March 2016

In Canadian

The Portside Pub: Drinks, Food, and Games

March 8, 2016

What is there to do on a Wednesday night in the Gastown area? The Portside has a Rock, Paper , Scissors tournament every Wednesday. There is a $5 entry fee to participate but if you want to just sit in your seats and laugh your ass off, you can do that too. They also have $4 Jameson shots on special too.

I was invited and brought a few friends with me to check it out. I’ve been here a while ago for happy hour and the atmosphere is definitely better later in the evening.

Once we went inside, there was a seat yourself sign before you enter the pub.

The pub looks pretty awesome with its mostly wooden look with a few taps.

It’s like a secret underground area with food and booze.

They serve up pub food inspired by the East Coast of Canada.

Flight of Beer comes with a shot of Jameson on a paddle board. I didn’t know what to choose, so we asked them for 4 of their lightest beers.

They chose for me:

Portside Pilsner
Postmark Blonde
Steamworks Kolsh
White Bark Wheat Ale

All were really good, but my favourite of the bunch was the Portside Pilsner.

The Jameson shot at the very end is deadly. It’s an Irish Whiskey.

Blue Buck Pale Ale by Phillips Brewing Co. was ordered by my friend. Another lighter beer.

Alexander Keith’s Indian Pale Ale in a bottle was ordered by Little A.

4 women cheers with all our light beers. hahaha. It was a good start to the night before the food and Rock Paper Scissors tournament began.

Of the 4 of us, 3 of up participated. It’s $5 to enter the competition, but its pretty fun. The winner get $50 in cash, 2nd place is $10 and 3rd place is $5.

You just fill out the sheets with your bio and they read it out loud to everyone. Everything you write on it, they will read. It was pretty hilarious hearing what people wrote. A few tame ones and a few hilariously funny ones.

Monster Nachos ($16 +$20) has corn tortilla chips, layered with roasted jalapeno, mixed olives, local tomatoes, and green onions served with sour cream, chipotle sour cream and fresh in-house tequila salsa. It also has Chilli lime chicken, Chris Bros Pepperoni, smoked bacon, chilli and Nova Scotia Lobster.

We went all out and had all the meat on top. It also comes with a shot of Jameson.

What we found with these nachos is that the topping to chip ratio is very good We actually wished we had more chips. The pepperoni did over power the rest of the meat since its more spicy and flavourful. The lobster was drowned out.

Mac and Cheese was ordered. It has house made farm-house cheese and ricotta cream sauce, served with garlic bread.

You can add things like Porter Cheddar, Smoked Bacon, or Nova Scotia Lobster.

Mini Perogies has tiny cheddar stuffed perogies, Chris Bros. Pepperoni, sautéed onions, topped with chipotle sour cream and served with a micro salad. Tasted ok, but nothing spectacular.

Beef Pot-Roast Sandwich has rosemary and garlic seasoned chuck Pot-roast with red wine dijonaise, tomatoes, mixed greens and Porter Cheddar, served with chips & salsa and a micro salad. The sandwich was filling, but the taste was average. Nothing very special from what I could tell.

At 8pm, the competition began and our amazing host made the entire evening very memorable. SO funny!

It was tournament style and best out of 5. I failed miserably and lost of my first round.

Even if you’re not participating or lost early in the tournament, you will be thoroughly entertained for the rest of the game.

It got busier as the night went on and I was really surprised. No one was rushing home to get to work the next day.

Overall, I had a great time with my friends here on a Wednesday evening. If you’re looking for something to do, grab a few drinks, share a plate of nacho, and enter the rock, paper, scissors tournament. The rest of the food is pretty average, but most people come here for the drinks.

We Rate The Portside:

Address:
7 Alexander Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://theportsidepub.com/

In Japanese

Sushi By Yuji: Nigiri and Gukan Sushi

March 7, 2016

Sushi By Yuji is on Kingsway is best known for their fresh nigri and gunkan types of sushi. After seeing lots of people commenting about my last post about Masayoshi, people told me to check out Sushi by Yuji.

The space is small and it’s best to make reservations here to guarantee a spot. On the night that we went, they had no more spots for walk ins.

Surprisingly, the menu is pretty vast with a lot of nigiris, rolls, sashimi, and a few hot items. For their freshest items, look at their board of specials.

Tea was complimentary. The server was really nice and filled it up often.

The first set of Gunkan sushi arrived. Eggs on eggs! It’s beautiful not to get.

Ikura with Quail egg was an explosive sensation in your mouth. Once you start chewing the saltiness of the ikura blends well with the quail egg.

Tokibo with quail egg was similar but with the flying fish roe. Equally as good but some people don’t like the raw quail eggs. M and I both enjoyed it.

Chopped Scallop was fresh and delicious.

Next plate arrived full of negitoro. The plain Negitoro Gunkan was good. Chopped of toro with green onions.

Because everything looks better with a quail egg, we got the negitoro with quail egg. Delicious as well.

Salmon toro nigiri was one of the special fresh items. They use wild sockeye salmon, so you will notice the warm red colours rather than the orange stripes at regular Japanese restaurants.

Salmon Carpaccio gunkan was an interesting item to see. It has green onion, salt and pepper on top. It would have been nice if there was a sauce to go with it.

Very clean flavours and different than most places.

Yuji Roll has tuna, prawn and salmon with cucumber. It has the rice wrapped on the outside. It was a good roll with fresh ingredients. The flavours didn’t stand out too much.

Tuna Toro Nigiri was cut thin and was fatty.

Overall, the quality is there but it can get a bit expensive if you are a big eater. The taste is very clean and doesn’t have any additional sauces to them.

At the end of the meal, they give you a packet of Pocky for each person. Very nice touch.

I feel like a kid again. hahaha.

We Rate Sushi by Yuji:

Address:
2252 Kingsway, Vancouver

In Dessert

Waffle Frenzy: Sweet and Savoury Waffles

March 6, 2016

Waffle Frenzy is a new sweet and savoury waffle restaurant in Downtown Vancouver close to SFU Harbour Centre. Bite BC invited a few of us to try a few items off their menu to promote their 50% discount for their members.

They took over the location of a pizza shop and have a cleaner look inside. Mostly white with simple IKEA furniture.

Chicken and Waffles Sandwich has buttermilk fried chicken with chipotle BBQ sauce, lettuce and tomato between 2 waffles.

In each order, you get 2 sandwiches loaded with a big piece of chicken.

Waffle Fries comes with chipotle mayo dip. Nothing spectacular about these fries and could have been a touch crisper. It’s a good item to munch on as a snack.

Oreo Cookie Crumble with Whipped Cream In my picture, its only half and order, but a normal order would come with 4 pieces. I found this to be quite boring as a topping. It needs something a but more than smashed oreos and whipped cream.

The waffles weren’t as crisp as I would have imagined either.

Berry Explosion Waffle has blueberry, strawberry, and kiwi. This was ok as well. For my personal taste preferences, fruit toppings is my go to. The variety I found was pretty meh. The golden kiwi was good, but it would have been nice to have blackberries or raspberries.

Nutella and Banana dessert waffles is a good combination and you can’t go wrong with nutella. The waffle itself was a bit limp.

2 Tier Waffle Cake sells for about $10. This particular one had maple walnut ice cream between the waffle. Then topped with kiwi, green tea ice cream, blueberry and strawberries.

I liked it a bit more than the other waffles as it had more toppings and textures to it. They made these last waffles a tad more crisp, but still wasn’t quite there yet.

Overall, the waffles were ok. Nothing too special as there are other waffles places in Downtown Vancouver but closer to the West End. In the immediate area, there’s no other competition close by. If you had to come here, the savoury sandwiches are a nice choice.

We Rate Waffle Frenzy:

Address:
420 Richards Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.wafflefrenzy.com/

In British Columbia

Haywire Wines: Lunar New Year

March 5, 2016

During our Chinese New Year dinner at home, I was sent 2 bottles of Haywire’s Lunar New Year Red & White to celebrate the year of the monkey. I headed to my parents place with both wines to enjoy them with our dinner.

Both wines are crafted to work in perfect harmony with Chinese cuisine. The blends of wine are tweaked for Chinese dishes based off the types of grapes they use. Both wines cost under $20 and was sold in limited quantities for Chinese New Year.

The Lunar Red is made from Gamay Noir and Syrah. When you drink it, it has a blackberry finish with slight caramel notes. It pairs with stir fried vegetables, grilled sable fish, or BBQ duck.

I’m not a red wine drinker, so I gravitated more to the white wine.

The Lunar White is a blend of Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay with small amounts of Pinot Gris and Viognier. It has aromatics of spice and floral notes, and coats the palate with tropical fruit while retaining delicacy and freshness. You will want to pair this with seafood, as well as fried noodles or rice.

If you are heading to others places for Chinese New Year next year, grab a bottle or 2 of Haywire Wine’s Lunar Wines to celebrate. It pairs well with the dishes and its a fun item to give others. What other wines are made especially for this occasion?

Website:
http://www.haywirewinery.com/

In Cafe

Golden Oscar Cafe: HK Style Cafe

March 4, 2016

It’s been a while since my last visit to Golden Oscar Cafe and Restaurant on Rupert St in Vancouver – 5 years to be exact.

It’s an old school Hong Kong style café where you can find classic meals and set meals. The booth seating and the aging decor has never changed since I first came here year and years ago. There are movie posters all over this restaurant, but because it’s so outdated, you won’t find anything with Leonardo DiCaprio on it or anything from the last few years.

M got the Curry Beef Brisket mini set. It first comes with a Creamed Tuna soup. Pretty average and nothing special to it.

Cold Hong Kong Style coffee tea mix was his accompanying drink, but he had to add $0.50 for getting it cold. They give you a small cup of sugar water to sweeten the drink to your choosing.

Curry beef brisket arrived with a mound of rice. Piping hot and ready to be devoured.

The beef brisket chunks were nice and big. Tender and it really hit the spot.

I went with the Baked Spaghetti Bolognese. It took a little while for it to be ready, but I was ready. The picture of it look terrible as its brown and has burnt spots, but trust me, its good.

Once you mix it around a little bit, it’s not that ugly to look at. Pop it in your mouth.

Overall, the taste and quality are pretty average, but its this type of HK style café that brings comfort to me since it’s what I would eat often as a kid.

We Rate Golden Oscars:

Address:
3868 Rupert Street, Vancouver

In BBQ

Hopewell Chinese Kitchen: BBQ Meats in Vancouver

March 3, 2016

Hopewell Chinese Kitchen is located on the top floor of the 1st Avenue Marketplace. They are known for their high quality BBQ meats that are made fresh daily. The owners have been perfecting their craft for over 15 years.

I was invited by ChineseBites to try a few of their BBQ meats. I actually never realized there was this place here until recently. It’s been over 10+ years since I’ve been to the top floor of the plaza. Last time, this used to be a grocery store.

The prices are a bit higher than other BBQ joints, but it is better quality. It is slightly cheaper than HK BBQ Master in Richmond.

Hanging meat at a BBQ shop is an awesome sight.

To others, it might be a gruesome sight to see, but you can’t deny the taste…unless you’re a vegetarian.

Seriously, all I need is Chinese BBQ meats and rice and I am good to go.

Mmm I was seriously drooling before the meat made it to my plate.

You also need a huge cleaver to be able to swiftly shop up the meats. Music to my ears.

We made sure to have a can of pop with the plates of meat to wash down all the grease. A beer would definitely work as well, but coke is a classic in any asian household.

Soy Chicken was ok, some pieces weren’t as succulent as others. The white meat is more meaty, but the dark meat was more flavourful.

BBQ Duck is so good. Perhaps I have a duck obsession, but You can’t go wrong with this. I especially like the darker burnt bits.

BBQ Pork was quite thick and not too fatty or sweet. Very good.

Roast Pork is essentially roasted pork belly. It has crisp crunchy skin and juicy tender meat. I love the seasoning by the bones.

You can also ask for fatty or lean cuts if they have it available. This was quite fatty, so it was hard to eat a lot of it.

Whole Roasted Suckling Pork is a reservation-only item that you must order one week in advance for $200. Most people order these for special occasions or large gatherings. It’s a piglet and once we dug in, the texture of the meat is quite different than the Roast Pork as its from an older pig. I preferred the meat from the suckling pig as it was a big more lean and flavourful.

Overall, a good alternative for Chinese BBQ. I am glad I finally came here because I would come back for more.

We Rate Hopewell Chinese Kitchen:

Address:
1st Avenue Marketplace, 213-2800 East 1st Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.hopewellchinesekitchen.ca

In Cafe

Cafe De L’Orangerie: Japanese Pasta and Curry

March 2, 2016

Cafe De L’Orangerie has been our favourite spot for Japanese pasta for a while now. Last week, M had a huge craving for their curry, so he picked me up after work and drove here before the dinner rush.

Its a bit far from our house, so we don’t always get to come here.

Mango Fruit Smoothie was a pretty bad option to get for a drink. It tasted super sweet and artificial. We agreed that we would not order this again.

Chicken Karaage was pretty good. Light, crispy batter and well seasoned. Very enjoyable.

Curry with Pork Cutlet has rice, the crispy pork cutlet and the curry. M thought it was good. Perfect thing to cure his cravings.

Spaghetti Carbonara with Hamburger Steak. The hamburger steak was pretty large like a huge meatball, but I didn’t like how it was slightly sweet.

Besides the hamburger steak, I did enjoy the pasta. I think next time, I will go without the hamburger steak and stick with just the carbonara.

Overall, food is still pretty good her, but certain things are too sweet.

We Rate Cafe De L’Orangerie:

Address:
1320 West 73rd Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://cafedelorangerie.ca/

In Cafe

Qoo Cafe: HK Style Cafe

March 1, 2016

Qoo Cafe is located in the Marpole area. They are an Asian fusion restaurant featuring HK Style favourites, an assortment of Asian dishes, Western selections, pastas, sandwiches, noodle soups, and bubble tea. I was invited by ChineseBites to try a few things off their menu.

The space is large and can fit up to 90 people. It’s been here for a while now, but haven’t been here until now.

M and I went with the classic drink – coffee and tea mix and the HK style milk tea.

Mango Slush with Pearls is what the others ordered.

Goose Liver Toast and Truffle Mushroom Toast was surprisingly good. I love how they toasted the bread and it has no crust! The truffle mushroom was a lot better than the goose liver version.

Baked Mussels with pesto sauce comes with 8 pieces. Juicy and not over cooked.

Lobster with rice cakes is surrounded by a decorative cucumber barrier.

They have their mix and match special where you can choose 2 types of protein from the menu, soup of the day and a hot beverage for $14.95 during dinner.

You can choose from:

Pan fried chicken steak
Pan fried pork chop
Basa fillet
Pork Chop fillet
Baked salmon fillet
Wiener sausage
Spicy chicken skewer
Deep fried chicken wings
Pan fried cod fish fillet
Grilled ox tongue
Shrimp skewer
Honey beef short ribs ($3 extra)
Rack of lamb ($6 extra)
Baked lobster ($7 extra)
Charbroiled New York steak ($5 extra)

They gave us a platter full of the proteins to try. Most of them were pretty average, but the rack of lamb and New York steak were tender and medium rare. Of course, you have to add a bit of money for those options. If I didn’t want to add money to the set, I would get the pan-fried pork chop and the pan-fried chicken steak.

The sets also include either rice, spaghetti, french fries, or mashed potatoes. Mixed veggies, you have to add an additional $2.

To accompany the meats, you can choose from black pepper gravy, red wine gravy, onion gravy, garlic gravy, mushroom gravy or butter cream.