Dinner at The Junction Pub

Happy Saturday! It was a beautiful partly cloudy day, but the Vancouver Whitecaps FC had an away game against Montreal at 12:00 NN which they lost. We stayed home to watch the game before heading out and walking almost 5km to English Bay Beach to meet with my sister.

English Bay Beach

We spent an hour on the sand and enjoying the cold breeze. It's so nice! Afterwards, we walked along Davie Street to find a place to have dinner. My sister said she hasn't tried The Junction Pub and we should go there.

Nachos
Fresh cut corn tortilla chips, olives, jalapeños, red onion, and tomatoes with cheddar and jack cheeses. Served with salsa and sour cream

We had a food coma dinner. For sharing, we ordered Nachos with Corn & Black Bean Medley. Hubby had The Works which has everything while I enjoyed and was impressed with their Veggie Burger. 

Veggie Burger with Tossed Salad
House made chickpea and mushroom patty

I am so happy to find a vegetarian burger that is not Beyond Meat or Impossible Meat or whatever highly processed meat. Meanwhile, hubby was pleased with The Works because you can take a bite of

The Works with Fries
7oz butcher cut burger with BBQ sauce, mushrooms, fried onions, bacon, double cheese: cheddar & mozzarella

To end the meal, we shared a Bread Pudding.

Bread Pudding
Topped with caramel sauce and served with vanilla ice cream

I love the food at The Junction Pub and I am looking forward to coming back. Since we had too much to eat, we decided to walk almost 5 km home and was rewarded with this view from Burrard Bridge. I love Vancouver!

View of Granville Bridge from Burrard Bridge

Dinner at Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle

We watched Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore tonight, but before the movie, we decided to grab dinner at Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle close to the cinema.

I ordered from Chef Hung for delivery in January and thought Redbeef was still better, but I thought dining it might be better to give the chain a fair chance.

Their Taiwanese sausage is still delicious, but for everything else, I'll go to Redbeef.

Deep-Fried Taiwanese Sausage

Salt & Pepper Chicken Nuggets

Taiwanese Style Deep-Fried Chicken Cutlet on Rice

Deep-Fried Pork Chop on Rice

Happy Thursday, and it's a long weekend.

Noodle Nirvana: Metro Vancouver's Best Ramen Shops according to 7 articles

First published April 20, 2022 | Last updated February 3, 2024

Welcome to the ultimate ramen revelation in the heart of Vancouver! I'm a ramen enthusiast and want to try the best ramen shops in the city. This list is curated from insights shared by the 13 articles below.

• Daily Hive
• Curiocity
• Noms Magazine
• Populist
• Narcity
• Foodgressing
• 604now

A bowl of ramen from JINYA Ramen Bar

Tier 1: The Unanimous All-Star Ramen Shop

All seven articles included these three ramen shops on their list.

1. 🗹 JINYA Ramen Bar - January 23, 2022
2. 🗹 Marutama Ra-Men - December 1, 2023
3. ☐ Ramen Danbo

Tier 2: The High Achievers

These ramen shops are recommended by 6 of the 7 articles.

1. 🗹 Hokkaido Ramen Santouka - October 29, 2023
2. ☐ The Ramen Butcher

Tier 3: The Consistent Contenders

These ramen shops are recommended by 5 of the 7 articles.

1. 🗹 Kintaro Ramen - January 29, 2022
2. ☐ Motomachi Shokudo
3. 🗹 Taishoken Ramen - February 1, 2024

Tier 4: Varied Favourites

These ramen shops are recommended by 3 of the 7 articles.

1. 🗹 Kinton Ramen - October 22, 2022
2. 🗹 Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba - January 22, 2022
3. 🗹 Ramen Gojiro - January 16, 2024

Tier 5: Emerging Favourites

These ramen shops are recommended by 2 of the 7 articles.

1. 🗹 Benkei Ramen (closed) - October 7, 2022
2. ☐ Harvest Community Foods
3. ☐ Ramen Taka

Tier 6: Unique Experiences

These ramen shops are mentioned by 1 article.

1. ☐ Akedo Showten Ramen + Gyoza
2. ☐ G-men Ramen
3. 🗹 Gyo Para Gyoza & Ramen Bar - April 10, 2022
4. 🗹 Horin Ramen + Sake - February 2, 2024
5. 🗹 Menya Raizo - February 5, 2022
6. ☐ Ramen Densetsu
7. ☐ The Workshop Vegetarian Cafe
8. ☐ Yah Yah Ya Ramen
9. ☐ ZUBU Ramen

Almond Marzipan Cheesecake from Trees Cheesecake + Organic Coffee

Who is obsessed with cheesecake from Trees Cheesecake + Organic Coffee? We are! After enjoying our ramen at nearby Gyo Para, we enjoyed a slice of Almond Marzipan Cheesecake at the Trees Arbutus location.

Almond Marzipan Cheesecake

Almond Marzipan Cheesecake

I love their tables outside, and the street is definitely quieter than the West Broadway and Fir location. However, the Fir branch wins with friendlier service and cleaner bathroom.

For reference, below are some of the seasonal cheesecakes we have tried.

• Matcha Cheesecake last June 6, 2021
• Taro Cheesecake last June 26, 2021
• Mango Cheesecake last July 18, 2021
• Peanut Butter Cheesecake last September 11, 2021
• Pumpkin Cheesecake last October 10, 2021
• Banoffee Cheesecake last November 28, 2021 (no blog post)
• Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake last December 26, 2021
• Strawberry Cheesecake last February 15, 2022
• Coconut Dream Cheesecake last March 19, 2022

Lunch at Gyo Para Ramen & Gyoza Bar

Happy Sunday! After Palm Sunday Mass today, I am craving comforting ramen. It's that time of the month when I am in so much pain, and a bowl of ramen just makes things a bit better.

Premium Tonkotsu Ramen
Rich signature pork broth with chashu, half soft-boiled egg, kikurage (cloud ear mushrooms), ginger, green onions, nori, and garlic oil

Hubby ordered the Premium Tonkotsu Ramen while I had my usual Kara Miso Ramen.

Kara Miso Ramen
Spicy miso flavoured broth with chashu, half soft-boiled egg, bean sprouts, and chilli oil

Kara Miso Ramen with Medium Noodle Thickness

Original Gyoza
Homemade pan-fried pork dumplings

Karaage
Fried Chicken

Where is your favourite ramen place in Vancouver? Check out this post for the best ones in the city.

Dinner at Sports Lounge in BC Place | Canada Women's National Team Celebration Tour

Happy Friday! We just arrived home from BC Place to celebrate Canada Women's National Team (#canwnt) and their achievements, specifically winning Gold in the summer Olympics.

It's a last-minute decision to watch the game today, and I am glad we did. We only have watched the Vancouver Whitecaps FC in person. Watching the National Team showed me the difference in quality between an excellent team and a (sorry 'Caps) mediocre team.

Canada Women's National Team VS Nigeria Women's National Team

There were 20,601 supporters in BC Place and many young football players in the stadium with their teammates cheering and just happy to watch their idols in person. I am pleased to see lots of parents support their kids.

Before the game and after the warm-up, there was a standing ovation when Christine Sinclair' was honoured for being the world's all-time leading scorer (yes, for both men and women). How amazing is that?

Before kick-off, there was a Gold Medal Celebration, and during halftime, there was a Hall of Fame Celebration. Canada won against Nigeria 2-nil. Yay!

After the game, Stephanie Labbé, the goalkeeper for the National Team, was celebrated as she retired by the end of this Celebration Tour.

We watched in Section 344, which is served by a Sports Lounge. Yes, there is a bar section where you can sit down and enjoy your meal. The angle is also perfect for watching the game.

Section 344 BC Place

Because it's a Friday and we're still in Holy Week, we chose two meals with no beef, pork, or chicken. Hubby had a delicious bowl of Macaroni and Cheese,   while I had a healthy Tuna Bowl but ordered French Fries early into the first half.

Oceanwise Tuna Bowl

Macaroni and Cheese

House Fries

It's a happy Friday food day.

View from Cambie Bridge
Above: Taken around 6:00 PM
Bottom: Taken around 10:00 PM

It's a happy Friday. We also walked to and from BC Place, which means more than 7 kilometres of brisk walking.

Grocery from Aling Mary's then Dinner at Hime Sushi

I am happy. We decided to walk 3 kilometres to the closest Filipino store today and visited Aling Mary's on Main Street. We left at 5:00 PM and arrived 15 minutes before they closed. The employees are obviously preparing to go, and fewer items are available.

We managed to grab banana chips, ube pandesal, Spanish bread, and piaya. I'm so excited to enjoy all this in the next few days.

Grocery from Aling Mary's

After grocery, we went to nearby Shoppers as part of our weekly grocery run. Then, we decided to have dinner at Hime Sushi.

We rarely find Okonomiyaki offered in Japanese restaurants we visited so far, which means we had to order it when we saw it. 

Okonomiyaki
Homemade veggie and seafood Japanese pancake

Hubby and I have also started calorie-counting again, so we requested only one thing each. I had the Golden Dragon Roll while he ordered the Deluxe Tempura.

Deluxe Tempura
5 pieces prawn, 9 pieces vegetables, and 2 pieces fish skewers

The fish skewer is the bomb! Everything on the deluxe tempura is good, but that fish skewer was the unexpected surprise. I love it.

Golden Dragon Roll
Inside: Prawn tempura, imitation crab meat, cucumber
Top: Seated salmon, deep-fried yam strings, unagi sauce, and house mayo

Golden Dragon Roll from Hime Sushi

We planned to take the bus home but decided to walk more than 3 kilometres with our heavy grocery bags. The walk felt short (even though it took us almost an hour) because we were discussing travel plans, our dream home, and we were amused by the things we saw during the walk back home. I am happy.

Mountain Views and Buildings in Downtown Vancouver taken in South Cambie

Lunch at Saku

We had errands to run around South Cambie and decided to grab lunch at Saku because there's no line.

Tokujgyo Rosu Katsu
Deep-fried premium pork cut loin

I ordered the Tokujgyo Rosu Katsu set, which comes with miso soup, katsu sauce, shredded cabbage salad, and white rice. The soup, salad, and rice are unlimited. I also ordered two add-ons: a bowl of their signature curry (amazing over rice) and deep-fried breaded chicken thigh.

The Tokujgyo Rosu Katsu is juicy and fatty.

Meanwhile, hubby ordered the Hire Katsu set.

Hire Katsu Set

I can't wait to come back here and order The Zenbu Katsu set. Unfortunately, it wasn't on the physical menu, but I saw it on their website. Additional comment: according to my husband, the Zenbu Katsu set was on the menu when we were there at the bottom. I just completely missed it.

After the food coma meal, we walked home.

Dinner from Dawson's Hot Dogs at BC Place | Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs Sporting Kansas City

Happy Saturday! It's the second home game of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC. This year, we will watch 12 of the 17 home games in BC Place, and I hope to try as much food as possible. We won! Woohoo! It's our first win of the season, and it's at home.

The Vancouver Whitecaps FC won against Sporting Kansas City!

We ordered from Dawson's Hot Dogs for our game-day dinner - I chose the Foot Long Hot Dog Supreme while hubby ordered the Foot Long Hot Dog.

Foot Long Hot Dog Supreme
Harvest meats, pork & beef wiener, house-made chilli, cheddar and mozzarella cheese

Foot Long Hot Dog
Harvest Meats and Pork & Beef Wiener

After ordering the hot dog, I purchased lemonade from Lemon Heaven, and when I came back, hubby said that our cashier was new and didn't know what goes on top of the Hot Dog Supreme. There's no long line, so it's okay.

After getting our hot dog, I was disappointed that the cheese was not melted. I think the cheese should go on top of the hotdog, then the house-made chilli on top to melt the cheese a bit.

I think BC Place is using the same hot dog from Costco. Our next home game is next Saturday, April 9, 2022.

Blossom Bento by Private Sushi Catering at The Big Picnic

I'm always grateful to God when my prayers are answered. According to the weather forecast, rain (or drizzle) is expected on Saturday starting at 11:00 AM. I prayed the night before that it would be a beautiful sunny or at least partly cloudy day so we could enjoy the day in David Lam Park. I woke up at 10:00 AM and could hear the birds chirping and the bright sunlight peeking through our window. Thank God!

We hurriedly prepared for the day, grabbed a couple breakfast sandwiches and walked across Granville Bridge to David Lam Park. There were many people all picnicking with their packed lunch - hearing children running around and laughing, seeing family hugs reuniting under the pink tree, and watching friends exchange stories. I love it!

After walking around and admiring the cherry blossom trees, we grabbed our Blossom Bento prepared by Private Sushi Catering. I ordered it in advance. Having a sushi bento box and eating it under a sakura tree is an excellent beginning to the spring season.

Itadakimasu!

Blossom Bento Box from Private Sushi Catering

The Bento Box includes:

• Sakura Roll (Salmon & Cucumber roll)
• Spring Salad with Yuzu Dressing
• Signatures Nigiri (Cajun Albacore and Salmon)
• Torch Salmon Pressed (Aburi Salmon pressed with spicy mayo) - my favourite from the box!
• Seasoned sushi rice in Inari tofu pocket with various ingredients on top (sweet corn salad and crab meat & wakame)

Two Blossom Beno Boxes

Lunch under a cherry blossom tree

Families and friends picnicking under a cherry blossom tree in David Lam Park when we arrived

It was starting to get cloudy and cold when we left.

After a couple of hours in the park, we decided to leave because it was getting cold and dark clouds had slowly started coming in. Thank God for a beautiful Saturday morning.

Breakfast and Afternoon Snacks from Starbucks

Happy Saturday! Today, we went to David Lam Park to enjoy the beautiful cherry blossoms tree and participate in the Big Picnic organized by The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival.

Before walking across Granville Bridge, we grabbed a couple breakfast sandwiches from Starbucks and ate them while walking.

Beyond Meat, Cheddar, & Egg Sandwich

Spinach, Feta & Egg White Wrap

After enjoying a couple hours at David Lam Park, we went to the Starbucks location in Davie because it was getting a little chilly. I ordered a butter croissant and their cheese danish.

Butter Croissant

Cheese Danish

Yay for free Starbucks. 

Dinner at Kokoro Ramen

Happy Friday! We went to our accountant to file taxes and walked about a kilometre to the corner of 41st Avenue and Victoria Drive to grab dinner. We're Catholics, and as part of our abstinence during Holy Week, we don't eat beef, pork, and chicken.

We originally thought of going to a sushi place because fish and seafood are allowed, but both sushi restaurants in the area are full. Hubby checked the menu of Kokoro Ramen and spotted that they have vegetarian ramen. It's raining as usual in Vancouver, so a bowl of ramen sounds good.

Izakaya

We tried Baby Ikageso (deep-fried squid) for the first time and ordered our usual takoyaki for our appetizer.

Baby Ikageso

Takoyaki

Vegetarian and Vegan Ramen

I can't believe this is my first(?) time trying vegetarian/vegan ramen. They're both so delicious, and I am not even missing the pork broth it usually comes with.

Hearty Vegetarian Miso Ramen for hubby
We use an incredible amount of various vegetables and different types of mushrooms to make this broth. We add our original miso tare to boost the natural flavour. This ramen is vegan-friendly. No msg, no meat products, just purely crafted vegan-friendly ramen with layers of umami. Only come with a new kale noodle that doesn't contain the egg.

Spicy Veggie Tantan
Tan Tan Ramen usually uses ground pork and bone broth, but we have quite many requests from our guests who wish there is any vegan and vegetarian Tan Tan! So, we created it. We use imitation meat based on soybeans.

Spicy Veggie Tantan Ramen is so delicious! I'm not even missing the meat.

Dessert

To end our meal, we ordered a Panna cotta with mango sauce.

Panna Cotta with Mango Sauce

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We're already planning to come back to enjoy our "usual" ramen orders. Thank God it's Friday!