Vancouver Voyage | DAY 5: Re-Exploring Aberdeen

West Coast weather is truly too beautiful to remain cooped up indoors for too long. After working through my kayaking shots in their entirety and re-telling my Banzai Sushi story, I prepared to head out for a brisk mall walk.

Note: Unlike in the GTA, bus stops corresponding to opposite route directions are located on the same side of the intersection with a 100 m setback, instead of diagonally across with little to no setback from the traffic signals. (Ie. stops for east-west routes will either be placed on the east or west side of the intersection.)

After conducting errands and browsing sales to no avail at Richmond Centre, I headed towards Aberdeen for the purpose of exploring the remainder of the shops I had failed to do so on my day of arrival.

With the completion of Aberdeen Square and its connecting tunnel to Aberdeen Centre, shopping has been made increasingly easier for the wealthy import beauty- and video game-obsessed wealthy Chinese immigrants that inhabit the upper floors of the building. 

Aberdeen Square was generally of little interest to me, with the exception of these adorable Monsters' University-themed merchandise. It was a shame that they store didn't carry a Sulley version.

All three floors of Aberdeen Centre were then thoroughly explored; from Artbox's adorable plushie selection to Giordano's annual summer clearance sale, not a single shop of interest was omitted.

Eventually, I made my way to the food court. Among locals, it's known to be an amazing spot for quick meals post-Daiso runs; for visitors such as myself, it's the ultimate location for economic yet unique gustatory options. Items that only make yearly appearances atNight It Up! can be found here at all times of the year - shaved ice cups and stinky tofu are always available (and sans lineup)!

I was inclined to delve into a Green Tea Soft Serve as my afternoon snack, and thus headed in the direction of Mazazu Crepe. To my dismay, I was informed that the current week's flavour was Mango, and that Green Tea would not make its appearance until sometime next week.

Ultimately, I opted for the Mango-Milk Swirl Soft Serve with Corn Flakes. It rang in at $3.25 before tax (and $3.41 afterwards), which is far more budget-friendly that any downtown Toronto dessert parlour.

​Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Wagon Wheel pastries on the menu board of another stall. Tofu Hotpot was selling custard cream- and red bean-filled versions at one dollar each, making them even more affordable than Formocha's Custard-Oreo renditions tasted at the Metro Square Night Market. Formocha's freshly grilled creations had been formidable, to say in the least, so it was no surprise that I had high expectations for Tofu Hotpot.

​I can accurately pronounce that my initial hopes were shattered after finally receiving the pastries after a tedious wait time that spanned over six minutes. Far from the crisp, delectable things I had been expecting, the circular street biscuits were soggy, rock-solid, and reeked of vanilla extract. Not only were they terribly difficult to bite into, the fillings were severely lacking once finally tasted. The custard cream was unnaturally thick and horribly tacky - an evident sign of heavy dependence on thickeners such as cornstarch or corn flour, while the red bean failed to maintain a uniform consistency and sweetness. The fact that the cakes were delivered in a small paper bag instead of a proper box only quickened the rate of dampening.

​Stinky tofu was listed as one of their best-sellers, so I was prompted to try out a small order of the deep fried dish before departing. I received ten 1-inch cubes of the smelly Taiwanese favourite, along with a dollop of spicy dipping sauce and a few meager piececs of pickled radish/carrot, after a lengthy, ten-minute wait.
Albeit the seemingly authentic stench, the pieces were Sahara dry and not overly flavourful either - in short, they were disappointing.

​The products I received did not warrant the wait times whatsoever, and the cashier attendants weren't particularly friendly nor efficient either. Heed my words: the wise decision would be to skip this stall on your next visit.

Second-last mission of the day: stopping by H-Mart in search of the infamous Honey Butter Chips and settling for Honey Tong Tong Chips instead. I also picked up two refrigerated canned beverages reminiscent of the disposable coffee cups featured on Eric x Solar's WGM segment last weekend.

I had also made a promise to drop by Chatime's Richmond location, and patiently waited for the arrival of the SkyTrain and 401 bus. Both modes of transportation had suffered from significantly decreased frequency levels and weekend delays, resulting in an incredulous commute of forty minutes.

The sun had already began its descent by the time I arrived at the ancient Garden City plaza.

Prior to my prolonged journey, I had been warned of the insane nighttime lineups at the bubble tea franchise. Quite frankly, it wasn't too bad: there were only two people ahead of me; a separate lineup had been formed for pick-up orders.
It was observed that there were approximately five members of staff dedicated to beverage-making, one manager-like authority handling the cashier and taking call-in orders simultaneously, and another allocated for the wiping of beverages and order number-calling.

The space was quite narrow upon first glance, with only four bar seats and three smaller two-person tables near the counter. Taking a second gander, I realized there was a more lounge-worthy seating area set aside for study groups and laptop users.

As opposed to offering a rotating selection of seasonal flavours, Chatime Richmond proposes to make all specialty flavours available during my time of visit. In addition the Hazelnut and Chocolate series (which, regrettably, were both poorly received back home), they also make available the coveted Thai Milk Tea and Thai Coffee Milk Tea duo.

My wait time is fairly short, especially considering that the manager is running his own one-man show, but I immediately realize that the stretch of customers behind has now accumulated out the door after finishing my order. To be honest, I don't believe Chatime is worth waiting over five minutes for, but I suppose this is the situation that arises with its sole location in Richmond.

I ordered a Brown Rice Green Milk Tea and Thai Coffee Milk Tea, which are delivered in a record-breaking three minutes but with sugar levels slightly skewed: 50% tasted like 30% whereas 30% tasted like 70%. The fact that I was denied permission to open a Vicinity account for Vancouver locations due to the fact that I was not a resident of the province also baffled me excessively.

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