March 2012

Palki Indian Restaurant: Mmm….Peacock, Pakora and Paneer

March 31, 2012

Palki Indian Restaurant is located on Commercial Drive and serves traditional Indian food. It’s a bit hard to find since it’s further up Commercial past the other popular restaurants.

I took AdventureTimeGirl and M here since we were way too lazy to drive elsewhere for Indian food. I’ve been here before and I thought the food was pretty solid. The interior is very nice and looks very different that the outside of the restaurant. The service is good too!

The Peacock is made of kiwi, lime, lemon, blue curacao, melon liqueur and soda. It was sweet and quite enjoyable with a good dominant flavour of the kiwi. I love kiwis.

Mango Lassi is a drink you should be ordering. It’s a yogurt based drink with mangoes.

Palki’s Mixed Platter ($11) has vegetable samosa, chicken pakora, and vegetable pakora. I love the chicken pakora and the vegetable pakora. It crispy on the outside and very savory on the inside.

The vegetable samosa was good, but since I’m not a fan of potatoes, I did not enjoy it as much as AdventureTimeGirl.

Saag Paneer ($11.50) has pureed spinach and paneer cooked with ground spices. The sauce was very smooth and had a good amount of delicious paneer. Even though it is vegetarian, it was delicious.

Butter Chicken ($11.50) has boneless chicken in a butter and cream sauce. It came a bit slower than the saag paneer, so they did provide this complementary. The sauce was quite delicious, but I did find that the chicken was a bit on the dry side. It’s a strange thing since the sauce is so delicious but the chicken just disappointed.

Garlic Naan ($3) has garlic and basil on top. Its good on its own, but with the curries we ordered, it overpowered the spices of the curry. Nonetheless, still good naan.

Lacchedar ($4) is a Multi-layered flaky bread with butter. I really enjoyed this! Good flavour from the butter that paired well with the curry!

Overall, I the food is pretty solid. Lot of choices on their menu and its a nice place to dine at with decent prices.

Words of Wisdom:

Large amount of curries and Naan
Best to stick with the original Naan or jasmine rice
Some parking available in the residential areas or pay parking in front
Good prices and good atmosphere
The Peacock and mango lassi for drinks!
Onion Bhajia, Chicken Pakora, veggie pakora and Kofta Dil Bahar are highly recommended

We Rate Palki Indian Restaurant:

Address:
1130 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC
Website:
palkirestaurant.com
Twitter:
@PalkiRestaurant

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In Burnaby Cariboo-Lougheed

Mui Garden: Curry Beef Brisket

March 29, 2012

Mui Garden has 4 locations in the Lower Mainland and serve up Chinese food. M and I come here once in a while when we want to just get some cheap eats without traveling far. We like to be lazy like that.

From past experiences, they have some decent food here and we’ve had some bad foor here. It’s always good to know what are the better items to avoid the horrible ones.

Sauces at your table. Its kinda gross how all the amounts in these jars are quite low.

Tea! Gotta love tea and gotta have tea everywhere I go.

Curry Beef Brisket ($10.50) is something that M always orders. It’s more Hong Kong Cafe – Style rather than what you would find in an Indian restaurant.

It has a good taste and it’s quite large! This is off the regular menu, but there is also a lunch set that you can get too.

Wonton Noodle Soup ($5.50) was very disgusting. It was quite salty or had lots of MSG. The wontons seemed pre-made or something that you can get frozen at T&T. Definitely avoid from here.

Overall, I would still say the dishes are a hit and miss. You can’t go wrong with the curry beef brisket.

Words of Wisdom:

Baked Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Curry Beef Brisket
Great for large groups
Cash or Debt
Hit or miss food
Free parking
Decent prices

We Rate Mui Garden:

Address:
4327 North Rd
Burnaby, BC V3N

Website:
http://www.muigarden.com/

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In Dim Sum

Dinesty Chinese Restaurant: Steamed Pork Dumplings (XLB) Is Addictive

March 29, 2012

Dinesty is a Chinese restaurant in Richmond best known for the Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Pork Dumplings). They have been know to have amazing food and great prices.

Since the last dinner didn’t go so well at Po King with my parents, I decided it was time for me to decide where to eat. After luring them with delicious internet photos, they agreed to take me here.

Once you enter the restaurant, you’ll see a wall of teapot and little dim sum toys. They are glued to the shelf, so don’t think about stealing them.

Told you there were mini dimsum toys.

For a Tuesday dinner, this place was packed. My mom was super surprised and excited at the same time. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. I’m pretty sure the weekends are crazy to get a table.

The best part about the interior is their open kitchen. You can see everyone cooking in the kitchen. It reminded me of watching a reality show on Food Network or something.

Look at them making the Xiao Long Bao. I was excited.

All your utensils and plates already at the table.

Steamed Pork Dumplings ($6.50) comes in 8 pieces. The skin has a nice thin layer, but still keeps the juice locked up inside. They were pretty good! My little sister couldn’t get enough of these.

Comes with a vingar and ginger dip for the dumplings. I love dunking it in this sauce.

Marinated beef with soy-sauce wrapped in pancake ($5.50) is crispy on the outside and has a great flavour overall.

Cold Wined Chicken ($7.50) was good, but it did have a bit of a strange taste with the wine. If you are into the whole cold chicken type of thing, this may just be for you.

Stewed Chicken Leg in Brown Sauce ($6.50) was good, but most of the meat was closest to the drumstick. The meat was quite tender too.

Noodles Topped with home-made Meat Sauce ($6.50) is similar to the Korean Jajangmyeon. You mix everything together really well and just eat it. The dish was ok, but the sauce was a tad bit salty and needed to be more thick and chunky.

Fried rice with scallop and egg whites ($9.95) I liked it. It had a good mixture of ingredients and it wasn’t too oily.

Steamed shrimp scallop and pork dumpling ($7.50) was definitely not as good as the XLB. Even though I really like seafood, the taste didn’t wow me. It just tasted so fishy. It also comes with 8 dumplings.

Steamed Pork Dumplings ($6.50) we also got more of these because we really really liked them!

Almond Tofu ($2.75) was good, but the picture on the menu was pretty misleading…it had more fruit and when this name out…it seemed like there were only a few pieces.

Overall, the food was great and at good prices. The service was really good as well. I love their menu since it’s so easy to read and has PICTURES! I’ll definitely ba back to eat more steamed pork dumplings!

Words of Wisdom:

Steamed Pork Dumplings (XLB) is a must!
Very busy, so best to make reservations
Most dishes under $10
Good service

We Rate Dinesty Chinese Restaurant:

Address:
8111 Ackroyd Rd
Richmond, BC

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In Cafe

Thomas Haas: Macarons, Cakes and Croissants

March 27, 2012

Thomas Haas Patisserie is known for their decadent pastries and treats. The owner- Thomas Haas has been recognized as one of top 10 chocolatiers in North America and have also won numerous awards.

I’ve been here a few times and it’s always tough to get to the North Shore, but its a treat thats worth the drive. The location is in the middle of nowhere, but it still draws a large crowd on weekdays and weekends. Amy, Angela, Anita, Kathy and I decided to stop by here after our Tomahawk adventure.

This place was super busy and packed!

Macarons are one of their specialties. One of the better macarons in Vancouver. Angela was a bit upset because even though she ordered 4 different flavours, they ran out of one of the flavours. They just give you any other random flavour. Nonetheless, she did enjoy it and you can read more about it on her blog – Muchkie’s Munchies.

The same thing happened to me too. I ordered Pistachio and coffee macarons, but the passionfruit and coffee came instead. I was sad because I didn’t quite like passionfruit but I ate it anyways. The texture and consistancies of the macaroons are top notch.

Lemon Tart ($5.50) has a shortbread crust, lemon cream on top of the light lemon custard.

Milk Chocolate with Passionfruit and Almond ($5.50) has a light milk chocolate mousse, passionfruit cream, soft
almond cake and crispy hazelnut wafer. Check out TheFoodQueen to see what Amy thought of this dessert.

Tiramisu au Chocolat ($5.50) has light mascarpone cream and soft almond cake with amaretto, coffee, and milk chocolate mousse. It was delicious and I love how you can see the whole cross-section of the cake. Tasted awesome too.

Butter Croissant ($2.50) has a lot of flakey layers to the croissant. It was good, but I wishes it was more crispy on the outside.

Look at all those layers.

Double Baked Almond Croissant ($4.45) was so good. There are no words to describe how good this is. *Drools* *DIES* It’s so savory and has so many almonds. Definitely a must get item! Tastes the best when it’s just fresh from the oven too!

Oh like at that. SO good.

Overall, Thomas Haas has some solid treats and even though the locations are so far away, it’s worth the trip.

Words of Wisdom:

Few free parking spots out front
You kinda need a car to get here, unless you like to walk
Recommended: Macarons, Double Baked croissants, and Tiramisu
Can be a bit pricey
Busy with people and might be hard to find a seat for large group
Outdoor seating (great for summer)

We Rate Thomas Haas:

Address:
998 Harbourside Dr
North Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thomashaas.com/

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In Downtown

Bali Thai: Outstanding Service in a Food Court

March 27, 2012

Under Harbour Center is a food court that looks very outdated, but in the food court is this family-owned Thai/Indonesian place – Bali Thai. MeatLover suggested we go here for lunch since I asked her to take me to some Indonesian places. This place doesn’t look like much, but it’s their amazing service and attention that keeps their customers coming back.

Lunch is really cheap for under $7 and the staff make sure you leave happy.

I ordered 2 items on rice. I got the stewed eggplant and 3 chicken skewers on saffron coconut rice. They also wondered if I wanted more rice, but I declined since I don’t really enjoy rice. When you do go, you can always ask for more rice at no extra charge. The rice was very fragrant, but the spices of the eggplant were quite strong and over powered the taste.

Even though I ordered a 2 item meal with rice, they gave MeatLover and I extra vegetable fritter. Add the peanut sauce cause its good. It was so good, I could have eaten these all day. No joke! I’ll definitely be back for some more lunch when I’m in the area.

Overall, the food is decent depending on what items you add to it. I would go back just because of the nice service they provide, plus those vegetable fritters are so good.

Words of Wisdom:

Under $10 meal
Awesome service
Larger portions if you ask for it
Closest Skytrain: Waterfront

We Rate Bali Thai:
Address:
FF4 – 555 West Hastings Street

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In 24 hours

Lucy’s Eastside Diner: Awesome MilkShakes!

March 26, 2012

Back to Lucy’s Eastside Diner for late night eats with a few friends! I really like this place since the food is reasonably priced and you know it’s never closed since it’s 24 hours. The food isn’t the best thing you have ever eaten, but it’s good comfort food.

The interior doesn’t have too many seats, but when I come here, there are usually counter space left to sit.

Bottled Dad’s Old Fashioned Root Beer ($3.75) if you like root beer, you’ll love this.

Bottled Dad’s Old Fashioned Cream Soda ($3.75) M thought this was good but he still preferred the root beer over the cream soda.

20 Oz. Oreo Milk Shake ($5) is one of my favorite milk shakes from Lucy’s Eastside Diner. Yum!

20 Oz. Peanut Butter Milk Shake ($5) this is my second favorite flavour for a milkshake! I think they just mix peanut butter and ice cream together. It’s a bit fattening, but if you love peanut butter…get this!

Peppercorn Roast Beef Sandwich ($8.50) has roast beef, fried onions, peppercorn cream cheese, and lettuce on toasted sourdough bread.

The roast beef was quite dry and not very flavourful. Very poorly made sandwich and I was not impressed.

The Grant Marshall ($10.50) has double patties, bacon, onions, mushrooms, cheese, fried egg, and chili.

M ordered it because of the crazy amount of meat, but just said the taste was alright. This like is a pile of heart attack.

Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese ($9) has a hoagie bun filled with meatloaf and topped with mac & cheese.

Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwich ($8) has slow roasted pork in root beer and rub served with coleslaw inside and fries outside.

The taste is quite subtle, so it can be a bit hard to taste the root beer. It also tasted decent, but nothing too amazing.

Winner Winner Fried Chicken Dinner ($9) has breaded fried chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and gravy. The fried chicken was so bland and needed some seasoning to the coating. Also, the coating was quite thick.

Overall, the food can be a hit or a miss, but one thing is for sure….the milkshakes are good. Some of the brunch items are pretty good too. With such a large menu, I’m sure you’ll find something that caters to your taste buds.

Words of Wisdom:

Limited seating, not good for large groups
Uncle Grants Eating Challenge
So-so Food
Amazing fries and hash browns….SUPER CRISPY!
My favorite: Milkshakes + Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese or pulled pork and Mac & Cheese
Open 24 hours

We Rate Lucy Eastside Diner:

Address:

2708 Main Street
Vancouver, BC V5T

Website:
lucyseastsidediner.com

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In Japanese

Matsuyama: Late Night Specials After 9

March 25, 2012

Matsuyama in Richmond has some great late night specials after 9pm. After hearing so much about this place from Wongers, I had to join her, Mini604, GoMunch and Lensflaaare for some late night nom noms.

The place was packed at night, but I guess everyone was there for the late night menu. Also note that parking here is so bad too. You gotta stalk for a parking space.

Miso Soup ($0.89) was the usual miso soup and nothing too special about it.

Salmon Sashimi ($4.25) was a good size and decent quality. They also have toro and tuna on their late night menu for the same price. Unfortunately, when we got there, there was no more toro.

Chicken Karrage (3.95) was nicely deep-fried but still a bit average. It was a good amount of karrage for the price.

Beer Sashimi ($4.95) is thinly sliced with a bed of lettuce, daikon, and sweet sauce. Yum.

Green Tea Ice Cream was something we all craved at the table. They had other flavours too like mango and coconut. I’m sure they didn’t make it themselves and came in a tub. Still it tasted alright.

Overall, the food is quite average, but the draw to Matsuyama are the late night specials.

Words of Wisdom:

Items from $0.89 to $7.95
Free parking, but lot is usually full
Decent food, some items are hit or miss

We Rate Matsuyama:

Address:
8500 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC

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In BBQ

Damso Modern Korean Cuisine: Yuzu Snowman Sorbet

March 24, 2012

Damso Modern Korean Cuisine is located on Denman street and they serve up some delicious Korean dishes with a modern twist.

Jay of Coma Food Truck invited a few of his loyal customers that supported his food truck to Damso to say thank you. It’s sad to see Coma Food Truck go, but I see a great future for Jay and in his future ventures.

You start off with a trio of little items – spinach, bean sprouts and radish kimchi.

Seafood Waffle ($8.25) has prawns, scallop, squid, bacon, and scallion. This was so good! Imagine the traditional Korean Seafood pancake, but in pancake form. It was really good and probably the best I’ve had so far. Yum! It’s a must order!

Ddok-Kalbee ($6.85) are beef meatballs with king oyster mushroom, scallion salad and jalapeno pickles. The meatballs were really delicious with great flavour and a slightly sweet sauce. I could definitely eat these all day.

Chicken Gizzard contains stir-fried chicken gizzard, roasted garlic, scallion salad, with mustard vinaigrette. Surprisingly the gizzards were not tough at all, but a bit chewy. It can be a strange thing to eat, but it tasted good.

Pork Skin ($6.75) has sautéed with chive, onion and spicy Korean chili sauce. It wasn’t too spicy, but I really didn’t like the texture of the pork skin. It was limp and tasted like fatty jelly. I much prefer my pork skin crispy.

Kalbee – Korean BBQ Short Ribs ($15.95) is their signature dish. It has grilled AAA beef ribs marinated in housemade Korean BBQ sauce. It comes with rice too. This is an amazing dish! The meat is so tender and just falls off the bone. Wongers just wanted to steal this sauce since it was so good. Highly recommended!

Chicken Kalbee Ddok-Bokki has sautéed chicken, rice cake, and sweet Gochujang sauce. It was a bit spicy, but not my favorite dish. It was still a bit traditional.

Meat Party Platter ($34.95) comes with 24 hr slow cooked pork & medium rare grilled marinated AAA beef steak. I wasn’t a fan of the slow cooked pork, but the medium rare beef was so delicious. Meat!

Yuzu Snowman Sorbet is super cute and tastes really good. It tasted like citrus. It was a great way to end the meal. We felt kinda bad eating this little guy.

Overall, I was quite impressed by the quality of the dishes. I never expected to see modern Korean cuisine done well until now.

Words of Wisdom:

Seafood Waffle, Korean BBQ Short Ribs and Yuzu Snowman Sorbet
Free parking on street after 6pm but super limited
Multigrain rice options

We Rate Damso Modern Korean Cuisine:

Address:
867 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.damso.ca/

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In Aboriginal

Tomahawk Restaurant: Established in North Van Since 1920s

March 23, 2012

The Tomahawk Restaurant has been around since the 1920’s. It’s been featured on ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives’ and also ‘You Gotta Eat Here’, which are both shows on the Food Network.

With so much buzz going on about this place, Amy, Angela, Anita, Kathy and I decided to trek all the way to North Vancouver to check it out. It was an interesting drive to this place as I kept trolling Angela by not putting my hands on the wheel as we drove on the Highway. Was she ever freaked out. hahaha.

As you walk in, there is a mini gift shop where you can buy souvenirs and other sweet treats. The wait was quite long for a table for 5 people. I think it was about 35 – 40 minutes. Seeing that there were so many awards won by this restaurant, we knew that this place was something special.

Near the couches, you will be able to spot Guy Fieri’s trademark emblem when he visits restaurants.

There’s also a mini pond with rubber duckies.

The inside was actually quite small. From the videos from the show, it seemed so much large for some reason.

Their placemats are quite interesting too. Theres a whole map of Canada and a few things that are fun facts about each province.

Coffee is a must for me when you make me wake up before noon. Free refills too!

Tomahawk Style Beep Dip has slow-roasted organic Baron of Beef, shaved on toasted French baguette with a homemade au jus in a cup. Amy chose fries as her side. Check out The Food Queen to find out what she thought about it.

Chief Dominic Charlie Burger has Lettuce, organic ground beef patty, grilled Yukon-style bacon, aged cheddar cheese, tomato and Tomahawk special sauce. Angela chose fries as her side.

Check out Muchkie’s Munchies to find out what she thought about it.

Organic Roast Beef Dinner has slow-roasted Baron of Beef, hand-carved and served with a thick gravy, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and thier world famous Yorkshire pudding.

The beef has a nice thick cut, but at time it was a bit bland and tough. It’s just a personal preference since I like my beef a bit rare. The gravy did make it taste so much better. The yorkshire pudding was also ok. I found this dish to be a bit expensive. Probably a bit too hyped up from the TV show.

Side of Fries thats a lot of fries for just a side order.

Side of Onion Rings

Overall, the Tomahawk Restaurant was ok. The prices are a bit steep for certain items and the food is so-so. I think it really depends on this dish that you order. It has a lot of rich history in this establishment .

Words of Wisdom:

Long waits during peak hours
Decent food
Around $10 – $18 dollars for lunch
Lots of free parking around

We Rate Tomahawk Restaurant:
Address:
1550 Philip Ave
North Vancouver District, BC

Website:
http://www.tomahawkrestaurant.com/

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In Downtown

La Casita Botanas Dining Package Review

March 22, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “LA CASITA BOTANAS” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and I brought along Abbytizer to keep the review as unbiased as I could. The review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant

Hello Internet! Abbytizer and I reviewed VANEATS latest dining package for “LA CASITA BOTANAS!”. The dining package consists of a 5-course sharing platter.

“Chipotle Prawn”, grilled in butter, garlic, & La Casita’s special chipotle sauce
“Chicken Wings”, served with mole sauce on a bed of rice
“Quesadillas”, handmade folded tortillas with melted cheese and Mexican chorizo sausage
“Cabbage Salad”, served with avocado
“Super Nachos”, beef & bean salsa, cheese & veggies on fresh corn tortilla chips

You can purchase the dining package at VANEATS.ca for only $18 between March 21st and May 21st, 2012:

The interior of the restaurant has a very distinct Mexican feel to it, with piñatas hanging from the ceiling, and luchador masks displayed at the bar. An old black & white Mexican movie played from the TV, while Mexican music played throughout the restaurant.

Tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole. Casita’s guacamole was superfine and has a slight kick to it that increase with every bite. The salsa is very fine, and doesn’t have big chunks of tomato that many people may be accustomed to with a salsa.

The sharing platter is quite big, with the Super Nachos in the center and each of the other four courses are placed on the corners of the large plate.

In this corner we have the “Chipotle Prawn”, grilled in butter, garlic, & Casita’s special chipotle sauce. Abbytizer describes it to be quite spicy with a nice smoky flavour to accompany the heat. She thought that the prawns were cooked perfectly as they were very tender and also slightly sweet. Overall, the dish balanced nicely between spicy, smoky and sweet notes of flavour.

“Chicken Wings”, served with mole sauce on a bed of rice. Abbytizer describes the wings as being very tasty. She said she would eat anything with the mole sauce. She also thought that the rice was flavourful. The only downside to this dish was that the wings were very small and there were only 5 wings. We would have loved larger wings and more of them!

“Quesadillas”, handmade folded tortillas with melted cheese and Mexican chorizo sausage. The sausage within the quesadilla looked like ground beef. The quesadilla is small and has a delicious taste to of it. One thing that Abbytizer and I both noted was that the sausage was quite dry and would have benefited from a sauce, perhaps, sour cream, salsa or mole, just to give it more moisture.

“Cabbage Salad”, served with avocado. This salad has sliced tomatoes, orange peppers, purple onions, and is seasoned with lime. I found this salad to be refreshing and quite enjoyable. Each bite of the salad had a delicious crunch to it. Abbytizer also like the salad and enjoyed the textural contrast between the crisp cabbage and the smooth, creaminess of the avocados.

“Super Nachos”, beef & bean salsa, cheese & veggies on fresh corn tortilla chips. These Super Nachos are very good. The refried beans had a great flavour and made the nachos taste delicious.

Horchata ($3.25) is a sweet drink traditionally made of rice, and is flavoured with cinnamon and sugar. Abbytizer loved it and said that it takes the heat of the spicy dishes. She described it to taste like a “liquefied churro”. If you like churros you’ll love this drink.

Casita Sundae ($6.50) Two churros in vanilla ice cream, topped with whipped cream and strawberry puree. I found the dessert to be delicious. The vanilla icecream and the strawberry puree blends perfectly with the cinnamon churoo. Abbytizer describes this dessert to be a sweet tooth’s dream. She enjoyed the crunchy churros and how the rich ice cream complemented it perfectly. The strawberry puree was a nice added flavour. It was a very good dessert, and Abbytizer would definitely have it again!

Overall, The “LA CASITA BOTANAS” dining package is worth its value, and all the dishes in the platter were muy delicioso. The platter is suitable for two to three and will get you satisfied. The platter is perfect for anyone who wants to try Mexican food and is curious to see what La Casita has to offer.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Wifi
Weekly Specials
Authentic Mexican Drinks

We Rate La Casita Botanas:

Address:
101 West Cordova St. Vancouver, BC V6B 1E1

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In Downtown

Rue 909 Sushi: Lunch Time Sushi

March 21, 2012

Rue 909 Sushi replaced the previous sushi place – Urban Sushi. This place serves sushi and is open for lunch and dinner.

MeatLover, HipsterGirl and I decided to stop by for some quick lunch since we were a little pressed for time.

It’s packed at lunch and it’s great for people who want something super quick. The staff also look like they are dressed as Robin Hood.

If you aren’t sure about going inside, there is a huge menu board in front of the restaurant so you can see want you want before ordering.

As you wait for your order, you receive these buzzers to indicate when your order is ready. At first HipsterGirl thought they gave her a cellphone.

C Combo ($9.74) has 12 pieces of sushi, which were Ebi nigiri, salmon nigiri, tuna nigiri, and tuna maki.

Friday Special #1 has Dynamite Roll , Miso soup, California Roll and BC Roll.

Karage Bento ($8.95) has chicken karage, california rolls, rice and a salad. The food is pretty average and nothing too special.

Overall, the food was decent for lunch and under $10. It’s not the best sushi you’ll have, but it’ll fill you up.

Words of Wisdom:

Self serve tea and water
Under $10
Decent food
Limited seating
Close to Burrard Skytrain or Granville Skytrain

We Rate Rue 909 Sushi:

Address:
909 Dunsmuir Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.rue909sushi.com/

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In Dessert

Fleuri: Worlds Best Chocolate Buffet

March 20, 2012

Fleuri is inside the Sutton Place Hotel on Burrard Street. According to National Geographic, they have the World’s Best Chocolate Buffet. The buffet is $28 per person and you can reserve for either 6pm -8:30pm or 8:30pm- 10pm. If you have dinner here, you can add the chocolate buffet on for $18. You get access to a crepe station, chocolate fondue, cakes and other pastries.

The chocolate table is just one long table. I expected a bit more than one table, but there is a good selection.

There are tuxedo cakes, nanaimo bars, mousse, and profiteroles.

There’s more cakes, brownies, pecan pie, and macarons.

There’s also warm apple crumble too. You must try this, it’s really good!

In the middle of it all is a 3-tiered fondue machine with cantaloupe, honey dew, pineapples, strawberries and grapes to dip.

The best way to tackle all the cakes is to grab a few varieties for your table and split it all. Our group did the opposite and started eating whole slices of cake until we decided to share amongst each other.

The crepe station is located on the lower level of the restaurant near the entrance.

The chef makes the crepes fresh to order right in front of your eyes. You can add many topping to it or even ice cream.

I decided to add some raspberry sorbet which was delicious! Then I added whipped cream, chocolate sauce and raspberry sauce. The crepes were good.

The cakes were alright, but you get too much of a chocolate dose.

The profiterole on the left was so good and it had a chocolate mousse filling on the inside. I don’t know what was on the right, but it was good .

The fruits were fresh and quite plump for the fondue. I kinda wish they had dark chocolate to dip into, but they only had milk chocolate.

The chocolate mousse cup was also good, but after eating all that cake and then this, it didn’t taste as good. Clearly I was starting to have chocolate overload.

The macaron wasn’t good at all since it was too hollow on the inside. The pecan pie, apple crumble, profiterole, and fondue was also good.

At this point I was so chocolated-out that I needed tea. My mouth felt so much better! We sat there looking at other tables and their delicious entrees…streak has never looked so delicious in my life. I also had a craving for salty McDonalds fries too.

To end it all, I got some passion fruit sorbet, it was also good, but it was a bit sweet compared to the raspberry sorbet.

While we were dining here, we caught a few glimpses of the ‘Once Upon a Time’ cast. We know for sure we saw ‘Grumpy’ and ‘Snow White’ (Ginnifer Goodwin). I don’t have pictures since we were too busy guessing if it was them. Plus, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to be disturbed during dinner by a mob of asian girls. We also asked the waitress what other famous people have dined here recently and she said that Justin Bieber was here too but had to leave because a bunch of fan girls were creeping outside.

Overall, the chocolate buffet is okay and a bit hyped up. Since the chocolate was so rich and sweet, it really made us full fast. I would have liked to see more varieties of chocolates than those usual items. We probably got super full after 1 hr of eating, so we sat and chit chatted till 9pm. Service was good.

Words of Wisdom:

$28 per person, $14 per child, or $18 with a dinner
Thursday, Friday and Saturday Only
Available during dinner time 6pm – 8:30 pm or 8:30pm – 10pm
Can get full quickly off the rich chocolate

We Rate Fleuri’s Chocolate Buffet:
Website:
http://www.vancouver.suttonplace.com/Chocoholic_Buffet.htm

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Vancouver

In Fast Food

A&W: Chubby Chicken Strips and Onion Rings

March 20, 2012

It was a busy day in the office and I needed something quick to devour for lunch. I just popped downstairs to the A&W and got a 3 piece chubby chicken strip combo with onion rings and a coke. It cost me about $10, which was super expensive!

The 3 chicken strips were of uneven sizes. From the picture, you can see that the middle piece is considerable smaller than the others. The chicken strips also seem burnt and over cooked. This made me a bit sad, but I ate it anyways since I already paid for it. Make sure you get some honey mustard to go along with this.

I always enjoy the onion rings! Its always perfectly seasoned on the outside and has real onions. My only complaint is that sometimes the batter does fall off.

All in all, it was a decent, quick, unhealthy lunch.

In Japanese

Sushiyama: Caterpillar Roll, Sushi Pizza, and Huge Sashimi

March 19, 2012

Sushiyama is a popular Japanese Restaurant near Kingsway and Broadway. They serve up affordable Japanese dishes. Since we knew they were busy, we decided to make reservations so MedicalGiraffe and I didn’t have to wait in the long line ups. Apparently they can do reservations for very large groups too.

Kamikaze Roll has spicy tuna, cucumbers, avocados, tobiki, and crab meat. The roll was alright, but not too amazing.

Caterpillar Roll ($6.95) contains cucumber, avocado, mayo, crab meat, eel and BBQ sauce. It is probably the best thing to get! It is covered in a lot of thin slices of avocado. Highly recommended! It’s something I get every time I come here.

Grilled Black Cod is also something to get here. It is delicate and the pieces of meat just slide off.

Sushi Pizza has a base layer of deep-fried rice with mayo, crab meat, avocado, tuna, salmon, masago, and BBQ sauce.

MedicalGiraffe and I were quite disappointed by the dish. The rice could have been more crunchy to make this dish more enjoyable. It just seemed like a deconstructed sushi roll.

Salmon Sashimi have very thick slices and will make you smile. Good quality too.

Overall, some of the items are a hit and a miss. If you stick with a few key dishes, you won’t be disappointed. The service is quite fast and some of the dishes literally come out in seconds. I don’t really know how this is possible, but it was really really fast. Since they are also quite busy, sometimes the servers seem like they want to rush you out of the restaurant.

Words of Wisdom:

Very cheap and affordable
Mediocre service
Long Lines
Best to go in 2′s if you hate to wait. the larger the group, the long it will take ..during peak hours
Or make reservations
Caterpillar roll and sashimi!!!!
Bento boxes are of great value if you want to try a bit of everything

We Rate Sushiyama:

Address:
371 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

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In Chinese

Po King Seafood Restaurant: $158 Set Menu of Disappointment

March 18, 2012

My parents wanted to have a dinner with the whole family and they decided to choose Po King Seafood Restaurant. My parents usually come here for dim sum and love the portions, quality and price.

I was always quite skeptical about this restaurant because it has horrible reviews and several health violations.

Even though it was King Crab season, this place was pretty empty. My parents don’t like King Crab, so we decided to get the ‘Dinner for 5’ that costs $158.

It comes with:

Shark’s Fin & Chicken in Superior Stock (5 pots)
Peking duck
Braised Live Lobster
Sauteed Diced Duck served with lettuce
Steamed chicken with ginger sauce
Steamed fish and vegetables
Prawn and duck fried rice with abalone sauce
Dessert

Tea! I must have tea with everything I eat!

Shark’s Fin & Chicken in Superior Stock was ok, but I didn’t know if it’s real or fake. But my parents told me it was real but of cheap quality.

If it is real, I would be quite disappointed at this restaurant. With all the buzz going around with the ethics behind shark finning, I am very sad that people still continue to serve this. Especially in Vancouver, when we are into sustainable ingredients.

Nonetheless, I really felt really bad consuming this, but I did. Since there wasn’t a lot of tables in the restaurant…the managers did seem like they were staring at us. The taste was alright, but I had to add a bit of red vinegar to make it to my liking. Nothing was special about it and the fin tasted like mushrooms.

In the future, I will probably refrain from ordering any shark fin… real or fake.

Peking Duck Wraps comes with some hoisin sauce, spring onions, and pancake wraps. It’s presented like this so you can do it yourself and put it together. Just take a little bit of everything and it should look like this.

I thought it tasted ok, but not amazing. My parents were very disappointed by the duck and questioned if it was even freshly made today. They suspected it was just reheated and served. The meat wasn’t moist at all.

Braised Live Lobster looked great, but the texture was way off. The meat was very chewy and tough.

Sauteed Diced Duck served with lettuce. You are given a pile of lettuce leaves.

You then take a few scoops of the diced duck and put it on the lettuce.

Then you will get this! Wrap it up so none of the filling falls out and then munch away. This was good and I love the crunch of the lettuce to go with the savory filling.

Steamed chicken with Ginger Sauce was addictive with the ginger sauce!

Prawn and duck fried rice with abalone sauce was alright. Nothing amazing, but decent.

Steamed fish and vegetables was good but I really didn’t like the deep fried fish. Other than that, everything else was pretty solid.

Green Bean Soup was alright as well.

Overall, the food was decent, but we didn’t like how some of the items did not seem fresh. My parents were disappointed by the overall quality and they are usually passive about everything. It makes me a bit sad to see them sad over a meal since food is supposed to make people happy. Safe to say, we will probably never return here for dinner.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking on side
Mediocre service
Decent food, but freshness can be questioned
Busy for dimsum, empty for dinner

We Rate Po King Seafood Restaurant:

Address:

5665 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC V5H

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In Bakery

Creme de la Crumb Bakeshop: Cinnamon Bun and Sandwiches

March 17, 2012

Creme de la Crumb is a bake shop that serves up pastries and sandwiches. Everything is made fresh and brings in a busy crowd during lunch. The interior is quite small and everything is take-out. There are no chairs inside either. So, if you have an office near by, you probably should bring the food back and eat there.

My co-worker and I came here to try out their sandwiches. It was a block away from our office, so it was a quick walk. We arrived at 12:30pm and most of the items were already sold out. I guess you gotta arrive early if you want a particular item.

Cinnamon Bun ($3.25) was freshly made and I really couldn’t resist getting this little treat. It was a tad expensive for just a cinnamon bun, but it was good! The vanilla bean cream cheese frosting was not overly sweet and went well with the moist layers of the bun.

Oven Roasted Turkey Breast with Havarti Sandwich has a fig marmalade and greens between cranberry pecan bread. It was nicely toasted on the outside. It was a good sandwich, but I wish there was a bit more filling inside. I gobbled up this sandwich so fast. It was a good sandwich, but I don’t think I was too amazed by it.

Pulled Pork Sandwich is what HispterGirl had. It is also toasted on the outside. She said it was good but I forgot to ask more questions to her since we were so busy in the lunch room watching cat videos. Just go on Youtube and search up ‘Maru’. Cutest Cat in the world!!

Overall, the food from Creme de la Crumb was good, but can be a tad expensive. It’s still an option if you really hate line ups at the other restaurants.

We Rate Creme de la Crumb:

Address:
466 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.cremedelacrumb.com/

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In Cafe

Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant: Wonton Noodle Soup

March 17, 2012

Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant is located in the plaza where T&T is on 1st Ave. They sell the usual HK style food at decent prices. They are open quite late, which is awesome but they are cash only. The prices are quite affordable, so you will probably only spend about $7 or $8 on lunch.

My parents and I just came here for a quick bite since we were in a bit of a rush. It was en route to where we needed to go.

I feel like this place has changed so many times that I can’t keep track of what restaurant this is. It’s been many years since I’ve been here, but I did notice the interior has had a face lift.

Steamed Rice Roll with Beef was quite decent. It was around $3, which isn’t too bad and the flavour was so-so.

Hot & Sour Soup was about $5 for a bowl and it tasted good. I’ve just been having a craving for hot and sour soup for some odd reason. The soup here wasn’t as intense but it had a good amount of ingredients in the soup, so every bite had something interesting in it.

Wonton Noodle Soup is very good. My mother swears that this is the only item that is good here. The wontons are quite large and plump with good flavour. Definitely recommended.

Roasted Duck Leg in Noodle Soup is probably like a bowl of fat, or at least that’s what my mom tells my dad. He obviously loved the duck leg, but he found the dish to be a bit salty.

Overall, the food is quite average, but some items do stand out. The service was quite lacking. There seemed to be only one person working the floor, which was super odd. It took them a while to give us menus and tea. They had a good amount of customers, but really needs more staff. I guess the price makes up for the horrible service since each item is quite affordable.

Words of Wisdom:

Bad service
Cash Only
Decent Food
Affordable prices
Free parking at lot

We Rate Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant:
Address:
262- 2800 E 1st Ave
Vancouver, BC V5M

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In Bubble Tea

Bubble 88: A Great Addition to Surrey

March 15, 2012

Bubble 88 is a Taiwanese restaurant that serves bubble tea and food. They are located very close to the SFU Surrey Campus, so it does draw a lot of traffic from students in the area.

It was a long day at school, so a few of us decided to head off to Bubble 88 for some light snacks before heading home.

The interior is quite nice with lots of modern decor. It’s good for large groups.

Coffee Milk Tea with Milk ($2.95) is essentially the coffee and tea mix that you would find in other restaurants. I requested that they use milk instead of the instant milk powder stuff. I tastes so much better and I’m sure much healthier too if you substitute with milk.

Deep Fried Squid Tentacles ($4.50) is good! A good amount of seasoning is added to the batter, so when it comes out, its delicious.

Wonton in Chili Sauce ($3.95) was not very spicy at all. The others at the table had some too and it was the right amount of spicy. It comes with 10 pieces, which is awesome because places like Bubble World give you less and charge you more.

Hot and Sour Soup ($5.25) was quite large. It seemed like it was never ending, so I decided to pack it to go. The taste was good, but not everyone will like it.

Deep Fried Pork Chop with Curry on Rice ($6.95)

Popcorn Chicken with Curry on Rice ($7.25) was also good. M liked it since the curry is more spicy than other places.

Overall, the food was good and the prices were affordable. It’s probably not the best Taiwanese food, but it will satisfy your cravings. It’s good to have another bubble tea place in Surrey besides Bubble World. I much prefer this place.

Words of Wisdom: