August 2013

In Four Beakers

Yusho: Sunday Noodles in Chicago

August 31, 2013

We were near Logan Square and headed to Yusho for their Sunday Noodle set meal. My aunt saw them featured on TV, so we went. Owner and Executive Chef Metthias Merges created Yusho using influences from his trip to Japan and you can see it in the decor and the menu.

The interior looks pretty amazing!! Everything is breathtaking and there is so much to look at.

The back room has a nice feeling as well. Lots of natural light make you think like you’re eating outside.

Awesome machine!!

Only on Sunday, the noodle set meal is $20 and you get a beverage, a choice of noodle and a dessert.

Chicken Skin ($5.50) is topped with Japanese mustard, garlic, and togarashi. It’s really nice and crunchy with the sweet and savoury toppings. Highly recommended.

We get a choice of their draught cocktail or home-made soda. A majority of us got the strawberry soda and it was pretty great. I can’t remember what the draught cocktail was but it was also pretty good. Not too alcoholic.

Logan Poser Ramen has a crispy pig’s tail (not actually a pig tail), hen egg, nori, cucumber, and bonito flakes.

Maitake Mushroom Ramen is served with the broth and noodles separate from the toppings. The other items in this ramen is angry red ball, tofu, umeboshi, and a hen egg.

Grilled Shrimp Ramen has a skewer of grilled shrimp, bonito, kimchi, and bamboo shoots. The kimchi added a nice acidity and crunch to the dish.

The soft serve ice cream has hibiscus, thai basil, tamarind, and sancho pepper crunch. It’s a crazy unique soft serve with strange flavours.

Overall, the ramen was pretty decent but it’s a nice spin on the traditional ramen dishes. It was a good set meal and enjoyable.

We Rate Yusho:

Address:
2853 N. Kedzie Ave
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://yusho-chicago.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=2853+N+Kedzie+Ave,+Chicago,+IL+60618,+USA&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=2853+N+Kedzie+Ave,+Chicago,+Illinois+60618,+United+States&z=16 “]

In Farm to Table

Prasino: Farm to Table Concept in Illinois

August 30, 2013

My first meal was at Prasino in La Grange, Illinois. My aunt and uncle brought me here right after my flight landed in O’Hare. They are best known for their sustainable practices for using organic and hormone-free produce when possible. They even try to be eco-friendly when thinking about vendors to pick or even decor.

The menu has gluten-free options, vegetarian and vegan options.

P.E.I. mussels ($11) is cooked with white wine, garlic, herbs, and butter. It is served with grilled bread. The mussels come in a cooking pan. The mussels were of a decent size, tasted great, but could be a little bit more plump.

Lava spicy ($16) has tuna, crab, avocado and topped with tempura panko and firecracker sauce. It was a pretty mediocre tasting roll and quite expensive.

Lobster Roll ($16) is made with warm maine lobster, lemon, herbs, and a New England bun. It has potato chips on the side. It was pretty delicious!

Shrimp Curry ($22) has a vegetable fried rice, egg white, cilantro, and grilled shrimp and yellow Thai curry on the left. The curry was very aromatic and full of flavour.

Tuna Nicoise ($16) has evoo poached tuna, romaine, olives, potato, summer vegetables, and an anchovy dressing. The ingredients were definitely fresh, but the tuna was very dry and over cooked. It would be much better if it was seared tuna.

Gooey Butter Cake comes with lemon gelato, and a blueberry moscato compote. It was good! A perfect dessert to end the evening.

Overall, it’s great that a restaurant like Prasino is really into the local and organic food movement. I found some items on the menu a hit or a miss. I’ve head this place is pretty popular for brunch.

We Rate Prasino:

Address:
93 South La Grange Road
La Grange, IL

Website:
http://www.prasino.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=93+S+La+Grange+Rd,+La+Grange,+IL+60525,+USA&sll=55.99999999999999,-96.00000000000001&sspn=40.64800078208306,76.7966161218369&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=93+S+La+Grange+Rd,+La+Grange,+Illinois+60525,+United+States&z=16 “]

In Airplane Meals

WestJet: Food Options (Vancouver to Chicago)

August 28, 2013

WestJet is my go-to airline when I just travel around North America. It’s cheap, it’s reliable, and no hassles. At least that’s what I’ve encountered over the past few years.

During my trip to Chicago, I decided to go on WestJet since they had a decently priced direct flight of about $600. The flight was 3.5 hours long and I would much rather pay that amount than save $150 and spend 11 hrs connecting.

The flight take off was pretty smooth, but I was quite interested in their food offerings.

I pulled out the food and entertainment menu. You can select a few items to purchase and snack on during the flight. An alternative plan if you plan on eating is ordering your meal ahead of time with WestJet. The options change every month, but it doesn’t drastically change.

The prices were alright and not too inflated. As I knew wouldn’t be purchasing any items on the flight, I decided to just snack on the complimentary beverages and chips.

When they come by your seat, they usually ask if you want Snack A or Snack B. I usually ask for both. Don’t be afraid, they are always happy to give you both.

The choices were corn chips and cookies. I also got my self a cup of ginger ale.

About 2 hours later, they come back again passing out complimentary snacks and beverages. But the second round of snacks do differ. This time it was the Nacho Cheese Corn Sticks, a cookie and a drink.

They also offer small cups of water just before landing if you need to rehydrate. The staff all very nice and professional.

As it was a short plane ride, I won’t think I really minded what they provided us since I wasn’t expecting anything amazing. Plus the plane tickets are cheap, so everything is quite standard.

Website: http://www.westjet.com/

In Downtown

Ten Ten Tapas: West Coast Tapas

August 27, 2013

Ten Ten Tapas is a new restaurant in Downtown on Beach Avenue right below the Burrard street bridge. They specialize in West Coast Tapas made by Executive Chef Nourdine Majdoubi.

If you are sitting on the patio, you can view false creek, the Granville Street bridge, Granville Island, and lots of boats.

They also have indoor seating, which looks much nicer than the furniture on the patio. But, with the nice Summer and heat, we opted to sit on the patio to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.

While having a variety of tapas, alcohol is needed to really relax after work. For Cruzpresso, he enjoys relaxing with a nice glass of white wine.

M and Scarface settled for Hoegaarden as it is light and has a nice citrus aftertaste.

I am a fanatic for Japanese beer, so I got Sapporo. It’s light and crispy, which goes will with some tapas. With all our drink set, it’s time to dig in.

As I was invited by the restaurant to dine here, portion-sizes may not be exactly the same as depicted in the images.

Duo of Hummus and Guacamole served with baked pita bread. The hummus was amazing with the right amount of garlic. As for the guacamole, we really wanted to like it, but it fell a bit flat. It was hard to figure out what it was but perhaps it was some salt or more acidity.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls is packed with onions, cabbage, tofu, bean sprouts and mushrooms and served with a sweet chilli and plum sauce. It was good and very enjoyable as little bites to go with drinks.

Wasabi Sui Mai was a very interesting item on the menu and I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Who would be daring enough to make that pairing. As we are all adventurers, we were not afraid to chow down on these little bombs of pain.

We popped it into our mouths, chewed a bit, and BAM…the sensation of wasabi travels up your nose and makes your eyes water a bit. These are definitely something to order if you want to make your friends squirm.

Pan Seared Crab Cakes is served with a harissa mayo and a pineapple tomato salsa. There is also balsamic reduction on the bottom. I found the crab inside to be nice and sweet but the coating of the crab cake was a bit thick.

Stuffed Organic Beef Meatballs is stuffed with emmental cheese, fennel, cinnamon onion chutney and red pepper coulis. It had a nice soft texture and the pepper coulis wasn’t hot either.

Pipita Shrimp are pan-seared with a pumpkin seed crust, citrus vinaigrette and a balsamic reduction. The shrimp was cooked till it had a nice firm texture.

Pipita Scallops are pan-seared with a pumpkin seed crust, citrus vinaigrette and a balsamic reduction. Same treatment as the shrimp. The scallops were cooked to the right texture. But, I started noticing this trend where most dishes did have that balsamic reduction sauce, which leaves a dark color to the food.

Poached Saffron Salmon is made with wild west coast salmon, grilled fennel and a saffron sauce. The saffron taste was very subtle. It took us a while to pick up on that taste until the manager told us. The salmon was cook nicely and it was still yummy and moist on the inside.

Stuffed Portabellini Mushroom is stuffed with spinach, jalapeno, red onions, blue cheese and finished with a basil vinaigrette. I felt like there was a lot of conflicting flavoures on the mushroom that it drowned out the taste. You can really taste the dominate flavour of the blue cheese.

Duck Breast is pan-seared with bok choy, jicama, and the sweet balsamic vinaigrette. The duck was delicious and tender. Quite enjoyable.

Broccolini Almondine is sauteed almonds and broccolini. It was really good.

Grilled Fluffy Polenta was delicious as well.

Chocolate Mousse Cake is topped with gooseberry, strawberries and has a blueberry sauce on the side.

Overall, the restaurant is a great place to chill in the Summer over some drinks and bites. Certain dishes were lacking and definitely needed to showcase more of west coast’s delicate seafood.

We Rate Ten Ten Tapas:

Address:
1010 Beach Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.tententapas.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=1010+Beach+Ave,+Vancouver,+BC+V6E+1T7&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=1010+Beach+Ave,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6E+1T7&z=16″]

In Downtown

Eat Chicken Wraps: Chinese Inspired Chicken Wraps

August 26, 2013

EAT Chicken Wraps is a new food truck in town right outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. I’ve walked by several times and had to make a double take because I didn’t really know why their food was so unique. It turns out they serve food with an Asian flare. It’s hard to image when you are just glancing at the truck

The owners – Dan and Sammy are from Tianjin, China and the inspiration for their food truck is really the multiculturalism in Vancouver and had to weave that into the menu. The only use fresh local chicken, which they debone themselves.

Hoisin Chicken Roll ($7) has a crispy chinese pancake, five spiced chicken, Asian salad mixture, pickled radish, green onion and hoisin sauce. It was pretty good, you get the crunchiness from the chinese pancake and vegetables that blend really well with the spiced chicken.

Kung Pao Chicken Lettuce wrap ( 2 for $7) has chicken breast, corn, water chestnut, peanuts, kung pao sauce, sesame chilli oil and iceburg lettuce.

I usually sit on these stairs to eat since there’s not too many places to sit down.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by their offerings. All their items contain their fresh chicken except the hotdogs that they serve.

We Rate Eat Chicken Wrap:

Location:
700 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=700+Robson+St,+Vancouver,+BC+V6Z+1A1&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=700+Robson+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6Z+1A1&z=16″]

In Illinois

Lays America: “Do Us a Flavor”

August 25, 2013

A while ago, Lays in America put out a call to their fans to submit their next signature bag of chips. 3.8 million submissions were collected but in the end, 3 were chosen and put out to America to decide which one would be the winning choice.

Chicken and Waffles, Sriracha and Cheesy Garlic Bread were the choices that made the list. Even thought the contest is over and the winner has been chosen, they still sell all 3 flavours in stores.

When I saw them during my trip to Chicago, I just had to grab a few bags to try them all. As they aren’t available in Canada, there was not hesitation to pick them up. It can be found at WalMart, CVS, Walgreens or wherever else sells chips. BUT, I didn’t find them in the airport which was disappointing.

Chicken and Waffles flavour looked promising as it is a pretty yummy dish in restaurants. It has a smokey BBQ taste to them but the after taste was sweet. I suppose it is what the flavour profile of Chicken and Waffles would taste like, but it wouldn’t be my top pick.

Sriracha is an ingredient that has taken the internet by storm. There even has been cartoons written about the addiction of sriracha. It’s good with pho, but is it good as a chip?

I was really excited about this flavour. It has a little bit of a vinegar taste, then a tad sweet, then it gets a little bit spicy. It was ok, but I’d rather take original chips and put some sriracha on top.

Cheese Garlic Bread was created by Karen Weber-Mendham and she took away 1 million dollars for the winning flavour. At first glance it seems to be a boring flavour compared to the other two, but it was decent. Cheese and garlic are the 2 dominant flavours you get.

One thing that Lays in America needs more are Ketchup chips! They still don’t have that flavour that we have in Canada.

Have you tried these 3 flavours yet? What was your favourite?

Website:
www.lays.com

In Izakaya

Rajio: Rockin’ Rajio Dining Package

August 24, 2013

Rajio is owned by the same people who have brought us Suika Izakaya and Kingyo Izakaya. It is located close to the UBC campus. Rajio is Japanese for Radio, so you will notice their logo is a radio.

Vaneats.ca and Rajio teamed up to bring a $18 dining package that features 4 items:

Kushikatsu Set
Dynamic Balsamic Sweet & Sour Pork Rib
Mini Carpaccio
Choice of Cold Tapas

The packages is available from August 12th, 2013 till October 12th, 2013 in limited quantities.

I came with M after work and we really love the look of the interior.

Complimentary cabbage with a light sesame dressing. It’s really good and addictive. Plus, guilt free since it’s all veggies. I could eat this all day.

Bang Bang Chicken was my choice of cold tapa. It has steamed chicken with jelly fish and okra with a sesame dressing. It was a nice and light start to the meal.

Mini Carpaccio came with 3 types of fresh fish. When we came here, there was tuna, yellowtail and sockeye salmon. It is topped with crisp lotus roots. One delicious dish!

Kushikatsu Set is one of their specialties. It had 6 deep fried skewers with chicken, scallop and lotus roots. I actually found the coating on the skewers to be a bit thick, so it’s hard to appreciate the ingredients hidden inside.

The skewers are paired with some special sauces – Onion, teriyaki yuzu kosho, kushikatsu, tartar, and lemon salt. My pick was the kushikatsu since it paired well with the fried coating of the skewers.

Dynamic Balsamic Sweet & Sour Pork Rib are pan-fried stewed pork ribs marinated in Rajio’s original balsamic sweet sour sauce. You can definitely tell they were fried and then sauced. The outside has a nice crisp texture and then the tender meat on the inside. Yummy. It’s a good contrast between the earlier items in the package.

Items excluded from the package, but are great to add on.

Tuna Salt Tataki was beautifully presented! If you recognize what it is topped with, you know thats my favourite snack! It’s the dried noodles that are addictive. Really good!

Negitoro battera is pressed sushi with tuna belly, scallions, tobiko & sesame topped with home made soy dressing & seaweed sauce.

Overall, the package is well put together and you get a taste of a few items on the menu. You can definitely get the package and split it among 2 people and add an extra dish or two to round out the experience.

Visit Vaneats.ca to grab the $18 dining pass before October 12th, 2013.

We Rate Rajio:

Address:
3763 W. 10th Ave.
Vancouver, BC

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RajioJapanesePublicHouse

In American

Shameful Tiki Room: Get Fired Up

August 23, 2013

During a group outing with my coworkers, we came to the Shameful Tiki Room . It’s on Main and 28th. What we found strange about this place is that you go through the door, then you have to go through the heavy curtains into pitch darkness.

It’s not actually that dark, but when you come from the bright sun outside, it takes your eyes some time to adjust.

The interior had the right mood for a tiki bar. From top to bottom, you can see everything decorated to fit the theme. There’s so much decoration, that there is always something to stare at.

Near the entrance, there is a stage and there are usually performances during the evening. We came here after work, so there wasn’t anything playing.

Complimentary chips and salsa were good to munch on before the meal, but the chips were a tad stale.

Their menu is pretty interesting, they have lots of descriptions but it doesn’t go into detail of what items contain. When I was just browsing the menu, one item caught my eye, the mystery bowl. With a description like that, who could resist? Especially if there is a gong involved.

Mystery Bowl is meant for 2 people or 1 heavy drinker. hahaha. The bowl is lit on fire via the limes floating on both ends of the bowl. As we aren’t allowed to know what is inside, we had a hunch there is a little rum inside. The mystery bowl came up to be about $18 I think.

Large Share Plate ($40) feeds up to 4 people, but with 5 of us, we were ok with this amount. There were ribs, sliders, pineapple rice, skewers, nuts, grilled vegetables, and spam balls. The food was alright, but wasn’t crazy amazing.

Overall, the atmosphere is great and they have a very unique menu with cool food and drinks. It’s a nice place for drinks and some nibbles, but the food didn’t really stand out.

We Rate Shameful Tiki Room:

Address:
4362 Main St
Vancouver, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=4362+Main+St,+Vancouver,+BC+V5V+3P9&ll=49.246111,-123.101077&spn=0.01066,0.030642&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=4362+Main+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5V+3P9&z=16″]

In Chinatown

The Keefer Bar: 2 for 1 Tapas in Chinatown

August 22, 2013

My coworkers were looking for a place to hang out after work over some drinks and small bites. A few block away from the office was The Keefer Bar and people told us there were some amazing cocktails here. They even have 2 for 1 special on food Sunday to Thursday from 5pm to 8pm.

They have patio seating and indoor seating. It was a hot and bright day outside, so we opted to sit indoors. We didn’t want to develop a tan since there wasn’t any shade outside.

Their menu is pretty cool, and after a long day, the Keefer Bar has the prescription we needed – alcohol and food.

SIngha Beer ($5) was my choice. It was on special for $5 and it has a nice clean crisp taste.

Some of my coworkers shared a pitcher of Komodo Dragon ($7 glass || $30 Pitcher). It looked like a pretty awesome drink and they said it tasted fantastic. It has pimms, giffard lychee, lemon, yuzu marmalade, ginko biloba, royal jelly & soda.

Meat and Cheese Plate ($16) came with 3 types of meat and cheeses, crackers, olives, and mustard. It was really good. Perfect item to nibble on and they chose to tasty cheese and meats. This item was not part of the 2 for 1 deal.

Dim sum ($7) came in a little bamboo steamer with 6 pieces. At first I was a bit skeptical about the quality of these little dumplings, but they were pretty good. It’s up to par with dim sum restaurants, but the size is a bit smaller.

Keefer Pizza ($10) was ok, It was thin crust with marinara sauce, gruyere, mozzarella,roasted garlic, steamed gailan leaves. Yummy! Depending on how many people you are with, they can cut the slices smaller or larger depending on how you want it.

Peking Duck Sliders ($9) was sandwiched between 2 fluffy buns. Once you bite into it, you can taste the butter from the bun and the savouriness from the duck. It’s really good. There is also cucumber, cilantro, pineapple, and plum sauce.

Spring Rolls ($7) come with 3 on a plate with plum sauce. It was really good too! You can choose from either vegetarian and shrimp options. We chose it with shrimp.

Peking Duck Tacos ($10) come with 2 on a plate. It’s a double layered soft taco shell housing the delicious duck meat, Keefer slaw, Thai basil and plum sauce. Yummy!

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the cocktails of food. They do both really well and you won’t be disappointed. The best time to come is during the happy hour for 2 for 1 food. We ordered a ton of food and paid under $20 per person. The only problem is that the service is a bit slow and not super friendly.

We Rate the Keefer Bar:

Address:
135 Keefer Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thekeeferbar.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=135+Keefer+St,+Vancouver,+BC+V6A+1X4&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=135+Keefer+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6A+1X4&z=16 “]

In Dessert

Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt: Now in South Burnaby

August 21, 2013

Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt opened a new location at Highgate Village in South Burnaby. It has a good location as there are gyms and grocery stores in the village. The space is pretty big and it is a great place to just chill with friends over froyo.

They have a ton of different flavours and you can try them all before making your mind up.

They pair certain flavours together if you want to mix them.

You pay by weight, so there is no set price. Depending on what you feel like, you can throw in whatever combination you want. My favourite is always the original flavour with all the fruits and mochi. You even get a super cute spoon to go with your froyo.

Overall, Menchie’s is alright, but I find the lack of fruit disappointing compared to other froyo places. They get props for having so many different flavours but they really need to start having more fruits. When I went here, there were only blueberries, pineapples, and strawberries.

We Rate Menchies Frozen Yogurt:

Address:
138 – 7155 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.menchies.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=7155+Kingsway,+Burnaby,+BC+V5E+4N7&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=7155+Kingsway,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5E+4N7&z=16 “]

In Bakery

The Pie Shoppe: Pies, Pies, Pies

August 20, 2013

I was walking around Chinatown with my coworkers and we came upon a cute little shop on Gore Street called The Pie Shoppe. It’s really a great neighbourhood since you have other awesome places close by such as Harvest, The Parker and Oyster Express.

[vimeo id=”60409159″ width=”620″ height=”360″]

Video of The Pie Shoppe.

When we walked into the shop, it was so tiny, so you can see everything that they were doing. So cute!

It’s so homey and the smells are just fantastic.

They sell pies by the slice or the whole pie. You can order the pies ahead of time or you can just come as see whats available.

My coworker got the Chocolate Pecan pie and thought it was the best thing ever.

I decided to get the Caramel Apple Pie for my Social Media Network teammates for a meeting. The crust is SO good! Nice and crunchy with the sweet apple filling on the inside. This size feeds about 8 people.

We all loved it and would definitely return again. Yum! It’s a bit pricey, but it seriously good pie.

We Rate the Pie Shoppe:

Address:
721 Gore Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thepieshoppe.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=721+Gore+Ave,+Vancouver,+BC+V6A+2Z9&sll=49.891235,-97.15369000000001&sspn=45.72347923378347,88.1395350118194&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=721+Gore+Ave,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6A+2Z9&z=16 “]

In French

Cache Bistro Lounge: Yaletown French bistro

August 19, 2013

Cache Bistro and Lounge is located in Yaletown and serves French inspired dishes with an asian touch. Chef Alex Mok uses local ingredients and creates beautiful dishes with them.

They have 3 course dinners for $35, also they serve brunch on the weekends.

It’s a nice place for the summer as they have a patio outdoors.

Bread arrives and you get lobster oil, raspberry butter, truffle butter and satay peanut butter. I loved the different butter you can use. Satay peanut and the truffle butters are really good! I couldn’t stop eating it.

Chef’s Charcuterie samples features three cured meats from Oyama Sausage Co., mixed olives, onion jam, crostini, and house pickled vegetables. Its a nice item to order if you want some nibbles and a glass of wine. Great for after work.

Lambrusco di Sorbara is paired with the charcuterie.

Pan Seared Scallops (appetizer size) has a jumbo scallop, warm quinoa, orange vinaigrette and a baby zucchini. It was yummy! That quinoa is really goos with the scallop. The entree version has more scallops and quinoa.

Lang Bravo White Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc ’11 VQA BC is paired with the scallops.

Deboned Quail has the Bacon wrapped Fraser Valley quail on top, marinated cranberries wrapped in the quail meat, Kennebec potato and yam pavé, bacon & maple syrup brussel sprouts on the side. It’s quite fatty, so if you don’t want anything too heavy, you might want to avoid this dish.

Clos du Mont-Olivet La Sabonite is paired with the quail.

Chocolate mousse tree has the chocolate mousse base with a hidden mango sauce on the bottom, a pastry tree trunk, mint leaves, and a cotton candy bush. The dessert was creative and cute. It would definitely be fun for a kid to eat. They way you would eat this is taking the bush and truck off the mousse and eat that first. Then, saving the mousse for last.

Overall the food was quite decent. They have some pretty cool items on their menu that I would want to try. I heard their ribs were to die for. Perhaps another visit is required.

We Rate Cache Bistro and Lounge:

Address:
1269 Hamilton St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://cachebistro.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=1269+Hamilton+St,+Vancouver,+BC+V6B+6K3&sll=49.891235,-97.15369000000001&sspn=45.72347923378347,88.1395350118194&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=1269+Hamilton+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+6K3&z=16″]

In Cafe

Caffe Brixton: Cafe in Chinatown

August 18, 2013

Caffe Brixton is located in Chinatown and it’s a nice addition to the area. It’s hip and has a nice seating area to work if you have a laptop.

My coworkers decided to come here since Phnom Penh had a 40 minute wait and we were not going to attempt wasting a majority of our lunch time waiting for table. We are hangry people.

Grilled Pesto Chicken with Balsamic ($7.50) was really dry! That chicken didn’t seem very fresh or perhaps the grilling method ruined the chicken.

Gluten Free Breakfast Falafal Bake ($6) was ordered by two of my other coworkers. It looked like a delicious dish and tasted good too.

They ordered 2 but only 1 arrived. I think there was a mix up in the kitchen. When the dish arrived, it was the wrong item. Which confused us, but on a second try, it finally arrived. That was kinda crappy.

Quiche Sauteed onion and roasted eggplant was delicious according to Mags.

Overall, some of the food can be a hit or miss. The service was kinda crappy too since they messed up one of our orders. Not a pleasant experience if one dish arrives when everyone else is done theirs. Nonetheless its still a nice place to chill and do some work on your laptop or have a meeting.

We Rate Caffe Brixton:

Address:
212 East Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.caffebrixton.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=212+East+Georgia+Street+Vancouver,+BC&hl=en&geocode=+&hnear=212+E+Georgia+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6A+0B1&t=m&z=16″]

In Cafe

Beefy Beef Noodle House: Beef Beef Beef

August 17, 2013

M and I tried going to Zakkushi without a reservation, but we would have to wait over an hour for a table. So, we opted to eating at Beefy Beef Noodle House as we’ve heard they had good Taiwanese food. Seeing that it was Summer, the interior was quite cold and it didn’t help that they were playing a winter-themed thriller movie on their TVs.

We saw they had a Top 8 Food list, so we relied on that to order the best items.

House Special Beef Noodle in Soup ($9.50) had some pretty fresh ingredients. M was quite pleased with the quality of the veggies. The beef was tender and the broth was decent. The bowl was pretty big, so he couldn’t finish it.

Curry Beef Brisket with Rice ($9.50) it comes with 2 small side dishes . It was marinated bamboo shoots and cauliflower. The beef brisket was decent it had lots of beef brisket chunks in it.

I still prefer to get my beef brisket curry dish from Mui Garden. If you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about.

Overall, the dishes that we had were decent. It’s a good place for a lot of young people to chill and have some bubble tea to catch up.

We Rate Beefy Beef Noodle House:

Address:
4063 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.jynoodle.com/index1.html

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In Downtown

Gallery Cafe at the Vancouver Art Gallery

August 16, 2013

One of my favorite areas to eat Downtown is in the Art Gallery area during the summer. There is so much going on in the area with food carts, art installations, and shopping nearby.

My coworkers – HH, Button, and Magz decided to have lunch at the Art Gallery Café. I see it all the time but I have never dined here. They have a large outdoor patio with classical music playing.

You go indoors to order your meal. Kinda like a cafeteria style.

They have lots of drinks, even alcoholic ones.

All the item are in the display case to order. Everything is premade and reheated up, so it won’t be as fresh as you think.

Spinach, mushroom and brie Quiche ($8.25) comes with a house salad. It was pretty good and a nice size for someone who isn’t too hungry.

Rare Ahi Tuna ($10.25) on crunchy raw slaw with hemp hearts & sesame seeds, and oriental dressing. It’s pretty basic and isn’t anything amazing.

Chicken, broccoli & smoked applewood cheddar Quiche ($8.25) comes with a house salad as well. Decent quiche as well.

Another dish which I don’t remember what it was, but here’s a picture.

Overall, the food is pretty average, but its just nice to sit outdoors in the summer on the patio with the music playing. Depending where you are sitting, you can have a nice view of Howe and Robson street.

We Rate Gallery Cafe:

Address:
750 Hornby St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thegallerycafe.ca/

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In Chinese

Mosaic: Chinese Tasting Menu

August 15, 2013

Mosaic always has a special Chef Tasting Menu by Chef Thomas Heinrich with a specific theme. This time it was a Chinese inspired menu. I thought it was pretty interesting for him to pull off a Chinese menu. I had to put my taste buds to the test and see how it would be possible.

The restaurant is located in the Hyatt Vancouver (2nd floor) on Burrard and Georgia Street. They specialize in locally sourced produce, sustainable seafood and choice ingredients with careful and creative preparation.

Related Links:

Looking at the menu, it’s not all Chinese, it’s a mix of different asian cuisines. From Shanghai to Taiwanese.

Birds Nest Soup was on the menu. As some of you know, birds nest isn’t cheap. He gives you a nice portioned sampler and it’s sweet, light and has a dash of coconut milk.

Chinese Salad was one of my favourite dishes of the night. Even though there is no salad types of dishes in Chinese Cuisine, he made it happen with some classic Chinese ingredients. There were snow fungus, chestnuts, bamboo shoots, Sichuan peppers, crispy lotus root chips with a nice vinaigrette.

The vinaigrette really pulls everything together.

Matsutake mushrooms or Pine Mushrooms just arrived in the kitchen, so the Chef had to give us a taste. It’s a mushroom that is highly sought after in asia. The mushroom is quite meaty and absorbs the flavours that its cooked in.

I love mushrooms!

Xiao Long Bao came on a great presentation with 3 spot prawn and pork dumplings in the bamboo basket. Unfortunately, the skin was thick and fell apart easily. It’s not an easy item to master, but next time you have dumplings around town, its a labour of love.

Maopo Doufu has spiced Szechuan pork sauce and topped with fried noodles. I’ve had Mapo Tofu a bunch of times in restaurants but this was my absolutely my favourite. Usually the tofu is cut up in little squares but I liked it as a big piece. Really yummy stuff.

House-made Brom Lake Peking Duck is made with a gluten-free pancake with flattened crispy duck skin on top and a brush of Hoisin sauce. The duck tasted delicious but I wasn’t a fan of the soft and fluffy pancake.

Mango Tapioca Gelee basically exploded on to the mirrored plate with coconut bits, lychee, crisp mung beans and mango coulis. It was a unique twist on the usual mango pudding found during dim sum. You can mix some of the ingredients together to enjoy the variety of textures.

Overall, really cool concept and I loved his twist on traditional asian cuisine. His next chefs menu is Italian with 5 courses from August 15th till September 5th. It’s a menu you don’t want to miss. The prices are very fair around $40 and $60 for wine pairings. Highly recommended!

Words of Wisdom:

Follow @CheftHeinrich on twitter, You can be up to date on new menus that he launches at Mosaic
Steps away from Burrard Skytrain
Free Mosaic Chocolate Cake on your birthday
Beef Carpaccio is a must!
Great service

We Rate Mosaic:

Address:
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.hyatt.com/

In Downtown

Chou Chou Crepes: French Crepes on Wheels

August 13, 2013

The Queen Elizabeth Plaza Food Cart Pod is now open and there are some mighty delicious food trucks in the area. You need to keep an eye on the Vancouver Food Truck App to see what trucks will be open that day. Its always different.

Chou Chou is a new food cart in Vancouver. They sell French crepes, made by a French woman. What I like about this food cart is that she makes the crepes ready to order right in front of you.

There serve savoury crepes and sweet crepes.

It’s like a meal and a mini show. Just watching her make the crepes were pretty cool when you actually see the ingredients go inside.

Madame Marie Crepe ($8) has mozzarella, black forest ham, apple compote, and greens. LonelyCubicle enjoyed it.

Mr Saumon ($9) has smoked BC salmon, mascarpone, chives, lemon, pepper, and green. I thought it was pretty good. Very portable to eat if you want to walk around Downtown.

Caramel Sale ($6.50) is slathered with homemade salted caramel. She doesn’t skimp on this either. When it’s all done, you’ll get all sticky from the oozing salted caramel. Magz took the leftover caramel at the bottom of the bag, went back to the office and made herself a cup of milk sweetened with the salted caramel sauce.

Overall, the crepes are pretty good, but if you are a big eater, you may still be a bit hungry afterwards. There are some seats in the area that you can sit at. We decided to check out CBC’s outdoor concert series during the weekday.

We Rate Chou Chou Crepes:

Location:
Varies (Use the Street Food App to find them)

In Four Beakers

Longtail Kitchen: Thai Restaurant in New Westminster

August 12, 2013

After seeing some photos on instagram and a few people in the Twitterverse, I just had to make a visit to Longtail Kitchen in New Westminster for some Thai food.

The interior was very cute with a variety of items arranged on the wall. The tables are not too crowded and has a very casual atmosphere. It’s a great place for lunch.

Thai Iced Tea ($2) was very good. It was not too sweet and it reminded me more of like a Thai version of milked tea.

Fresh Tumeric Curry of Ling cod and Mussels ($10) the mussels were very juicy and plump. The curry was very well balanced! Yum.

The above dish came with rice too. It’s a good ratio of rice to broth too. You’ll still have some broth left over.

Changmai Style Curry Noodle ($10) M ordered this dish and he enjoyed it. It’s not very large, but it is packed full of flavor.

Crispy Longtail Chicken Wings ($8) was really good, but its not like Phnom Penh’s wings. It has a crunchy exterior surface and the meat is quite moist. I’m not exactly sure what spices are in it, but it was good.

Overall, M and I enjoyed eating at Longtail Kitchen and would return again. You wouldn’t really discover this place because its hidden in the River Market at the Westminster Quay. It’s easily accessible by skytrain or there is paid parking around the area.

We Rate Longtail Kitchen:

Address:
116- 810 Quayside Drive
New Westminster,BC

Website:
http://www.longtailkitchen.com/

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