July 2011

Crave On Main: Yummy Burgers Indeed!

July 11, 2011

I am always on the hunt for the best burgers in town and I keep hearing that the burger at Crave on Main is just fantastic. I had to see for myself! Since I was in the area, it was a great chance to try it.

The interior is quite nice and they have plenty of patio seating in the front and back.

M ordered the Organic Beef Crave Burger with back bacon and blue cheese ($11 +$1+$1 = $13). It comes with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, beef patty on the soft focaccia bread. M really loved the optional additions of the blue cheese and back bacon. Everything was just so right about this burger. It was so good he really had no words for it. He dubbed it the best burger he has ever eaten.

On the side, he had the caesar salad. He hated the salad. There were no croutons and he felt that it really was sub par to other places.

I had the Pulled Pork and Slaw Sandwich ($12). I really enjoyed this sandwich because the pulled pork was very nice, tender and it was not doused in BBQ sauce. You can really taste the amazing smoky flavour of the meat. The focaccia bread was very soft and worked well with the tender meat.

I got half mixed salad and half fries. I think that is always the best combination. You don’t feel guilty that you ate a whole side of fries. The fries were nice and crunchy and lightly seasoned. I just love when sandwiches come with pickles! Yumm.

Overall, it was a great dinner. The prices were quite reasonable and it is a great atmosphere to just chill.

Words of Wisdom:

Decent prices
Free parking on adjacent roads
Great Burgers and Sandwiches
Relaxing interior
Good service
Lots of Patio seating

We Rate Crave on Main:

Address:

3941 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.craveonmain.com

In Downtown

E-Mo Noodle House + Wang Ga Ma: H-Mart’s Hidden Food Court Downtown

July 11, 2011

Hidden at the H-Mart on Robson is a mini food court, which serves up some amazing Korean food! My Korean friends kept telling me to go there, but I thought it was the strangest things because many years ago, it wasn’t there. I am not exactly sure when they had the mini food court, but it’s super amazing! Since it is attached to H-Mart, you know they have fresh ingredients!

The 2 popular shops are E-Mo Noodle House and Wang Ga Ma. Once you walk in, you can look at their menus, walk to the counter, pay and wait for your number to pop up on the computer screen to see when your order is ready.

There are plenty of seats and you can grab your own water from the machine.

E-Mo Noodle House sells Korean-Style Chinese Food. There is very little on their menu that is remotely similar to Chinese Food. Actually there is really 0. I actually love Korean style Chinese food! It’s just so different and super tasty!

I went up to the counter and ordered the Fried Rice with Kimchi ($7.95). You get a large plate of kimchi fried rice and a side of pickled radish.

For the price, it’s a good value! It was not spicy at all and the flavours were really nice!! You gotta try this for yourself! One of the best Kimchi Fried Rice I have ever had!

Wang Ga Ma sells your authentic Korean food. I ordered the BBQ Beef ($8.95) and it came with rice, kimchi and soup.

You get a lot of beef with your meal and the soup does refresh your pallet. The beef is marinated in soy sauce, garlic, sugar and sesame oil (I think).

I was not a huge fan of this dish since it was way too meaty for me. If you are a meat lover, you will probably enjoy this.

When going through both the menus of E-Mo Noodle House and Wang Ga Ma, I actually liked E-Mo’s menu a bit better. Remember to clean up after yourself too.

Overall, great quick lunch that is super cheap!!

Words of Wisdom:

Kimchi Fried Rice is the way to go!
Under $10
Very fast for lunch
Closest Skytrain: Granville

We Rate E-Mo Noodle House/ Wang Ga Ma:

In Dessert

Capstone Tea House: How a Menu Change Ruined a Good Night

July 9, 2011

I was hanging out with a bunch of people downtown and we were craving dessert. Since it was late at night, only a handful of places could seat tables of 10+. We called up a few places and Capstone Tea House said they had space for us.

I came here about a year or 2 ago and I remember it being decent and not bad at all.

When we arrived, they already set up the table for us. The water came quickly out for everyone as well. It was weird how water was served in bbt cups.

One thing we noticed was the change in menu. This was really different than the one before. They raised their prices and removed some of the items we wanted to order. The prices had a dramatic increase and a few people at our table did decide to go elsewhere. I don’t blame them at all since it is quite expensive even for drinks.

Once everyone opened up the menu, we all wanted to leave. Out of courtesy, some of us felt guilty for leaving since they set up the tables for us already. Some items didn’t look too bad and since it is a fondue place, it was a logical choice to get the fondue.

When the cheese fondue for 2 ($22.95) arrived, we were a bit confused because the menu stated, “comes with 2 personal sized fondue pots”. This was not what was depicted on the menu. When we asked the waitress, she said it is only available in Richmond and not at this location. She said she could not do anything.

At this point we were wondering why they did not tell us this before placing the order. It is not acceptable to mislead your customers.

We did order 3 sets of the ‘cheese fondue for 2’ and expected it to be enough for 6 people. The cheese ran out fairly quickly, so we had to ration the cheese so we could use up all the vegetables and items that came with it. We wanted to order more cheese but, it would have cost us an additional $8.99 for a refill of cheese.

The cheese fondue is made of Swiss cheese and comes with endless assorted French bread cubes, tomatoes, grapes, apples, carrots and these mini garlic crackers. It also came with the unlimited bread. However, no one came to refill the bread and there wasn’t enough cheese to keep on eating unlimited bread.

The taste was all right and we did have fun, but $22.95 per pot was not worth it.

The other group at our table ordered the Chocolate Fondue for 2 ($22.95). It came with 6 ice cream balls, grapes, strawberries, apples, pineapples, bananas, biscotti, and 2 nutty toppings.

They use to offer gummy bears and pretzels too, but they don’t include them anymore. Their experience was better, but still expensive!

We were all pretty mad since why would you have a new menu and items that your location does not carry. It was ridiculous and the waitress did not say anything at all. No personal sized fondue pots were seen here.

The prices were not worth it. The website menu is also not updated to reflect the new changes. They no longer offer the $7 sampler items and the all you can eat fondue option on the menu increased by $2.

Just for the sake of complaining, I had to sit beside their really weird vase filled with dirty water and weird particles inside. It looked gross.

When the bill came, we were very surprised! There was an automatic 20% gratuity for tables of 8 or more. 20% is a bit steep and we were not informed before hand. Looking back at the menu, their clause was on the last page in small font. I would gladly pay it only if they provided us with excellent service, but sadly, the service was quite below par. At least they help us split the bill, but looking at the gratuity per item, its quite a lot.

Even for other restaurants, they would charge 17% or 18% gratuity, but 20% is a bit too high in my opinion.

I am not a very confrontational person, so I would have just let it slide. PRgirl was really furious and told the manager about how upset she was over the whole experience. The manager kindly explained that their shipment of dishware and would not arrive till a few weeks later, thus there was only one larger fondue pot instead of 2 personal sized pots. He was not trying to rip us off and kindly removed the 20% gratuity and gave us a 10% discount. It was good of him to do what he did to amend the issues.

If you are ever unsatisfied at any restaurant, don’t be afraid to speak up. No restaurant ever wants to make their customers angry. So, tell them your thoughts and hopefully they can fix any issues. I am glad PRgirl said something because I would be way to shy to say anything.

Overall, we did have a bad impression of the restaurant. As a dessert, this place is great to take a date or a small group of friends.

Words of Wisdom:

20% gratuity for 8+ group
New menu with increased prices
Slow service
Expensive for what you get
Delicious cheese fondue
No individual cheese fondue
Nice interior decor

We Rate Capstone Tea House:

Address:

1429 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Address:
www.capstonetea.com

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Havanas: Never Coming Here Again

July 8, 2011

A group of us were craving Havanas, so we headed there after Social Media Day at Ceili’s. I’ve been to Havanas several times but this visit was very disappointing! I don’t even know if I would ever go to Havanas again after this experience.

The men had the Latino Burger ($18). This huge burger has a beef patty, chorizo sausage, bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, spicy mayo, avocado, and onions all on a toasted bun.

One thing we noticed instantly was how they don’t cut the sausage in half anymore. This makes eating it a bit problematic because the sausage tries to fall out of the bun. It’s probably best to cut your sausage up (no weird dirty pun intended). M really didn’t like the new bun or how the sausage was not cut up. The best part of the sides are the fries!!

Here was the past review about the burger.

Jojocake and I both ordered the Cobb salad ($15). It is a bed a mixed greens with fried chicken, avocado, pumpkin seeds, bacon, and eggs and finished with a balsamic vinaigrette.

I thought this was a pretty good salad. The fried chicken was very delicious and juicy inside. It’s a very earthy salad, all the ingredients were fresh. It doesn’t look impressive, but it has a good taste. It’s not a heavy meal but you will get full.

The Tuna ceviche ($13) was a major disappointment! They have changed the entire dish into 3 small little tart looking items. It was not even worth $13! That’s more than $4 per “tart”. It tasted so much better before too! The taste was ok, but noting too spectacular.

This is what it use to look like.

After we ate, it took us a while to get the waitresses attention. It also took a while to get the machine to pay with credit. Once she did bring it, she did one transaction … left and didn’t come back for a while. We spent the time waiting looking at each other at the table trying to figure out why it was so slow. It wasn’t a packed day, so this was super odd.

Overall, the food is ok, but the service was really bad and the increased prices are now just a turn off. With so many other restaurants on The Drive, you can go else where.

Words of Wisdom:

Overpriced
Hit and miss items
Great Sangria
Slow service

We rate Havana’s:

Visit Havana’s Website: www.havanarestaurant.ca

Address:

1212 Commercial Dr
Vancouver, BC

In Fast Food

Costco: Dirt Cheap Eats

July 8, 2011

Sometimes you don’t have a lot of time to eat, but thankfully most grocery stores have a little food area where you can guy good cheap food. Since M and I were at Costco picking up a cart full of buns and water for a BBQ, we thought we would check out their food court area.

All of their items on their menu are from their Kirkland brand. Everything is really cheap!

There is a bit of seating on the side as well. It reminded me of a mini inside picnic.

M got the ¼ pound hot dog with pop ($1.99). He said this was the biggest hotdog he has ever eaten in his life. A quarter pound of meat isn’t too bad, plus with a drink too? Good deal! He really enjoyed it as well!

We shared the Pizza (2.99). I love the pizza here! The crust is really crispy and the meat and cheese are just so good! Who doesn’t love meat and cheese? When you order the pizza, they always cut it in half since it’s easier to eat. It’s a huge pizza, so imagine fitting that all into your mouth.

I had the Montreal smoked meat sandwich ($4.99). It came with a huge pickle. I love pickles! It was a good addition to the sandwich.

I also enjoyed the sandwich because it came with a mound of smoky peppery meat. If they had some Dijon mustard, this would have been perfect. I wasn’t a big fan of the bread. I would have preferred something that was fluffier.

Overall, we had a good quick lunch before heading back to SFU. The prices are good and you get a decent snack.

Words of Wisdom:

Hundreds of parking spots
Grocery shop and eat at the same time
Hot Dog is the best deal
Cash only

We Rate Costco:

Address:

3550 Brighton Avenue
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.costco.ca

In Cafe

Save On Meats Coffee Shop: Meals of Disproportion

July 6, 2011

My oldest memory of Save-On-Meats was winning a gift certificate in elementary school, but my parents decided not to go redeem the certificate since it was in such a sketchy area. Fast forward 15+ years later and that part of Hastings isn’t too bad with the new addition of SFU Woodwards and some other amazing establishments.

There has been a lot of buzz about Save-On-Meats since it reopened and I wanted to see for myself if it lived up to expectations. Never really thought I would ever be dining at a place called Save On Meats. They have a butcher shop and a restaurant, so you get a bit of everything.

They also have a window area outside for take out.

The interior is super retro!

I went here on two occasions to give you a bigger scope of what’s on their menu.

Mandu and I needed Coffee ($2) since we really we SUPER tired out of our minds. The coffee here is just the usual. Comes with cream and sugar to mix. Mandu is particularly picky about what she puts into her coffee, so she asked for milk and sugar substitute. They had those both, so she was quite happy.

It’s unlimited refills, so do have more than a cup if you feel like… Mandu and I had about 3 or 4 cups.

Mandu and I shared the Soup of the Day ($5), I think it was a corn and clam soup. It had a nice smooth texture with nice balance of flavour. It also comes with a homemade biscuit. The biscuits are really good!

I ordered the Open Face Roast Chicken Sandwich ($8). It comes with juicy roasted chicken smothered in Brown Gravy, served with mashed potatoes, fries or coleslaw.

When it arrived, I was a bit disappointed. It really didn’t seem very exciting at all. The bread was nicely toasted and the chicken and gravy is always great together. Coleslaw was just ok too.

Mandu got the Linguini Carbonara ($8). It has bacon, wine and cheese, which as all of Mandu’s favorite items! She was really disappointed when it arrived. She expected it to be at least 2 times larger.

Nonetheless, she still enjoyed the taste of the pasta. Very rich and creamy with great smoky bacon! If you are health conscious and want to be bad for just one day, eat this and don’t feel super guilty afterwards.

After the first time coming here, it wasn’t anything extraordinary at all. A few days later, I came with @wongers and @FloYVR to eat more!

Wongers was feeling like a beast, so she decided to eat 2 entrees.

She started with the ribs ($9) and had fries and warm biscuit for her sides. This rib was huge! An amazing price for just $9! The meat was very tender and the bones literally just fell off. The taste was not your usual BBQ sauce; we all agreed it kinda tasted “Asian”. The sauce had a large amount of tomato paste flavour with a little bit of spiciness. This reminded us of the baked pork cutlet from the HK style cafes.

The Savory Pie ($9) is their daily potpie served with mashed potatoes or green salad. She ordered it with mashed potatoes.

The pie was a bit on the small side compared to the ribs. Same price but there is a considerable portion difference. The chicken in the pie was dry and the only way to moisten it up was to pour the gravy all over it.

The mashed potatoes were really really good! Nice and fluffy! Great with the gravy too.

Flo ordered the famous Save On Meats Burger ($6). It comes on a toasted brioche bun, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, mayo and bacon. Also a side of fries too!

She loved it! The meat patty was very fresh and unlike anything else she had before.

I was having a very bloated day, so I just had the Chopped chicken Salad ($7). It has diced chicken, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, avocado, and celery.

This was a very simple salad and it seemed like something I could make at home. I also couldn’t taste the dressing as well. I thought the salad would be bigger as well since I looked at Wonger’s ribs and the proportions were very different.

I then ordered the Banana Triple Thick Milk Shake ($4). This was so good! I love bananas so that’s why. The whole time I was drinking it, Wongers just cringed in fear because she hates bananas. Since the shake came with an extra tin of left overs, I gave it to Flo since she wanted some too.

The best part of the milkshake is the lumpy bits of banana. By far the best banana milk shake I have ever had.

Since I took the last banana for the milkshake, they were unable to make a banana split. The server promised us a Special Dessert ($6), which would blow our minds.

We agreed and awaited the suspenseful dessert to arrive. It has 2 scoops of ice cream, lots of whipped cream + cherry, chocolate sauce, walnuts, marshmallows and their famous house made cookies.This is a large dessert! We were actually expecting something smaller. We all just shared it. This really brought out the kid in us! Their ice cream is made in-house as well as their baked goods! We were surprised, but it made us appreciate the food more.

Overall, we all agreed they had fun desserts and amazing milkshakes. One problem we had were the varying portion sizes and how hard it was to figure out if that dish would fill you up. A few items were a hit and miss, but you can’t go wrong with the Ribs or the Save on Meats Burger.

Words of Wisdom:

Save-On-Meats Burger, Ribs, Milk Shake, + Cookies recommended
Under $10
Very retro and hip interior
Everything is house made
Closest Skytrain: Stadium

We Rate Save On Meats:

Address:

43 W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
saveonmeats.ca

In Four Beakers

Guu with Garlic: Great Place to Eat + Drink

July 5, 2011

KoreanGirl and I just finished our intersession course at SFU, so we decided to meet up Mandu and head over to Guu with Garlic. We had a great girls night at Guu Garden last time, so we headed to my other favorite Guu – Guu with Garlic.

This Guu is cool because it has the usual dining area, a patio and also a Japanese style upper area. Since it was a very busy day, we were put in the Japanese style area. It was super cool but I had the hardest time sitting down. My pants proved to be a bit problematic as well as the part where my legs kept getting numb. I totally prefer real chairs.

They have a regular menu and a fresh sheet.

We started off with a pitcher of Asahi ($21). It’s something that KoreanGirl and I must have! Japanese beer is the perfect thing to order when you are going to dig into a lot of izakaya dishes. What we noticed about this pitcher was how bad the pour job was… there was way too much head.

Mandu decided she didn’t want to pack on the pounds so she got a large bottle of cold sake ($7.80) and a diet coke ($2). She just mixed those two slowly together throughout the night.

Mandu loves her Saba Grill ($7.80). I was a bit skeptical about it since last time but I am really starting to like the dish. The Saba meat is flaky and goes perfectly with the garlic chips and lemon. It is grilled very nicely and the soy sauce works hand in hand with the garlic chip taste.

No meal can be done without Ebi Mayo ($7.80) at Guu. It comes with 6 pieces in a chili mayo dip. It’s still not the best Ebi Mayo I have ever had, but it’s not too bad.

I actually love enjoy eating the crunchy tail! A lot of people find it weird and just leave the shell, but it is edible if it is fried.

I am a huge fan of Sashimi salad ($6.80). The salad is mixed greens with a plum dressing and wasabi mayo. The sashimi was part of this dish was prawns, and some other types of fish that I couldn’t identify. It was pretty good and was a nice refreshing dish that did not have a heavy taste. The wasabi mayo adds a little kick to the dish as well!

By now, the Assorted oden ($6.50) is a must have! You can choose six items in it and we chose daikon, deep fried tofu, mocha tofu bag, puffed fish cake, beef tendon and fish cake.

The broth is very amazing and light. The addition of the yellow type of wasabi added a lot of strong sharp spicy taste to it. We accidentally added it into the broth and it was SO good!

The Maguro steak ($8.50) is a slab of ahi tuna sashimi steak marinated in garlic, soy sauce and sake. We felt that it was really just a slab of ahi tuna, which needed more flavor. We thought there would be a more unique taste, but it wasn’t there.

2 kinds of chicken cartilage ($5.50) was something quite interesting and very different! They batter and deep-fry the different parts of cartilage from the chicken. The have lemon and salt + pepper to add for more taste. Clearly, they don’t waste any parts of the chicken.

From the fresh sheet, we got the Curry croquette ($4.00). Golden brown and crispy on the outside, but the inside was just very smooth and had a good balance of curry taste.

We then ventured into trying the Gyu Tan/Beef tongue ($4.80). This is grilled beef tongue with an awesome salt green onion mixture. The beef tongue was tender and was seasoned very nicely and the onion mixture accompanied it well.

The Yaki Udon ($7.80) is something more standard. It I span fried udon, beef, mushrooms, green onion, and then seasoned with soy sauce and butter.

It was all right, but nothing special.

The Okonomiyaki ($5.80) is a deep fried squid & cabbage pancake with tonkatsu sauce and a mustard mayo sauce. I thought this was all right and kinda reminded me of the Korean seafood pancake but smaller and with more sauce.

I love Ramune ($2.50). It is just a Japanese soda, which has a marble, as it’s “lid”.

At this point of the night, we need more beer, so we ordered a Mega Sapporo ($9.00). It’s a huge glass and it has about a liter.

We then had the Ochazuke ($4.30). It’s rice in a dashi broth with tuna. It was light and subtle and ended the meal very nicely.

Lastly, we had the Tako Wasa ($3.50). It is marinated octopus and wasabi sauce with seaweed. You take the seaweed and put some taco wasa onto the seaweed, roll it up and eat.

I liked it because of the sharp wasabi sting.

Overall, we all had a great time! We ordered way too much and drank too much. Eventually we racked up the bill and it came to $150 after tips. I like the atmosphere and it’s a good place to unwind at the end of the day.

Words of Wisdom:

Hard to find parking
All tapas below $10 and well priced
Great place to casually eat and drink

We Rate Guu with Garlic:

Address:

1698 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.guu-izakaya.com

In Downtown

Re-Up BBQ Foodcart 1 + 2: Same Sandwich, Different Meat

July 4, 2011

M finally decided to come Downtown to eat lunch with me. Since it was a nice sunny day, a stroll for some good street food came to mind. M loves meat, so it just seemed fitting to take him to Re-up BBQ 1 and 2.

Yes, they finally expanded into 2 carts selling different things!

Lets start off with the original cart – Re-Up (Addictive) BBQ AKA Re-Up 1. They sell Pulled Pork Sandwiches ($7) and 3 different sodas.

The pulled pork sandwich has a mound of very very tender pork doused in an amazing smokey BBQ sauce with some coleslaw to add an extra crunch to the sandwich. All of this is housed in a Portuguese style bun. It is very fluffy and works well with the pulled pork.

M just fell in love with it as he walked down the street.

I did come here last year and there are a few changes. The sandwich is much easier to eat, probably since it’s not as packed full of meat as before. The price increased for $1, but it’s probably due to increasing costs of keeping the cart running.

Pretty spot on pulled pork sandwich. Definitely!

The next stop was Re-up BBQ 2, which is located less than a block away near the large protest stairs of the Art Gallery.

They specialize in Beef Brisket Sandwiches ($9) and they sell the same drinks as Re-Up BBQ 1.

M was surprised by the amount of meat in the sandwich. The make this by grabbing a slab of beef brisket and slicing it up nice and thinly. The coleslaw and bun are all the same as the pulled pork sandwich. The sauce was a little bit different, but I really could not put my finger on what it was. It tasted really really good.

It is quite a treat for lunch and you can’t really go wrong by going to either Re-Up BBQ 1 or 2. The only difference is the meat, so you just gotta figure out if you like beef or pork.

Both of these were super good! If you have the stomach, you could probably eat 2 sandwiches for lunch. hahaha.

Words of Wisdom:

Bring cash!
A bit of a wait during lunch hour
Grab your sandwich with also a Southern Sweet tea!

We Rate Re-Up BBQ Foodcart 1 & 2:

Website:

http://www.reupbbq.com/

Twitter:

@reupbbq

Vancouver

In Coquitlam

Kulinarya: Authentic Filipino Food in Coquitlam

July 3, 2011

M was in the mood for something “different” and I kinda ran out of ideas…but since I have never had Filipino food, I thought we could go with Scarface to Kulinarya in Coquitlam.

This little restaurant in just north of Coquitlam Mall and specializes in Filipino food. Since M and I had no idea what we were ordering, we just left it to ScarFace to order all the food.

The interior is very small, so it does get busy during peak times. Since we went at 2pm, it wasn’t busy at all.

The menu can be found on the walls or just on the paper menu that is given.

Drink Dessert Menu

You get a small dish of complementary corn nuts. These corn nuts were very good and lightly seasoned. Much better than the corn nuts you buy at the store. It is light and airy so biting into it is no problem at all.

Calamansi Juice ($2) is essentially lime juice made out of calamansi- the tiny tiny Filipino limes. It tastes very good and it’s something you should try.

The Sago Gulaman ($3.50) is a popular Filipino refreshment served in a tall glass. It is made of sugar water, shredded ice, jellies and tapioca balls.

The waiter said the drink is similar to Taiwanese Bubble Tea, but it’s only the “bubble-like” texture of the tapioca balls and jellies that is similar. The drink was alright, but I wouldn’t order it again.

We started off with the Ginataang Baka ($12). It is beef with various vegetables in coconut curry type of sauce. Their version has potatoes, carrots, celery, peas and onions.

The beef was very tender and it was basically like a curry. For $12, it didn’t seem worth it for the price since you can’t really eat it on it’s own.

We also ordered the large Garlic Rice ($4.50). We used this to accompany the Ginataang Baka. The addition of the garlic was just great! Very aromatic!

The second dish was ordered was the Pinakbet ($9). It has pork and vegetables in a shrimp paste sauce. This was different than the usual Pinakbet as Scarface told us. It was missing quite a few ingredients than the traditional Pinakbet.

This one has okra, green beans, bitter melon, eggplant and green onions. This tasted all right and the the ingredients tasted quite fresh. I loved the okra, I think I was the only one that ate them all. I really didn’t like the bitter melon in this dish, but I know some people do like it.

The most memorable dish of this meal was the Sizzling Sisig ($10). It is crispy minced pork served on a sizzling plate. On the middle of the plate is a raw egg. You must mix everything together and it’s just so delicious. Don’t eat this dish on your own because it’s filled with a lot of calories! The taste is so good, but it’s best with a bit of rice as well because it’s quite oily.

Overall, the food was not bad and it’s great to see what Filipino Cuisine tastes like. The only issue is that a lot of the menu items are hard to choose from because if you aren’t familiar with the items, you have no idea what you are ordering. Plus, a few of the dishes are quite expensive and can rack up your bill.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Parking in the front
A bit expensive
Pretty good authentic Filipino food
Sizzling Sisig is highly recommended
Busy during peak hours
Popular for take out

We Rate Kulinarya:

Address:

114 – 2922 Glen Drive
Coquitlam, BC

Website:
www.kulinarya.ca

In Downtown

Dae Ji: Kimchi Roll Cutlet

July 3, 2011

Another quick lunch with my coworker and since it was raining, we wanted to choose something close by and not too expensive.

We ended up at Dae Ji, the Korean restaurant specializing in pork cutlet. The last time, I was here, I didn’t get the kimchi roll cutlet, but it’s always been on my mind. Today was time to put that curiosity to rest.

The Kimchi Roll Cutlet ($8.99) is cut up into 8 pieces and surrounded by some savory gravy. It also comes with coleslaw, macaroni, corn, pickled radish and rice.

The kimchi roll cutlet was not too bad. If you eat the roll without the sauce, the meat does not taste too moist and quite dry. It’s best to really slather it in the gravy.

The macaroni was quite bad and the other sides were not very special.

It’s a good quick lunch that just gets you filled up.

Words of Wisdom:

A block away from Granville Skytrain
Pay Parking on street
All items are under $10, very cheap

We Rate Dae Ji:

Address:

519 Dunsmuir Street
Vancouver, BC

In Culinary School

JJ’s Restaurant: No Words to Express How Amazing it was!

July 3, 2011

Mandu and I were out at lunch again and well, we were both on a budget since the end of the month calls for a tighter budget. Being a student is not fun, plus working downtown can kinda suck the money out of your pockets since there are so many good places to eat!

I thought I would take her to JJ’s Restaurant in Vancouver Community College. It’s very close to both our offices and I never came here for lunch.

She first glanced at the menu and was so surprised by the very very affordable prices!

You start off with some bread and butter!

I started off with the Shrimp & Avocado Salad ($4). It was just amazing! All the items tasted very fresh and the avocado just blended so nicely with the little shrimp. The presentation looked very nice! I expected something totally different, but this just blew my mind. It seemed quite popular too since I kept seeing this fly out the kitchen.

Mandu had the Soup of the Day ($2.50), which is a roasted tomato soup with herb crème fraiche with a piece of bruschetta on the side. Unfortunately, she had to run back to her office for an emergency call, so she didn’t touch it until later. The server was very nice when she came back and offered her a new soup, but she insisted that they just heat it up since no food should ever be wasted.

The soup came back nice and hot like nothing ever changed. She loved the texture and the deep flavour of the roasted tomato soup. She even fell in love with crème fraiche. She even googled it and started saying the words a few times.

For her main, she had the Mild fragrant green Thai curry with chicken, fresh mango chutney, papadam and basmati rice ($9).

She enjoyed the taste but in particularly, she loved the papadam cracker. Super thin and was just the perfect amount of alt added to the top. You could probably sit at your desk eating papadam all day!

I had the Grilled steak cooked Medium, focaccia Bread, horse radish cream, grilled peppers, mushrooms, crisp onions and au jus ($8.50). For that price, it was really good!

The grilled steal was cut up into very thin slices covered in the delicious au just accompanied by the amazing ingredient. Worked really well together and the horseradish cream just added the extra kick that this dish needed.

Overall, great lunch experience at a very affordable price! I would go weekly if I could. Just amazing food! It’s a culinary school so you know that your money and your tips go back into the program to help the students. I really didn’t mind tipping more since the menu is already a steal! I love this place, so take my recommendation and GO!!

Words of Wisdom:

Lunch is also super affordable!
Closest Skytrain – Stadium
Under $10
AMAZING Service
You’re missing out if you don’t visit this place!
Check out their dinner

We rate JJ’s Restaurant:

Address:

250 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

In Italian

Anducci’s Cucina: Horrible Service and No Bread

July 3, 2011

AuditGirl was back in town and we usually get together with a few high school friends to catch up. Since pasta is always on Auditgirl’s mind, it seems fitting for her to come here.

I use to go to this Anducci’s back in high school, but back then it was very very dead, hardly anyone here for lunch. Now, its super packed especially dinner. Things have really turned around.

Auditgirl and I shared a pitcher of Sangria ($26). Honestly, it was not very good and for the price…I might as well travel a bit farther for the Sangria at Havana’s.

AuditGirl ordered the Laverne + Shirley Ziti Pasta ($12). It has slow roasted chicken, prawns, garlic, and caramelized onions in a light white wine cream sauce.

This version is different that the other branch of Anducci’s near Lougheed. Tasted really good and the ziti tubular pasta really captures a lot of the flavour inside as well.

ShyGirl had The Hulk ($12). It has whole-wheat pasta with mushrooms, avocado, roasted tomatoes and spinach quickly sautéed in garlic, olive oil and white wine. Finished with crumbled goat cheese + pumpkin seeds.

She really did not like the taste of whole-wheat pasta and the texture and taste of it ruined the dish for her. The Hulk pasta felt very very earthy.

SwimmerGirl has the Spicy Prawn, Scallop + Clam Linguini ($12). Fresh seafood simmered in white wine, tossed with linguini and tomato sauce.

She enjoyed it since it had lots of sauce and a little bit of a spicy kick.

I had the Prosciutto + Arugula Pizza ($10). It has roasted garlic olive oil rubbed pizza with sea salt, crushed chilies + mozzarella. Topped with thinly sliced prosciutto and arugula.

I found this pizza lacking any cheese to keep the prosciutto adhered to the bread. It felt like taking some flat crispy bread with a bit of seasoning and throwing the prosciutto and arugula on top. I really liked the prosciutto, but the pizza as a whole was messy and hard to eat.

It seems like they over baked the dough with the cheese on top and then threw on the prosciutto and arugula.

One thing that we were all waiting for was the usual bread that comes to the table, but it never came. We asked the waiter and he neglected to tell us that there is a new policy that they implemented. Since they were wasting so much bread before, they only give out bread on request. We found this funny when most of the tables around us had bread… we were not impressed by this new policy. There is no mention in the restaurant or menu about this. Plus, the bread really is the best part about Anducci’s.

The service was also not very good either, it would take us a while to get the waiters attention to give him our order and the food did not come out at the same time either.

Overall, the food was just decent, but I would rather go to the Lougheed branch.

Words of Wisdom:

Lacking service
New bread “policy”, must ask them for bread
Free parking in front or rear
Sangria is horrible
Some pasta dishes are a hit of miss

We Rate Anducci’s Cucina:

Address:

6011 Hastings St
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.anduccis.com/home.shtml

In Downtown

Beentoo Sandwich & BBQ: Quick Fast Lunch

July 3, 2011

I was having another quick lunch and I really needed a quick lunch since I needed to study for my midterm as well. The quickest thing I could think of was Beentoo Sandwich and BBQ across the street from the office.

Since I loved their burgers last time, I thought I would just go again.

They were heavily promoting their dollar menu, so I decided to get a drumstick for $1. The drumstick is basically what you would expect for a dollar. It was a bit on the small side, but the taste was not too bad. It’s best to eat it first since it will get cold. The meat was tender and juicy.

I also got the Lemongrass Sandwich ($4.29). It has a large piece of flavourful tender chicken. It was really good! There’s also some cabbage and pickled vegetables inside. Everything worked really well together, but what makes this sandwich so good is just the meat.

I think one thing that they would really do to improve their sandwiches would be to offer different buns. The McDonalds style buns really cheapen the look of the sandwich.

Overall, great sandwiches and it’s quick!

Words of Wisdom:

Has promotional deals going on
Lemongrass chicken burger + Korean Spicy chicken burger!
Under $10
Closest Skytrain – Granville
Limited seating

We Rate Beentoo:

Address:

552 Seymour Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.beentoo.ca

In Coquitlam

Dasarang Chicken: Good Korean Style Chicken

July 2, 2011

At the beginning of the semester after a meeting, we all headed down to Dasarang, a new Korean chicken restaurant to eat and mingle with other members of the club.

Dasarang is your usual Korean restaurant that’s has chicken, Korean food and alcohol.

The place is quite large and a little bit dark. Great for group parties.

Their menu has a bit of variety, but most of it is chicken. All the plates are supposed to be shared with others, thus the higher price tag on the menu.

We started off with a pitcher of Granville Island Honey Lager ($15.95).

As we waited, we were given side dishes of pickled radish and cabbage salad. It tasted ok, I think its supposed to be eaten with the chicken to refresh your pallet.

We first ordered the Half & Half ( $18.95). Half of the fired chicken is doused in a spicy hot sauce and the other half is normal seasoned fried chicken. The hot fried chicken in VERY hot! Even the Koreans agreed it was on the spicier side. I really couldn’t candle it after a few pieces.

The texture of the chicken was quite nice, tender, and juicy.

The next order that we got was the soonsal chicken ($17.95). Similar to the fried chicken before but boneless. It was pretty good!

Overall, the chicken was not bad, but a bit pricey. Might as well buy a few chickens at the store for that price. Since I am not a chicken expert, I asked the Koreans what their input was and how did it compare to the authentic chicken in Korea. They said it was pretty close and it seemed to be one of the better chicken places they have been to in Burnaby or Vancouver.

I would say this is not the best place to take your family since it seems more like a Korean bar with chicken. With the steep price tag, it’s not worth it. This place is best for late nights drinking with a plate of chicken.

Words of Wisdom:

Expensive
dark atmosphere
service is mediocre
pretty good chicken
Lots of parking in the front but parking gets pretty full around peak hours

We Rate Dasarang Chicken:

Address:

4501 North Rd
Burnaby, BC

In Gastown

Blarney Stone: Horrible Service but Decent Food

July 1, 2011

It was NotFauna’s welcome back/ Birthday celebration. She chose Blarney Stone for a good fun meal before heading out to Fortune Sound Club a few blocks away.

CanuckGirl and I arrived early since she wanted to see a few players being drafted into the Canucks…sadly none of the TVs were showing that and when we asked them to about changing the channel, but they couldn’t do it. As we waited for everyone to arrive, we watched a TV promoting the Blarney Stone.

The place was quite full around 6:30, so it was a good idea we got reservations for the large group. The service was pretty bad from the beginning; it was hard to find anyone to help us find NotFauna’s reserved section since there were several reservations for the night. They didn’t even reserve the right amount of seats that was requested. When CanuckGirl and I sat down, the waitress didn’t offer us a menu to start looking.

After more people arrived, the waitress finally gave us menus. The menu was not bad at all. Lots of choices between $8 – $15 ish dollars.

Before you get your food, you must pay for it ahead of time or keep a tab for the night. It was super super weird to all of us, but in a way it made sense since people can easily skip out on the bill.

CanuckGirl ordered the Blarney Burger ($9). It comes with a beef patty, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mayo and pickles. You can also choose between fries or salad.

It seems like it was a well made burger and she seemed to enjoy it.

A few others had the Fried Mac and Cheese loaf ($10). It has three types of cheese with macaroni, breaded and fried. It comes with a side salad too. It was not bad but it will probably get you full since it’s so rich in cheese.

CandiedZen ordered the Sheppard’s Pie ($11). It comes with side salad and focaccia bread. She enjoyed it and the addition of the cheese on top was pretty good.

I ordered the chicken focaccia Sandwich ($10). It has roasted chicken, cheddar cheese, bacon, onion, tomatoes, lettuce, and mayo. I chose to have the side salad with balsamic and oil dressing.

It was a pretty good sandwich, but the chicken was a bit on the dry side. I loved the bacon! It was very nice and crisp!

Overall, the food was not too bad. It’s your regular pub style food; so don’t have super high expectations or anything. Service is really bad and they don’t usually refill your water either unless they flag you down.

Words of Wisdom:

Quite loud inside
Patio seating
Best to reserve for large groups
Decent food under $15
Pay before your meal arrives or start a tab
HORRIBLE service

We Rate Blarney Stone:

Address:

216 Carrall St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.blarneystone.ca

In Cafe

Renaissance Coffee: Butter Chicken

July 1, 2011

In the Academic Quadrangle at Simon Fraser University, there is a branch of Renaissance Coffee that sells the usual items plus butter chicken! I always see my past coworkers eating it, so I thought to myself, if everyone else is eating, I should try it as well!

Sure enough I tried it with Fabo during lunch.

The butter chicken comes with basmati rice, the butter chicken, side of lettuce and cucumbers. For the price of about $6, it’s not too bad for a lunch on campus.

Since all the sauce is on top, it’s best to stir all the sauce and rice together so it is evenly distributed. I did this and I didn’t have too much issue with the sauce/rice ratio. I also didn’t mix the rice under the salad.

Fabo didn’t mix her sauce and rice, so she really needed more sauce with hers. We also felt that the butter chicken could have had more chicken as well. Chicken was a bit overcooked, tough and dry.

I also got a London Fog. Probably one of my favorite places to get it at campus.

Overall, it was not bad for campus food. KoreanGirl also had it the other day and she thought it was good, but it was not something she would get over and over again. You do get full from this, so it’s a good thing.

Words of Wisdom:

Long line ups during peak times
Butter chicken at AQ Location
Panini’s & soups at Cornerstone Location
Usually the greek salad, pasta salad, wraps and yogurt are good choices for quick eats

We rate Renaissance Coffee:

Address:

8906 University High St
Burnaby, BC