 2 hours on a slow day.

This entry is on another bread that I really enjoy there. The pork floss bread!

On the table:

**Pork Floss Bread 6/6

• $4.00 for half a loaf – don't think they offer them in whole loaves.
• I love it just as much as the pumpkin bread, and it’s quite different so I can’t compare. It deserves a 6/6! It's probably more for Chinese taste buds just because of the pork floss.
  
• The base of the bread is the same as the pumpkin bread. It’s a super fluffy egg and butter based bread. It’s delicious! So soft! It’s not a crumb bread but a stretchy fluffy one.

• It’s interwoven with swirls of pork floss or dried pork fluff.
• Pork floss is pretty much shredded pork jerky. It has a cotton like texture and it’s nice and salty. The pork is marinated and dried in soy sauce so that’s why it’s salty. I love this stuff! Asian kids grow up with it.
• This bread is delicious and it’s savoury bread.

• They bake it with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese on top! It’s soooo good! It gives the bread a salty crust and goes great with the salty pork floss. Even without the cheese the crust is still good! Reminds me of those cheese pretzel breads you eat/ate as kids.
• Their breads are so soft and fluffy I recommend to eat them as is. Skip the toaster…if anything you can microwave them for 10 sec. to eat warm.
• Great as a snack!
  

Bo Laksa King

Restaurant: Bo Laksa King

Cuisine: Malaysian/Burmese/Singapore/Thai

Last visited: February 16, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Joyce-Collingwood)

4910 Joyce St

Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4.5

Service: 4.5

Ambiance: 1.5

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Major hole-in the wall
• Located inside Malaysian grocery store
• Specializes in Malaysian/Burmese food
• Famous for laksa and wraps
• Husband and wife operation
• Good for quick lunches – Malaysian wraps
• Fresh, homemade, made upon order
• Half menu made on site, half from main off site kitchen
• Popular to neighborhood/locals in area
• Seats 2-4
• Cheap eatery – not dirt cheap, but reasonable
• Lunch and dinner service
• Full dinner menu only available online from 6pm - pick-up/delivery only
• Dinner - Pick-up before 8pm
• Delivery charges apply
• Open late
• Catering available

**Recommendation: Roti Canai, Laksa, Malaysian style wraps (but I haven’t tried)…also haven’t tried but the Lahpet Thoke (Fermented tea leaf salad) is authentic Burmese food not available anywhere else.

I would have never heard of Bo Laksa king and would have never discovered it on my own. Thanks to Kim (I’m Only Here for the Food) I was able to try this major hole in the wall located in a Malaysian/Asian grocery store. I’m also never in that area so I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to wander around. It’s a total word-of-mouth place and their business depends on this type of advertising.

It’s a husband and wife operation and they’re really nice people. She’s Chinese and he’s Burmese. The recipes are actually very authentic but they also offer a mixture of South East Asian cuisine from Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai and the rare…Burmese! They even have a couple Chinese dishes in there. It’s popular for quick lunches and their full dinner menu is only available online for delivery or pick-up before 8pm. They operate out of the small kitchen in the back of the grocery store and also a main kitchen that is a few blocks away on Victoria. Keep this in mind because the menu is limited if you’re going for dinner and eating in.

Okay so being a major hole in the wall, I have to lower my expectations a bit, however not by much because the food was really good. It’s a hole in the wall with fresh, authentic, homemade, made upon order meals for a good price…what more can you ask for? Overall I was pleasantly surprised. I would go back because I think there’s better then what I had, and I want to try a wrap.

On the table:

Burmese Tea 4/6

• $1.50
• It’s similar to Thai tea but not as strong or sweet. It’s frothy, milky, creamy and a smooth tea.
• It’s still quite sweet though because it’s mixed and shaken with condensed milk.
• The tea is authentic Burmese tea that is steeped and it’s stronger than Chinese tea, but milder than Thai tea.
• It’s made upon order and a pretty large cup for only $1.50

**Roti Canai 5.5/6

• The small is served with beef curry $3.99 Large is served with chicken curry $5.99
• The roti is very hot, fresh and made upon order on a griddle. It’s super fluffy, flakey, soft, stretchy and chewy…but it was a tad oily. We devoured it in seconds though so it didn’t matter. You can watch her toss it and cook it on the spot – it’s almost like watching a pizza dough show.
  

• The curry is their beef curry sauce. It’s very flavourful and slightly spicy. There are little bits of beef brisket throughout and the sauce has a very strong beef broth flavour. They use lots of spices and herbs in there so it’s very flavourful.
• It’s quite oily too though so you really have to scoop up the sauce or you’re just dipping into oil. It’s good though!

Satay Skewers 3.5/6

• Choice from marinated chicken, beef, or lamb served with sticky rice, cucumber & spicy peanut sauce. (3 skewers) $3.50
• The satay skewers are made on a griddle rather than a grill…which I’ll let go because they’re working with limited resources being in a grocery store.
• You wouldn't miss out by not ordering it, but it’s a pretty decent sized appetizer for a $3.50 bargain!
• This chicken is marinated in a curry spice, but I couldn’t really taste it. It was tender and the pieces are big, it wasn’t necessarily anything to rave about.
  

• The sticky rice is almost like a dessert. The rice is a bit sweet and almost like a giant mochi ball sprinkled with dried coconut flakes.
• The peanut sauce is that authentic creamy Thai peanut butter sauce rather than the chunky Malaysian sauce. I prefer the Malaysian version. Bo Laksa King’s is okay but the fish sauce mixed into the peanut sauce was a bit too tangy for me and I didn’t really like the brand they were using – a bit too rancid in taste.
  

**Laksa 6/6

• Prawn, chicken, fish ball, tofu puff, egg, sweet bell peppers and bean sprouts. Choose from vermicelli or yellow wheat noodle $7.50
• The authentic way is to have it with vermicelli – so that’s what we ordered it with.
• We got it to go, so the fancy bowl is not how it’s served.

• It’s loaded with tons on topping and that surprised me.
  

• There are lots of fresh herbs and spices in the broth and it’s really obvious. It had that slow cooked, on the stove all day homecooked flavour. It tasted very authentic with exotic herbs and spices that I’ve never really experienced in laksa before.
• It wasn’t very spicy for me, but just very aromatic! It’s very rich and creamy with the sweetened taste of coconut milk.
• The noodles are al dente! They’re harder then expected, which I like! They were blanched in the soup and packaged in a separate container to ensure they’re not overcooked.
  

Pad Thai 3/6

• Thai rice noodle, eggs, shrimps, extra firm tofu, Chinese chives, dried chili peppers, banana flower, bean sprouts, preserved turnip, stir fry in house made traditional tamarind sauce $8.75
• This is a traditional version of Pad Thai and not the Western version where they make it with Ketchup. This one is made with Tamarind – just like the one at Tangthai Cuisine of Thailand Restaurant.
• It’s one of their popular items, but I wasn’t crazy about it.

• Overall it was still good with lots of shrimp (6 of them); however I really didn’t like the whole peanuts. I usually love peanuts too, but I want them ground up when I’m having it with Pad Thai.
• It was served with a house made fish sauce…which I didn’t like. By home made I mean adding chilies, jalapeños and some additional spices to a bought fish sauce. It was too tangy and rancid…which is expected…but it was almost overly rancid and off. I love fish sauce too! Maybe it was just the fish sauce brand they’re using?
• It was a tangy and spicy Pad Thai with jalapeño peppers. I thought it need more flavour though…I was relying on the lime and the fish sauce (which wasn’t that good)…and also the peanuts (which weren’t ground up)….so everything was there…but also not there for me…
• I prefer the ground peanuts and fish sauce at Thai Basil.

Maple Castella - Blueberry Bun

Restaurant: Maple Castella - Review for Blueberry Bun
Cuisine: Bakery/Breads/Pastries/Desserts
Last visited: March 7, 2010

Area: Richmond, BC
#1068 - 8700 McKim Way (In Admiralty Cenre)
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5 (6 for hits, 2 for miss)
Service: n/a (biased b/c they know me now)

Ambiance: 2.5

Overall: 5
Additional comments:

• Taiwanese bakery in Richmond
• Specializes in Taiwanese buns/baked goods (sweet & savoury)
• All breads/buns made on site daily
• Amazing breads and buns - cookies not as great though
• Bread are more on the sweeter side
• Always busy, familiar to locals and Chinese
• Taiwanese bakery not Cantonese - so buns are different than Chinese bakeries like Maxim's
• Closed Thursday
• Smells absolutely delicious inside and outside the bakery

**Recommendation: Pumpkin Bread, Pork Floss bread, Pork floss bun with the egg wrapped around it

I’ve written about Maple Castella on a few occasions and have really come to realize that when their breads are good it’s a 6/6 and when they’re not they’re really just okay.

I’m eating my way through all their items and so far, the best is still the pumpkin bread and the pork floss bread.

Everything is made daily and seriously the bread (the loaves) sells out as soon as it comes out of the oven. They only make about 12 loaves of each type of bread a day. It’s small bakery with a small operation so believe me when I say PRE-ORDER. Any of their loaves, even their white bread is sells out at the end of the day. The pumpkin bread is a guaranteed sell out in like 2 hours on a slow day.

On the table:

Blueberry Bun 2/6

• $1.10
• This looks better than it tastes.
• It’s one of their newer items so I was very excited to try it, but it didn’t impress me .

• The blueberry is like a jam with mini whole blueberries in it and it’s not very sweet. I wish there was more becuase I could really taste an blueberry flavour with so much bread. It was kind of like a Taiwanese style Danish.

• The bread part wasn’t even that good. Still quite soft and fluffy but not as much as their loaves. They can do better. It was actually a bit dry and it’s more neutral than it is sweet.

• The bubble like topping should have been more crumbly and sweeter. It’s usually more of a sweet crust made of butter and sugar that gets all crusty and crumbly when baked. This bubble crust was just bread-like.
• For me this wasn’t sweet enough to be a dessert, but more of a snack.

Diplomat Bakery

Restaurant: Diplomat Bakery

Cuisine: Desserts/Bakery/Coffee

Last visited: February 23, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

6111 London Road (Steveston)
Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4.5 (based on the 3 items I tried)

Service: 4

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Location in the middle of nowhere (industrial)
• Near Steveston Village
• Popular to locals
• European bakery
• Popular for cakes
• Whole cakes available
• Wedding cakes available
• Very reasonably priced
• Quality ingredients
• Some savoury café foods available
• Great for quick lunch/coffee/dessert
• Spacious, clean, contemporary
• Self-serve/pay at cashier
• Seats 20
• Eat in/Take-out

**Recommendation: Napoleon, Spinach and Feta Cheese Brioche

I’ve only tried a few things here and based on those I gave it a 4.5/6. However I think it could easily movie up to a 5 if I tried more things – I still need to try more of their cakes.

It’s basically the True Confections (cake café) of Richmond. The style, look, and choices at Diplomat Bakery are similar to those offered at True Confections, but not quite as refined. I can’t say 100% because I haven’t tried enough, but True Confections I think is better. On the other hand Diplomat bakery is half the price of True Confections. All Diplomat Bakery cakes are $3.50 a slice so it’s very affordable compared to the $7-8 you would pay in downtown.

Overall I enjoyed everything I had and would go back to try more. However it is a little out of the way and not so convenient so I would really have to make it a plan to go again. I don’t think they’re an open late kind of place, but they were very busy in the late afternoon with lots of locals stopping for coffee and dessert. They also serve a small selection of savoury foods like muffins, quiche etc.

On the table:

**Napoleon 4.5/6

• $2.75
• Every bakery has their interpretation of the Napoleon.
• It was layers of flakey crisp pastry and butter cream sprinkled with icing sugar.
• It was sweet, but not overly sweet. It’s sweeter than the Saint Germain’s Napoleon though.
  

• It was very fresh and you could taste the quality of ingredients. I loved the layers of flakey pastry and the ratio of cream to pastry was great.
• However the layers of butter cream were really buttery and I could taste it – it didn’t melt as well as I would have liked. It was a denser butter cream, not the fluffy whipped kind. It was almost like pastry custard, but it tasted buttery. I prefer pastry cream or custard in Napoleons.
  

• 

White Chocolate Baileys 3.5/6

• $3.50 for a slice $40 for 9 inch cake
• This was a pretty cake. It was white chocolate cake with a layer of white chocolate Bailey’s cake and a layer of dark chocolate cake in the middle.
  

• This was a dense cake and although the middle layers look moussey, it’s not. It’s an actual cake, but it does have a slightly creamy texture…almost like cheesecake does, but it’s not cheesecake. It was thickend with butter instead of cheese but it was still a cake. I liked the texture of cake and the denser middle layers of cake though.
  

• It had white chocolate shavings all around the edges, which was a nice touch.
• It actually wasn’t that sweet and I thought it would be since it was white chocolate.
  

• I could taste the Bailey’s and it’s not overwhelming or too heavy on the liquor but carries a light coffee taste. It’s mixed into the middle white layers.
• I think they the dark chocolate layer could have overpowered the white chocolate layers a little bit. The white chocolate cake layers came off as regular white cake and it was a tad dry. Luckily it had the middle layers to keep it more moist.

**Spinach and Feta Cheese Brioche 4.5/6

• $3.25
• This was huge and a really good price.

• I enjoyed mine with a fried egg for breakfast and my friend enjoyed hers with tuna. It was very enjoyable with these extras although it tastes good on its own too.
  

• It’s not soft and fluffy, but the crumbs are tight like brioche should be. It’s egg and butter based bread, so it’s rich in texture and flavour. It’s a bit dry, drier than brioche should be though, but it was ok because the filling kept in moist.

• It’s stuffed with spinach and Feta cheese mixture and the Feta was actually quite strong and stood out. There are some ‘fillers’ in the mixture, but it just made it even better so it didn’t bother me one bit.
  

• They add some mashed potato and onions into the mixture so it’s almost creamy and hold lots of flavour. You can bite into small pieces of minced potato so the texture is great.
• I kind of wanted a bit more egg wash on the top though – I like my brioche to have that slightly sweetened and baked egg wash.

Polonia Sausage House - Review for Polish Poppy Seed Bread

Restaurant: Polonia Sausage House - Review for Polish Poppy Seed Bread

Cuisine: Bakery/Dessert/Cafe

Last visited: February 22, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Hastings-Sunrise)

2434 Hastings Street East
Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Polish Poppy Seed bread: 6

Service: 6

Ambiance: ? It's a grocery store/deli/bakery

Overall: n/a

Additional comments:

• Owned by Polish family
• Frequented by Polish people
• Authentic
• Homemade sausages
• Popular for sausages
• Polish grocery store/deli/bakery
• Baked goods imported fresh daily from nearby bakery
• Frozen perogies available
• Bakery (smaller selection)
• Mostly cheesecakes

**Recommendation: Polish Poppy Seed Bread

This review is only based on the Polish Poppy Seed Bread.

Another random find! I had finished eating at Le Do Vietnamese Restaurant down the street and i was craving some dessert...surprise surprise huh? =p Anyways I started walked up the street and noticed 4 bakeries just one block. I decided to pop into Polonia Sausage House....I don't even kno9w why because they don't advertised being a bakery. Luckily I walked in though because at the back of the store they sell baked goods. There's only a few of each item and the selection is limited. the baked good are actually all made fresh daily...but off site. They bring them in from an Eastern European bakery further down the street...I'm not sure which one though.

Most of the baked goods are different kinds of cheesecakes or pastries with cream. They looked ok, but I'm not a huge fan of cheesecakes so I opted for something I am a BIG fan of...the poppy seed bread! I was introduced to this from my Ukrainian friend and there's lots of interpretations of it, however this is one of the best I've ever had.

The owner was super nice and she told me they have limited selection because they throw away anything that doesn't get sold that day...and I believe her. most bakeries should operate like this I think - I hope they eat them instead of throw them away though...such a waste of good food otherwise.

I want to go back for more poppy seed bread and I also want to try their sausages...they looked good! Very authentic...everyone in there was speaking Polish - owner and customers...I was excited that I had found an authentic Polish place...even if it is a grocery store.

On the table:

**Polish Poppy Seed Bread 6/6

• Half $4.98 Whole loaf $9.98
• The owner was super nice. She charged me $4.30 for half a loaf because it was slightly smaller than half a loaf. Really cute.

• It's a pretty substantial loaf although I finished it in 2 sittings. I bought half a loaf.
  
• I loved this bread! It's half bread and half pastry so I can't really call it a dessert. Would you consider a croissant a dessert? Or a danish? It's almost like that kind of thing.
• This is baked off site at the bakery down the street. YUMMY!

• It's loaded with a poppy seed! The poppy seed is almost like a paste and there's also some candied lemon peel, raisins, and walnuts in it. I loved it! I could have used more raisins and walnuts though...there were so few that I wasn't sure if they had gotten in there by accident....but enough to know that they were intended.

• There's a very strong fresh lemon taste and scent. The candied lemon pieces were actually quite big, but very good! I thought I wouldn't like it either, but it enhanced all the flavours.

• The topping of the bread is almost like a streusel crumb topping. There’s a little bit of icing and a little bit of brown sugar crumb topping. It's delicious.
• The bread part is egg bread. It's dense and crumbly and almost like a lemon loaf cake but not as sweet and a bit drier.
• It dries out quickly if it's not wrapped up, but it's excellent when it's fresh or even slightly warmed up.
• It's not too sweet, but still dessert like. The Poppy Seed Square at Breka Bakery was much more of a dessert. I could this one at any anytime of day...it's delicious.