Vancouver Voyage | DAY 1 - Flight to Vancity + Aberdeen Staples

8/2/2016

Early morning flights are deadly - especially on the day immediately following the Civic Holiday long weekend.
(I mean, late-night packing and insomnia don't make for a particularly great experience either.)

The flight was short however, and relatively punctual considering the minimal departure delay of ten minutes. The Boeing pulled in shortly after 10 AM PST, with Vancity welcoming us with typically grey, overcast skies and a light drizzle.

First things first: Iced Coffee from McDonald's, followed by a mandatory trip to Aberdeen Centre to pick up lunch and essentials from Daiso.
Nature Republic had apparently made their debut into the import product-based shopping centre three months ago, joining Tony Moly on the second floor, another store that had popped up following the K-beauty invasion.

Of course, Aberdeen visits are guaranteed to entail milk tea. Or egg waffles. (Or both.)

Bubble Waffle Cafe is a food court favourite that's managed to endure years of handling the lunch hour rush. Despite their lengthy lineups and sometimes inconsistent egg waffle batter (the degree of crispiness varies), it still remains to be my preferred spot for a noodle soup and iced Hong Kong Milk Tea combo.

This time around, they've also added Singaporean-style Spicy Noodles and peanut- and oyster-sauce slathered rice noodles to their already impressive lineup of items

< Pictured above and below: Fish Rice Noodle, Hot Hong Kong Milk Tea, Lemonade, Green Tea Egg Waffles, Original Egg Waffles, Hong Kong-style Rice Noodle and Fish Balls, Custom Noodle Bowl w/ Tomato Corn Fish Broth, Crystal Noodles, Sliced Kurobuta Pork, and Bean Curd, Iced Hong Kong Milk Tea >

Following a brief stroll of the second and third floors of the mall, I proposed a stop at Beard Papa's, another Aberdeen cult classic that's greatly expanded over time.

Unlike the dreadful occurrence that formerly occupied a spot at Pacific Mall, this location is authentic, and serves up a rotating selection of crème pâtissière flavours.

For the purpose of fulfilling the requirements for GST exemption, I opt to fill the banana-hued box with six items: two Black Tea Cream Puffs, an Original Cream Puff, Green Tea Cream Puff, Green Tea Fondant, and Cheesecake Stick.

The quality of the cream puffs have undeniably maintained uniformity since their opening date: the exterior boasted crisp and aromatic properties, while the fillings were smooth, creamy, and bursting with flavour. Original was a sweet vanilla, Green Tea was an airy take almost reminiscent of green tea frozen yogurt, and Black Tea was lovely and extra fragrant. They were the exact definition of pure indulgence, all without the buttery heaviness and unnecessarily sickening aftertaste commonly experienced post-consumption of Western-styled baked goods.

The Cheesecake Stick was great as well. Adopting the form of rectangular prism approximately five inches in length, the individual sticks made for easy on-the-go munching of a popular Western-turned-Japanese baked dessert. The crust was thin - just as how I prefer - and the cream cheese filling satisfying and not veering into excessively rich territory. (I would have liked to have a centre slice as opposed to the piece on the edge though...)

Unfortunately, the Green Tea Fondant was the least impressive of the batch. Even after reheating, the dark green gooey-ness refused to flow from the circular cake. The yellow-green hue was right, but the item lacked the standard intensity found in most matcha or green tea-based creations. I'd probably skip this one for next time; the Chocolate Fondant seems more promising.