Midam Cafe & Bistro

Of course I would end a three-month blogging hiatus by posting two days in a row.

Just a disclaimer -- this blog post will consist mostly of pictures. This is one of those occasions where I feel like the pictures just speak for itself. No need to ruin the visual with too many words.

I think I would describe Midam Cafe & Bistro as a Korean/French fusion cafe. The original location is on North Road in Burnaby (almost Coquitlam). I tried their relatively new Richmond location on Garden City Road. The inside of the restaurant was not what I expected, but I dig it. Imagine a trendy Korean bubble tea shop that has been decorated by an ultra NBA fan.

And this is what we ordered (to share, of course!):

Budae Hot Pot 

Stir-Fried Kimchee and Bacon Udon 

Spicy Chicken with Cheese

And for dessert .......

Rice Cake Toast with Green Tea Ice Cream

Strawberry Tiramisu Shaved Ice

We (basically) finished everything. OM NOM NOM. I am definitely coming back here. Perhaps this will become one of my go-to, late night comfort food spots.

Yolks

Yolks has two locations in Vancouver -- East Hastings & Clark and West Broadway & Cambie. This doesn't include their popular blue food truck that is usually parked downtown by Burrard and West Pender. We went to the one on Broadway (which coincidentally is right next to a new Ramen Santouka location - read my last blog post!).

I think I've said this before, but I will say it again -- I am not a fan of "classic" breakfast food. I don't see the appeal of going out and paying to eat sunny-side up eggs and bacon strips (unless they are sugar-cured bacon strips from Jam Cafe ... which I should probably blog about) when I can easily replicate it at home. In my opinion, good brunch food's gotta have that je ne sais quoi.  And yes, I would have to say that Yolks has that je ne sais quoi.

When we got to the restaurant that day, we were not surprised to learn that there was over an hour wait. There isn't a lot of seating inside and it was Sunday morning after all. Luckily, we were able to put down our number so that they could text us when seats became available. Yolks uses an online wait list system where you can monitor your place in line. Thumbs up for the convenience! 

Tip: There is free parking around the back of the restaurant that not a lot of people know about (us included). If we had known about this beforehand, we would have saved a lot of time from not having to circle around the block 5 times to find street parking.

Since Yolks is known for their "perfectly poached eggs", we obviously had to try the eggs. You can either go with one egg for $7.50 or two eggs for $10.95 (pretty reasonable for a popular brunch restaurant in fancy Vancouver!). We both opted for the two egg option. You then get to customize your egg order with your choice of toppings and sides.

Me --> Portobello mushroom with aioli, fresh arugula and aged white cheddar on truffle-lemon hashbrowns (+$2.95, BUT SO WORTH IT)

Sameer --> Smoked wild BC sockeye salmon (+$2.00) with fresh arugula, crispy capers, real hollandaise on truffle-lemon hashbrowns

Hands down, my order was the better of the two (this was determined by mutual agreement). The smoked salmon was good and perhaps even worth the $2.00 extra, but definitely not on the same level as the portobello mushroom and aged white cheddar combination. Just thinking about it makes me want to drive over to Yolks right now. The truffle-lemon hasbrowns were also awesome. I may be a little biased because I love everything truffle-related, but I have to say that those were probably the best flavoured hashbrowns I've ever had at a brunch place.

One last comment -- the eggs were perfectly poached.