Beaucoup Bakery & Cafe

I’ve heard a lot about Beaucoup Bakery & Cafe, especially in magazines.  However it wasn’t until recently when GRock’s friend started working there as a baker that I’ve succumbed to lots more praises and recommendations from GRock. The final nail in the coffin was when GRock showed me a picture of this magical looking poached plum tart that they had for the Fall season.  I had to have it, so finally I made a date with Miz Brown Sugar, C-Dizzle, and Erin to visit the bakery for a sugar coma fest.

There are a ton of baked goods to choose from obviously, but they have a pretty extensive cafe menu too.  We were instructed by GRock to arrive no later than 10:45am on a Friday for the best selection.

And it was a wise decision, as we saw that the store was constantly busy.  We were lucky though that their signature item the Almond Croissant was still plentiful even by the time we left, as were a lot of their other goodies.

Miz Brown Sugar is vegan so all she had was a latte (every baked good has eggs in it).  She was very excited about the latte art.

Since we arrived so early, I hadn’t had a chance to eat breakfast yet.  Neither had C-Dizzle and she quickly hopped to it and ordered a Brioche with Duck Prosciutto, Rillette Mayo, Red Oak Lettuce, Candied Walnuts & Apple ($9.5, not pictured).  I was originally just here for the sweets, but once she unwrapped her sandwich, I knew I had to get one too.  So I picked the Cheese Scone with Porchetta & Smoked Cheddar ($9.5, pictured above).

Random Eats – Kyoto

Honestly, while in Japan, I never went into a meal or ate anything because I was hungry.  It was more because I HAD to eat it because I’m IN FREAKIN’ JAPAN.  It may be a while before I come back so I needed to eat everything I wanted to eat.

Which will explain the insane amount of food pictures I took.  It would be too much of a hassle to do separate posts on each thing so I’ve decided that, for some of them, they’ll be by day.

Before we headed off to Kyoto, we found a little cafe just across from our Shin-Osaka hotel.  After taking a look at their menu outside, we decided to have breakfast here.

Again I must reiterate- Japanese coffee is damn good.

Anyways for my breakfast I chose the Egg & Cheese toast.  It came with a salad of sorts.

Japanese bread is notorious for being soft, fluffy, chewy, and this was no different.  It was thickly sliced and topped with chunky scrambled eggs, ketchup, and cheese.  It was simple and so good.  I’ll probably try to make this at home.

Eating aboard JAL

Hmm I do wonder how many people actually are interested in airplane food.  Well I’m sure there’s some of you out there…

I’ve always had the impression that JAL has pretty good airplane food.  And I was half right.  I thoroughly enjoyed the meal during the flight to Japan.  It could be due to the fact I was majorly hungry.  Nonetheless I had a very very good impression of it.

Although as you can see it’s still light out, for us on the flight biologically it was dinner time.  We had a choice between the Sand-borer tempura with rice or some chicken thing.  I picked the tempura.

It also came with a potato salad (I think the Japanese really really like potato salad…it’s basically everywhere) and zaru-soba.  They also serve hot green tea if you want.

But what I had really really been waiting for, for probably 9 years (I’m so not kidding you), was that drink you see in the back.  It’s a JAL exclusive called “Sky Time”

It is basically a yuzu (citron) flavored, non-carbonated drink.  Very very Japanese.  We got a bottle of white wine to go with it to make it into a “Sky Royal”, which is really what they call it.  By the way, this was the beginning of my total-yuzu-ing-it-out Japanese experience.

They were also awesome to include an English Bay cookie.

Battle of the Iced Coffees

Man oh man it’s been hot last week huh (guess that’s an understatement).  Nothing beats the heat better than an ice-cold coffee drink.

Now I’ve never been a coffee drinker, but after trying that the Burger King Mocha Joe a few weeks ago, I’ve been addicted to it.

So McDonalds now have the same type of thing.  Theirs come in a small or a large, and in 4 different flavors.

Halong Bay Vietnamese Restaurant – CLOSED

Update Jun 10, 2009: This restaurant has since closed down

I’ve had this stashed in my pictures folder for the longest time.  I’ve just never came around to blogging them (as you might be able to tell from the last picture, the business card was taken with a Christmas Card backdrop!!!)

This is a nice little Vietnamese restaurant nestled in a mall on Westminster Hwy.  It’s really hidden from view from the road so I think that’s why they don’t get a lot of attention.  That’s too bad, ‘cuz they’re really not bad at all.

They’re a nice little clean restaurant.  Ambiance is good, probably due to the green decor.  The store was very fragrant when we stepped in.  Service was friendly and fast.

Vietnamese iced coffee is served with a bowl of ice.  I don’t drink coffee, but Boyfriend loves it.  He said it was good but not especially different from other similar restaurants.

I had ordered the House Special Pho once again as always.  As you can see, the soup seems a bit more oily than some other ones I’ve been to.  However, upon sipping it it wasn’t especially greasy.  The portion of noodles seemed a little on the small side though, but the other ingredients made up for that.