October 2013

In Fast Food

Pizza Hut: Rich Gold Pizza and Crown Pizza in Korea

October 31, 2013

I thought I knew pizza … but when I came to South Korea the pizza wasn’t the same. M and I made it a mission to have pizza at Pizza Hut. Their pizzas are quite different and you won’t be able to find it in North America. Imagine sweet potato and minimal tomato sauce on your pizza. To me that’s nuts.

Pohang has a new Pizza Hut and we found one in their Downtown core.

They have 4 styles of pizza:

Rich Gold
Crown Pocket
Cheese Crunch
The Special

The salad bar used to be good, but this particular location sucked a lot. Two people must share a plate for the price you pay. The salad isn’t fresh and a bit wilted. The fruit looked stale and old, but you can try rambutan and passion fruit that you can’t easily find in North America.

On the bright side, you can get pasta, rice cake and mussels at the bar too.

This is what I grabbed. Everything tasted ok, but I wouldn’t get the salad bar again. Nothing tasted fresh.

Pizza Hut’s Rich Gold Pizza (Medium – 27,900 won) has a sweet potato mousse circling the crust. It’s essentially two carbs in every bite.

We got the supreme toppings but minus the meat since we were eating with some vegetarians. It tasted pretty good surprisingly. It still doesn’t compare to normal pizza because they use little to no tomato sauce. It’s mostly just cheese and sweet potato.

Bulgogi Crown Pocket (Medium – 28,900 won) has bits of beef on top with peppers, bbq sauce, ranch, and mushrooms.It’s pretty expensive since the pizza wasn’t that big. The bulgogi was a bit sparse and you could barely notice any meat.

Nestled in the crust is sweet potato purée and cream cheese. I thought it was a gross combination.

Bacon Steak Crown Pocket (Medium – 28,900 won) has a sweet sauce drizzled over the peppers, cheese and green beans. It was ok, but I didn’t like the sweet and savoury combination.

I wasn’t a fan of these Korean-style pizzas. It’s a cool sounding combination but not nice on the palate. The price was very expensive! It was about $28 for a medium pizza. Also, the service was quite poor

Have you tried these before?

Website: www.pizzahut.co.kr

In Buffet

Gyeongju City Tour: Day Tour in Historical Korea

October 28, 2013

We decided to take a day tour to Gyeongju Korea which is in the Southwest part of Korea. As we were staying in Pohang, it was only a 30 minute bus ride to get to the tour. There are buses and trains that take people from Seoul to Gyeongju easily. We took the Gyeongju City Tour as it had pretty good ratings by foreigners.

Gyeongju is a great place to visit as it has a large amount of heritage sites and old ruins.

Gyeongju was the ancient capital of the Silla Millennium. Some of Gyeongju’s most important relics are Seokguram Grotto, Bulguksa Temple, Poseokjeong Pavilion’s original site, Heavenly Horse Tomb (Cheonma-chong), Cheomseongdae Astronomical Observatory, and Anapji Pond. With a total of 396 registered cultural properties, Gyeongju holds 5.5% of Korea’s cultural properties, and 30% of the cultural properties of North Gyeongsang Province.

The particular tour we went on was Course 1 for the Silla Historic Areas for 14,000 won + 4,000 in admission fees (collected prior to departure)+ 9,000 won lunch buffet.

Singyeongju Station (08:50)
Gyeongju Express Bus Terminal (09:00)
Bomun Lake Resort (passing through)
Bulguksa Temple
Silla Arts and Science Museum
Bunhwangsa Temple
Tomb of General Kim Yushin
Cheonmachong (Heavenly Horse Tomb)
Gyeongju National Museum (when closed: Wolseong)
Donggung Wolji(Anapji Pond)
Cheomseongdae Astronomical Observatory
Gyeongju Express Bus Terminal (17:10)
Singyeongju Station (17:30)

We arrived at the Gyeongju Express Bus Terminal late, so we missed our tour bus. Good thing that tour office was across the street so they could help us get to the bus at Bulguksa Temple. We took public transit to meet up with the tour. It was a bit stressful, but it’s good M was there to do all the talking.

The tour goes to 8 locations and before we get off we are shown an introduction video about the location in 3 language – Korean, English, and Japanese.

You can choose to stick with the tour guide (only spoken in Korean) or wander off on your own. Do note, there are NO explanation on what time to come back in english. A lot of the foreigners had to ask around for a translation to make sure they come back to the bus on time.

Bulguksa Temple

The temple area was quite beautiful and had a large enough space to roam around. It is quite far from the city centre, so going on this tour was worth it. Of all the locations of the tour, this place had the best scenery.

Coming on a weekday, this place was crowded with lots of students on field trips. It was packed and so many kids being loud and running around. It did disrupt the whole experience of this place. There was also some construction going on.

Silla Arts and Science Museum

Silla Arts and Science Museum is a 2 story museum with a basement level with six exhibition halls. Its all indoors and isn’t that large. It was also packed with kids, so M and I just skipped the museum and walked outside to look at the pottery stores and grabbed a drink.

Bunhwangsa Temple

The temple is in a small area and it features the Bunhwangsa temple part of the Old Silla era.It was built in the year of 634, so it’s quite old and you can see the aging of the structure.

The other item to look at is their giant bell. You can ring it for a 1,000 won donation.

We didn’t spend much time at this location, but the structure were nice to look at.

Lunch at Myeongwon Shabu Shabu

We stopped at Myeongwon Shabu Shabu for a buffet lunch. It was 9,000 won after taxes. I don’t see too many all you can eat places in Korea, so you know its definitely a place thats just for tourists. We saw tons of tour buses in the parking lot too.

It’s a large space, so you know it’s a perfect location to bring a large amount of people in one sitting. Located in the middle of the restaurant is the long table of food. there’s also signs located around the restaurant saying something about 5,000. There’s no english signs, but basically it says that if you don’t finish the food on your plate, you are charged 5,000 won.

Once a new tour arrives, you can see 30+ people hurrying to get a plate of food.

There’s rice and kimbab.

Nigiri Sushi. You can really see the vibrant green wasabi underneath.

Different types of banchan, which is essentially side dishes.

Different vegetables and kimchi.

The hot items had japchae, bulgogi and some other meat dishes.

The last bit of the table had soup, noodles, and fruits.

Plate #1.

Plate #2.

Plate #3.

The food is alright, but isn’t the best Korean food to represent the area.

Anapji Pond

Anapji Pond is located in Gyeongju National Park and its very beautiful. The pond was part of the palace complex in ancient Silla. It was a lovely place to walk around after lunch. There is a long path that goes around the 3 different structures.

Gyeongju National Museum

This museum houses many ancient relics from the Silla kingdom. There are various building located in the museum, but it was very packed with several groups of students.

Cheomseongdae Observatory in Gyeongju

It’s a small area and the observatory looks like a chimney. It was used as a star-gazing tower and the oldest surviving observatory in East Asia. There’s really not much to do except to stare at this and take photos.

Across from the observatory, there are these hills in the field. There are actually thousands of these spread out all around Gyeongju. They are actually graves for royalty in the Silla Dynasty.

Cheonmachong Tomb

We then headed to Cheonmachong Tomb to look at Tomb #155. The king is still unknown, but you can take a look at the surrounding area and go into the tomb to see what it looks like inside.

There’s no pictures taken inside, but there are just artifacts lining the walls and also a recreation of the burial site.

Tomb of General Kim Yushin

This was the last stop of the day was to another tomb. This one is a little but different as it has stone carvings with 12 zodiac characters.

Overall, the tour was alright, but it was really hard to understand the cultural significance of these locations. The video did describe a bit about each location, but it just isn’t the same. One thing I liked about the tour was that it would be easy to get around to the locations with the tour rather than getting there yourself.

Since I’ve already visited the historical sites in Seoul, I felt like I’ve seen very similar buildings. The one thing new to me were those tombs.

Website: http://cmtour.co.kr/en/course01.html

In BBQ

Delivery Chicken in South Korea: BHC and BBQ

October 25, 2013

Sometimes in Korea, you want food to come to you instead of you going out for food. Or perhaps cooking is too hard. For a lot of university students, ordering in is quite common and you can almost get every single type of food to be delivered.

We were craving different types of chicken, so we ordered from BHC and BBQ Chicken for some of their specialty chicken. They have locations all over Korea, so you’re bound to run into one.

As we knew the original fried chicken would be amazing, we ordered other items off their menu to get a taste of what else is popular in Korea.

BBQ

From BBQ Chicken, we ordered grilled chicken and it came with sauce, a can of pepsi, and pickled radish cubes.

Korean traditional Charbroiled Chicken is quite juicy and is marinated ahead of time and comes straight off the grill to seal in those juicy flavours. It was pretty good, but you can’t really beat an experience eating inside the restaurant.

Website: http://www.bbqbarbecue.co.kr/

BHC Chicken

Another popular place is BHC which stands for Big Hit Chicken. They usually advertise heavily with the use of celebrities. M wanted boneless chicken so we ordered from here.

Boneless Chicken with shredded leek is another popular item. It reminded me of chicken nuggets with green onions. It was ok, but nothing very special.

Website: http://www.bhc.co.kr/

There were all good alternatives for chicken but I think the one that still steals my heart is original fried chicken. Can’t beat that stuff. I must continue the hunt for the best chicken.

In Chinese

Taesan Chinese Restaurant: Fusion in Pohang, South Korea

October 24, 2013

Our first few days staying in Pohang were spent eating at home and enjoying homemade food from M’s mom. As we were out during the afternoon one day, we headed to Taesan Chinese Restaurant for some Chinese Korean fusion food. They swear it’s one of the best Chinese restaurants in the area.

Chinese restaurants run by Koreans aren’t very authentic. They always have some fusion component to it. You won’t find your normal dishes here. The food is pretty darn good and I highly encourage you to try some when you can. It’s quite unique.

In Vancouver, there are 2 good Korean x Chinese restaurants – Heeraedeung and Tai Wan. Other parts of the world I have no idea, but I’m sure there is.

Banchan are complimentary side dishes that come with every korean meal. It’s nice to have something to pick at while you wait for the meal.

Black Bean paste, pickled radish, onions, and some sort of other pickled vegetable. These banchan were pretty average and not very addictive.

Deep Fried Dumplings (goon mandu) comes with 10 pieces and has a sauce on the side. These were really good. Crispy crunchy skin with the succulent meat on the inside.

Noodles with Black bean Sauce (Jajangmyeon) is what M ordered. He loves this dish and thought it tasted great. Don’t let the dark look of the sauce scare you, its very savory and flavourful. Its packed with vegetables like onions.

You would eat this dish by mixing them together until they are well combined, then enjoy!

Fried Rice with Seafood comes with a bit of black bean sauce on the side. It was a good size for lunch and was quite good when mixing in the sauce. The black bean sauce is what made this dish incredible, without it, the fried rice wouldn’t be as good.

The fried rice also comes with a Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup (Jjambbong) it was very flavourful and was indeed spicy.

Overall the food was good and it’s a nice change from the usual Chinese food. When looking for food in Pohang, the internet doesn’t really help as most restaurants don’t have a website. For the large chain restaurants, they will, but the good stuff that locals like would be hard to fine.

If you know someone in the area, definitely ask them for recommendations!

We Rate Taesan Chinese Restaurant:

Address (Approx)
20 Hyojadong-gil 1beon-gil, Nam-gu,
Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea (253-106 Hyoja-dong)

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?daddr=20+Hyojadong-gil+1beon-gil,+Nam-gu,+Pohang,+Gyeongsangbuk-do,+South+Korea+(253-106+Hyoja-dong)&sll=36.00728061772533,129.32860218785672&sspn=0.0018731321429394233,0.004853779315719831&t=m&z=17&start=0&geocode=FeBsJQIdoGS1BynrDs4q0wFnNTHfU_AmfIKVCw”]

In Fast Food

Lotteria: Wild Shrimp Burger in Korea

October 23, 2013

Once we landed in Seoul, Korea we needed to take 2 trains and a taxi to get to Pohang, Korea. It was a long commute and took about 3 hours. Once we got to Singyeongju Station near Gyeongju, M and I needed to take a dinner break and found a Lotteria in the station.

If you’ve never heard of Lotteria before, it’s like the Korean McDonalds where it serves fast food like burgers and chicken. It’s literally everywhere in Korea, you’ll find one if you just walk around the streets in any town.

I had no idea what I wanted to get, so it took me a while to stare at the menu.

There was one item that intrigued me – Wild Shrimp Burger. I’ve never seen a shrimp burger, so it was time to check it out a chow down.

Wild Shrimp Burger Combo ($6,200 WON or $6.20 CDN) came with a pop and fries. They have Pepsi and most people in Korea prefer Pepsi over Coca-Cola. This whole meal is just over 900 calories, if you’re into counting. The burger itself is about 500 calories. You definitely shouldn’t come here if you’re trying to lose weight.

Since I’m on vacation, so I can eat ALL the food.

The fries were ok, but it still can’t beat McDonalds. It’s probably because these fries aren’t heavily salted.

Wild Shrimp Burger is made of a sesame bun, shrimp patty, thousand island dressing, tartar sauce, lettuce, pickles, and paprika. It had a unique taste and it kinda reminded me of a fish fillet burger from McDonalds.

The exterior of the shrimp patty was nice and crispy. The inside of the patty has small bits of shrimp, but you really can’t notice it too much. The burger sounded amazing, but when i ate it, it was a bit of a let down.

Website: http://www.lotteria.com/

In Airplane Meals

Air Canada: Flight from Vancouver to Korea

October 22, 2013

M and I headed to Seoul, South Korea from Vancouver via Air Canada. It was the cheapest option that required no stopovers. As long as I get to my destination without any issues, I am fine with flying Air Canada. A lot of people think Air Canada is pretty crappy, but I’ve never had any issues.

This plane model had a 2-3-2 configuration, so sitting on the sides was great because we didn’t have to bother a stranger when going to the washroom.

Our seats also had a USB port on the left and an outlet on the right. Not all seats will have the outlet, so when choosing your seat, refer to their plane layout.

About an hour after takeoff, we were given out first meal with 2 options – chicken and potatoes or beef on rice. It also comes with a salad, brownie, bread, water and another drink of your choice. A popular option was ordering wine or beer. Since it comes free, might as well booze it up.

Chicken and Potatoes

Beef on Rice.

Then they dimmed the lights and created an artificial “night time”. I didn’t mind it since it helps to combat that time difference.

After this, they gave us our next meal! Japchae aka Korean sweet potato noodles with pork. I guess they customized the meals since we are flying to Korea. There is also fruit, bread, and a drink of your choice.

Japchae

We took another naptime and then about an hour before we land, they gave us an option of having cup noodles. It was chicken flavour and the stewardesses were calling it chicken noodle soup. I thought it was funny.

Chicken Flavoured Cup Noodles

All the food was decent and the stewardesses were nice. It was an ok flight and we survived those 10 hours without any hassles. Other airlines have better food, but I don’t want to pay more just for the food. A lot of people told me to take Cathay Pacific or Korean Air, but it wasn’t an option because it was way more expensive during the time we wanted to travel.

In Brunch

Milestone’s: Brunch at YVR Airport

October 21, 2013

On our way to Seoul, Korea at the YVR Airport, we saw they had a Milstone’s restaurant in the international terminal. We were looking for a place to go for breakfast and thought Milestone’s was a good option since they had eggs benedict on the menu.

Not the most delicious place at the airport, but it will have to do. Still better than Burger King.

There’s a bar if you need to grab a drink to settle the nerves before taking off.

The brunch menu is below.

Pineapple Juice came in a big cup and was needed to go with brunch.

Eggs Benedict ($10.99) is served on an english muffin with smoked ham, poached egg and hollandaise sauce. Roasted potatoes and some fruit on the side. Very simple but decent. Nothing very special either.

Overall, the food was ok, but the service was quite horrible. The servers were not very attentive and a lot of others were trying to stare one down to order or get the bill.

We Rate Milestones YVR:

Location:
YVR Airport beside the “aquarium”

Website:
http://www.milestonesrestaurants.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=3211+Grant+McConachie+Way+Richmond,+BC&t=m&hnear=3211+Grant+McConachie+Way,+Richmond,+British+Columbia+V7B+1Y7&z=16 “]

In Cafe

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee: Waffles in South Burnaby

October 20, 2013

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee is located in South Burnaby behind Highgate Mall. It took me a while to find the place. There is parking out front, but if it’s a busy time, it would be best to park at Highgate and then walk a short distance up.

Jewels took me here a few days before I left for Vacation in Korea to catch up and of course nom on some delicious waffles. I’ve also gotten several comments and emails from people to come check out their waffles as they are darn good.

Besides waffles, they have a large selection of drinks like teas, coffees, and smoothies. Lots of hot and cold options too.

The waffle menu is on the cashier counter and there are a few different choices and they all looked great. When you order, they give you an electronic device to let you know when your order is ready.

Double Liege Combo comes with 2 liege waffle with different toppings. It looked way too pretty to dig in, so it took us a while to get started.

Overall, it’s a great place to hang out with a group of friends late at night for a waffle and a beverage. You’ll definitely see a few couples romantically sharing a waffle or a group of friends gossiping. And also the oddball that is studying alone.

We Rate Tealips:

Address:
7139 Arcola Way
Burnaby, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=7139+Arcola+Way+Burnaby,+BC&t=m&hnear=Arcola+Way,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5E+2V1&z=17 “]

In Downtown

Ramen Jinya: Ramen and Green Tea

October 18, 2013

Ramen Jinya is a chain ramen joint from Los Angeles. It was pretty packed during peak hours and it’s not a surprise since people want to escape the mucky weather outside to enjoy a nice big bowl of ramen. Seeing it is the only ramen restaurant on Robson street (close to BC Place),

A bunch of us came here for dinner for a table of 5 and it took a little while. There were at least 3 or 4 other groups ahead of us. We waited since we really wanted their Jinya Tonkotsu Black Ramen.

JINYA Tonkotsu Black ($11.25) is made from their pork broth with pork belly char-siu, kikurage, bamboo shoots, green onions, flavoured boiled egg, seaweed, black garlic oil, and garlic chips. This is their top selling ramen and the broth is rich and full of flavour. Highly recommended.

Tonkotsu Spicy Ramen ($10.25) you can choose from mild, spicy or hot. I went with spicy because why order the spicy as a mild if you don’t want the extra kick to your ramen. This ramen also has pork belly char-siu, kikurage, spicy bean sprouts, green onion, and japanese leek. Very nice broth and enjoyable. I’ve ordered this a few times and its pretty good.

You can also turn your ramen into a combo with a drink and a side item of your choice for an additional $3.75.

All of us went with the Cold Green Tea. It’s unlimited and can either be sweetened or unsweetened. I went with the unsweetened and everyone else ordered sweetened. Either way, it’s pretty good.

Curry Bowl comes in a small size and M thought it was awesome.

Chicken Karrage was what I ordered and it was pretty good as well. The batter is a bit different that other places, but it was super juicy and flavourful.

Takoyaki comes with 4 pieces with sauce. It’s pretty average and nothing spectacular.

Overall, it’s great to see they added a few more items to their menu and the combos are pretty great if you are a large eater. The prices are fair and you don’t have to travel to the other side of Robson Street for ramen.

We Rate Ramen Jinya:

Address:
270 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC V6B

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=270+Robson+Street+Vancouver,+BC+V6B&t=m&hnear=270+Robson+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+0E7&z=16″]

In Brunch

Grain Tasting Bar: Brunch in Downtown Vancouver

October 17, 2013

Grain Tasting Bar is located inside the Hyatt Hotel in Downtown Vancouver. It is literally a few steps away from the Burrard Skytrain and right above Staples.

It was a Sunday morning and my girlfriends all wanted some eggs benedict. Seeing that Chef Thomas Heinrich recently started a brunch menu at Grain, it really made my mouth salivate. We’ve been to Cafe Medina, Twisted Fork and Catch 122 for brunch and wanted something new, so we headed here for some yummy brunch.

The interior is really nice and has a very masculine-feel to it. A great mood to be drinking some cocktails after work.

What I like most about the interior is their sliding windows. On a hot day, they can open them all up to let the breeze in… or if it’s super cold, you’ll never notice that windows can open like that.

You can even be people-watching from above. No one will ever know, unless they look up.

Pineapple Juice ($5.50) was a bit steep for juice, but you can’t really go wrong with a big cup of juice for brunch.

Oyama Benedict ($15) is what everyone ordered. The description of it just caught our eyes since we saw prosciutto and we all craved meat.

The Oyama Benedict features Oyama meat products and trust me its’ good stuff. The benedict also has pamplona chorizo, red wine prosciutto, arugula, soft poached egg, and a hollandaise sauce. There are also roasted potatoes served on the side.

It looked simple, but it tasted great. I wish I had more after eating this.

Spring Creek Prime Rib Sandwich ($14) also has iceberg lettuce, crispy onions, and horseradish aioli. We chose to have potato chips on the side. The thick slab of prime rib was delicious.

Overall, not a bad place for brunch and it’s also a great place for after work drink and bites. The prices can be a bit high for some items, but seeing that it’s in Downtown, it’s acceptable. They do have daily specials for drinks and food, so you can always pick a day where there is something that matches your tastebuds.

We Rate Grain Tasting Bar:

Address:
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.grainvbc.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=655+Burrard+St+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=655+Burrard+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6C+2R7&z=16″]

In BBQ

O Grill Yakiniku: Setting Fire to the Grill

October 16, 2013

O Grill Yakiniku is located on Newton Street close to Kingsway. It’s a bit hidden, so you definitely need to rely on Google Maps to get here. They serve Taiwanese and Japanese food.

I came here with the lovely Chinesebites crew to check out what O Grill Yakiniku has to offer.

There are lots of booth seating but even with the vents it can still get a bit smokey inside. When we went, it was really cold and the heat of the grill didn’t help us keep warm either.

Chicken Karrage with fried basil. It was pretty good but did remind me more of Salt and Peppery Chicken.

Deep Fried Squid was good too. A bit oily, but still good. I’d still choose his over the salt and peppery chicken because of the texture of the squid.

Sweet Potato Balls with condensed milk and crushed nuts. Surprisingly a great item to order if you want to munch on something. It was like eating fried mochi balls.

Asparagus Salad was a strange thing to see here drizzled with a creamy sauce kinda like Thousand Island. I think it would have been better if it was just raw asparagus, so you can grill it.

Ground Pork on Rice was average, but could have used a touch of more sauce

Pork Jowl was severely frozen and didn’t look appetizing.

When the pork jowl hit the grill and started thawing, you can tell there was lot of fat content in these little babies. The sight was so beautiful. Sizzling on the grill and creating a lot of fire and smoke. It was quite fun.

When you have a grill right in front of your table, you know you need to get some meat on the grill and hear the sizzle.

They have 2 house sauces, so you can dunk your meat into them to have more flavour.

Premium Short Ribs looked so delicious and we couldn’t wait to get cooking.

The sight of deliciousness.

Beef Tongue was also quite frozen from the look of it. The tongue after it’s cooked is still a tad tough and bland.

Rib steak came in small cubes and it’s also frozen.

Garlic Prawns were deveined and tasted good after being grilled.

Spicy and Basil Chicken was good with the marinade, it certainly added flavour to it. Since it is chicken, you have cook it all the way or else you might get sick.

Mixed Mushrooms come hot to the table, so you don’t need to stick it on the grill. I love mushrooms, so I slurped up this dish.

Round 2 of more delicious meat!

Corn needed a bit of roasting before sinking your teeth into these kernels.

Pork Belly was a bit thin and cut into smaller pieces. This is essentially bacon.

Beef Toro is like the bacon of the cow.

Beef Finger is what is was called on the menu. We didn’t think cows really had fingers but it’s actually the meat between the ribs.

All the meat tasted fine, but since most of them didn’t have sauce that marinated it, it was a bit bland. So, you can dunk it in their house sauces or put on some salt and pepper to bring out the flavour.

One thing that sucked about the grills is that all the heat would be mainly in the centre, so it cooked the meat very unevenly. They recommended us to only cook a few pieces at a time, leaving us a little bit impatient since there was lot of meat to cook.

I much prefer the grills at places like Gyu Kaku.

Green Tea Ice Cream was the normal stuff.

Caramel ice cream with a caramel drizzle and some choco sticks.

Milky Pudding comes with your choice of red bean or strawberry sauce.

Egg Pudding was really good and satisfying at the end of the meal. Probably my favourite out of all the desserts.

Overall, I probably would not revisit this place again. A majority of the meat was frozen and the grill was very weak. Not very impressive at all. I might as well grill my meat at home and feel more comfortable.

They should really just thaw their meats and add more more marinade to bring out the flavours of the meat.

We Rate O Grill:

Address:
4992 Newton St
Burnaby, BC

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

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=4992+Newton+St+Burnaby,+BC&t=m&hnear=4992+Newton+St,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5H&z=16″]

In Hastings-Sunrise

Pho Don: New Vietnamese Restaurant on Hastings

October 15, 2013

M dragged me to a new Vietnamese Restaurant he found near the PNE. There’s so many Vietnamese restaurants on this block that there are so many options. We usually go to Bao Chau and their spring rolls are addictive.

Pho Don is a family run business and you can see the owners children helping out at the restaurant. It’s quite cute.

The interior is clean compared to the other Vietnamese restaurants in town. There are lots of seats if you want to come in a group. As its new, it’s not too busy, so great place to go during the day or night. They are also open till 2am!

Ice Vietnamese Coffee is a must. M and I always seem to order this to keep us awake.

Complimentary Spring Rolls came with the order of meals. It’s one of their current promotions. We were delightfully surprised since we were going to order them anyways. They were good but I had a feeling they might be frozen beforehand. It was crispy but a bit soft.

Rare beef and beef brisket slices was good but by the time it got to the table, most of the meat was cooked. Not a big problem, but I hate when its not like the pictures on the menu.

The broth was great and tasted super clean and full of flavour.

Bean Sprouts, Bail, lime and jalapeno on the side. I added it all to the pho and it was gooood.

Lemongrass Chicken on Vermicelli Noodles is what M ordered. He thought it was ok but would rather go to Bao Chau to order this.

They definitely have great pho and is open for long hours. There is also free parking in front and lots of buses close by.

We rate Pho Don:

Address:
2838 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

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In Canadian

EXP Restaurant + Bar: Video Game Inspired

October 14, 2013

Exp Restaurant and Bar is located in Gastown and serves up food and drinks with a video game twist. I came here with my food blogging buddies – Dee and Amy since we are all video game nerds.

You will find video memorabilia on the walls and will definitely bring you back to your childhood days.

Mana + Health ($7.50) is a mixture of Red Sour Puss, Bols Melon, Blue Curacao, and Soda. It is meant to be drank like a drop shot. If you play games like Diablo, you’ll find these two colors familiar. The drink itself is quite sweet.

Thunder ($5.50) is made of Absolut Mandarin, Blue Curacao, Lime. Rimmed with Pop Rocks.

Arrow to the Knee ($5.50) has cake vodka, and baileys cream liqueur. If you play Skyrim, you’ll understand this reference.

Ultra Deep Fried Pickles ($7) has fresh pickles and fries with blackened jalapeño dip. It was a good bar dish. Something to nibble on. It’s not for everyone, but I have a secret love of pickles.

Raging Demon Spicy Chicken Sandwich ($13) has grilled cajun chicken breast, jalapeño jack cheese, fried jalapeño and garlic with fresh avocado. The chicken breast was quite dry and there wasn’t anything too special about this burger. It was a bit spicy, but it could have used more of a kick.

Chocobo Chicken Burger ($12) has crunchy garlic chicken breast, honey mustard, mayo, & lettuce. Dee ordered it and just fell in love with the title of this burger because of the reference to Final Fantasy.

Master Chief Burger ($13) has an 6 oz beef patty topped with baby greens, house red onion relish, roasted garlic aioli, finished with crunchy ‘Halo’ onion rings.

Doughnut-Shielded Cheesecake ($4) has a Piece of Rich Cheesecake Encased in Doughnut Batter and Deep-Fried to Perfection. You can choose from chocolate, oreo icing or cinnamon sugar. We went with the cinnamon sugar.

Smore-Tal Kombat ($5) has a huge house-made marshmallow, dark chocolate and caramel sauce, brutally squeezed between two honey graham Crackers. FINISH IT!

I love their description on their menu. It can get a bit distracting trying to figure what the dish really is. We spent way more time oggling at the name of the items rather than finding something we really liked.
We Rate Exp Bar:

Address:
309 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://www.facebook.com/expbar

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In Canadian

MoMA Contemporary Bistro: New Restaurant in Richmond

October 13, 2013

My mom scouted out a restaurant before my radar was on it. Where does my mother get this information? Apparently the Chinese radio station.

We decided to dine at MoMa Contemporary Bistro with the family. It’s on Cambie road close to Garden City Road. When I first heard the name of this restaurant, I immediately thought about the Moma in New York. It’s really just a combination of the Chef’s names – Chef Henry Mok and Chef Xin Mao.

The interior is very clean and modern compared to all the other restaurants in Richmond.

It has a bit of a hipster-feel with the mason jar candles.

Complimentary Bread arrives at the table with a curried chickpea dip.

Steamed Clams ($14) comes in a sake-miso broth with wakame. The clams were plump and juicy, plus the broth was pretty delicious. We used the bread and dipped it in the remaining sauce.

Prawn Fritter ($13) is enrobed in a sake butter with togorashi aioli sauce. The seaweed bits on top made it extra yummy.

Albacore Tuna Flatbread ($14) has nori, radish, and a house-made scallion flatbread. This dish was ok, but I felt the first 2 appetizer dishes were better.

10oz Grilled Angus Rib Eye ($33) has potato fondant, chimichurri sauce, and a black pepper jelly. My sister loved the tender medium rare of the rib eye, but felt the black pepper sauce to be a bit overpowering and salty.

Crispy Pork Belly ($22) has a base of the taro root puree, mostarda, soy beans and a natural jus. This dish was a bit heavy, but the pork belly just melts in your mouth.

24 hours braised lamb pappardelle ($21) has peas, ricotta cheese, and shredded mint.

Rainbow Trout

Maple and Mascapone Cheesecake ($8) has a kumquat coulis and compressed fruit. SO good! Highly recommended!

Overall, it’s nice to see a contemporary bistro in Richmond. It’s unique in the area and offer some tasty eats. Some of the dishes need a bit of tweaking, but overall a pretty good place to go to if you’re tired of all the restaurants in Richmond.

We Rate MoMa Contemporary Bistro:

Address:
8580 Cambie Rd
Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.momabistro.com/

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In Downtown

Mosaic: 5 Course French Tasting Menu

October 9, 2013

When you think of French cuisine, what do you think of? I just think of escargot since I’ve never really had true French cuisine. I knew I missed something when I went to Paris. Too many crepes and visits to cafes. Clearly I did something wrong. I wasn’t too into food back then when I was younger.

Good thing in Vancouver you can find anything to eat.
Now until October 18th, you can indulge on a 5 course French Tasting Menu at Mosaic for $55, which includes:

Fois Gras Parfait
Escargot
Lobster Thermidor
Duck L’Orange
Mille-Feuille

You don’t need to be in France to enjoy French cuisine. Head over to Mosaic to try Chef Thomas Heinrich’s take on French cuisine.

Complimentary biscuits are cute and has a delicious smokey flavour.

Fois Gras Parfait is made with rougie quebec fois gras. There is also apple, calvados and marcona almonds on the mirrored plate. There was a nice contrast of flavours on the plate and the fois gras mousse tasted like butter.

Escargot is made with burgundy snails, garnished with shallots, roasted garlic and parsley. There is also pumpernickel crumbs on the side. The smell of this dish was fragrant from the shallots and garlic. Yum. It was really good. If you’ve never had snails before, it’s not scary. It kinda chewy.

Lobster Thermidor is made of Atlantic lobster tail, lobster roe pomme puree and garnished with kale nori. That lobster was so tender that it oozed buttery goodness. You’ll love this dish.

Duck L’Orange is made of duck breast from Thiessen Farms and garnished with orange fruit leather, terragon and celery root. Another great dish too. Succulent meat.

Mille-Feuille is like a Napoleon. Layers of puff pastry, lemon cream, and vanilla salted caramel. There was a mini pear on the side too. I felt like an awesome giant eating this cute dessert.

You definitely get a taste of everything, but if you are a very hungry man, you will probably have room for an extra dish.

We Rate Mosaic:

Address:
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC

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

In Airplane Meals

WestJet: Chicago to Vancouver

October 8, 2013

A week in Chicago has come to an end. Amazing architecture and great food was all enjoyed. A good getaway from Vancouver.

I’m pretty cheap, so as usual, I take WestJet to travel across North America. There’s nothing special about them, but they have good prices and keep it simple. I’ve never really had a problem with any of my flights.

Before heading on the plane, I grabbed a few bags of Garrett Popcorn as souvenirs for back home. The most popular item is the Chicago Mix which has half caramel popcorn and cheese popcorn.

Everyone I got the popcorn enjoyed it. I actually liked the caramel popcorn more than the cheese popcorn. If it was just me, I would just get a bag of the caramel. But, if you’re in Chicago, might as well get the Chicago mix right?

You can order online from their website because they now ship to Canada. Wooot.

Website: http://www.garrettpopcorn.com/

The take off, waiting for the washroom, and the landing are always the worst part of flying, but when the little food carts pass by, you know they’ve got your attention.

You don’t really get meals on the flights, but you can order some if you like. They have these menus in the front pocket of your seat.

Junkfood, drinks and sandwiches. If you’re hungry, the prices are quite fair, but you know it won’t be particularly good.

I usually just bring my own snacks onto the flight, so I never order anything.

This time around they gave out Macho cheese corn stick, some biscuits and a beverage. I also got tomato juice.

One the second round, there was more Nacho Cheese Corn snack, cookies, and then I got some coke.

It was a short plane ride, so these snack were just he right amount.

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

In Chicago

White Castle: Little Sliders from the Mid West

October 7, 2013

After seeing the movie Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, I’ve always wanted to go to White Castle for the sliders. Living on the West Coast, I’ve never seen one before since it’s mostly concentrated in the Mid West of North America.

I made it a mission to come here before I left.

To end my Chicago experience, we ordered 6 sliders and fries. It really wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be. The patty is very thin and you really just taste more of the bun.

Original Slider has pickles, onions and the small patty between the soft bun. The patty seemed to stick to the bun and was inseparable.

Cheese Slider is like the original but with the extra cheese.

Bacon Cheese Slider is like the Cheese Slider but with the added bacon strips.

Chicken Ring Slider is just chicken shaped into a ring. It also has a slice of cheese.

Fish Slider also has a slice of cheese.

Jalapeno Cheese Slider has the thin beef patty and jalapeno cheese. It wasn’t spicy at all.

My first White Castle experience was ok, but I can now see why some people order a whole case of these little sliders. There’s really nothing special about White Castle except for the size of the sliders. A lot of other fast food joints taste much better. But, most people come here for the novelty of it all.

Have you been here? What do you think?

Website: www.whitecastle.com

In American

Original Pancake House: Dutch Baby and Apple Pancakes

October 6, 2013

A great thing about going on vacation and visiting relatives and friends is that they know where cool restaurants are. I’ve never heard of the Original Pancake, but they are most famous for their Dutch Baby and Apple Pancake.

Ifs located all over the states and if you recognize this place, you know they have very cool breakfast food. It was pretty busy on a Saturday morning and line ups almost out the door. We waited for a bit but got a table quickly.

The Apple Pancake is oven baked with fresh granny smith apples and pure Sinkiang cinnamon glaze. It was really good but it’s best to share since it’s loaded with sugar.

We all cut it up into slices are shared it. Pretty delicious and amazing. Highly recommended.

Dutch Baby is oven baked. Served with whipped butter, lemon and powdered sugar. We opted for the smaller version since we knew we wouldn’t finish the large version.

Blue Crab Meat Benedict has poached eggs, sauteed Blue Crab Meat & lightly grilled tomato slices on top of a grilled English muffin with our hollandaise sauce. Garnished with parsley & capers. It tasted alright, but not crazy amazing.

The benedict came with a side of fruit.

Sausage & Basted Eggs was alright, but nothing special. You get 2 eggs, 2 sausage patties and pancakes.

Pancakes that came with the sausage and basted eggs.

We also ordered side of bacon and side of hash browns. We loved the bacon because it was nice and crispy.

We had so much food that it barely fit onto our table. It was a yummy breakfast.

Overall, the specialty items were quite amazing. You must come here to order the apple pancake and the dutch baby. You won’t be disappointed.

We Rate Original Pancake House:

Address:
153 Green Bay Rd
Wilmette, IL

Website:
http://www.walkerbros.net/

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