Eat me!: Deep-fried ice cream

The things I do for my readers!

Over a span of six days, I've tried three different kinds of deep-fried ice cream -- on a full stomach -- just so that I could give you accurate comparison of the three.

My somewhat painful taste test unintentionally began last Saturday, when, after giving up on ever trying deep-fried ice cream at Belgian Fries (1803 Commercial Drive) -- they never have any available when I'm in the area -- I dropped by Andales Mexican Restaurant (1175 Davie St.) and had some chocolate ice cream fried up Mexican-style, with a coating of cornflake crumbs. It was a ball the size of a fist, served in a glass cup, and looked like the one below, minus the whipped cream.

I had it with three friends, and none of us liked it very much -- out of the many things we had to eat that day (which included green tea shaved ice dessert, hamburg, saba, tuna belly donburi, and pumpkin banitzel) it was the dish we liked the least -- S. thought it was too greasy; K. and I didn't notice the grease, but still didn't think it was very good. Deep-fried cornflakes just don't taste that great.

The restaurant had both chocolate and vanilla ice cream options. The chocolate Baskin-Robbins ice cream we went with was the best part, and tasted better alone than mixed with the crunchy cornflakes (which got soggy as the ice cream melted). For $4.99 (plus tax and tip), it wasn't really worth it -- but I was happy because I finally got to try deep-fried ice cream.

So I was super-annoyed when I arrived at the Richmond Night Market today and saw that not one, but two stalls were selling deep-fried ice cream, for far lower than the $4.99 price both Belgian Fries and Andales charge.

I wasn't going to buy any -- given my disappointing first experience, and the fact that I had no one to split the ice cream with, since the friend I was supposed to come with couldn't make it --but it seemed like everyone I passed was talking about the deep-fried ice cream, either to comment about it, to talk about getting some later, or to buy some there and then. I felt obligated to try some just so that I could tell you about them.

By the time I'd decided to do my deep-fried ice cream taste test, I'd already consumed a green tea tiramisu, black sesame crème brûlée, and "red bean sherbet" (a shaved ice dessert with red beans, fruit cocktail, rice powder condensed milk, and strawberry syrup). So I was pretty darn full. (Note: Going to the Night Market without an eating buddy or two is a baaad idea.)

I tried the Japanese/Chinese-style fried ice cream first. The stall was selling two kinds -- strawberry and vanilla. I opted for strawberry, knowing that the other stall only offered vanilla.

Watching ice cream being fried is somewhat disturbing. The ice cream was coated in a white dough that the vendor described as "butter and bread", and then dipped into a huge pot of oil, where it was dunked repeatedly until it was cooked to form a crisp, golden shell. The dessert was served in a cup with a piece of napkin in it to soak up some of the grease, and the grease was very visible when I first got it, though it sank into the dough and disappeared after awhile. I can't find anything that looks exactly like it -- it's kind of like a rectangular pillow of tempura, with no garnish of whipped cream on it or anything. The pic below is the closest one I can find.

I didn't think it was going to taste very good -- it's essentially an ice-cream-filled donut, and when you eat the sections individually, neither part is that great. But when you get just the right amount of each together, oh my is it good.

I recommend doing away with the spoon and just biting right into the pastry and ice cream, as the spoon is really only good for scooping up the ice cream part. It was worth the $2.50 I paid for it. This was advertised as the "promotional price for today only" -- the vendor said that they would be raising the price to $3.50. The signs didn't look like they'd been changed from any other day, however, so if you end up going to the Night Market sometime this summer, let us know if the price really does go up.

Feeling slightly queasy from eating so much rich, sweet stuff, I waddled back to the dessert place where I'd gotten my first two desserts to try their deep-fried ice cream. It was $3 for one dessert, or 2 for $5, so I bought a "dragon" fried ice cream and chocolate-dipped pistachio cheesecake. That stall gives a coupon for free dessert at the Boathouse Restaurant in Richmond for every two desserts you purchase, so I came away with two free dessert coupons.

I had initally thought that their deep-fried ice cream was coated with cornflakes, but the vendor said it was coated with a mix of things. I think those things might have been cookie crumbs. The ball came topped with whipped cream and two chopped quarters of strawberry.

How good their version of fried ice cream tasted was also a matter of getting the right mix of everything in a bite -- without the strawberries and whipped cream, it wasn't that great, but with it, it was quite tasty -- at least better than the one at Andales.

When it came time to go home, I met my little sister, T. outside, and it turned out that she had opted to buy a deep-fried ice cream too -- the vanilla tempura version that I hadn't tried, so I had a bite of that as well. Unfortunately, all I got was a lump of dough with a spot of ice cream melted into it, so I wasn't able to gauge how good that was. T. thought it was alright.

So now I've tried every kind of deep-fried ice cream there is: coated with cornflakes, tempura batter, and cookie bits, with chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla ice cream. Of the three, I'd have to say that the one made with tempura batter was surprisingly my favourite -- I say "surprisingly" because I almost didn't buy it because it looked so unappetizing. It doesn't help that you see it being made right in front of you, so that there's no fooling yourself about its fat content.

The tempura-batter guys don't have a store, and I don't know where else in the city you can get deep-fried ice cream made in that style, so if you're hankering to try some, you'd better head over to the Night Market sometime this summer before they're gone.

While you're there, I recommend trying one of the desserts at the other stall -- I.C. Desserts. Their mini-desserts are all $3 each, or 2 for $5 (with some on special today for $2, as a Canada Day special). I thought their green tea parfait and black sesame crème brûlée were amazing. They torch the crème brûlée right in front of you.

The chocolate on the chocolate-dipped pistachio cheesecake was really good, but I couldn't really taste the pistachio cheesecake. That could very well have been due to the numbing effect all the sweet stuff I'd already eaten before might have had on my tastebuds.

Anyway, I recommend that stall. The photo above is taken from their Facebook site, and all three of the items I mentioned are pictured.

And just so you know, the shaved ice dessert I had at the Hurricane Potato Fries stall was good, but not fantastic, because the ice was more like small pebbles than fine shavings -- and the ice makes all the difference. The toppings were great though -- a huge scoop of red beans, some fruit cocktail and strawberries, a small scoop of rice powder, with big squirts of condensed milk and strawberry syrup on top, all for $3. It was a smaller portion than you'd get at a restaurant (about a cup and a half?), but given the amount of eating you'll probably end up doing at the Night Market, it's not bad.

If you've been to the Night Market (in either Richmond or Chinatown) this year and tried anything particularly good, tell us about it, and if you try either or both of the fried ice creams there, be sure to give us your take.

As well, if you've tried any other deep-fried desserts -- like deep-fried Oreos or deep-fried Coke -- let us know if they're worth trying!

I can attest to the yumminess of deep-fried mars bars and fried jam sandwiches!

Make sure to leave a good chunk of stomach space for them! :P

Eat me!: Maple Twist cones

In less than three months, I will be just a bus ride away from one of Canada's hottest food spots -- Montréal!

For nine whole months (from September to May), I'll be working as a "Language Assistant" in a region that's apparently just south of the city.

It will be a time of exploring the culinary delights of York, Waterloo, and Toronto during my breaks -- MJ and Tiff, you'd better start preparing lists of places to eat at!

For the most part, however, I'll probably be stuffing my face in Montréal, with the best crème brûlée (from Au Pain Doré), smoked meat sandwiches (from Schwartz's and La Roi du Smoked Meat -- how's that for franglais?), poutine with barbecue sauce (this variant is fabulous!), sugar pie, Montreal-style bagels, tourtière, maple syrup pie, and much, much more.

For an authentically quebecois treat that you don't have to travel to the East Coast to experience, head to Anny's Dairy Bar (722 6th Street) in New Westminster to try out the restaurant's maple twist cone.

Think rich, creamy soft-serve made with real cream (not ice milk!), swirled with 100% real Canadian maple butter (see above).

The owner, Anny Faucher (pictured below) apparently brings in all the cone's ingredients from Quebec, including the ice cream, as well as fresh maple butter from her family's own sugar shacks.

Anny owns the BC patent for the "maple injector" (invented by her former boss at a Quebec ice cream shop, to inject a swirl of real maple butter into a soft serve ice cream cone to create "La Crème Glacée à L'érable").

This means that Anny's is the only place that serves this treat in the Lower Mainland.

Ninety-nine percent of Anny's customers come for the Maple Twist. "Because it's good. And it's unique."

I tried the cone last Saturday, and personally don't quite understand the hype.

I thought that the parts with maple butter were quite tasty, but considering that 90+% of the ice cream was just plain vanilla, I was rather disappointed.

Maybe I'm just not used to eating really rich ice cream -- the texture may have taken away from the taste -- but I didn't really find the vanilla to be flavourful enough. I spent more time probing for maple butter than actually really getting to enjoy the treat.

I should, however, mention that I have a ginormous sweet tooth and actually prefer less rich and creamy foods, so if your tastes lean more toward high-fat, low-sugar desserts, this may be just the treat for you!

This reviewer appears to agree that the cone could use more maple butter, while this Yelper loved it as it was.

The only way to find out which way your tastebuds swing is to try it!

As the sign hanging above Anny's -- which lured me into the shop in the first place -- indicates (as does an article run by the Vancouver Sun last year), Maple Twist cones are only available in New Westminster.

If you're planning on trying it and can suppress your ice cream urges for just a few more days, I should have a list of other New Westminster must-trys up by then: Having just started volunteering for the Tourism New Westminster's Visitor Centre as a "Visitor Centre Counsellor" (the "counselling" meaning giving advice about the city), I've been scouring the city restaurants and shops, and there's actually a lot of great food finds available -- if you know where to look.

Anny's also has a selection of French-Canadian fare -- one reviewer mentioned it has "the best Montreal (authentic) smoked meat sandwiches", "delicious poutine with homemade thick-cut french fries and real cheese curds ... directly imported from the province of Quebec" [see example of real poutine from Quebec, courtesy of Google, below], and "fresh, homemade cheeseburgers". The review is two years old, but two New Westminster residents have told me that the food really is quite amazing. They have "Quebec"-style hot dogs as well (it's all in the toppings), and apparently even the pastrami Anny uses in her sandwiches has been brought in from Quebec.

With La Zizanie closed, I'd suggest giving Anny's a try if my potential future posts on Quebec food start inciting cravings for delicious French-Canadian food. There are a number of other French-Canadian restaurants dotting the Lower Mainland, but I have yet to hear of any that are particularly amazing.

If you end up getting the Maple Twist cone or have already tried it, be sure to give us your take!
Also, drop me a line if you know of any other "secret spot" in New West -- just last night, a friend told me that she'd heard that the city could very well be home to the most authentic Mexican restaurant in the Lower Mainland. If that ends up being true, I'll definitely be writing more on that later.

À bientôt!

Eat me! / Menu review: The Clubhouse Restaurant

Before heading to bed to rest up for EAT! Vancouver tomorrow,I feel compelled to stay up and let you in on an old "secret spot" of mine I'd forgotten about until today, when D. stopped there to grab some dinner and I came along for the ride (literally, since she was driving me home from hot yoga).

I first discovered The Clubhouse Restaurant (255 West 2nd Avenue; see dinehere.ca for reviews) back while I was interning for WHERE Vancouver Magazine -- a shopping, dining, and entertainment magazine housed on Spruce St., just a few blocks away. It was one of my coworker's favourite dining spots. So I gave it a try.

It was so good, I created a new listing for it under the magazine's Japanese restaurant category.

I still remember exactly what I had. My friend, J., and I ordered and shared the beef okonomoyaki (one of the specials that day, on for only $6.95), the oh! avocado (baked avocado with seafood & cheese -- kind of like oyster motoyaki, only with avocado; $5.95), the "rockin' ross" cream cheese sushi roll (prawn tempura, sweet potato, BBQ salmon skin, cream cheese & asparagus; $5.75), and the azuki red beans with ice cream dessert ($3.00 or $3.50 -- I can't remember).

All of the dishes were delicious.

Nowadays, you can find okonomiyaki (Japanese-style pizza) at numerous places. The selection at the Clubhouse, however, is particularly huge -- there are 17 different kinds (including natto {fermented soybean}, mochi, pork gyoza, scallop, and mixed meat), with the option of paying extra to add kimchi, mochi, cheese, or yakisoba. The beef version we had was our favourite dish of the evening. Please note that the image featured below wasn't taken at The Clubhouse (I didn't dine there today, but it looks very similar to what we were served).

In terms of the cream cheese roll, I must say that adding that tiny dollop of cheese to sushi makes all the difference. I definitely recommend trying it at least once -- if not here, at least at another sushi restaurant.

But the real point of this post was to talk about the dessert item that is, sadly, no longer on The Clubhouse menu: sweet azuki red beans atop a huge dollap of vanilla ice cream.

I must admit, when the dessert first arrived at our table, I was a bit disappointed by the simplicity of its appearance -- $3.50 for just a scoop of ice cream and some beans?

Those red beans ended up being some of the best I've ever tasted. Larger, sweeter, and far tastier than any of the kind I've had served on the numerous ice desserts I've consumed (and I've eaten a lot!) or I've seen sold ready-made in plastic sachets or glass bottles at the grocery store, they were perfectly complemented by the mildly sweet and refreshing vanilla ice cream.

Noticing its absence from the dessert menu while waiting for D's order of sushi to arrive, I learned from the owner, Karen, that it had been taken off the menu because too many of the restaurant's customers don't like red bean and kept asking for vanilla ice cream alone, and because the dish is so labour-intensive.

It takes four to five hours to make!

Apparently, making those beans involves a long, complex process that begins with buying the right beans. They buy special dried dessert red beans and take care to choose only those of the right size (not too small or too big). They then have to take those beans and soak them for around four to five days, changing the water twice a day. When they're finally ready to cook, they need to be boiled for upwards of five hours, and then mixed with three types of sugar (white, brown, and "Chinese" sugar). After that, the cook has to determine how sweet the beans should be, bearing in mind that their level of sweetness will fade after being stored in the cooler.

While Karen was kind enough to share this recipe with me, she emphasized that I'd probably have to make the dish many times before hitting upon just the right proportion of sugar, water, and beans.

So, it's safe to say that I probably won't ever attempt it. ;)

All that work for something that sells for only $3.50!

I'm glad I got to try it before it was pulled. I turned down Karen's generous offer to make some for me for a future visit -- if it's really that hard to make, I'd rather have her make it for a much larger group to make it worth her while.

So, if you like red beans, are planning a large gathering, and have The Clubhouse on your list of places to try, consider calling ahead for the red bean and ice cream dessert.

Sometimes those items that look sweet and simple are some of the most complex and satisfying dishes you can try, and I'd definitely say that this dessert fits the bill.

Before dessert, go for the tuna steak ponzu and agedashi tofu. Karen says she can eat them every day, and that some people come just for the tofu.

The Clubhouse has whole menus of daily specials every day -- be warned though: my quick comparison of Friday's daily specials and the regular menu revealed that some of their "specials" are the same price as what they go for regularly. The restaurant used to post its daily special menus on its website, but seems to have taken down almost all the information it used to have. Guess you'll just have to come down and see the specials for yourself!

If you've tried The Clubhouse or know of another place that offers great red bean desserts, fill us in!

Eat me!: Queso (cheese!) ice cream -- sarap (yummy)!

Today, in celebration of mother's day, my family and I went over to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner. Since a big chunk of my extended family (12 of them) had just come back from an Alaskan cruise and the dinner had been planned literally on the day of, there was sadly no sugary lasagna or yummy homemade Filipino desserts on the buffet array (I guess I'll have to save those subjects for another time).

Luckily, there was one particular item on the dessert table that I often talk about and don't get to eat enough of -- queso (cheese) ice cream!

Heart2Heart describes queso as "The Pinoy's version of a cheese desset (sic). Fresh cheese blended in creamy, milky sorbetes (sic) and dotted with "cheese" bits as how Pinoys know and love it."

The first time I encountered cheese ice cream, I had the same reaction as what you're probably experiencing now. "Cheese (and corn) ice cream? Seriously?" (This was a Magnolia-brand ice cream not featured above, and was basically the same ice cream dotted with corn bits). It was soooooo good. Unless you hate cheese or are lactose intolerant, you need to try this flavour. Heck, try it even if you don't like cheese -- it's that good. Everyone I know who's tried cheese ice cream has been instantly converted. It's now one of my favourite flavours of ice cream.

Of the three brands I've mentioned (Selecta, Magnolia, and Arce Dairy), I think that Selecta is the best by far (just look at the picture!!). My mom attests to it, and she's grown up with the brands.

Selecta is an offshoot of Arce Dairy. I don't know why, but it's soooo much better than its parent company. Magnolia is super-popular in Asia. Apparently, people from Hong Kong buy lots and lots when they visit the Philippines, and bring it back with them by packing it in boxes of ice (the flight is short enough for it to last without melting away).
Today was my first chance to try the Arce Dairy version of queso ice cream. It was very good, but it doesn't have the yummy cheese bits and rich creamy texture that Selecta has.

The only place I've seen that sells the Selecta and Arce Dairy brands of queso ice cream is my uncle's dollar store (the 99 cent store, across from the McDonald's located across from Landsdowne Mall in Richmond). I think that they go for about $11.99 for a litre, and it's well worth trying!

Mais-Queso ice cream by Magnolia is much easier to find -- it's in a lot of the small Filipino shops around Vancouver. If you want just a scoop, you can go to Rekados on Main Street, where I think they sell three scoops as one of their dessert items, one of which is queso. I have no idea what brand it is, however, and it's pretty pricey (over $5). The advantage is that you get to try ube and I think langka-flavoured ice cream as well. I would go for the tub. Look for this, if the thought of corn and cheese intrigues you:

**I will qualify this post by mentioning that a colleague just caught a glimpse of my post and commented that queso ice cream "is nasty and tastes like nacho cheese". I beg to differ, but be warned -- you might not enjoy it as much as I and my relatives do!**

Mango, ube (purple yam), macapuno (coconut), ube-macapuno (purple yam and coconut marble), and langka (jackfruit), are other flavours I would recommend trying.

Are there any interesting/delicious flavours/brands/kinds of ice cream that have particularly impressed you?

La Casa Gelato (the gelato place on Clark and Venables with the insane amount of flavours) has closed, so if you can recommend other spots for neat flavours, please do so!