Commercial Drive / Grandview Archives - Page 3 of 4

In Cafe

Scandilicious: Delicious

March 21, 2013

After finishing dinner on The Drive at Havana’s one dark and rainy Tuesday night, my friends and I were craving something sweet.

We wracked our brains for a while thinking of a dessert place in the area and could only think of La Casa Gelato. It was pretty cold out so we weren’t really in the mood for ice cream.

I hopped onto Urbanspoon and saw a name that I didn’t recognize – Scandilicious. It was only 1 block away so it was perfect!

Scandilicious is a new waffle café that opened on The Drive about a month ago. They serve 5 different types of waffles with so many sweet or savoury options!

Liege – served hot, a dense chewy and sweet waffle
Brussels – The typical waffles you see served at most places
Vaffler – a thin, tender, lightly crispy waffle spiced with cardamom
WOS – Short for Waffle on a Stick
Gluten Free – Good option for those with dietary limitations

They also make their own sauces that they are looking to bottle up and sell soon in store.

When I arrived at the store, I was greeted with such a warm scent. I was also mesmerized by all the options. After debating for awhile, we finally got to ordering.

Vaffler with espresso sauce topped with vanilla ice cream

WOW. This was my absolute favourite of the night. The pairing of espresso with vanilla ice cream is perfect. My favourite part of it was the espresso sauce. It was flavourful, not too sweet, and had a butteriness to it like caramel.

The Vaffler itself on its own was really good and spiced with cardamom, which made it have a nice subtle and light gingery taste to it.

Vaffler with Coconut spread
The coconut spread was similar to the Malaysian Coconut Spread called Kaya but was more flavourful and richer. It wasn’t overpowering or artificial tasting either. It initially looks like it might not be enough sauce but it definitely is enough for such a delicate waffle.

Vaffler with dark chocolate cherry sauce

The dark chocolate cherry sauce wasn’t my favourite but that might also be my taste preference. It was a little grainier compared to their other sauces.

Brussels Waffle with Almond Butter

This style of waffle is one that you see often. It was light and crispy. My friend chose the almond butter that was quite thick and tasted just like ground almonds.

To sum up my experience at Scandilicious, I was surprised and will definitely be back again soon. It’s a great addition to the neighbourhood and provides lots of options for those looking for something heavier, sweeter, or lighter.

The price point is also good – see their menu for prices.

They have lots of sauces and it just so happens they’re hosting a sample night on Friday, March 22, 6pm to 7pm at their quickie take out window. Stop by if you’re in the area (limit one sample per person)! Check out their website or facebook page for more information.

Words of wisdom

Ask them for help and suggestions if you’re overwhelmed by the options
Experiment with flavours and be creative!
Good on the wallet!

We Rate Scandilicious:

Address:
1340 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.scandilicious.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1340+Commercial+Drive+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=1340+Commercial+Dr,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5L+2T6&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Cafe

Fung Sing Cafe: New Hong Kong Style Cafe

January 15, 2013

Fung Sing Cafe is a new Hong Kong style cafe. This cafe was previously Sun Yee Cafe Restaurant but has switched owners and a new menu to go along with it. The owner of Fung Sing Cafe was a chef at Curry King and opened Fung Sing Cafe to call his own.

The interior isn’t amazing but there are large tables if you want to come in big groups.

Depend on what set you order, it might come with soup. They have 3 types of soup – cream soup, Chinese soup, and Russian borscht. All of them tasted pretty good. Everyone at our table had their own favorite soup. I personally love cream soup.

Cold Milk Tea is always a must when going to a HK style cafe.

House Special Beef Short Ribs ($10.50) has lots of short ribs and was tender. Pretty solid dish.

Sweet and Sour Pork ($10.50) was really good. I usually hate sweet and sour pork but they make it really good here! The breading is thin, so you can taste the pork inside. Definitely recommended!!

2 item sizzling combination ($12.95) comes with your choice of any 2 meat choices, soup, drink, a sauce and a side. I chose the rib eye steak and the chicken steak. I also chose the side of vegetables and mushroom sauce.

Choice of 2 combinations ($9.95) thats what the menu said what this was. Essentially you choose 2 meats, a sauce, and a side. It also comes with a choice of sauce and drink. Kgirl chose her option with fries.

This is what it looks like if you chose rice as a side.

This one would be the one with the side of vegetables.

It’s a pretty good value for under $10 and you get full. This option is very popular.

4 of us ordered the same thing. It’s simple and good.

Baked Ying Yang Rice (King Size -$9.50) is a must order! It’s huge! It’s so large that I have no idea who would be able to finish it.

Trust me, it’s quite large even if the pictures don’t 100% justify the size. It tastes good and its worth your money!

You can get a choice of dessert if you order a set item. There are 3 options – Mango pudding, tapioca with coconut milk, and ice cream crepe.

The mango pudding is quite plain but still a nice ending to the meal.

The coconut milk with tapioca is typical of a Chinese restaurant, but still good.

The ice cream crepe was a surprise to see.

Once you cut into it, the ice cream just oozes out. Really cool and a fun desssert for kids.

Overall, Fung Sing Cafe is pretty solid and we had no complaints. The price is very reasonable, staff were nice, and food was decent. I’d definitely come back for some of their specials!

Words of Wisdom:

You gotta order Choice of 2 combinations and the Baked Ying Yang Rice
Free parking at rear

We Rate Fung Sing Cafe:

Address:
2128 East Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://fungsingcafe.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2128+East+Hastings+St+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=2128+E+Hastings+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5L+1V2&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Siddhartha’s Indian Kitchen: It’s SO Good

December 23, 2012

Siddhartha’s Indian Kitchen is a restaurant on commercial drive and specializes in healthy, sustainable, and delicious Indian food. I’ve been here a few times and I love the food. I came this time with KoreanGirl since she wanted to try something new. We haven’t had Indian food in a while, so I thought I would take her here.

They cater to people who are vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free too. It’s nice since you know there will be a yummy dish awaiting you no matter what your diet restrictions are.

The interior is spacious and has lots of seats.

Aloo Tikki ($6.99) comes with 3 crispy potato cakes served with delhi sauces and pomegranates. It was so good! The blend of the spices are so yummy! All KoreanGirl and I could say during this was “It’s so good”. There is also a vegan option too.

Murg Makhani aka Butter Chicken ($10.99) has a Shahi sauce infused with fenu-greek leaves, cream, tomato marinade and a hint of coconut . It is also tossed with boneless marinated chicken. This is one of their most popular items and it comes with rice.

Palak Paneer ($11.99) is made of a spinach blend with unfermented cottage cheese sticks and served with a salad and rice. There is plenty of paneer inside with creamy creamy spinach. Definitely delicious and ITS SO GOOD. One of my favorite items here.

Garlic Naan ($3) is made freshly in a tandoori oven with roasted garlic and butter. A must if you are here.

The meal was pretty awesome and the 3 items didn’t disappoint at all. KoreanGirl loved it too and we both agreed it was good stuff!

Words of Wisdom:

Aloo tikki, Veggie Pakora, Saag Paneer, and Lamb Shank is recommended!
Metered street parking
Close to Commercial Skytrain
Decent Prices

We Rate Siddartha’s Indian Kitchen:

Address:
2066 Commercial Dr.
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.siddharthaskitchen.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2066+Commercial+Dr.+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=2066+Commercial+Dr,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V5N+4A9&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Siddhartha’s Indian Kitchen: Lamb Shank and Saag Paneer

April 26, 2012

Siddhartha’s Indian Kitchen is a new restaurant that opened up on commercial drive and specializes in healthy, sustainable, and delicious Indian food. Chef Siddharth Choudhary took over the former restaurant – Corner Tandoori in 2011 and reopened in early 2012. They commit to traditional gluten-free vegetarian preparations, vegan options and certified sustainable ingredients. When you taste their food, you will definitely be able to taste the difference!

I came down here with LinLin and LoiLoi to check out Siddhartha’s Indian Kitchen.

The interior is quite nice and the paintings are just breath-taking. I absolutely adore the amazing all the images on the interior and exterior. I came here at 6pm and the place slowly filled up as the night went on. I even bumped into 604Foodtography!

Housemade Chai Tea was ordered by LoiLoi. It reminded us of an Indian version of HK-Style Milk Tea. Of course it’s not the same, but same concept of mixing the sugar and milk into the tea. It was quite aromatic with subtle tastes of spices.

Mango Lassi is a mango and yogurt based drink. The drink was creamy and had a delicious mango taste, which I absolutely love. It is also topped off with a mango puree swirl on the top. The only thing that could be improved is the temperature, I would have liked it to be a bit colder. LoiLoi agreed too.

Lamb Shank comes with a large slow cooked piece of lamb. It is very tender and is cooked in the curry. It was highly recommended by the owner, so we decided to get it.

The accompanying sauce is as delicious as the meat. It was not very oily, which is nice because Indian food tends to be quite oily. Clearly their cooking techniques and ingredients shine through. It also comes with a choice of rice or naan.

We decided to choose the rice to go with the lamb shank since it works well with the sauce.

Saag Paneer is made with cheese and curried spinach. It wasn’t like the usual curries as it was more dense and thick. It is vegetarian and it very very delicious. It was our favorite dish of the night! You can tell they used a lot of spinach in the dish. Highly recommended! It also comes with rice or naan.

Garlic Naan is fresh tandoori baked naan with roasted garlic & butter on top. It was actually a perfect item to accompany the naan because you could slather a bunch of saag paneer and eat it. We did notice that the naan was a bit unevenly cooked, so one of our pieces were more burnt than the rest.

Overall, we did enjoy our main dishes and I just love the fact where its healthier and you can actually taste it…and it tastes better. Siddhartha’s Indian Kitchen is a great addition to Commercial Drive and their Saag Paneer is out of this world! The guys at VANEATS.ca have a dining package right now for $16 that showcases their other dishes.

Words of Wisdom:

Veggie Pakora, Saag Paneer, and Lamb Shank is recommended!
Metered street parking
Close to Commercial Skytrain
Decent Prices

We Rate Siddartha’s Indian Kitchen:

Address:
2066 Commercial Dr.
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.siddharthaskitchen.com/

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In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria: Pizza, Pizza, Pizza

April 25, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited to their media event to try out their food and hear more about the restaurant. I tried not to be biased and focused more on the taste of the food. All items are the same size as what you would normally receive.

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria is a fast casual restaurant serving Neopolitan pizza. The have several locations in Alberta. They just opened their first location in BC on Commercial drive. They try to use similar ingredients as they would in Naples….except the difference is that they use a gas oven instead of a wooden oven.

Ange (FoodPunk), Sean (SeansAdventuresInFlavourTown), Tess, and I sat together at a table and decided to share a variety of items. We ate too much for our own good.

The kitchen is very open, so you can see the staff at work. There are tons of seats, so good for groups.

At first it is a bit confusing to figure out how to order. At your table, you will have a note pad and a pencil. You just write down your order, go up to the counter and complete your transaction.

It’s a little bit strange, but I guess that’s what makes it a “fast casual” restaurant. You can easily order to go or take your time eating at the restaurant.

Italian Spritz ($6.50) has prosecco, aperol with a splash of soda water. I liked it because it had a bold citrus taste.

Sangria ($9.50) is a fruit-based Italian wine punch with Grand Marnier and orange Italian soda. It tasted ok.

Prosciutto Wrapped Mozarella Balls (6 for $18) has fresh mozzarella wrapped with prosciutto in tomato sauce, fresh basil, and pecorino romano. I naturally liked it because it has meat and cheese. What was odd about the dish was the sauce was a bit cold.

It also comes with flatbread. It’s great just dunking this into the tomato sauce.

Famoso Salad ($13.50) has romaine lettuce, prosciutto crisps, carrots, cherry tomatoes, spicy sopressata, fire-roasted chicken, feta, and dijon-balsamic vinaigrette. It was a large salad and I liked it because it had a little bit of everything.

Funghi Tartufo ($14.50) has roasted white mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, white truffle oil, reggiano parmesan. This was my favorite pizza because I just love mushrooms and truffle oil. The people at my table had varying opinions on this pizza. It all comes down to personal tastes and what makes you drool.

The thing I didn’t like about the pizza was how super thin the pizza was in the center. With the toppings, it made the center a bit soggy and floppy.

Margherita Pizza ($11) has fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, pecorino romano, and extra virgin olive oil. Very simple, but packs a lot of amazing flavour from the tomatoes.

Prosciutto Arugula ($14.50) has prosciutto, arugula, and pecorino romano. I wasn’t a big fan of this pizza since there could have been a bit more arugula and the toppings didn’t stick too well to the pizza. The prosciutto was good by itself, but I didn’t like the overall item.

San Andreas ($14.50) is a California style pizza. It has Bianca sauce, fresh mozzarella, and chili-lime marinated roasted chicken. Then its topped with fresh avocado slices, diced roma tomatoes, diced onion, cilantro, and drizzled with light cream. It was definitely a busy pizza with lots of different ingredients. It kinda reminded me of a taco.

Affogato ($5) has a shot of espresso on top of a scoop of gelato. You can choose any of their gelato flavours but i stuck with vanilla since it just seemed right to pair it with espresso. I would have preferred the two items separately until it arrives to the table because my gelato melted quite quickly.

Dolce and Banana ($7) has oven-roasted bananas coated in caramelized brown sugar, crushed pecans, caramel sauce, vanilla bean gelato. I am not a fan of caramel because it sticks to your teeth, but if you love caramel and bananas, then you should get this. It’s a good dessert to share with other since it’s easily splitable.

Nutella Pizza ($8) is smothered in Nutella, folded into a calzone, then cut into strips. It’s a great sharable item as well. Since the crust is quite thin, you should be able to finish this with no issues. In our case, we couldn’t finish it because we ate SO much.

Tiramisu ($6) is imported from Milan, Italy. It has mascarpone cream on a sponge cake base, drenched with espresso, topped with mascarpone and dusted with cocoa. It was pretty standard and nothing too special about it.

Pineapple Panna Cotta ($4.50) is a sweet Italian custard made with pineapple and served with crushed pineapple and coconut shavings. It is one of their lighter desserts and I enjoyed it because it was a refreshing end to the meal. The pineapple in the custard didn’t stand out, but when you scoop up some of the custard with pineapples, it makes a good combination.

Overall, they have a large selection of items on their menu, but some items are a hit and miss. If you choose items that have your favorite items in there, you should have no problems at all. With so many pizza restaurants popping up in Vancouver, the competition is heating up!

Words of Wisdom:

Recommended items – margarita pizza, nutella pizza
Items are a hit and miss
Some free parking in residential area
Must order items at the counter

We Rate Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria:

Address:
1380 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC
Website: http://www.famoso.ca/locations/bc_commercial_drive.php

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In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Palki Passion Dining Package Review

April 12, 2012

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

Hello Internet! Abbytizer and I reviewed VANEATS latest dining package for “Palki Passion”. Palki serves up traditional Indian cuisine on Commercial Drive.

The dining package consist of a sample platter of various appetizers and main course meal.

Sample Platter consists of:

“Vegetable Samosa”, spiced vegetables stuffed in a savoury pastry.
“Lamb Barrah Kebob”, rack of lamb marinated with garlic, ginger and spices.
“Chicken Tikka”, tender piece of boneless chicken marinated with our special ingredients and grilled in the Tandoor.
“Tandoori Prawn”, jumbo prawn marinated and cooked in the Tandoor
“Murg Malai Tikka”, tender chicken marinated in sour cream and fresh spices from Tandoor.

Main Course consist of:

“Butter Chicken”, boneless chicken first broiled in the Tandoor and then cooked in a butter and cream sauce.
“Onion and Cilantro Naan”, Indian style onion and cilantro.

You can purchase the dinning package at VANEATS.ca for only $14 from April 11 to June 11, 2012.

The interior of the restaurant has a very nice modern look with Indian inspired decor. Upon walking into the restaurant, you are welcomed with the wonderful aroma of spices.

Lentil Wafer with Black Pepper Seeds. We found this mini appetizer to be delicious. The Lentil wafer is very crispy and after a while of eating, you definitely will taste the presence of the black pepper.

The sample platter comes on very hot sizzling hot plate.

Vegetable Samosa has spiced vegetables stuffed in a savoury pastry.
One samosa is cut into two halves. The samosa is well seasoned, is crispy and isn’t greasy like other samosas we’ve had.

Lamb Barrah Kebob is a rack of lamb marinated with garlic, ginger and spices then roasted in the Tandoor. The lamb was delicious. It was nicely grilled and juicy. The lamb does have a bit more spice compared to the other samplers.

Chicken Tikka has tender piece of boneless chicken marinated with Palki’s special ingredients and grilled in the Tandoor. Abbytizer enjoyed how juicy the chicken was. The tandoori seasoning was not overwhelming and the chicken had a nice char grilled flavour to them.

Tandoori Prawn has jumbo prawn marinated and cooked in the Tandoor. Abbytizer describes it to be perfectly cooked as the prawns were tender. The seasoning complemented the sweetness of the prawns.

Murg Malai Tikka has tender chicken marinated in sour cream and fresh spices from Tandoor. Abbytizer enjoyed the chicken, as it was moist and tasty. The grill and char on the chicken added to the overall flavour of this dish.

Along the side of the hot plate are grilled green bell peppers, which were delicious. The peppers have the taste of tandoori from the other dishes beside them.

Butter Chicken has boneless chicken first broiled in the Tandoor and then cooked in a butter and cream sauce. Abbytizer and I both agree that the butter chicken was delicious. Each piece of chicken was very tender. The sauce was delicious. Abbytizer thought that the sauce permeated the chicken so well. Palki’s butter chicken sauce is slightly different from other butter chicken sauces because it had a hint of sweet smokiness. The butter chicken was so delicious that Abbytizer cleaned out the serving dish with the onion and cilantro naan!

Onion and Cilantro Naan has Indian style onion and cilantro. Abbytizer describes it to be a great vehicle for carrying the butter chicken sauce. The naan was tasty in its own right, as it had onions and cilantro, which added little bursts of flavour with every bite.

Granvilla Island Pale Ale Beer ($3.75) The beer is quite refreshing on a sunny day.

The Peacock ($8.00) is made of kiwi, lime, lemon, blue curacao, melon liqueur and soda. Abbytizer describes to be a very refreshing cocktail. She enjoyed the sweetness of the kiwi and questioned if it truly was alcoholic! It was such a good drink she sipped on 2 Peacocks during our dining experience.

Spiked Mango Lassi ($6.75) is made up of mango, special yogurt with rum. Abbytizer describes it to be another great cocktail, especially if you like something that is creamy. The restaurant makes its own yogurt, which is used in this drink. They use fresh mango and mango pulp, and toss all the ingredients, including the rum, in a blender. The ends result is a fruity and enjoyable drink.

Mango Kulfi ($4.25) this is two scopes of rich Indian Mango Ice-cream. I found this dessert to be delicious; there is some sort of seasoning added to the ice cream, which gives it a chewy texture.

Gulab Jamon ($4.25) round sponge like cake in a honey syrup. Abbytizer describe it to be the dessert of choice, especially if you have a big sweet tooth like she does! The sponge cake balls were warm and soft. She especially enjoyed how they soaked up the honey syrup! The addition of toasted nuts gave the dessert a crunchy textural contrast.

Overall, Abbytizer and I both agree that the VANEATs dinning package of “Palki Passion” is worth the $14 dollars. The package is a wonderful way for anyone to get introduced to Indian cuisine. The servers were very friendly and answered any curious questions we had about the dishes. Abbytizer intends to return to Palki when she craves Indian food. When redeeming your package at the restaurant you can choose the degree of heat, ranging from very mild, to very spicy.

Words of Wisdom:

Drink Specials
Nice atmosphere with friendly servers
Can choose level of heat

We Rate Palki Indian Restaurant:

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

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In Chinese

Pelican Seafood Restaurant: Dim Sum + Hello Kitty Mango Pudding

April 6, 2012

Pelican Seafood Restaurant is located on Victoria Drive and Hastings Street. It’s a favorite amongst people in the neighbourhood for dim sum. I came with the Vancouver Gastronomical Brouhaha group to just chow down on some dim sum. It’s always better to eat with great company!

By 10:30am, this place was packed! Unlike traditional Dim Sum restaurants, they do not use carts to push around the food. Instead, you just order it off a piece of paper and it comes to your table. For some people, they may like it, some don’t. It’s just personal preference.

Durian Pastry cane give a lot of people mixed feelings. Some people love durian, some people hate it. Durian is the fruit with all the spikes.

I personally don’t mind durian at all. The pastry was flakey, but the durian was a bit small, so the flavour wasn’t as great as it could be.

Egg Yolk Bun are just the chinese steam buns but filled with custard-like filling.

I didn’t like the texture of the interior because it was pretty gritty. You could taste a lot of the clumps.

Radish Cake is lightly fried on the outside and has a lot of pieces. Good taste too.

Eggplant with prawn puree is one of my favorite dishes.They make it great here! The eggplant is slightly mushy with the savory prawn puree on top. The sauce accompanied the dish nicely too.

Egg Tarts comes with 3 pieces per order. Sometimes if you order multiples of a dish, they combine it together. I’ve never really been a fan of egg tarts.

Rice Rolls with Beef and Parsley is just the steamed rice roll wrapped around a mixture of beef and parsley. It’s another one of those dishes you must order.

Meat Dumpling is crispy on the outside and has a savory meat filling.

Beef Meatballs is one of my favorite items. Who can turn down meat? I sure can’t. hahaha I like dunking the meatballs in worcheshire sauce.

Sticky Rice is wrapped up in leaves and is quite fragrant.

Pan Fried Rice Flour Roll were ok, but I wish it had more stuff to it.

Spring rolls comes in 4 pieces per order, but the picture has 2 orders.I liked them because they had shrimp inside.

Prawn Dumplings (har gau) are my favorites! Or anything with shrimp is my favorite.

Taro Dumpling (wu gok) is super crispy on the outside with soft taro on the inside.

Steam Pork Bun (Xiao long bao) were not very good. The skin was quite thick so it did take away from the flavour of the meat.

Mango Pudding comes in really cute shapes.

Our second order of mango pudding was quite cute too! They really know how to impress the kids. I thought the taste was ok, but it could have had more of a mango fragrance to it.

Overall, the food was good with a few hit and miss items. The service was ok, but there were times where one of the managers or servers were quite rude.

Words of Wisdom:

Decent prices
Rude service
Parking lot in front but usually full at peak hours
Lots of MSG or salt in food

We Rate Pelican Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
1895 E Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

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In Commercial Drive / Grandview

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

March 31, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words of Wisdom:

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

We Rate Palki Indian Restaurant:

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

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In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Bandidas Taqueria: Vegetarian Mexican Brunch

March 4, 2012

When AdventureTimeGirl was in town, I took her to Banditas Taqueria since it is a very popular vegetarian restaurant for bunch. We actually went twice in one weekend since she enjoyed it so much. The prices are quite fair and they just serve good vegetarian food.

Horchata is a traditional Mexican rice beverage. It’s refreshing, sweet, milky, nutty and has a nice cinnamon taste. M enjoyed it and I also stole a few sips from him.

2 Wolf and Goat Taco with Rice + Beans ($5.25 +$2.25) has fresh guacamole, purple cabbage, pinto beans, roasted salsa, cheese and cour cream. Delicious tacos and I really enjoy their guacamole and the purple cabbage. The beans and the rice were ok, but it was still a decent side since it fills you up.

Baked Breakfast Burrito ($7.50 + $2.25) has scrambled eggs, roasted salsa, pinto beans, sour cream and cheese in the whole wheat tortilla. The burrito was quite large and will really get you full. M enjoyed it!

Breakfast Burrito ($7.50) not baked, but it is still nice and large!

It’s packed with lots of eggs and beans! It’s a very hearty breakfast indeed.

Morgan Taylor ($8.50) is a new burrito they are serving at the restaurant. It has roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, roasted salsa, cheese and sour cream. AdventureTimeGirl really enjoyed it and was the perfect size.

Baked Morgan Taylor ($8.50 +$2.25) is the same thing as above, but with the added sauce and cheese. M actually liked this more than the breakfast burrito because of the texture from the potatoes.

Becky’s Omelette ($11) is another new item on their menu. It has roasted red pepper sauce, spinach, caramelized onions, cheese, hash, beans and purple cabbage. ScarFace enjoyed it and didn’t mind too much that it was meatless.

Egg Muffins with Veggie Sausage ($8.5 + $2.25) has 2 cornbread muffin tops, topped with guacamole, cheese, fried eggs with a tangy tomatillo sauce. I also really loved this dish because of the crispy cornbread and the taste of the tomatillo sauce. Definitely recommended!

Lemmy ($11) is also a new dish. It’s a poblano baked with pinto beans, cheese and sauce. It is also topped off with 2 poached eggs. On the side there is tortillas, purple cabbage and hashbrowns. AdventureTimeGirl also enjoyed this dish.

All the dishes were quite good and the picky boys also enjoyed their meatless meals, so it was quite a success.

Words of Wisdom:

Breakfast items are good!
No reservations
All Vegetarian food
Service is mediocre
Good quality ingredients
Closest Skytrain: Commercial/Broadway stn

We rate Bandidas Taqueria:

Address:

2781 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.bandidastaqueria.com

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Vancouver

In BBQ

The Red Wagon: Amazing BBQ, But Why The Asian Plates?

December 30, 2011

The Red Wagon on Hastings is a neighbourhood joint that serves up delicious diner food. The interior is very retro, but their food packs some amazing flavour.

Flo and I were on Trinity Street checking out some Christmas lights and got quite hungry. I chose to take her here because it’s a bit of a dive, but it does have some pretty interesting food.

Recently, Guy Fieri of Diners Drive-ins and Dives came to film a segment on his show for the Food Network. According to the show, he ate the Pulled Pork Pancakes.

If you missed it, it should air again on Dec 31st at 4pm! I check out this blog (http://dinersdrive-insanddives.blogspot.com/search/label/British%20Columbia) to check when shows are airing.

Pulled Pork Sandwich ($10.25) is served on a portuguese bun served with coleslaw and fries…but Flo just substituted it with their soup of the day.

Soup of the Day

Flo really enjoyed the taste of the Pulled pork and it’s taste can even rival Reup BBQ’s pulled pork. Since she didn’t like coleslaw, she ordered it on the side and made me eat it. hehehe. The coleslow was good and lightly dressed.

Crispy Pork Belly Sandwich ($10.50) has pickled vegetables, jalapeno, cilantro, mayo on a baguette with a side of chips.

This sandwich was good, but it was SO OILY. The pork belly contains quite a bit of fat, so when you are eating this, it drips all over your hands and plate. To counteract this, the pickled vegetables and cilantro try to balance it out. I used about 7 napkins to soak up the excess fat. The jalapeno was quite strong too, but it made me grab a glass of water to quell the burning.

This isn’t a sandwich for everyone, the overall taste is good, but depends if you can handle the fattiness and sting of jalapenos.

The chips on the side were pretty good, but I was all oiled out when eating the pork belly sandwich. Tastes super good with vinegar!

Did you notice something in each of the photos? ASIAN PLATES!

Overall, good place for a brunch or a late night meal. I still think the best item is the Pulled Pork Burger. It’s not on the menu, but sometimes it’s a special item. You can also ask the chef to make it.

Words of Wisdom:

Good food
Anything pulled pork is amazing
A tad expensive depending on what you get
Free parking on adjacent streets

We Rate The Red Wagon:

Address:

2296 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.redwagoncafe.com

Twitter: @redwagoncafe

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/redwagoncafe

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Palki Indian Restaurant: Hidden Find on Commercial Drive

December 27, 2011

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by the owners to try out their restaurant. I brought along 3 friends to really keep this review as unbiased as possible! This review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant.

Palki Indian Restaurant is located on Commercial Drive. Their first location has been running for the past 12 years in North Vancouver. In the past year, they opened up their second location on Commercial Drive. From the outside, it doesn’t look much, but they have some amazing Indian food. All their food is authentic and made by their skilled chefs from India.

At first, when I was walking by, this sign really doesn’t do this restaurant justice. I would probably keep on walking. They have plans to redo their exterior, so this will change in 2012.

The interior is very elegant and I was very impressed. There are 2 levels in the restaurant – one is the regular dining area and the 2nd is this funkier bar area.

Surprisingly, this place was packed for a Tuesday evening. Even though there is not a lot of online presence by the restaurant, they have an amazing amount of loyal customers that keep coming back.

Mango Lassi is a drink you should be ordering. It’s a yogurt based drink with mangoes. I’ve always loved drinking mango lassi and this one was good. It’s non-alcoholic so it’s perfect for kids and adults. They also have an alcoholic version on their menu too if you felt like boozing it up.

If you plan on ordering spicy food, I find it a good drink to cut the spice because of its creamy texture.

The Peacock is made of kiwi, lime, lemon, blue curacao, melon liqueur and soda. It was nice and fruity and not too alcoholic. Everyone was eyeing Gmoney’s drink since it did look pretty cool.

Goa Sunrise contains mango, ginger, white rum with malibu and grenadine. J thought it was good, but she still preferred the Peacock since it was more fruity.

KingFisher Beer is a beer from India. It has a very light crisp taste.

Onion Bhajia is deep fried battered onion. The batter is bright red, but it is in no way spicy at all. The color is all natural and gets it’s red color from the paprika. J loved this dish and couldn’t get enough. The onion is nice and savory with it’s crunch batter.

Chicken Pakora was mixed in there as well. It’s a deep fried battered boneless chicken with Indian spices. It has the same bright red exterior. I liked it! The chicken was juicy and well flavoured.

These two items were probably my favorite appetizers.

Vegetable Pakora is deep fried fritters of garden fresh vegetables. It was alright, but it didn’t suit my tastes.

Vegetable Samosa has spiced vegetables stuffed in a savoury pastry. The filling was mostly potatoes and Im not a huge fan of starchy foods.

The appetizers come with two sauces – cilantro mint sauce and a tamarind sauce. I liked the cilantro mint sauce because of its strong pungent flavours. I just loved dunking the appetizers in it! The tamarind sauce was alright, but I preferred the other sauce.

Curried Mussels ($11.95) has mussels cooked in a curry sauce. There was lots of sauce to accompany the mussels, but I felt the mussels could be a bit more plump. You do get a lot of sauce left over, so it might be good to grab some naan for it.

Butter Chicken ($11.50) has boneless chicken in a butter and cream sauce. This is their most popular dish! 50% of the curries they serve is this dish. It’s probably because it’s a fairly common dish.

The curry tasted really good and even though it’s not very large, when you order rice or naan with it, you will get full.

Lamb Vindaloo ($11.95) has boneless lamb with garlic, ginger, vinegar, potatoes and some Indian spices.

It another one of their popular items, but I wasn’t a big fan of the lamb. They also have a beef version too, so that might be good.

Kofta Dil Bahar ($10.95) has minced paneer– Indian fresh cream cheese and mixed vegetable balls stuffed with dry fruits and served in a mild cream sauce.

I loved this dish even though it’s vegetarian. It’s not spicy and has a good flavour to it.

Tandoori Naan ($1.85) should be ordered with the curries. Perfect for dipping into it.

More Tandoori Naan.

Onion and Cilantro Naan ($3) was very colorful and seemed like pizza instead of naan. I’ve never had anything like this. Good, but when you have this with the curry, it doesn’t let the flavour of the curry shine through.

Spinach And Paneer Naan ($4) is stuffed bread with homemade cheese and spinach. I’ve never experienced anything similar to this. It’s quite unique, but it still doesn’t taste that great alone. It still tastes better with the curries.

Pulao ($3) is basmati rice . It’s a good chice to accompany your curry.

Im probably more of a traditionalist, so I would prefer the original naan and the basmati rice to accompany the curries. This is not to say the other naan arn’t good, I just like the original simple stuff.

Overall, I think it’s a great addition to the Drive! Lot of choices on their menu and its a nice place to dine at with affordable prices.

Words of Wisdom:

Large amount of curries and Naan
Best to stick with the original Naan
Some parking available in the residential areas or pay parking in front
Good prices and good atmosphere
Onion Bhajia, Chicken Pakora, Butter Chicken and Kofta Dil Bahar are highly recommended

We Rate Palki Indian Restaurant:

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

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Vancouver

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Volcano Sushi & Grill: Explosive Taste

December 26, 2011

I always pass by Hastings and I see this relatively new sushi place called Volcano Sushi & Grill. It has quite a strong name, but I was wanting to cure my curiosity of this place, so M and I decided to head here for some Linner (Lunch/Dinner). It’s not owned by Japanese or Koreans….but Chinese. Certain dishes can have a bit of a Chinese twist to them.

I gotta have tea with everything, I’m a bit of an addict. As I write this review, I’m drinking tea.

Deep Fried Cheese Wonton ($3.50) was crispy of the outside and on the inside, it didn’t taste like deep fried cheese. The mixture reminded me of clam chowder for some reason… but thicker. I didn’t like it, but M did.

Spicy Tuna and Salmon Sashimi ($10.50) was different from the usual places. As you look at the color and the sauce they used, it is different. It tasted spicier and had a good kick!

Volcano Roll ($3.95) has tuna, imitation crab, cucumber with mayo and spicy sauce then it’s deep fried. The roll was quite cute and tasted good.

American Roll ($8.95) has crab meat, Eel, Avocado, Cheese with Spicy Tuna on top. Not very american, but it was also really good. You wouldn’t think cheese would go well with this, but it really wasn’t bad at all.

Overall, they have a good selection of rolls with decent prices. I felt that some items were a hit and miss.

Words of Wisdom:

Mediocre service
Lots of Booth Seating
Free parking in front
Good lunch and Dinner combos

We Rate Volcano Sushi & Grill:
Address:
1991 E Hastings St
Vancouver, BC V5L

Website:
http://www.just-eat.ca/restaurants-volcano-sushi-grill

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In Bakery

East Village Bakery: Mom & Pop Bakery With Artisan Treats

December 23, 2011

East Village Bakery is an artisan bakery specializing in artisan bread, pies and french pastries. I honestly thought it was just an asian bakery, but when M and stepped inside, we were just amazed by the amount of little ornate treats. Everything looked very fresh and the smell inside was just amazing.

They had a lot of delectable treats available! I’m sure you can come in to find lots of inspiration too if you love to bake.

They all looked picture perfect! From the scones to the gingersnap cookies. Pretty good prices too.

Palmiers AKA Butterfly Cookies are nice and crunchy with good layering. Not too buttery.

Doesn’t that look so delicious. It is one of my favorite cookies as a kid.

White chocolate blueberry scone ($2.35) was a really good scone. It was different that the usual scones since it was not very hard and was quite delicate. I wasn’t originally going to purchase this, but the owner suggested it. Good decision indeed.

Spinach Cheddar Scone ($2.35) is for the people who love savory baked goods. It wasn’t very flavourful, but it does taste better with some tea or coffee. The inside texture was quite light and fluffy similar to the other scone.

Sour Cherry Chocolate Truffle Tart (2 for $3.50) was surprisingly really good. Good balance between the sour cherry and the chocolate.

Callebaut Chocolate Banana Cake with Marzipan ($2.95) was good, the inside had a really cool texture and had some chewy bits inside. M liked it a lot.

Ginger Crackle Cookies ($1.95) was not that good since it was really tough and hard to eat. M likes his ginger cookies a bit softer and sweeter.

Overall, it’s a good place to grab a few treats and bring them back home.

Words of Wisdom:

Call in for special orders to ensure the item you want
Fresh and baked daily on site
Very very limited seating, mostly for take out
Some items can be a hit or miss
Good affordable prices

We Rate East Village Bakery:

Address:

2166 East Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC V5L

Website:
eastvillagebakery.com

Twitter: @eastvillagebake

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Vancouver

In Brunch

Little Nest: Unique Breakfast for You…and Your Kids

November 5, 2011

It was another #YVRBreakfastClub, we came early at 9am since they don’t take reservations. It’s a nice kid friendly cafe. There are a lot of parents who take their little kids to dine here, so if you have a kid, it won’t be awkward to eat.

The inside has lots of space and even a little play area. There are also chalk boards, so as you wait for your food, you can doodle.

They even have cool unique high chairs. Since the people of #YVRbreakfastClub don’t have children, we just had a good time staring at all the kids. Not in a pedo kinda way or anything.

Since early mornings are always in need of coffee, I got the medium latte. Cute little latte art!

Spicy eggs special of the day ($12) came with 4 slices of the scrambled egg things with a spicy sauce, some greens and toasted baguette.

The baguette was nicely toasted. I can’t remember what type of baguette it was, but it might have been like a cranberry lemon type. When you order their meals, you can choose from a variety of breads.

The eggs tasted really good! I don’t know how to explain it, but it was layered with different ingredients. I really have no idea what was in this since I think I was way too hungry. hahaha.

Overall, decent food and overpriced. The breakfast is quite unique and different than the usual brunch places. There are lots of kids here, so if you don’t like the crying and screaming of kids, this isn’t your place to dine at.

Words of Wisdom:

Overpriced
Small portions
Kid friendly
Hard to find parking

We Rate Little Nest:

Address:

1716 Charles St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

www.littlenest.ca

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Bandidas Taqueria: Vegetarian Tacos!

October 10, 2011

Bandidas Taqueria is a vegetarian Mexican joint on Commercial that sells some amazing vegetarian tacos. Since I have not seen Eva in a while, so some taco from Bandidas Taquria seemed fitting since she’s a vegetarian.

The interior is very rustic and has lots of tables.

The tables even have these cute little micro plants.

Horchata is a traditional Mexican rice beverage. It’s refreshing, sweet, milky, nutty and has a nice cinnamon taste.

Ronny Russell Taco has roasted yams and onions, fresh guacamole, black beans, green salsa, purple cabbage and toasted pumpkin seeds. You can turn the 2 tacos into an entrée for a little bit extra and you get rice and beans on the side. Eva usually gets this dish quite often, which means this must be good.

Fajitas ($12) has smoked tempeh, sautéed strips of poblano chilies, onions and red peppers. It is also served with rice, beans, cheese, roasted salsa, sour cream, red cabbage and corn tortillas. This was a pretty big plate of food.

I don’t usually eat vegetarian food, but this was so good! The flavours were amazing and the tempeh tasted very good. Tempeh is like a dense version of tofu.

Bandidas Taqeria did not disappoint at all! Good food, good location and good company!

Words of Wisdom:

No reservations
All Vegetarian food
Good quality ingredients
Closest Skytrain: Commercial/Broadway stn

We rate Bandidas Taqueria:

Address:

2781 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.bandidastaqueria.com

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Nuba Waldorf: Worst Dining Experience Ever

September 25, 2011

Nuba Cafe opened up at the renovated Waldorf Hotel on Hastings. They serve up delicious Lebanese food.

When we arrived, the place was packed. The hostess greeted us and we had to wait a 5 minutes for a table, so they told us to wait at the bar. They had lots of reservations, but the only table available was a table at the back of the restaurant beside the back exit to the hotel. It seemed like the most out of place table in the entire restaurant. We still didn’t mind since we were looking forward to the meal.

Looking around, it is a beautiful venue and it was quite lively at night.

At a later point in the night, all the lights get dimmer to set the mood.

Mexican Cola ($4) is similar to the usual coca-cola, but made with cane sugar. The old school bottle made it fun to drink!

Young Coconut ($6.50) is a real coconut that is brought to your table. The juice is very sweet and crisp! You even get a small spoon to scoop out the coconut meat to eat.

Fruit et Feta with chicken($9.50 +$4) has Macedonian feta, dried nuts and apricots with organic greens and a red wine pomegranate vinaigrette. I added on chicken for an additional $4. I have to say, I was quite disappointed by the size of the skewer…and for $4…quite a rip off! The salad did get me quite full since it was filled with lots of dried fruits and nuts!

Here is where the dining experience started to take a turn for the worse.

As I got my entree, M’s Lamb stew never arrived. We thought that the lamb stew would take a bit longer since salads are so much faster to prepare. I thought I would wait till he got his entree, but since he’s a gentleman, he told me to go ahead and start. I was hungry, so I didn’t mind. Half way though my salad, I dropped my fork, so I thought I would wave down a waitress to get me a new one. I tried flagging them a few times but no one seemed to notice us. I shrugged it off and just took M’s fork since his food didn’t arrive yet.

I ate the salad pretty slowly for 40 minutes but still no sign of the entree. We thought this was particularly strange, so we tried yet again to flag down the waitress. A few of them passed us by and we saw our waitress tend to a few tables 2/3 times…and she didn’t even once stop by our table to ask how we were doing.

Now it was an hour later, I was close to finishing my dish and the waitress finally see our hands up. We ask what the status of M’s entree was and she said she did not hear us ordering the lamb strew. She felt bad and asked us if we still wanted it, M politely declined since there was no point since I was almost done my dish. She told us we should of totally flagged her down. (We tried!!!! Oh god! We really tried hard!). She even offered the dish free of charge, but we declined again since we had to go. She said the music in the room was quite loud and she also didn’t hear an order at another table.

I don’t completely blame her since it was a busy night, but it would be good to repeat customers orders just in case you didn’t hear anything, also check up on them. Plus, isn’t it strange that 2 people walk into a restaurant and order 2 drinks and a salad? We’re asian, but we aren’t that cheap.

To compensate us, they didn’t charge us for the coconut drink. It was nice of them, but still left us feeling bitter. In the end, I spent $24 eating a salad, drinking drinks, flaggin down waitresses, and watching M get hungry & frustrated. This might have just been my asian side, but I thought they should have compensated us for the whole meal.

Thanks Nuba, you ruined a perfectly good date for us. You may have good food, but you ruined our night.

Do keep in mind that this is probably those rare occurrences that happen, so I’m sure it doesn’t happen every night.

Words of Wisdom:

Special Menu’s every month
Make reservations in advanced and ask to be seated by the booths near the window
More expensive than the other Nuba locations

We Rate Nuba Waldorf:

Address:

1489 E Hastings St
Vancouver, BC V5L

Website:
www.waldorfhotel.com/nuba/

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen: Great Addition to The Drive

August 22, 2011

My sister found a new Japanese place on Commercial Drive called Kishimoto that serves up sushi and different izakaya dishes. Since I just adore Japanese food to death, I dragging M to come eat with me.

There are a few other Japanese Restaurants on Commercial Drive and at first we accidentally went to the wrong place. It looked nothing like Kishimoto, but it had a similar name. M thought I took him to a crappy place, but we just went to the wrong place. We felt super bad to be leaving, so we just grabbed our stuff and quickly said “umm errr we have to go”. As we walked infront of Kishimoto, our eyes just lit up.

Their interior is quite dark, so it gives it a bit of a romantic intimate vibe. The servers were really nice!

I can’t live without beer, so I got a bottle of Kirin. Kirin isn’t as good as Sapporo or Asahi.

Ebi Chili Mayo ($9.75) comes with 5 pieces of the battered and fried prawns with chili mayo sauce. The prawns were beautifully butterflied so you can taste more of the natural taste of the prawn . I loved how the mayo is on the side since I really don’t like my ebi mayo doused in the sauce.

What I found was that even though this dish is good, it is quite pricey for just 5 pieces.

Sockeye Salmon Ishinabe ($14) is rice and sockeye salmon sashimi with a bunch of other ingredients in a 450 degree stone bowl. This reminded me of the Korean bibimbap, but with a Japanese twist. You need to leave the ingredients in the bowl until the bottom gets crispy. I love the crispy rice, so I let it sit there for awhile.

For the price, you wont’ get super full from the dish. It also tasted really good, but quite pricey.

My favorite dishes were probably the sushi! It comes with such a lovely presentation! It has a tea light candle in the center with red currants. Red currants are currently in season, so its a perfect garnish.

They do little things on the dish that just impresses me. They even turned bits of carrot into a butterfly!

Kishimoto Roll ($5.95) has scallop, salmon, radish sprouts, wrapped in rice and soy paper. It was really good!!! It’s probably one of the best sushi’s I’ve had in a while. Its the type of sushi that requires no soy sauce and the flavours really just shine through. It was not super dense and it was really just perfect.

Little Princess Roll ($7.95) has oba leaf, cream cheese, unagi, mayo wrapped in rice and inari. This roll even has edamame eyes! The roll just melts in your mouth and you really just fall in love with the combination of unagi and cream cheese.

Overall, M and I fell in love with their sushi! We did like the other items, but they got pretty pricey. You really need to look and choose the items carefully on the menu or else you will break your wallet. The quality of the food is amazing and I will probably come here again for their sushi.

Words of Wisdom:

Kishimoto Roll is a must order!
Prices are slightly high on certain items
dark intimate atmosphere
Great service
Free parking in residential areas

We Rate Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen:

Address:

2054 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/pages/Kishimoto…

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Vancouver

In Brunch

Bandidas Taqueria: Veggie Bacon Strips, Veggie Bacon Strips

July 22, 2011

Waking up early is not my favorite thing in the world. Time is really best spent sleeping in, @wongers told me to meet up with the #YVRbreakfastclub at Bandidas Taqueria for some vegetarian breakfast and some good times with fellow twitterers such as @mananetwork @mini604 @wongers @alexglee @graceeeyang @EarlAlikpala
@gluttonwithacam @richerd and @alexglee .

Bandidas is near Commercial and they are quite popular for their vegetarian Mexican cuisine. I’ve heard much about this place but never had time to eat here.

The interior was pretty decent. If you want to go with a large group, it’s best to call ahead of time to let them know the size of your party so they can set up the tables before they open. They don’t do reservations, so it is best to go about 10 mins before opening to line up.

There wasn’t a huge line up, but it slowly did get filled up by other patrons.

They have a brunch menu and an all day breakfast section as well.

Its pretty cool how all their water are in jars.

Early morning breakfast is best with coffee! I live off coffee and thats what keeps me going and going.

Alan’s Breakfast ($11.75) has romaine, purple cabbage, cilantro, cheese, pinto beans, balsamic vinaigrette, guacamole, and fresh salsa, topped with two fried free-range eggs. It was basically a breakfast salad. I thought it was pretty good since the guacamole, salsa, and the beans really worked well with all the ingredients.

It was a light refreshing breakfast. I did get quite full from this as well.

I also added a side of Veggie Bacon ($2.25). I have never had veggie bacon and it really did not taste bad. Since they added some salt to it, it really mirrored the taste and crunchiness of bacon. When you try to taste the flavours of the veggie bacon, it is something familiar. I am not 100% what it’s made out of, but it reminded me of those asian fish sausages.

I found that the veggie bacon was quite expensive considering it was only 2 pieces.

Overall, we did have a great time. The waitress was really nice and accommodating. They forgot @richerd ‘s Horchata and brought it later on in the meal, they compensated him for the mishap by not charging him for it. The other items that people ordered seemed pretty good as well.

Words of Wisdom: