Kensington Archives

In Kensington

[Sneak Peek] NeNe Chicken: Korean Fried Chicken in Vancouver

April 18, 2021

NeNe Chicken is an international Korean Fried Chicken chain from South Korea. They are known as one of the top Korean Fried Chicken shops and it’s definitely a must try. There is a lot of anticipation for them to open in Vancouver and they’re definitely going to be very busy.

There are tons of Fried Chicken shops in Vancouver and I love having more options. As you can tell, Korean Fried Chicken is one of our favourite foods. NeNe Chicken has 7 types of Korean Fried Chicken, 5 burgers, and 6 sides to choose from. My husband loves it when there are boneless options on the menu. We were invited for a sneak peek before their soft opening launch.

Delivery and Takeout Options

A majority of their orders will be for takeout and delivery, so you can find them on Skip the Dishes, Door Dash, Uber Eats, or their own online ordering system.

Boneless Original Fried Chicken

We got half of the boneless original fried chicken and were surprised at how crisp the exterior was and the inside was very juicy. We also did wait to have some more pieces at home to see how it holds up on the ride home. After a 30 minute ride, it was still crispy. We were very impressed. My husband absolutely loved it. He still raves about it.

Boneless Soy Garlic Chicken

The other half we got was the boneless soy garlic chicken. I absolutely loved it. It had a good amount of garlic aroma with a hint of spice. One of the better soy garlic chickens I’ve had. Even with the addition of the sauce, the crispiness still held up very well.

French Fries

We got side of fries and we weren’t disappointed either. It’s a lot better when it’s fresh, but the little one didn’t mind at all.

Final Thoughts

We have had a lot of Korean Fried Chicken in the past and NeNe Chicken is definitely up there in our top 3. My husband and I don’t always agree on what is the best as that is always so objective. We still highly recommend trying out NeNe Chicken as it holds up very well for takeout. The chicken is very flavourful and juicy, plus the exterior still holds a nice crunch and doesn’t go soggy.

We can anticipate NeNe Fried Chicken being really busy once they open on April 21, 2021 for their soft opening.

Address:
1070 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5V 1N9

Website:
https://www.nenechicken.ca/

In Japanese

Poccoro’s House by Marulilu Cafe: Japanese Eatery in Vancouver

February 11, 2020

Poccoro’s House is the sister restaurant of Marulilu Cafe, which is also in Vancouver. They specialize in Yoshoku cuisine, which is Japanese food with a Western influence. So, that means dishes like omu-rice, curry rice, and beef stew. We’ve been to Marulilu Cafe before, so we decided to go to Poccoro’s House for lunch.

Interior

The space is quite small, so there are very few tables. When we went on a weekend about 12:30, it wasn’t too busy at all. If you’re in a large group, this might not work out so well. Groups of 2’s and 4’s fit easier.

Saba no Shio yaki

This has salt grilled mackerel with brown rice, potato salad, wafu Japanese Salad, and miso soup. This is a pretty nice Japanese style breakfast, but we felt there could have been more saba and less rice.

The saba was lightly salted and we mean very very lightly salted. There could have been more taste to it.

Roast Beef Don

This has slices of roast beef and raw egg yolk on top of rice. served with salad and miso soup. I had high hopes for this dish but the roast beef slices were not as tender as I thought. It was a bit tough and thick. There was quite a bit of rice as well too. The salad and the miso soup was a good addition to the meal.

Karaage Don

This has deep fried chicken on top of rice and served with Wafu Japanese radish, and miso soup. My friend wished there was more karaage as she wasn’t full at all after eating this.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think the food concept is awesome, but the taste fell short of expectations. It’s a good addition to the neighbourhood as more options are needed. The portions could be a bit bigger for the price you pay.

We did get a very homey feel for the food but the taste didn’t impress us this time.

Address:
630 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC

In Kensington

Viet Mama Cafe: Homey Vietnamese Food on Victoria Drive

February 7, 2020

Viet Mama Cafe is one of the newest restaurants to open up on Victoria Drive. This little shop serves up home-style Vietnamese Cuisine. The menu is small, but they put a lot of love into each dish.

All the recipes come straight from their family kitchen. They decided to open up Viet Mama Cafe after getting multiple compliments from friends and family about how great their food is. The whole cafe is family run, so there is a lot of heart in the kitchen and in the food.

They do not use MSG in their pho and all their dishes use fresh ingredients.

We were invited to check out Viet Mama Cafe for some lunch.

Interior

The space isn’t too large, but has a decent amount of seats. We did notice on a weekday that it was pretty busy around 1pm. As the space is new, it’s very very clean and organized.

Kids

I brought along my 11 month daughter and they have high chairs available. They do have a handicap accessible washroom, but unfortunately no changing table. They were kind enough to let me change her on a table at the rear of the restaurant.

Iced Vietnamese Coffee

I love Vietnamese coffee. They serve this a bit different. It’s shaken up and then served so its already milked with the condensed milk. Nonetheless, it still tastes good and give you a kick of caffeine into your day.

Salad Roll / Goi Cuon

The salad roll has shrimp, pork, cilantro, mint, and vermicelli served with fish sauce. The sauce on the side was a bit on the salty side, so we used less of it. Everything tasted nice and fresh.

Meat Rice Roll / Banh Cuon Nhan

This has ice flour with pork, shrimp, fried ham, meatballs, fried shallots, and veggies served with fish sauce. There is also fresh herbs, lime and red chilis if you want to enhance the flavour. I love the addition of the fried shallots. I really enjoyed the dish and I would order it again.

Special Beef Noodle / Pho Dac Biet

This has beef brisket, rare beef, and beef balls over noodles. The pho was quite nice. More subtle in flavour as they don’t use MSG, but its such a clean tasting broth that makes you feel good afterwards. The portions were a great size.

Crab Meat Noodle with Fish Cakes / Bun Rieu Cua Cha Ca

This pho is also very popular. It has Real crab meat, fish cake, tofu and veggies over the broth and noodles. I really enjoyed it and the flavour had some depth to it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we enjoyed dining at Viet Mama Cafe. The flavours were very clean, not too salty and just had a homey feel to the dishes. The menu doesn’t have too many items, but it’s a solid set of items that will satisfy customers. Very family friendly as well. I loved both pho dishes as well as the rice roll.

Address:
5118 Victoria Dr, Vancouver, BC

In Kensington

Shiok: Singaporean Cuisine in Vancouver

July 20, 2019

Shiok is in the middle of their soft opening serving up Singaporean Cuisine in Vancouver. I’ve heard lots about Shiok, so I decided to come for a visit with friends.

It was pretty busy on a weekend in the evening. We came at 5:30pm and it filled up very quickly.

Ordering

You have to order up at the counter before sitting down. If you’re lucky, there wont be a wait for a table. They will give you a number and keep that to put on your table.

After you put in your order, grab water, napkins and utensils to your table. It’s pretty much self-serve.

when your order is ready, they will deliver it to your table.

Interior

You order at the counter and then find a seat in the dining area. If it’s your first time visiting, it’s pretty confusing at first. We came with a baby and 4 adults, the seating was a sit cramped but we could have easily left the stroller in the car.

Drinks

Kopi-C and Teh-C was what we ordered. The one on the left is the coffee with condensed milk and the other is Singaporean tea with condensed milk.

Both were good and paired well with the meal.

Chicken Wings

Crispy deep fried prawn-spiced chicken wings were pretty good. Nice and crisp. A good item to share among the table. There were 6 pieces.

Satay

An order has 4 sticks of beef or chicken skewers served with their peanut sauce. We got half beef and half chicken in our order. The satay skewers were thin and not very appealing. I would have paid more to get larger skewers.

Tau Pok

There are 6 tofu puffs stuffed with beansprouts and cucumbers, served with sweet and spicy rojak sauce. It’s a one bite appetizer and we thought it was ok.

Roti Prata

The Roti Prata is served with chicken curry gravy for dipping. I really enjoyed this dish. Very well done and the chicken curry gravy is delicious.

Laksa

This is Singapore’s version of Laksa. You can get these with white or yellow noodles. We went with yellow, but mix is an option too. I thought this dish was so-so.

Boneless Chicken Rice

The traditional Singaporean take on Hainanese chicken rice. The portion was small and the chicken wasn’t very flavourful and was bland.

Mee Siam

This has sweet, sour, and mildly spicy rice vermicelli topped with shrimp, tofu puffs, and egg served in a tamarind-base gravy. The was an interesting dish but it was a miss as we didn’t like the tamarind gravy as it tasted like fermented bean paste.

Nyonya Chicken Curry

Delicately fragrant Peranakan coconut chicken curry. It was a bit hard to eat it with the bones. It has 2 pieces of chicken and a potato in the curry.

It’s a good size for one person but definitely too hard to split among the table.

Beef Rendang

This dish has slow-cooked spicy curried coconut beef served with rice. This dish was really delicious and we enjoyed it.

Clean Up

Once you’re done with your meal, you have to clear and sort all your dishes, cups and utensils. We had a lot so we made multiple trips to the bins.

Final Thoughts

The prices on the menu are really good until you actually see the portion size. I could easily eat two entrees and an appetizer on my own. My friends ended up sharing everything family style. Dishes were very hit and miss for our personal tastes.

They definitely have a few things to work out as they are still in their soft opening phase. I love how its family run and operated, a lot of people seem to love this place, but sadly it didn’t work out for us.

Address:
1716 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5N 2S4

Website:
https://shiok.ca/

In Dessert

Tina Cake Desserts: Vietnamese Dessert Shop in Vancouver

May 18, 2019

Tina Cake and Desserts is one of the first Vietnamese Dessert Shops in Vancouver. Very refreshing to see that it doesn’t just focus on Che. I was looking online for some new places and this place popped up and looked pretty interesting for the Salted Egg Yolk Cakes.

I came with my friend to check this out with our kids. Since our kids and under 1 years old, it was just the adults devouring all the desserts hahaha.

Interior

Tina Cakes has a very bright blue interior with lots of tables. Nothing fancy, but it’s really all about the dessert here. The tables are set up in 2’s and 4’s but I’m sure you can move around tables and chairs for a larger group.

Salted Egg Yolk Cupcake

When you check in with Yelp, you get this salted egg yolk cupcake for free. A nice touch since they just opened up recently and its good to encourage people to spread the word. It’s a two bite cupcake topped with floss, a glaze and the salted egg yolk. Good unique flavours.

Salted Egg Yolk Slice

I then ordered a slice of Salted Egg Yolk Cake and it was pretty good portion size.

Pandan Jelly with Flan

What a unique dessert to have pandan and coconut jelly filled with flan. The look with the piggy and the piglets are really cute too.

It wasn’t too sweet at all and it worked well together. You have the sweetness from the caramel flan but the pandan and coconut jelly aren’t as sweet, which is nice.

Coconut Pearl Dessert with Flan

The flan comes with different assortment of coconut pearls, coconut milk, and a caramel sauce. It was surprisingly really good. The pearls aren’t like the pearls in bubble tea and a lot less chew.

Thai Mixed Fruit Dessert with Durian in Coconut Milk

There is durian, jackfruit, tapioca, pandan jellies, mungbean paste, matcha balls, pandan balls, coconut milk, and crushed ice. There is definitely a lot going on in this bowl, but I enjoyed how there was such a good assortment of fresh toppings. The durian was very fragrant and took over the whole taste of the bowl, but that’s what durian does.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the desserts we ordered were really good and well executed. Everything was very affordable at around $5-$6, which was great. I’ll definitely be back for some more.

Address:
888, Kingsway, Vancouver, BC

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/888Kingsway/

In Kensington

The Eastwood: Pub on Fraser Street

March 20, 2017

The Eastwood is a new restaurant on Fraser Street. They serve brunch and lunch, but we decided to come for a visit for dinner. The place got busy later in the evening with people coming here to enjoy the game, have some bites and of course beer.

Interior

As the sun goes down, the TV screen light up the space. It is a bit dim, but a lot of people were enjoying the different games playing on the screens. There was cheering whenever a favoured team would score a point. For me, I was really here for the food.

Drinks

Beer is a must to go with the pub-style food here. I got the Kronenbourg Blanc and a radler. Fruity and refreshing.

Dirty Sanchez Burger

This burger has a 6oz beef patty, Monterey Jack, Guacamole, pickled onion, pickled jalapeno, lettuce, tomato, garlic aioli and a pretzel bun. It comes with a salad or fries. Since we had ordered other fries, we went with a caesar salad.

The burger had a nice kick from the jalapeno, but I felt the ration between the bun and patty were a bit off.

Fraser Fries

This is their house fries with bacon, sundried tomatoes, herbs and garlic. The fries were nicely fried and was crisp on the exterior. You can get ketchup or other aioli dips to go with it. We got ours with a garlic aioli.

Mussels Vino Blanco

It has a full pound of mussels, white wine, butter, shallots, garlic, parsley and served with grilled bread and fries. The mussels are Ocean Wise certified mussels. The broth was delicious and enjoyable to dunk the bread of fries into.

Tuna Poke

The tuna poke is made of mango salsa, avocado, ahi tuna, sesame seeds, herb chili oil and green onion on top of the tortilla chips. The delicate flavours of the poke didn’t go too well with the tortilla chips.

Final Thoughts

It’s great to finally have a pub in the area to watch the game and enjoy some beer and bites. Some items on the menu is a hit and miss, but there is a good selection of pub favourites that will appeal to customers.

We Rate The Eastwood:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/TheEastwoodVan

Address:
4245 Fraser Street, Vancouver, BC

In Chinese

Sun Bo Kong: Vegetarian Chinese Food in Vancouver

January 2, 2017

Sun Bo Kong is an award-winning vegetarian restaurant for Chinese cuisine. They are open 7 days a week from 11 am to 9 pm. Reservations are also available.

I came here for lunch to try Chinese vegetarian food. A nice change to eating a meal without meat.

Gluten Combination comes with a 4 flavours on a plate with different sauces. The gluten is spongey kinda like tofu. A good starter to the meal and easily can be shared.

5 Spice Bean Curd Rolls Stuffed with Mushroom has 2 rolls and was very delicious.

Deluxe Premiere Bamboo with Vegetarian Thick Soup is filed with different kinds of mushroom. A clean and clear tasting soup with rich mushroom flavours.

Pea Tips Rice Sheet Roll is stuffed with the naturally sweet and crisp pea tips.

Vegetarian Cutlet with Orange Sauce was one of our favourite items. We ate this dish us really quickly.

Monkey-head Mushroom with Vegetables doesn’t have any monkeys in it despite the name. The mushroom is porous and soaks up the sauce.

Lo-Hon Chow Mein had mushrooms, black fungus, and other veggies on the crisp noodles. This was ok, but we probably wouldn’t order it again.

Deep-fried Taro Rolls were so delicious. The exterior was nice and crisp, so when you bite down, you get the soft taro inside.

Deep Fried Seaweed and Enoki Mushroom Rolls had mixed reactions at the table. I personally liked it because I inhale anything mushroom.

Overall, Sun Bo Kong Vegetarian Restaurant was delicious and it’s hard to find a really good vegetarian Chinese restaurant in town that appeals to meat eaters as well.

We Rate Sun Bo Kong Vegetarian Restaurant:

Address:
1363 Kingsway, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.sunbokong.com/#vancouver-vegetarian

In Chinese

Golden Eats Seafood Restaurant: Chinese Restaurant on Kingsway

June 25, 2016

Golden Eats Seafood Restaurant is located on Kingsway close to Victoria Drive. They have been around for 2 years and I was surprised it was so clean and modern.

ChineseBites took us here to try a few of the signature items on their menu.

We started off the meal with their daily special soup with some veggies and meat. Once it arrived at the table, they helped us scoop it into each individual bowl.

A good way to start off the meal with refreshing soup.

XO Salted Egg Yolk Crab was so good! One of the better ones out there. The contrast between the XO sauce and the Salted Egg Yolk coating was addictive. I would definitely order this again.

Lobster with Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf came in a big container and it was all really good too. The lobster was cooked very well and the rice really soaked up the delicious lobster flavours.

Peking Duck has thin crisp slices of duck skin over lobster chips. Put in the hoisin sauce, scallions, and duck in the pancakes and just enjoy.

Lettuce Wrap has the diced duck meat stir fried mixture. They try to utilize the entire duck, so the rest of the meat goes in here.

You scoop some into the lettuce and eat away.

Pan Fried Black Cod with Soy Sauce has crisp skin on the outside and delicious fatty cod. All the dishes so far were pretty good. but this dish has some bones in it, so be careful.

Dark Vinegar Spareribs wasn’t that good in my opinion. It was really sticky and overly sweet. The meat was a bit tough too.

Soft Tofu Topped with Diced Seafood goes well with rice and is very soft in texture.

House Special Spicy Clams had a good amount of spice and the clams are still delicious.

Oxtail in red wine was ok, but it mostly tasted like sweet carrots.

Eel Hot Pot was pretty good as well. It has a good amount of chunky eel in it. What’s tough about the eel are the tiny bones inside.

Lamb Hot Pot was ok too. Good to have with rice.

Chicken with Sticky Rice is their signature dish here at Golden Eats and it needs to be ordered ahead of time. It has a nice crisp skin with delicious rice inside. The presentation of the dish didn’t look that great, but when you put it in your mouth, its really good.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Golden Eats Seafood Restaurant, I would come back here again. I wasn’t too into the hot pots or the spareribs, but everything else was really good.

We Rate Golden Eats Seafood Restaurant:

Address: 2141 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC

In Cafe

17°C Dessert Cafe: Melon Icy and Light Bulb Drinks

May 27, 2016

17°C Dessert Cafe is the newest dessert shop to open up in Metro Vancouver. They were slammed last weekend because they offered 50% off for their grand opening. Crazy good deal, but I decided not to go since I would rather be at home relaxing over the long weekend. Luckily ChineseBites invited a few of us to try their signature items later in the week.

2 items that are unique to this cafe are their melon ball shaved ice and their light bulb drinks. Once you see the pictures, you’ll be tempted to pay a visit.

Anything with a crown is their featured item – Watermelon Icy, Honey Dew Icy and the Fruit Boat. They also have smoothies, yogurt and other asian desserts. They are constantly making tweaks to their menu.

Cantaloupe Icy has cantaloupe balls and berry juicy balls on top of shaved ice and more cantaloupe balls. We had to carefully remove the balls so they don’t accidentally fall off. They also give you a container of condensed milk to pour on top.

At $14.99, it is a bit pricey, but you’re paying for all the labour it takes to scoop out all those melon balls.

The berry juicy balls or whatever you call it was very sweet, so it took away from the natural sweetness of the cantaloupe. Even though it looks awesome with the juicy balls, it didn’t mesh well. the juicy balls remind me of the ones you get at Pinkberry.

I think I would have just preferred everything except those juicy balls. It’s a fun item to share with friends.

The Watermelon Icy is their top-selling item. Refreshing watermelon balls with almond, pocky, ice cream, shaved ice and condensed milk. The almond didn’t add much to the taste, but more of a decorative piece between the melon balls. The fruit is very fresh and naturally sweet.

Pineapple Icy has shaved ice in the centre, juicy balls, some sort of berry gummy and topped with ice cream. It’s definitely not as grand-looking as the melon balls, but pineapple is delicious. Also, due to its shape, there wasn’t a lot of shaved ice inside.

The drinks come in 2 sizes, regular and large. We got all of our drinks in the large size, even though they look small. I should have put in my hand for scale but I was preoccupied getting a photo.

Passionfruit, Red Pomegranate, Lemon and Kiwi light bulbs. They tasted unnaturally sweet especially the red pomegranate as it reminded me of cotton candy. Very unique concept of having the drinks in lightbulbs, but none of the flavours really impressed me.

As they are still new, they have a few kinks to work out. Very photogenic desserts and drinks, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to come have this. I’ve noticed some inconsistencies in what other people were ordering too, so I’m sure they are tweaking it as they get more feedback from customers.

We Rate 17°C Dessert Cafe:

Address:
2229 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC

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

In 24 hours

Duffin’s Donuts: Drunken Paradise in Vancouver

April 1, 2016

Duffin’s Donuts is an amazing place if you want cheap food 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. This place never stops running. You will find fried chicken, Chinese Food, Mexican Food, breakfast, burger, and hot dogs. It’s like every drunken person’s paradise. I came here with Amy and Nat to have an all out food feast. In total, we spent about $75 here. We were sober the entire time.

We ate…a lot. We didn’t make it though the whole menu, but we made a decent sized dent.

The space is super old school and it looks like it’s stuck in the 80s.

Fritou Fried Chicken is what they sell. It comes in Spicy and regular.

You can choose from wings, breasts, drumsticks or thighs.

We grab a 4 piece and it had one of each type. The taste reminds me of a Church’s and KFC, but slightly less crisp. It didn’t come straight out of the fryer, so that probably why it wasn’t super crisp.

White meat is dry, so stick with the dark meat.

Veggie Spring Rolls and Pork Spring Rolls is served here too and its crisp on the outside. It’s ok, pretty average. Nothing notable here.

Pupusas is a traditional Salvadoran dish made of a thick, handmade corn tortilla that is usually filled with pork, beans, or cheese. At Duffin’s they serve is was salsa and a simple slaw.

Chorizo Con Huevos Torta has lettuce tomatoes, avocado, scrambled eggs, and chorizo. A decent torta but it would be better if there was more egg and chorizo.

They also have Chicken and Beef Tamales hanging out by the cash register. All wrapped up individually and then wrapped up in plastic wrap.

The tamales are made with masa, potatoes, red bell peppers, chicken/beef and then wrapped in leaves. Tasted ok as well, but nothing worth noting.

All Day Breakfast with Hashbrowns comes with 2 egg, 2 pieces of toast, bacon/sausage/ham, peanut butter and Jam. Pretty basic. I wished the hashbrowns were more crisp and golden brown, it was mostly wedges of potatoes.

Viet Mixed Ham has cold cuts and loaded with carrots, cucumber and cilantro. It would have been nice to have an option with spicy jalapenos. It was decent, but like most items here, what you pay for is what you get.

Cheese Burger was ok, but I prefer other types of burgers out there.

Chili Hot Dog is pretty good. Not gonna lie, all it’s missing is a ooey gooey fried egg and you’ll be in heaven.

Horchata, Pina Colada and Avocado Fresh Fruit Bubble Tea were 3 drinks we got to get a feel of what they can make. I was just surprised they had this spectrum of beverages.

Of course, we had to end the meal with donuts. You can’t leave here without a box.

It definitely beats Tim Horton’s Donuts any day.

Overall, most of the food is pretty average. It’s decent, cheap and always open. It definitely attracts unique crowds here. You’ll find all types of people here. What makes people come back is all the different types of comfort food in one place. Sometimes you want something sinfully greasy.

Plus, those donuts are pretty good.

We Rate Duffin’s Donuts:

Address:
1391 East 41st Avenue, Vancouver

In Japanese

Sushi By Yuji: Nigiri and Gukan Sushi

March 7, 2016

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chopped Scallop was fresh and delicious.

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

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

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

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

Very clean flavours and different than most places.

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

Tuna Toro Nigiri was cut thin and was fatty.

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

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

I feel like a kid again. hahaha.

We Rate Sushi by Yuji:

Address:
2252 Kingsway, Vancouver

In Japanese

Masayoshi Sushi Bar: Omakase Set

February 29, 2016

For Valentines Day, M took me to Masayoshi sushi bar to indulge in their Omakase set for $120 per person. Usually its $100, so not sure why it was a bite more expensive than normal. Even on their regular menu, it states $100. Perhaps it was because it was Valentines Day. Either way, we were excited to give it a try since it’s been on my ‘to-eat list’ for a while now.

When we made the reservations, we had no idea what would be in the set. Even when we arrived at the restaurant, the whole meal was a mystery. It was ok for us, but it seemed to bother the table beside us as they were not very keen on raw seafood…and it made me wonder why they would dine here for the omakase.

The restaurant is pretty small and seats around 20 people, perhaps a bit less. When making reservations, make sure to request to sit at the bar. We didn’t so we sat further away watching the chef do his magic.

The other tables still have the view of the chef but it’s definitely not as engaging.

Orion Beer ($12) is a larger 633 ml beer and its imported so that why its more expensive than the other beers on the menu. Nice, light, and goes well with Japanese food.

Green Tea ($3) comes in a small pot and they pour a bit of it at your table, they come by when its empty. I thought it was pretty inefficient as I am a tea guzzler, so after a while we asked them to place the pot at our table so we could pour it ourselves. Usually tea is complimentary at other restaurants, but it kinda sucks that they charge for it here and don’t say anything about it.

Skewers of avocado, tuna and mangoes came in wine glasses on a bed of shredded radish. Very simple and refreshing dish to start off the meal. I like how you can taste the freshness of each item without transforming it too much.

Shooter of baby eels and quails eggs is a mind boggling item to process as the eyes stare back at you. The way the instruct you to eat it is to just shoot it. I was excited to try it because I am a pretty adventurous eater. M looked at it for a while and shot it down with no problem. It tasted ok and it was a slimey mixture of ingredients inside.

Our neighbouring table just couldn’t eat it.

Next item is the seafood chawanmushi with a prawn, uni, eel, clam, fish, and other things. Very delicious! So much flavour in this warm egg custard.

Smoked Salmon Salad is filled with a nose tingling smoke, so when the bowl is lifted, you get a pleasant smell and a slight smoke show.

On the plate, there is papaya, apple, shio herbs, and nuts. The items didn’t seem very cohesive on the plate, but there were varying types of texture but fell a bit flat in taste.

Torched Gindara stuffed with mushroom was one of my favourite items here. It really cooked well and infused with a lot of flavour. Plus, the presentation was nice.

The most entertaining dish was the clear soup boiled in a coffee siphon machine. You have the water in the bottom chamber and the shitake, kelp, bonito and sardines in the top chamber.

As you wait for the water to boil, it slowly pushes the water up.

Once they take the fire away, the clear broth comes down. When the soup cools down a bit, they pour it into your bowls.

After waiting a few minutes, we dug in. Definitely a clean clear broth, but pretty basic.

Red rockfish nigiri, scallop nigiri, o-toro bluefin tuna nigiri and isaki nigiri was the next plate.

Of these 4, I liked the scallop and o-toro nigiri.

Tamago, needle fish nigiri, sardine nigiri, and eel nigiri. These were ok. The tamago was an interesting texture, slightly sweet and with a spongey texture. I thought there would be more layers to it.

To end the meal, matcha jelly with creme fraiche, gooseberry, blueberry and strawberry. Simple dessert to end the night.

Overall, having the omakase was a good way to taste a variety of items on the menu. They were able to create some fun unique items on their menu, but it is a bit pricey for what you get. I definitely understand they use quality ingredients and the chef has 10+ years experience coming from Tojo’s. I found they try to keep the dishes simple but some execution and flavour combinations didn’t work. It was nice to come here for the first time, but there wasn’t anything else that would draw me to come back over and over again. For the 2 of us, after tax and tip, we spent just over $300, which really hurt our wallets, but on the plus side it lasted 3 hours.

We Rate Masayoshi Sushi Bar:

Address:
4376 Fraser Street, Vancouver

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

In Cafe

Oka-San: Sushi + Kitchen + Cafe

January 5, 2016

Oka-san Kitchen is the latest restaurant to pop up on Fraser Street in Vancouver. Oka-san is the Japanese word for mom, thus the name of this restaurant. It’s a cute concept to be served a homemade Japanese meal, so my friends and I decided to come here for a quick lunch. It’s pretty awesome how the neighbourhood on Fraser Street is evolving and all these cool eateries are popping up.

The interior is very cute, not a large space, but there’s enough space for smaller groups.

Later in the afternoon, this place filled up quickly.

Tea arrived at the table in a cute teapot and cups.

Spam nigri was on special for the day. There is caramelized spam with tamago on top of rice. When I saw this on the menu, I couldn’t say no to ordering this. The spam has a delicious flavour to it, but the rice fell apart instantly so it was hard to eat.

We were all drawn to the Mom’s Plate, where you can create your own meal by choosing a main, a raw item and a side. It comes with fruit and miso soup. It seemed like a good item to order so you can get a taste of everything.

Miso soup came in this cute tall cups.

Oyako don + Ebi Mayo +Hawaiian Poke

Kakuni don + Tuna gomae + Veggie Croquette

Gyu don + Kimpira + Hawaiian Poke

Gyu don + Spicy Tuna + Spinach Gomae

The gyu don wasn’t very good as it was overcooked and bland. The oyako don and the kakuni don were decent. The flavours of the items we ordered were average but nothing really stood out in terms of flavours.

Overall, super cute concept of Japanese comfort food with a homestyle twist, but taste wasn’t memorable. I’ve heard from others that the pasta is good here. Perhaps next time, I’ll give that a try.

We Rate Oka-san:

Address:
3578 Fraser Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.okasankitchen.com/

In Cafe

Prado Cafe: New Location on Fraser Street

November 29, 2015

Prado Cafe opens up their 3rd location on Fraser Street in Vancouver. They also have 2 other locations on Commercial Drive and in Gastown.

They have always been keen on crafting the perfect brew and creating a great atmosphere for their customers.

Their goal is to create a space that feels like it’s a welcoming extension of your home and echo’s the best that the neighbourhood has to offer. With the Fraser location, it has a large space with lots of table for people to bring in their laptop and work away or just have a good chat with a friend.

They use a constant rotation of locally roasted 49th Parallel beans in their coffee.

I usually get 2 types of coffee when I go out – Lattes or Cappuccinos. I’ve always been brainwashed to order those 2 drinks when I was backpacking through Europe during my exchange program in University.

Latte with some extra love. Always great coffee with nice bold flavours.

What I also noticed in this location is the Sodasteam filtered water and sparkling water taps. It’s free and you can consume as much as you want.

In addition to coffee, they have pastries and a few different sandwiches and light snacks.

Overall, its a great addition to the Fraser St area.

We Rate Prado Cafe:

Address:
4208 Fraser Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://pradocafevancouver.com/

In Chinese

Green Lettuce: Chinese and Indian Fusion

July 5, 2015

Green Lettuce is an amazing hole in the wall restaurant with Indian Style Chinese food. It’s busy every evening, so make sure to get a reservation or come here right at the beginning of dinner time. They also have another restaurant in Surrey.

Green lettuce brings the best flavours of Chinese and Indian cuisine and bring it together.

Vegetable Pakora with Chutney Sauce ($7.24) is a must order item. They are more dense because of all the chickpea flavour but it’s so good! I couldn’t stop eating this.

Pili Beef ($13.95) was ordered for medium spicy and it did pack a punch of heat! The beef was tender and the sauce was great. You will want to eat this with some rice to balance out the heat.

Spicy Chili Garlic Eggplant with Shredded Chicken ($12.95) was also medium spice, but it did pack a punch too. Lot of good flavours in this dish.

Manchurian style chicken chow mein ($11.95) was good as well but the noodles seemed to just have been plopped on the side.

Bombay Garlic Prawns ($15.95) has the deep-fried prawns smothered in the bombay garlic sauce. This is one of their popular items on the menu. It is served with fried shrimp crackers.

Masala Chicken Fried Rice ($9.95) was a good fried rice. Mix this with a bit of the pili beef and your taste buds will come alive.

At the end of the meal, they give everyone a fortune cookie. It was fun reading the fortunes inside. We probably had the most defective fortune cookies since ours had 2 -3 fortunes each. That means its extra luck right?

None of the dishes at Green Lettuce disappointed. I loved it all! I would come back here again.

We Rate Green Lettuce:

Address:
1949 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.greenlettucerestaurant.ca/

In Burmese

Amay House: Burmese Cuisine in Vancouver

March 12, 2015

Amay’s House is a Burmese restaurant in Vancouver. There’s only a handful of Burmese restaurants in Vancouver. My mom grew up in Burma, so she gets really excited when visiting a Burmese restaurant.

I’ve been meaning to come here for a while but haven’t had the chance to make a visit until now. Plus, a few readers urged me to come for a visit.

The restaurant isn’t that pretty. It’s kinda like a hole in a wall. Very simple decor and nothing fancy.

Myanmar Tea Leaf Salad ($7.50) has fermented tea leaves, tomato, cabbage, assorted beans and nuts. This is always my favourite item to order at any Burmese restaurant, the crunchy texture of the beans mesh so well with the vegetables. Their version was good but I preferred the one at Wahh Tee a bit more.

Large Prata served with Chicken Curry ($6.50) is crisp on the outside and when its dipped in the curry, it’s pretty darn good. You can’t leave Amay House without getting Roti.

Noodle Salad ($7.50) is made with egg noodles, shrimp powder, bean powder, tamarind sauce, cabbage, onions, and cilantro. It comes with a clear soup on the side. It was creamy and full of flavour. The mixture of spices were great.

Chicken Satay ($6.50) and Beef Satay ($6.50) come with 3 pieces each. They were not good as they were tough and over cooked.

Fish Noodle Soup Mohinga ($7) has rice noodles, catfish broth, lemongrass, cilantro, fried garlic and fried split chana dal. A staple of Burmese cuisine! We order this dish at any Burmese restaurant as a baseline test to see how good or bad a restaurant is. If you can’t get Mohinga right, then something isn’t right.

Coconut Milk Noodle Soup ($7) has egg noodles, coconut milk, chicken curry, onion and deep fried noodle crisps. It has a rich coconut taste and was quite enjoyable.

Overall, pretty good Burmese food here, but since it was a busy Friday the service was sparse. There was only one server that seemed to do everything. Once the order was in, the food came out at a steady pace.I still prefer to go to Wahh Tee.

We Rate Amay House:

Address:
5076 Victoria Drive
Vancouver, BC

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

In Gluten Free Options

Graze: Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurant in Vancouver

August 14, 2014

Graze is a vegan restaurant in Vancouver that has an all plant-based menu, which includes their beverages as well. They make sure all their ingredients are organic and locally-sourced when possible.

Chef Karen McAthy is the culinary genius behind the food. The concept is for people of all eating preferences to be able to find something that they can fall in love with. From strict vegetarians to flexitarians, There’s bound to be something on the menu to tickle your taste buds.

I came here with VeggieGirl after work. I needed someone that loves vegetables to have a fair review since it would be very hard for me to give up steak and pork belly. I do appreciate vegetables and could eat carrots and tomatoes all day long.

The interior is quite beautiful. We came here at 5:30pm for an early dinner and it wasn’t very busy. It started picking up around 7pm.

Graze Organic Ginger Beer ($5) is non-alcoholic and comes with a wedge of lime. Good balance of flavour and it was very good.

Dark and Stormy ($9) has Flor de Cana Rum, ginger beer, lime and ginger. VeggieGirl did enjoy it and the alcohol wasn’t too potent, but she did find there was a bit too much lime for her liking.

Vegetable Menage a Trois ($10) comes with 3 featured veggies. When we were here, there were carrots, dragon tongue beans, and squash. It also came with a phenomenal pesto sauce. The veggies were lightly grilled to It makes for good finger food. That pesto sauce was frickin fantastic!

Portobello Filets ($9) is gluten free and the coating is made with pepita, spices and corn flour, then panned until crisp. It is paired with a pink peppercorn aioli. I love portobello mushrooms, so naturally I was addicted. The crust was delicious and crispy and went well with the aioli.

One of their featured small plates for the night was the fermented collard leaf wrapped ‘chorizo’ with turnip puree, patty pan tempura, chili oil, and tomatoes from their garden.

The dish definitely tried to emulate the texture of chorizo, but it has no meat at all. It had a spongey texture but still delicious.

Macaroni ($14) has brown rice pasta in a smoky coconut cheddar sauce, crispy eggplant & toasted nut crumble over a potato pavé, seasonal vegetables. You can add their house-smoked tofu & fresh tomato for $3.

Those seasonal veggies are mighty pretty.

Paella ($15) has spicy bomba rice, asparagus, red pepper, green garbanzo beans, kalamata olives, spring fava beans and saffron. It was a filling dish.

Cheesecake ($7) dessert is their Blueberry & lavender cultured cashew cheesecake. It is topped with edible flowers and fresh cherries. The top had more of a mousse texture and the crust was so yummy and nutty.

Overall, we had a great time at Graze. You definitely need to appreciate vegetables to love this place. If you want to try a bit of everything, I would suggest getting their Prix Fixe set for $30, which includes their featured small plate, entree and dessert. Also check out their weekly specials as there are some good deals. Thursdays is date night, so you can get the 2 of the Prix Fixe courses for $50. Awesome deal!

We Rate Graze:

Address:
3980 Fraser Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://grazerestaurant.ca/

In Chinese

Western Lake: King Crab + Duck Dinner for 10

May 25, 2014

Last month, it was a crazy time for Chinese Restaurants in Vancouver with the arrival of the Alaskan King Crab. It was a short season, so if you missed it, you will either have to pay a lot of wait till next year.

They had 3 set menus that you can choose from. The prices during the time that we went were quite fair and you get a lot of food. If you want to opt out of the menu and do à la carte, you can as well and build your own menu. Perhaps the crab and few extra dishes on the side. It will be considerably cheaper. Good for smaller groups of people.

The set meal options are below, it’s good for large groups.

For the 8 of us, we went with the King Crab and Beijing Duck Dinner for 10 people. It can feed more than 10, 12 is a good number too.

It includes:

Crispy Duck Skin with Crepes
Duck meat with lettuce wraps
king crab legs steamed with garlic
Shredded duck meat soup with dried scallops
King Crab body in supreme soy sauce bedded with rice dough
Diced beef tenderloin with deep-fried milk puffs
Dried fish maw and shredded ham with greens
sautéed and deep-fried sole fillets
Egg whites fried rice with dried scallops or baked rice with seafood
Tossed noodle in crab sauce
Baked tapioca pudding

For $398, it was not bad.

The crab we chose was pretty big. It’s always fun to get someone to pose with the crab before dinner. My grandpa did the honour of doing that since he’s never had Alaskan King Crab before.

When you arrive at the table, there are complimentary peanuts and pickled vegetables ready for you to munch on.

Crispy Duck Skin with Crepes was the first dish to arrive. The duck skin is crispy and lays above some fried shrimp chips.

You get the duck with the crepes, and a few vegetables and sauce to put together.

Once you have what you want to have in your wrap, you snack it on top of each other, roll it up and start eating. It was really good!

Duck meat with lettuce wraps was the next dish to arrive. They don’t waste any of the duck. Most of the duck meat goes into this dish.

You scoop the filling into the lettuce wrap and eat away.

I roll it up like a spring roll to keep any of the filling from spilling out. I love the crunch of the fresh lettuce and the savoury duck.

Fish Maw soup arrived at the table and they divide up the portions among the table.

I love this type of soup, but some people may not like it after finding out fish maw is the air bladder of a fish that controls its buoyancy. Don’t be afraid, it actually tastes like nothing but has a consistency of jelly.

King crab legs steamed with garlic was the dish we were all waiting for. Deliciously drenched with all the garlic. So good!

King Crab body in supreme soy sauce bedded with rice dough came after the steamed legs.

Diced beef tenderloin with deep-fried milk puffs was surprisingly delicious! The beef was very flavourful and the milk puffs were creamy and delicious.

Dried fish maw and shredded ham with bok choy.

Sautéed and deep-fried sole fillets with broccoli. The sautéed sole fillets tasted good with the broccoli, but the deep-fried cole wasn’t that good.

Baked rice with seafood is another amazing dish made of the king crab parts. There are still bits of meat baked in the crab head shell. It is topped off with the delicious Portuguese sauce.

Alternatively, you can order the egg whites fried rice with dried scallops.