McDonald's - S'mores Pie Review

Restaurant: McDonald’s

Cuisine: American/Fast food
Last visited: December 18, 09
Area: Multiple locations - I was at Vancouver, BC (Chinatown/Tinseltown)
Price Range: $10 or less

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

S’mores Pie : 3

S’mores Sundae (my own creation): 4

**Recommendation/Tasty Twist Idea: Make a S’mores McFlurry or sundae and add nuts if you wish

So I finally tried it! I had tweeted (Twitter: followmefoodie) about this about a week ago after driving by a McDonald’s advertising “S’mores Pie 2 for $1.39”. Since then I’ve been meaning to try it. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it too…mix it with ice cream!

I usually do my apple pie McFlurry. I’ll get them to blend an apple pie up in my ice cream. They might look at you like “what the heck?”…but just ask them and they’ll do it. It melts fast, so you need to eat it fast, but that’s no challenge for me. I decided to make a S'mores sundae rather than a McFlurry because I wanted to try the S'mores alone too.

One of the best S’mores I’ve had was at Earls over the summer. Surprised? I was! I usually would never order S’mores because it’s such an easy dessert to make at home and most of the time I find them too sweet. However I’m so glad I tried the one at Earls. It was a special feature dessert for summer ’09 so too bad it’s not offered anymore. It was a gourmet S’more with this homemade graham cracker cookie/cake and it came with chocolate and vanilla gelato. I introduced 4 friends to it and none of them were real fans of S’mores (for the same reason I’m not)…and ALL of them liked it.

On the table:

S’mores Pie : 3/6

**S’mores Sundae (my own creation): 4/6

• A standard McDonald’s pie, but filled with chocolate and marshmallow
• 2 for $1.39
• You need to take it as it is…it’s McDonalds, it’s 2 for $1.39 – it does the job, even if it doesn't your loss really isn't that bad...
• The marshmallow is more like a marshmallow cream
• The chocolate is almost like chocolate sauce, kind of reminds me of their chocolate sundae sauce
• Chocolate isn’t very thick and obviously it’s not high quality…it’s McDonald’s, what do you expect right?
• Together it’s all quite ooey gooey
• I think it worked, it was sweet, but that's a given
• Eat it with ice cream, it offsets the sweetness
  

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.
  

Richmond Night Market - Dessert highlights

The Chinese Eggball guy!The Dragon's Beard Candy making stand


Event: Richmond Night Market

Cuisine: Chinese/Asian
Last visited: Sept. 19, 09
Area: Richmond, BC
12631 Vulcan Way (Behind Home Depot)
Price Range: $10 or less

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

** Recommendation: Dragon's Beard Candy, Deep-fried ice cream

Ok so I know I'm a little late since the Richmond SUMMER Night Market ended a couple weeks ago. But I still want to review it because I want to give attention to things that deserve it. This review will only focus on a few dessert items I had there.

1) Chinese Eggballs (Here it was 1.5/6, usually it's a 4/6)

2) Dragon Beard Candy 5/6

3) Deep-fried ice cream 6/6

On the table:

• Chinese Eggballs/Egg Waffles 1.5/6 (at this stand)
  
• This is basically a Chinese waffle. It's waffle batter poured into this unique waffle-like griddle. The batter is flipped around and coated around the pan to create these "eggballs". They have a somewhat crispy exterior and the inside is soft and chewy when made well. It's also a little hallow. It's more sweet than savoury, but it's not really that sweet at all. It's actually relatively healthy because it's just egg batter.
• 
  
• You can buy it at a couple food stands, but I had to feature this stand because this guy is a local "celebrity". He's THE eggball guy or THE eggball maker. Ithink he's been doing this for well over five years now and the reason why his eggballs draw so much attention is because he puts on an entertaining show. His eggballs themselves are actually not that good...wow that sounds bad. But really, they make eggballs way better at other places. On the last night he was only charging $1 so he had quite a line-up. There always $3 - night market or not, $3 is standard.
• All of his actions are X1000 so he manages to create an entertaining show. He draws a crowd in by being super dramatic in his production process. It's all his marketing! It's also funny because he's clearly NOT Chinese yet he's making CHINESE eggballs and speaking Chinese too (heavily accented I might add, but it's still hilarious and I appreciate it).
• This stand or guy is a novelty. But if you want good eggballs, you're not at the right place. He skimped on the batter, probably because he was afraid to run out before the night ended and all of them were overcooked because the batter was to thin.
  
• This is for pure entertainment.
• Tip: If you want good eggballs I recommend: "Your Dessert" at Admiralty Mall in Richmond or "Timmy's" at Aberdeen Centre - both in Richmond. As long as they don't rush the process, have a decently flavoured batter that's not too sweet or watered down and make it upon order - you're in good hands..
• Dragon's Beard Candy 5/6
  
• This stand is also a popular one. You're almost guaranteed to see them at any Chinese festival or event that has food stands. You can't really make it at home (I don't know anyone that does or would), and even if you buy it at T&T it won't be as good or as fresh, so I suggest you to try it when you see it.

• This "candy" is not the kind of candy you're used to seeing. This is ground up roasted peanuts mixed with sugar wrapped up in "dragon's beard" aka white sugar strands (it's like a Chinese style cotton candy). You get 6 rectangular nuggets in a box.
• When you bite into them the white strands just melt away and then you hit the semi-sweet and very crumbly ground up peanut mixture. It's almost like eating a pocket of cotton candy mixed with icing sugar and ground up peanuts mixed with fine grains of sugar...but not nearly as sweet as the description sounds. The "dragon's beard" or "cotton candy" is a hand-pulled spun sugar (made of syrup) that has been pre-cooked so it's almost elastic like. It's pulled in a big container of glutinous flour (resembles icing sugar but not nearly as sweet and not floury tasting either...it is floury in texture though) to keep it from sticking.
• It takes skill and a true Dragon's Beard Candy maker to make these. There's a technique to it - when you watch him make it you'll know what I mean. He kind of pulls away at it and folds it repeatedly in the flour - then magically he pulls these strands out and passes it on to the next person. This person puts a spoonful of crumbly sweet peanut mixture in the centre and wraps it all up with the dragon's beard. It's a really unique dessert. Try it! Very traditional Chinese. But it's kind of messy so you're guaranteed to get flour/dragon's beard/peanut crumbs or all of the above around your mouth.
• Deep-fried ice cream 6/6
  
• No pictures. But I've tried it and it deserves attention because everyone loves it. It's not a traditional Chinese dessert or anything.

• There's 2 stands that sell it.

• 1) Walk down the first isle and about half way on your right hand side you'll see it. I think it's $4 and you get to select your flavour of ice cream: chocolate, vanilla, mango, green tea I think. Then they dip it in a simple flour batter and deep fry the whole thing. It's pretty big too.

• 2) The second stand is also on the right hand side but about 3-4 stands down. This is the "gourmet" version of deep-fried ice cream. At this stand you don't get to select your ice cream flavour - it comes with the standard vanilla for $3.50. It's also smaller because it's only one regular sized scoop. It's rolled in this cereal-like batter rather than the flour batter. There's actually thought in this one. The stand is actually a catering company for a community centre so their deep fried ice cream actually has a recipe. The batter is crunchy and crispy and it creates a hard shell like exterior after it's been deep-fried. I prefer this one to the other one even though the other one is bigger and you can select your flavour.

• 3) You can find deep-fried ice cream at Mexican restaurants as well because it was technically their invention first if we're going to give credit somewhere. I've also tried it an Indian restaurant - they're all good.

• Tasty Twist Idea: For a healthy alternative to deep-fried and if you want an easy way to make this dessert at home what you can do is take a scoop of ice cream and roll it in crushed up nuts and cornflakes. Put your ice cream ball in the freezer to set for an hour, take it out and repeat the process until it is fully coated.
  
• If you wish you can shallow fry it quickly on a very high heat with vegetable oil. Or take a creme brulee torch and quickly toast the whole exterior.
  

Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes

Pistachio Raspberry Mini Cupcakes
Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes with Raspberry Custard filling
Pistachio Raspberry Cupcake with Raspberry Custard filling

Item: A twist on Martha Stewart's Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes - review

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

Find recipe here: Martha Stewart's Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes

• Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes with Raspberry Custard filling 5/6
  

• These are really good! My friend and I baked these over the weekend. We modified the recipe because we wanted to make cupcakes rather than teacakes. These are denser than cupcakes and that's why Martha refers to them as teacakes. I would make these again for sure, but experiment with the recipe a bit more. A bit adventurous for some, but it is a gourmet style cupcake. It's pretty expensive to make too because pistachios and raspberries aren't cheap. Great to make during the summer.
• I love raspberries and nutty flavours, so it's no doubt I would enjoy these. These aren't meant to be those fluffy cupcakes we're used to though. It's really rich in pistachio flavour and I really enjoyed that nuttiness. I made sure not to grind them up all the way, so that I could still bite into small pieces of pistachio. They aren't that sweet either, you can eat it for breakfast or as a dessert. Perfect for bridal showers or any other girly events. You really don't want to overbake these because they're dense enough on their own already. More like a cake than cupcake.

• Tasty Twist Idea: We had so many raspberries so I ended up making a fresh raspberry custard to fill the middle of the cupcakes. The cupcakes are still pretty sturdy so it was hard to inject the cupcakes with the custard. We also made a raspberry buttercream to ice them. I think the custard was a great addition - it adds moisture because they can come off as a bit dry since they're made with nuts.
  

Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes

Item: A twist on Martha Stewart's Candied-Hazelnut Cupcakes - review

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

Find recipe here: Matha Stewart's Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes

• Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes - with hazelnut filling and chocolate ganache 5/6
  

• My friend and I baked these on the weekend - along with our Pistachio and Raspberry cupcakes filled with raspberry custard (will be my next blog entry). Anyways, before I get off topic - back to the almond hazelnut cupcakes.

• If you like those Ferrero Rocher chocolates, you will love these! These are Ferrero Rochers in the form of cupcakes. Everyone enjoyed these. They are decadent though and quite filling because of the nature of the ingredients - hazelnuts and chocolate. They do come off as a bit dry because of the hazelnuts, so it really requires something rich like a chocolate ganache.

• These are more nutty than they are sweet. Actually for me it's almost like a hazelnut muffin. The chocolate ganache we made turned it into a cupcake, but alone it could be a muffin. The texture can come off as a tad dry because of all the nuts - but it's not dry, it just gives the illusion of being dry cause of the ground nuts.

• You know it's a good cupcake when the batter is good! We did try the batter and it was so aromatic. Toasting the nuts is one of the most important steps to this recipe. There's no need for any artificial nut flavouring or nut extracts - these are the real deal! An adult cupcake! Without the chocolate, you could easily serve this for breakfast. I would make this again.

• Tasty Twist Idea: Since the cupcake is so dense it really requires a rich frosting. Especially since it's not a really sugary cupcake - less than 1 cup of sugar for a batch of cupcakes is not a lot at all. For this reason, we decided to make a hazelnut ganache to fill the insides of these cupcakes. Without the richness of the ganache and chocolate it doesn't really taste like a dessert...and when I'm eating a cupcake I want to feel like I'm eating a dessert. We topped these off with a lot of chocolate ganache (a nice thick layer, as you can tell by the picture) - and the ratio was actually perfect this way.
  

Maple Castella Bakery - Pumpkin Bread

Restaurant: Maple Castella - Review for pumpkin bread
Cuisine: Bakery/Breads/Pastries/Desserts
Last visited: September 4, 09

Area: Richmond, BC
#1068 - 8700 McKim Way
Price Range: $10 or less

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

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
• More on the sweeter side
  
• Always busy, familiar to locals and Chinese
• Taiwanese bakery not Cantonese - so recipes 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 egg wrapped around it

I dedicate this blog entry just for the pumpkin bread. Yes - it tastes just as good as it looks - and it looks pretty darn good! I have tried several of their other breads and buns as well and those are delicious - but this one is my favourite - so it gets its own space. The pumpkin bread has come up in the last year, and it's not always in stock, so make sure you call ahead and check first. I'll blog about their other breads on another day, when I have pictures to include.

Added note: The pumpkin loaf is about 2 slices bigger than the picture shown above - I already ate a couple slices...couldn't resist.

On the table:

**Pumpkin Bread 6/6

• I have no idea what the ingredient list is - all I know is that it's freaking delicious. When you open the bag you can just smell the deliciousness.
• I've had pumpkin bread at European/American bakeries before - and this pumpkin bread is nothing like those. At those bakeries I often find it's a bread recipe with pumpkin puree thrown into the bread mixture - with some cinnamon and cloves...which is good, but also expected. The way Maple Castella makes pumpkin bread is so different!
• It's definitely the Asian/Chinese/Taiwanese way of making bread - heavier on the eggs and sugar, but super soft in the texture. It's basically sweet bread – dessert type bread. Everything is sweeter and fluffier here. This is bread you can eat on its own, or even as a dessert.
• Maple Castella makes this pumpkin bread so soft and there are swirls of pumpkin throughout the bread. It's so soft you need to cut thick slices. It's not even really pumpkin they use, they use Japanese Kaboocha squash. It's not a canned puree, it's a bright orange colour - not that canned brown pumpkin puree colour. This "pumpkin" puree is made in house and you can tell. They mash it rather than puree it, so there's texture too.
• The base of the bread is definitely an egg and butter bread and tastes like the softest bread you've ever had. It’s not crumb like – but almost stretchy and very fluffy.
• They put pumpkin seeds over the top of the bread. I seriously crave this thing, and am so excited when they have it in stock. You can only buy it in a loaf (about 8 slices), and you'll finish it in 1-2 days because it's so good. Just look at the picture!
• It's so fresh and they sell out all the time so call in to reserve your loaf! It’s a super hot item!

Tasty Twist Idea

• Use it to make French toast. Top it with a drizzle of maple syrup and toasted pecans. Truly decadent.

Shanghai River Restaurant

The kitchen and "xiao long bao" making station

Bean Curd Roll with Vegetable

Restaurant: Shanghai River
Cuisine: Shanghainese/Chinese/Asian/Dim Sum

Last visited: Multiple - September 4, 09

Area: Richmond, BC

7831 Westminster Hwy

Price Range: $20-30

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

Food: 5

Service: 3

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Known as the best/Richmond's most popular Shanghai restaurants
  
• Higher end Shanghai/Chinese Restaurant in Vancouver/Richmond
  
• 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 8 ppl - how the menu/portions are designed
• Visible "Xiao Long Bao" (famous steamed pork dumplings) making station
• Dishes meant to be shared
• Private dining room available

**Recommendation: Steamed mini pork dumplings "Xiao Long Bao", braised eggplant with chili sauce, deep fried crab with chili & garlic

This place is Richmond's most popular Shanghainese restaurant. It serves fresh, hot, made upon order authentic Shanghainese cuisine. It's famous with locals, tourists and the media. There's always a line-up and as soon as 6:30pm hits the place is pretty packed already. You want to come here with around 8 people because the portions and menu is designed for parties of 8. This way you can order lots and try a lot too. Make sure you make a reservation or arrive early before the dinner rush (7-7:30pm).

The menu is quite large (typical of Chinese restaurants), but there are some staple items that everyone orders. I find the dishes are hit and miss - they used to be better. They have such a following it doesn't matter if they've gone downhill though. The food is still great, but it just used to be better, every single item used to be a hit, now you can find something similar and better at another Shanghai restaurant in Richmond. Some dishes are still amazing here and some are just not good for a restaurant of this caliber. This is a higher end restaurant so you expect fine dining type dishes. They have a great array of seafood dishes, and a "xiao long bao" making station open to the public to view. It has gone a bit downhill for it's own standards, but it's still great on the wide scale - still recommended as a place to check out whether you're a tourist or local.

Shanghai River - Review 2

Shanghai River - Review 3

On the table:

• **Xiao Long Bao - steamed mini pork dumplings 6/6
• This is the staple menu item when dining Shanghainese. They should always be made fresh and upon order - everything should be done in house - from making the dumpling pastry to making the ground pork stuffing. I mention more about this in my review for Chen's Shanghai Kitchen.

• Chen's has a thinner skin and more soup, which is a major focus when making these dumplings. However the broth and soup these dumplings hold is more flavourful at Shanghai River. Maybe they marinate the ground pork better - the most obvious explanation. They're also twice as hot at Chen's, the ones at Shanghai River maybe sit there for a tad longer before they're served. The restaurant is much bigger than Chen's so they're not able to serve them as fast as Chen's.
  
• $6.80 for 8
• Shredded chicken with vermicelli 2/6
• Shredded chicken and julienne raw cucumbers on homemade rice paper noodles or "vermicelli". It's topped with sesame sauce and served as a cold appetizer.

• This is a great dish, but it's just not that good here. When it's made right this dish is a 6/6. The combination or raw cucumbers, sesame sauce, steamed shredded chicken, and these homemade glass noodles are amazing. Texture and flavour wise this dish is great.
• I say it's not good here because even though the rice paper noodles are made in house, they weren't chewy at all. It should have been too. The texture wasn't right, and when you know what the texture is supposed to be like, these just aren't good. This vermicelli isn't the kind you're used to seeing at Chinese restaurants - the Shanghainese homemade vermicelli is wider and flat - almost like paper.
• The sesame sauce wasn't that good either, it was lacking flavour. It was just thick tasting, but not flavorful or aromatic. It felt like it came out of a jar, (which it does) but when it comes out of the jar it still requires mixing with other flavours because it's not a ready made dressing. Watered down JIF peanut butter would have tasted better.
• On the other hand the chicken was really good - because they didn't include the chicken skin, which I prefer - I hate when they include the chicken skin - most Chinese people would disagree with me on this one though. I'll find a better place that serves this dish and let you know when I d o. Check back for updates =)

• Bean Curd Roll with Vegetable 1.5/6
• Minced Chinese leafy green (similar to spinach) wrapped and rolled with sheets of bean curd. It's served cold.

• This appetizer is much better at Chen's. The presentation is beautiful at Shanghai River, but the item itself just isn't good. It was bland, and not flavourful at all. I even dipped mine in vinegar because it was so bland. Imagine eating cooked boiled unsalted spinach, and plain tofu...together...it needs flavour! It was AMAZING at Chen's compared to here. Sure it's not served all fancy, but it doesn't matter when the flavour is there...it tastes better all minced up - the ratio is great and it's just better this way.
• $6.80 for 8 pieces
  

• 

  

• Clay Pot Steamed Chicken & Won Ton soup 4.5/6
  
• A huge clay put of supreme chicken broth and won tons. Also includes bak choy and a whole small chicken (bone and all) that is cooked in this stock.

• Flavourful! This is not your watered down soup, or processed chicken stock. This is pure chicken stock - cooked with chicken and bones, and everything. It's light and clear, yet so rich and flavourful at the same time. You get full from the flavour not really from the soup.
• It comes with 10 "wontons" which are not wontons. They're actually dumplings called "Shui Gao". They're similar to gyozas - but made with veggies and pork. These are made fresh and in house, and they are really fresh because the skin is so soft it breaks apart quiet easily. They wrap these dumplings up quite loosely so that when they cook they're able to contain some liquid within the skin, so don't think it's poor wrapping or anything. These are great in size - bite size, not too big, and the skin is so delicate you don't want to over stuff them.
• It's a huge pot for $22, well worth it - especially since you're getting so much chicken. This chicken doesn't look appetizing, but it is. The meat just falls off the bone, really tender. They cook it for so long in this chick en stock that the meat just shreds away.
  

  

• **Braised eggplant with chili sauce 6/6
• Braised eggplant cooked in shrimp paste with bamboo shoots and black wood ear mushrooms. $14.80

• This is a popular dish found at many Chinese restaurants, but it's the best here to me. It's actually a Shanghainese dish that the Cantonese adopted. It's one of the three dishes used to introduce Westerners to Shanghainese cuisine.
• This is so good here. They make it vegetarian, which is rare, and I didn't even miss the meat. You get big pieces of eggplant, pieces you can actually bite into. A lot of it too. It's soft and still has some texture. I don't like it when they cut the pieces too small because it gets mushy and breaks apart when they braise it. They braise it in a dried shrimp paste - and the dish doesn't taste shrimpy at all. The shrimp paste just adds this aromatic flavour - one of those flavours that makes you go "hmm what is that?".
• This dish is almost stew like, kind of greasy, but that's common for this dish because the sauce is gravy-like. It's not spicy either even though it's cooked with chili sauce. Most places serve it in a clay pot because there's a lot of sauce and the eggplant pieces are smaller. Shanghai River is the only place that makes this dish vegetarian - replacing the minced pork with black ear wood mushrooms and bamboo shoots. I like the addition of these ingredients, this original switch up gives this dish 2 kinds of crunchiness and more variety.
  
• This is great on its own, and even better with rice...soak up the sauce.

• Tasty Twist Idea: I even like to wrap it in the homemade Shanghainese style crepes they serve. This is my own creation, but I like it!
• Pan-fried Pork with /Bean Sprouts and 8 homemade Crepes/Pancakes 3/6
  
• Shredded pork, green onion, bean sprouts and julienne raw cucumbers served with homemade Shanghainese style crepes.
• This is the Shanghainese version of Peking Duck - common at Cantonese Chinese restaurants. I like the Peking duck one better though. This one doesn't go with the crepe as well as the Peking duck does. They both have hoisin sauce you include, but you don't even really need it with the Shanghainese one - the sauteed pork has so much flavour on its own. The pork they used was also too fatty for me, and I felt like it was too chewy rather than tender. It just doesn't work well as a wrap because the size and texture of the pork pieces just slide out of the crepe as you bite into it - which defeats the whole purpose. I enjoyed the crepes much better with the braised eggplants
• This dish is a bit expensive too - $16.80
  
• Stir-fried Prawns 5/6
  
• This is another dish that is common in Cantonese restaurants. They do a really good job with this dish here. The prawns are really crunchy - cooked perfectly. It's so fresh and you want to taste the quality of the prawns in this dish. This dish is all about the prawns - more so than the sauce.
• **Deep-fried Crab with Chili & Garlic 6/6
• We didn't order it this visit because there were only 4 of us, but I've order it before and it was delicious. This crab is served dry - and it's absolutely covered with chili flakes and minced garlic. The minced garlic is amazing, it's the texture of finely ground bread crumbs. It's either deep fried/pan-fried/dry fried until it becomes this texture. The garlic almost forms a baked golden brown crust on the crab...it makes you want to eat the shells. This dish is so flavourful and aromatic - really delicious! There's a hint of spiciness from the chili flakes, but it's not really spicy or anything - they are professional with the seasonings, and have them adjusted perfectly.
• $32.80
  

The Bread Company - Bread review

Fig & Anise Bread - Loaf
Cranberry & Pumpkin Seed - Mini bun

Restaurant: The Bread Company - Bread review
Cuisine: Bakery/Breads
Last visited: August 15, 09

Area: Kelowna, BC
363 Bernard Ave
Price Range: $10-20

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

Additional comments:

• All breads made on site daily
  
• No refined sugars added
  
• Vegetable/Olive oil only
• Made with filtered water
  
• Breads are aged 16-24 hours before baking
• Hearth baking
• Organic bread available
  
• Each day features a new bread
• Weekly/Daily menu for breads found on website
• Sturdy/chewy breads - not the fluffy buttery type
  

**Recommendation: Fig and Anise Bread, Multigrain, all breads are better toasted

I have dedicated a separate blog just to talk about the different types of breads I tried.

On the table:

• **Fig & Anise Bread 6/6
  
• Flour, rye, whole wheat flour, water, sea salt, toasted walnuts, raisins, figs, anise

• My favourite! You MUST try it! I discovered it at Raudz, one of the best restaurants in Kelowna. They used this bread for their BLT and let me tell you it set the tone for the whole sandwich. I didn't know the bread was from The Bread Company until I went here for lunch the next day...then of course I had to take a loaf home.
• This bread has generous amounts of figs throughout the bread. A lot of figs! Every bite has some figs or some raisins. It was more figs than raisins and figs are more expensive. I didn't taste or see any walnuts though....I don't think they were in there. I couldn't really taste the anise either...but it doesn't matter, this is a great bread! Keep in mind it is bread though - not pastry bread, so don't let the figs fool you into thinking this is a sweeter pastry bread.
• It's best eaten toasted - no need for butter, but you can if you want. The figs just plump up wihen you toast it and the flavour is so much better.
• A bit expensive for almost $5, but the ingredients are high in quality so it works.

• Tasty Twist Ideas:
• Toast it and spread a layer of maple walnut ice cream on top...to die for! Makes a nice dessert.
• Toast it and drizzle with balsamic glaze. Delicious!..if you like goat's cheese, melt a thin slice on the bread before the balsamic glaze.
  
• **Multi Grain Bread 5/6
  
• My next favourite after the Fig & Anise bread

• Flour, whole wheat flour, rye, water, sea salt, flax seed, sunflower seed, oats
• Organic
  
• Great toasted with butter.
  
• Very nice crust and you can bite into and see all the seeds, oats and flax - great texture! You can really taste the ingredients and the quality of this bread.
• Better than Good Hearth
  
• Walnut Raisin - mini bun 2/6
  
• Flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour, water, salt, levain, walnuts, raisins

• I had this in a mini bun form and it was better toasted.
  
• It was actually more salty than sweet in flavour which is unexpected. A nice amount of raisins, but not enough walnuts. Not my favourite, and not spectacular, but still good.
  
• Cranberry Pumpkin Seed - mini bun 1/6
  
• Flour, whole wheat flour, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, water, salt, yeast

• I had this in mini bun form and I was really dissappointed. I wouldn't order it again. I expected it to be bursting with cranberries like the figs, but it wasn't. It hardly had any cranberries or pumpkin seeds - just look at the picture.
• I thought this would be more tart, but it was actually sweeter than the walnut raisin. I think they could have purposely added less cranberries to make it not as tart. But I think if you're ordering this, you like the tartness cranberries add and thus they should have been liberal with them. It's still not a sweet bread, but it was sweeter than expected.
• I also tried Good Hearth (Multi Grain is better) and the Sourdough, but it was nothing really special or different than what I could find at other bakeries.

• All their breads are chewy with a tougher crust, all taste the best toasted...brings out the flavour of the ingredients.