March 2011

Havanas: Latin Burgers & Sangria

March 31, 2011

Another late night at SFU and a bunch of us were growing super super hungry after our meeting. Thinking about what is still open, we just headed off to The Drive. We first headed to the Libra Room, but they didnt have enough room for us. We were also all starving and didn’t want to wait. So, what to do… we called up Havanas to see if there was room for all of us.

Success! They did have enough room for us, so we ran down to Havanas. We had 30 mins till last call, so we ordered quickly.

No university student can go without some alcohol, so we started off with the Rojo Sangria. It has red wine, cherry and apricot brandy, fresh fruit, strawberries, and fruit juice.

We all liked the Rojo Sangria! It was sweet and yummy!

After we drank the Rojo Sangria, we got the Tropical Sangria. This has white wine, Malibu, mango, fresh fruit, and citrus juice. This was not as good as the Rojo Sangria. The Malibu Rum gave this sangria a more alcoholic taste.

All 6 of us decided to get the Latino Burger ($18). This huge burger has a grilled beef patty, grilled chorizo, bacon, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, spicy mayo, avocado, and onions all on a toasted ciabatta bun.This is a man’s burger! It is pretty large. It is quite hard to wrap your mouth around this sandwich. This burger is quite expensive, but you do get 2 types of meat in this burger. You also get your choice of fries, salad or both.

All the girl had to pack up half their burgers since they could not finish it. The men ate it all with ease. In the end we were all satisfied with the food!

At the end of the night, our waitress handed out a ballot form for Dining Out For Life. Participating restaurants such as Havanas donated 25% of their sales towards a great cause for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Havana’s is best known for their Sangria!

We rate Havana’s:

Visit Havana’s Website: www.havanarestaurant.ca

Address:

1212 Commercial Dr
Vancouver, BC

In Event

1st Annual Foodie Feast Recap

March 30, 2011

Yesterday was an epic night at the 1st Annual Foodie Feast at District 319. The event was put together by Follow Me Foodie, Sherman’s Food Adventures and Urbanspoon ! It was an event to bring together foodies from all over Vancouver to support the Vancouver Food Bank.

There were 11 restaurants participating in the feast including Bella Gelateria, El Barrio, EBO Restaurant, Falconetti’s, Hapa Izakaya, Kitchening with Carly, La Belle Auberge, ManCakes Bakery, Mochikas, One Planet Catering, and Red Star Seafood.

The tickets sold out quickly and I was glad I bought the tickets early! I know several people were not successful at getting tickets.

Photo Credit: Three Sixty Photography

@FloYVR, @irvlau, myself and Non-Twittering Terry arrived at the Foodie Feast! We dropped off our things at the coast check and proceeded to take pictures in front of the red carpet. Props to Three Sixty Photography for taking our amazing photos!

We started lining up for the booths held by the various restaurants. We first lined up for La Belle Auberge, they were serving Brome Lake duck croquette with yam puree, cinnamon spiced breast and parmesan risotto.

Next up was El Barrio. They were serving Tostada Carnitas which is a deep fried corn tortilla layered with creamy beans, pulled pork and curdito.

One Planet Catering had some amazing items lined up for guests. Spicy tuna tartar, 5 spice duck confit and this raspberry cookie dessert.

Hapa Izakaya has these special items – Tuna Avo Salsa and Yuzu Ceviche. It was like a fusion between Japanese and Mexican cuisine.

After finishing the first half of the main floor, Sherman (Sherman Food Adventures), Mijune (Follow Me Foodie) and James (Bella Gelateria) gave an opening speech to everyone at the event. As you can tell the floor was packed!

Mijune thought she was not going to make it to the event, so she prepared a hilarious video! Lots of people thought it was a fake video, but I think most people were glad that she did make it back to Vancouver in time for the event!

Check it out here.

Mochikas served a yummy ceviche and a pork belly sandwich! It was really really good!!!

Red Star Seafood was hard at work preparing their dishes. They even had a draw for more prizes.

All their dishes were on spoons – sui mai, pan fried radish cake with shrimp paste, and fresh prawn and fruit in salad dressing.

I am a sucker for food served in spoons. My parents would never serve me food in spoons… I remember watching Food Network as a kid and envy the people on the shows eating finger food off spoons. I was SO jealous!

Falconetti’s probably had one of the longest line up at the event! Not exactly sure why, but people must love their sausages.

They were serving up 2 types of gourmet sausages – hot and polish sausages on bread.

EBO Restaurant had probably the most exciting dishes at the Foodie Feast. You are probably wondering why… look at the pictures to see why.

They were serving their smoking orchard shooter. When your food contains a bit of science and razzle dazzle. Who wouldn’t love the look of this drink. People were walking by asking about the drink.

You would feel the dry ice in action as it bubbled away in the drink.

The other items EBO Restaurant had were albacore tuna, beef short ribs, and Peanut Butter bar. They basically provided a mini meal for us. hahaha.

Now onto desserts. No meal is ever complete without sweet sweet desserts!

ManCakes Bakery had a twist on the typical cupcakes. This is not your regular cupcake… this is a MANs cupcake!

The cupcakes that they offered were:

Pink Peppercorn Grapefruit ManCake
Buffalo Wing
Breakfast ManCake

I honestly love the concept. No man should ever feel ashamed about devour a cupcake ever again!

Kitchening with Carly was there with her AMAZING macarons!

The flavours here were:

Vanilla Bean Macaron with Lavender Butter Cream
Natural Almond Macaron with Rosemary Salted Caramel and Vanilla Cream
Chai Macaron with Cardamom Cream

I really loved the almond macaron! Starts off sweet and BAM you taste the salty caramel. Yum Yum

Bella Gelateria was offering 3 types of gelato – yuzu, espresso and dark chocolate. The girls of Bella Gelateria was serving from the outdoors cart! Delicious as usual!

After a few hours we managed to finish all the restaurants on the list. We were stuffed beyond belief. I needed to take a walk around the block to empty my stomach.

Even though this event is called “Foodie Feast” it is not only about the food, but it’s about the people you meet and the cause we are supporting – Vancouver Food Bank!

Through out the night, there was a twitter feed on the big screen. There were 2 columns. If you were twittering and using the tag @vanfoodiefest, it would show up on the left. If you used the tag – #foodiefeast, it would show up on the right.

I was super amazed by this so I used both through out the night. You don’t understand, I was SOO addicted to this twitter feed that I thought I would make it a game to see how many times I could see my tweets pop up. Clearly I am crazy so I twittered so quickly that 2 popped up in a row.

There was also live music going on by DJ Goremay and Oker!

(L to R) @FloYVR, @IrvLau, @followmefoodie, and me (@foodologyca)

I met many amazing people throughout the night! I finally met Mijune! I was super excited but I really didn’t say that much to her since I was super shy (and super full).

I also met a few of the crew at Urbanspoon! I even got a shirt from them as well!

At the end of the night came the big draw for the 51? 60? Some large amount of raffle prizes. @FloYVR had her $20 worth of tickets ready, but unfortunately she did not win the grand prize that was announced. Perhaps she won other prizes… but I’ll follow up with her to see if she won anything.

At the end of the event, we all left with gift bags from Natures Path! There were different types of granola bars, cereal, and a cook book!

Overall, I had a great time despite the long line ups for the booths. You do meet some of the best people lining up and waiting. Too bad there were no name tags, I could have stalked so many more people!

Props to Sherman (Sherman Food Adventures), Mijune (Follow Me Foodie), James (Bella Gelateria) and Urbanspoon for hosting such a great event to bring the foodie community together! Also, to all the participating restaurant for donating their time and food for such a great cause! I’m looking forward to the next Food Feast already!

In Coquitlam

House of Tofu Soup: Authentic Korean Cuisine

March 30, 2011

Another night out at Korean Town with my Korean Homies – M, BusanGirl and Fabo! I always rely on them when I we go to any Korean Restaurant. They make the order process 100000x easier for me. What can I say, having Korean friends are handy when I want to check out hidden Korean restaurants around town.

House of Tofu Soup is supposedly has the best tofu soup in the Lower Mainland. Fabo has said that it is even better than the tofu soups in Korea! House of Tofu Soup is located on North Road. It is very hidden and their popularity has spread mainly by word of mouth.

The menu is quite limited but what is awesome about their menu is that they have 3 different translations on their menu – English, Korean and Chinese. If you bring your parents or Grand Parents, they won’t be grumpy that they don’t understand the menu.

The meal starts off with the Korean side dishes – mashed potatoes, seaweed, kimchi, marinated daikon, and pickled daikon with daikon juice. All the side dishes were pretty good and no complaints.

We ordered the Goon Mandu (Fried Dumplings) for $4.99. It comes with 8 pieces. Extra crispy on the outside and has pork and green onion inside. They also give you a light soy sauce to dip our dumplings into.

BusanGirl and M both got the Spicy Dumpling Tofu Soup ($9.99). Even though it look very red and its labeled spicy, this tofu soup will not burn the taste buds off your tongue. The dumplings inside is basically the same ones that we had for a starter but it was not friend.

I ordered the Spicy Seafood Tofu Soup ($9.99). It came bubbling and steaming like it came from the depths of hell. JK. It was just boiling really hard. There was very small bits of mussels and about 8 tiny shrimp in it. There is TONS of tofu in the soup so you are getting your moneys worth.

Also like the other tofu soup, it was not too spicy at all.

They also give you eggs for your tofu soup, no matter what flavour it is. You crack it, dump it in and swirl it around. If you are thinking that I am so cool for cracking an egg with one hand…I actually used two hands but I had to pose with one hand since the other one had to take the picture.

You also get rice to go with your soup. You can dump some into your soup to eat together…or eat it separately.

When they scoop the rice in to the metal bowls, you are left with hot stone bowls with the rice sticking to the side. They pour tea into the stone bowl to soften it up. At the end of your meal, you can scoop this rice/tea into your bowl and eat it.

It’s pretty bland and it’s like eating tea with rice. Some people like it and some people don’t.

Words of Wisdom:

Best Tofu Soup in Vancouver
Under $10
Free Parking in lot or in parkade

We Rate House of Tofu Soup:

Address:

4563 North Rd
Burnaby, BC

In Cafe

Dessert Dynasty

March 29, 2011

Beside T&T at Metrotown is a cafe place called Dessert Dynasty. They sell desserts and different types of bubble tea. If you are ever at the mall and wanted a bit of something sweet, it’s a decent place to head to.

I remember when I was younger…so many bbt places at Metro and I couldn’t decide which one to go to…. Till this day, I still can’t figure out which one is my favorite.

The menu is both in Chinese and English, so you will have no issues reading it. I usually skip reading the menu and get my 2 staple items – Milk tea and bubble waffles! You can’t get anymore asian than that. (You probably could but this is how I roll).

The Cold Milk Tea ($3ish) was like most average milk teas. It was slightly on the sweet side but not too bad. I find that as I get older I like things to be less sweet. I know I’m not THAT old, but I like to save my teeth for the future.

If you are like me, you may want to get half sweet. ( Plus, it’s less calories!)

Lastly, the Bubble Waffle ($3.33) was pretty good. A bubble waffle is basically little ball of puffy waffles. They mix this egg batter and pour it into a waffle-maker with a honeycomb pattern. It gets cooked, and voila! You have your waffle balls – crunchy on the outside, and if cooked just right, slightly chewy on the inside.

I thought the ones at Dessert Dynasty wouldn’t be that great since I’ve heard mediocre review about this place. The lady today made it well, nice and soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Yummy!

Overall, Dessert Dynasty is pretty average and not super outstanding. It’s place to go if you are in the area and want some sweets.

Words of Wisdom:

Address:

149 – 4800 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:

http://www.dessertdynasty.com/

In Cafe

Meat & Bread: The Power of Twitter

March 28, 2011

When I’m in Downtown in the office, I love looking for places to eat for lunch. I do rely on twitter for deals or even new cool items a restaurant has for that day. I was looking up and down my twitter feed and Meat & Bread had some new items on the menu, even secret ones too…so I just had to go!

They had 2 specials that day – the Chicken Hot Wing and the goat sandwich. When do you ever get to go to a restaurant and give them a secret code to get a secret sandwich that only tweeters know. (GASP!)

I took Mandu with me to try these sandwiches! It was close to both our offices so we didn’t trek too much out of the way.

Mandu ordered the Chicken Hot Wing ($8). It has chicken, hot sauce, celery, carrots and blue cheese. Mandu really liked the taste of it! The only issue she had with it was that the sauce was a bit watery, so when she ate it, the sauce would leak out.

I went up and told one of the staff “Gimme the Goat“. He was surprised that the tweet actually worked! They had enough ingredients to make 10 sandwiches and I was the first one to sink my teeth into it! When I took my sandwich to the table, the table beside us kept looking at our food and tried to identify what they were. Clearly, they could not identify the goat sandwich. It was super awkward attempting to eat the sandwich when people are clearly staring at you. I had to intrude on their conversation and tell them about what we ordered so it would give them a clear idea of what to order and give them recommendations. After a few giggles here and there, they totally ordered the same thing as us. (The power of influence!)

If you are into the whole internet ‘meme’ thing, you will understand what I’m trying to say. I had to remove the inappropriate words just in case there were children reading this.

OK, anyways, back to the sandwich! The taste was super amazing! I had no idea what was in it. If I tried to guess the ingredients, I will probably trick you into thinking things….honestly I have no idea what I ate. I probably should have asked but I was too hungry. (Having no allergies is awesome FYI). The goat was really nice, tender, and super flavourful. There was also some type of greens and this purple spread. Trust me it was good!

I also got a soda! They have several types of sodas but I chose the Dandelion & Burdock Soda. Apparently it is the most popular soda they have. You will not find any Coke or 7up at Meat & Bread. The soda did not taste too strange or earthy.

It is infused with Dandelion leaves and Burdock root, sweetened with pear juice and spiced with a touch of ginger and anise. Apparently its a popular British type of soda. It may sound gross since dandelion are weeds….but delicious!

Words of Wisdom:

Best to go early to ensure nothing is sold out
Porchetta is the most popular but the other sandwiches are also delicious
The sauces are a must try

We rate Meat & Bread:

Check out their website: http://meatandbread.ca/

In Dessert

Dot. Desserts: A Parfait Bar

March 27, 2011

RomanJ here! Abbytizer and I decided to try out probably one of the only parfait bars in South Vancouver called, “Dot. Desserts”. The desert bar is somewhat hidden since the sign outside the dessert bar states “bubble house”, which is confusing for first time comers. The “Dot. Desserts” is only recognizable with their small sidewalk sign.

Dot. Desserts is a small dessert bar, with high 4 high tables and somewhat dim lighting. It has nicely displaced framed pictures on the wall. Plus, its a nice place to bring a date.

I ordered the Strawberry parfait, while Abbytizer ordered the Espresso parfait.

The Strawberry Parfait ($6.88) is delicious. The parfait consists of freshly cut strawberries on top of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, covered with whip cream and streaked strawberry sauce. The middle of the parfait consists of more ice cream with Vector Cereal (or could be corn flakes), adding a crunch to each every flavorful bit. At the bottom of the parfait is a sponge cake covered with mixture of melted ice cream and strawberry sauce. The Strawberry is outstanding and will fulfill anyone’s parfait cravings.

Abbytizer had the Espresso parfait, is made of chocolate moose, vanilla ice cream, with chocolate sauce on top. In the middle, sponge cake, a layer of cereal, chocolate sauce, mixed with more ice cream and espresso of course. The Espresso parfait was also delicious. The mixtures of flavors really melted together well.

Overall, we liked the parfaits at Dot. Desserts. They have variety of flavors to choose from. We’ll definitely come back to try out the other flavors.

Words of Wisdom:

Reasonably priced
They offer more than just parfaits: crepes, slush & milk tea drinks and subs

We rate Dots. Desserts:

Address:

5556 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.dotdesserts.ca

In Cafe

Finch’s Tea & Coffee House

March 27, 2011

On the last lunch with MedicalGiraffe, she took me to Finch’s Tea & Coffee House. She always finds the coolest places to go to. Sometimes I have no idea how she finds these places.

Finch’s is famous for the amazing baguette sandwiches.

My first impressions of this place is that it is a very hipster place. The ceilings and the walls are quite rustic. Their entire menu is written on the black chalk boards. There are not a lot of seats, so you may need to share a table or take out.

I ordered Green Tea and MedicalGiraffe ordered a type of Riboos Tea. The teas around about $2.50 and you can always ask them for more hot water if you finish your tea.

MedicalGiraffe had the pear baguette ($8.95). It contains blue brie, prosciutto, roasted walnuts, oil, vingar, salt & pepper and also pears! These are made of high quality ingredients and they don’t skimp on any of the ingredients.

I had a bit of this and I never knew how good pears and prosciutto could be! YUM!

I ordered the prosciutto Baguette ($7.95). It contains edam cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, oil, vinegar, salt, papper and of course prosciutto. I also loved it. The baguette was nice and fluffy with amazing ingredients inside. All the ingredients work well together and you will leave Finch’s satisfied!

Even a week after since having this sandwich, its always on my mind. If any type of food has left such an impression on you, you know it was amazing.

After the sandwiches, we wanted to try other items on the menu. I looked at the cheese plates and I spotted the Applewood Smoked Cheddar Cheese Plate ($9.25) . This was a simple cheese plate that included wheat crackers, fresh whole apple, cerignola olives, roasted walnuts, grapes and applewood smoked cheddar cheese.

The apple was indeed prepared on the spot! You can tell this by the color of the apple. If it was left out for a bit, it would have oxidized and turning brown.

The plate was a bit expensive and it was not too amazing.

Words of Wisdom:

Pay Parking on streets
Amazing baguettes!
Under $10

We Rate Finch’s Tea & Coffee House:

Address:

353 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.finchteahouse.com

In Food for Thought

A&W: New GrandMa Prime Rib Burger

March 27, 2011

They were promoting this burger last week at A&W near my work, I pass by everyday, so it’s easy to notice if there are any new promotions. I kept seeing posters introducing the GrandMa Burger, which is made of Prime Rib.

As you can tell from the look, it is one of their premium burgers made with good ingredients.

I really wish I took a photo of the actual burger but I ate it up too quickly. I probably ate it in less than 1 minute. I was in a rush and really had no time to take a pause.

This burger has prime rib patty, caramelized onions, mayo all house in a nice fluffy bun! I liked the taste since it did have a bit more flavour. It does not taste like a real prime rib steak, but its really not bad tasting overall. The caramelized onions were a bit sweet and added additional flavour to the sandwich.

Even though this is called the GrandMa Burger, I wonder how many Grandmas would order this. hahaha. I’m not that old but I’m sure a lot of people would order this just for fun.

Overall, decent burger and I liked it!

In Fast Food

Tim Hortons: Real Fruit Smoothies

March 27, 2011

Since Tim Hortons is located at all of the SFU campuses, it was not hard to miss the promotion on their smoothies. Tim Hortons just released their new Real Fruit Smoothies with a full serving of fruit. It comes in 2 flavours – Strawberry Banana or our Mixed Berry.

I always see people buying it and I honestly thought it would be a very disgusting drink. I talked to a lot of people and they said it tasted great.

M got me the Mixed berry smoothie with yogurt. You can pay a little bit more to add yogurt so it tasted a bit more creamier. The berries that are in this drink are – strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries.

It was a good drink, you can taste the yogurt and the berries blending together nicely. The texture was also good and was not icy like their Iced Cap.

Tim Hortons finally has a drink that is decently healthy! I would probably get this again if I wanted a non caffeinated beverage!

In American

Cactus Club Cafe: The Tale of Awkward Service

March 25, 2011

ConsultingGirl and I originally wanted to go to Joeys Burnaby, but they told us there would be a 30 min wait for a table for 2 people. We lingered around for a bit but then decided to head over to Cactus Club Cafe since we were starving to death.

There was a major revamp since the last time we were here. It is very roomy, has sexy decor and is on par with the other locations in Downtown. It’s also pretty dark, so it’s the perfect place to go it you have a breakout of pimples…your date won’t be able to see your imperfections. =D

Since ConsultingGirl and I love tea. We both got tea! She ordered the Earl Grey and asked for sugar and milk on the side. I am more asian, so I got green tea with a side of lemons.

ConsultingGirl ordered the Short Rib Sandwich. It contains caramelized onions, beef jus, emmental cheese on sourdough bread. She also got fries on the side.

I ordered the BBQ Duck Clubhouse. It was on a pecan fruit bread and contained BBQ duck, pan seared chicken and crisp prosciutto. I really loved the bread, it tasted really good except for the part where the sauces would seep through the bread and get onto your hands. In the end, I just ended up eating it with a fork and knife.

The sandwich did have a lot of meat, but the duck and the chicken were a bit on the dry side. The crisp prosciutto was amazing! I got a salad on the side instead of fries.

After this point, our server look a while to come back to take our order for dessert. We felt kinda abandoned since we were really wanted to order more. We pondered for a long time to figure out what to do….so ConsultingGirl and I had a lemon eating contest with the lemons that came with my tea. We ate all the lemon slices…so we both won.

After flaggin down the waitress, we got our dessert menus. We decided pretty quickly what we wanted….but where did our server go? We had to flag down another waitress to find our server. With much luck, she came back to take our order.

We had the Chocolate Lava Cake. It comes with vanilla ice cream and a bit of berry sauce. In inside of the cake just flowed out and it was super rich and delicious! If you love chocolate, you will love this dessert!

At the end of the dessert, usually comes the bill. Can you guess what happened next? Our waitress disappeared again! We did the whole… looking around thing to indicate to the waitress that we were looking for her. During our stalking periods, we noticed that she was tending to her other tables more. At this point, it was time to leave and we were not please at all. In the end, we just payed 12% tip and didn’t make a big deal about it and left.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Parking
Great food
Great looking decor

We Rate Cactus Club Cafe:

Address:

4219 Lougheed Hwy
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.cactusclubcafe.com

In Hastings-Sunrise

Tentatsu

March 25, 2011

M was super lazy and super sick, so instead of going out to eat, we went to Yummy Web to order something delivered. Looking at the top 10 restaurants on their website, we decided to go with Tentatsu since I always see it passing Hastings.

We ordered through their online form fairly easily. We didn’t have to use a credit card, so you don’t get your information leaked. All you need to do is sign up for an account, choose a restaurant, pick your items, and confirm your order. The restaurant will call you to confirm you order and you are set!

Tentatsu delivered the food and it was very painless!

M ordered Shrimp Tempura ($6.95). More on this below.

M also ordered the Oyako Don ($4.95). This is also known as the “parent child donburi”. The reason for this is because it has both chicken and eggs. Get it? I thought thats super cute.

Tentatsu’s version of the oyako don has rice, breaded chicken, egg, caramelized onions, green onions and soy sauce.

M was super full from the tempura, so he only at 1/4th of it. He liked the dish but it was really filling and they do give you your moneys worth.

I had the Yokohama Combo ($12.95). This is a MASSIVE meal, it comes with Salmon, Tuna & Tai Sashimi, Tempura, California roll , Tuna roll & House Roll Sushi, Chicken Teriyaki & Salad.

I kept wondering why there were so many containers….container after container I was just amazed at how much food there was. It was enough for 2 people…but I ate it all by myself.

The miso soup had a lot of seaweed and tofu inside, so I was not disappointed. The sunomono was quite average, pretty similar to most other restaurants.

Then there was the assorted tempura, I think it had shrimp, zucchini, and sweet potatoes. The first few bites were delicious with the super crunchy batter, but as I kept eating, there was really too much batter. You taste more of the batter than the actually ingredient itself. M agreed since he also got stuffed from his tempura.

The tuna, salmon and tai sashimi… I was quite disappointed with. It really did not taste as fresh as it could be. It was really hard to eat for some reason.

The main portion of the Yokohama combo was also huge. The salad was just a regular green salad with citrus sauce on top, not bad. The tuna roll, california roll and house roll were decently made. The chicken teriyaki was also quite average.

There was really nothing too special about the quality and the taste. For $12.95 for that many dishes is a steal! Quality is decent but it is not over the top. Do keep in mind all of this is take out, so perhaps the quality is better when you eat in.

Words of Wisdom:

Great value for the price
Taste is average
Offers delivery and take out options

We Rate Tentatsu:

Address:

2430 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

In North Burnaby

MegaBite Pizza (Production Skytrain): The Case of the Burnt Food

March 23, 2011

A new Megabite Pizza location opened up on at Production Skytrain. M and I felt like a pizza craving, so we went online to order what we wanted. We could of had them deliver to where we were, but it was cheaper just picking it up.

We ordered an extra large pizza and a side. The extra large box was HUGE! It took up the entire passenger side seat. It smelled so heavenly driving back home with the aroma of freshly baked pizza.

We got an XL pizza ($13.99). The 3 toppings that we added on top were peperoni, green peppers and onions. We also got to choose a dip and so we chose the honey garlic sauce.

This pizza did not compare to the one in Commercial Skytrain. It was pretty average and the quality was totally off from what they would usually make. The crust was not and addictive… and it was missing its trademark sesame seed crust.

We also ordered a side of Crazy spinach rolls ($4.49). We only ordered one and 4 pieces came in the box. At first glance, we noticed something wrong. All the spinach was burnt on the sides and the bottom was burnt.

M took a few bites but we gave up because it was like eating cancer. I braved through it all and the outside was just horrible, the only enjoyable part was in the center since it was gooey with cheese.

Overall, I we were really disappointed. Very disappointed! We both vowed we would never return to this location ever again!

We Rate Megabite Pizza (Production Skytrain):

Address:

160-3292 Production Way
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.megabitepizza.com

In Italian

Anton’s Pasta Bar

March 23, 2011

Anton’s Pasta Bar is near my hood. When I go, I always avoid peak hours! During dinnertime, you can see a large line up outside. I’ve only lined up once many years ago, and I will never do that again.

Located in North Burnaby, Anton’s Pasta is a hot spot for pasta. The reason why people crave Anton’s pasta is for their ridiculously humongous portions for a decent price.

On their menu, they have tons of different pastas.. specialty pasta, cream sauce, red sauce, clear sauce….etc.

They make each dish individually in a pan. What I noticed in their cooking area is that all the cooks seem very young, and then there was only one middle aged asian woman washing the dishes.

M and I both got Sanpellegrino Limonata ($3.75). We both really love their sodas! Plus, the peel off top is so ingenious!

You also get served with a piece of bread for each person. It is about the size of a shoe. Despite it’s looks, it is very very soft on the inside. If you are determined to finish all your pasta, you may want to pass up on the bread to save room for your pasta.

I ordered one of their specialty pastas – Penne Antonio ( $15.50). It contains mushrooms, chicken, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, and dill pesto cream sauce. The dinner size is HUGE! I usually order the Penne Antonio because of the creamy rich dill sauce. The chicken was nice and tender.

I didn’t try really hard to finish it because I never ever do. I probably had 3/5 left over. What I love abou Anton’s is that there is so much food that you can take it home to become tomorrows lunch and dinner. hahaha,

M ordered the Penna Alla Pastora ( $15.50), a clear sauce dish. It has italian sausage & bacon in a white wine, egg & cheese sauce. He said the sausage with a bit spicy and he loved it!

M tried super hard to finish it but he stil had about 1/4 left on his plate.

I am not really sure why anyone would want to suffer lining up in the winter. The quality of the pasta is decent but not the best. People generally come here to get their moneys worth and attempt to finish their entire plate to win an Anton’s pen.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking near TD Bank
Long line ups during peak hours
Large variety of pastas
No debit, they only accept credit and cash

We Rate Anton’s Past Bar:

Address:

4260 Hastings St
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.antonspastabar.com

In Japanese

Tokyo John Sushi

March 23, 2011

I’m RomanJ, a friend of DesignGirl and I’ll be talking about Tokyo John Sushi (located on Cambie and 33^rd Street). I stumbled upon this joint after traveling to one of my favorite sushi joints- “Club House Sushi” only to find out it was closed on Mondays.

On the search for a sushi joint on Cambie Street, I saw Tokyo John Sushi on the side of road, sticking out with it’s huge sign. I decide go in with Abbytizer to fulfill my sushi craving. Tokyo John Sushi is a very small sushi joint that has the standard sushi menu, however there are a few “house specials”.

I ordered the Ebi sunomono and Abbytizer orderd the miso soup, both were up to par with sushi joint standards. The ebi sunomono noodles were well cooked, reminiscent of the vermicelli noodles but thicker. The ebi sunomono also came with 2 pieces of large shrimp bigger than your standard AYCE sushi joint.

We ordered the California Roll with real crab, scallop & tobiko roll, Philadelphia roll, Boston roll and the tuna & salmon sashimi. California roll and the scallop & tobiko roll came out together and were presented in alternating rolls, same with the Boston roll and Philadelphia Roll

The California Roll with real crabmeat was a big disappointment to Abbytizer and myself. We were unable to distinguish the taste of the real crabmeat, also the roll was extremely cold meaning it could possible be pre-made.

The scallop & tobiko roll was good for what it was. The scallop had the right texture and taste, however it didn’t have that extra kick.

The Philadelphia roll and Boston roll (tuna and avocado) were decent rolls that satisfied the sushi urge, but nothing spectacular.

The Salmon & Tuna sashimi was a big let down. The salmon and tuna was frozen and not fresh, it was obvious that salmon was thawed. The Salmon and Tuna sashimi were both chewy, and did not melt in your mouth like fresh sashmi.

Tokyo John Sushi is a decent neighborhood sushi joint, however I would not go to great lengths to eat here.

Words of Wisdom:

Pricing is decent
Free parking in the back

We rate Tokyo John Sushi:

Address:

3349 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC

In Brunch

Fortune House: Dim Sum time with lots of shrimp

March 22, 2011

My aunt came and visited for the past weekend and as per usual, when relatives arrive we must go have dim sum. My mother really likes Fortune House at Metropolis and I really don’t mind as long as there is shrimp.

I’ve done a review here before but a few things have changed. They have a built in speaker system in the waiting area, so when you are outside waiting for your number to be called, you can hear it from outside.

At first I didn’t anticipate any loud PA noises, so when they called another family, I automatically flinched in fear.

While we were waiting, my aunt asked me what I wanted to order, so we picked up a menu and I pointed out all the items that had shrimp in it. To my surprise…she would actually order all those items. This is how this dim sum became packed full of shrimp!

On the table, they give you an explanation of how the dim sum works at Fortune House.

As per usual, SuiMai ($3.95) must be ordered.

Shrimp and Chive dumpling ($4.95)

Jumbo Har Gau ($5.45), it’s basically like the shrimp and chive dumpling, but with no chives.

Spare Ribs ($3.95)

Shanghai Pork Dumplings ($3.95). There were not that great since we had so many other dishes that it was left for about 10 minutes. It’s best to eat this right away or else it won’t tast very good..or hot.

Shrimp Bean Curd Roll ($3.95)

Fish and preserved egg congee ($6.95)

Prawn Rice roll ($5.45)

Donut rice roll ($4.95). We really did not like this dish. usually the donut it decently crispy but today it really wasn’t at all.

Deep Fried Wontons ($4.95)

Shark Fin Dumpling ($5.45)

Black sesame Rolls ($2.95). What I LOVE to do with these are to unravel them and eat them like fruit roll up. When I was a kid, we use to call these “film” because it reminded us of the film you would put into the cameras. Eating it the way we eat it is probably the most ugly thing you will ever see. Probably very improper as well.

Mango pudding ($2.95). This is probably the cutest thing they have on their menu. Great for kids! My little sister loved it so much that she gobbled it up without sharing.

That was a lot of their shrimp dishes. Beware, if you eat dim sum with me, there will be shrimp. hahaha. =D

Words of Wisdom:

Make reservations if going for Dim Sum
If you can’t read Chinese, there is an english menu
Lots of parking, closest parking is to park near Urban Behaviour/Zara area.

Fortune House Seafood is a very popular Dim Sum restaurant to go to but it can get really really busy and LOUD. Make reservations ahead of time.

The price is a bit expensive compared to other chinese restaurants in Vancouver. I think it’s really popular due to the location since it is in Metrotown.

We rate Fortune Seafood House:

Visit their website: http://www.fortunehouserestaurant.com/

In North Burnaby

FatBurger: A Hunt for their Chili Dog

March 21, 2011

We are returning to FatBurger a week since our last visit. I tried talking M out of coming here, but he really really wanted to try the rest of their menu.

We know they have been “voted” to have the best burgers…but during our last visit…it really was not the best. Instead of ordering burgers at FatBurger, we were here for the hot dogs!

We did our usual lining up at the counter and gave them our order. While waiting for our food to arrive, we got our bright yellow number, grabbed a booth, and also filled up our cups with pop.

M had the chili dog. He really wanted to try this since our last visit. He loved it on the chili cheese fries and wanted to taste it on a hot dog. What really disappointed him was how this chili dog did not have any cheese, just the meaty slop.

There were some good points to this, the hot dog was very moist and juicy. The bread was also good and lightly toasted.

M also got the nacho fries. The fries were ok, but not that great. The cheese added much value to the fries. Adding the Guacamole, and sour cream made a great smush of flavors. Have to admit it looked disgusting, but tasted amazing!

I was feeling pretty full from a previous meal so I just got the onion rings. The onion rings are made fresh daily. The texture was light and crisp. One thing these onion rings are in dire need of is more salt…or at least more flavour. They really felt way too plain.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking in front
Customizable burgers
Unlimited refills

We Rate FatBurger:

Address:
4461 Lougheed Hwy
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.fatburger.com

In Downtown

Urban Sushi

March 21, 2011

During lunch I had no idea where to eat until I stumbled upon Urban Sushi on Dunsmiur street. I really had no idea what to expect. I saw that people were inside, so the food must be good on some level.

Walking in, I was very confused what to do. You must walk downstairs to get to the main dining area where you order your food.

They serve most of the usual Japanese food items such as bentos boxes, sushi, donburi, udon….etc.

All of the seats in the dining room was full during lunch time, so I ate upstairs near the entrance where there is additional seating.

I ordered the Sushi Bento Box ($10.25), which contains Chicken Teriyaki with Rice, 3 pieces of Sushi, Tempura, Fruit & Salad.

The salad was very simple, lettuce carrots and tomato. The Chicken teriyaki was decent, it was not spectacular nor was it bad.

The tempura had yams, prawns and zucchini. Lightly battered and then fried. I really did not like the cuts of the sashimi and the nigiri felt a tad on the small side.

Overall, the food was decent. It’s just what you would expect from any other sushi place.

Words of Wisdom:

Take Out options
Online ordering

We Rate Urban Sushi:

Address:

909 Dunsmuir Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.urbansushi.com

In American

Boston Pizza

March 20, 2011

Coming back from SFU, M is not always the best dressed when he finishes writing a long essay. I wanted to go to Cactus Club and he wanted to go to Boston Pizza. Again, I looked at him funny. He said he’s wearing sweats and doesn’t look the part to step into Cactus Club. I laughed at him and then we went to Boston Pizza.

Boston Pizza is a Canadian founded company from Alberta. It’s kinda funny since the name of the restaurant is Boston Pizza. You would think they would be American.

Boston Pizza has 2 areas to sit, in the dining area with booth style seating or in the bar area. The bar area is the best place to drink and watch the game.

Since it was Wednesday, they had a special on small pizzas for $10.99. There were lots of flavours to choose from and we chose the Pepperoni and mushroom pizza ($10.99).

The pizza was really good, crunchy crusts and ooey gooey toppings. M instantly became a fan. The crust is thin and not very doughy, so you won’t feel super bloated.

I was yet again trying to be healthy and ordered a greek salad ($10.99). It was a pretty bad greek salad, the leaves were cut way too large to fit into my mouth. There was too much feta cheese on top. The onion were also cut too big. When you bit into a piece of onion, all you could taste was the onion and the burning sensation.

I would never order this again.

M ordered the Boston Brute ($13.48). A deli style sandwich loaded with Genoa salami, pepperoni, smoked ham, pizza mozzarella, onion and pizza sauce. Baked on a French-style bun.

Instead of fries or a salad, he substituted with cactus cuts, which are thinly sliced potatoes that are deep fried and has a little bit of spicy kick to it.

Words of Wisdom: