I love a good novelty, something unexpected at somewhere unexpected. This had me driving out to BCIT in search of a vending machine that offers café style hot and cold beverages and another that heats up full appetizers and entrees dishes to order.
Both have been brought to the campus by G&A Bot vending machines. I discovered them earlier this year, after walking past their soft serve sundae machine at Canada Place, and having to try one. Little did I know then that they have an arsenal of food and beverage machines, with more unique models on the way. By the beginning of summer there should be over 20 across the Lower Mainland. I was able to chat with one of the owners to learn more about their concept.
They hope to make their machines available at skytrain stations along the Expo line. I brought up the concerns of safety and thief, as seen with other and similar such food machines. The sushi one in East Vancouver saw vandalism. However their test machine in Surrey Centre has been successful with no damage for the last 4-5 months. Not to mention their new wave of Skytrain machines will not have see through glass windows and be built with securing their goods in mind. In the meanwhile, if you are curious about these machines, you can check them out at this year’s Richmond Night Market.
They don’t prepare their own food or drinks, but own the machines and stock them. This they do every 3-5 days. If something does not sell between 4-5 days, it is discarded. The machines keep things refrigerated or frozen, and safe for consumption.
The food machine I looked at utilized third party restaurant: Spice it Up, in Richmond to stock its shelves. It featured Chinese and Indian cuisine and Western style pastas. They were sold out of the gyoza, butter chicken, and lasagna that I wanted, so the following are my second picks. I ordered their bbq pork bun, chicken biryani, and chicken parm, to be able to review a good breath of their offerings.
You make your selection as you would any vending machine and the mechanical arm retrieves it and either puts it into the dispensing tray, or the built in microwave. You have the option to have it hot to eat right away, within their microwaveable containers, or to take to go and heat up later yourself, when you want to eat it.
The bbq pork had a quick to dwindle shelf life right out of the microwave. It uses such high heat that the dough cooks, so if you allow it too cool too much it hardens to a rock. Best eaten when it is sweating with condensation with a spongy and moist texture. I was not able to salvage 1/5 of the bun, learning this mistake first hand. Thankfully all the filling was intact and tasty. A sweet caramelized centre to enjoy with the white fluffy dough.
The Chicken Biryani was a smaller portion. The rice had a nice, dry, crisp texture, and the veggies with it were fresh by all accounts. Sadly, the chicken, although plentiful, was dry. However, this is what I expect from cooked chicken breast, frozen, then reheated. Not meant to replace dining at a restaurant, but a fair solution for a quick pick up meal.
I selected all my orders to be heated, but sadly the pasta came out cold, and there is no going back and asking the machine to reheat it, so this was saved for another meal. Portion size and flavour wise, this was probably the best of the lot. There was plenty of food and it did well reheated. The tangy tomato flavour did well not being served fresh, as all pastas do; and the chicken patty was a good pairing, even as something from frozen.
The drink machine offered much more than most cafes. Hot and cold options with coffee bases, fruit syrup, and your choice of ice and sugar levels. It was honestly hard to choose what I wanted more, so I got my top three.
The Dragonfruit iced juice reminded me of the spritz you can get from Starbucks. It was light and sweet with a faint tropical taste of the dragonfruit, and plenty of its fuchsia colour.
The Mango smoothie reminded me of watery mango pudding, it could have been sweetener and more bolder. It quenches thirst, but did not satisfied with its thin mouthfeel.
I really liked the hot ube milk tea, I thought it had a great flavour. It felt cafe worthy for a powder mix. The texture is just too clean and thin to be fresh.
In short, this is a great innovation, and a fantastic resource for the students at BCIT. Elevated bending machines means no more chips and soda for lunch.
