Extreme Coffee Freak

La Diperie is a unique and interesting ice cream shop which is out of Montreal. The shop in Calgary is located in the northwest. There is so many options that you can choose from, so when you visit take the time to look over the extensive menu.

 

The Interior

The location is long and skinny, when you walk in the menu is on the wall on the left side. There is a long bar on the left side with every ice cream and every dip that they have. They only have a couple tables that you can sit at, hopefully, they will add more in the future. Since when we arrived it was very busy and hard to find a table.

 

The Ice Cream

If I had one complaint about this place is that the menu is way too big and creates quite the bottleneck at the front doors of this place. After standing there staring at this menu we were finally able to make up our minds on what to order and even then as I got closer I found myself waffling, should I get this flavor instead of this one. We did make it up there and made our decision.

I ordered the Vanilla soft serve ice cream dipped in orangicle with Smarties, it was really good. The organcile was delicious and had terrific flavor.

My wife ordered Becky’s Fav which is a Vanilla soft serve ice cream dipped in dark chocolate with ginger and pistachio. She said it was good, but it didn’t have enough ginger flavor she thought it would have. I tried a bit of hers and I did not like it.

My daughter had Madelaine’s Oreo which is a Vanilla soft serve ice cream dipped in Oreo chocolate and Oreo crumbs, it was really good.

 

The Service

The staff were all very patient with everyone. They were busy but still had time to answer our questions. As we sat enjoying our ice cream, you could see everyone asking a million questions.

 

The Hours

Sunday to Thursday – 12PM – 10PM

Friday to Saturday – 12AM – 11PM

 

Parking

There is a bunch of parking since they are located in a strip mall.

 

Last Words

We will most likely go back in a month or so to see if the quality and service are still at the same levels. Also will be interesting to see if they come out with some new seasonal flavors. If you want to try something new then I would visit them.

I always find it exciting during my travels when I can strike gold and find another cool café. Like I did recently in my travel through Kamloops on my way home. We came across a little place called 5Bean Brewbar & Cafè.

As I pulled up, I was told by my son that he had been here when he was there playing soccer with his team from UBC.

 

The Interior

The café was extremely busy while we were there. The shop has large front windows that illuminate the interior nicely.

They also had a number of tables and chairs outside to enjoy the sunny weather they were having.

The Drinks

As for coffee, they offered up beans roasted by JJ Bean out of Vancouver.

I ordered a Latte for $4.55. The espresso came across as quite sweet and balanced, the milk was steamed nicely and blended well with the espresso. Nice job on the latte art as well.

My wife ordered small chai for $4.15 and it had really great flavour.

My daughter had a peach pear smoothie for $5.35 and it was really good, the flavour was delicious.

My son ordered a small drip coffee for $2.15 and he said that the flavour was really good.

Overall I found their pricing quite reasonable.

The Food

We needed to get some food and after looking at their menu we decided on a couple items.

My wife and I shared a Blueberry Ricotta Muffin for $4.75 and it was a really heavy muffin and we only wished that there would have been a little more ricotta in the muffin. Overall the muffin had some nice flavor, and we would order this again.

My daughter had a southwest wrap for $7.50 and it was very good. It was a breakfast wrap and had a ton of veggies on it.

My son ordered a veggie samosa for $4.00 and it had great flavour. It was a lot bigger than we thought it was going to be as well.

The Service

The customer service was really terrific. Staff were very friendly and very patient to deal with as we tried to decide what we wanted to order.

 

The Hours

Monday to Saturday – 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Sunday – 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM

 

Parking

Since they are located in a strip mall, there is a ton of parking.

 

Last Words

As I wrapped up my visit of Kamloops, I was very happy to finally check off our visit to 5Bean. So next time you are in Kamloops, I would strongly suggest you stop and check out 5Bean Brewbar and Café for some excellent coffee and food.

 

On our way out of Vancouver we stopped in Abbotsford at a little coffee shop called Oldhand Coffee. This is truly a mom and pop coffee shop. One thing that often drops my jaw when I traverse the west is the number of aesthetically gorgeous coffee shops. I love it when you see reclaimed wood, shiplap on the walls, and mix of mismatched furniture. This place has it all.

 

The Interior

There is a lot of little tables located all around the shop. I did love seeing the chairs in this place, reminded me of when I was in school, oh so long ago. In the front corner there is a bench style table which would have been the place that we would have sat if we were sitting to enjoy our drinks. They have a table in the shop set up for small children and while I was there picking up our drinks I noticed a father and his little girl enjoying a beverage and some treats at the table.

On the walls near the bar in the back there were images of the family and historic photos as well. It was nice to see that they are very family orientated.

The Drinks

I ordered a Latte for $4.25. The shot was pulled just right and milk was steamed just right as well. There roaster of choice is Bows and Arrows coffee. I unfortunately haven’t had a lot of Bows & Arrows coffee but when I have had it, I found the flavor to be quite good.

My wife ordered a London Fog for $4.50 and it was delicious. It was really creamy and amazing.

My son ordered an Oat Milk Latte for $5.25 and he said it had amazing flavour and that the oat was very subtle.

My daughter ordered Vanilla Latte for $5.25 and she said that the vanilla was perfect, not too strong or too weak.

The Food

They had a case full of baked items and after looking at all the wonderful snacks, we decided to try a couple different things. We got a blueberry scone for $3.75 and it had amazing flavour. We got a cinnamon brioche for $4.25 and it tasted just like a cinnamon churro, it was delicious. We also got a brown butter coconut cookie for $2.25 and it had great flavour as well. We also grabbed a snickerdoodle cookie for $2.50 and a chocolate chip cookie for $2.25 which also were great in flavour. Everything was baked in house.

The Service

The employees were really great and very chill. They were very nice and were interested in why we were taking so many notes.

The Hours

Monday to Friday – 7:00 AM – 10:00 PM

Saturday – 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM

Sunday – 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

 

Parking

There is a bunch of street parking just out front of their shop.

 

Last Words

After lingering around for a few minutes, I had to bid adieu to Oldhand Coffee. Unfortunately, I was not able to stay longer as we were on our way back to Calgary and had a few more stops to make.

Maybe on my next trip back out west I will be able to stop back in and enjoy my beverage in their shop. There is just something so much better when you can drink out of a mug instead of a to-go cup.

During our last trip to Vancouver which was kind of a whirlwind tour as we were moving my son home for the summer from school. Our first order of business was locating some good coffee and off we were down to Granville Street to check out Quantum.  Quantum started out in Toronto a couple of years ago.

 

The Interior

This location is quite modern and had clean lines with high ceilings. They had one giant communal table and two bars on either side of the door with big windows to look out at the world passing by. So if you are into people watching, sit in the windows, it was quite entertaining.

The Drinks

Though their menu is not very big, we were able to deicide very quickly what we wanted to have.

First off, let’s talk about the Poursteady machine they have. It is quite a cool looking machine, for a high volume shop this would be a necessity as I don’t think they could keep up doing manual pours. It is an easy machine to operate, grind the beans, wet the filter and throw them in the dripper and push a button. Let the machine do all the hard work. Please see the video we took.

I decided to go with the Columbian blend, from Saint Henri Coffee. The pour over proved flavourful with notes of Cherry, Crème Brule and Blood Orange, it came across very sweet  Cost: $4.20 which I thought was a very good price for the drink.

My wife ordered a London Fog for $4.25 and it is not overly sweet which is the way my wife likes it.

My daughter ordered a Pomegranate Oolong Tea for $2.50. It was a new brand of tea called Harvey and Sons, it was really hot and it was a delicious green tea, very refreshing.

The Service

The employee was helpful when we asked our questions and then got back to cleaning up since we got there just before closing.

The Hours

Monday to Friday – 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Saturday – 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Sunday – 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM

 

Parking

Since there is no parking on Granville Street you have to park on surrounding roads and sometimes that can be quite difficult, so good luck. Oh and you will have to pay for parking as well.

 

Last Words

While I was only there for a moment, I found my brief experience pleasant and even as I write about it now, I would not mind a return journey soon. If you happen to be near Quantum while in Vancouver, check out Quantum, you won’t be disappointed.

 

To celebrate my son’s birthday, we headed to an all Vegan restaurant. Now my son said that if he hadn’t told us then we would not have known. Either way we decided to give it a go, it is his birthday after all.

 

The Interior

It was a really nice location with big windows at the front and tables that ran along the right side of the restaurant. Down the middle was a huge family style table and a couple standard tables, on the left side there was a bar and some picnic tables.

There was art all over each of the walls and behind the bar they had Disney VHS’ playing which was super nostalgic. The restaurant also had a real rustic feel to it.

The Food

After reviewing their rather big menu we decided on a couple appetizers to try.

We got the Artichoke and Spinach Dip for $11.75 it was so good, it was creamy and had amazing flavor.

We also tried the Teem Poutine for $11.25, my son said it was one of his favorites. It had fresh cut potatoes and to our surprise it was really light. It had a cashew miso gravy which was quite refreshing as compared to the regular beef gravy you would normally get

Both my wife and I ordered a Meet Burger for $14.25 each. We opted for the Beyond Meet Burgers instead of the Soy.

The texture was really interesting but we kept comparing it to beef, so once you get past the color and texture it was really good. I guess what I did wrong was cut the burger in half and seen that the color was very pink, not something I am use to. The bun was delicious and had a great ratio with the meat, the bun never once started to fall apart either. Overall the burger tasted really good but I couldn’t get over the texture and color.

My son ordered a Mighty Mac Burger for $15.50. He said it was delicious and the combination of Mac and Cheese on the burger is really something different. This is the burger that he has had in the past and he said that it is always delicious and amazing.

My daughter ordered a Marinated Portobello Burger for $14.50. She said it was the most tender mushroom she has ever had and it had so much flavor. The feta that they used was vegan but it was not salty at all, so it brought a nice flavor with the mushroom.

I also should state that if you are coming to get one appetizer and share it because each of the meals comes with both fries and a salad. So in other words, it was super filling and a ton of food.

The Service

The employees were very friendly, accommodating, and patient with me as I think they could see I was struggling with the whole vegan thing. Even after I cut into my burger, our server offer to get me something else if that would make things better.

The Hours

Sunday to Thursday – 11:00 AM – 11:00PM

Friday to Saturday – 11:00 AM – 12:00AM

 

Parking

There is a bunch of street parking since they are located on Main Street, but just know you will pay for this parking as well.

 

Last Words

Even though I am not a vegan, and don’t plan on switching anytime soon, the food was delicious and I am glad that I went and tried something new. If you are wanting to try something different and you are walking along Main Street in Vancouver, I suggest you try this place. Like I said I really enjoyed the appetizers the best.

After our stop at Storm City I had my daughter google how close we were to Grounds for Coffee, when she said that we were only 500 meters aways, I said we should go for a walk. Little to our knowledge that they are known for their Cinnamon Buns, there is even a sign outside saying “Best Cinnamon Buns in the City”. All of a sudden we were excited.

The Interior

There was not as many tables as what we thought there would be, there was a couple of table along the wall, one in the front window and the smallest table ever which is the table we sat at. The whole left side when you entered was where the cinnamon buns and snacks were located.

The Drinks

Even though we had just had a caffeinated beverage not that long ago we decided to try some of Pedro’s coffee, he is a local roaster located in Richmond. I had never heard of Pedro’s prior to this trip to Vancouver.

I ordered a 16oz Latte for $4.05 which had really good flavour. The coffee had some notes of chocolate and something else a bit sweet.

My wife ordered a 12oz Hot Chocolate for $4.70 which had lots of chocolate but it wasn’t overly sweet. When you see a ton of chocolate on a hot chocolate it gets you worried that it might be too sweet, but it was actually amazing.

My daughter ordered a 12oz Caramel Apple Cider for $3.85 and she said that it had a nice caramel flavour. You got a whole cinnamon stick to stir your beverage with as well.

The Food

When you walk in you get the best smell ever of cooked cinnamon buns so since they are know for their cinnamon buns we decided to get a couple. They were a lot lighter than the cinnamon buns that people are used to. It was very delicious. I wish I hadn’t ate earlier as I could have devoured one of these cinnamon buns myself, instead my wife and me split one.

The Service

The employees were very friendly. It was a very busy location, people constantly coming in to get drinks and a cinnamon bun then leaving to head on their way. We were also really excited to see that they use Sugar Cane straws instead of plastic, big bonus for them.

The Hours

Daily 7:00AM – 6:00PM

Parking

There is a bunch of street parking and you will have to pay as well, you cannot park in front as it is a bus zone.

Last Words

I would stick to getting a 16oz which is their medium, because we found out that their large which is 20oz, it’s huge. We were interested so we asked. Other than that we would definitely head back and get more cinnamon buns in the future. We were also pleased to see that they just opened their second location on Commercial. Congrats.

One of the places that we really wanted to visit while in Vancouver was a nice little shop just off of Broadway was Storm City. They are known for their Cream Puffs, they are normally available after 10:00 am but today we were lucky and they were already out.

The Interior

It is nice and open with all windows on the two sides. There had tables lining all the windows and then in the middle there was a big communal table that you could sit at. All the tables by the windows were laptop free zones, the big communal table was the only location were you could use the laptop. On the roof there was a stripe of bright yellow paint which was nice to all the white they had in the location.

The Drinks

After reviewing the menu we decided to get a couple beverages to start out our day.

I ordered a Latte made with Timbertrain Caliber Blend. Cost: $4.60. It had really great smooth sweet flavour. Timber train is one of my favourite roasters. 

My wife ordered an Assam Tea Misto for $4.60. It was absolutely delicious and it was not overly sweet which is just the way she likes it.

My daughter ordered a Vanilla Latte for $5.20. It was really good, it had just enough vanilla flavour that you could taste it.

The Food

Since they are known for their Cream Puffs we got a Vanilla one for $4.50, it had amazing vanilla flavour and the cream was so refreshing.

We also got an Earl Grey Scone for $4.00 which had amazing earl grey flavour, it was delicious. We got a Bacon Cheddar Scone for $4.00 which was absolutely amazing, you didn’t even have to add any butter to the scone.

We also got a Cheese and Fig Jam Sandwich for $5.00 which was really good, love the fig and the addition of two kinds of cheese. Lastly we got a Cranberry Coconut Cookie for $1.25 and it was a shortbread type of cookie so it was really delicious but very sweet.

The Service

The employees were really friendly and we noticed that it was very very busy. So many people kept walking in and getting their drinks and food items to go. The vibe was really chill and there was no rush which was really nice as well, there was no one rushing you to leave when you were done either.

The Hours

Monday to Friday: 7:00AM – 6:00PM

Saturday and Sunday: 8:00AM – 6:00PM

Parking

There is a bunch of street parking and since you are in Vancouver you will have to pay.

Last Words

I know that next time we are in Vancouver we will have to stop by and see what new kinds of Cream Puffs they have available. They were so good, make sure if you are around to stop in and try one.