Ganache Patisserie - Bakery

Restaurant: Ganache Patisserie - Bakery

Cuisine: Desserts/Bakery

Last visited: February 14, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Yaletown/Downtown)

1262 Homer Street
Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 4.5 (but I think there's better I haven't tried)

Service: n/a

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Opened December 2003
• Pastry chef and owner Peter Fong
• Gourmet/high-end Parisian bakery in Yaletown
• Creative/exotic/posh cakes
• Modern French cakes (w/twist)
• Quality/seasonal ingredients
• Chocolates
• Menu changes, seasonal cakes
• Whole cakes/mini individual serving cakes
• Wedding cakes
• Baked goods to go/gifts
• Take-out only, very few seats if any
• Croissants available Friday-Sunday
• Tues-Fri. 11am-7pm
• Sat. 11am-9pm
• Sun. 11am-5pm
• Closed Mondays

**Recommendation: Caramel-Chocolat, Chocolat-Banane (popular choice, but haven’t tried this one)

I’ve heard so many great things about Ganache Patisserie, I haven’t come across one person that doesn’t love it. Visually they are masterpieces, but taste wise…I’m not so sure. I would rather have Bakery Nouveau. I can’t say I was disappointed by Ganache Patisserie, but I also wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be. Since it is a gourmet/high-end bakery my expectations are higher than usual…as it should be for places like these. It really reminded me of Kreation Artisan Cake – classic French cakes and pastries with a contemporary twist.

My friend brought them over and I indulged in all of them with 2 of my girlfriends. We all felt the same way about each cake…and we’re good judgment of desserts. They’re good, but not OMG sooooo good…except for the caramel-chocolat. When my friend asked the staff what she recommended she actually listed the more traditional items rather than the exotic cakes. I guess I just need to try the less original items next time because I was a little underwhelmed by the exotic ones. So I would still go back to try more but I wouldn’t crave anything because nothing was too memorable either. I do recommend it, but I've been really spoiled with great desserts...so I have had better...not necessarily in Vancouver though...so this is still good!

I didn’t have the descriptions while trying them so I was relying on my taste buds to pick out all the flavours. We each had a 1/3 of every cake so it was a decent sample and representation.

On the table:

Blanc Fraisier 4/6

• Vanilla cake, vanilla sablé Breton, white chocolate black pepper mousseline, strawberries, passionfruit meringue $5.50-5.75
• They say that this is everyone’s favourite and it’s one of their best sellers.
• It tasted like strawberry shortcake to me. The cake layers were drier and very much like shortcake cake.
• It was almost like custard or layers or pastry cream with fresh strawberries in between the shortcake layers. There wasn’t much strawberry though.
• It was creamier then it was mousse like. I couldn’t taste the black pepper or any sort of spiciness. I couldn’t tell it was white chocolate either.
• I also couldn’t tell it was passionfruit meringue although it was fluffy and marshmallow like. I liked the texture.
  

Guava Exotique 3.5/6

• Strawberry guava mousse, lychees, pineapple financier sponge $5.50-5.75
• This one reminded me of an Asian cake. It was mousse like and the mousse is the light airy mousse they make at Chinese bakeries.
• I definitely couldn’t taste the pineapple and didn’t know it was in there until reading the description.
  

• It was nice and moist and the lychee really stood out. There were little pieces of lychee throughout the cake and I liked the texture eating it with the mousse.
• I could taste the guava and it was a very floral and fragrant cake.
• I’d order it again, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. I’d rather try something else before ordering this again.
  

Matcha-Exotique 3/6

• Green tea mousse, mango-passionfruit gelée, lychees, black sesame biscuit joconde $5.50-5.75
• I was very excited about this one! One of my girlfriends had tried it as a whole cake and apparently it’s better that way because they make it in layers instead of a bomb cake where the flavours didn’t mesh together as well.
• This one is too bitter. They use so much Matcha and black sesame that it became bitter. It was definitely fresh and quality ingredients, but the flavour became overpowering rather than complementing.
  

• The black sesame cake was a bit dry and crumbly in texture too. It made the whole cake taste a bit powdery especially with the green tea mousse which is also made with Matcha powder.
• The mango passionfruit was almost like a jello but denser. It was made with frehs puree and it was very tangy and also sweet. The cake tasted much better if you ate it with the jello, but it was hard to portion because there wasn’t much of it. The mango and passion fruit helped to break up the bitterness.
• There were also little bits of lychee in this one, but I lost the flavour because of the Matcha and sesame. I only knew because of the texture.
  

**Caramel-Chocolat 6/6

• Milk chocolate caramel mousse with hazelnut croquant, raspberry gelée, 75% Tanzanie dark chocolate mousse, praline crunch, chocolate biscuit $5.50-5.75
• This is another one of their popular cakes. It’s more traditional and I usually go for exotics so I wasn’t too excited about this one…little did I know it would be the best of the 4. It was all of our favourites.
• 

• It was moist, creamy, moussey, rich and perfect in texture.
• There was a great combination of chocolates and levels of sweetness. The hazelnut was obvious and the raspberry was so little, but so potent.
• It was chocolatey, nutty, and tangy – I would order this again for sure.
• It was the sweetest of all the cakes, but since it was dark chocolate it wasn’t overly sweet. It was definitely most indulgent and I was happy to at least end off on a good note.

Sushi Garden

Restaurant: Sushi Garden – Japanese Restaurant

Cuisine: Japanese/Sushi

Last visited: January 25, 2010
Area: Burnaby, BC

4635 Kingsway
Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 4

Service: 3.5 (Despite comments on poor service, I actually had good service)

Ambiance: 2

Overall: 3.5

Additional comments:

• Cheap sushi, that’s good!
• Bang for you buck
• Pretty generous portions and big pieces
• Extensive menu
• Some creative/fusion rolls
• Lots of seating and still very busy!
• Very casual
• Very busy at lunch and dinner
• Set menus
• Same owners as California Sushi in Coquitlam
• Line-ups/wait list right at 6pm
• Dine in/Take out
• Serves alcohol
• Mon-Sat 11am-10pm
• Sunday 11:30-9:30pm
• Free parking at rear

**Recommendation: Alaska roll, Tuna Gomae, (Also popular for Dynamite roll, chopped scallop roll, sashimi)

I’ve been to Sushi Garden on several occasions, but every time I go I always have to wait 20min before I get seated. It’s busy in there all the time! Even when I get there at 6pm there’s already a waitlist. The main reason: the price! Yes it is a cheap sushi joint, but is it good? I think it is! The pieces are pretty big (not like Samurai Sushi big, but still big) and you can eat like a king for $12-15 including tax and tip! It’s nothing fancy and they have a huge menu so it’s a great go-to place. The value is definitely there and when I’m up for quick, satisfying and something affordable – then this is a great choice.

So apparently the owners are Korean although some of their recipes seem to have some Chinese influence. (You’ll see what I mean). There are some fusion/creative dishes which, as you know, I always like! It’s a pleasant surprise and unexpected for a sushi joint of this style.

I was with my friend who was visiting from Austria and we were shopping for hours at Metrotown across the street. Originally I wanted to go to a nicer sushi place, but we were too hungry and wanted something close by. He had only tried sushi once at a Chinese restaurant in Austria so I had to bring him for sushi! I know?! What an alien right?! He ended up trying Shanghai River, Sushi Garden, Japadog, La Belle Patate, Benkei Ramen, Blendz Coffee, East is East, smoked salmon, candied salmon, and maple syrup with French toast! I think that’s a pretty damn good introduction/summary of Vancouver/Canada!

On the table:

**Tuna Gomae 4.5/6

• Tuna sashimi marinated in gomae sauce and spinach $4.95
• It’s tangy, nutty and citrusy because they mix the gomae (sesame) sauce with ponzu vinaigrette. It’s a pretty big bowl with 8 big cubes of tuna.
  
• The tuna isn't the best quality and it's not really cut in a way that would enhance the most flavour. But there's still so much sauce and it's so flavourful that it's strong enough to absorb into the tuna.
  
• 
• I really like how they give you some spinach gomae on top too.
• This photo is from last summer so I can’t comment on it too much because it was a while ago. The sauce was more like a vinaigrette than it is a sesame sauce though...however I remember it being good.
• I would have ordered it again, but I didn’t know if it was “too exotic” for the Austrian.

Haru Maki 3.5/6

• Vege, tobiko, crab meat $3.50 (Their definition sucks! Of course people wouldn’t order it if they don’t know what it is!...but I guess I would lol)
• My definition: Crabmeat, cucumber, red pepper, avocado, pea shoots and tobiko wrapped in a rice paper roll $3.50
• Ok, for what it is and the price you pay…totally worth it! It’s not the best, but it’s still good. The best ones I’ve had thus far are the ones at Ki-Isu Sushi.
• It reminds me of a Vietnamese salad roll, but instead of vermicelli it’s crab! A lot too! It’s creamy from the avocado and crunchy from all the fresh vegetables. It was a great appetizer. I could have used more tobiko, but for $3.50 I’m not complaining. It was still good!
• They served it with a Teriyaki Hoisin sauce which was great…but along side was a Japanese salad dressing that tastes like Thousand Island dressing. The Hoisin was great but the Japanese salad dressing did not match. I mean does mixing Teriyaki, Hoisin sauce and Thousand Island salad dressing sound good to you? I was good with just the Teriyaki Hoisin sauce. I actually asked for more sauce because they didn’t drizzle enough.

Tako Yaki 2/6

• $3.75
• If you’ve never tried tako yaki than these are good! But if you have then this is a 2/6 because they’re a pretty cheap version of the real deal.
• Tako Yaki is simply baked or fried octopus balls. It’s a popular street food usually made of batter, dice octopus, pickled ginger, green onions and topped with fish/squid shavings, Japanese mayo and okonomiyaki sauce (thicker sweet sauce).
• These ones we re a bit mushy and mostly consisted of batter. I had a very small small piece of octopus in mine, but just one and it was a bit tough from being overcooked.
• I wanted more filling, because they were a bit too airy although the main ingredients were there. I could taste the pickled ginger and onion although it was very little.
• It was creamy, gummy and almost like a glutinous dumpling. It’s like eating a very soft mochi.
• I like the texture and flavour of these; they’re soft, chewy, salty, sweet and a little bit juicy oddly enough. They’re not amazing here, but they’re not bad either.

**Alaska Roll 6/6

• Avocado, tobiko, salmon $3.95
• This is THE roll to order here. It’s delicious and what I’m guaranteed to order it every time I come.
• The avocado is almost like guacamole. It almost seems like they mash it a bit so it’s really creamy and actually quite rich. You need to really like avocado to like this roll.
• The sauce is what makes it different and so good! You don’t need any soy sauce or wasabi with it. You can if you want, but it’s not necessary.
• The sauce they drizzle on top is their own unique sauce. It tastes like a Miso Ponzu type sauce. It’s very tangy like citrus vinaigrette and savoury and sweet to because of the Miso paste…I’m certain it’s in there!
• It’s a perfect one-bite piece of sushi and they don’t use the rice to make it look big. The rice is flavourful too.
• It could use more salmon, but for $3.95 it’s fine. I would have liked some cucumber in there though. Give it a nice crunch because everything was really creamy, however the sauce breaks it up and is the perfect touch.
• I actually asked them for an extra side of sauce...I really like it. They didn't charge me either which is nice.

Dynamite Roll 3/6

• Prawn tempura, cucumber, avocado, lettuce, tobiko $3.95
• This is another one of their most popular rolls. I’m not sure why though. I think it’s quite normal and there’s no special sauce that comes with it.
• It’s a pretty big roll though. There was a lot of cucumber and I think too much because it was the dominant flavour. Not really much else to say here.
• Again, I do like how they don’t use the rice to make the sushi look big.

Island Roll 2/6

• Cooked tuna, tamago, fish flake, with fresh kiwi sauce $4.95
• This is one of their creative fusion rolls. I need to try at least something “different” and not just the popular items right?!
• This one was a bit dry because the tuna was jut a canned cooked tuna and I think it needed to be marinated more. They just marinated it in mayo and not enough of it either.
• The kiwi sauce was literally fresh kiwi mashed up. It was sweet and citrusy.
• Overall the roll was salty and sweet, but more on the sweet side. The kiwi actually didn’t work as well as I would have liked. It was a bit overpowering and the roll needed to be saltier.
• There’s also tamago in it although it doesn’t say on the menu. It doesn’t matter though because you can’t taste it at all. Besides the kiwi sauce the tuna was the only ingredient I tasted.
• This roll is actually better if you dip it in soy sauce and wasabi…yes even with the kiwi sauce. It works!

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.

Luck's Gourmet

Restaurant: Luck's Gourmet

Cuisine: Chinese/Shanghai/Asian
Last visited: October 29, 09
Area: Richmond, BC
Unit 2088 - 8700 McKim Way (In the Admiralty Mall food court)
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Additional comments:

• Family owned and operated
• Specializes in Chinese/Shanghainese cuisine
• A few items not available on menu
  
• Fresh, made upon order
• Take-out
• Small selection of desserts
• Very cheap
• Cash only

** Recommendation: n/a

I haven't tried enough of their menu to make a fair judgment, but what I ordered was good and it will make me go back to try other items.

I actually wanted to try their steamed pork buns aka "xiao long bao" but they didn't have any. A lot of their English translations are off, so it's hard to know what to order or what they're trying to describe.

On the table:

• Sesame Seed Pastry 4.5/6
• It's under "sesame seed pastry" as a dessert on their menu board. It is not a dessert! I was lucky enough to have someone translate so I wasn't in for a surprise. It was only $3 and it was huge!
• This is actually an Asian style sesame seed pancake or crepe stuffed with ground pork and raw cucumbers. It's traditional Shanghainese. It's a meal in itself although it's considered a snack.
• The dough for the crepe is made in house and it's hot and fresh because you have to wait at least 15min. for it. The crepe is delicious and it's pretty thick. It would be more salty than sweet, it's almost like puff pastry. It has multiple layers and the outer layers are nice and flaky. It's soft and chewy on the inside and has a crispy filo-like exterior. It's a Shanghainese style roti with less layers than the Malaysian style roti. They pan fry it so that the sesame seeds taste all nutty. Surprisingly it wasn't that oily or greasy.
• The inside of this sesame seed pastry is filled with relatively lean ground pork with an Asian soy-based pork gravy and some raw cucumbers. It was so good! The cucumbers are crunchy although they do semi-cook from the steam of the meat and pastry.
• I only wish it was a bit saltier. It looks really saucy, but the sauce could have been saltier. It's probably not the best out there, but it's excellent for a hole in the wall place like this and you probably won't find a better deal! I'd order it again for sure.
  

• Tasty Twist Idea: It needed Hoisin sauce or something. I actually ordered something with Hoisin sauce at the stand next to it so I ended up dipping my pastry into the Hoisin sauce. That made it a 5/6! It made it taste like a Peking Duck wrap.