chocomoo

That is so cute!!

My uncle returned from Japan with a couple boxes of that - it's sooo good! The cookies are so light I love the packaging - I wish North Americans would put more effort into their packaging

Did you happen to notice if they have the congee choices at that one, or is it just noodles? Wonton? ← Sadly, no congee.... They do have wonton noodles though! And you can choose noodles in soup or the "mixed" noodles (which come with the soup on the side). Also available is the "rice combo" with a few choices of the usual beef & broccoli, sweet & sour pork, etc. I forgot to say that you can choose from different noodles, which include: egg, flat, & rice noodles; vermicelli; ramen; or udon. Don't forget about the takoyaki from the Japanese place 2 stores down!

Tsim Chai Noodles has opened a 2nd location at 357 (?) Robson. The cross-street is Homer - it's across the street from the Public Library. The name of the store is "Jim's Noodle Express". I got a small bowl of beef brisket & tendon ($1.50 extra for the 2nd item) with flat rice noodles - cost me $6.92 (incl. tax). There's no discernible difference from the beef brisket & tendon noodles at the original Tsim Chai location. The tendon was flavourful and nice & melty and the brisket was also flavourful & falling apart (though in a meatier kind of way).

I tried the new Cheese Pretz & Fruit Pretz not long ago. The cheese is ok, but I prefer a stronger flavour. I wish they made Pizza Pretz with just the gouda flavour! I believe there's more wheat in the biscuits than regular Pretz - they seem to be crispier than regular Pretz. The ingredients label of Fruit Pretz lists apple juice, fig paste, and raisin (paste?). I couldn't taste any fig or raisin flavour, so it basically tasted like a wheatier Apple Pretz (which is discontinued?). I missed Apple Pretz when it disappeared, so Fruit Pretz is great!

You mean none of you tried the grilled squid? To be more specific, they're squid tentacles. I didn't go last year, but I don't think they had them a couple of years ago. SOOOOO good!! Tender, flavourful, and perfectly grilled! The guy presses down on the squid with an iron-like thing so it's grilled on both sides. You can get it spicy or non-spicy. There's more than 1 grilled squid place, so make sure you go to the stall in the aisle with the tables, closest to the karaoke stage (...must...ignore...singing...). It's only a few stalls over from the Japanese/Taiwanese things filled with nutella (or chocolate, custard, peanut butter, or red bean). Don't get the chicken kidneys though - I really disliked them. I thought they'd be roasted like they usually are when you get them in Chinese bbq stores, but these were marinated with fennel seeds. Bleh!!

My friend got me lemon Tic Tacs from China, and they're actually pretty good. They're not coloured like the above fruit ones are (just white) but are packaged in a fluorescent yellow container.

^ THAT'S the name of the place! They're actually pretty well-known - a lot of out-of-towners buy the jerky from there as gifts for when they return home. I like how they make the jerky on-site. Mmmmm....juicy & moist....

You have it good there in Ontario... When gas is cheap here in Vancouver it's 114.9! It often goes up to 120.9 these days... I also really like the President's Choices products - their crackers & ice cream are especially good! They have this mint chocolate crackle ice cream - white mint ice cream with chopped mint leaves with chocolate stick thingies in it.

I'm pretty sure this isn't what you're thinking about, but Japanese mountain potato (yama imo) is available at Izumi-Ya on Alderbridge, near No. 3 Road in Richmond. It's got this weird slimy texture when raw, and is an essential ingredient in okonomiyaki (for the batter). I've also had it au gratin at Japone on Oak Street.

^ Wait a second, I think I actually have a business card for Yu in my house, if nobody's thrown it out yet... I'll look for it tonight I can't remember the Chinese name for it though. Speaking of egg tarts, Empire also has really good ones too - good "sou pei" & lots of filling.

Is it circular with specks of collagen? I think that's shin of beef - I love it too - beefy and good. ← I think so... I think it's called "ngo jeen"? Not to be confused with that other circular thing with the layer of translucent skin/fat around it that's also often found on the cold appetizer plate. Is the other thing pork?

Regarding early dim sum, Jade definitely has a discount - 20% discount. I'm not sure how early they open though. I would definitely add Empire to your list of back-ups for dim sum. I went for dim sum last Saturday and really enjoyed it. I have to agree with the raves about their bbq pork buns - WOW. BY FAR the best bbq pork buns I have ever had - just meltingly soft, with a slightly crunchy top, moist filling with a bit of sauce. I could eat a whole plate of these myself... Other stand-outs were the shrimp dumplings (while the wrapper was ok (ie. not chewy enough), the filling contained sesame oil & good quality (ie. flavourful & not mushy) shrimp), and the "ja leung" (Chinese "donut" (you tiu) wrapped in cheung fun (flat rice noodle)). The cheung fun was smooth & slightly chewy without being hard, & wasn't falling apart soft; there was also a layer of pork floss (yook soong ("rou song" in Mandarin)) between the you tiu & cheung fun. PLUS Empire opens quite early for dim sum (our waiter was saying that some regulars trickle in around 9ish). Empire is located at the old Fisherman's Terrace space, corner of No. 3 Road & Westminster Highway, where the London Drugs & Milestone's are (2nd floor). Almost forgot - 30% discount for early dim sum. Of course, there are certain things that aren't included during that time, like their weekly specials (last week was a cold appetizer of jellyfish & thinly-sliced spiced soy marinated beef...brisket? I can never remember the cut of meat).

Yep, I tried it the first time around, maybe a year ago? There wasn't any detectable cheesecake flavour, so it tasted like lemon cream KitKat. The lemon flavour wasn't tart enough for me but it was still yummy! The box is in much nicer packaging this time.

I can't believe no-one's mentioned Sesame Street & The Muppet Show yet!! - Cookie Monster and his cookies (he always ate the plate too!), which are now a "sometimes" food - the restaurant sketch: "Waiter, there's a fly in my soup!" - Oscar and his garbage - the Swedish chef (although I don't remember a single thing he cooked - it seemed like he threw everything in the air) In other cartoons... - Gummi Bears - Animaniacs & their many food-related adventures (especially picnics!)

There's this thread: Food in the Simpsons This one: Favourite Cartoon Food Quotes And this one: Favourite TV Comedy & Drama Food Scenes Futurama had a lot of food-related episodes: the one about Slurm, the disturbingly addictive soft drink; the one where Fry eats the truck stop washroom egg salad sandwich; even part of the "What If?" episodes where Bender is a person and becomes morbidly obese when he discovers the joys of human food and won't stop eating.

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned here yet, but while in Mexico, my boyfriend and I got hooked on Manzanita Sol, a carbonated apple drink produced by Pepsi. We also tried Manzana Lift, a similar drink made by Coca-Cola. I liked the flavour of Mazana Lift better, but like Coke, it's more carbonated (which I don't like). My boyfriend liked Manzana Lift better. I like Manzanita Sol better than Apple Sidra (which has been previously mentioned here), as the flavour isn't overshadowed by the bubbles. Why aren't apple-flavoured soft drinks more popular here? edited to add: I tried to find bottled Coke in Mexico, but only came across the canned kind (no noticeable difference in flavour - because it's also made with corn syrup? I couldn't read the ingredients in Spanish). edited again to add: Not a soft drink, but Powerade has a new flavour we found in Mexico - I only bought it for the cool bottle (special edition for the Mexican soccer federation or some such name) but was delighted when the flavour turned out to be muscat (or green grape)! I normally detest Gator/Powerade because of the salty flavour (GROSSSS!! However, I don't mind Pocari Sweat) and off-putting fluorescent colours, but I would definitely buy it if it became available here in Vancouver.

Mmmm, I forgot about Chinese black vinegar... *drool*

Wow, Hiroyuki, thanks! And guess what site I ended up at when I googled "poeler"? Surprise! I tried the choco custard version last night, and quite liked it - I thought it would be the same as the original reverse Pocky but while reverse Pocky contained dark/bittersweet chocolate, the choco custard one is filled with milk chocolate. Yummy! I like the contrast of the crunchy biscuit & soft chocolate inside.

What did you think of it? I've tried it before too, as leftovers, and it sounded better than it tasted. My favourite is still "qing jing" (plain ol' steamed).

^ Oh that's alrigh!! I wonder if it will become a permanent offshoot? And why didn't they just call it Reverse Pocky, the original name, and just make different flavours for it, like Mousse Pocky?

^ So it means pear? But that doesn't have anything to do with the flavours... I would jump at the chance to try pear Pocky! In fact, that would be one of my dream flavours. edited to fix smiley

That sounds really good! I'll have to get a box of them when we get them here I recently tried this: It's basically banana-flavoured reverse Pocky. I'm not one for banana-flavoured things, but it wasn't too bad (my boyfriend really liked it). I also got the choco custard one, but haven't tried it yet. What does Poare mean?

I've also heard that the wings are very good. ← Yep, they're really good but not cheap (slightly more than $1 per wing, I think?) - apparently the same owners as the ones previously at the old Aberdeen Mall. The stall next to it (that sells the curry fish balls) has ridiculously cheap iced lemon tea & the like (bubble tea sized drinks that are only $1, if I remember correctly). Good tea too, not watered down.

Have you tried calling 738-8888? Cantonese or Mandarin only though, I think.