Gastown Archives - Page 2 of 7

In Gastown

Haru Korean Restaurant in Gastown

July 4, 2017

Haru Korean Restaurant is open in Gastown serving homey Korean food. My friend and I were passing by for dinner and decided we wanted to give this place a try. We love to wander around downtown to find whatever restaurant interests us so we can find more of the hidden places around town.

Interior

The interior is mostly wooden with accents of this colourful stripped fabric. There is a decent amount of space for small to large groups. For large groups, they take reservations.

Tea

As we sat down to look over the menu, they gave us some hot tea.

Complimentary Salad

The green salad has radishes and a light vinaigrette. A nice start to the meal.

Complimentary Kimchi

Kimchi is a must at any Korean restaurant and it usually comes complimentary, It’s part of the whole experience.

Kimchi Fried Rice

This is fried white rice with kimchi, pork, onion and topped with a round fried egg. The kimchi fried rice was ok, I found that it needed a bit more kimchi and it was very very oily with the onions.

Jap-Chae Noodle

There is stir fried clear noodles with veggies seasoned in house special soy sauce. A good portion for an individual.

Seafood Pancake

The seafood pancake is pretty big. It has seafood and green onion in the batter, but I thought it was pretty average. Nothing special to have it stand out.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food here was average and nothing stood out. Some dishes were pretty oily and unnecessarily greasy. I can see this would be a good lunch spot.

We Rate Haru Korean Kitchen:

Address:
324 Cambie St, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.harukoreankitchen.com

In Gastown

Orchard and the Sea: Cider House and Restaurant in Gastown

June 15, 2017

My friend and I love wandering town to find unique places to eat and drink. We wandered deep into Gastown and stumbled upon Orchard & the Sea, which is a Cider House and Restaurant every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night at Birds & the Beets.

They are committed to serving the best ciders from local and international producers, paired with expertly hand-crafted small plates.

Cider Flight

I got a flight since I love trying a variety of drinks to see what my tastebuds are in-tune for. Plus, I never have that much cider, so I wanted to try different types.

Shacksbury Cider Basque: a still, extra dry, and unfiltered cider. This was an interesting cider since it had a funky taste. You’ll find grapefruit rind, spice and apple cellar muskiness.
Twin Islands Cider Boat Days: An off-dry blend of apples harvested from trees on Pender, Mayne and Samuel Island, as well as Vancouver Island and Worrenberg Farms in Keremeos. A partial wild fermented cider aged 6 months in their cellar.
Scenic Road Cider Co Razz: This was my favourite of the bunch. It has a hint of sweetness as it is made exclusively with local dessert apples and raspberries. Their craft ciders from Kelowna are hand blended in small batches.

Final Thoughts

Orchard and the Sea is a cool place to hang out after work on the weekend to have a bite and some craft cider. There isn’t really anything like it in Vancouver, but it’s great to see the variety of local and international Ciders.

We rate Orchard and the Sea:

Address:
55 Powell St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.orchardandthesea.ca/

In Chinese

Pidgin: Prix-Fixe Tasting Menu

June 11, 2017

PiDGiN has always been a place I wanted to check out. I went with a friend to try their prix-fixe tasting menu for $55 per person, but there was an awesome voucher on TravelZoo for the 7 course dining for 2 people at $66, so I purchased it to save a little bit of money.

Interior

The interior is hip and cozy. The lighting is dim but it sets the atmosphere.

Happy Hour

Since it was happy hour, drinks were on special, so I grabbed Tiger, which is an Asian Lager. Good and crisp to pair with the dishes.

Daily pickles

Some daily pickles were carrot, onions and cucumbers. Nice to much on as we waited for the other dishes.

Oyster shot

This also has apple, cucumber granite, and a horseradish dashi. AN interesting combination of flavours.

Spring salad

The salad comes with marinated tofu, onsen egg and wasabi yogurt. A good refreshing salad before the other dishes arrived.

Mantou bread

This dish has 3 pieces of mantou bread with bayildi, miso, eggplant, onion, and tomato.

Cultivated Mushrooms

This is topped with a delicious ramen egg, soy yuzu brown butter, and onion puree. If you love mushrooms, you’ll love this dish. The mushrooms just soak up all that delicious butter.

Spring Salmon

This dish has clams, maitake mushrooms, sesame butter, and tobiko. The salmon is perfectly cooked with more mushrooms and the yummy calms.

Beef Striploin

Topped with broccolini, spinach gomae, and some local wasabi. The wasabi was freshly grated and not as potent as the ones in tubes. The dish was ok but the gomae was on the salty side.

Chai Panna Cotta

The dessert was ok but I didn’t really take a liking to it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a good 7-course meal between myself and my friend. The dishes were well thought out, there is lots of food between 2 people.

We Rate PiDGiN:

Address:
350 Carrall St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.pidginvancouver.com/

In Gastown

Chambar: Belgian Cuisine in Vancouver

May 7, 2017

It’s been a while since my last visit to Chambar for dinner. Usually I come in the morning to get a waffle and a lavender latte. Today was special occasion as it was my sister’s bridal shower. What better restaurant to indulge in? They are one of Vancouver’s top restaurants specializing in Belgian cuisine. We made a reservation for dinner and the service was superb.

Interior

The interior is absolutely stunning with the beautiful furniture, cool lighting and rustic wooden accents. Tacofino has similar lights too. I love the look of it.

Drinks

We had a mysterious friend call Chambar ahead of time to buy us our first round of drinks. Pretty awesome and surprising! Our server was tight-lipped about who it was.

Lind’s Lemonade

The cocktail menu is a good size and you can also request drinks that aren’t on the menu too. I went with Lind’s Lemonade, which has Matusalem Platino rum, housemade limoncello, hibiscus, fresh lemon, Talisman Pale Ale, and thyme. It was delicious and refreshing. With Summer coming quite quickly, this is perfect.

Poulpe

The dish is composed of octopus tiradito, chimichurri, tamarind, and chipotle. Very good sauce to go with the octopus. The best part of this dish was the super tender octopus.

Le Bison

This has a line of Buffalo tartare, “vichyssoise”, fried leek, quail eggs and crostini. This was our favourite appetizer. The tartare was very fresh and the vichyssoise balanced so well with it.

Calamars Farcis

We have veal stuffed calamari, taro chips, with a chili aioli. The squid was tender and delicious with the stuffed veal.

Foie De Canard “villa Lorraine”

This has a spiced foie gras terrine, port reduction, kriek granita, and 2 pieces of truffled brioche french toast.

Canard et Gnocchi

The dish has spice rubbed duck breast, gnocchi, goat cheese, celery and apple salad, hazelnuts, and sauce bigarade. The duck was delicious but the gnocchi was starchy and gritty compared to other gnocchi we’ve had in the past.

Fletan aux Trois Façons

There are 3 tasters to this dish:

Roasted Halibut, black garlic coulis, nori
Halibut beignet, coconut jalapeño rémoulade
Halibut and fine herbes mousse, tomato & curry leaf sauce

The concept sounded great, but when we dug into it, we did not like it. The tastes of all 3 items fell flat. There were 3 of us that ordered it and it was definitely not a hit. We all wished we got the mussels instead. None of us would recommend this dish.

Congolaise Moules Frites

There are 3 types of broths that go with the mussels. The Congolaise Moules Frites has a hot pot of mussels and a broth made of tomato coconut cream, smoked chili, lime, and cilantro. The size of the dish seems to have gotten a bit smaller over the years.

It’s delicious and what our friend did was take the extra sauce home. She wanted to reuse the sauce to make some pasta for the following day. That was her pro tip to share with everyone.

Desserts

They knew we were celebrating something special, so they put together a plate of petit fours at the end of the meal. A very nice touch.

Mama Rizk

This is beautifully presented and has caramelized honey custard, orange chiffon, and pistachio ice cream.

Final Thoughts

Chambar has changed a bit since my last visit several years ago. Some food items are a hit and miss especially the Fletan aux Trois Façons. The staple items like the Moules Frites are always on point. The service is still fantastic.

We rate Chambar:

Address:
568 Beatty St, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.chambar.com

In Brunch

Prado Cafe Launches Brunch on West Hastings

April 26, 2017

Prado Café on 100 West Hastings Street has just launched an expanded menu that includes made-to-order breakfast items, cakes, and sandwiches. The enhanced menu will be in addition to Prado’s signature offerings and follows the Café+Kitchen concept made popular at its Fraserhood location, and available at the newly opened Fir Street location in Kitsilano.

Think poached eggs, pea and avocado smash on toast, a daily selection of house-made scones and coffeecakes, as well as a feature sandwich. Plans are in the works to roll out the Café+Kitchen concept to the original Commercial Drive location soon.

Mint Pea Avocado Smash

This comes on two slices of toast and is a pretty good size for brunch. Easily shared between 2 people too if you just want a snack. They also have gluten-free options as well.

It was filling but the addition of the mint did throw me off a bit. Nonetheless, the peas and avocado were great together.

Prado Breakfast

This has poached egg, mint pea avocado smash, arugula, and prosciutto. It’s like an elevated mint pea avocado toast. It comes with only one slice of toast but it is filling.

Waffles

If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, they have waffles. We got the Ricotta, honey, and pecan waffle.

Sunrise Salad

This has arugula, marinated artichokes, olives, cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, sweety drop peppers, house-made balsamic, and poached egg on top. A healthy option indeed.

Coffee

Coffee is a perfect pairing especially in the morning when caffeine is needed. A cappuccino is just what I needed.

The cookie without a name

This has peanut butter, chocolate chips, marshmallows and other items packed into this cookie.

Final Thoughts

Overall, they have great coffee but the brunch items are decent but nothing mind blowing. They definitely give customers more options with their new brunch menu from healthy to more decadent items.

We Rate Prado Cafe:

Address:
100 West Hastings, Vancouver

Website:
https://pradocafevancouver.com

In Gastown

Crab Park Chowdery: Clam Chowder and Soups in Gastown

March 26, 2017

Crab Park Chowdery is located in Gastown and they serve up chowders and different soups in a cup or a bread bowl. A little taste of Seattle up in Vancouver.

I came here with M after work to give some of their items a try.

Interior

The shop is very narrow and can’t fit too many people here. Really large groups wouldn’t fit here, but groups of 2 or 4, would fit so perfectly.

New England Clam Chowder

The most popular item here is the New England Clam Chowder. Hands down. There are lots of clams and ingredients packed inside. M loved every bite of it to go with the sourdough bowl.

Eat it with a spoon or dunk the bread from the top into the chowder.

Smokey Tomato

The smokey tomato soup was a bit thicker, but there is a layer of cheese between the bowl and the soup then topped with green onions.

It was a good smokey tomato soup, but the acidity of the soup with the sour dough wasn’t the optimal combination. This bowl was like a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup.

Sauces

There are a bunch of hot sauces at each table to spice up your soup or chowder.

Final Thoughts

Overall, a few of the soups are pretty solid. We also taste tested some other soups as well. They also have some chowders of the day that aren’t always on the menu.

A few of my favourites are:

New England Clam Chowder
Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Mushroom Soup

We Rate Crab Park Chowdery:

Address:
221 Abbott Street, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/crabparkchowdery/

In Four Beakers

La Mezcaleria: Mexican Cuisine in Gastown

January 31, 2017

La Mezcaleria has their second location in Gastown and I was quite excited to come here with a few friends to have some cocktails and a few bites. It was busy here on a Saturday evening. Most of the tables were reserved, but there was enough seats at the bar to slot us in.

They are best known for their a wide variety of the finest mezcals, as well as, high quality tequilas and cocktails inspired by the different regions of Mexico.

Their menu had lots of items to choose from, but it did take us a while to get familiar with the choices.

Ceviche Callejero

Ceviche Callejero has their seasonal fish cured in lime with tomato, onion, jalapeno and cilantro. It is also served with chips. A good item to start and share with friends. Very fresh and flavourful.

Queso Fundido

This is Mezcaleria’s signature molten cheese fondue served in a volcanic stone bowl called molcajete. We got the Con Chorizo, which has ground Mexican chorizo. It also came with some soft tortillas to eat all the cheese. Very delicious and cheesy.

Ancho Old Fashioned

Ancho Old Fashion is smoky. boozy and spicy. It has Reposado Tequila, mezcal, ancho reyes, agave, and angostura bitters.

Pablito’s Way

Pablito’s Way is on the rocks, spiced, rich and creamy. It has cream sherry, cold brew coffee, horchata and cardamom bitters. Surprisingly, it was really good. It originally wanted a horchata, but this arrived and I was pleasantly surprised.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed the drinks and the food that we had. Great atmosphere, hug out with awesome friends, and of course had lots of laughs. Since it was busy, service was alright, but it could have been a bit better and friendlier.

We Rate La Mezcaleria:

Address:
68 E Cordova Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.lamezcaleria.ca/

In Bakery

The Birds and The Beets: Cafe in Gastown

January 21, 2017

Bird & the Beets is a cafe that is located in Gastown and they serve up coffee, sandwiches, breakfast and other snacks. We came here on the weekend have a few bites and coffee.

One thing I love about shops in Gaston are that beautiful brick walls. It adds so much character to the space.

By the counter, there is also taps for water. I love pouring my own water, its so much fun. I’m pretty weird.

Coffee

Latte was what I ordered to get me through the day. Waking up on weekends is tough, so a bit of coffee wakes me up. They use Bows x Arrows coffee beans in their drinks. Very good.

You can also pick up some beans too.

Sandwiches

Avocado and Slow Poached Egg Brioche Sandwich was topped with picked vegetables. It is an open-faced sandwich and was pretty good. A nice item to have with coffee.

Overall, it was a nice little hidden place in Gastown to chill with friends over coffee and some snacks. The interior is also very beautiful.

We Rate The Birds and the Beets:

Address:
55 Powell Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.birdsandbeets.ca/

In Filipino

Bao Down Snack Bar: Filipino Style Tapas in Gastown

November 27, 2016

Bao Down Snack Bar is the 3rd location to open up from the minds behind Bao Down. This particular location features Filipino Style Tapas. I’ve been to the other 2 locations and I’m always surprised how each location has a different menu and concept.

The interior has the classic Gastown bricks and then the beautiful mural from a local artist.

Drinks

They have a pretty good cocktail menu with a bit of Philipino inspiration.

Taka has Suntory Toki Japanese whiskey, Taylor Fladgae white port, Shoju, and angostura bitters

Bagyo has dark, white and overproof rum, passion fruit syrup, agave syrup, and fresh lemon juice.

Calamasita has a mix of hornitos plata tequila, sweet and sour shrub, cointreau, egg white, calamansi limes, and agave syrup. A good amount of sweetness in this drink. It is even garnished with a small calamani lime.

Dinner

Lumpia is a Filipino spring roll. You can choose from either:

Free range chicken and Water Chestnuts
Local pork and garlic

It is served with a sweet chili sauce and plum sauce. It is crisp on the outside with the savoury filling inside.

Empanada Bao comes with 2 deep-fried bao buns with either:

Lechon Palsiw, chicharon, onions and garlic
Organic, local, Gluten-free BBQ Chicken, Inasal, and a basting sauce
Adobo eggplant, onions, garlic, and Tamari

We had the lechon version and it was really good. The bun is crisp and warm with the delectable pork filling.

Charcuterie Plate isn’t like your typical plate, it has a Filipino twist. It has:

Tocino
Longanisa
Chorizo
Fried Quail Eggs
Garlic Mayo Sauce

Nice little bites to pick at while having drinks. When it comes to the taste, it was ok compared to other places I’ve been to.

Pork Belly Lechon was a beast. It’s a slow roasted crispy pork belly with ultra crispy skin. It is served with a sarsa sauce. I wasn’t a fan of the sauce as it was a bit sweet, but I would have preferred another sauce to break up the fatty taste.

House Blended Rice is purple in colour due to the wild rice. Great texture and it has a bit of garlic to it too.

Adobo Fried Chicken uses Gluten-free flour, a buttermilk marinade, adobo glaze and a banana sauce. It’s great that they cater to those who are Celiac or are avoiding gluten.

It tasted great and has a nice crunchy skin.

Eggplant Torta is a roasted eggplant omelette with tamarind, and a charred tomato. It was ok, but it wasn’t my favourite dish.

Okoy Yam Fritter was really good. It has crispy fried yams, local greens and veggie with prawns. I would get this again. Super crispy and addictive.

Overall, the food was good and you can see the Filipino inspiration in the food. They have a good beer and cocktail menu and its great to pair it with the snacks on the menu. Good items to share.

We Rate Bao Down Snack Bar:

Address:
221 Carrall Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://baodown.net/menu/bao-down-snackbar/

In Gastown

The Poke Shop in Gastown: Bowls and Drinks

November 8, 2016

The Poke Shop is the latest restaurant to open serving delicious poké to Vancouverites. Located in Gastown across from the steam clock, this restaurant is a bit hidden, so look out for the Poke Shop sign outside. With many poké stores opening in Vancouver, I wanted to see how it compares to the other shops in town.

Poke bowls typically feature seasoned sushi-grade seafood on top of rice and garnished with various ingredients like seaweed salad, green onions and sesame seeds. The Poke Shop offers their own fresh take on poke with a variety of bases, proteins, toppings, and signature sauces.

Interior

The interior is small, but they have a few tables for seating. Since there will be a mix of people eating in and doing take out, it shouldn’t be too bad.

I liked the little hints of Hawaiian decor. They also have a mural on one side of the restaurant with a large wave.

Ordering

They have 2 sizes for their bowl – super large and large. Both are good sizes, but generally large is a good size unless you are super super hungry. Price is on par with the other poke stores in Vancouver.

Step 1: Pick your base

Japonica White Rice
12 Grain Organic Purple Rice
Organic Mix Greens
Baby Spinach
Zoodles (Zucchini Noodles)

You can choose more than one. I got a mix of purple rice, spinach and zoodles.

Step 2: Pick your proteins

Ahi Tuna
Albacore Tuna
Atlantic Salmon
Wild Sockeye Salmon
Baby Scallop
BBQ Unagi
Oven Roasted Organic Chicken
Grilled Organic Chicken

You choose 2 proteins and any more is $2 extra. I went with the ahi tuna and the spicy wild sockeye salmon.

Step 3: Pick your toppings

[one_half last=”no”]

Macaroni Salad
Red Onion
Fried Onion
Green Onion
Garlic Chips
Pickled Ginger
Red Radish
Beets
Pineapple
Mango
Peaches
Strawberry
Watermelon
Oranges
Pomegranate
Lemon

[/one_half]

[one_half last=”yes”]

Lime
Cilantro
Carrot
Cherry Tomatoes
Cucumber
Zucchini
Edamame
Organic Avocado ($1 extra)
Poached Organic Free range Egg ($1 extra)
Imitation Crab Meat
Tobiko
Wakame Seaweed Salad
Furikake
Nori

[/one_half]

The toppings are unlimited, so you can pack your bowl with your favourite ingredients. Just make sure you get fried onions, red radish, beets, pineapple, watermelon, cucumber, seaweed salad, nori and imitation crab meat!

Step 4: Pick Your Sauce

Signature
Horseradish Aioli
Sweet Chilli
BBQ Shoyu
Miso
Wasabi
Spicy

You can’t go wrong with their signature sauce thats top secret. I also liked the wasabi sauce to add a kick to the meal.

Thats all the steps to put together your poke bowl. They have a few pre-constructed bowls, but I found that it was better customizing it to cater to your own taste buds.

The Taste

Depending on how many toppings you add to your bowl, it could either be enormous or the same size as the bowl. Being me, I loaded up the bowl with my favourite toppings and 2 sauces. The poke was good and had lots of marinade on it. It was delicious and healthy fast food.

Specialty Drinks

For $2 extra, you can adda drink to your poke bowl. Or it’s $3.50 for just the drink. A pretty good deal!

They have:

Roasted Macadamia Milk Tea
Pineapple Plantation Iced Tea
3 Berry & Lemon Soda
Cucumber Agave Lemon Water
Hawaiian Chocolate & Coffee Milk Tea
Iced Matcha Green Tea with Honey

We didn’t try them all but we gave a few of them a try.

Roasted Macadamia Milk Tea had a strong milky tea taste with bits of macadamia nuts at the bottom. I liked the texture from the bits of nuts but it didn’t add a lot of flavour to it, just texture. Not too sweet, which I liked.

Hawaiian Chocolate & Coffee Milk Tea is good for those who love chocolate. A good balance of the chocolate and coffee. There are also cookie crumb bits at the top of the drinks, so its nice added texture.

Pineapple Plantation Ice Tea was our favourite. It’s light and refreshing to go with the poke.

Final Thoughts

It’s a great option for something fresh and healthy if you’re in the Gastown area. They only have poke bowls and drinks for now. I love their unlimited toppings and their specialty drinks menu. SO much better. Soon they will be working on some dessert selections. I’ve been to a majority of the poké restaurants in Vancouver and find that each one varies slightly and it all comes down to personal preferences.

We Rate The Poke Shop:

Address:
306 Water Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://thepokeshop.ca/

In Event

Crunchtime Cereal Bar: Pop Up by Milk Creative Communications

September 30, 2016

Crunchtime Cereal Bar is popping up in Gastown this weekend on Saturday October 1st and Sunday October 2nd 8am – 6pm. This pop-up cereal bar offers domestic and imported cereals with all proceeds donated to local charity Backpack Buddies.

After Cereal Killer Cafe in London opened up, word spread about an amazing cafe serving up over 100 different types of cereal from around the world. With 30 different varieties of milk and 20 toppings. Vancouverites were really excited when a similar pop-up concept was coming to Vancouver.

Milk Creative Communications launched in Vancouver today using Crunchtime Cereal Bar as the official launch event for Milk, an eight person Vancouver-based agency, previously known as Heth PR.

Interior

They created a neon-meets-tropical escape in the heart of Gastown inside the space of Timbertrain Coffee Roasters. You can see floral flourishes, brightly coloured accents and a cereal curtain.

Cereal selection

There are 12 different cereals to choose from:

Krave
Frosted Flakes
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Fruit Loops
Cookie Crisp
Batman Chocolate Strawberry Cereal
Lucky Charms
Smorz
Cap’n Crunch
Nature’s Path Choco Chimps
Golden Nuggets
Lion Cereal

A majority of these cereals were not very interesting, but there are a few ones that I haven’t seen before.

Price

All pop-up proceeds will go to local charity Backpack Buddies, which supplies hungry schoolchildren with food during non-school hours.

Bowls of cereal with regular milk for $5
Almond, soy and chocolate milk available at an additional charge of $0.75
Toppings will be available for $0.50 per topping

Cereal Bowls

You can craft your own bowls in any way you want. You can definitely make it into a super sugary treat by adding extra toppings.

Final Thoughts

At first, it wasn’t known who was behind Crunchtime Cereal Bar, it seemed a bit strange but who doesn’t like a good bowl of cereal? Milk Creative Communications wanted to treat their rebrand like how they would do for their clients, by offering an array of creative communications strategies and solutions.

It definitely drove a lot of attention, but customers coming here on the weekend can still enjoy bowls of cereal that will benefit Backpack Buddies.

Details:
Saturday October 1st and Sunday October 2nd, 2016
8am – 6pm

Website:
http://www.crunchtimecerealbar.com/

Address:
311 W Cordova St. Vancouver

In Gastown

Kozakura: Japanese Cuisine in Gastown

September 24, 2016

Kozakura is a new Japanese Izakaya located near Gastown. They specialize in Kappo-style Japanese food and the menu is seasonal, fresh and local.

Foodgressing, Food Wench, Maggi, Nosh & Nibble, Picky Diner and I came here for dinner as we were so curious about what they served.

Interior

The interior is pretty small and narrow. Best to make reservations to make sure you have a seat. The restaurant is also dim and has a cozy atmosphere. We came here early in the evening, so it wasn’t very busy. They seat about 25 people in total.

Drinks

Sapporo was my drink of choice at Japanese restaurants. Gotta have Japanese beer to go with Japanese food. It’s a light and fruity beer that pairs well with the flavours.

A few of the others ordered Sake and it comes in such a cute rounded bottom decanter. They have a wide selection of sake, which goes well with the dishes they create.

Food

Osentamago Ohitashi has a poached onsen egg, snap peas, and dashi soy. Definitely not a dish to share. The flavours are very delicate and the egg is just so delicious.

Aigamo Sumiso has sweet soy cooked duck breast, sumiso, and flowering chives. It comes with 4 pieces to an order. The duck was tender and went well with the sauce.

Honjitsu no Osashimi is their daily selection of sashimi. Since we were in a group of six, we payed a bit more to make sure there were 6 pieces each so everyone could get a bit. They used some good cuts of sashimi.

Tako no Yawarakani has sous vide octopus, smoked ponzu, and mizuna. The octopus was tender but still had a bite to it.

Sake Kasu Salmon was moist and flaky inside. You can definitely tell they spent their time marinating the salmon.

Madai Sakamushi has steamed seabream with seared skin, bok choy, and a thick soy dashi. Better presentation compared with the other dishes. Light and delicate taste.

Sanshou Steak is made with ribeye, sanshou peppercorns, and shungiku. The peppercorns were an interesting touch and is tongue numbing. I like the way the cooked it so it is at a medium rare.

Sunomono was served with crab, mozuku, sliced cucumber, and tosazu vinegar. It was pretty good, served cold, and had a clean taste.

Yuzu Miso Buta Niku is sous vide pork loin, yuzu miso paste, and a apricot glaze. That paste was so spicy, but I loved how it cleared your sinuses.

Anago Dashi Chazuke has slow cooked eel, steamed rice, dashi, and mitsuba. Of all the dishes, this was more filling than the others. I could of definitely had the whole thing to myself.

Overall, the food tasted good and has a good clean feeling at the end of the meal. For a large group to come here, it was hard to figure out the best way to order, so we got 2 of every dish on the menu. It seemed like it would be enough but the size of the dishes were pretty small. There is also auto gratuity of 18% when dining with 6 or more people.

We finished our meal and decided to go to another place to fill up a little bit more.

We Rate Kozakura:

Address:
280 Carrall Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.kozakuragastown.ca/

In Brunch

Wildebeest: Brunch in Gastown

August 5, 2016

Wildebeest is located in Gastown and they have a daring menu focusing on ingredient-driven cooking. Their brunch menu comprises of amazing use of proteins.

Nomss, VanFoodies and I went to grab brunch around noon to hang out and enjoy each others company over yummy food.

Interior

The space is pretty cool with its exposed brick walls iconic of historic gastown. Super hip! Servers were really nice and fun to talk to.

Food

Scrambled eggs has bone marrow, and parsley. It is also served with triple-cooked potatoes, toast, and salad.

All that fatty flavourful bone marrow enrobed in the fluffy eggs is a good way to start the day. I thought it could have used a touch more salt to bring the flavours out. I would have liked the potatoes to be more crispy.

Back bacon benedict has a jalapeno & cheddar biscuit, hollandaise, triple cooked potatoes and a side salad.

The sous vide egg is so delicate and incredibly delicious. Look at that egg ooze.

“The Dutch Baby” has cow’s milk ricotta, fresh fruit, and bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup. Once I saw the name on the menu, I had to order it. I’ve had something similar in the states, but was never able to find it in Vancouver till now.

This pancake unlike the one at the Original Pancake House in the states, was dense more like a cake. Sadly, we didn’t like their version of the Dutch Baby.

Overall, the food was alright, but it didn’t impress me too much. We did order only 3 dishes off the menu when there are so many more items. I’ll definitely be back to try some of their other items.

We rate Wildebeest:

Address:
120 West Hastings Street,
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://wildebeest.ca/

In Dessert

UYU Ice Cream: Milk Shakes and Soft Serve

July 30, 2016

UYU Ice Cream has been a neighbourhood favourite for soft serve ice cream since it joined the neighbourhood a few years ago. What I find with some other soft serve ice cream places around town is that they taste too rich, UYU has a nice balance of flavours.

A came down here on the weekend with a few foodies to try their classic soft serve ice cream and get introduced to their new lineup of milkshakes. Who knew eating dessert at 10am would be something I ever do.

Soft Serve Flavours

When we were here they had 4 flavours of soft serve to choose from:

Organic Milk
Earl Grey
Banana Milk
Yuzu Lemon Sorbet

They have seasonal flavours and they do change constantly.

Toppings

After you choose your ice cream flavour, you can dress it up with toppings for a few cents extra. My favourites are the dried fruit or nuts.

Drizzle

At the end, a nice drizzle of sauce rounds it all out. I like the condensed milk to add a touch of sweetness.

Delicious Soft Serve

We tried a few flavours and I’ve been here before too. My favourite picks are the milk tea, vietnamese coffee and the original. Top it off with dried fruit and condensed milk.

Milkshakes

Their new line of milkshakes just debuted and they have some up with 4 varieties:

Signature UYU Cereal Milkshake
Belgian Chocolate Milkshake
Matcha White Iced Chocolate
Iced Belgian Chocolate Hazelnut

Signature UYU Cereal Milkshake is topped with honey puff cereal and it adds a nice crunch to the drink. You probably need a large straw or spoon to get them out. Don’t let them sit too long or else it will get limp.

Matcha White Iced Chocolate was a very sweet and I wished there was more matcha in it. This is perhaps its due to the white chocolate.

Belgian Chocolate Milkshake was also a bit sweet, but the chocolate taste was nice and bold. The cocoa powder on top was a bit much.

Iced Belgian Chocolate Hazelnut was similar to the Belgian Chocolate Milkshake, but it had the extra hazelnut flavour.

We Rate UYU Ice Cream:

Address:
433 Abbott Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.uyuicecream.com/

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 Cafe

The Capilano Teahouse: Tea and Coffee in Gastown

February 15, 2016

The Capilano Teahouse finally has a permanent location after having their pop-up shop at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet in Richmond. Their new location is on Abbott St right in Gastown.

They serve Indigenous teas and botanical tea sodas, foraged right here in B.C. Operated by a mother-daughter duo from the Squamish Nation. You won’t be disappointed when you taste the delicious sodas made with love, featuring the following flavours – Lavender Ginger, Rose Lemonade, Dandelion Burdock and Hibiscus.

It was a rainy day, so my coworkers and I decided to stop by for some tea and coffee before going back to work.

The shop has a long communal table and some more seats near the front.

I love the iconic Gastown brick walls. I can imagine a lot of selfies being taken in this shop.

They have a variety of their own blends of teas available for purchase as loose leaf or as a tea.

They also sell some pretty cute air plants and cactuses.

Their menu is mostly all drinks except for a few dishes.

Elderberry Green Tea has Organic Mao Jian Green Tea with Elder Berries. If you are into teas that aren’t too flowery or smell sweet, this is a good option.

Goliath Coffee is made with an Espro Press and it does take a little bit of time to get ready.

Goliath Coffee – Cameroon Boyo is a lighter roast. It came piping hot, so I had to wait a little while before drinking it.

They have a little station to add any sugar or milk to it.

If you want to try something a little bit different, give The Capilano Teahouse a try. It’s a great space to hang out with friends and catch up too.

We Rate The Capilano Teahouse:

Address: 221 Abbott Street, Vancouver

Website: http://www.thecapilano.com/

In Gastown

Salt Tasting Room: Italian Gas Station Experiment

February 14, 2016

Salt Tasting Room introduced the Italian Gas Station Experiment, in partnership with Port Moody-based Urbani Foods. Those who order wine, by the glass, flight or bottle, will get complimentary Italian tapas for the month of February. The experiment is offered Mondays through Sundays from 4pm – 6pm.

If you order a glass of beer/wine, you get 1 complementary item off the list. If you get a flight, its 2 items and if its a bottle of wine, you can choose 4 items.

The tapas include items such as Venetian Tea sandwiches (Tramessini) with cheese, salami and olive tapenade or fresh sausages sous vide, and Urbani’s famous Arancini Risottoballs (Polpette di Riso) which are the most popular street food in Italy.

I came here after work with a friend to enjoy a flight of wine and some of those tapas after work.

I got a flight of white wine and since I’m so indecisive, I told them my taste preference and then made the decisions for me. They ended up choosing:

My favourite was the Synchromesh Riesling.

My friend got the red wine flight and they chose these:

With the Italian Gas Station experiment, we got to choose 2 tapas each with the purchase of the wine flights. With 9 tapas to choose from, it was a tough choice.

Sous Vide Fresh Sausage with croutes, olives and peppers. Was our favourite of the night. Large chunks of sausage with delicious flavours. I could definitely used more of this. Yum.

Tramezzio of Fig and Toscano Salami with Quebec Brie, green apple, olive oil and smoked sea salt. Nice 2 bite sandwiches and the olives that came with it were pretty good.

Mozzarella-filled with tomato sauce Polpette de Piso came with 2 balls. I thought it was ok, I left like it could have been more creamy and cheese inside.

Tomato Ragu risotto, with pesto mayo Polpette de Piso was similar to the other one. Just ok and needed more creaminess inside.

If you liked their food, you can take home your favourite food items from Urbani Foods for up to 50% off the retail price. Salt Tasting Room will have the various flavours of Arancini Risottoballs, Kale & Quinoa bites, and a selection of salami available for purchase on site during the month of February.

Overall, we thought it was a great offer to have a few treats with wine after work.

We Rate Salt Tasting Room:

Address:
45 Blood Alley, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.salttastingroom.com/

In Gastown

Tacofino: Taco Bar in Gastown

February 9, 2016

Tucked away in Gastown is Tacofino’s Taco Bar near Army and Navy. The area around it is still slightly sketchy, but has gotten a lot better over the years. With this new location, people who work in the area don’t need to go so far to hunt down their food truck near Burrard.

I was in Gastown with a few coworkers, so we decided to stop for a bite here. The inside was really nice. They also have a Burrito bar but its take out only. It works out fine since most people want to go take out and go back to their offices.

Our group decided to sit down inside to eat as there were seats left and no wait. We had to give up the burrito, but at least we would be satisfied with tacos.

Fish Taco ($6 each) is made with pacific cod, salsa fresca, and a chipotle mayo. The fish is nicely battered and crispy.

Chicken Taco ($6) has pickled vegetables, epazote chimichurri, and a buttermilk chili crema. Imagine chicken karaage in a taco.

Pork Al Pastor ($6) has pineapple, pickled onion, and cilantro.

Lamb Birria ($6) has an herb salad, arbol chili, pickled nopales, and preserved lemon zest.

Not Caesar Kale Salad ($9) has seasonal & kale greens, cotija, pickled okra, pomegranate, and hazelnut croutons. It was a good salad and I did enjoy it. I just didn’t like how hard the croutons were.

Overall, a good quick lunch but I wished they offered the burrito during lunch when eating in.

We Rate Tacofino:

Address:
15 Blood Alley, Vancouver

Website:
http://tacofino.com/