November 2011

In Bakery

Thierry Patisserie: Late Night Dessert Shop

November 30, 2011

Thierry Patisserie is located near Alberni and Thurlow and sells some delectable treats! From croissants to cakes… they have the tasty treats you want.

I came here with a few of the SFU Food Bloggers – FoodQueen, ImBusyEating and GoodEat. We weren’t planning to go here, but since it was so close to where we were…we just had to try it out! The interior is just beautiful and has a lot of seats! It’s open till late as well, which is a big plus!

Their macarons vary every season. They can be quite colorful and packed full of flavours….or in some cases food coloring.

Chocolates chocolates… and more chocolates. They have a variety of different chocolate from fruit ganches, flavoured ganache, pralines, marzipan and many others.

Thierry also has an assortment of cakes for sale as well. Perhaps for someone’s birthday or any special occasion.

If you are looking for an individual sized cake, they have those too. They have so many kinds…so good luck choosing one. I was tempted to eat all of them.

Croissants are available too…they have ham, original, almond, and chocolate.

Latte tasted alright. It goes well with the desserts!

Chocolate Eclair was awesome! I just love the custard filling with chocolate on top! It might be because I have a secret love for profiterole type of desserts.

Chocolate Croissant has chocolate inside of its golden flaky exterior.

Pistachio Chocolate Cake ($5.75) has Chocolate cake with mousse and pistachio mousse on top.

Macarons (7pack – $11.95) were alright. I really didn’t like the texture of the macarons compared to other places in town. Tasted a bit cake-like to me.

Overall, Thierry Patisserie is a good place to chill with your friends over coffee/tea and pastries. It’s open late at night, so it’s the perfect after dinner spot (assuming you aren’t too full from dinner).

Words of Wisdom:

Large variety of pastries
Can be a bit pricey
Lots of tables
Beautiful decor

We Rate Thierry Patisserie:

Address
1059 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC
Website:
thierrychocolates.com

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Vancouver

In Downtown

Joyeaux Cafe & Restaurant: Delicious Vietnamese Noodles in Downtown

November 28, 2011

Joyeaux Cafe & Restaurant is this amazing Vietnamese restaurant on Howe Street near Pender. Just walking by, you wouldn’t expect that this place has some pretty delicious and cheap pho! I never knew this place existed until Flo told me to join her for lunch!

The interior is very large, which isn’t a bad thing at all. Most lunch hours are packed! People actually make reservations to ensure they get a spot. Best to either come earlier or late… or just make a reservation.

They have a lot of choices on their menu…. most items are very affordable and under $10.

They also have pho / vietnamese noodle soups! If you love to look at photos, they have a few photos on a wall too.

Fresh Young Coconut ($4.50) can either come in the whole coconut or takeout in a cup. Flo got her drink in a take out cup since she didn’t have to scrape the coconut meat herself.

Cold Vietnamese Coffee ($3.50) doesn’t have the dripping apparatus, but makes the drink less messy. It is still as strong and delicious as usual. Good for the afternoon caffeine kick.

Special Beef Noodle Soup ($7.99) has a little bit of everything. The size of it is pretty large, so you really get your moneys worth. Its not the best quality, but it’s good near the Waterfront/ Burrard area.

Shredded Crabmeat and Seafood Noodle Soup ($7.99) looks spicy, but its not at all spicy. It is also very large and has a good amount of noodles and items inside. The seafood is the frozen type, so you don’t get the full freshness and flavour of the seafood.

There’s also different sauces at the table if you want to add some more flavour to your noodles.

Overall, good find in the Downtown core. If you want to spend less than $10 and get super stuffed, you should go here. Plus, noodles in the winter-time is a good choice!

Words of Wisdom:

Large amount of menu items
Noodle soup is most popular ordered item
Under $10
Should make reservations if you want to get a seat right away

We Rate Joyeaux Cafe & Restaurant:
Address:
551 Howe St
Vancouver, BC V6C
Website:
http://www.joyeaux-cafe-restaurant.com/

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Vancouver

In Downtown

Shizen Ya: All Organic, Uses Brown Rice and Delicious!

November 27, 2011

Shizen Ya is Japanese restaurant they specialize in organic and fresh Japanese food. They only use brown rice in their sushi with no extra charge. They pride themselves of not using additives or MSG. When you eat here, you know you are getting quality without any hidden ingredients.

The interior is quite narrow and small, so if you go with groups of 4 or more, it is best to make reservations.

Hot Green tea comes complementary and it’s pretty good tea.

Salmon and Avocado Roll ($2.95) is made of organic avocados, fresh salmon, wrapped in brown rice and seaweed. MeatGirl and I really loved this roll since it was so fresh! You don’t need soy sauce with this roll since the flavours of the ingredients is all you need to taste. No need to mask that taste with soy sauce.

The Lunch Combos all come with brown rice, spinach gomaae, and organic salad. All lunch combos are under $10, which is a great deal.

Organic Salad was lightly dressed and was really fresh.

Spinach Gomaae comes on the side of your main dish of your lunch combo. It has a sesame sauce made out of real sesame.

It is also available ala carte for $2.95.

Beef Teri Combo ($8.95) has juicy and tender Tokyo cut beef with vegetables and teriyaki sauce with the side of brown rice.

Kheema Curry Combo ($7.95) has shredded chicken breast, five kind of bean curry with the side of brown rice. AvocadoGirl said the curry was a bit spicy. If you like a little bit of spice to your curry, then this is a good choice. It tastes super healthy too.

Chicken Breast Combo ($9.95) has braised chicken breast with an organic miso teriyaki sauce and brown rice. The chicken was a bit on the dry side, but not too dry. The sauce helped the texture.

Overall, for the lunch combos are pretty good quality and you’ll get full. On the bright side, it’s healthy too! Portions are pretty good.

Words of Wisdom:

Great lunch and dinner combos
All brown rice and no white rice
Vegetarian and vegan options
Limited desserts

We Rate Shizen Ya:

Twitter:

Website:

In Izakaya

Kingyo Japanese Izakaya: Kingyo Craze Dining Package

November 25, 2011

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Kingyo Craze” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and bought an additional one for a friend to keep the review as unbiased as I could. This review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant.

Kingyo Japanese Izakaya is one of the better Izakaya restaurants in Downtown (according to this article from Vancouver Sun). I’ve been here in the Summer with CandiedZen and we had a great time…except it kinda broke our wallets since we are both students.

This time around, I came with CandiedZen again to try the Kingyo Craze Dining from VANEATS.ca . Seemed like a good deal since the dining package for one person is $19 for 5 courses.

The interior is quite nice. It’s not a super large place, so it’s always good to make reservations.

Fresh Housemade Ginger Ale, which I have forgotten the price was quite refreshing! It’s a good drink if you feel like not drinking anything alcoholic.

Fresh Melon White Wine Sangria ($7.50) has fresh melon, calpico, white wine, melon liqueur, soda and lime.

Sashimi Salad – three kinds of sashimi (changes daily) on a bed of organic springs dressed with soy based vinaigrette and garlic oil

On the day we arrived, we had salmon, scallop and tuna I think. They had the right amount of dressing over it and the yuzu jelly on top and the crispy lotus room complemented nicely.

Chicken Breast Tender & Cod Roe Spring Roll served with a side of mayo & special soy sauce

This was probably my favorite dish out of the entire meal. The chicken was super tender and it complimented the code roe and the filling nicely. Having that in the crispy spring roll shell …then dunking it into the mayo +soy sauce = nom nom nom nom.

One of the dishes came a bit later than the first one and the consistency was a bit off. The color of the spring rolls as you can tell are much different too.

Despite this little issue, it still tasted super good! Something about the savory filling with the crispy shell dipped into the mayo and soy sauce just lit up our palettes. If you don’t end up getting the dining package, just order it off their menu because this dish is AMAZING!

Deep fried tofu and mushrooms served in a sizzling stone bowl

The waiter comes to the table with a two bowls – one with the hot stone bowl with the tofu and another bowl with the mushroom and sauce. It’s a good dish for the winter time. Even though it’s all vegetables, it will fill you up.

No, its not spicy and those green things aren’t jalapenos, but it’s Okra. Okra is delicious FYI.

CandiedZen really loved the stickiness of the tofu skin, but she felt the sauce reminded her of Chinese food rather than Japanese.

I thought the taste was very familiar but I really couldn’t put my finger on it. I loved the tofu and the mushrooms, but I found the sauce a bit salty for my taste.

Seared Negitoro Sushi – chopped tuna & green onions with seaweed paste and Kingyo’s original sauce

This totally reminded me of the Negitoro Battera from Suika, but except they have the seared top. This item is not on the original menu, but CandizedZen and I tried to push them to add it onto the main menu. (Lets hope they do because it was good).

We liked this because they held together firmly and was quite light. The 2 sauces on top complimented the negitoro nicely. Hidden inside the rice is a small piece of avocado. It was quite interesting to discover.

Petit Almond Tofu – Kingyo’s famous super smooth and refreshing almond tofu with persimmon sauce

I don’t think we had the persimmon sauce on top. Not sure why it wasn’t there. Regardless, we enjoyed the plain almond tofu. It comes is a really cute small dish with a wooden spoon. I love almond pudding, so this is good! It’s a good ending to this meal since it’s not too heavy.

Frozen Grapes finish off the meal! This is always my favorite part of the meal, I know it’s silly but I always anticipate the grapes.

Overall, CandiedZen and I thought this package was worth the price of $19. On a regular day, you could probably spend $30ish per person… I think once we spent almost $100 here. Good amount of food and you can really see the variety in their menu.

If you haven’t been here before, it would be a good way to see what Kingyo can offer. You can grab this package from VANEATS.ca

Words of Wisdom:

Make reservations on the busy nights
Have lunch and dinner
Good variety of items on the menu
Good place to bring a date

We Rate Kingyo Japanese Izakaya:
Address:
871 Denman St
Vancouver, BC V6G
Website:
http://www.kingyo-izakaya.ca

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In Chinese

Michigan Noodle Restaurant: Noodle Soup and Crazy Amazing Dumplings

November 24, 2011

MedicalGiraffe is back in town! Since she made me pick her up at the Airport, we grabbed a quick bite in Richmond. We had no idea where we were going but we somehow ended up at Michigan Noodle Restaurant. We had no idea what to expect. Since it was lunch, they had some really cheap lunch specials and the congee and noodles were cheap.

The interior is not too bad and have lots of seats. During lunch time it wasn’t too busy.

Spicy Eggplant on Rice is on their lunch menu and it was really large. It’s one of those items that are meant to be shared…. or perhaps you have a large stomach. It was a little bit spicy, but it’s not too bad.

If you needed to add more flavour in your food, they have you usual sauces and spices to add a kick to your food.

Shrimp and pork dumpling noodle soup ($4.80) was surprisingly really good! The dumplings were some of the best dumplings I have ever had. Very good flavour and I could eat this all day. This is my type of comfort food!

Overall good stuff, but for lunch I would stick with congee or the noodle soup!

Words of Wisdom:

Cash Only
Parking in front
Under $10
Mediocre service
Must get noodle soup (with dumplings or wontons) or congee

We Rate Michigan Noodle Restaurant:
Address:
8580 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC V6X

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In Downtown

Shark Club Bar & Grill: All You Need Is Beer and Good Company

November 23, 2011

Shark Club Bar & Grill is a large venue which is great to watch the game. Too bad I’m not into sports or going out to bars to watch sports games. I only go to these places for beer and good company!

The Social Media Network from SFU and UBC were hosting a Tweetup here and I decided to join in on all the fun. Of course there had to be food too .

Molson Canadian ($4) actually tasted good. It was nice and light.

Chicken Pesto Quesadilla ($13) has grilled chicken breast, pesto sauce, peppers, onions and melted cheese, in a flour tortilla. It also has sour cream and salsa and fries. There was a lot of filling in the quesadilla so you do get full.

Roast Beef Dip ($13) it has roast beef topped on a toasted baguette with a side of au jus. Also a side of fries too.

I liked it since it had so much meat! The best park was just dunking it into the au jus and having the bread to soak it all up. The fries were decent.

Overall, foodwise it was alright. It was a bit expensive for what you get. I probably wouldn’t go here on a normal day. The service was pretty slow and they probably could have used more servers on a Friday night.

Words of Wisdom:

Very large venue, good for really large groups
Good for the game
pretty dead when there are no games on
Daily drink specials
Decent food and ok service
Slightly overpriced for what you get

We Rate Shark Club:

Address:
180 W Georgia St
Vancouver, BC V6B

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In Downtown

Smiley’s Public House: Nachos + Non Existent Service

November 22, 2011

It was a long day, so a bunch of us decided to head to Smiley’s Public House to unwind. It’s a pub that is owned and operated by the Donnelly Group.

We went inside and just seated ourselves. It took the waitress a while to give us menus and to serve us. It seemed like they were quite understaffed since it looked like one waitress serving the whole place. If you can bear with mediocre service, you should be fine….it is a pub so don’t expect too much.

Nachos ($16) tortilla chops, cheddar cheese, monetery jack cheese, olives, tomatoes, jalapenos with guacamole, sour cream and salsa. It was pretty good, but if you aren’t a fan of heat, you should pick the jalapenos off. The nachos were quite large and can feed about 3 – 4 people. It goes well with beer!

Overall, food is decent, but service is bad. I asked for the bill and they wouldn’t deliver it to the table for some strange reason. I tried paying at the counter but the waitress just walked away and didn’t take the money, so we just left it on the table. It made a simple process quite confusing and complicated.

Words of Wisdom:

Daily specials of food and drinks
Lots of TVs for the game
Lots of seats
Service sucks
Closest Skytrain: Burrard

We rate Smileys Public House:

Address:
911 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC V6C
Website:
donnellygroup.ca/smileys

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In Downtown

Zero One Sushi : Rainy Day Meal

November 21, 2011

I was at Harbour Center and didn’t want to walk too far since it was raining. M, Scarface and I went to Sushi Zero One for some cheap fast sushi.

They have fairly cheap and affordable sushi. It’s not the best sushi, but it’s decent.

It is very small and has limited seating, most people take out instead of sitting there. It’s pretty empty near dinner time, so there are seats available to sit down. It’s not a good place for big groups…probably parties of 3 are the largest.

They have complementary tea and water on the side if you didn’t want to buy a drink.

Tea, I love good ol simple tea.

Gyu Don (Large – $6.30) has beef, onions and egg on top of rice. It was alright, but you probably need some soy sauce to go along with this.

Gyu Don (Mega – $7) has an even larger size – mega. It’s actually quite hard to tell what the difference is. It’s the same sized bowl, but it doesn’t seem like there is a substancial difference in the amount of meat.

Either way it was still decent, but you should still add a bit of soy sauce.

Deluxe Chirashi Don ($9.50) has albacore tuna, sockeye salmon ,ebi ,hotate ,ikura and egg on top of rice. Pretty good for the price, but some of the cuts of the sashimi were a little bit big and was quite a mouthful. I needed to add a bit of soy sauce to the rice to really bring all the ingredients together.

Miso soup comes along with the Deluxe Chirashi Don. It’s normal and nothing special about it.

Their items are alright. They have a large menu with good prices.

Words of Wisdom:

Online ordering form
Limited seating
Free delivery
Large menu
Cheap and fresh

We Rate Sushi Zero One:

Address:

559 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.sushizeroone.com

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In Japanese

Ramen Jinya: A Bowl of Comfort From the Rain

November 20, 2011

Ramen Jinya is a chain ramen joint from Los Angeles. It was pretty packed during lunch and it’s not a surprise since people want to escape the mucky weather outside to enjoy a nice big bowl of ramen. With the amount of ramen shops downtown, I really wanted to see how this shop compared.

This location only has ramen and a few sides – Gyoza and Karrage. All items are under $10.

Their website is very misleading, so don’t come in expecting the full menu from their website.

Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen ($8.95) comes with their pork broth and pork chashu, spinach, bamboo, and onions.

Vegetable Soup Ramen ($8.95) is all vegetables! When they bring the bowl to you, it looks like a salad, but it isnt! Underneath is a veggie broth and noodles. You should stir it around before eating.

Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen ($8.95) comes with their spicy pork broth, but it was not overwhelmingly spicy. Just a little tingle to the tongue. It also has pork chashu, spinach, Bbamboo, spicy bean sprout, and green onion. Their broth is flavourful, but I think the bowl of ramen could be larger for the price you pay.

The best part of eating ramen are is their large spoons!

Overall, I think this place is alright to eat at if you are in the area. I still prefer Sanpatchi since they have a larger menu and has more noodles.

Words of Wisdom:

Nice broth taste
Expensive for amount you get
Limited menu options
Closest Skytrain: Stadium

We Rate Ramen Jinya:

Address:
270 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC V6B

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In Fast Food

Taco Bell: Big Box Meal Made Me All Taco’ed Out

November 19, 2011

I was wandering around SFU Surrey and I was pretty hungry. M went to KFC to get their big box meal and I went to Taco Bell to get their other big box meal.

My Taco Bell Big Box Meal was so big that all the contents could not even fit inside! It was either $8 or $10, but it was pretty huge.

It comes with:

Beef Hard Taco
Double Decker Taco
Crunchwrap Supreme
Nachos and Cheese
Cinnamon Twists
Regular drink

The nachos and cheese were alright. Nothing very special about this. It’s one of those items no one really orders from the regular menu.

The beef hard taco is pretty mediocre as well. It has meat, lettuce and cheese in a hard shelled taco.

This time I finally got lots of meat with it. The only good part is the meat. There is not a lot of cheese on it either.

The Double Decker Taco comes in a soft tortilla with beans with another hard shelled taco and inside is lettuce beef and a bit of cheese. I think this location made this pretty bad since there was so little beef inside.

I am not a bean type of person, so I really hated this taco.

Crunchwrap Supreme is my favorite out of all the items in the Big Box Meal. It has beef, cheese, hard tortilla, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes all wrapped in a grilled soft tortilla. It’s best to grab some hot sauce to accompany this crunchwrap since it makes it so much tastier.

Overall, you get a lot of stuff from the Big Box Meal and you can discover what you like and what you don’t like. I kinda wish I had Taco Time instead.

In Bakery

Cake-Ya: Delicious Purin Pudding and Cake Rolls

November 18, 2011

Cake-Ya is this little shop in Coquitlam that serves Japanese desserts and baked goods. Their location is a bit hidden and very small.

They have zero seating and it looks more like a bakery. FoodQueen and I decided to give this place a try, but then we realized there were no seats inside, so we walked up a block to share a cake roll at Starbucks.

A lot of the items can be sold out by 2pm, so if you know what you want, best to call ahead of time for them to save you whatever you want.

Strawberry Cake Roll ($6.50) has a very light cake surrounding fresh whipped cream and strawberries. The price for it was pretty good! I liked this roll because the cake is just so light with the whipped cream, you don’t feel heavy.

They only sell the cake rolls as a whole log, so it’s one of those items you must share.

I also bought 4 of the Caramel Cream’s (aka Purin Pudding). Green Tea, Black Sesame, Original and coffee. They ran out of a few flavours since I didn’t call ahead of time to reserve.

Custard Caramel Cream ($2.25) is probably one you must try. It’s the original flavour and you can’t go wrong with that. I gave this one to my little sister and she gobbled it up. She’s a picky eater but she loved this.

Green Tea Caramel Cream ($2.50) was also good. My mom commented saying the texture was very smooth and creamy. She was quite impressed.

Coffee Caramel Cream ($2.50) was quite interesting. The taste of coffee was strong. I found it was a bit rich in my opinion.

There’s so many ways to eat these desserts…in the cup or just flipped over like the ones above.

Words of Wisdom:

Take Out since there are zero seats
Call ahead of time to reserve specific items you want before it runs out
Cash Only
Good prices

We Rate Cake-Ya:
Address:
2415 Clarke St
Port Moody, BC V3H
Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/CakeYa

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In Sandwich

Red Mill Burger: Bacon, Bacon, Verde, Bacon & Onion Rings

November 17, 2011

I have finally finished the last restaurant on my Man v. Food list – Red Mill Burgers. It took me a while to finally try this place since it’s always out of the way of Downtown Seattle and Bellevue. This trip, I made it a mission to try this. M was a little bit unsure about going out of the way, but after showing him the episode, it made him want to see their stack of bacon.

Here is the video of Red Mill Burger on Man v. Food!

It was probably 1 in the afternoon and this place is packed. This location is in Interbay (but i’m not from Seattle so I don’t know what that means). I dare you to peek over the counter to find this:

BACON! A WALL OF BACON! LOTS OF BACON! Imagine how awesome all of that would taste?

There are a few booth seats, but during peak hours they are all full. If you are coming with a friend, get one of them to snag a table as the other lines up. M and I had to do the tag team duo to stalk for a table.

Onion Rings ($3.19) were nicely battered and had a light fish & chips type of batter. M really loved it, but I still felt like it needed a bit of salt to it. People rave about the onion rings…. but I like A&W onion rings better. M and I clearly did not agree with each other.

Tartar Sauce ($0.23) accompanies it very well.

Bleu Cheese N’ Bacon Burger ($6.79) has Crumbled Bleu Cheese, Pepper Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Mill Sauce on a Kaiser Bun. The bacon is crispy and has fresh veggies. I just loved the blue cheese in this burger. I usually HATE blue cheese, but it’s much better when it’s cooked.

I was a bit disappointed by the patty. It wasn’t smokey at all and looked a like it was steamed rather than grilled. The patty is quite thin too. My favorite part was the blue cheese and bacon….Mmmm yum.

Verde Burger ($5.80) has fire Roasted Anaheim Peppers, Jack Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, with their Mill Sauce in a toasted bun. M added bacon to this.

M’s face lit up when he took a bit of the roasted anaheim peppers. He also felt the patty kinda fell short of expectations. Peppers + Bacon = awesome. It’s not crazy spicy or anything. It’ll just tingle your tongue.

Overall, we felt this place was a little too hyped up from the TV show. It’s still good to try and see what it’s all about.

Words of Wisdom:

Parking in lot or near the park
Delicious smoked bacon
Busy during peak hours
Take a picture of their bacon stack and tell all your friends. It looks crazy.
Under $10

We Rate Red Mill Burger:
Address:
1613 W Dravus St
Seattle, WA 98119
Website:
redmillburgers.com

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In Deli

I Love New York Deli: But This Is In Seattle, WA

November 16, 2011

What on earth is there to eat in Downtown Seattle early in the morning at 7am? M and I just used a food app to look it up and we just went to I Love New York Deli in Pike Place. There’s not many reviews, but it was the mystery that we wanted to unravel.

They are best known for their HUGE sandwiches that are packed full of flavour. Since they are located in the Market Place, the prices are very affordable!

They don’t have many seats, so you may need to fight for a seat or eat outside. You can also just walk elsewhere in the market place and find alternative seating.

Canarsie Reuben ($11.95) is loaded with pastrami, pepper jack cheese, russian dressing and horseradish sauce on marbled rye bread. It comes with a side of your choice and a wedge of pickle.

Look how sexy this sandwich is!!!! This is what I call a sandwich!! Piled full of meat. I thought this sandwich was ok since I am not a fan of the taste of pastrami. If you like pastrami, you will probably like it.

Empire State ($10.95) has roasted brisket, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions and horseradish sauce on marble rye bread. It also comes with a side and a pickled.

I LOVED this! The meat is very tender and works well with the caramelized onions. You must get this!!

Overall, it was a super cool unique find! This is my kind of comfort food! I’ve never been so excited for such a large sandwich.

Words of Wisdom:

Around $10
Your choice of sides and type of bread.
Can also build your own
Best known for Overstuffed Sandwiches
The brisket is to die for
If you go early morning, they might not have all their ingredients

We Rate I Love New York Deli:

Address:

93 Pike Street #4
Seattle, WA

Website:

http://www.ilovenewyorkdeli.net/

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In Cafe

Starbucks: The Original Store in Seattle, WA

November 15, 2011

M and I arrived in Seattle way too early during the long weekend since we expected there to be a wait at the border…there was no wait. So, we were downtown by 7:30am. Nothing is open that early except for Starbucks, so we decided to head to Pike Place Market to roam around. A lot of the merchants were getting ready, so the market wasn’t open either.

As you may or may not know, Starbucks originated in Seattle Washington and has grown into a global phenomenon. Every time I go here and it’s PACKED. Since it was so early in the morning, I knew it would be empty.

The interior is quite spacious when there are a few people inside. On a normal day, it is just filled with people grabbing drinks. If all you want is coffee, best to just go to another Starbucks a block away. They serve the same drinks as all the other Starbucks locations.

They have tons of cups, coffee and stuffed animals to purchase. Since its always so packed in here during usual hours, its really hard to get nice photos of inside this location.

It is a tourists hotspot and it is always packed with people buying coffee and purchasing the original Starbucks mug with their original logo. There’s another location on Firstand Pike that also sells the merchandise. If you hate crowds, thats an option.

Location:
1912 Pike Pl Seattle, WA 98101

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In Chinese

Fortune House Seafood Restaurant: Most Rude Service!

November 14, 2011

BusanGirl really wanted some Dim Sum, so I took her to Fortune House Seafood since it’s in Metrotown. I’ve been there before and I’ve never had any problems here. This visit was quite different and I was pretty annoyed by the horrible service they gave us.

We arrived just in time for last call at 2:30pm since they close their lunch service at 3pm. The hostess was quite rude and told us to order what we wanted as we waited for our table. We shrugged it off since it was a very busy day for them.

When we arrived at the table, we gave the server our order right away. The dim sum took a long time to arrive and the manager kept pressuring us to pay before our orders even arrived. He didn’t say anything, but he kept opening the little receipt folder to check if we paid it. Just to keep things interesting, we did not pay till the end of our meal. He kept making gestures to make us pay faster before we finished our meal.

They even started rearranging their table set up during the lunch service to prepare for their dinner service. A majority of the diners were still eating and seeing the servers move walls and tables around were super distracting. We heard the managers apologizing to other tables but when they approached our table, they told us to pay the bill. Rude much?

Tea ($1/per head) is charged on your bill without them informing you. They have a good selection of tea as well. If you are really really against paying the tea fee, I’ve heard you can just argue with the manager to remove it. I’ve never paid the tea fee when I go with my family…but this time I was charged. We were kinda mad, but just let it go.

Jumbo Shrimp Dumplings ($5.75) were quite large and tasted good. What I like to do is ask them for some hot sauce since I like a little heat.

Fried Mixed Meat Dumpling ($4.25) is not as big as other places I’ve been too. The sticky dumpling skin is not as thick as other places. Also, their filling is very little compared to other places too. What BusanGirl liked about this was that there was little “meat smell”, which she liked.

Steamed Beef Rice Roll ($5.25) is one of the classic items to get. It has nice minced beef in the middle wrapped with a rice roll with soy sauce on top.

Deep Fried Squid ($7.50) made me quite disappointed. For the price, it was small and lacked flavour. It also looked unappetizing too. It tasted alright, but needed some more salt.

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.

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.
Pretty expensive compared to other places
Rude and rushed service
Avoid going near 2pm

We rate Fortune Seafood House:

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

In Bubble Tea

The One: Decent Food, Decent Prices

November 13, 2011

Since my mechanic is right beside The One, I needed somewhere to kill time. The closest thing was The One for some Taiwanese food. Since I was starving from a long day of school already, I was ready to chow down with my sister. They are known for their HUGE slush drinks that are super tall.

Preserved Egg With Tofu ($3.25) is definitely not for everyone. It has 2 slices of tofu with preserved egg on top with a sweet sesame sauce. I really liked it but I found that their yolk could have a be more creamy.

Meat Sauce on Steam Rice with Vegetable ($6.50) comes with side dishes too. Really good value since you get the bowl of rice and meat in addition to the 4 side dishes. Good price.

The One Wonton Soup with Noodle ($7.95) was quite horrible this time around. The bowl was HUGE and had so much noodle that I found it a very hard challange to finish it all. The wontons tasted so-so and bland. Also, the soup tasted like it had a lot of MSG inside.

Overall, I think a few dishes are a hit and a miss, but the pricing is very good.

Words of Wisdom:

Large portions
Under $10
Fried Chicken Nuggets!
Free parking in the front lot

We Rate The One:

Address:

5908 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
theonerestaurant.ca

In Four Beakers

Aki Japanese: Lunch Combos Are The Way To Go

November 13, 2011

After going to Aki Japanese twice for lunch and once for dinner…I have to say I really enjoy their lunches much more than their dinners. Even though they have been around for a long time, I find their lunch is the best. With so many other Japanese restaurants surrounding the area, their dinners are not as good as others.

I came to lunch with my coworker that had a so-so experience here for dinner. Sometimes places require a second chance to discover how amazing they can be.

Lunch Box A ($10.75). This combo has miso soup, sunomono, short ribs, tuna and salmon sashimi, chicken karrage, pickled vegetables and rice.

She liked it since it has a little bit of everything. By the end of the meal, she was full!

Sushi Combo (~$11) has 4 pieces of nigiri, tuna and salmon sashimi, california roll and a few maki rolls. I was feeling like sushi, so this combo filled up my cravings. The quality of the fish is really good. The rolls were well built too.

Overall, we really enjoyed our lunch here! If you want a good experience and not kill your wallet, best to come here for lunch.

Words of Wisdom:

Closest Skytrain: Burrard
Decent pricing
Good quality
Lunch Boxes best for lunch

We Rate Aki Japanese Restaurant:

Address:

745 Thurlow St
Vancouver, BC

In Cafe

Accord Food House: Amazing Taiwanese Noodles + Desserts

November 11, 2011

M and I were at Metrotown and we wanted to eat something delicious during the cold cold night. I really wanted noodles since the weather calls for it. My sister kept telling me to go to Accord since they have really good taiwanese food. We decided to take a visit. We almost walked past it since it really did not look nice from the outside.

If you have the same feeling too, just go inside since you will discover some delicious food.

The interior is quite small and homey. The interior is so-so, but at least it’s much better looking on the inside. Most tables are in 4’s, so best to come in 4’s.

Their menu is written on 2 large chalk boards. Left board is drinks and desserts and on the right it’s their food.

Italian Soda ($4.95) is something to set your eyes upon. I don’t know whats in it, but it tasted really good! Definitely worth a try!

Royal Milk Tea ($4.25) was super hot. Since it’s in a double-walled cup, it doesn’t get cold easily. The milk tea had a good taste, but it burned the heck out of my tongue. So, make sure it cools down before you drink it….or you can always get the cold version.

Tomato Beef Noodle ($8.95) has the most tender beef, with fresh veggies, tomatoes and a super yummy broth! One of the BEST Beef Noodles I have ever had!! Highly recommended!

My Grandpa Chinese Pasta ($7.95) has fresh vegetables, tomatoes with a yummy meat sauce. M thought it was alright.

Dark Chocolate Custard ($5.95) is topped off with berries, currants and oranges. I found that the fruit took away from the dessert. The chocolate custard tasted good, but it seemed a bit small for the price.

Parfait ($7.95) was pretty epic. It had loads of fruit, whipped cream, ice cream and wafers. It’s a super fun dessert to share! I got my hands kinda sticky from picking at all the fruit.

Overall, really good assortment of items that they offer. We noticed that it can be easy to spend a little….but in our case we did end up spending a lot trying everything.

Words of Wisdom: