This would be my round-up spanning the longest interval yet. I’m at a bit of a crossroads for what to do with my dining photos now that I allow my phone to automatically back up to the cloud (Google Photos) yet I don’t want so many food photos to be interspersed amongst “life photos” and I don’t want meals to go into oblivion if not annotated and/or not blogged. I know: such first-world problems.
So here is the blog post – I’ll appreciate these comments below at a later date as a reminded of this interval. =)
Conscientious Dining
Tractor Foods – Olympic Village
After all these years of watching Tractor expand and one of their locations is nearby in Olympic Village, I still haven’t visited. It turns out that NPY goes often enough to a downtown location to have tried the bowls extensively so he could advise on what to get. We tried to keep in mind what kiddo might eat and ordered the rice bowl with grilled avocado with a non-spicy pasta salad and quinoa side. He didn’t really take to it so we got to have most of the bowl. (29 June)
Tim Hortons – Vancouver City Centre (13 June)
Three months after the Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich was rolled out at A&W, Tim Hortons unveiled theirs as well. I waited one day after the announcement for an opportune morning. Erin Ireland was posting about Tim Horton’s Beyond meat sandwich – the vegan version is served with lettuce and tomato on a biscuit – which now leads me to conclude she’s sponsored by Beyond Meat and not A&W as I had previously thought. In her IG stories, she explained how Beyond Meat worked with Tim Horton’s to formulate a special patty that closely resembles their meat one. Ach so… I found the vegan sandwich to be tasty enough and then proceeded to try their two others as well: vegetarian with egg on biscuit and Farmer’s Wrap with egg, hashbrown and chipotle sauce. Whatever changes they made, I found to be an improvement on what A&W is serving in their breakfast sandwiches. However, I had become conscientious that these plant-based patties are heavily processed food items.
Heirloom Vegetarian Restaurant
Heirloom came back on my purview more recently because of a reco by Erin Ireland. The funny (i.e., not funny) story is that for Mother’s Day weekend, NPY asked me where I wanted to go and I was sure I wanted to try Heirloom. We couldn’t get a reservation because we weren’t a party of 8 and on the Saturday I wanted to go, he asked me if I didn’t want to instead do the “Main Street thing” which was to go for ramen at his favourite spot in town and then next door for Lucky’s Doughnuts. Huh – gee, thanks for the Mother’s Day brunch offer. He cited that it’s “hard” to bring the kid to brunch. That day we tried to go, they had a power outage! So we immediately knew where we were going for lunch – ramen & doughnuts! I told him that we could do a Father’s Day thing and invite five other people to make it a reservation but he didn’t bite – the effort of that, extending an invitation to a place his Neanderthal brain thinks isn’t good because there’s not meat – so I just went and arranged brunch with girls who jumped at the chance to go there!
I knew I wanted a Benny and trying to decide between avocado, mushroom and vegetable, I reasoned that I can smash avocados and I was seriously only swayed towards the veggie one because of the diversity of vegetables and the appropos presence of heirloom tomatoes. Mushroom was going to be tastiest and I ordered it with tofu scrambled (recommended, cf grilled tofu), goat cheese (no need to have vegan feta or whatever the option was) and vegan Hollandaise.
I fully expected the tofu scramble to look like the dried mess that I make that would spill across the top of the Benny but it was creamy – made with medium tofu instead of the usual firm/extra firm I see in recipes. It looked beautiful topping my Benny. I even enjoyed the Heirloom salad with thoroughly lightly dressed kale salad, even with mint listed in the ingredients (it wasn’t strong). I simply want another mushroom Benny. (June 9)
MeeT wasn’t really on my purview until Edna mentioned how I’d like it when I was describing some vegetarian/vegan dish. Our conversations tend to include touching on vegetarian cooking each time we meet up – I guess it’s a productive conversation that is a good break from the personal stuff like complaining about husbands and talking about kids.
Edna and Carina were more than eager to meet met at MeeT on Main. They have been to the Yaletown location a couple of times and one other time for Edna, which isn’t the usual for places we’ve been to (i.e., often it’s our first time somewhere). They were excited to order some of their favourites and get to order more this time because of my presence!
They highly recommended the oyster mushroom kalamari and wanted to try the spinach artichoke dip, and had me pick out some burgers and bowls that caught my attention. Our consensus to get the Mighty Mac burger, Seoul Bowl and (on repeat) The Macro were winner choices.
Mushrooms came first and they were so very good when warm, average when I was just picking up the scraps at the end and there was no more tatziki left. The artichoke spinach dip was the last to arrive which was weird timing and also needed to be tackled when warm. I was ravenous for it even if I should have been full by then.
By ordering the burger topped with macaroni & cheese, it was a strategic way to try out their mac & cheese without committing to a full-size bowl of it and potentially too much of a good thing. So it was perfect to sample as well as trying out their grain-based burger. Just earlier in the day, I had a Beyond Burger at White Spot and while I enjoy it at A&W, learned that it can be disappointing elsewhere. A Beyond Meat patty is an option instead of the house patty at MeeT but I was glad to try their in-house patty that was probably less processed. It turned the idea of the former crumbly and try grain burger patty on its head – maybe the patty itself wasn’t so moist but plenty of good sauces and topping made it overall good. The Seoul Bowl was good but I think it was the gravy of The Macro and the hearty mixture of flavours that stood out more for me. (June 6)
Triple O’s – Hamilton Street
I saw a sign somewhere advertising the limited edition Triple O’s mushroom avocado Beyond Meat burger and was looking for a downtown location for lunch and enjoying one within a couple of days later. The downtown location is the one in the CBC building and was not busy when I went in for a late lunch hour and so it was comfortable sitting in a casual restaurant.
A mushroom burger with sauce is such messy eating. It wasn’t so bad but I did find I didn’t like the way Triple O’s (over) grilled the Beyond Meat patty and I found it more dry than any that I’ve had across a few Beyond Meat burgers from A&W. (June 6)
Since I’m following The Juice Truck’s IG feed, I am regularly exposed to them marketing the the Bestie, their acai bowl. I thought that when Andrea and I went on our mini-epic Yaletown lunch, I would have an acai bowl for lunch but just ahead of going, I looked up the other bowls – like real bowls, and not the acai bowl which is on the smoothie menu – and the Almost Poke with vegan Ahimi was the tuna substitute. In light of the cost of the Bestie (a glorified smoothie) versus a real bowl, I went with the latter and was all-round so satisfied. Sure, I wouldn’t have minded about 30% more Ahimi because the amount is so modest but aside from the pickled ginger that I picked out, everything in the bowl was delicious – i.e., no annoying toppings like alfalfa sprouts or green onions or the picky things I don’t like. And to smooth it all over and give me dreams of having it again, there was ample crispy onion and nori topping provided! (April 25)
While I was away in California, A&W rolled out a breakfast sandwich using a Beyond Meat sausage. As you know, A&W is the one that introduced Canada to the Beyond Meat company with their yummy burger. However, after trying the breakfast sausage sandwich twice, I find the Beyond Meat sausage too dry for my liking. (March 20)
For one of lunches earlier this year, Andrea and I considered places between her office at one end of Pacific Centre and mine at the other end, like SMAK and Railtown. She mentioned Festal and I was down, never before having been to a paleo cafe. The only other one I know about is terribly “authentic” looking Caveman Cafe that I pass by every now then because I will be in Tinseltown/International Village.
It was just a foregone conclusion that I was going to get the chicken & waffles – haha. The chicken was fine but the truly blah no-grain waffle really detracted from the whole dish, in my opinion. (February 7)
I’ve enjoyed Chickpea platters a couple of times but never nice and fresh so when I saw the food truck in the Vancouver Art Gallery plaza as part of the Dineout Vancouver food truck event, I braved the nippy weather to order and stand waiting for a pita (i.e., the fried kasum cauliflower is not getting soggy inside a container). It was messy eating but I finally understood the big dealio with their spiced battered cauliflower. I only wish there was more! (25 January)
Knowing what my friend Edna is going through, I wanted to mark her birthday with a nice dinner. Fortunately, her birthday falls during Dineout Vancouver and that’s where I went first to hunt for a prix fixe menu that would suit us. I didn’t have to look further than A restaurants because The Acorn was participating and I seriously didn’t think that I would be trying that place out otherwise. I heard their brunch line-up is long. Further, after a visit to the naturopath and trying to incorporate some diet changes, The Acorn with vegan options was quite attractive to Edna as well.
Usually I might have a screenshot of the menu but this year I didn’t and now I can’t remember the ingredients. The highlight was the gnocchi because of course it was in its creamy tomato sauce. The kale salad was tasty, too, pleasing me with the cheese (I can’t remember if it was vegan or not) and large croutons. Desserts were truly solid and it’s fun to dine out with Edna who’s not so much into sweets and I could have a larger share – haha. (January 22)
Japanese (mostly ramen!)
Kamamarui Ramen & Don Heights (Yelp page)
We nearly went to Sushi Town in North Vancouver because we were in North Vancouver but NPY vocalized my anxiety – the North Vancouver location is a bit hit or miss for us and we really didn’t need to go there since our hiking/cycling friends with a picky toddler weren’t joining us. So before heading back over the bridge to East Vancouver – we pulled over to determine there is “nothing to eat in North Vancouver” and NPY thought a place serving ramen and don (rice bowls) sounded good. Mind you, most ramen places are ramen and don places, too.
While NPY ordered the black garlic oil ramen, I was drawn to the Miso Egoma because of the sous vide chashu built-in to the creation. The menu indicated that you can get sous vide chashu in place or regular for the other dishes but no substitution cost was listed and I couldn’t be bothered to ask. I didn’t know what perilla seed oil tasted like but at least it’s not weird like basil in your ramen, right? I traded my under-cooked poached egg with NPY’s ajitama one and even generously let him try a slice of my sous vide chashu and did not enjoy his dry (not fatty) regular one in return. Kiddo was immediately put off by the perilla seed oil taste so it was more of my ramen and broth for me!
The mini portion of pork belly don that NPY ordered with with his ramen was okay, with tasty smoky meat but the best part was the Bomb – as in, umami bomb – seaweed and rice balls that I ordered as a combo with my ramen. Umami bomb indeed!
We were back a couple of weeks later with family and I ordered the vegetarian ramen – for the vegetables for kiddo. The broth wasn’t so interesting. (8 & 30 June)
Marutama Gaiden (May 11 & Mar 3)
Marutama – Robson (Apr 6)
NPY’s favourite ramen in the city is now Marutama and not the OG Bidwell or Robson location styles but the off-shoot Gaiden location on Main instead. Since our first visit to Marutama Gaiden in March, we have been back once more and and also to each of the Robson and Bidwell locations once time – for NPY to truly conclude he likes the Gaiden location best.
Gaiden is the concept restaurant with regular shoyu and miso broth for NPY but also rotating creations for the likes of me. The first time we went, I ordered the vegan offering with mushroom broth. Kiddo doesn’t eat chashu so much so I figure the vegetarian offering has a variety of vegetables to ply him with. The mushroom broth was like thinned out cream of mushroom soup and just weird for ramen for us – but not as bad as too-Italian flavoured basil broth that we’ve had before. The second time we went, my “Mother’s Day brunch” after our attempt to go to Heirloom failed, I ordered the cold offering of scallop & pork broth. Cold ramen?! I would never order that, NPY huffed. He wouldn’t deign to try it. Okay, I’ve heard of cold soba that you dip in some sauce but found that cold ramen in cold broth was oddly as if it just came from a refrigerator. And doesn’t cold temperatures kind of dampen flavour? It was nice to have the scallop flavour in addition to pork but I didn’t enjoy having the cold scallop that was oddly seared on the inside but half raw inside and maybe it was just a bit too cold still.
Marutama came back into my purview after my cousin and his girlfriend were raving about the AOSA sea lettuce you can only get at Marutama (their favourite ramen joint, too, come to think of it) – but not the Gaiden location that is closest to where I live. So I invited Andrea to have lunch and I got the AOSA ramen and tried sea lettuce in all its glory. Shortly after, I arranged an evening downtown: Chapters-ramen-ice cream so NPY and kiddo could try it to. Kiddo did not like it and I think it’s because it’s slimy and he tastes the brine and NPY did not appreciate it. More for me!
A Jinya opened in the spot that previously housed a Japanese barbecue restaurant that we never visited on account of me not liking barbecue so much and NPY wanting soup or sauce with his meals. Until finally eating at that address, I had no idea how very close we finally had a ramen joint to our house. I think previously the closest ramen shops to our place were Menya Raizo, Benkei and Ramen Santouka (we’re spoiled) but Jinya Express is like one-fifth the distance to the other three!
Unfortunately … the concept doesn’t really fly with us. It’s like DIY ramen where you pick your broth, noodle, protein and toppings. Which don’t even get added to the bowl of broth. On one hand, you see the amount of toppings and protein you get and nothing gets soggy – not a usual concern – but on the other hand, it just feels like such a lazy concept, cafeteria style and not so tasty at the end of the day. Well, we weren’t big fans of Jinya ramen to begin with so unfortunately (fortunately?) it won’t be our too-easy go-to. (April 13)
My cousin knows that I don’t eat so widely with NPY so he sneaks in establishments that I wouldn’t otherwise get to explore. After a spin class with him and his girlfriend, he took us to Yama Cafe on Hastings. I thought we were just going for coffee and a snack and I was happy to try an assortment of their mochi muffins and for once, I got cute latte art! As we sat, my cousin got hungry and ordered a meal as well. I do want to return – it is on the way back from Sunday soccer – for a meal and more mochi muffins!
I finally returned four months later. NPY, of course, wasn’t keen on going despite my cousin’s recommendation. We even invited SIL & her family to come with us after soccer but good thing they declined – the place was near full after noon on a Sunday and we sat the three of us at a two-top. Kiddo wanted to be in the play area even though it’s dingy (heavily used). I ordered a set lunch for NPY and then added on some toast for kiddo. (24 February & 23 June)
Brunch
During the first 2.5 weeks after #2 was born, NPY didn’t want us to be inside restaurants and malls. Fortunately, it was summer and we could easily step outdoors and flee the coop of a condo. Thusly, all my plans to go to a mall were scrapped – saved for an outdoor mall – and he suggested we go to Yaletown and when I followed up with the question/challenge of where we’d eat, he answered, “Provence.” Please, OEB please. The queues look like the stuff of legends and even on a Monday for late-ish lunch, we still waited about 45 minutes. It was a good opportunity to spend a bit of time poking in Yaletown.
Our heads were turned by the savoury items and I must remember for next time to split out efforts to try out the menu amongst savoury and sweet options. By getting a breakfast poutine and eggs Benedict, we essentially got the same dish with the overlapping ingredients being herbed potatoes fried in duck fat, Hollandaise sauce, and poached eggs. My breakfast poutine had chorizo meatballs and cheese while his eggs Benny had Beijing smoked duck breast and English muffin. I initially wanted the lobster poutine which would not have had eggs but as they prepared a limited quantity per day, they were out of lobster – I had a second option already lined up.
My medium poached eggs were still soft for my liking so I wouldn’t touch NPY’s soft eggs with a ten foot pole. I found chorizo meatballs to be dry and unsatisfying while the rest of the dish was okay but poor value. I wouldn’t have ordered duck breast and been skeptical of the Beijing label – NPY characterized it to be like cha-siu (BBQ pork) which I know he’s not a huge fan of. Meanwhile, we could have tried some French toast or waffles but we will likely not visit the restaurant again because of the queue to get a table … (15 July)
We asked BIL if he was free to watch kiddo while NPY and I attended the same spin class but in the end, we did not and invited BIL and his wife to join us for brunch. I can’t remember where NPY had in mind but it was boring and I suggested Chewie’s. Way back in the beginning of the year, BIL’s wife and I were reviewing Chewie’s and Down Low menus and we ended up with Down Low because we were headed to FIL’s house. I continued to want to try Chewie’s although NPY was skeptical about what an establishment with “biscuit” in its name could offer.
Delicious brunch! Our seating at a hightop at the window and seated in a row was not ideal with kiddo or for conversation. Among the two couples, we ended up getting two Davis sandwiches and two chicken Benny’s. BIL also ordered the portabello fries – um, yum. NPY dropped a wedge on the ground and it was very sad to me. The chicken was delicious but the coating had a bit of spice that kiddo detected and did not enjoy.(May 4)
Trattoria – Burnaby (Apr 28)
NPY forwarded me a gift certificate confirmation or something of some sort and said he noticed and was recommended and purchased a brunch worth $70 for just $35. So naturally, we only went on the last day, not exactly knowing what was in store. Might it be a design-your-own three-course meal and I could get their signature truffle meatball spaghetti?
No. The restaurant created a brunch platter for this offer and no substitutions were allowed – I wondered if I had mentioned I’m vegetarian, what they would have done. The offer included an alcoholic drink (was it just Bloody Caesar and mimosa?) and the platter which consisted of avocado shrimp eggs Benedict, some hash, some meatballs, and bananas Foster (?) waffles. Even if each of the the three brunch items have about $15 value, I found that each item appeared slightly miniaturized and while we didn’t hate any of the pre-determined choices, it wasn’t very satisfying at all.
We thought it would take too long if we went somewhere else in the hood (I can’t remember where now) so we went to Bao Down where we hadn’t been for quite a while – like not since 2016, how time flies. While NPY ordered a chicken & waffles with nice touches likes being topped with a fried egg, crispy garlic sprinkles and (purple) ube infused in the waffle, I was happy with my two choices.
You can’t go to Bao Down without getting a bao and the Morning Glory with Langonisa sausage, fluffy egg and Hollandaise perfectly channeled fusion benny vibes but not in such a volume that I was tired of it. While I had just around that time learned how to make French toast, it’s not like I make it with pandesal (sweet bread) and so it was pretty – purple, also with ube – and sweet and tasty. We still might not be back for a while because NPY doesn’t appreciate it and I don’t care too much for the vibe. (February 16)
Desserts & Baked Goods
Chatime – South Granville (Granville & Broadway)
We were walking between Toys R Us and Bed Bath and Beyond surrounding south Granville when I realized there would be a Chatime in our path – NPY was just thinking the same thing! He was recently introduced to my “usual” which is cold roasted milk tea with coffee jelly – I even joked that it’s a deconstructed yin yang (Hong Kong-style coffee & tea drink) – and was thinking of getting one as a pick-me-up during the afternoon. I was thinking of getting my usual with Thai milk tea instead. But when we both saw the Vitasoy collaboration, our plans went out the window. The Golden Aura drink had me at Vita Lemon Tea – I need to get me some during my next trip to T&T! – but that didn’t entirely appeal to NPY and he got his usual slush which is strawberry with – uck! – grass jelly. (15 July)
Earnest Ice Cream – Olympic Village
During afternoon nap-time errands, I went to London Drugs to drop off a letter and flexible plastic recycling where I think I’m bending the definition of “flexible plastic” too much and at risk of having LD cancel the program on account of the not-so-flexible plastic I’ve been dropping off. I also wanted to get rid of an Earnest Ice Cream jar and you know what that means … !
I truly thought I would not get ice cream at all if the queue on a warm summer Saturday was too long but that if I did, I would get whiskey hazelnut because I finally could. However, I usually check out the seasonal sundae offering and this one grabbed with with strawberry lemonade. Fittingly, I recently looked up strawberry lemonade recipes and was shocked at how many lemons I had to juice – I only have a manual juicer – and then how much sugar to use. Sheesh. The sundae creating using their fresh lemon ice cream, strawberry sauce, almond whip and fun jellies was quite a turn from whiskey hazelnut which will always be there! (13 July)
Cartems Donuts – Downtown & Main
I’ll keep checking out Cartems’ monthly specials although I think I’m starting to tune into the pattern that the descriptions sound so much better than it tastes – or that for me, it tends to be hit-or-miss in terms of delivering on the promise of the description. Each month, they have at least three specials that cover the three kinds of donuts they have: cake donuts, yeast donuts, and stuffie (yeast) donuts. Another pattern I think is I end up enjoying the yeast donuts the most.
Nanaimo Bar is the ingredient of spring/summer 2019 with the McDonald’s McFlurry and a current Earnest Ice Cream flavour coming to mind. I did not enjoy this donut – it was like the cake part was an afterthought and not up to their usual standard. The blueberry lemon donut was underwhelming. The berry hibiscus donut I got back in March was a bit better but just didn’t deliver in my opinion. (8 July & 22 March)
We marked Canada Day 2019 by meeting up with friends with kids at Granville Island. It’s sort of a tradition to have lobster from Lobster Man – no matter the price – on Canada Day so NPY and I shared a lobster. It’s fun to have this Canada Day tradition, a day that is usually for friends, even if these days we might not spend quite as long together on account of nap times! Four years ago, a couple of us were pregnant and last year someone else was pregnant and this year, their infant daughter was totally adorable sucking on the bottom of her iced tea cup to soothe while I was vastly pregnant. I am remiss that we didn’t take a group photo and that had something to do with me being diverted by the Say Hello! Sweets truck I saw on the way to the playground.
I queued up alone and was excited to share Say Hello! with NPY even if I wasn’t sure he’d like it. Sometimes the substitutions are pretty apparent. I wasn’t going to make the mistake of getting something fruity as when I tried their strawberry shortcake ice cream sandwich last year and did not enjoy it. I wanted to get a coffee ice cream sandwich and a mint chip ice cream scoop but they were out of the coffee ice cream sandwich (but not strawberry) and I simply got a mint chip scoop. NPY could detect the coconut flavour and rejected it but kiddo enjoyed it. So I’m learning what the kiddo will accept – Say Hello! coconut ice cream is a yes, store-bought almond milk ice cream is a no. (1 July)
BAKE49 & Angus T (15 July & May 17 & Apr 25)
Following our delicious vegan bowls at The Juice Truck, Andrea and I stopped in the two shops we noted on our way between the train station and The Juice Truck. First we stopped in Angus T that specializes in croissants where Andrea picked up her usual go-to, a kouign amann, and I got a matcha croissant. Then we stopped in BAKE49 with the Japanese (Sapporo) style cheese tarts and shared one in the shop – it was sinfully delicious so warm and melty and creamy and sweet.
Since neither of the baked goods made it home, I made one of my post-lunch walks (walk down my blood sugar due to god-damn gestational diabetes) to Yaletown to pick up another cheese tart and croissant to bring home.
I have no idea how long Milkcow has been open but I know it took us a long while to get there. Since we are much more lax about kiddo having ice cream and we like it so very much and aren’t opposed to trying the premium shops, it’s not hard to petition to try out a store, especially if I’m doing the itinerary as I usually do. So we were at Milkcow of watermelon ice cream sandwich fame (to me) and when I looked at the menu and considered what we can order that can be shared with kiddo, the choices quickly narrow – no coffee or tea flavours so it was some basic chocolate-basec creation.
I marvel that Milkcow reminds me of Honeymee which we thought was kind of like Soft Peaks – in fact, their cups looks about the same as do the branding. (Apr 19)
At some family dinner, I heard cousins-in-law talking about queuing up for over an hour for Xing Fu Tang when it was new and for a while, I couldn’t even figure out which bubble tea shop they were talking about as there is also a Kung Fu tea shop and several over new bubble tea shops in Cambie Village as well as Xing Fu. We stopped by a new location on Kingsway and NPY popped inside to get a drink. We figured we’d just try their flagship product that highlights their stir-fried brown sugar pearl which I realized we got a preview of in the form of honey boba in LA. NPY got the brown sugar milk instead of brown sugar milk tea so I was sadly missing the tea aspect and flavour but through what essentially was sweetened cold milk, I got the gist of this brown sugar pearl craze which apparently is turning at at every bubble tea shop now, just to keep up with times.
As with soft serve cups, I’m also seeing a convergence in these smaller boba cups with the rounded bottoms. Cute but it’s nice to have a smaller format of bubble tea offered compared to the traditional 16 ounces, but – holy – what bad value! (28 April)
Oh, the dangers of working in a buiding kitty corner to a Bel Cafe. I follow them on social media and so I’m all over it when they have a new pastry or drink. For Hot Chocolate Festival this year, I went to just one and it was Bel Cafe. Mind you, I don’t try everything they roll out that is new – I know where my interests lie. But my favourites were the churro croissant, sausage and apple chausson and Vietnamese coffee. (Various dates)
Cacao 70 Sweet House – Granville (11 June)
My justifications to go for dessert are just insane – I have a problem, I know. So I was thinking that I wouldn’t be at work for 18 months, I could visit the Cacao 70 location near work finally. It also happened that I saw a Daily Hive post that shared that Cacao had a promo for $3 dipped cones (cf usually $4.75). So I was there the next day! Instead of getting an Asian-flavoured (I think I got black sesame last time), I got coffee which was lovely and strong in flavour and grainy. I even admired how the employee didn’t get the dip to spread evenly on her first try and she threw out the whole cone! However, the soft serve ice cream was really blah.
Dipped Doughnut – Westbank’s The Shipping Container Series (12 June)
Raspberry Jelly Filled, Maple Dipped – got jelly filled for NPY and enjoyed maple dipped myself – good old-fashioned flavour, greasy – heard about them on Erin Ireland’s IG feel – bet she gets samples so she can talk about it so positively – he kept asking where the donut was from and I kept saying Dipped Doughnuts, which isn’t a storefront (because they don’t have one) that he’s familiar with. I didn’t want to tell him it’s vegan because that would predispose him against it and even when I ask him, he usually hedges his bets, tamps down his enthusiasm. He said, “That’s not a jelly donut!” Why? Because it’s not sugar crystal coated like at Tim’s or Swiss Bakery? He said I would usually tell him more about the background, like where the bakery is. Shrugs? Pretty sure it’s around Vancouver.
