Ilocos Norte Empanada and Longganisa in Vancouver

Food and writing have become my escape and a happy place. I decided to join a Facebook Group "Filipino Food Vancouver" to discover more vendors of Filipino cuisine and support kababayan here in Metro Vancouver.

If you check my last few posts, it's mostly Filipino cuisine in Vancouver. It's like an obsession to support fellow Filipino during a pandemic.

For this week, I discovered that a Facebook Page is selling Ilocos Norte Empanada and Longganisa in Vancouver. After a week of figuring out the schedule and logistics, here we are enjoying our Empanada.

Ilocos Norte Empanada

Inside Ilocos Norte Empanada are shredded green papaya, munggo beans, egg, and the key ingredient is their homemade Ilocos Longganisa.

I have been craving this for a really long time. The timing is also perfect. My friend who planned our trip to Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur recently passed away. I'll always remember her when eating this dish.

It arrived still hot. The exterior is crispy and crunchy, as expected it's oily as well, but that's when the spicy vinegar sauce comes in. Be sure to put some of the sauce inside your Empanada, and the flavours are 10x better. You'll just keep on eating until you realize it's gone. We ate two in one seating. Crazy!

Ilocos Longganisa

We also ordered two dozen longganisa for breakfast this week. I can't wait to cook them.

Pastry Puff Empanaditas

Aside from Ilocos Norte Empanada and Longganisa, I ordered one dozen of their Pastry Puff Empanaditas filled with shredded chicken, raisins, potatoes, green peas, and carrots.

A dozen of Pastry Puff Empanaditas

It's delicious as well. We just put a couple in the microwave, and it tasted better hot.

Kain tayo!

August 16 Update: I cooked the Ilocos Norte Longganisa for breakfast this morning, It was garlicky, fatty, and delicious. I served it with sunnyside up egg and brown rice.

Ilocos Norte Longganisa for breakfast in Metro Vancouver

Lunch delivery from Klasik Inasal & Noodle Express

 For snacks, we ordered from SM Delights, and for Saturday lunch, we ordered too much from Klasik Inasal & Noodle Express.

Klasik Inasal & Noodle Express

We ordered a feast from Klasik Inasal & Noodle Express.

Filipino Food from Klasik Inasal & Noodle Express

Grilled Chicken Inasal

The smell is so intoxicating. Amoy palang ulam na. The chicken was juicy and hot when it arrived. It was excellent.

Klasik Inasal
Filipino style grilled chicken

Deep-Fried Shanghai

It's crunchy and juicy. I love it. Though, the one from Little Ongpin is better.

Deep-Fried Shanghai
Seasoned ground pork with carrots

Pancit Palabok

We're most excited about the Palabok since we haven't had it in such a long time. The sauce to meat to noodle ratio is perfect, plus it comes with Calamansi, which we haven't used in a year.

Pancit Palabok
Rice noodle with special sauce topped with boiled egg, smoked fish, shrimps, pork rind, roasted garlic and crispy onions

Pork BBQ Skewer

This is my favourite food from Klasik Inasal. I can honestly say this is the most delicious and Filipino-style BBQ I've had since moving here in Canada, and my sisters and I have been in a quest to find the best ones in a long time. The meat was tender, and there's a good ratio between lean meat and fat.

4 pieces of Pork BBQ is not enough

Eggplant Omelette (Tortang Talong)

I have been craving Tortang Talong for two weeks now, and its availability is the main reason we ordered. I wish I ordered more than 1 to satisfy my craving.

Eggplant Omelette

Thank you!

Dear Klasik Inasal & Noodle Express, thank you so much for staying open, being available in SkipTheDishes and serving us with delicious Filipino dishes at short notice. Stay safe!

Kutsinta, Spanish Bread, etc. from SM Delights

I discovered another Filipino entrepreneur in Facebook ads which is exciting.

Facebook ad of SM Delights

SM Delights

SM Delights serves three items as of this post: Kutsinta (Filipino steamed rice cake), Spanish bread (soft bread with sweet, buttery paste), and Ensaymada (Filipino soft, sweet dough pastry covered with butter and sugar then topped with lots of grated cheese).

I ordered last Wednesday for delivery today (Saturday) and it arrived warm and fresh. We can't wait to dig in.

Kutsinta in Metro Vancouver

I love the caramel dip and of course, kutsinta won't be complete with grated coconut.

Kutsinta with Grated Coconut and Yema Dip

Ensaymada

I'm not a fan of Ensaymada, in general, but I gave it a try and it's like pillow-soft. It's sweet, soft, and delicious.

Ensaymada

Cheesy, Sweet Ensaymada

Enjoying this Ensaymada

Spanish Bread

I'll buy more of this again in the future! My siblings will love Spanish Bread. It arrived warm and freshly baked just like when I was a kid buying it directly from the bakery in the afternoon after school. Nostalgic.

Warm Spanish Bread

Spanish Bread

Order from SM Delights

Be sure to send SM Delights a message on Facebook to place an order.

Lunch at Lin Chinese Cuisine

My parents dropped off groceries from Costco at our place and we decided to have lunch at Lin's Chinese Cuisine.

Xiao Long Bao (Shanghai juicy pork dumplings)

Tan Tan noodle soup with minced meat

Beef with green bean in black bean sauce

Shanghai-style Chow Mein

Yay for Chinese food. Best Xiao Long Bao in Vancouver!

Picnic lunch delivery from White Spot

My parents, siblings, hubby, and I went to Queen Elizabeth Park today for a picnic. For lunch, we decided to order from White Spot through Skip The Dishes.

Chicken Ceasar Wrap
Herb-marinated BC chicken wrapped in a salsa tortilla with crisp romaine, bacon, and Parmesan, tossed in White Spot's signature Caesar dressing.

Chicken Ceasar Wrap
Herb-marinated BC chicken wrapped in a salsa tortilla with crisp romaine, bacon, and Parmesan tossed in White Spot's signature Caesar dressing.

Poutine
White Spot's signature Kennebec fries topped with gravy and cheese curds.

The Spot's Fish (2 pcs)
A White Spot tradition. Two pieces of crispy tempura Ocean Wise cod served with your choice of side.

I hope we could do this again before rain comes back in the city. :)

Dinner at Suika

After Mass, we decided to have dinner at our favourite restaurant in all of Vancouver, Suika. As you know, I'm getting my usual Katsu Curry, while hubby is willing to try new items from the menu.

Wagyu Beef Tataki Capraccio
(Perfectly seared Wagyu beef with Yuzu Kochujan dressing)

The Wagyu Beef is tender and melts in your mouth. I kinda wish there's more of it.

Kanimiso (Crab Butter) Fries
French fries with homemade Kanimiso (crab butter) dipping sauce

French fries are amazing. It's such a great appetizer while planning the future with hubby.

Signature Beef Curry (Suika's original stewed beef tendon curry) topped with Tonkatsu (pork loin cutlet)

The curry is not on the menu, but I asked if it's available, and they made it for me. I'm so happy!

Velvety Almond Tofu
Super smooth almond tofu with fruit sauce

The first bite was sour, but after that, it became smooth and sweet.

Breakfast at Eggspectation

We had a business meeting today at Eggspectation.

Drinks

Any good breakfast/brunch meal starts with a cup coffee, but for non-coffee drinkers like me, I tried their Green Light, while hubby had the hot chocolate.

Green Light
Spinach, apple, fresh ginger and mint. Go ahead, its green and you are sure to run with this!

Hot Chocolate

Breakfast

For food, I ordered a benny while hubby had an omelette.

Smoked Salmon Benny
Two perfectly poached eggs on multigrain toast, with smoked wild sockeye salmon and Philadelphia™ cream cheese, topped with our famous hollandaise sauce, and a sprinkle of red onions and capers. Served with our Lyonnaise-style potatoes

Eggspectation Omelette
Where it all began! Three free run eggs mixed with mushrooms, onions, green and red peppers, bacon, sausage, smoked ham, cheddar cheese and our Lyonnaise-style potatoes.

The benny is not perfectly poached, which is unfortunate from a place that specializes in breakfast.

Lunch Delivery from Bon's Off Broadway

Happy Friday! For lunch today, hubby and I decided to order food instead of cooking. I have been craving pasta and searched SkipTheDishes for pasta and the only small restaurant that delivers in our place is Bons Off Broadway.

Order from Bon's Off Broadway

We ordered three things for lunch today and there's way too much food for two people. I'll be honest, I wasn't satisfied with what we ordered which is unfortunate.

Chicken Alfredo Mushroom Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This is the best among the three items we ordered.

Chicken Alfredo Mushroom Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Bon's Jumbo Burger Plate

The burger got soggy. This is a reminder not to order burgers for delivery. The fries were good, though so it's something.

Bon's Jumbo Burger Plate

Sad buns

Deluxe Nachos

This is the saddest of the three. The nachos arrived stale which is unfortunate.

Nachos

Tim Hortons' Caramel Iced Capp and Starbucks' Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino®

It's Pokemon Go Fest 2020 weekend which means we're going to spend some hours out in our local park to enjoy the sun, catch Pokemon, and spin Pokestops.

Starbucks' Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappucino

Last Saturday (day 1 of Go Fest), we decided to grab a venti Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino® from Starbucks after staying in a nearby park for a couple hours.

Starbucks Counter

Inside Starbucks

Starbucks Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino®

Tim Hortons' Caramel Iced Capp

Today (day 2 of Go Fest), we decided to grab a large Caramel Iced Capp from Tim Hortons and potato wedges. We enjoyed it in a nearby local park.

Tim Hortons Counter

Inside Starbucks

Caramel Iced Capp

Comparison

I like the one from Starbucks more and only because of the crunchy thing they put on top. You cannot go wrong with either drink because they're both essentially caramel shake.

Actually, Tim Hortons has a seasonal Salted Caramel Iced Capp which I last saw two years ago. They don't serve it during summer anymore.

Guest Post: Pokey Okey

My brother wrote this post about his lunch for today. More importantly, I am impressed that he takes better pictures than me! LOL. I love the contrast between the black and white placemat and the colourful poke bowl.

I have been craving poke for a while now and decided to order delivery for one today.

What's in a Poke Bowl?

I ordered from Pokey Okey and got The Red Bowl (spicy tuna, spicy salmon, flying fish roe, seaweed salad, kimchi, carrots, radish, purple cabbage, bacon bits, seaweed flakes and spicy sesame sauce). You also have an option of three bases, brown rice, spring mix and white rice and decided to get all three. I also added ahi tuna and avocado to the order. 

The Red Bowl from Pokey Okey

Pokey Okey Review

As you can tell, there are lots of ingredients in this meal so it's a little hard to describe the taste of all of them. The avocado was a great addition as it helped balance out the spice from everything else. I made a mistake by picking all three bases as the spring mix definitely felt out of place with the rice. The fish was tasty and just as I expected so I was glad. Overall, it was a positive experience and I can see myself ordering from them again.

Lunch from Cooking Ng Ina (putaheng Pinoy) | Best Kare-Kare in Metro Vancouver

Update: The wonderful people behind Cooking Ng Ina has opened a restaurant in Surrey, BC! Check out EATS 23 Bistro.

I wrote yesterday that I have a Facebook Ad discovery, and today the food arrived for us to enjoy for lunch.

The food is as advertised enough to feed four people! Because it's just hubby and me, we have leftover to enjoy tomorrow.

Food from Cooking Ng Ina (Putaheng Pinoy)

They offer Filipino dishes for everyone to enjoy. We ordered Kare-Kare, Siomai, and Sisig.

Filipino Feast from Cooking Ng Ina (Putaheng Pinoy)

Kare-Kare

It's the best Kare-Kare in Metro Vancouver that I've tried so far. I'm comparing this with the ones from Max's Restaurant along Kingsway and Little Ongpin in Richmond.

The Kare-Kare from Max's is too runny (too much broth and not enough peanut butter), while the one from Little Ongpin is the opposite. It's too thick.

Kare-Kare

This one is just the right consistency and has excellent flavour. Cooking Ng Ina served it with spicy shrimp paste (bagoong). Yummy! This is the reason why I cooked extra brown rice this morning to smother it with delicious Kare-Kare sauce.

Sisig

In Metro Vancouver, this is the second time I have tried sisig. The first time is from Pin-Pin. They're both alright. We haven't discovered a sisig that would make us want to order it again. The flavour is excellent, but it's not crunchy the way we like it.

Sisig

Siomai

This one brings me back to my childhood of going home from school and buying Siomai from the street vendors. It's so delicious! They even provide you with soy sauce and chilli oil to dip it in. Amazing.

20 pieces Siomai

Will I order from Cooking Ng Ina (Putaheng Pinoy) again?

Absolutely! I'm already thinking of when I can order it for my mom. Kare-Kare is one of her favourite dishes.

Be sure to send Cooking Ng Ina (Putaheng Pinoy) a message on Facebook to place your order.

Guest Post: JJ's Trucketeria

My only brother wrote this post about his experience eating food from JJ's Trucketeria.

Hello, it is me again, the brother. Last time I posted here, I shared my experience at the Breakfast Table with my friend. On the same day (after the Breakfast Table), we went for Linner/Dunch (a combination of Lunch and Dinner, hehe) at the JJ's Trucketeria food truck at Terminal Avenue in front of Columbia College.

You get an option of which meat will go with your order, the choices are between Filipino BBQ Pork, Lemongrass Chicken and Korean Chicken. I decided to go with JJ's Rice Packers with Filipino BBQ Pork.

JJ's Rice Packers with Filipino BBQ Pork

My friend got a Big Plate with the Lemongrass Chicken, he originally wanted a Filipino BBQ Pork as well but to try two meat, he decided to go with a different option.

The Big Plate with the Lemongrass Chicken

We both tried each other's orders, and both chicken and pork were tasty and creamy, and the garlic rice balances the entire meal well.