TV Dinner Market & Cafe

Boy, haven't met up with Mijune in awhile, she is always travelling!  So before we headed to our dinner destination, we made a pit stop at TV Dinner Market & Cafe for a quick pre-dinner bite (and to catch up).  For those who aren't familiar, TV Dinner Market & Cafe is a quaint little spot on West 3rd at Burrard that offers a variety of ready-to-heat meals from some of the best vendors in the city.  In addition to that, they also have sandwiches (breakfast and lunch), cookies and coffee for those who want a quick meal to go or dine-in.  

Despite having dinner plans already, we couldn't resist ordering lots including a few breakfast sammies.  The Brisket Breakfast Sandwich featured a soft brioche bun with an over easy egg, beef brisket, pickled onion, garlic aioli and aged cheddar.  Sure, this was "only" a breakfast sandwich, but believe me, it was fantastic.  House-made and practically melted in my mouth, the brisket was meaty while not all that fatty.  Hence, it was even more impressive that it was so tender and soft.  The free-range egg was so perfect being custardy and runny.  Crunch and acidity were provided by the pickled onions.

As much as the brisket breakfast sammie was delicious and textually-pleasing, the Longanisa Breakfast Sandwich was even better.  The sweet and meaty patty was tender and nicely grilled.  I think the silky custardy texture of the egg yolk went even better with the Longanisa.  Some meats just go better with runny eggs right?  This had the same aged cheddar, soft brioche bun and garlic aioli, but instead of pickled onions, we found caramelized ones.  Although you might think that sweet on sweet may have not worked, I thought it did.  It was a different kind of sweetness from the onions, it had more richness and some smokiness.

For ours sandwiches, we had a couple where I tried the Rueben first.  This was a classic combination of house-made corned beef and sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and thousand islands dressing on Point Grey Bread.  Again not rocket science, but another well-constructed sandwich with quality ingredients.  The bread was beautifully toasted while the corned beef was buttery and meaty with restrained saltiness.  The sauerkraut added some crunch with a balancing tanginess.  Those house-made chips were super light and nutty.

We also had the Bulgogi Cheesesteak which was packed with thick-sliced sirloin, gochujang mayo, provolone and sauteed kimchi/onions/peppers.  As you can imagine, this was one robust and zesty-tasting sandwich.  We had the meatiness of the bulgogi that had sweetness while complimented by the creamy spice and tang from the mayo.  Add in the extra tang, spice and aromatics from the veggies and kimchi, there was a lot going on.  This all sat on a grilled tellara bun that held up to all of the ingredients and provided a firm crunchiness.

Also prominently featured at the counter is Cookies by John.  Of course we had to get the Monster Cookie as well as the Chai-Spiced Zucchini Loaf.  That monster cookie was pretty good with a crispy exterior and a soft chewy interior.  It was sweet, but purposeful and that brownie on top was chewy and chocolatey.  However, the best thing was the zucchini bread.  It was touted as looking like a "6" but tasting like a "10".  I would agree with that as it was super moist and fluffy with measured sweetness and fall spices.  Would definitely have this again.  In fact, everything we had was pretty solid, so I would have everything again if I was nearby.

The Good:
- Many of the components are made in-house
- Simple done right
- Also many take-away meals available

The Bad:
- Parking is hard to find if you drove
- Fairly limited dine-in menu, but keep things simple right?

 

Forecast Coffee

I've always wondering how Starbucks Reserve would fare at their Main Street location when it first opened.  Well, it didn't take long for the experiment to end.  Whether it be too niche of a market for their upscale beverages, too big of a space or the pandemic, it is gone.  Now in its place is another coffee shop in the form of Forecast Coffee.  They also serve breakfast, lunch and an array of baked goods, including Wilder Cookies.

We stopped by for a quick bite in the morning and started with a Latte and a Mocha.  Sure these aren't the typical drinks one judges coffee due to the addition of milk and chocolate.  However, that is what we got and for what its worth, they were pretty good.  I thought they were more mild-tasting than other versions I've had, but the flavour was there and it went down smooth.  I found them to be on the sweeter side, good for those who aren't usual coffee drinkers.

You may have noticed the Wilder Salted Caramel Cookie in the previous picture and here it is split open.  This was a fairly large cookie that was quite moist and had a nice chewiness to it.  The base cookie itself was pretty sweet and it didn't help that the salted caramel frosting on top was even sweeter.  For those who like it sweet, this would be for you, but for me, it was far too sweet.  So much so, I didn't even get much of the salt (or maybe it helped amplify the sweetness even more so!).

Off to something savoury, we had the Bacon Breakfast Sandwich that also had a fried egg, lettuce and tomato (hey a BELT!) on a toasted brioche bun.  As simple as this was, the execution and construction was on point.  Everything was neatly assembled where the bacon was crispy, egg still was a bit runny and the produce was fresh.  Loved the soft brioche as it hugged all of the stuff inside. 

On another visit, I picked up some quick lunch in the form of the Fried Chicken Sandwich (yes, I still eat those) with a side of Truffle Fries.  This featured an aggressively breaded and fried chicken breast which somehow remained moist.  The breading was firmly crunchy and well-seasoned.  Personally, I would've liked a lighter exterior.  The whole sammie ate well with some mustard pickles, cabbage slaw, spicy mayo and mesclun greens.  So there was some spice, creaminess, tang and crunch.  The toasted brioche was the right bun for this sandwich where it was soft and airy while retaining its integrity.  I thought the truffle fries were excellent being hot and crispy with just enough seasoning.  It didn't need any dip (as it didn't come with any either) because it was good on its own.

Ending off sweet, we had the Sweet Berry Croffle with berry compote, mascarpone whip and toasted pecans.  This was also good with a waffle iron-pressed croissant that was crispy and light.  In fact, even though it was compacted, it was still airy and not heavy.  I didn't find it buttery enough, but that was a minor point.  Berry compote was tangy and fruity with just enough sweetness.  Overall, Forecast Coffee is a cool space where you can grab a drink, cookie, breakfast and/or lunch.  Things are solid and lots of windows makes it a relaxing place to be.

The Good:
- Simple decor and relaxing spot
- Food is good
- Coffee is good

The Bad:
- Cookies are pretty sweet, but I'm sure some people like that

KR's Dessert Jars & Cookie Bars

Normally, this blog deals with eating out, typically in full service restaurants.  However, we all know food is everywhere in many shapes and forms.  Hence, I've intermittently included various other things like one-time pop ups to home-based operations.  Recently, I was contacted by KR's Dessert Jars & Cookie Bars based out of a commissary at Core Kitchen in Langley (available for delivery as well).   As their name suggests, their main products are dessert jars resembling trifles to cookie bars that are part cookie, part cake where a surprise filling awaits you.

I was supplied a selection of their wares including the Sneaky, Limonetta and Mr. Nutty.  Aptly named, the Sneaky cookie bar featured a chocolate chip dough with a Mars bar stuffed inside.  Suffice to say, this had some ooey gooey caramel action going on, especially if you warm it up in the microwave before enjoying.  Possibly my favourite, the Limonetta ate like a lemon loaf with lemon curd inside.  It was the most cake-like in texture being moist while the lemon curd was tangy and sweet.  As for Mr. Nutty, it was obvious what was inside the chocolate chip cookie base - Peanut M&M's.  Loved the crunch and of course the nuttiness of the peanuts.

Also based on the chocolate chip cookie dough, we had both the Chunky Monkey and the Peanut Spoon.  The Chunky Monkey would be their most basic cookie bar being essentially a large chocolate chip cookie.  Outside was slightly crunchy and chewy while the inside was soft and almost cake-like.  The Peanut Spoon added Resse's mini-peanut butter cups inside that made it peanutty and sweeter.

Consisting of triple chocolate dough, the Oozing Lava featured a chocolate ganache centre, which oozed like lava when microwaved.  Yes, it was like a lava cake, but with a much firmer exterior.  This was very rich and chocolately.

Featuring the same triple chocolate dough, the PB&J was exactly its namesake with peanut butter and jelly inside.  One might think this would be really sweet, but it really wasn't.  The dark chocolate cookie was flavourful with just the right amount of sweetness.  Also encased in chocolate chip dough, Take a Break sports Kit Kat Ganache.  It makes the cookie bar a bit sweeter and offers a light crunch from the wafers.  Finally, the Birthday Cake bar is based on a white chocolate chip & macadamia nut dough with funfetti.  Due to the ingredients, this was the sweetest one, but definitely had all the elements of a birthday cake dessert.

Onto the dessert jars, we had Strawberry Shorty, Nocciola, El Chocomello and Blue Meow.  I think of these more like jarred trifles with layers of cake, custard, compote and other things.  I personally loved the Blue Meow the most as the lemon custard helped cut through the sweetness of the blueberry compote and moist vanilla cake.  Although it looked like it would be super sweet, the Nocciola was more chocolaty and nutty with hazelnut cream, hazelnut chocolate spread, custard and chocolate cake.  The same could be said about the El Chocomello as the caramel custard was indeed sweet, but the dark chocolate cake helped balance it off.  The sweetest of them all was the Strawberry Shorty with strawberry compote, vanilla custard and vanilla cake.

I'll post one more picture of the cookie bar with the insides exposed.  This one is the Sneaky with the Mars bar.  I didn't heat this one up, so the caramel would be more liquidy otherwise.  As you can see, there is quite a bit of filling, so the cookie bar will taste like its namesake.  In fact, I really enjoyed all of the cookie bars and would definitely be ordering some more in the future.  As for the dessert jars, I enjoyed them too, except they are on the sweeter side, so you need to have a sweet tooth.  I'm glad to be introduced to these products. Wished I tried them earlier!

*Products were complimentary*

The Good:

- Loved the texture of the cookie bars, soft and cake-like but also cookie-like too

- Interesting flavours

- These cookie bars are large!

The Bad:

- Enjoyed the dessert jars, but the Strawberry Shorty was a bit too sweet for me