Thai Son Restaurant 泰山越南牛肉粉 : 1st Avenue location

Some girls PMS and as for me, go crazy when there is not enough fruit. How crazy? Every time I go to T&T Supermarket, I need to walk out with at least a dozen of mangos as well as dragon fruit to supply my next five days (meh, not so picky about having a certain amount of other fruits). Sounds easy? It is most of the time, however, two out of five, there is not that much dragon fruit available and my day is ruined. Honestly.

So after finishing up with T&T, I begged my friend to have dinner at Thai Son and she was hesitant because knowing me, can never get full when having Vietnamese food. Especially for dinner. But because of the whole trying to eat less thing, it was a perfect choice.

Thai Son is one of my go to restaurants ever since high school and has been around for decades! The owners even opened up a few other locations in Marpole, Richmond as well as on Broadway, and a couple of other places! Although I do want to say in advance, this is the only location I will ever go to. Why? Because I do not want to be disappointed at the other locations and out of hundreds of visits here, only ten has disappointed. The bun bo hue is above average and the rice platters are pretty good, especially the shredded pork! Seriously, I like it here. I even have like six Vietnamese restaurants that I have been procrastinating on blogging because they were randoms and not even that good. By the way, the food tastes ten times better here when the owner is working.

Fatburger : Burnaby location

I have been to Fatburger around only five times and from what I remember, the burgers are nothing special and can get pricey with an additional purchase of a drink as well as a side. So why the revisit? Asides from convenience, the Burnaby location offers "Buffalo's World Famous Wings" and I have always wanted to try them. It also kind of sucks because Fatburger was offering a Groupon or SocialShopper voucher that I could have gotten a few days before! And I was even thinking pshh, I would not be going there LOL.

Walking in, the burger joint is well ventilated and the staff is extremely friendly, especially the manager (gotta love a friendly staff!). Basically customers order at the front, receive a number, pay and take a seat. Then a cashier brings the food out to the table.

Fatburger offers breakfast burgers as well as specials, shakes, beers as well as alcoholic beverages, baby to double king burgers as well as speciality ones, and turkey as well as chicken to vegetarian patties. A pretty extensive menu for a burger joint. In addition, the Burnaby location offers wings, chips, curly fries and dessert!

Good Choice Restaurant 好彩小廚

I often get asked why my dinners for two are huge and can feed four, and my responses are the obvious; I love food and can eat a lot (hence, piggy in my blog name). So, a bit past a week ago, I started ordering less and only the "regular" amount of food that two people typically order at a restaurant. Why? Because I am a fitness junkie, summer is near and my last two abs need to pop out! Although this seems to backfire because by ordering less at a restaurant, I find myself still hungry when I get home and munching on snacks. Not good.

Anyways, about the restaurant, Good Choice was not my first choice. Going along Fraser Street, it seems like I have tried most of the restaurants I already want to and have been wanting to revisit Golden House Seafood! But, when in a relationship, you gotta think about the other person. So, he gets his 5% of restaurants to choose and it was time for him to collect. BFs choice is Good Choice because, well, simply neither of us have tried the restaurant and we were in the area.

The restaurant has around ten tables and properly maximizes the seating arrangements (no tight spaces). As for the service, there were only two waitresses at the front so when the restaurant got busy it was hard to get their attention because both focused on the larger tables, which is of course understandable.

Re-Up BBQ

Restaurant or food stall?

I have been wanting to try Re-Up for quite some time, pretty much ever since the hype from their food trucks and of course, I love barbecue meats. But, the thing is I never knew where the food trucks were! LOL. So when I heard Re-Up opened up their own restaurant at New Westminster Quay, I was pretty excited and complained every week of how I wanted to come down here, for months. And finally made the visit.

With a colourful, organized and easy to read chalkboard menu, Re-up's menu is pretty much like any other barbecue joint. Platters are available with one type of meat along with two sides, or a larger platter with all the fixins to sample every type of meat. The restaurant offers breakfast, chilli, chicken wings and of course, barbecue meats and sandwiches. In addition, apparently the fried chicken is supposed to be pretty good here! Customers pay at the front and when the food is ready, head to the pick up area when the number written on the receipt is called out.

Via Tevere Pizzeria Napoletana

All our pizzas are hand stretched and baked for approximately 90 seconds in our 900 degree wood-fired oven creating a pizza that has a light and fluffy crust with a crispy edge and charred spots. True to the Neapolitan way, our pizzas arrive at the table uncut to preserve the soft thin centre and toppings. Neapolitan pizza is traditionally enjoyed either with a fork and knife or ripped and folded and eat by hand.

That awkward late lunch or early dinner when you have not ate anything all day. Yup, happened to me and it was 5:00pm. Although fortunately being in the area and that Vie Tevere opens at 5:00pm, it actually worked out! Vie Tevere is known for their neapolitan pizzas (although I was told otherwise on Instagram) and apparently the restaurant gets busy, as in there are always long line ups! Luckily arriving right at opening, there was no line up. The neapolitan pizza joint has a relaxing atmosphere and is not that big, with less than thirty seats.