604: Memphis Blues

Brutal review alert 🚨:

we ordered a bbq combo and a 1/2 lb brisket and here's my take:

• Ribs - dry

• Pulled pork - ridiculously dry

• Shrimp - not a fan of frozen shrimp..

• Brisket - good; it's fatty, it's moist and tender

• Corn bread - not crumbly enough

• Potato salad - needs more tang

• Slaw - I mean how do u screw up a slaw? so 👏🏼👏🏼

The server checked up on us and we gave our honest opinion n we told her that the pulled pork was too dry. her response was that the (dry) pulled pork is meant to be dipped with the bbq sauce.

In that case, we each need a 0.5 liter bottle of bbq sauce please!

They ended up giving us a big piece of their homemade peach pie (off from the menu) as an in house complimentary. It's very nice of them but I really don't think we will ever come back or would visit their other locations. They have several locations across of lower mainland and another location in Kelowna.

It's kinda sad when my homemade “bbq” ribs can be fall off the bone tender... or when u prefer Costco packaged bbq ribs over this.. But honestly speaking, their quality are much like franchise food - such as subway or like McDonalds. So don't expect much unless you are expecting to come here to get fast food items.

Location: Robson || Commercial || Abbotsford

Website: Menu & Locations

Price: $25-30 pp

Taste: 2.5/5

atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

seating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Price Performance ratio: 2.8/5

604: Chez Christophe (White Rock/ Burnaby)

I think I found my new favorite spot for a good croissant! Here I got the butter croissant, almond croissant and their famous croissant cube.

Butter Croissant (The Classic):

I am pleased to inform you all that their classic croissant has passed my butter croissant test:

✔ (1) the appearance - it should be puffy and volumized, with a flaky and golden exterior

✔ (2) it has a flaky exterior that crumbles under a knife or when you bite into it

✔ (3) it has a honeycomb appearance inside, but not filled with gigantic air pockets

✔ (4) it should smell and taste buttery

✔ (5) inside has a brioche texture. Remember croissant is a type of bread.. otherwise, it's just be puff pastry.

I learn from their staff that they get their pastries at 5 am and start baking at 6. They open at 9 so it means the croissants might have been sitting around for a few hours. Yet, they still hold their shape and crispiness!!!! Now that's some mind-blowing baking technique they have. 👏🏼

Overall, I'd give their classic croissant a full rating - 5/5 !

The Double Baked Almond Croissant:

I am also very pleased with their almond croissant and giving it a 4.9 out of 5.

It has passed nearly all of my almond croissant checklist:

✔ (1) it has a flaky exterior that crumbles under a knife or when you bite into it

✔ (2) Generous amount of toasted almonds

✔ (3) it should smell and taste buttery

☐ (4) It still has a bread texture

✔ (5) Reasonable amount of almond filling and a good almond aroma

✔ (6) It has the right amount of sweetness

I am glad that they didn't use the cheating method, as some bakeries do with the toasted almonds as a disguise to cover up the failed, soft, exterior of the croissant, but of course it does the trick by adding the crunch.

From the first bite, their almond croissant gives you a combination of crunchiness from the outer layer of the croissant and the crispiness from the toasted almonds. As you savour it a little longer, the butter flavour unfolds. When you take a deeper dive into the almond croissant, you get a mouthful of almond paste along with all that crunch. The centre of the croissant is combined with all that crispiness from the outer layer and accompanied with a soft almond filling that has the perfect amount of sweetness. The only drawback of this pastry is that it has a thin layer of bread texture and could be improved on. I know it's a lot going on, but I think by increasing the bread volume in this would make it just absolutely perfect. Overall, this is an amazing almond croissant that really demonstrated excellent baking skills.

The Croissant Cube:

I don't have a checklist for the cube because this is my first time trying a croissant cube, and boy, I was not expecting all that filling from it. (Turn on the volume for the video).

Out of the three products, I think this may be my favourite because I'm a s sucker for bread, and this cube has the most bread feel of all and the exterior was still so flaky. I think I read somewhere from their website that the filling changes daily based on the chef's choice. Today, they filled it with strawberry jam and custard. I was worried at first when I saw all that filling inside the cube, making it overly sweet or causing the cube to turn soggy, but I was so wrong. It had just the right amount of sweetness (even my Asian friends without the sweet tooth would approve of this) and the bread was perfectly moist without it being too damped.

So I'm giving a sold FIVE for this cube as well! And you guys know I'm super picky... a 5 is rare from Joyee and this place earned two 5's from me! That says a lot. So if y'all haven't been to Chez, please start driving over there now!

By the way, they have two locations. I was at their second location which is very close to me... but...oh, it's so dangerous!

Location: White Rock || Burnaby

Website: Here

Price:

$3.25 - butter croissant

$4.25 - croissant cube

$5.45 - almond croissant

Taste:

5 / 5- butter croissant

4.9 / 5 - croissant cube

5 /5 - almond croissant

atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️⭐️

seating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️

Price Performance ratio: 5/5

604: Cafe Eggstatic 雷亭 (Burnaby)

You'd be surprised, but I find that the average quality in the bubble waffle productions here actually exceeds the majority of the waffles I've had in HK. I remember having them occasionally when I was a child. My mom would buy me bubble waffles whenever we pass by a hawker stand (street food vendor). I can't remember if it tasted extra good because (a) they made better waffles or (b) I was less picky or (c) extra brownie points were given because of the experience, or possibly all of the above.

I was referred to this cafe for their amazing waffles. I can tell that they are extremely serious about their productions. Their batter is chilled in the fridge and then stored in an ice bucket of water.

Here, I ordered the classic flavor. It's pretty darn good and I am pretty confident to say that it's better than most bubble waffles in HK. It's made fresh and it's ultra crispy but you have to consume it quickly because the magic disappears at a rapid rate... I would prefer mine a little sweeter but I think most of my Asian friends may like this. Finally, I feel that there could be more fluff inside the bubbles. In my opinion, this is a great waffle but I actually prefer the waffles from bubble waffle cafe in Richmond (except for the Steveston location - it's never fresh; and I haven't tried other branches from other cities). it's a bit greasier but there are more substances, more fluff, and their crispiness holds a little longer. Also, the custard flavor is much stronger, making it tastier.

Btw, they also sell matcha bubble waffles with mochi filling. Can't comment on this one as I was pretty stuffed from the original waffle...

Location: Here

Price: $4.25 per waffle

Taste: 3.8 / 5

atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

seating: NA

Price Performance ratio: 4/5