Paris - Gelato Treat

My dark chocolate and raspberry gelato cone

We didn't see many gelato shops in Paris, but we managed to find one place that had a queue forming outside, which is a good sign.

Another good sign was that the gelato flavours were in sunken tubs covered by metal lids to protect them from light, air and temperature changes.

The shops that have gelato piled up high reveal they use chemical stabilisers to be able to stand up, as good gelato is soft. 

So the gelato shop we found is called La Crema par Roberta Costa, near the Pantheon.

As we waited in line (and light showers started to sprinkle), we tried to find out what the flavours were and decide what to have.

Luckily the line went quickly and soon enough we found ourselves inside in front of the staff member ready to scoop gelato for us.

I settled on raspberry and dark chocolate (6 euros for two flavours), and he used a flat ladle to scoop out the gelato -- not round like most places. Then he asked if I wanted whipped cream, to which I said no, and then he put a small edible spoon on top of the cone.

This combination of dark chocolate and raspberry worked well, though I wished he had given me two scoops of the raspberry instead of chocolate, which was quite rich. My cousin got a scoop of hazelnut and it was very creamy, while mango sorbet was bright and refreshing.

By the time we came out of the gelato shop to eat our sweet treats, the rain had stopped and we savoured every bite in front of the store as a steady stream of customers continued flowing in and out.

La Crema Gelato

19 Rue Sufflot

75005 Paris 5

 

Convenient Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kremes are easier to get in Vancouver

Fans of Krispy Kreme doughnuts in Metro Vancouver were excited to see it open a second store in a convenient location -- Cambie and Broadway. 

The first location, which opened in 2004, is all the way out in Delta, about a 29km drive that would take about an hour and a half. 

For many who work and live in Vancouver, this location will be convenient for those who take the Canada Line, or bus along Broadway. 

This box needs some love handles!

Krispy Kreme has 24 locations across Canada, with nine locations in Toronto alone! Going head-to-head with Tim Horton's...

This latest Krispy Kreme location opened just before Christmas and hardcore enthusiasts of the American brand of doughnuts were willing to line up 12 hours before the shop opened at 7am on December 16.

This busy intersection also has a Jollibee across the street, making it, as one person commented on social media, "a deadly combo," with doughnuts and fried chicken steps away from each other.

Yesterday I happened to be in the neighbourhood and wandered to Krispy Kreme to check it out in the afternoon. I was surprised to see the shop is actually quite small, but it turns out the doughnuts are made in Delta and transported over twice daily.

The customer in front of me just bought one original glazed doughnut, while I was admiring all the other flavours: maple glazed, strawberry iced with sprinkles, glazed lemon filled, raspberry cheesecake, and caramel kreme crunch to name a few.

In the end I got three: the original glazed, chocolate ice custard filled, and glazed raspberry filled. They were placed in a box for half a dozen doughnuts and I carefully carried it home on the bus.

As soon as my dad saw the box he got all excited and ready to try them!

Following the recommendation on the box, I microwaved them for eight seconds, though nine or 10 seconds would have been OK too.

The original tasted the same, though if it was fresh, it would have been even better. 

I didn't have a chance to try the others because my dad ate the entire chocolate ice custard one, and late ate the raspberry doughnut too!

Krispy Kreme

519 West Broadway

Vancouver, BC

236 466 5433

First Taste of Yemeni Cuisine

Traditional fava bean stew called ful with Yemeni flatbread

There used to be Vancouver's first Yemeni restaurant in Chinatown that was strangely closed during the day. We wondered if it had any business because we never saw it open.

But then a friend did go to Saba Foods around 6pm one evening and he said it was very quiet, but two hours later the place was hopping with diners. He did rave about the food, adding one needed to bring a football team along to be able to eat the large portions of food.

The bar hasn't changed from its West days

Then in January 2024 it closed and I heard it moved to South Granville which was a surprise -- that area would have relatively high rent and would the neighbourhood welcome a restaurant like this?

Apparently so, and its loyal customers followed Saba Foods to its new location. The restaurant was started by Alwaleed Ogbah and his Chinese wife Brenda Seng, when he missed eating Yemeni food in Vancouver.

He started Saba by doing pop-ups back in 2017 and then cooked out of a commissary kitchen, and a food truck, and eventually opened the Chinatown location in 2021. 

A friend who has been there a few times took me to the latest location for lunch today, and it is where the west coast restaurant West used to be.

When I walked in, the West decor had not changed, the bar with its numerous square slots for wine bottles were there, as well as the same tables and chairs, and the felt embroidered design on the south wall.

Okra, potato and lamb stew with basmati rice

As we perused through the menu, my friend remarked the food offerings had expanded, with brunch and lunch dishes, like steak and eggs, omelettes, and chargrilled beef.

Other typical items are hummus, lamb soup, falafel, roast chicken, and kunafa for dessert, a phyllo pastry layered with cheese and soaked with a syrup.

We decided to stick to some traditional dishes, like ful, a stew of fava beans served with Yemeni flatbread, and okra and potato stew with braised lamb and basmati rice, along with some fresh lime juice.

I've had lime soda, but lime juice was a first. It arrived in a lovely shade of (lime) green, and while it was on the sweet side, it was very refreshing and had a tart finish.

The dishes arrived very quickly, but not piping hot. Both dishes were flavourful. We spooned the ful on our plates and ate it with the large, round and soft flatbread with bubbled charred marks on it. 

Meanwhile the okra had practically disintegrated into the stew with potato, with some chunks of braised lamb, accompanied with saffron rice.

Dubai chocolate with pistachio and phyllo

Owner Ogbah came by to say hi to my friend, and gave us a complimentary dessert of Dubai chocolate, a small bar made from Belgian chocolate filled with pistachio paste and delicate phyllo. It went well with small cups of Yemeni coffee that was beige in colour and had a cardamon taste.

As we were finishing lunch, Muslims began trickling into the restaurant, around 2.30pm so by the time we left an hour later it was bustling with a second round of guests. It was fascinating to see the range of diners, and that the halal food is what brought many people here.

My friend has suggested we have to come back again for the lamb haneeth or slow roasted lamb shoulder that is marinated with spices. We'll have to recruit a football team of eaters to come with us next time.

Saba Foods

2881 Granville Street

Vancouver, BC

604 358 0566

Lighting Up Chinatown with Delicious Grub

Delicious curry fish balls and XO siu mai

Today Light Up Chinatown kicked off, just as the epic rainstorm finally ended and the skies turned blue. The Chinatown event is an annual weekend initiative to get people to come visit the neighbourhood, eat some food, patronise some shops and maybe even bump into some friends.

Visitors can get a "passport" and visit specific shops to get a stamp. Get eight stamps, two in each of the four zones made them eligible to put their name into a lucky draw to win prizes like a Lululemon gift card, an Arc'teryx hoodie, and the grand prize of two tickets to see John Legend in concert.

The weather cleared up for Light Up Chinatown

I arrived shortly after the opening ceremonies began, but instead of listening to the speeches, I focused on the food offerings. Along Columbia Street were several stalls and I tried a few of them.

First off was Mama in the Kitchen with chef William Lew, who presented four dishes, and I tried three of them.

The typhoon shelter calamari was a great idea, the calamari tender and a slight crunch to it, and not too spicy. The portion is good to share -- too much for one person. The same could be said of the salted egg yolk pork belly in terms of portion, and while the pork belly was slightly caramelised, the salted egg yolk flavour wasn't pronounced, which was a pity. 

A signature dish for Mama in the Kitchen is the curry fish balls, and this was a portion that can be eaten by one person, with two pieces of siu mai topped with a small shrimp and dressed with XO sauce. It's a good combination of street food with spice.

Typhoon shelter calamari

Torafuku is celebrating its 10th anniversary and made its debut at Light Up Chinatown with its beef rendang taco. It looks like a simple dish, but the beef has been braised for a long time and infused with curry flavour that is then wrapped in a soft tortilla. It's relatively easy to eat, though the oil drips out...

Also supported Holy Duck Chili Oil that collaborated with Ember HK BBQ with a cart noodle concept. Customers can choose one, two or three toppings out of a total of six, and the kind of noodles -- Japanese instant noodles, spaghetti or vermicelli.

I chose peanut satay pork and honey char siu with Japanese instant noodles. After about five minutes my name was called out and it was a decent portion. The char siu was in chunks instead of slices which would have been better in terms of eating it with a plastic fork, while there wasn't much taste of the peanut satay pork. There were quite a lot of noodles that soaked up the sauces though.

By this point I was almost full and was curious about the ice creams by Hype Chocolate. I tried the White Rabbit milk chocolate ice cream and it was creamy and easy to eat with chunks of chocolate on top. However the white rabbit flavour was completely lost in the chocolate ice cream. Perhaps vanilla ice cream would have worked better? 

White Rabbit milk chocolate ice cream

It was good to bump into a few acquaintances and catch up briefly with them, while supporting the event. 

Picture of the Day: Signboard Directions

Is that signboard reading out minds?

When I was downtown earlier this week for lunch, this signboard caught my eye.

"You don't need an inspirational quote. You need chocolate and coffee."

Usually those quotes are fun to ponder or inspire, but this one just gets straight to the point.

Mink Chocolates focuses mostly on chocolate, but it also has coffee, hot chocolate, chocolate fondue... 

Ancient Mexican Fare Near Chinatown

Food before the Spanish arrived in Mexico

There's a lot of buzz about Mexico these days, with many people traveling to the country for holidays as an alternative to the United States, and most recently many bars on the North America Best 50 Bars list were from there, in particular Mexico City.

On Saturday afternoon a foodie friend and I were in Chinatown and as we walked to his car, he suggested we have a snack in a Mexican restaurant.

Salad with pumpkin flower, lettuce and sour cream

Where was that? 

A place called Machete -- pronounced ma-chet-teh, unlike the sharp knifed weapon, and it serves Mexican food that was made before the Spanish arrived. So the ingredients are mostly corn, blue corn, cacao, and yucca to name a few. Apparently this is the only restaurant of its kind in Vancouver.

Cecilia Aguayo is the chef and owner, and she cooks up dishes inspired by her grandmother who ate a healthy diet.

We tried the itacates, which means food for a journey, which are usually packed into triangles of tortillas. But at Machete, it was like an open-faced salad, and the one we had was called flor de calabaza, featuring pumpkin flower, white onions, garlic, and epazote, or Mexican tea which is a leafy plant.

It was a refreshing, light salad that was topped with lettuce, sour cream, cheese, guacamole and pumpkin seeds.

Chocolate drink with hint of orange and vanilla

Then we had the machete, a long quesadilla in blue corn tortillas, filled with vegetables and Oaxaca cheese. It came with a long serrated knife for us to cut it! Inside was mostly roasted peppers, mushrooms, refried beans and the melted cheese. 

By this point I was getting full; it was after 3pm and I would be eating dinner in a few hours!

However besides our snacks, the drinks were very interesting. Machete has a cacao bar with various drinks made from chocolate. This is not like hot chocolate served elsewhere where it is thick and rich, quickly spiking your sugar levels and leaving you feeling full.

Instead these drinks are light and foamy with the drink emphasising the chocolate flavour without the heaviness.

A vegetarian machete, or quesadilla

I tried the recommendation of meztli ice latte, a concoction of cacao nibs, orange, vanilla, cinnamon, almond milk and ice, while my friend had the nahualli ice latte, mixing cacao with coffee, milk, vanilla and cinnamon panela sugar.

Both drinks were served in giant hollowed out coconut shells and balanced on a small ring. We had to hold the cups with both hands and sip from the coconut shell. 

What an interesting experience!

Machete

1007 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

778 302 4795

Halloween 2024 Report

An elaborate Halloween display

This year Halloween was... wet.

We started around 5.30pm and soon after it started sprinkling and that soon turned into rain.

Even though the kids complained about the precipitation, they were still very keen about getting candy. Lots of it.

Free hugs? Yikes!

One house handed out cans of soda, another a full-size box of Smarties. Most handed out chocolates by hand, one or two with a chute, and some just left a box on the front porch with a sign instructing children to take one each. The kids' bags got heavy quite fast, but they were reluctant to relinquish their bags of candy to their parents.

Some of the houses had fantastic decorations, lots of web-like cotton spread over shrubs, graves half opened with feet or hands sticking out, lots of skeletons hanging about. There was even one made of plastic milk jugs. So clever!

One had a pumpkin carved with a gerbil or hamster, while another had three intricately-carved gourds, one with a Celtic weave, an owl and a heart. "They did a lot of work," my nephew remarked about their pumpkins.

The other nephew is terrified of scary noises and refused to go to the houses that had eerie sounds coming out of them. But he would happily go to the other ones "that aren't scary". 

At one point we found shelter at a church that had police managing traffic at the intersection. We got some piping hot chocolate, and the kids got more candy and played with friends. There were other refreshments like hot dogs, mandarin oranges, tea, coffee, apples and popcorn.

Intricately carved owl pumpkin

While the kids played, some parents sat on folding chairs staring at their phones, while others chit chatted amongst themselves. It was a nice respite from the rain before we headed out again.

Amazingly the kids lasted for just over two hours and still keen on collecting more candy when we almost got home. One house had two skeletons dressed up looking out the window...

Picture of the Day: Pumpkin Spice Latte Coffee Crisp

Just in time for autumn, Coffee Crisp with pumpkin spice latte

The other day I was in the supermarket and spotted Coffee Crisp -- in a pumpkin spice latte flavour!

So I had to get it to try.

It turns out I am late to the game as it was released a year ago. But no time like the present, right?

The original Coffee Crisp is a Canadian chocolate bar, with several layers of vanilla wafers covered in coffee-flavoured soft candy and then coated in milk chocolate. It's very crispy and has a hint of coffee flavour.

With this pumpkin spice one, the taste of the chocolate bar has a latte flavour, a milkier version of the original Coffee Crisp, but the pumpkin and spice flavour were not particularly overt.

Maybe it's better to have Coffee Crisp with a cup of pumpkin spice latte?

Review: La Marcha

Seafood paella was the highlight of the dinner at La Marcha

On our last night in San Francisco we had dinner in a hopping Spanish restaurant in Berkeley called La Marcha. It was easy to get a reservation online, but we when we arrived, we were surprised to see the place was packed with diners. It even felt warm inside so we waited outside for our table to be cleared.

Less than 10 minutes later we were seated in the cosy restaurant with high ceilings and exposed brick walls, an impressive-looking bar with two legs of jamon or ham hanging in the corner, while servers were pretty attentive in the dining room, that was busy for the first hour and then slowly diners had their fill and disappeared.

Cauliflower (left) and mushroom croquettes

The menu is quite extensive, with a lot of tapas to choose from, followed by salads, jamon, and some paella. Even though we had four people, we were conservative with the number of dishes we ordered and it was just about right: four tapas and a paella.

Soon after we ordered the tapas began to arrive. First the mushroom and manchego croquettes (US$11) that reminded us of Chinese deep-fried taro puffs at dim sum but better, thanks to the umami of the cheese and mushrooms, finely blended.

We also had the blistered cauliflower with mornay sauce and bits of bacon lardons (US$13) that had a subtle spicy kick. The cauliflower was slightly undercooked, and seasoned with the salty bacon bits. 

Next came grilled octopus with fennel, pollen, sunchoke puree, and garbanzos (US$20). The meaty octopus was tender with a slight char and hint of smokiness. This dish was cleared quite quickly.

White bean stew, pork belly, chorizo, creme fraiche

Our last tapas was white bean stew with morcilla, chorizo, pork belly, and chermoula creme fraiche (US$15), a hearty comfort dish with chunks of meat that would have been better if they were diced to make it easier to share. There was even a slice of black pudding in the bowl.

Next came our paella marinera (US$56), a photogenic colourful dish that was carefully styled by the kitchen. On top of the thick layer of rice were mussels, prawns, and clams, as well as peas and diced peppers along with a sprig of rosemary and half a charred lemon.

We quickly pronounced the paella better than the one we had in Barcelona's Las Ramblas, the touristy food market. The rice here was not dry, though the bottom was a bit burned. Nevertheless the seafood cooked just right and we enjoyed every bite -- even cleaning up the pan.

Although we were full, we wanted to squeeze in dessert. The blackberry cabernet sauvignon sorbet (US$9) looked intriguing and we wanted to try the olive oil citrus cake (US$14) but it was sold out. The waiter suggested the chocolate cake (US$12) so we did. 

Chocolate cake, blackberry sorbet

The wine-coloured sorbet really did have a hint of wine in it, and two large scoops were refreshing. Meanwhile the flourless chocolate cake was so intense in flavour, I kept saying, "Wow" after each bite. The chocolate cake was very smooth in flavour, speckled with cocoa nibs for a bit of crunch, and was paired with a scoop of chocolate mousse! The latter could have been a dessert of its own. 

As we were eating we discovered a crumped US$5 bill under our table and we used that towards paying our bill. A delicious dinner and the bonus of $5 made it a double treat.

La Marcha

2026 San Pablo Avenue

Berkeley, CA

(510) 288 9997

Sweet New Year Chocolates

Dark chocolate orange with fortune cookie bits

Lunar New Year is around the corner and social media has sucked me into buying some chocolate, though for a good cause.

It's a collaboration between local chocolatier Hype Chocolate and Foo Hung Curios, the gift shop in the Chinatown Storytelling Centre in Vancouver.

Interesting flavours with a Chinese twist

There are three flavours out: Milk chocolate with freeze-dried White Rabbit candy; Dark chocolate orange with fortune cookies; and White chocolate with Gold Mountain tea infused.

I bought the first two flavours at C$18 each and they are creative.

The milk chocolate complements the creaminess of the White Rabbit candy. It doesn't get stuck in your teeth either which is a good thing.

But we are loving the dark chocolate with a hint of orange and then the hard crunchiness of the fortune cookie bits. 

The latter even comes with two fortune slips, probably signifying that they used two fortune cookies per bar and didn't want to throw the pieces of paper in the garbage, but packaging-wise it's a bit weird.

My fortunes say: "Be yourself and you will always be in fashion", with the lucky numbers 2, 20, 32, 36, 37 and 44.

The other says: "You are thorough and very organised", and lucky numbers 19, 24, 26, 33, 40 and 41.

Nevertheless the chocolates are fun and different, and the bonus is that part of the proceeds goes to the Chinatown Storytelling Centre.

Milk chocolate, White Rabbit candy

The centre is the brainchild of Carol Lee, who has done a lot to promote the Chinatown neighbourhood by setting up businesses and landmarks, while networking with politicians to bring more attention to the area. She was awarded the Order of Canada in December. 

Chinese New Year Gift Ideas

Impressive artistic work, but not appealing to buy

Many western companies are getting into the Lunar New Year spirit to cash in on Asian customers.

At Costco, Sunkist has boxed its oranges in a fancy burgundy-coloured box complete with a golden dragon on it, and it even has 龍年 2024 Year of the Dragon on it.

We needed to buy oranges, but cute packaging

The tagline says: "Citrus for Prosperity".

Today I went to Thomas Haas, a local chocolatier's shop. Among the special items this month along with chocolate hearts is a red dragon in white chocolate, gold chocolate coins and "bamboo". I didn't buy it, but a Caucasian woman did!