Paradise Helicopters

Paradise helicopters was a phenomenal experience! I’ve watched almost every season of The Bachelor, and the whole time I felt like I was living the experience I always see on the television, seeing the amazing scenery of the Big Island. I was a little nervous beforehand going in the helicopter, but I felt very safe and in good hands with Paradise helicopters. Our flights got cancelled a couple of times, but third time was a charm! Although our flight got cancelled due to weather conditions, the first couple of times, the customer service was amazing and very accommodating. I would HIGHLY recommend this helicopter experience from the time you walk in to the time you leave, you are treated very very well! Our trip would not have been the same, or as enjoyable, if we did not do the Paradise Helicopters tour! What an amazing company, with friendly staff!

Sincerely,

Brenna, Jaimee, and Natalie

The Battle of the Japanese Restaurants!

The Battle of the Japanese Restaurant’s is on! Tokachi Japanese Restaurant located in Surrey Central (aka Whalley, aka The Hood) and Akari Japanese Restaurant located in Delta! So, which one won?

This was my first time at Tokachi Japanese Restaurant located around Gateway Skytrain Station. Upon entry i noticed how big the restaurant was and how they had those private seating areas where you have to take off your shoes! I clearly chose the private seating area because I love when Japanese restaurants offer that. I should note the restaurant was pretty empty except for a table or two, but it was 9pm at night! The service was great! Our waitress was on top of the water and tea and every time she left our table she would bow. But I would love to go back during busy hours to compare the service.

At Tokachi I ordered Prawn Sunomono, House Roll, and Chopped Scallop.

The Prawn Sunomono was delicious, it was cold and had a great flavour. It was quite a basic Sunomono, but it was done perfectly!

The House Roll was really delicious. Usually at Japanese Restaurants I get a special roll, but at Tokachi it is more old school traditional sushi so they don’t have the special rolls. But they totally made up for it with this flavourful roll. It has avocado, steamed prawn, and was topped with smoked salmon! The smoked salmon was very fresh! The chopped scallop nigiri I got was very nice and a good size, but not very spicy.

(Chopped Scallop in bottom right corner)

Now Akari Japanese Restaurant!

Akari I have been to many many times. They as well have private seating, but you wear your shoes in the booth. The service can be slow, but recently it has been getting better when the young owner is there. Here they have black rice and have special rolls! (Two things Tokachi lacked)

I got the same thing as I did at Tokachi to truly judge the difference (Prawn Sunomono, House Roll, Chopped Scallop Nigiri, and an addition of Prawn Gyoza).

I really like the Prawn Sunomono from Akari! I love how they add shredded beets and have radishes in them. The vinaigrette sauce again is done perfectly where it isn’t too overpowering! The only downfall is the size of the sunomono and the size of the prawns! I wish they were both bigger!

The House Roll is good with LOTS of crab and avocado. It came with steamed prawn and smoked salmon on top. It was a good roll, but there was a lack of smoked salmon on top and it needed more. The Chopped Scallop Nigiri lacked lacked flavour and was quite small!

(Chopped Scallop Nigiri in top left corner)

Ebi Gyoza I was not impressed with. All it was, was prawn wrapped in Gyoza sheet, which was quite thick. At other Japanese restaurants they usually add something with the Ebi Gyoza, but this was just prawn wrapped in a Gyoza sheet.

Overall, I would say Tokachi Japanese Restaurant WON this battle. From service to the food everything was on point!

Tokachi is located at:

10767 King George Blvd
Surrey, BC
(604) 951-3800

Akari is located at:

7261 120 Street, Delta, BC V4C 6P5
(604) 590-1192

Arancino

Where’s the first stop you go when you arrive in Hawaii after a 6 hour flight? No, not the beach… You go to Arancino for great service, food, and atmosphere! My favourite Arancino restaurant is on Beach Walk (except I have been to the new Kahala location). The reason I like the Beach Walk location is it is a tiny restaurant that is nice and quaint with the tables packed in to make you feel like your in family run restaurant in Italy. But Arancino Di Mare does have a couple more options to choose from that the Beach Walk does not and is a lot bigger!

Beach Walk location… Take 10 minutes before they open(5pm) and there is already a line!

(Usually PACKED, but we got here right when they opened)

Before we get to the appetizers and main course let’s start off with the bread… This bread is really yummy!! Served with corse salt and rosemary on top it comes to the table warm and in squares perfect for dipping. Now every time I go to Arancino I always see one table just eat the bread the way it is. But if you look on your table you have olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette along with a plate (no this isn’t for show) What you do is you pour the olive oil in the dish and add some balsamic and you dip that delicious bread. I wish they would explain this to their customers like they did to us our very first visit a couple years ago… but they just leave customers missing out on the best part!

Okay, appetizer time!

Pictured below is the Brushetta Al Pomodoro which is roma tomatoes marinated with garlic on a crostini topped with paramasean and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic. This was a great sharing plate as it was messy and a good starter to the meal as it wasn’t filling. I really enjoyed this appetizer as everything went together very nicely.

Next we had the Insalata Alla Caparese which was Italian Mozzarella on top of Hamakua Tomatoes and basil. I really liked the Mozarella as it was so moist and so delicious! The tomatoes were my least favourite part. They were crunchy and fresh but I thought they were a little bland. I also wish there was more flavour to the basil as I feel like the basil adds flavour, but it fell short.

Out of the two appetizers I would go with the Brushetta Al Pomodoro as everything went really nicely with one another.

Next up is the main course! And the reason we keep coming back! The lasagna is too die for! This homemade lasagna is some of the best I have had! (And note I have been to Italy before). This lasagna is very meaty and cheese. It comes baked in a delicious meat sauce and you can get fresh grated parmesan on top as well! You cannot go wrong with this dish!

Note: They don’t take reservations after 5:30pm!

Arancino Beach Walk
255 Beach Walk, Honolulu, HI 96815, United States
+1 808-923-5557

Arancino Di Mare
2552 Kalakaua Avenue
Honolulu HI 96815
808.931.6273

Arancino at The Kahala Hotel & Resort
5000 Kahala Avenue
Honolulu HI 96816
808.380.4400

Lappert’s Hawaii

I’ve never been one to crave ice cream. I’m more of a warm cookie and cake kinda person. However, the odd time I enjoy ice cream. Well, that is until I tried Lappert’s Ice Cream… in which I crave everyday! I would be lying if I said I didn’t have Lapperts every night for dessert (okay, well maybe except three times), but besides that I was Lappert’s number one customer. Not only do they serve ice cream, they also have really delicious looking sundaes, cookies, brownies, and hot beverages. This place always has a line of people and now I know why!

Here pictured is the blonde brownie (I believe that’s what it was called) topped with chopped Macadamia Nuts. It was very yummy, quite sweet (may be one to share) but not as soft as I would have liked it… But the ice cream is something to write home about!

The ice cream is so creamy and delicious! When there are so many flavours to choose from it can make the process a little slow, but even with a line your never waiting long! My ultimate all time favourite ice cream from Lappert’s is the Cookie Dough Ice Cream!  It’s not just ANY Cookie Dough ice cream where majority is ice cream and then you get a couple pieces of cookie dough. No. This ice cream comes with MASSIVE chunks of cookie dough pieces and pieces of milk chocolate pieces. Now if you ask them you would like more cookie dough, they try and get you the biggest chunks (I have photos to prove it!)

(The photo to prove the MASSIVE CHUNKS of cookie dough)

Another one of my faves is Caramel Cashew Turtle Cluster. This one has caramel sauce, and peanut butter chunks. Pure deliciousness. I did try other flavours as well, but I kept coming back to the Cookie Dough and Caramel Cashew Turtle Cluster.

All ice cream from Lappert’s is delicious! The price is a little steep, but it is totally worth it!

Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, 2005 Kalia Road
Honolulu, HI, United States
+1 808-943-0256

(Right across from the Lobby at the Hilton Hawaiian Village)

Ocean House Restaurant

I’m not sure what is up with the service or food for breakfast at the Ocean House Restaurant… but the dinner is much better! My mother and I enjoyed a delicious dinner at Ocean House.

Service for dinner was great. Water was brought consistently served was warm and our server was nice. To start we were served warm bread that came with butter and topped with Pink Himalayan salt. This was fresh baked bread that you definitely do not want to fill up on or you may ruin your delicious meal.

Pictured are the Coconut Lobster Skewers. My mom who is not a fan of fish, except white fish (such as cod or halibut… aka fish n’ chips) even like the Coconut Lobster Skewers. Fresh lobster breaded in a coconut coating and accompanied with a sweet chili lime sauce that is just DELICIOUS with it!

I got the Curly Kale Salad which came with strawberries, avocado, and papaya and had a papaya poppy seed dressing. I really enjoyed the salad. Very fresh and flavourful. The sauce tasted delicious with the salad and was tossed nicely. The dressing to me tasted more like Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (which is my favourite dressing).

My mother got the Grilled Breast of Chicken that came with a wild mushroom sauce and saffron vegetable quinoa. But my mom opted out of the quinoa and instead got rice. The chicken was nicely BBQ, but the taste was a little off. I found the mushroom sauce to be quite overpowering. It tasted more of a wine mushroom sauce (yes that overpowering).

Now… Breakfast… Im not sure what the change in service or food is, but it is quite the change. Our server was very short and was not overly friendly and slow. First off, our water was brought to us about 2 minutes before our food arrived. We asked multiple times for water, but I guess they were too busy as they had about 5 tables to serve and their were 2 servers (sarcasm at its best? haha).

My mom ordered the Belgian Waffle with banana and for $2 more she got Macadamia Nut Syrup (made in house). The waffle was moist, and the syrup was good and was topped with toasted coconut flakes. But as you can see from the photo they lacked in banana department, and more syrup would have been nice since the syrup was very thick and not syrup like at all. The syrup was more like a thick gravy consistency.

I ordered just a basic breakfast with two eggs, portuguese sausages, rosemary roasted potato, and toast (toast not pictured). My meal was good, the only complaint I have about my meal were the potatoes were VERY salty. I’m not sure where the rosemary was, but the taste was lacking in that category.

Overall, the dinners are much better at Ocean House Restaurant than the breakfasts, but I remember when I went here a couple years ago the food was better then we experienced this trip.

Waikiki Christmas Store, 2169 Kalia Road, Honolulu, HI 96815, United States
+1 808-923-2277

Tucker and Bevvy

Another Waikiki breakfast spot that is a MUST is Tucker & Bevvy! They have two locations which are both equally exceptional! Tucker & Bevvy Breakfast is more of a restaurant style dining, only serving breakfast until 2pm. Here they have pancakes, omelettes, and eggs benedict. While at Tucker & Bevvy Picnic Food they offer sandwiches, panini’s, yogurts, and breakfast options (panini’s). There are places to sit down, but it is more cafeteria style and they are open till 8pm!

Tucker and Bevvy Picnic Food

Tucker and Bevvy Picnic Food

I love the two restaurants because they both offer very unique items and don’t offer the same at each location! However, at both places they offer smoothies, fresh pressed juices, and their delicious loafs! They aren’t exactly centrally located to the Waikiki core so if you are staying near the Hilton Hawaiian Hotel it may take you about 30 minutes by foot. Tucker and Bevvy Picnic food is near the Honolulu zoo, while Tucker and Bevvy breakfast is probably about a 15 minute walk from Tucker and Bevvy picnic (on the 2nd floor). Service is fast and friendly and very clean!

The three times I came to Tucker and Bevvy I got the freshly squeezed orange juice! It was so delicious! And to be perfectly honest I am not a fan of orange juice.. or oranges… But I got it because I was coming down with a cold! But this juice was so creamy and frothy!!!! I am now asking for a juicer for Christmas… So I’m really hoping I can recreate this orange juice!

The Mango Macadamia Nut bread is a MUST! Thank god they offer it at both locations because it is one of my favourites! Served warm this bread is so moist! No need for butter it taste just the way it is. Although there is Mango in it you can’t actually taste the mango (which I am totally okay with because I love the taste of Macadamia Nut!) It is served with chopped up Macadamia Nuts on top to add a crunchy texture.

The Special Fried Rice with brown rice, kale, bacon, tomato, and red onion is served ONLY at Tucker and Bevvy Breakfast. This was really delicious. It reminded me of a Loco Moco without the heavy gravy. The bacon was deliciously crispy and the onions were caramelized!

The Island Style Omelette was another favourite. Served with lots of Portuguese sausage, cherry tomatoes, scallions and Swiss cheese. It was a great portion and came with two pieces of toast! The omelette was thick and flavourful and came with a delicious amount of Swiss cheese!

Illim Special
(served only at Tucker and Bevvy Breakfast). Two fried eggs, bacon, and scratch bacon. Yup this sandwich is the breakfast burger! The BBQ sauce was VERY delicious with just the right amount and didn’t overpower the dish as you could still taste the bacon and the eggs. However, the salad it was served with was a little bland…

Kale and Butternut Squash wrap (Served only at Tucker and Bevvy Picnic food) was one heavy wrap! I got it for the plane ride home that day and boy was I one happy passenger when it came dinner time and everyone else was eating their free WestJet pretzels! This wrap had a hefty amount of kale, with a spicy hummus in the middle with chunks of sweet potato! YUM! It was great because it was fresh and healthy! It wasn’t soggy by the time I dug into it and I had bought it early that morning! The only downside to the wrap was that some bites only consisted of kale since the hummus and butternut squash was right in the centre! But I just ate the very Kale side first, then saved the best for last! Smart thinking! Oh also let me mention this is VEGAN! Yup Tucker and Bevvy caters to all!

Tucker and Bevvy BREAKFAST:

Hee Hing Plaza
449 Kapahulu Avenue, Suite 203
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815

(808) 732-0050

Tucker and Bevvy PICNIC FOOD

Park Shore Hotel
2586 Kalakaua Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815

(808) 922-0099

Heavenly Cafe

When on holidays finding healthy, local, fresh food is like searching for a diamond in the sand! When I’m on holidays I love to experience restaurants I can’t find back home because you can always find your average breakfast place like IHOP, or Denny’s. A restaurant nestled just off the main strip in Waikiki (Kalakaua Avenue) is Heavenly Cafe! Yes the name says it all it is HEAVENLY! It’s like a little piece of heaven in your mouth and I’m seriously having withdrawals from this place. This cute little cafe is very clean and very modern! It has outdoor and indoor seating and can get very busy and I can see why! They strive for local organic foods and the price isn’t exactly $4 for an English Muffin and coffee like you can get at McDonald’s, but its worth the price! Heavenly Cafe serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There breakfast are around $13, and they offer fresh pressed juices, homemade mojitos, and smoothies!

Pictured below is the Salmon and Spinach Eggs Benedict with a kale salad and topped with purple potatoes. The english muffin was a soft bread topped with fresh Salmon and a very flavourful hollandaise sauce. The hollandaise sauce was sweet and not overpowering. The eggs were cooked just right! A little runny just the way I like it! The salad was nice with the purple potatoes nothing special about the salad just simple and fresh. I did find that the Salmon did have a little bit more of a fishy taste then I like.

Yup, another Eggs Benedict was ordered… Can you tell I love my Eggs Benedict?! This one was the Kalua Pig Eggs Benedict. This one out of the two was my FAVOURITE! Why? Well it had SO much flavourful! The hawaiian pulled pork had a really delicious bbq sauce and the meat was so tender! Again the hollandaise sauce was amazing and so were the eggs. The Eggs Benedict will leave you licking your plate!

We also ordered the Big Island Banana and Chocolate French Toast because seriously you can never go wrong! I really liked this dish as well! There were 4 pieces of thickly cut bread, with chopped bananas and cacao powder and chocolate drizzle, with drizzle of honey (instead of syrup… seriously you won’t miss the maple syrup THIS TASTE SO MUCH BETTER) and a side of vanilla bean whipped cream. if your looking for something sweet this is the one! it’s not sickly sweet either!

Since we loved the Big Island Banana and Chocolate French Toast so much we decided to get the Mixed Berry French Toast next! This was equally delicious served with the vanilla bean whipped cream and honey drizzle. This had delicious fresh fruit such as strawberry, bananas, and blueberries. Between the two my personal favourite was the Banana and Chocolate because I am a chocolate lover! However, my mom liked the Fresh Fruit because she thought the Banana and Chocolate should have had more bananas.

The only down fall this place had was my mom said that the coffee was weak (I don’t drink coffee so I’m taking her word for this one… Cause to me ALL coffee taste the same). And for $5 the coffee seems a little excessive. But besides that this place is a must go to! Servers are friendly and food is just simply amazing!

342 Seaside Avenue,

Honolulu, HI 96815, United States

+1 808-923-1100

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot

Be prepared to feel like you may need to be carried out on a stretcher after your adventure at the Little Sheep Mongolian Grill Hot Pot, because if you didn’t already know before you sat down at your table this is an All-You-Can-Eat feast. It is a pretty good value if your ready to eat A LOT! It is $20 a person plus add $10 for the actual Hot Pot Broth, so your looking at a $27 meal! If this is your first time at Hot Pot (like mine) it is quite a fun evening getting to cook your own food in a broth with your own little stove at each table.

Mongolian Hot Pot service is pretty mediocre at the beginning of the night it was not very good service. It took them about 10 minutes to actually get to ask what we wanted to drink, we also seemed to get our food last. But as the night went on our waiters were way more attentive and made sure we got the food we had ordered and also answered any questions we had. Tip: Make a reservation as we didn’t have one so we sat outside on the patio (which is heated… but it wasn’t super warm!)

We got the Hot Pot Spicy broth and boy was it delicious! I enjoyed the broth just as much as the food! The broth had bay leaves, peppers, chestnuts, and garlic (and the garlic was sooo good we ate it plain!). For the food we ordered a whole array of stuff (which I didn’t take photos of because it was so much food!) We got sweet potato, mushrooms, sweet corn, and lettuce. Yes, lettuce and we cooked it in the hot pot… which was surprisingly good! We got mussels, squid, garlic beef, and tofu. All were great, but I reallllly enjoyed the garlic beef as it had great flavour and was very tender! Also, at Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot they have a sauces station in the middle of the restaurant (the waiters don’t tell you about it, but we found out about it as people kept coming back with little bowls). The sauces they offer are hot chili’s, peanut sauce, soy sauce, and chili oil… My personal favourite was the peanut sauce.

(Spicy Broth)

(One order of the squid… not yet cooked)

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot was very delicious! This was my first experience going to Hot Pot so I would definitely like to try some other Hot Pots to compare. But the food was fresh, however service was very mediocre.

This restaurant is located right across from Metrotown Mall at:

#200 – 4755 Kingsway Burnaby, BC V5H4W2

(604) 434-0001

 

 

Sprinkles Cupcakes

I once tried Sprinkles Cupcake about 4 years ago while I was in Los Angeles, and every time I thought about going back to L.A. I knew I had to go to Sprinkles. Until…. SPRINKLES CUPCAKES CAME TO LAS VEGAS! (Which I visit WAY more often then L.A.) Yup! That’s right Sprinkles is on The Strip in Las Vegas. Located in that new shopping district between the Flamingo and The Linq.

I actually am going to say I think the Sprinkles Cupcake location is actually better then the one in Beverly Hills. Here’s why… Sprinkles Cupcakes in Las Vegas not only has a cupcake shop… (you may want to sit down for this) but an ICE CREAM SHOP! Yup they accommodate to both cupcake lovers and ice cream lovers. So I had to get both!

The ice cream part of Sprinkles, has their daily flavours (so sometimes they don’t have the flavour you may want), but luckily for me they always have the Red Velvet. So I got the Red Velvet ice cream. Now you may want both ice cream and cupcakes! Well there ice cream actually has cupcake pieces inside! And if that isn’t enough you can actually get your favourite cupcake top, on top of your ice cream! This ice cream is creamy and simply the best of both worlds!

Now for the cupcakes! I think that Sprinkles has the BEST cupcakes! There are always so moist and every single bite is like a piece of heaven! The cupcake I got today was the Black and White. This cupcake surprisingly wasn’t overly sweet (or maybe I just have a big sweet tooth… which is slightly true) and was also soooo moist!

Sprinkles Cupcakes you will forever be my favourite store and thank you for coming to Las Vegas. Although I hope one day you make it out to Vancouver… Actually on second thought that probably wouldn’t be the best idea (I would be known as the cupcake lady who eats it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner).

Pho Stanley

Lately I have been craving some Wonton Soup and Salad Rolls so I decided to try Pho Stanley in North Delta and well it was pho good! This is my new favourite Vietnamese restaurant!

I decided to get take out so I could babysit my doggie and watch some Dr. Phil. When I arrived around 2pm to pick up my order (which was about 10 minutes) the place was quite busy! I ordered a salad roll and a small wonton soup! Let me first say the wonton soup was massive but I ate it all because it was too good to stop!

Salad rolls were de-licious! The salad roll had sliced pork, vermicelli noodles, lettuces, and shrimp this roll was fresh and I really loved the peanut sauce it came with. I could honestly just eat the peanut sauce out of the cup! I liked how on one side of the Salad roll was the pork and on the other side was the shrimp so each bite was delicious and not just noodles or lettuce!

Now the wonton soup. This soup was filled with wontons! Usually wonton soup is mostly just broth, but they did not cheap out on wontons! There were about 10 of them and they had so much flavour! The pork was moist, delicious, fresh and had a really nice seasoning. The broth was even tasty, not salty and not oily… just perfect!

(This was only half of the Wonton Soup)

So as I write this review I am contemplating going back for dinner (yup, that good!)

Pho Stanley is located at:

11184 84 Avenue

Delta, BC V4C2K4