September 2010

In Chinese

East No. 1 Seafood Restaurant

September 12, 2010

Since I apparently like late night snacking, East No. 1 Seafood Restaurant seemed like a good place to get our Chinese food cravings fulfilled.

M liked their sweet and sour pork, so he insisted we go. Even though this place is usually for dim sum…we just took a gamble and went for evening dinner.

Unlike the weekend afternoons, this place was pretty empty compared to the super packed weekends where asian people are fighting over the last egg tart.

We started off the meal accidently ordering the house soup, which had corn and meat in it. It was really nice and refreshing and came out to be ~$10 and served about 4 people. Not bad, but I’m sure if you know how to make soup, it would be a fraction of the price. I should get my mother to make more soup.

Next we had the best sweet and sour pork in Vancouver… M and FragileBoy are the advocates of this claim. I clearly did not believe them until I tried for myself, the meat was really well fried but I wish there was more meat and less vegetables. Overall really nice!

Next we had the Yan Su Fried Rice, nothing too special about it since it tasted liked typical fried rice with shrimp. I love shrimp, so it easy for me to like it right away.

Also, we had a chicken fried noodle, which was amazing since I love crispy noodle. I actually eat it for the texture of the crunch noodle rather than what’s on top. The noodles were so crunchy so when you put it in your mouth you can hear the noodles go crunch.

Lastly, we had the spicy green beans, which was nice and spicy. What I didn’t like about the dish was that the beans were a bit soggy and it was not very crunch when you bit it. Compared to some other Chinese places, this dish didn’t make me like it.

At the end of our meal they gave us sesame balls, and red bean/wild rice soup. It was a nice end to the meal and I did enjoy the sesame balls and the soup. Made the meal a bit more enjoyable.

If you love Chinese food and want some place cheap to eat at in Vancouver. Try out East no. 1 Seafood Restaurant! They also do dim sum!

We rate East no. 1 Seafood Restaurant:

They are located at:

2800 E 1st Ave
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Hapa Izakaya (Robson)

September 11, 2010

Hapa Izakaya apparently is known to people in Toronto as the Japanese restaurant with super hot waitresses. Since I’m a girl, I really care more about the food!

BaguetteGirl and I went to have dinner before she departed on exchange to France. We chose Hapa because I’ve never been there and I’ve heard great reviews about the food!

We couldn’t decide where to sit. So we decided to sit at the Sushi Bar because it would be interesting to see a chef at work! It was a delight because we went some time looking at the food he was making and pointing to it and wondering what they were.

To start off the exciting experience, BaguetteGirl ordered the Hello Kitty and I ordered the Harajuku Girl. Very girly drinks but THEY TASTE SO GOOD! The Hello Kitty was made out of Vodka, Calpis, strawberry puree and soda. The Harajuku Girl had Vodka, Sourpuss Raspberry, Butter Ripple Schnapps, Calpis, and soda. The drinks were refreshing to the start of the meal and not alcoholic tasting…even though it had vodka. One thing that suck with these drinks was that the lemon and lime were cut really badly, they were not firm and just slouched over.

The menu reminded me of Guu! Lots of tapas, lots of choice, super good.

We started off with the ebi mayo, which is prawn tempura in spicy mayo sauce. It was not overly spicy and had a good balance of flavour. This dish is a staple dish in my opinion whenever you go to a Japanese tapas place!

Next we had the beef tataki! I love beef tataki!!! It’s so good! I LOVE MEAT. Anyways, the beef tataki was made out of Seared AAA beef slices with a sesame-chilli sauce, onions on top! Very nicely put together.

Next we had the GINDARA & TAKANA MESHI which is Hot stone bowl rice with baked sablefish marinated in miso and soy with Japanese mustard leaves. It was also super delicious. The waitress would bring it to the table and help you mash up all the ingredients in the bowl so all the items are mashed up to the right size.

After that we had the pork belly and lettuce wrap, for some reason that took a while to get to the table. The dish contained Crispy pork belly, apple yuzu jam, pickled red onions & butter lettuce! The dish was good but when we put all the ingredients together it did not taste extraordinary. Something was missing from this dish. Perhaps something more acidic to balance the pork belly?

To end off the meal, we had the assorted ice cream. It comes with 3 different ice cream flavours. It was a very interesting experience and if you are craving dessert, why no just try it for the heck of it.

The first ice cream was a roasted tomato which sounded really strange at the time.

The second was similar to a frozen crème brulee.

The last was a coffee and pepper ice cream.

If you are looking for some delicious Japanese tapas and some drinks for a girls night out or a date, this is the place to go. Nice atmosphere, nice décor and servers!

We rate Hapa Izakaya:

Check out their website: http://hapaizakaya.com/

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Red Burrito (Commercial)

September 11, 2010

Red Burrito has always in our sights when we go back to Burnaby from Vancouver. After a long day of work and school, M and I decided today was the day we would walk into Red Burrito and see what treasures lie inside.

After a while of trying to find parking, driving into alleys, scratching the bottom of my car, we found a nice spot right near the restaurant. The pay parking is $2 per hour or $1 for 30mins.

You can never miss Red Burrito on Commercial and 1^st ave because the lit up sign just illuminates. We walked in and I was surprised it wasn’t really gross and dirty. They have some seats inside and outside to eat. I think a lot of the people who order just take out anyways…cause some sketchy people are around.. like hobos.

The menu was quite simple and it’s easily to read. You choose your item, add the meat, type of salsa, and any additional items in it.

M and I ordered the Red Burrito, which I assume is their best seller because that’s the name of the restaurant.

I didn’t really expect much from this place because of the low ratings, but I was surprised at so much food they gave for $6. There was so much stuffing…I don’t even know how they wrapped it up. It still stayed intact which is good. I was just sad they didn’t add cheese and guacamole free of charge….they cost 1.50 more!!! RIP OFF!

They wrap it up in tin foil and then you can unwrap to enjoy the deliciousness that lays inside.

This Red Burrito was FAT! It was so heavy and was stuffed with so many things that I was super full when I was finished. There was the right amount of ingredients inside and worked super well. I don’t know if this is good or not, but I had to chicken in my burrito and it had some nice texture! It was a bit nice and crunchy. I enjoyed it, but does it mean it’s not fresh chicken? Either way I enjoyed it and I didn’t get sick.

If you want a place that give you bang for your buck, go to Red Burrito to have a Red Burrito because you will get stuffed for $6. They just kinda piss me off that they need to charge extra for cheese and guacamole!

We rate Red Burrito:

Check out their website: http://www.redburrito.ca/

In Seafood

The Oyster at Pescatores Seafood

September 8, 2010

No trip to Victoria is ever complete without having some seafood! On our way back to Vancouver, InsecureGirl, FragileBoy and I really wanted some oysters and The Oyster was really calling out to us! Even the “Buck-a-Shuck” sign in the front tempted us to have oysters for $1 a piece.

We took so long contemplating the decision that the “buck-a-shuck” deal ended at 5:30pm. But nonetheless we went anyways because we are whores for oysters.

We walked in and the place seemed very lively with a majority of the seats full and the vibrant red walls screaming excitement. Soon enough, we found out this place was not so exciting after all.

We looked at the menu and it seemed really limited so we stuck to the steamed mussels and clams in garlic butter, as well as 3 types of oysters. It took the waitress awhile to get our order…even though she was a few steps away from us at the bar. All the food came fairly slowly and made us super hungry. ( you can click on the photos to see larger versions).

First up was the bread. Like all restaurants they bring bread. Nothing super special but free bread is always nice…since asians love free stuff!

Next the pound of steamed mussels and clams arrive in its delicious garlic butter. It was very good and even M said so himself….and he doesn’t really like seafood. I thought the garlic butter was just fantastic…I even dipped the bread into the sauce.

The 3 types of oysters that we chose were – kusshi, satori, and Fanny Bay. All oysters were served with 4 sauces: classic mignonette, cucumber mignonette, hot pepper sauce, house cocktail sauce and freshly grated horseradish.

My favorite was the Kusshi oyster. It has a very buttery texture, rich and salty with a sweet mildly fruity finish to it. Even The Oyster’s website said it is one of the oysters that beginners should eat. It’s small and not too intimidating for people starting out to eat raw oysters.

Satori was a bit salty but no distinguishing taste that I could get out of it.

Fanny Bay was very salty and sweet with a cucumber or melon finish.

One thing we didn’t like about the oysters is how there were still bits of shell near the meat of the oyster, so when you ate it, you would need to spit out pieces of the shell.

Also at the end, the service was still pretty bad….

If you are looking for a wide selection of oysters and other types of seafood, check out The Oyster! Just watch out for the service cause it’s bad!
We rate The Oyster:
Visit them at their website: http://theoysterbar.ca/

In Japanese

JagaSilk

September 6, 2010

When going to the Bug Zoo in Victoria, InsecureGirl suggested we go to JagaSilk for some amazing authentic green tea!

We were still uber full from The Empress Afternoon Tea, but InsecureGirl and I dragged the boys to go in. Good thing we did because it turned out to be a memorable experience! First of all I love green tea, I must have a cup everyday…it’s probably just the asian side of me.

JagaSilk is located in Nootka Court and owned by a lovely couple. The little shop looked very unique when we walked in, the store was filled with Japanese pottery – Chawan and had a nice bar to sit down.

Since I’m not an expert in green tea, I did not know what to get on the menu since there were so many options and different grades of green tea you could use in your tea. We asked the owner what he would suggest and we chose the Organic Green Tea Frappe and lemon matcha ice tea.

The matcha ice tea was made first where Jared – the owner shows us how he prepares the matcha for the drink. He carefully measures the amount of matcha and then adds in hot water and purified water then mixes with a chasen (matcha whisks). Then he goes to the back to mix the matcha mix with sugar water, lemon and ice. Thus the lemon match ice tea was made. It was really refreshing and the color of the matcha really resonated through this whole drink. It was very nice!

The Organic Green Tea Frappe was made next with the same mixing process and was blended with a blender. They take their drinks very seriously; they even went to the trouble of making the drink again because it was not perfect! After it was all made, I took a sip out of it and WOW such amazing green tea flavour in the drink. It was probably better than Starbucks and 100% more healthy!

FragileBoy decided to try out the Orange Duck Organic LondonFog Ice Cream. The Orange Duck is the brand of the ice cream; no ducks were hurt in the making of the ice cream. The ice cream was served in a nice cup and plate. It was served with frozen blueberries. The first bite of ice cream was unbelievable! It had so much flavour that it tasted like a real London fog. The blueberry was a nice addition since it is kinda like a pallet cleanser when you had too much of the same taste. If you go here you must eat this!!! There is nothing else like it!

They even have a green tea version too to go! This will soon be out in stores soon!

While we were drinking the drinks, we chatted with him for a bit asking about the business and green tea products. It turns out there’s different grades of green tea and how there is a myth were if the green tea comes from Japan, it’s automatically labeled organic. In reality, this is obviously not true. So, JagaSilk works directly with a Green tea farmer in Japan to ensure the products they are using are organic and live up to the grade that is specified. They even go far as using all purified water for their ice cubes.

They even sell their green tea and pottery in the store and online!

If you are looking for authentic green tea drinks go to JagaSilk. You will not be disappointed. They also support organic products, vegetarianism, and sustainable business practices! So, you know they are really dedicated to their work.

We rate Jagasilk:

Check out their website: http://www.jagasilk.com

In Four Beakers

The Empress Afternoon Tea

September 6, 2010

The Empress in Victoria has the most elegant afternoon tea! During the long weekend, InsecureGirl, FragileBoy, M and I decided to go to Victoria and explore the sights and sounds of Victoria! Even with the 1 hour of sleep we got earlier during the night, this did not bother our trip…not even the 5% amount of oil left in my car ( it eventually started flashing -61…but at least the car didn’t break down).

We drove around finding parking for the day and found the cheapest option EVER. Take this as a very good tip if you ever want to drive to Victoria!!! Park at the Valet at The Empress and say you are going to Afternoon Tea, they will not charge you since the Valet is for the people staying overnight. We just tipped them after leaving the car there for the whole day! If you are just walking around downtown and doing a day trip here, this saves you a lot of money!

We went in our “business smart” dress code as instructed on the website, but we soon found out we were dressed up a bit too much since there are a lot of tourists going for Afternoon tea in their t-shirts and shorts.

The décor of the room was very elegant and you could kinda feel a chill as you drank your tea because all the furniture and décor was so dated. Even walking past the elevators felt a bit eerie because they were so old. Apparently, there’s a rumor where the hotel is haunted (GASP!).

As we sat down and was greeted by our lovely waitress, she explained how the afternoon tea works and what we should be expecting. We choose a type of tea – the Empress Blend, which is made especially for the Empress. Which I find very hyped up because it just tastes like red tea.

Before the tiers of food came, they gave us seasonal fruit with whipped cream on top. It was a very nice beginning to the meal. The seasonal fruit was strawberries!

Next came the tiers of food, even though it didn’t look like a lot of food, if you ate slowly you will surely be filled. We started at the bottom with the sandwiches.

There was a curry sandwich, carrot sandwich, egg salad croissant, salmon pinwheel sandwich and mushroom crostini. I think my favorites were the curry sandwich and the mushroom crostini. M went nuts over the egg salad croissant. Apparently its very hard to make such a miniature croissant and have all the ingredients work really well together.

The second tier were scones with shipped butter and jars of jam. Embedded in the scones were raisins and had a very nice rich taste to it. It was well made but you can tell there was a lot of fat to this scone. It was quite filling and probably was the item that stuffed us the most. The scone was not particularly overly enjoyable or too exciting.

The last tier and probably the tier that is most interesting to devour! It came with a strawberry meringue tart, sugar cookies, tulip chocolate Ganache with candied blue berries, checkered cake covered in fondant, and greentea cheesecake.

When we finished and asked for the bill, the waitress gave us a gift of complementary Empress Blend Tea which was a very nice touch and made the afternoon a bit more special! I guess that had to do that because the bill came to a shocking $200+ for 4 people. That probably came out to be $65 per person after tax and tips. (OUCH!)

The experience of going to a super nice afternoon tea location was very nice, but probably overpriced. After this experience, I would not go again because I don’t think it was worth the amount of money we paid. Don’t get me wrong, the food was good, it was a bit expensive for my taste. Next time perhaps I will go to the Secret Garden or The Market for some High Tea for a cheaper price.

We rate The Empress Afternoon Tea:

Check out the site: http://www.fairmont.com/empress/GuestServices/Restaurants/AfternoonTea.htm

In Downtown

Nuba (Hastings)

September 6, 2010

Nuba is a fantastic Lebanese restaurant and even does catering for events Downtown! The first time I had a taste of Nuba was at Marketer’s Night – SFU’s Marketing Networking Event where they served appetizers.

After this day, I vowed to visit here one day. 9 months later I did!

CanuckGirl, TaiwaneseGirl, BigBaby and I were just in the Downtown area and used the Yelp App on the Iphone and this was on the list of most popular restaurants!

The restaurant was located almost near the sketchy part of Hastings so we were walking past the Scientology building and got really weirded out … then saw a few Hemp shops but we got there alright.

When we got there, we really didn’t know what to choose since there were so many options to choose from. We were in a sharing mood so we had the La Feast and Le Grande Feast. The waitress said it would fill us all up and we would be able to taste the varieties of the menu.

I started of with the Organic Sangria, which was really nice since it was made out of Cono Sur Organic Carbernet-Carmenere Wine, OJ, Lemon Juice, pomegranate and a hint of cinnamon. I really wish I could have had more.

Everyone else had the water but this was no tap water, or lemon water, this was CUCUMBER WATER. It was really refreshing and unique. I know this other restaurant – Le Cobre that does this too.

When the Le Grand Feast arrived and it contained a plate of – Hummus, baba ghanooj, taboulleh with pita bread. I personally liked the Hummas a bit more because I am in love with garlic! Thats why the vampires don’t ever come close!

I didn’t love the Baba Ghanooj because of the citrus flavour but it was still a good dip which others at the table liked more.

The next dish that arrived with the Feast was the grilled lamb chops and chicken. The lamb chops were medium rare as requested which was fantastically done. It had an incredible flavour and you could taste that there was a mint aftertaste to it.

The last one with this combo was the roasted potatoes, salad and Najib’s Special.

The Najib’s Special is crispy cauliflower tossed with lemon and sea salt served with tahini. It was surprisingly really good but looks really awkward.

The roasted potato was nothing special, it was what normal roasted potatoes would taste like.

La Feast came and boy, this was a FEAST! There was so much food that it did not fit on our table. We had an additional plate of hummas, taboulleh and baba ghanooj! The waitress even gave us extra pita bread for our left over dips.

For the main feast, there was more cauliflower, eggplant stew, falafels, olives, feta and so many other things that I have no idea what they were called.

We were so stuffed after the platters that we could not continue eating.

If you are looking for authentic Lebanese, go to Nuba! There are 3 locations, so there is no excuse to not eat here. The staff is very helpful when choosing your dishes because you probably won’t know what to choose!

We rate Nuba:

Check out Nuba’s Website: http://nuba.ca/

In Robson Street/West End

Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House

September 2, 2010

After hearing so much about Joe Fortes, I thought it was time to go! A group of us went during lunchtime because they have $10 Blue plate specials and Prix Fixe set meals for either 14.95 (2 dishes)or 17.95 (3 dishes).

Since Joe Fortes is a seafood restaurant, Insecuregirl, Fragileboy and I decided to order some oysters! We love oysters, we would probably drink oyster if we wanted to. We started off with 3 types of oysters – Kumamoto, Joe’s Gold and Local Beach. If you do not know anything about oysters, just ask the waitress/waiter for suggestions because you don’t want to end up with oysters that taste nasty.

The Kumamoto Oyster had a firm texture and a rich creamy flavour. The after taste was quite interesting since it ended with a buttery-sweet and mildly fruity, with just a hint of briny flavour. Apparently it’s very popular. I really loved this one a lot. As you can tell, this oyster came from Japan.

Joe’s gold was a bigger than the Kumamoto Oyster. Joe’s gold oyster had a mild, fresh flavour with a sweet finish. These oysters are specially ordered from Saw Mill Bay for Joe Fortes…thus the name – Joe’s gold.

The last oyster – Local beach was about the same size as Joe’s gold. It also had a mild fresh flavour but it also tasted salty and briny.

For more info on local BC oysters check out:
http://www.pacifickiss.ca/about-bc-oysters/bc-oyster-buyers-guide

Enough about oysters, let’s get back to the meal! InsecureGirl, CanuckGirl and I had the Cup of New England Clam chowder as an appetizer, part of our prix fixe meal set. It came with oyster crackers on the side to add into the Clam chowder. Inside the clam chowder there were cream, potatoes, bacon, thyme and of course clams. It was an ok chowder but I really wished there were more clams in the chowder because I didn’t find much of it expect for maybe half a clam. The crackers were a nice touch when you wanted more texture in your chowder.

M and FragileBoy had the Halibut and Chips. M’s Halibut came on his dish looking like a fish. It was super amazing because FragileBoy’s Halibut looked nothing like a fish. The batter was really nice and crispy. The halibut inside was perfectly done on the inside. There was also tartar sauce to dip the halibut into. The tartar sauce tasted like normal tartar sauce but with more of a dill taste. The fries on th bottom were really good as well. One thing the whole table agreed on was that the fries had a “Mc Donald’s” aftertaste, which was interesting, but it made us all want to eat it more.

InsecureGirl, TaiwaneseGirl and CanuckGirl all got the Wild Salmon with mashed potatoes. The Salmon was just ok by itself but if you ate it with the corn and peppers on the bottom, it just adds to the dish so much more! The sweetness from the corn really balances out the taste.

I ordered the blue cheese meatloaf. It was really good since I’ve actually never had meatloaf before. Tasted really good with the corn on the bottom. I found that it was quite a large dish for myself and was quite meaty…since it is a meatloaf. I wanted more vegetables to really break the meaty taste from my mouth.

To finish everything off, there was dessert! I ordered the Vanilla crème brulee.

The crème brulee was nice and crunchy at the top and creamy at the bottom. I didn’t like the mound of whipped cream on the side. I didn’t think it added much to the dish.

TaiwaneseGirl ordered the Vanilla Gelato with Chocolate Ganache drizzled on top. The wafer and the chocolate ganache added a lot of texture to the gelato. It was very well done and great dessert to finish the meal.

For the price of the food, it could have been way better since there are so many other seafood restaurants in Vancouver. I might as well spend the same amount of money elsewhere to get better food with more amounts.

Joe Fortes is the king of seafood but the menu is quite pricy if you go for dinner. If you want to try this place out for lunch, it is way cheaper. A lot of the food we ordered was just ok and not super fantastical delicious.

We rate Joe Fortes:

Check out Joe Fortes website: http://www.joefortes.ca/