There is a dedicated area for eating – figures this would be my first stop. There are many different restaurants here including Dunn’s Famous, Tacofino, Siddhartha’s Kitchen and so on. You’ll have to purchase tickets to trade for items here and throughout the festival. For 20 tickets is $10 – most restaurant offerings go from 4-6 tickets.

There are also a lot of brands set up here that you would probably overlook when grocery shopping.

Today I got to try Boccalino salad dressing, I enjoyed the Basil Garlic flavour very much.

We also tried the Good Drink teas – the mango tea was very refreshing.

Right next to them was Cabana Lemonade, natural and tasty. We tried the tropical mango lemonade.

Boylan is just around the corner and I’m already a big fan of their Black Cherry drinks – today I tried the Root Beer and Cane Soda. I enjoyed both and I’ll be happy to see them served in more places throughout Vancouver.

We tried the Extreme Bean which were beans with different flavours. I’m not entirely sure which one it was exactly, but the beans were nice and spicy.

Another favourite of mine is Rancity Soups. I had my first experience with the Butternut Squash one at the Social Media Awards and today I tried the Tomato Pesto Soup. If you haven’t tried their soups, you just have to – they’re just so delicious.

Almond Fresh was also present. This is by far my favourite almond milk. I’ve only had the plain and chocolate one before but today I tried the vanilla and coconut – both of which were delicious. They aren’t too sweet which is what really sells me about Almond Fresh.

Finally, we came across this booth that was selling old school candies and this awesomely dressed sampler. Very cool.

EAT! Vancouver is open until 9pm today and open again tomorrow from 10am to 5pm. You can buy tickets right on their site which is cheaper than at the door ($2 off)! I’m looking forward in checking out some shows tomorrow again!
 Please note that I was invited to the EAT! Vancouver show.

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Please note I was invited by the resort to stay overnight and try the menu, everything was comped unless otherwise noted.

I have to say that I’ve never really truly explored BC as much as I should. I’m always looking to go outside of Canada on big trips but truth be told, we have some great getaways here that not many people know about. I think that Painted Boat is one of them. To get to Painted Boat, you have to take a ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale. When you pay the ferry toll at Horseshoe Bay, it also counts as your return fare when you leave from Langdale.

You go through places like Gibsons, Half Moon Bay and Seschelt (pronounced Sea-shelt).

The driving from landing at Langdale is about an hour and the ferry takes 30-40 minutes. So it’s not a terribly long distance to drive.

Photo Credit: Painted Boat Resort

Painted Boat is a small, luxury resort that is sheltered by a very calm, small harbour. There are just 31 waterfront vacation villas, so its nice and quiet. All the suites face the water, so you never have a bad view. Our villa was on the bottom floor and was quite big for 2 people. This would be perfect for a family of 3-4. Everything is clean, new and comfortable. The colour scheme of the villas is a nice warm, homely mix.

There is plenty to do at the resort and plenty not to do if you’re like me and want to just relax.

There is a nice spa on location, a heated infinity pool, hot tub, gym. You can also rent kayaks and paddle boards. There is also tonnes of hiking and biking trails nearby.

When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to see food waiting for us in the fridge! This lovely plate of snacks was a great treat after a long drive up. Two of everything, there were danishes, cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, raspberries, truffles and strudels. All of them were very delicious!

Our villa had two rooms, a master bedroom and a smaller room. Seriously, this place could be a million dollar house in Vancouver. There was a soaker tub, two patios – a small one in the master bedroom and a larger one near the living room complete with an outdoor area to eat and a BBQ grill.

The entire place is completely stocked with kitchen equipment and bbq utensils – also two TVs with cable, a DVD player and an iPhone/iPod dock for music. There are some basic necessities like tea, coffee, etc. Also there are some lotions, soaps and toiletries if you forget to bring anything.

They delivered a Breakfast Basket for the following morning, but more on that after the review!

The Restaurant at Painted Boat
Woo, you made it to the restaurant review! Or perhaps you just scrolled down to the bold title, that’s fine too!

The Restaurant at Painted Boat is situated right near the docks for a great view onto the harbour. Head Chef Marcus Bugoy who grew up locally in Smithers, BC has experience that spans across Canada from the famous Canoe in Toronto, Niagara and Banff.

Chef Bugoy is committed to using locally grown and sustainable ingredients to create his dishes and works closely with local purveyors to source ingredients. The menu is Oceanwise as well, so big points on that.

We started off with an Amuse Bouche from the Chef. A Truffled egg custard with fresh spot prawn. I’ve been craving spot prawns ever since they came into season, so this was a nice refreshing treat. The custard is light and balances well with the fresh spot prawn.

The Restaurant is celebrating 5 years so there were a couple menu items for $5. We went with the Tuna Tartar, Forked Greens and two of their cocktails – the Harbour Spritzer and the Slow Cat Cocktail.

Our drinks arrived first [Editor's Note: Our meal was comped but we did pay for our drinks]. I had the Harbour Spritzer which is Rose wine with soda. They are very generous with the amount of drink given here – I was quite surprised that my Spritzer came in such a large wine glass. It was nice and refreshing with very little of the alcohol taste which could prove dangerous after your first couple!

Brian ordered the Slow Cat Cocktail which consisted of sweet Vermouth, Gin, orange juice and soda. He seemed to enjoy his cocktail.

Next up, we were served warm bread and butter in anticipation for our meal. The bread here is great, not sure if it’s made on premises but quite nice.

Our Forked Greens ($5) came up first – great presentation. Three forks with beets, pear, and some greens in a vanilla vinaigrette. This lovely, lightly sweet appetizer was refreshing and certainly helped whet our appetite for our main meal.

Our Tuna Tartar ($5) followed shortly after. The tuna is served with a cucumber vinaigrette on fried wonton chips. Beautifully presented, this dish was good. The wonton chips were a little soggy on the bottom under the generous serving of tuna atop them.

We ordered one extra appetizer to share – the Crab & Avocado Roulade ($16). This dish was plated beautifully. I asked the server what the two sauces were and she mentioned that they were lemon mustard vinaigrette and arugula puree. The crab and avocado together was a great mix – the crab is slightly sweet and the avocado gives it a more buttery taste to it. On either side, this dish has some greens that are slightly salty so you get the full spectrum of taste in one dish.

Finally our mains. Brian ordered the Butter Poached Lobster ($34). It is served with Fava Beans, Lobster Tortellini and warm Tarragon Vinaigrette. I’m not usually a big fan of lobster but this is probably the best place I’ve had lobster. I find most places tend to overcook lobster and it becomes rubbery, but it was great here. The lobster was tender enough that you could cut it with a fork with no problem. The lobster ravioli is just as delightful – the pasta cooked perfectly al dente and a generous portion of tasty lobster within.

My dish was the Haida Gwaii Halibut served with Ricotta Gnocchi, Arugula Puree and Pickled Beet Emulsion ($32). Another beautifully plated dish with lots of red and green. Brian and I both loved the Ricotta Gnocchi, it was slightly seared and were just the right size and amount. The halibut sat atop some spinach and the dish is dressed with some asparagus as well. The Halibut flakes into meaty sections easily with a fork and is seared and slightly crispy on the top. This is a fairly generous portion of halibut.

We rounded off the evening with desserts. Brian stuck with the house made ice cream and I chose the Chocolate Ganache (of course!).

The House Made Ice Cream dessert featured three different flavours: strawberry, cinnamon chocolate and lemon. The dessert chef likes to switch it up and make different flavours every couple of days. I really enjoyed the strawberry ice cream, the lemon was nice and refreshing and the chocolate with a hint of cinnamon was great.

My Chocolate Ganache dessert was a beautiful array of chocolate decadence. None of the pieces featured were overtly sweet but had a great chocolatey taste to them.

Our meal overall was solid and our server and everyone at the restaurant was very friendly. The restaurant itself is nice and homely with its warm wood panels and a great view of the harbour. There is a patio area where you can enjoy some dining al fresco!

Breakfast Basket
The next morning, we opened up our breakfast basket.

There were some real healthy treats inside. We had some apple juice, muesli, yogurt, jam, fresh cream cheese and milk in mason jars. So cute! We also had some bagels, croissants, smoked salmon and fresh raspberries as well.

We also helped ourselves to some tea and coffee  - which is a nice touch to our breakfast. Our breakfast was so filling we couldn’t finish it all but we were very thankful that there was left over rather than being hungry!

I really loved the fact they included cream cheese, smoked salmon and a bagel – I want to say its a West Coast type of thing that makes our breakfast different.

Checkout was at 11, so we made our way out a little before then to catch the 12:30 ferry. I love the fact that even just an overnight retreat like this one can recharge you before you have to head back to work!

I’d definitely recommend Painted Boat – especially if you want to experience the great outdoors and get away from city life for a bit! There is a great BBQ on every villa’s patio and a full working kitchen so you can definitely bring your own food and just kick back and relax.

I’d like to thank Nancy for her hospitality when we arrived, she was so helpful also when I was checking out and suggested certain places we could go visit if we didn’t make our ferry.

For more information including their restaurant hours and menu, check out their website here.

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In any case, we ordered a couple favourites and a couple new things to try.

Beef Luc Lac. I didn’t get to try this originally, but I’m glad I ordered it this time around. It was a little too much for me to finish on my own but the beef is tender and flavourful. A little salty and a little sweet, dishes like these remind me of Filipino breakfast food which consists of rice, eggs and some sort of meat. This dish was great.

We also ordered the Deep Fried Garlic Squid. Similar to what you can get pretty much anywhere, this dish was less greasy and is served with the great lemon pepper sauce that the wings are served with as well. I think the sauce really makes this dish. It was nice and crispy batter yet chewy (but not overly so) in the middle.

Brian ordered the BBQ Lemongrass chicken. He really enjoyed his dish, the portion is quite large too on this one.

We also ordered the infamous Marinated Butter Beef. Butter beef is seared with butter and served with cilantro, fried garlic and their ‘secret’ sauce. My dad makes something like this as a side for meat dishes at home (cilantro and sauce) and the way he makes it is with Fish sauce, tomatoes and onions. It sort of tastes this way to me here, so I’m thinking the sauce is also made with Fish sauce and I think a little bit of lemon or lime juice. Anyway, whatever it is is great.

Brian’s friends ordered the Deep Fried Frog Legs too. I haven’t had frog legs in a long, long time so it was interesting to have it again. It was deep fried so the flavour was literally from the batter and the lemon pepper sauce that was served with it. However, the frog legs meat had no distinct taste to it but cut like chicken legs would. Not bad if you’re feeling a little adventurous.

Finally, no trip to Phnom Penh is complete without their famous chicken wings. While the wings itself can sometimes a little dry depending on the situation, today it wasn’t so bad. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. I think what really makes this dish though again, is the lemon pepper sauce. The chicken wings are great but they seem to have a huge hype that sets people up to believe they’ll start spewing rainbows and unicorns once they have a taste of it. I’m not knocking it, I think the wings here are great and let’s just leave it at that.

Did you know Phnom Penh takes reservations for 6 or more people? You should make resos for this place as the wait can be an upwards of 1 hour or more!

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We were seated finally and we already decided what to get. We started off with a couple of drinks, I don’t recall what Adrian had ordered, but I ordered the Black Cherry cane soda and Liane ordered the Wolverine ($9). The Wolverine consisted of Peppermint Kahlua, Baileys, Belgian chocolate, espresso and steamed milk. She seemed to enjoy her drink, but Adrian didn’t really enjoy his drink.

Our food came after a bit of a wait. Adrian went with the Catch 122 ($13) – poached eggs on a croissant, served with house-cured salmon gravlax, gorgonzola, arugula and with Yukon nugget potato hash.

Liane ordered the Braised Short Ribs Eggs Benedict ($13) – braised short ribs, poached eggs, potato rosemary on French sourdough with hollandaise sauce and Yukon nugget potato hash.

I decided to order the same sandwich I adored the first time I came here which was the Avocado Veggie Panini ($11). I took a bite into it and noticed that there was no avocado in the panini (these photos were the ones without the avocado)!

At first I did a double take and thought maybe there was no avocado on the menu, so I double checked and yep – it was the main part of this panini! Anyway, we flagged our waiter down and I explained to him that my panini had no avocado and he frowned and said, oh. I told him that if they could just slice up some avocado, I’d be happy with that and put it in myself, but he took my plate anyway so that they would remake me a new one. I waited a little longer for it but it finally came. The bread was a bit burnt but I didn’t feel like I wanted to say anything again, so I just ate it. It wasn’t as memorable and as delicious as I remembered it was back when I came here, so I was a little disappointed in the quality going a little down hill. You can read about my first amazing experience here.

We did however enjoy the gigantic cinnamon bun we split amongst the three of us!

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I ordered the Double Leg with 1 Sideline ($11.25). A sideline is basically a side – they have a long list ranging from fries, rice, potato wedges, potatoes, coleslaw, veggies and even corn. Today I went with the Potato Wedges. I didn’t get a shot of what one of our friends ordered in a bid to be healthy – but the PERi-PERi vegetables were basically dripping in oil, so…not so healthy!

My chicken this time was more tender than my previous visit. You can choose how spicy they prepare the chicken and I went with medium. It was a nice heat but not too spicy – I probably would go with Hot if you’re a big fan of heat in your meal. There was nothing really memorable about the meal, even the potato wedges fell a little flat.

I find that for the price you pay here and most other chicken fast food places is ridiculously overpriced, and I don’t know why. I don’t think I would ever normally pay $12 for a meal that looks like this if I had to. That being said, I do enjoy their PERi PERi sauce, so I would definitely invest in buying some of that.

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But luckily, you can pick up most if not all of these items at either your nearest Asian supermarket like T&T, go down Fraser street or even Superstore. I substituted the ox-tail for Amy’s because she is vegetarian and used a firm tofu instead. The flavour wasn’t the same without the beef/ox-tail but was still good, just a little bit lighter in taste.

You can find this recipe in our Filipino Cooking Made Easy cookbook on page 17.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lb of ox-tail, beef, tripe or firm tofu (1 pack) cut into cubes/ 2″ lengths.
5-6 cups water (enough to cover meat)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced
3 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 lb long green beans, cut 2″ length
1 Asian eggplant, cut into small cubes
2-3 stalks bok choy
1 pouch of Mama Sita’s Kare Kare Mix

Procedure:

1. Dissolve Mama Sita’s Kare Kare Mix in water (follow directions on the back)

2. In a separate pot, boil meat in a little bit of water on low heat, simmer until meat is tender. If you’re using tofu, skip this step.

3. Saute garlic, onions and pour in the Kare Kare Mix (add the tofu in this step if you’re using it).

4. Stir and simmer until sauce thickens.

5. Add peanut butter and mix well.

6. Add eggplant and long beans for 3 minutes. Stir occasionally.

7. Add bok choy. Simmer for two minutes until vegetable are cooked.

8. Serve with hot rice!

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All their lunch specials come with salad and spring roll and are $9 which makes it a super affordable option in Yaletown.

The salad and spring roll is a perfect start to your lunch, not too much but enough to whet your appetite for your main dish.

All curries and stewed dishes come with a generous amount of rice. I have to apologize, I thought the lunch menu would be available online when I got home so that I could read it off there, but I couldn’t find a lunch menu.

This first dish was slightly spicy and served with bell peppers, eggplant, basil and we chose tofu to go with it. This was my favourite dish out of the two we shared.

The second dish was slightly sweet and tangy – served with celery, peas, pineapples, ginger and chicken. This was also a good dish, but not being a big fan of ginger, I preferred the first dish than this one.

For my drink on the patio, I went with my favourite at the Thai House restaurants – the Royal Thai. It’s basically fresh coconut milk and lychee – two of my favourite ingredients blended with some crushed ice. Delicious!

The patio has been redecorated so that there are solid but comfortable patio ‘bench’ seating. I’ll definitely have to come back and enjoy the new interior very soon!

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This beautifully appointed restaurant is located in the Hotel Georgia and easy to spot on the street level. The splendour of their dining area is split into three rooms – a leather bound Bar and Lounge area, the elegant Pearl Room that features an amazing chandelier and finally, the Art Room where we sat that had two custom pieces.

A little background on Chef David Hawksworth –  he has been voted best chef of the year twice, and is the youngest chef to be inducted into the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame. After spending time in Europe, Chef Hawksworth returned back to Vancouver and led West to become the highest rated and raved about restaurant for years to come. And the rest of the story is history.

Now, back to wandering the streets at 7:30 in the morning. It was quite serene, almost like a calm before the storm. But surprisingly enough, when I was making my way back to where we were seated – there were some business folks dressed in full attire having their breakfast in Hawksworth.

Being the first to arrive was a little surprising, but it gave me some time to chat a little bit with Marisa, one of the PR professionals for Hawksworth. Finally, more people started arriving including Joyce (Vanfoodies), Alvin (Eating in Vancouver), Rick Chung, Mary (Mary in Vancity), Michelle (Straight) and several faces I just recently met including Kelly (Vancouver Observer), Aleesha (Covet & Acquire) and Mary (Haus of Hybrid). It was great meeting Fashion bloggers and journalists alike.

I started off with a Mimosa, because…well, that’s what you do at 7:45 in the morning on a Friday, right? It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.

We were also started off with a couple of their Artisan Breakfast Pastries ($12) including a pain au chocolat, Almond croissant and a delicious looking danish.

I was a little preoccupied chatting and I only managed to have a little bite of the pain au chocolat – which is deliciously buttery, crisp on the outside and oozed with great tasting chocolate. It was a beautiful treat to start off the morning.

Our table ordered almost every breakfast main, so it was great for me to capture all the options!

The first one pictured is the Pacific Sablefish Benedict served with house potatoes ($19).

Next dish is the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes sprinkled with blueberry and served with Canadian maple syrup ($17).

The third dish is “The English” which is a traditional English breakfast – a hearty breakfast that included eggs, tomato, mushrooms, bacon, sausage, potatoes, baked beans, toast and black pudding ($22). This is definitely a formidable dish!

Two Eggs is the next dish, served with Applewood bacon or glazed honey ham – served today with the ham ($17).

And finally, my dish which was the House Chorizo Hash – sunny side eggs, grilled fennel in a smoked tomato vinaigrette ($19). My dish was beautifully presented, alongside sliced avocado to give some contrast to the dish. This hearty meal consisted of chorizo that blended sneakily with the hash so that every time I popped a piece into my mouth it was a guessing game of whether it would be meat or potatoes! The chorizo is not spicy but well flavoured with the tomato vinaigrette. The eggs were fried perfectly with a custard like consistency to the yolk which is exactly how I love my eggs.

I never really thought to come to Hawksworth for breakfast or brunch but now I think it’s safe to say that I know where my go-to brunch spot will be.

I’d like to thank Marisa, Janice, Chad and Chef Hawksworth for their fantastic hospitality and inviting me to this great bloggers brunch. I hope to see you all again in the near future!

Check out the brunch menu here.

 Please note, I was invited by Hawksworth to this Blogger Brunch and my meal was comped.

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Today, I was inspired to make Japchae – Korean stir fried noodles with veggies. Not going to lie, I was on Youtube, saw this little kid eating Japchae happily and it inspired me to make it. Anyway, it wasn’t so hard to make and the sauce isn’t overly complicated.

Japchae
(Adapted from Maangchi)
Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
Starch Noodles “dangmyun”
150 grams of beef, sliced thinly
2 green peppers
2 red peppers
4-6 medium mushrooms
half a small onion
2-4 cloves of garlic, diced
soy sauce
sesame oil
sugar
pepper
sesame seeds

1. Boil the noodles in boiling water for 3 minutes, when the noodles are soft, drain them and run them in cold water. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Cut the noodles and add 1 table spoon soy sauce and 1 table spoon of sesame oil. Mix and set aside.

3. Stir fry the beef, add onions and garlic. Add 1/2 table spoon soy sauce and 1/2 table spoon sugar (adjust to desired taste).

4. Add vegetables to stir fry and cook.

5. Add the vegetables and meat to the noodles and toss. Add 2 table spoons of soy sauce, 3 table spoons of sugar, 2 table spoons of sesame oil and desired amount of ground pepper. Mix. Add 1 table spoon of sesame seeds.

6. Serve as is, as a side dish or with rice.

The post Japchae (Korean Noodles) Recipe appeared first on gastrofork.

Anyway, back to the recipe. This is so simple, vibrant and tasty, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner.

Strawberry and Nutella Toast
Serves 1

2 slices of toast
1 tablespoon of nutella (or more, go nuts!)
3-4 small strawberries, sliced

1. Toast the bread.

2. Spread nutella over the bread.

3. Slice up small strawberries and pile it on top of your toast.

Strawberries and nutella are the perfect pair! Enjoy!

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