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.

Top Gun J&C Restaurant

Restaurant: Top Gun J&C Restaurant

Cuisine: Chinese/Asian/Dim Sum

Last visited: February 11, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

Unit 2020 Excel Centre, 8766 McKim Way (2^nd floor)
Range: $20-30

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

Food: 4.5

Service: 4

Ambiance: 5

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Part of Top Gun Group
• Considered a high end dim sum restaurant
• Traditional and creative dim sum dishes (mostly traditional)
• Japanese sushi and sashimi available
• Cantonese cuisine
• Discount if you arrive before 11am
• Ordering form service
• Busy, but plenty of seating
• Fancy set up
• Private room available
• Breakfast/Lunch 9:30am-3pm
• Dinner 5:30pm-10pm
• Closed Wednesday
• Reservations recommended
• Some parking available

**Recommendation: Steamed Diced Pork & Shrimp Dumpling, Baked BBQ Pork Bun, Deep Fried Fish Ball w/Clam Sauce, Steamed Beef Ball, Fried Vermicelli in Homemade Style, Pan-fried Stuffed Tofu

Top Gun J&C Restaurant is part of the Top Gun Group so it is considered a higher end dim sum restaurant. It competes at the level of Kirin Restaurant and Rainflower Chinese Restaurant.

Besides owning Chinese restaurants, The Top Gun Group also owns Japanese restaurants, one being the infamous Richmond Sushi. Maybe this is why they decided to include Japanese food at their Chinese restaurants? Top Gun J&C Restaurant doesn’t only serve traditional Cantonese dim sum, but they also serve a significant amount of Japanese dishes such as sushi, some cones and sashimi. Personally, I rarely order Japanese food here because I think it’s over priced. I actually did on this occasion and based on one of their most popular roll, it was very mediocre. I would rather go to a Japanese restaurant and it would be better and more affordable.

I’ve been coming to Top Gun for years now and it’s one of my family’s go-to dim sum places. The food is excellent, they accept reservations, service is great and atmosphere is nice…what more could I ask for? I also like the fact that I can choose my own tea, it is extra ($1.20/person), but it’s worth it. For this occasion I was here for my 1^st pre-Chinese New Year brunch.

The dessert portion of this post: Top Gun J&C Restaurant - Desserts..

My Chamomile Tea - individual servings $1.20/person.

Top Gun's XO Chili Sauce.

On the table:

**Steamed Diced Pork & Shrimp Dumpling 5/6

• $4.75
• This is a nice change from the classic shrimp dumplings or “har gow”
• These are stuffed with celery, minced pork, ham, mushrooms, parsley, carrots, shrimp and maybe some water chestnuts. There are no nuts in them…the ones with nuts are another kind of dumpling.
• I liked the ones at Dragon’s View better, but that’s another kind.
• These are good, but the skin was a little dry although nice and thin. There was lots of stuffing and it was crunchy, juicy and nicely prepared.
• The flavour of the stuffing was a very dominant parsley flavour that was overpowering though. It’s also expensive for only 3.

**Baked BBQ Pork Bun 6/6

• The picture shows them cut, but they’re served uncut $4.75
• This is one of my favourite dim sum items. I LOVE these buns. You may already know from my posts about it at Rainflower Restaurant.
• These are better than Rainflower’s. They’re pretty famous here.
• The topping is a sugar and butter topping. It’s baked so it’s nice and crispy and crumbly and tastes like streusel. The bun part is good here as well and it’s nice and soft with lots of salty and sweet barbeque pork stuffing. The barbque pork was nice and lean too.
  

**Deep Fried Fish Ball w/Clam Sauce 4/6

• Deep fried fish ball wrapped in tofu skin with clam sauce $5.25
• This was my 1^st time seeing and trying this dish. I liked it!
• The clam sauce is definitely exotic. It’s very potent and it’s preserved so it has that strong salty flavour. It’s slimy and not meat because the clams are small. It has a strong seafood flavour and it was so unique.
• I wasn’t a fan of the fish ball because they put orange peel into the mixture so it had that slightly bitter flavour that I didn’t like.
• I like the fish ball with the clam sauce and I loved the crispy tofu skin wrapped too.

Steamed Chicken Bun 2/6

• $4.50
• There was too much bun, and not enough meat and stuffing. The stuffing was chicken, mushrooms, ginger and I think some ham.
• I like steamed chicken bun, but I did not like these because the ginger taste was very strong. They had pretty big pieces of ginger in them too and I think they should have minced it up more. They were big enough to bite into and even pull out of the meat.

**Steamed Beef Ball 6/6

• Steamed beef ball with tofu skin. Served with Worcestershire sauce $4.75
• I rarely eat these because usually they put orange peel in them as well and I hate that. These ones don’t have any, so I liked them!
• They did not look good (relative to other places they didn't). They looked really hard and they shouldn't, but they actually surprised everyone! They were really tender! It was very soft and juicy and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Steamed Rice Roll with Shrimp & Chives 5.5/6

• Served with Hoisin and peanut sesame sauce $5.95
• You may know already, but this is one of my favourite dim sum dishes. I still like the one at Ocean King Congee & Noodle best.
• The rice rolls are excellent! Made in house, great texture and very thin, fresh and delicious, however I wasn’t a fan of the massive dried shrimps. A lot of people may LOVE this because they’re more expensive, but I found them distracting. It took away from the rice roll and made it not as delicate.

Pan-fried Stuffed Tofu 5/6

• Pan-fried stuffed tofu with black bean sauce $4.95
• This was deep-fried, not pan-fried.
• The tofu was nice and crispy although some thicker parts dried out in the frying process. I loved the texture of the crispy outside and soft tofu on the inside.
• It was “stuffed” with shrimp on top that was cooked perfectly.
• There was lots of flavour because the sauce was a black bean and onion sauce. It help onto the tofu very well.

Pan Fried Shredded White Turnip 4/6

• Pan fried shredded white turnip with fish cake $9.25
• I’ve never had this dish so it was interesting to try. It’s one of their in house dim sum dishes.
• The fish cakes were rough in texture and I wasn’t really a fan of them.
• You have to like turnips and celery to like this dish. There’s a very strong celery flavour and they use the delicate parts of the celery stalk to make it.
• The sauce tastes like a soy based sauce infused with celery and turnip flavours.
• There’s also slice of juicy mushrooms in it, but I wish there were more.

Steamed Spare Ribs 3.5/6

• Steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce $4.25
• The ribs were quite tender and juicy, but they were also very oily and so was the sauce they were sitting in.
• The flavour was great with lots of garlic, but it just very oily. They could have used more black bean sauce too – it tasted like garlic sauce.

Sticky Rice with Diced Pork 4/6

• $4.95
• This came with 2 larger sticky rice rolls except for the standard 3.
• It was stuffed with ground pork, mushrooms and maybe ham…and there was no egg – which I missed.
• It was saucy, not dry, and very flavourful.

Pan Fried Vegetable (Yue Choy) 3/6

• Your choice of Baby Chai Choy, Yue Choy, Chinese broccoli, baby Bok Choy, A Vegetable, Green Lettuce, Spinach, Broccoli $8.50
• I’m not sure what “A Vegetable” is…but we choice You Choy.
• It tastes like spinach but crispier, firmer and juicier. It’s also has a slight mustard taste.
• I think this is expensive and it was actually quite oily.

Chicken Feet & Chinese Herbs Soup 3/6

• Chicken feet and Chinese herbs soup in hot pot $8.95
• This does not look so good, but it’s a very “Chinese-y” dish older people would order. They love soup…and chicken feet.
• It’s basically a chicken soup that’s slightly bitter. There’s definitely some ginseng in it. It tastes like it’s “good for you” soup.
• It’s also a little bit sweet because there’s gogi berries in it.
• I only like the soup part.

**Fried Vermicelli in Homemade Style 5/6

• Stir-fried vermicelli noodles with shredded barbeque pork, prawns, bell peppers, eggs, onions and bean sprouts $14.80
• This tastes better than it looks. It was sweet from the ingredients, savoury and tangy. I think they used ketchup or sweet and sour sauce in it because it had a great flavour that surprised everyone.
• It wasn’t oily, but the scrambled eggs were a bit overcooked and dry.

Peter Roll 2.5/6

• Prawn tempura, cucumber, avocado and tobiko $10.95
• This is one of their most popular items and rolls. A lot of table ordered it.
• I could get something much better at a Japanese restaurant and for the price it isn’t worth it.
• The roll is very bland and almost too dry. There isn’t enough sauce and there’s nothing unique about it.
• The prawn tempura was freshly fried and crunchy, but they gave so little of it and they used the rice to make the roll look bigger.
• The only good part is the presentation.

The dessert portion of this post: Top Gun J&C Restaurant - Desserts.

Shanghai River - Review 3

Restaurant: Shanghai River - Review 3

Cuisine: Shanghainese/Chinese/Asian/Dim Sum

Last visited: January 24, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

7831 Westminster Hwy
Range: $20-30

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

Food: 5

Service: 3

Ambiance: 5

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Known as the best/Richmond's most popular Shanghai restaurants
• High end Shanghainese Restaurant
• Hit or miss items - but when it's a hit it's a big hit!
• Busy/Crowded/Line-ups all the time
• Reservations recommended
• Menu in Chinese and English - some pictures
• Shanghainese staff in front and in kitchen
• Very popular to locals/Chinese/main stream/tourists
• Should go with at least 4-8 ppl - how the menu/portions are designed
• Visible "Xiao Long Bao" (famous steamed pork dumplings) making station
• Private dining room available

**Recommendation: Steamed mini pork dumplings "Xiao Long Bao", braised eggplant with chili sauce, deep fried crab with chili & garlic, hot and sour soup, fried rice cake with pork

This is my 3^rd visit to Shanghai River since I started Follow Me Foodie. As mentioned in my previous posts I have been here before I started blogging as well. They been quite consistent on all my visits so therefore my ratings haven’t changed. The more I try the better recommendations I can give you and I can also track if the quality is still there.

Shanghai River is always packed and it’s one of the most popular fine dining Shanghai Restaurants in Richmond and Vancouver. Collecting a wall of awards, this is a restaurant that is familiar to locals and tourists alike.

Speaking of tourists, that is why I came here. I had a friend visiting from Austria and there everything “Asian” is all categorized under “Chinese food,” so I had to show him the difference. It was Shanghai Dining 101…for a European. He liked every single dish except for one…you’ll see which one. He liked the lettuce wraps and surprisingly the hot and sour soup the best!

The food here is Shanghainese; however it’s catered to Chinese, specifically for Cantonese taste buds. Therefore it’s not as saucy, salty or oily as authentic Shanghainese cuisine should be. The food is still good, but if you ask a Shanghainese person – then no, it is not quite authentic. There’s a reason why it’s still packed though so I wouldn’t write it off just because it’s not the real deal.

Shanghai River: Review 1

Shanghai River: Review 2

On the table:

**Xiao Long Bao – Steamed mini pork dumplings 6/6

• A dumpling filled with juicy ground pork meat and pork broth or soup $6.80 for 8 pcs
• This is a staple item when dining Shanghai. I will order it every time I come here and everyone else does the same. The ones here are good, but the ones at Chen’s Shanghai Kitchen have more soup that’s also hotter.
• For more details on these Xiao Long Baos at Shanghai River please click here

**Hot and Sour Soup 5/6

• A small size will generously fill 5 bowls $9.80
• It’s a hot and sour soup made with pork broth, chilies, tofu, shredded pork, bamboo shoots, black wood ear mushrooms, shrimp, carrots, mushrooms, green onions and egg whites.
• The ingredients vary from place to place and so does the level of spiciness. For me, it’s not that spicy and nobody complained about it being too spicy either.
• This soup originates from Szechuan cuisine, but it is often served at Shanghai restaurants. The traditional Szechuan recipe will also have pork’s blood, which I’m not a fan off so I’m glad it’s not in this one. Pork’s blood is solidified and it looks like dark brown smooth slices of tofu when they use it in the soup.
• There are tons of ingredients in this version at Shanghai River. There are more ingredients than there is soup. All the ingredients are different textures of crunchy so you’re chewing quite a bit.
• The soup is sour from the vinegar and spicy from the use of chilies, chili oil and white pepper. It’s not that spicy though, so don’t freak out if you can’t handle too spicy. It would be much spicier at an authentic Shanghainese restaurant in Shanghai.
• The shrimp is not bad and a decent size and we all got at least 2 of them. With the amount of ingredients they used I really think the value is here.
• The bamboo shoots are pickled on their own so it enhances the overall “sour” flavour to this soup.
• The broth is a pork based broth so you still get that saltiness you want in a soup. Great balance of flavours.

Chicken with Wine Sauce 2.5/6

• This is also commonly known as “drunken chicken”. It’s half a chicken that is marinated and steamed in Chinese wine. It’s served chilled. $6.80
• I think they used to do a better job with this. They use to pour ½ a shot of wine/whiskey on it at the table before serving, but they don’t do that anymore.
• This is eaten as an appetizer. This is the only dish my friend didn’t like. Maybe it was because of the way it looks and the taste was unusual.
• The wine doesn’t really cook out in this dish and I think they add a little bit of just the wine before serving. It’s quite boozy and at first it’s sweet and then it gets a bit bitter because it’s too much wine.
• The chicken is very well marinated, but there’s also not much meat. Consequently the meat absorbs the wine easily.
• Since it’s served cold there is a little gelatin on the chicken which is common. It’s supposed to be flavourful, which it is, but the wine was too overpowering overall.

Pan-fried Pork Buns 4/6

• A pan fried bun that is made with homemade bread dough and filled with juicy pork $6.80 for 5pcs
• This is usually an item you would order for dim sum and not for dinner, but since it was Shanghainese food 101 I had to order them.
• These buns are made pretty well and you could pop the bun whole if you wanted to. Just like the “xiao long baos” you dip them in vinegar before eating them.
• I could taste the flavour of the meat in these ones more than the “xiao long bao” because these buns have less soup. The soup comes from the fact that the pork filling also has gelatin so as it cooks/steams/fries the gelatin melts and becomes the “soup” or gravy. There wasn’t as much soup as I would have liked though.
• The flavour of the meat has ginger and garlic aromatics, but they’re extremely minced up so you’re not biting into pieces of anything except for pork. I feel like they could have been using ginger oil because it was so subtle. The meatball is really soft, but also not mushy like meatloaf.
• The bottom of these buns are nicely browned and fried and most importantly not soggy from the soup.
• As well as green onions there should be some sesame seeds served on top of these buns.

Duck Meat Lettuce Wraps 3.5/6

• Stir-fried duck meat and vegetables. Served with lettuce leaves and Hoisin sauce $16.80
• And I thought EVERYONE knew what a lettuce wrap was. Nope! Not the Austrian, so of course, I had to order this “typical” one as well.
• Ok rip to the off! $16.80? The portion was so small! There were 6 lettuce leaves! They gave just enough stuffing for the 6 leaves, but the plate looked empty when they served it. Was it good? Yes. Was it great? No. Was it worth $16.80? Definitely not.
• The best ones are still at Kirin Seafood Restaurant.
• What I did really like was the addition of pine nuts! That was their twist which I really liked. I know they’re expensive, but the price still isn’t justified.
• Everything was really minced up including the duck meat and I like my stuffing a bit chunkier. I felt like I was eating ground pork which is kind of a waste of duck meat.
• It’s stir-fried with water chestnuts, green onions, onions, and carrots. It’s savoury from the marinade, nutty from the pine nuts, sweet from the caramelized veggies and the duck.

**Fried Rice Cake with Pork 5.5/6

• Stir-fried rice cakes with shredded pork, cabbage and pea shoots.
• I love rice cakes, so I maybe a bit biased. I really like this dish and it’s common in many Shanghai restaurants. I still think they do an excellent job here.
• The rice cakes are thin and fresh! They’re not the packaged ones or dried ones you see at the grocery store so they're very soft here. These “noodles” or rice noodle patties are made in house. They’re cut nice and thin so they can pick up more sauce. They don’t absorb flavours though because they’re a thicker noodle. It has a creamy texture, but there’s no dairy. They’re smooth and slippery, but chewy and stick to your teeth.
• I liked the use of pea shoots and not many places will do this. They may not use any greens or if so they will use spinach. The pea shoots made it more “gourmet”.
• The cabbage is stir-fried and combined with the slices of Chinese mushrooms they both add a sweet and juicy flavour to the savoury dish.
• The only thing is that it need more sauce and it wasn’t as salty as it should have been. If it were authentic there would have been more sauce because rice cakes need a lot of sauce. I know it looks oily, but that a common characteristic of Shanghainese cuisine.
  

Dessert

Glutinous Rice Balls with Sesame 5/6

• Sticky glutinous rice balls filled with hot black sesame filling. I don’t remember the price, but it wouldn’t be more than $8 for 8pc.
• I’m not a fan of this dessert, but I did try it. For people that like it, it’s 5/6, but for me it’s 2/6.
• It’s fresh, made upon order, and served hot.
• The sticky rice balls are nutty and sweet because they're rolled in a coating of ground peanuts, sesame seeds, coconut and light brown sugar. The dough is made out of rice flour and it’s the same as eating a mochi. It’s very thin, chewy, delicate and sticks to your teeth, but doesn’t have much flavour without the crumbled toppings.
• The sesame filling is made of ground black sesame seeds and sugar so it’s sweet, but not too sweet.
• The black sesame is smooth but also gritty. It has a really deep nutty thick flavor and it’s almost creamy like a crème anglaise.
• They’re pretty small, so you can eat them whole like a mini cupcake. I like the outside better than the inside filling.
• Overall I’m just not a fan of most Chinese desserts though. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Benny's Cafe - Benny's Bagels

Restaurant: Benny’s Cafe aka Benny's Bagels Cafe

Cuisine: Breakfast/Brunch/Cafe/West Coast/Canadian
Last visited: December 27, 09

Area: Vancouver, BC (Kitsilano)
2505 West Broadway

Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 2.5
Service: 2
Ambiance: 4
Overall: 2.5
Additional comments:

• Homemade bagels, specializes in bagels
• Steady traffic throughout the day
• Baked goods/coffee/brunch
• Focus on healthy
• Cheap eats – student food/pricing
• Self-service/pay at cashier
• Feels like it’s operated by students
• Nothing seems to be made day of except for bagels
• Very casual and laid back hangout
• Kitsilano feel
• Attracts students, artists, locals in area
• Free Wi-Fi
• Late night/open late
• Serves alcohol
• Vegetarian/Vegan options
• Eat in/Take-out
• Patio seating

**Recommendation: Fruit & Brie Melt

I pretty much tried their top 3 favourites and most popular items so I think this will be a pretty fair review. However if I tried the top 3 and I still wasn’t that impressed I’m not sure how much I care to try the rest of the menu. It’s not the like the food was horrible, but I’m in no rush to go back.

It’s a good place for studying, quick low maintenance healthy and light meals, coffee breaks, or even late night go-to dining. It’s cheap and pretty much self-service. It’s just wouldn’t be a place for most foodies.

It’s really relaxed and laid back inside and you feel like you’re lounging around in a ski lodge lobby. You could probably go in wearing pajamas and fit right in. It has a fireplace and wooden furnishings, it all feels very Canadian and very Kitsilano. It definitely attracts the regular locals in the neighbourhood, lots of students (being so close to University of BC), and local artists as well. It’s has a hippie/lumberjack/student feel. If you’re from Vancouver you know exactly what I mean.

Benny’s Café highlights healthy, West Coast and Canadian flavours and it’s been around for 20+ years. The bagels are homemade and fresh but the baked goods are all pre-made and in display cases. They’re made in house, but I highly doubt they’re made daily. Walking in for lunch I couldn’t smell any baked goods or hear any sizzling or cooking on stove tops, or see any ovens. In fact the cooking area was spic and span and the set up was more like a Subway. Most of the hot food was made with fresh ingredients and made-upon order but the cooking was done all in microwave. All I could hear and see was the use of a microwave, which was a huge turn off for me. It was all students working and making the orders too. I like to see at least one cook/chef at the place I’m eating.

On the table:

Breakfast Bagel 2.5/6

• Your choice of bagel, egg crepes, hot smoked back bacon, salsa, green pepper, scallion cream cheese, onions, and melted cheddar cheese on top $7.15
• Vegetarian with avocado or Pacific lox version $8.25
• This is one of their most popular items and it’s served during lunch too and maybe even at dinner. I ordered the Pacific lox (smoked salmon) version with the “Super Purist” bagel which is their ‘Everything’ bagel.

  

• Each bagel half had 2 slices of old smoked Wild BC salmon. They were pretty generous with the toppings.

• It really bothered me that they used "egg crepes" which are those pre-made square egg patties. They have no flavour. I thought they were going to be actual egg crepes like real eggs being cooked into thin crepes on a stove top. I was disappointed.
• Even though it's made upon order, nothing they used was really fresh except for the bagel, green pepper and cheese. Everything was made in the microwave. It was literally like a Subway. They assembled the sandwich and popped it in the microwave to warm it up and melt t he cheese.
  
• It can't say it tasted bad, but it was such student food.
• The salsa was very blah and almost like marinara sauce, and I don't know if it's made in house. Even if it was I doubt it was made that morning. It has tomatoes, onions, green peppers, cilantro and it's a bit too pureed. It was tangy, but it didn't have a fresh flavour. A fresh salsa would have been perfect because it was a pretty healthy breakfast bagel.
• A fresh salsa would have brought it up at least 1 point. Another +1 if they used a real egg.
  
• They gave too much salsa and it was a bit overpowering. The thin layer of scallion cream cheese was a great addition though. That made this bagel a bit different. It paired with the salsa and went great with the salmon giving the sandwich a slight overall creaminess. For the little a mount they used, the flavour sure jumped out.
• I think they forgot the onions, or I couldn't taste them at all. There's no bacon if you order it with salmon either.

**Fruit & Brie Melt 4/6

• Our classic since 1986. Cinnamon Apple Raisin bagel with melted brie cheese topped with hot berries. Yum. $6.95 (Description copied from menu)
• The server really recommended this and it was her favourite. Out of the 3 items I tried this was the best.
  
• It was sweet, salty, and a perfect way to end a meal...or start one if you like sweet stuff. It's very simple and you could easily make it at home, but I still enjoyed it here.
• I loved the creaminess of the melted brie and then the plump jui cy sweetness of the blueberries. It was like a cheese and fruit ensemble, but on a bagel instead of crostini.
  

• Again everything was made in the microwave though...*sigh*...well they do toast the bagels in a toaster if that counts as "cooking".
• It wasn't that hearty, but it was filling because of the brie and the fact that you're eating a whole bagel.
• It had 3 really thin slices of brie and I would have appreciated a little thicker.
• The hot berries were just frozen blueberries microwaved. I don't even think they put any additional sugar to it. They have a natural sweetness and again everything is pretty healthy and light here.
• The dusting of icing sugar was the only sweet thing. well the bagel was a bit sweet, but I couldn't taste any raisins or really any apples for that matter. I could taste the slight hint of cinnamon though.
  
• I think they could easily up this recipe by using a drizzle of honey and some toasted almonds over icing sugar. I'd pay .50 extra for that.

Sweet Bee 3/6

• Look for coconut and honey inside. When you find it you’ll love them! $2.25 or $8.95 for 6. (Description copied from menu)

  

• This is one of their popular items and it’s one of the few baked goods offered that’s actually included on the official menu.
• I was really excited for it because I love coconut. However I was disappointed to see it sitting in a basket of pre-baked goods. It didn’t look very fresh, but I still had to try it.
• The coconut and honey filling is EXACTLY like those Chinese coconut buns you get at Chinese bakeries. It looks totally different so I couldn’t tell. They’re usually called cocktail buns at Chinese bakeries. Now if you’ve had a good cocktail bun (the ones at Maxim’s Bakery are even great) then this one at Benny’s doesn’t even compare. It felt like it was a knock off or the “white” version of a Chinese coconut cocktail bun.
• The filling is identical to the Chinese version so that part is fine. It’s not too sweet and it’s made with coconut, sugar and butter. It’s almost like a paste and you can taste the dried shredded coconut throughout. It’s not too sweet and has a great texture. It’s really really good. I couldn’t taste the honey though.