McDonald's Waffle Fries Review

I must say, when I saw the posters for waffle fries come out from McDonald's, I was jumping with joy (I guess the new product hype). I must give credit to McDonald's for their efforts to re-invent themselves. Recently, they rolled out kiosks where people can order and buy things without human interactions (all the introverts must be celebrating). I found that this idea was very nice because it allowed people who didn't need an overly customized order to order quickly and pay with their card. The added bonus was that the kiosks also accepted coupons.

I ordered the waffle fries from the kiosk and they were about $2.80 for each side order. It seems a bit on the expensive side considering that I am used to paying only for small fries. That said, the waffle fries come in only one size. It took the order no time to get ready.

The first impression was that the portions of the fries were not very impressive. As with the natural geometry of the waffles, there seems to be many spaces inside the fries and there's only a few actual waffles of the fries. In addition, the taste of the fries was a bit on the dry side. It was also on the saltier side, and there were in inconsistencies with the sizes between each waffle fry. Perhaps it was the way it was prepared, the waffle fries wasn't anything too special to write home about. It would be an alright snack, but I would opt for waffle fries that is more full on the flavour side. 

2 for $3 Samosas (Maurya Express UBC Review)

Being one of the only places that specialize in Indian food on campus, Maurya is an average place to get your dose of India. I was going to Staples with a friend when I noticed a strong scent of curry. Being a huge curry lover, I decided to investigate and it brought me to the door steps of Maurya. 

   The first thing I noticed was the special offer they were offering on a poster at the door. Apparently, it was 5 dollars for two scoops of rice and a choice of curry. That sounds like a pretty sweet deal (or should I say, spicy deal? ;)), however I wanted something small. I noticed that the samosas were 2 for $3. That seem to be a good deal so I went in.

    The inside of the restuarant was small and felt like it was designed for the take-out sector. There weren't many dine in seats and the seating was awkward. It was right in front of the cashier, so I'd imagine it wouldn't be too comfortable sitting there.

    After looking at the pretty uninteresting menu (there wasn't much to it beside black and white words. You'd think there would be a design of some sort... but noooo. ), I ordered the samosas.

   The cashier had to warm them up before giving them to me. This makes me wonder how fresh the food here is.

       Has it been sitting in the heater all day? The samosas themselves taste pretty average. It was on the small side and it wasn't as spicy as I'm used to from the samosas at the other Indian restaurants I've been to. Nor are the portions as big. This samosa can be put togther with another one to make a bigger one. Overall, the place is pretty average and price is slightly on the high side because of the smaller portions. Otherwise, the samosas were good.

Half Mexican Half Contemporary Tacos and Burritos (Chronic Tacos Broadway City Hall Station)

Hey everyone, I know it's been a while since I last posted (sorry I've been travelling and got caught with work), but I am back!
When it comes to Mexican food, there are quite a bit of selection around town. However, not being Mexican, I can't really comment on how authentic one Mexican restaurant is compared to another. That said, Chronic Tacos feel a bit more Western and contemporary compared to many of the other Mexican food places.
Conveniently located within a few meters to the Broadway-City Hall Skytrain station, this location is a fair place to grab your Taco needs. The moment you walk into the restaurant, you will see that the lighting is dim and the place is quite spacious. On the right hand side there is a bar and the ordering counter is at the back of the restaurant.
 This place is meant to be more of a fast food location, and by looking at the menu, this is even more evident. There aren't too many items on there. There are two main items that they offer, which are burritos and tacos. Beside these two, they do have a small sides menu and a kids menu. Compared to many of the other Mexican food outlets I've been to, I would say the menu from Chronic Tacos has less options.

When it was my turn to order, I saw on the counter if you text the word "TACO" to this number (4242658226) you would get a free taco coupon (I found out later on that it wasn't a free Taco, it was a "BOGO" thing). I decided to only get a Taco and a side of rice. The tacos were at least $3.99, so I figured if I got a side of rice with the Tacos it would be cheaper.
 I decided to get a chicken taco with corn flour (I think corn is more nutritious than refined flour). This location is sort of like Subway in the sense that they ask you what kind of toppings you would like. I find what was interesting is that they give you a double layer of the taco shell, and then they put so much toppings on the taco shell (relatively speaking, like the toppings compared to the shell) that you cannot fully wrap the taco shell around the toppings. At the end I ended up getting a fork and eating the toppings by itself and the taco shell separately.
The materials used for the toppings were fresh. What I liked about the chicken was that it wasn't greasy at all. In addition, even though I didn't add any sauce to the topping (the sauces add so much more calories...) it was still relatively good. The side of rice I got was good too. There was a hint of tomato in there, and it was flavourful that you can just eat the rice right off the bat.
 In summary, I would say the price is on the higher end, especially for the portion (the portions were not that big). The quality was fair, so I would probably come back (to use that BOGO coupon...) if I was in the area.

Frozen Green Tea with a funny after taste (Tim Horton's Davie Street Review)

It's scorching hot (well more like 28 degrees, but for Vancouverites, that's pretty hot), and I was downtown near St. Pauls' Hospital doing a research study. I wanted some caffine in my system because I was feeling tired (did two Grouse Grinds this morning).
  This Tim Horton's Location was famous for an incident that happened a while ago when someone smashed the windows, so I decided to check it out. The broken window was fixed and the Timmy's looked in any other Timmy's. There were a fair amount of chairs for people to sit at, and they had a freezer with Cold Stone's Ice Cream.
  I was at the counter and I noticed on the overhead menu that there was a new Frozen Macha/ Green Tea and that caught my attention. I was afraid of it being over sugary (because many of these frozen drinks usually have way too much sugar added to them), so I asked if the Green Tea had sugar added. The lady at the counter sort of smiled (abit awkwardly) and said it all comes as a syrup. I thought to myself, how bad can Green Tea be?
  When I got my frozen Green Tea, the sight of it immediately sort of raised a red flag. The colour was a bit on the alien light green colour and it didn't seem very appetizing. Part of it was when I saw the bubbles on top, it reminded me of when I was cleaning my fish tank at home that had a lot of algae on it... For Frozen Green Tea to have bubbles made it physically sketchy to look at.
   Since I paid $2 for it, I decided to not judge a book by its cover and take a sip. I have never tasted anything like this before. It was not sweet, but somewhat bitter. It wasn't the Macha kind of bitter (if you know what I mean with regards to how bitter pure Macha can be). It was a type of bitter that had a bit of a fruity taste to it. At the same time, it sort of tasted like the drink was trying to be sweet, but there was just not enough sugar to make it taste sweet. Mind you, I had a free Slurpee at 7-11 so my taste buds could have been a bit biased when it comes to sweetness. That said, It wasn't too good to be honest, and there was a funny after taste too.
   Afterwards when I got home, I decided to check the nutrition facts on the medium Frozen Macha and at a whopping 200 calories and 49 grams of sugar, it is definitely something that I will avoid in the future. Not only because it tastes funny, but because it's packed with tons of sugar.

Remember to ask for no mayo!!! (Donburiya Review)

Donburiya When it comes to how filling a meal is relative to its price, I would say that Japanese rice bowls are close to the top of my list. It was after the Canada Day parade when my friends and I visited Donburiya.
 From the outside, Donburiya doesn't look too big. Looking in the window, you can see a small collection of tables and a cramped ordering counter. The decor is very interesting as they had physical plastic rice bowls hung on the lights near the windows.
Walking in, you will see the menu above the cash register. I must say, when it comes to selection, there aren't that many selections. There are about a handful of selections from the menu that included three options of Ramen, curry, stir fry noodles and five dons(rice bowls). There's a mapo tofu don, teriyaki ton, beef don, kimchi and this other kind (that I don't really know what it is). Even though the options may sound very limited, it is good in a way because in theory, they will be more specialized.
I also noticed that on the menu, the rice bowls also had different sizes that range from small to extra large. There are samples of the bowl sizes on the wall that you can use for reference when ordering. In addition, as a side note, I noticed that almost all of the options have mayo added to the rice bowl. I'm not sure why people add mayo to the rice bowl, but all I know is the mayo goes right to the butt. There's so many calories in a teaspoon of mayo it's one of those things where if you read the nutrition fact after you eat the thing you would get nightmares (if you are health conscious that is).

 When it was my turn to order, I decided to take a large order of teriyaki don and I also asked if I can have one without the mayo. The cashier was very friendly and she informed me that the store is about to close. At this point, my friends and I decided to ask for our meals in to go containers. It was about $8 for a large teriyaki don, and after paying, the cashier handed me a number tag and I waited on the side.
What's interesting to note is that my friend asked for a cup of water (they have water in a counter at the exit, but you need to ask for cups). When my friend asked the cashier for cups, she looked frantically for a second for cup, then she took a two cups that were stacked on top of each other and wiped it and handed it to my friends. Not sure if it was clean or not, but it seemed cleaned.
After about 10 minutes, one of the cashiers came and brought me my teriyaki don. I have to say I really like the service and the respect they have for their customers here.

Because there was about 20 minutes to closing and everyone was starving, we all decided to eat from our take out containers. I must say, the portions were pretty good.
For my chicken teriyaki don, it was just right and there was a fair portion of chicken. The chicken was fresh and the layer of salad beneath it was very good too. The salad really adds some fiber to the mix. The chicken teriyaki don without any greens in it and its lack of fiber is like an episode of constipation waiting to happen.
Overall, I am very satisfied with this place. Not only are the portions good, the price and quality is good too. I would say because the seating is limited, the place is best for take out. I would definitely come back again. 

Hot like a sauna (Denny's on Davie)

   Once you've been to a Denny's, you can almost say that you've been to all of them. However, depending on how each location is run, every Denny's can be different.
   It was Canada Day and a group of friends and I were walking around town to find a place to watch the USA vs Belgium game. At first we were at Fountain Head across the street, but because one of my friends forgot her ID, we were not able to go in. After,walking around for a bit, we decided to go for Denny's. Denny's had a menu where it included drinks (for the people that didn't want to eat) and food (for those who wanted to eat. In addition, they also had a TV that had the game on.
   Walking in, I noticed the place was abit swampy feeling. The waitress already have the menu in her hands and was taking us to our table, so we decided to stay. After sitting down, I was curious if the air conditioning was broken, so I asked the waitress. She informed me that the reason that all of the windows and doors are open was because the air ventilation system was broken. On a day that is about 25 degrees+ outside, the restaurant felt swampy.
   Opening the menu, everything was what you would expect on a Denny's menu. The Grandslams, all day breakfast and burgers. I had my eye on the avocado burger (because avocados are really high in nutrients). The burger was about $12. Then I took a look at the "Make your own burger column", and I realized that it was cheaper to make my own burger.
   The burger cost $9.79 to make your own burger and you had the choice of different meats/patties and then toppings. With the avocado added with that burger, it is only $1 more, meaning that making your own avocado burger is cheaper than getting the avocado burger.
  When we were ready to order, the waiter who came to take our order took us by surprise. When he asked my friends whether or not they are eating food, my friends replied to him that they are only getting drinks. He made this expression that was sort of a fit, and grabbed the forks and knives from the table. It was honestly a bit rude.
  After waiting for a good few 15 minutes, the waiter brought us our food. The burger portion was pretty big (I had a hard time fitting it in my mouth), and the portion of fries was very generous as well. The fries tasted pretty fresh and the chicken burger was really good. It was a bit on the tall side, so I had to squish it down really hard. I'm not sure if it's because I have a small mouth, but after squishing it, it was still too big. At the end I decided to just take out the vegetables and eat it separately.  Finally, I was able to eat the whole thing.The other benefit to custom making the burger is that you can choose real cheese instead of the processed cheese that they put inside the burger.
   Overall, I would probably not visit this Denny's again. There are plenty of good places to eat around here, the food is pretty satisfactory, however the environment and service could be improved. 

Chicken swimming in a pool of sauce

Located in the Bellis Fair Mall, this Panda Express location is quite convenient. It was dinner time and my family and I have been travelling for the whole day and we were starving. Looking at other options in this food court, we couldn't see anything that was appealing to our pallets at the time, so we settled for Panda Express.
They have quite a few options when it comes to ordering. You can either order a single entree or double entree combo. However, because there were the four of us, we thought it might be more economical to get the family pack. A double entree was about $7 while for the family pack it includes 3 full size entrees, and two rice or noodle sides for about $30.
 Looking at the choices of entrees, what I noticed is that there aren't many options when it comes to vegetables. Almost everything here has meat in it. Also, another interesting observation was that there weren't a big amount of food at the front. Compared to other Chinese fast food joints where they have a pile of food at the front, Panda Express has relatively less quantity of food at the front.
The downside about the lower quantity of food at the front is that if a large order was made, such as an order for a family pack, the front runs out of food really fast. On a not so busy day, the quantity is good, but when you have a busy day like a Saturday night, the amount at the front is barely enough to keep up with the amount of customers ordering.
I ordered a Kung Pao Chicken, String Bean Chicken and Pepper Chicken. I know, it's alot of chicken, but there doesn't seem to be anything here that is just stand alone vegetables. All of these dishes had some sort of vegetables with them, so that's why we got them. Because the quantity at the front was limited, we had to wait for about 15 minutes for them to make more.
The chicken entrees that we got were pretty good, with the exception that some of the items have too much sauce. Personally, I don't really like to eat things with too much sauce, however there are people I know that would love to eat with a lot sauce.
  Out of all the dishes, I would say the quality is fair, the fried rice was just right. It was not too greasy like many of the Chinese fast food places that are around. The price was pretty average too, so there is really nothing much to complain about besides the amount of sauce. 

Chicken Soup of Everything Asian (Wok Box Queensborough Landing Review)

Located at Queensborough landing, Wok Box is probably one of the only places around that mixes a bunch of Asian cuisine together. Passing by here numerous times on trips to Wal-mart, I never had the chance to try them out, so after class one day, my friend and I decided to give them a try.
 From the outside, you can tell that it's a Chinese place. However, that wasn't the case when I walked in. The decor sort of has a mix of Asianness. Especially the murals of Buddha on the wall, it sort of give a sense of Thai yet it's not exactly Thai. I think a large part using buddha as decor sort of shows the Asian stereotype.
After taking a minute to look at the decor and digesting the interesting yet museum like aura of the restaurant, I turned to look at the menu. I was very surprised by the menu because not only did they offer Chinese food, they had Indian food (Butter Chicken) too. I can tell that the food here is very westernized. Their selection from each culture in Asia is very limited and they seem to only feature dishes that are common. Dishes such as Kung Pao Chicken and Indian Butter Chicken to name a few.

   What was special was that for takeout orders, the containers that are used are the paper ones that you see in the US. I never seen the takeout containers used here before, so that was pretty special. Everything comes in two sizes, there is the lunch size and the dinner size. Actually, the After debating with myself for a while, I decided to get a Kung Pao Chicken (the noodle version). My friend decided to get the Indian Butter Chicken.
  We waited for about 15 minutes before we got our order. What I really like about this place is that the food is freshly made and not like food courts where the food is already made up and sitting on the counter and waiting for the customer to come. I was very fascinated with the take out boxes, so the cashier asked if I wanted my order in a take out box to which I said yes.
  When the order came, I was pleased with the portion of the food. It was a fair portion compared to the amount that I paid. It was about $10 for the meal, and there is an option to make it a combo for $3.99 more. The combo includes either two spring rolls or a samosa with a fountain drink.
  The Kung Pao chicken tasted pretty fair, however, some of the vegetables such as the sprouted beans tasted raw. I am not sure if they are meant to be raw, but it definitely is something I never had before. The downside with the take out containers is that it is hard to get food out. Also, there is quite abit of sauce with the Kung Pao chicken, when I put in the fork to get out the noodle, the plastic fork bent... Overall the taste was pretty average.
  In summary, the downside with Wok Box is that they do not have a specialization in a specific culture of Asian cuisine. Because of that, the taste wasn't too outstanding, but the price is pretty fair/average.

Breakfast for under $3? (Jack in the Box Everett Review)

The thing I love most about Jack in the Box is that they serve breakfast all day and they got a pretty good variety of foods other than the burgers you would get at fast food joints. It was about 10 in the morning when my friend and I arrived here and we were starving for breakfast. We just spent two hours at the Boeing Factory filming planes, and we were on our way to Seattle when we decided to make a pit stop here.
  Walking in, this place felt just like any other Jack in the Box. I looked at the menu and I didn't want to spend too much, so I challenged myself to spend only $3 on breakfast. Water was free, so I didn't need a drink. They have good coffee here (I believe it's Kona Coffee that they serve here), but I was saving up for Starbucks' coffee in Seattle.
   After debating myself for a while on what to get, I decided to get a breakfast jack (for about $1.50) and an order of mini-pancakes for $1. It was advertised that there are 10 mini pancakes for only $1.00! The wait time was abit lon the long side, I think I waited for about 5-10 minutes for my meal to be ready, but there wasn't many (if any body) at the restaurant at the time.
  When the meal came, I quickly grabbed a seat because I was pressed on time. The breakfast jack was pretty good. Not only was the portion big, it included a piece of ham, eggs, cheese within a burger patty. It was almost equivalent to A&W's cheese and egger. The only down side that I didn't like was that it was abit on the salty side.
  The mini pancakes are a classic at Jack in the Box, and it is a must get for me whenever I come here. Not only are they cheap, but they are good too. However, during this visit, I wasn't too satisfied with it. The pancakes were abit on the hard and cold side when I got it. I think it has been in the cooker thing that they use for abit too long (as it tasted abit cold and slightly on the hard side) and it was missing 2 pieces when it came. (Or I read it wrong, and there was only 8 pieces). Other than that, I would say that the value of the pancakes were really good (and it came with syrup and butter) for only $1!

$1.50 for 3 big scoops of Gelato!!! (Costco Seattle)

There are many Costco's out there, but this Costco is probably one of my favourite ones to go to. Besides being on the site of the first ever Costco (apparently, the first Costco was torn down, but the original site was across the parking lot from here), they have Italian Gelato for $1.50 for 3 big scoops!

   Not only is $1.50 a ridiculous deal for the Gelato (you are probably thinking... $1.50... the quality must be pretty bad). There are about 3 choices for you to choose from. So when it comes to choices, you don't get that many. The three choices that was available when I came today was: Chocolate Chip Cookie, Pistachios and Chocolate.    I decided to get a mix of the three different scoops, so a scoop of each. I first started with the Pistachios, and I must say the taste of pistachios was there, but it wasn't very strong. The texture was pretty smooth, with a bit of a taste on the sugary side.
  The next flavour I had was the Chocolate Chip Cookie flavour. This one was full of flavour and is probably my favourite one too. The chocolate in the ice cream was in chunks and you actually have to chew the chocolate.
   The final flavour was the chocolate ice cream. This chocolate ice cream was smoother than many of the ice cream I had. It wasn't as sweet as the other two flavours from before, but the chocolate taste was very thick. Because the two other flavours were abit sweeter than this one, the chocolate taste didn't come out as much.
    Some advice: make sure you finish it as soon as soon as possible and not eat it while you are inside a hot car... (I learned my lesson the hard way). Things can get sticky really fast and because the portions of the ice cream is so big... when it melts, it melts like a waterfall. That said, I really like the ice cream and I would definitely come back again. 

nice lean grilled chicken for $1.79/100grams (Greenday Salad Bar)

During lunch time, the streets of Downtown Vancouver is usually bustling with people (usually people who are at work) in their business attire trying to find food. I was also doing some work and it was lunch time and my friend wanted to meet up. She suggested going to this salad bar. Before coming in, I noticed that Fujiya next door was packed with people trying to get their sushi. Because it was so busy next door, this salad place was easy to miss as it was located deeper within this building complex.
The thing I love about salad bars, like this one is that you can walk in and choose whatever you like in whatever amount you like and pay for just the total weight (they call it gross weight I think... But it's abit weird to call the total weight of food gross, unless of course, the food itself is gross). Also, I think salad bars are rather better than going to a fast food places at the food court where you pay for a set amount of food and feel bad about not finishing it all.
   This salad bar contains over a few dozen varieties of vegetable dishes. All of these dishes looked relatively not greasy. Also, I think this salad bar is Korean owned because I noticed some of the items do have an Asian twist to it. In addition, when you walk into this salad bar, you immediately smell the aroma of freshly baked bread.
The way this salad bar is laid out is that the food is located around the corners while the middle of the store has a long table for people to sit. I would not recommend eating in here because the table looks abit uncomfortable to look at. Not to mention that with traffic of people going around getting food, I'd imagine it would feel abit pressuring for you to finish your food.
   Because I already have food with me, but I didn't want to make my friend feel bad, I decided to get something small. For $1.79 for 100grams I would say the price is decent. That said, it depends what you get. If you got something like potato wedges only, $1.79 for 100 grams is pretty expensive compared to getting 9 pieces of potato wedges at 7-11 which is roughly 100 grams for only 99 cents. I'm saying this because I got some potato wedges and grilled chicken thinking one piece or two shouldn't be that expensive.    The grilled chicken I got was pretty good. The seasoning was not too overwhelming, yet it wasn't too bland. In addition, what I liked most about the chicken was that it was relatively lean and not as fatty as some of the chicken I've had. With regards to the potato wedges, besides the fact that it was slightly over cooked, it tasted pretty decent.
   Overall, I would say this place is definitely tailored towards business folk who wants something like a quick lunch, yet want variety in their meals. The quality is pretty decent and it's definitely a good consideration if you are in the area and is looking for lunch.

Substitute your hash brown for any baked goods for free! (Tim Horton's No. 3 Road)

Across the street from Aberdeen center and Canada Line Station (Aberdeen), this Tim Horton's is in a very convenient location. This Tim Hortons is relatively new, yet from the outside it looks slight vintage and old because of it's beige colour. They do have a drive thru lane that was nestled within the end of the parking lot.
  What was strange was that this Tim Hortons was in the middle of a concentration of shops that featured Asian cuisine. In a way, it sort of stood out.
  It was pouring rain when my friend and I arrived and surprisingly on a weekday, it was really busy we almost couldn't find a parking spot. Walking into the restaurant, you can tell that the restaurant was relatively new. The ordering counter was big and they had an assortment of baked goods behind the counter. It was abit different that the traditional Timmy Ho's where you have the baked goods at the front enclosed in a glass case.
  I already had breakfast, so I just wanted something light because I was going to go airplane watching (You can check out my aviation blog under the "YVR Spotter" heading). They said on the menu that the Turkey Sausage English Muffin was less than 350 calories. I decided to give that a try. I also wanted to get a cup of coffee and knowing that with a coffee and a breakfast sandwich, I could get a discount if I got a combo. The downside about their combos is that the combos come with hash browns (which contains a lot of sodium and carbs) and it wasn't able to be substituted for anything else (or so I thought).
   It was then I thought, maybe I should asked if I can substitute the hash brown for anything else and to my surprise, I could! So then I asked:  "What is the baked goods with the least amount of fat?". Ans: "maybe you can try a muffin". At that instant I laughed really hard. The muffins probably have more calories than the entire combo plus the breakfast sandwich. The cashier laughed too because we both knew that she was telling the truth because compared to the donuts, the unfortunate thing is that the muffins (which is like 450 calories each) is probably less fatty.
   In the end I settled for a tea biscuit (which I saved for later). In total, I spent about $5.60 on the entire meal, which I say is a pretty good deal. I would definitely come back again if I was in the area).

$2 Egg/Breakfast Burritos (Runway Grill/ Seatac Airport)

    After arriving at Seatac airport, I decided to stay here over night because I wanted to take some pictures of airplanes (huge aviation nerd here) and there is quite abit of traffic at Seatac. (I will upload all of the pictures soon). Walking around for about 5 hours and taking hundreds of photos of airplanes, I got hungry and I started to hunt for food to eat.
    What was weird was it seems like during breakfast time, most stores are selling Continental Breakfasts. Even the Chinese place at the food court was selling the American scrambled eggs and sausages rather than Chinese style breakfasts.
   I ended up at the satellite building and was in awe when I was looking at an Hawaiian Airbus 330. I wanted to find something to eat that was near here. I didn't want coffee because I was saving up for coffee in Seattle. I found this place called "the Runway Grill" that had something relatively inexpensive. They had menu options for only $2 and I decided to get the egg burrito.
   The portions I would say is fair, but it is a bit on the small side. The only downside that I didn't like about the burritos was that they were slightly greasy. Also, If you ever ask them for a cup of water, be careful that the water might be abit sweeter than you would expect. I think the filter in their drink machine is funky so when they pressed the "Water" button, traces of random soft drinks must have gotten mixed in with it.