Mount Pleasant/Main Street Archives - Page 3 of 8

In irish

Dubh Linn Gate: Old Irish Pub in Vancouver

January 22, 2017

Dubh Linn Gate is an Old Irish pub in Vancouver close on Main and Terminal. This is their second location, as their original location is in Whistler. I’ve been here a few years ago and I remember they had good food for a pub. Recently, they launch a few new items on the menu and we were invited to give this new menu a try.

The interior is quite cozy. There are long tables, booths, a bar. Even with their high ceilings, they were able create a nice vibe here. They even added a 2nd floor of seating here so you can look down and spy on people.

Beer

They have a large amount of beer on the menu from local to Irish beer. It can’t be an Irish pub without Irish beer like Guinness.

I went with Innis & Gunn from Scotland, which is an Oak aged beer. One of my favourite beers.

Brunch

Traditional Fry Up is their weekend brunch item with two eggs, house made Peameal bacon, Two Rivers banger, Oyama black pudding, roasted tomato, spuds, poached pears, house baked beans and toasted sourdough. It’s a lot of food all on one plate.

Boxty Bennies has whiskey cured steelhead, poached eggs, tomato hollandaise on top of a toasted muffin. There is also salad, grilled tomatoes and breakfast potatoes. They also have another version with peameal bacon instead of the steelhead. The bennies are good, but the poached eggs was more medium than soft.

Appetizers and Sharing

Scotch Egg is made of Guinness sausage surrounding a beautiful soft boiled egg. It is served with an piccalilli sauce.

Brussel Sprouts is roasted with bacon and then broiled with dubliner cheese and a hint of lemon.

Black Pudding Toasties has Oyama sausage on grilled sourdough with caramelized onion jam, tobacco onions, and a side of grainy mustard. It’s not a dish for everyone. Since I’m Asian, I’m pretty use to it. It has an iron taste as it is blood sausage.

Salad

Maple Kale and Chicken Salad has baby kale and roast butternut squash tossed in a maple mustard vinaigrette with beer brined chicken, dried cherries, almonds and sweet potato chips. Surprisingly, it was a pretty good salad. I loved the texture of the chips.

Burgers

The Central Burger has a 6oz St. Helens beef burger topped with pulled pork, stout BBQ sauce, Dubliner cheese, pickles, chipotle mayo, tobacco onions and lettuce. It is served with fries but can be swapped with salad or soup for a little extra. This was a really delicious burger and the fries were nice and crisp.

Veggie Burger has a house made patty topped with amber ale cheese, spicy chipotle mayo, pickled red onion tomato, sprouts, and salsa verde. A good option for vegetarians.

Main Street Meatloaf

It has a pork and beef meatloaf slow cooked and served with tobacco onions, creamy mash, mushy peas and gravy.

Lamb Shank

Slow braised lamb shank sits on top of their pearl barley risotto. It is them topped with a lamb reduction sauce.

Steak and Guinness Pie

This beautiful pie has AAA Alberta beef cooked tender in a rich Guinness gravy with spuds and carrots baked in a cast iron pan topped with a flaky golden pastry.

Dessert

The Central Sundae is made of Guinness, Bailey’s, and caramel ice cream layered with chocolate and caramel sauce topped with an Irish lace cookie, whipping cream, candied walnuts, sprinkles and a cherry.

A fun dessert to share and t’s not too heavy.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a good pub experience for drinks and food. The food is on point and the decor is very nice. The prices are higher than other pubs, but look out for their daily features and they also have happy hour if you want a deal.

We Rate Dubh Linn Gate Irish Pub:

Address:
1601 Main Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://vancouver.dubhlinngate.com/

In Hawaiian

Pacific Poke: Poke and Panini in Chinatown

December 10, 2016

Pacific Poke has finally opened their doors in Chinatown on Main Street. I’ve been waiting for a long time to open as it’s the closest poke restaurant to my office.

What sets them apart from other poke restaurants in Vancouver is their clean, wholesome ingredients packed with bold flavours. When I saw they were finally open on Instagram, I went with a few of my coworkers to check it out as it was we needed some lunch.

Interior

You order on the left side and on the right side is their seating. They have a few tables and some seats by the window. The decor is simple, but the metal origami pieces are pretty cool.

Ordering

On the menu, you can build you own poke bowl or pick one of their many chef inspired creations.

I always end up building my own to cater to my own taste buds. They have 2 sizes – regular and large.

If you want something different, they have poke paninis. There are 3 kinds:

First, you choose your poke base. You can do a classic base of organic brown rice or traditional sushi rice, but I went with the kale salad base.

For the protein, you can choose from:

Sockeye salmon
Ahi tuna
Negitoro
Steelhead
Spicy tuna
Spicy Salmon
Albacore tuna
Crab
Shrimp

Some of their selection can change seasonally based on whats available. I went with the Sockeye Salmon and Ahi Tuna as those are very classic.

For the toppings, they have:

ginger jicama
tomato kimchi
pickled red onion
green onion sprouts
red beets basil
jalapeno
organic seaweed salad
fresh wasabi peas
seasonal offerings

I couldn’t decide what to get so I asked them for a bit of everything to add to my bowl. Why not get all the ingredients to try it all.

They also have some drinks, but their house-made iced teas and lemonade are amazing:

Strawberry Green Tea
Yuzu lemonade
Unsweetened Genmaicha

You can ask them to try them before deciding which one to get.

Poke Bowls

After the first few bites, you can tell the toppings are super fresh and not coming straight from a can. They seem to put a lot of work into preparing each topping that goes into the bowl.

Even though the portion size wasn’t as large as some other poke places in town, the flavours of the sauces really shine and doesn’t over power the fresh pieces of fish.

How my coworkers and I describe this place is like the Tractor of Poke.

Poke Panini

The Poke Panini’s can be order in full or half size. My coworkers got their Salmon Poke Panini and they enjoyed other ingredients that came inside the panini like the tomato kimchi.

Final Thoughts

Easily one of my top favourite poke places in town. With so many poke places opening up in town, each place has their own unique difference. I really appreciate how Pacific Poke put a lot of love and care into each ingredient, you know it’s not from a can. Plus their drinks is worth a try. Their portions are a bit smaller and prices are a bit higher than the other places but I would come here again.

We Rate Pacific Poke:

Address:
625 Main Street, Vancouver

Website: https://www.thepacificpoke.com/

In Happy Hour

Los Cuervos: Happy Hour of Tacos and Drinks

November 29, 2016

Los Cuervos is a Taqueria and Cantina near Kingsway and Fraser St in Vancouver. A few of us went after work to enjoy their Happy Hour special. 2 Tacos and a beer for $10. A pretty good deal.

We came at 5:30pm and just made it in time before 6pm.

There are 2 dining areas, but we were seated in the area closer to the entrance with the bar. Dimly lit and cozy.

Happy Hour

2 tacos and a draft beer cost $10, which is pretty good compared to our regular menu as tacos are around $4 each.

I got:

Lomo Cantinero Taco with Cantina-style slow-roasted pork shoulder, pineapple pico de dallo salsa.

Suadero Taco has beef brisket marinated in a beer achiote, with pickled poblano pico.

Both were delicious and the poblano pico added a lot of kick. It’s pretty spicy. The beer was good and refreshing. They have a few beers to choose from.

Tostadas

Ceviche tostada has local ling cod, shrimp, cucumber and poblanos. Delicious and the heat from the poblanos was good.

Churros

Churros come with a bunch of them. It comes with a chocolate and cajeta sauce. Definitely an item that everyone at the table needs to share. Crisp on the outside and not overly sugary.

Happy Hour here is pretty good and I’ll be back.

We Rate Los Cuervos:

Address:
603 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC

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

In Japanese

Pepper Lunch on Cambie: Gyozas, Yaki Udon and Grilled Meats

November 22, 2016

Pepper Lunch launched a few items on their menu a few month ago. We went to their Cambie location to try a few of these items. I’ve been a big fan of their restaurant ever since I had it in Asia. The 2 Canadian locations are a lot better than the ones in Asia but to the sourcing of their ingredients.

The space has high ceilings with natural night during the day. Narrow space, but has spaces for small to large groups. They have a second floor that accommodates larger groups.

Gyoza

Gyoza is their new side dish and it comes in beef or chicken. There are 12 pieces per order. Both types were delicious but the chicken was very moist and addictive. Nice grill marks on the outside too.

Maple Flavoured Sliced Pork Steak

Maple Flavoured Sliced Pork Steak has sliced pork steak, bean sprouts, green beans, carrots and a bowl of rice on the side. This was surprisingly very good. The maple caramelized on the outside of the pork and added a touch of sweetness that isn’t over powering.

Dinner Specials – Prawns and Sliced Angus

Prawns and sliced angus comes with veggies, bowl of rice, miso soup, a drink and mochi ice cream.

I love hearing the meat sizzle on the hot plate from the cooking meat. Delicious and tender angus beef with lots of flavour.

Dinner Specials – 300g Kobe Burger

The 300g Kobe Burger comes with veggies, bowl of rice, miso soup, a drink and mochi ice cream. It’s a pretty big slab of burger. Super delicious and great for people who want a little extra food compared to the regular menu.

Veggie Mushroom Burger

Veggie Mushroom Burger also has bean sprouts, green beans, carrots and a bowl of rice. I usually don’t like veggie burgers but they did a good job making these and the savoury mushrooms really made it taste great.

Yaki Udon

They also introduced yaki udon and you have the choice between beef or pork. It also has green beans, carrots and topped with bonito flakes and green onions.

Stir it around and it cooks all the items in the skillet.

Mochi Ice Cream

They also have a variety of mochi ice cream. I enjoyed the vanilla and black sesame ice cream mochi. All of them were pretty decent and its a nice sweet touch to the end of the meal.

Final Thoughts

Overall, its great to have a few more additional items on the menu. I usually have my go to dishes at Pepper Lunch, but I really enjoyed the Veggie Mushroom Burger and the Maple Flavoured Sliced Pork Steak.

We Rate Pepper Lunch:

Address:
2323 Cambie St. Vancouver

Website:
http://www.pepperlunchcanada.com/

In Culinary School

VCC Chef’s Table: Fall Pop-Up Dinner

October 3, 2016

Vancouver Community College has brought back their popular again – VCC Chef’s Table for the Fall until October 14 at their Broadway Campus. I came here last Summer and was moved by the amazing experience. You can check out that review here.

I am a huge fan of dining at culinary art schools as meals are well priced, tastes great and it helps train our future chefs. The 5 course meal is $30 and wine pairings is an additional $15. When you see the pictures, the price point is just sooo good.

I came with a few of my friends to check it out.

Chef Hamid Salimian i back at it again sharing his knowledge and expertise with a new generation of chefs as an instructor in the VCC Culinary Arts program. He did an awesome job crafting the menu with the students.

Dining Area

The table is set up like a U-shape, so everyone gets a good view of the students preparing each dish. Since I did come with 7 people, it was a bit hard conversing with the other side of the table due to the set up. Most other groups were in either 2’s or 4’s.

Wine Pairings

For $15 for wine paired with 5 dishes, it’s a pretty good value.

We got the opportunity to try:

Fern Walk Sauvignon Blanc 2014
Luna Argenta Prosecco Treviso Brut
See Ya Later Ranch Gewurztraminer 2015
Pepperwood Grove Old Wine Zinfandel 2013
Whistler Late Harvest Chardonnay 2014

All very good wines that were paired with each dish.

Sturgeon Crudo

This beautiful dish has scallop, side stripe, egg yolk puree, trout caviar. It is paired with the Fern Walk Sauvignon Blanc 2014. The saltiness from the caviar went well with the delicate flavours of the scallop, shrimp and sturgeon.

Smoked Black Cod

The dish also has sunflower, sunchoke, pearl onions, and a porcini foam. It is paired with the Luna Argenta Prosecco Treviso Brut. Loved the different textures of the plate. A good amount of smokiness on that black cod.

Chicken Liver & Foie Gras Parfait

The dish also has pickled veggies, chicken lover fie gras, pickled veal tongue, beets and a bone marrow ball. The bone marrow ball pops in your mouth and all that delicious flavours coats your mouth. There was a generous amount of foie gras, so I wished there were were chips to go with it.

The dish was paired with the See Ya Later Ranch Gewurztraminer 2015.

Bacon Wrapped Lamb Loin

The plate is dressed with portobello, parsnip, tomato, and lamb jus. That lamb loin and bacon was so tender. Great flavours and we all wanted more.

This is paired with the Pepperwood Grove Old Wine Zinfandel 2013.

Dark Chocolate

The evening ended with the Dark Chocolate dessert which has chocolate soil, chocolate rocks and chocolate ice cream. Great for chocolate lovers.

The last pairing of the night was the Whistler Late Harvest Chardonnay 2014.

Final Thoughts

It was a pleasure dining here again to see all the students creating the dishes right in front of our eyes. All the dishes came at a good pace and it was a great experience. For $30 for 5 dishes, it is worth the price. I’ll definitely be next for the next dinner. It was my 3rd time trying their Chef’s Table and the amount of techniques used here are amazing.

Address: 1155 E Broadway, Vancouver

Website: http://www.vcc.ca/services/eat-shop–more/the-chefs-table-pop-up-kitchen/

In Bakery

Shop the Neighbourhood with French Made Baking

October 1, 2016

Shop The Neighbourhood by Yellow Pages celebrates small businesses all year round, and reminds Canadians how shopping locally makes a difference in our lives and directly impacts the local economy. Small businesses are our economic backbone: they create jobs, funnel funds back into the community, keep decision-making power localized, and generally contribute to building healthy, thriving neighbourhoods.

In partnership with Yellow Pages, I wanted to highlight my favourite small business – French Made Baking located in Mount Pleasant.

French Made Baking

Mount Pleasant is a vibrant neighbourhood known for its unique stores, heritage buildings, artistic residents, and fun community festivals. The area is popular with urban professionals and young families. What better place than a French patisserie shop to appear. The Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Area has worked with them over the years to help promote their business at local events and on social media.

David and Catherine Introligator

French-from-France couple, David and Catherine Introligator produce authentic and tasty French pastries. They are dedicated to their craft and have been around since 2011. I remember meeting them at various bakers markets and special events before they had their storefront.

Yummy Treats

They have croissants, madeleines, caneles, and other items but their most popular items are their macarons.

Their macarons are fabulous! The texture and the flavours have always been spot on. I don’t think I’ve found one I didn’t like yet.

My usual order at French Made Baking is a canelé and a pack of macarons.

Canelé is a classic French pastry made from eggs, milk, flour, and sugar. It is a small pastry with a balance of sweet and savoury flavours. What I love most is the crunchy caramelized crust.

Macaron is another classic French treat characterized by 2 pieces of meringue cookie sandwiched with filling like ganache, buttercream or jam. It is generally made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar and ground almond.

They have rotating flavours, but a few of my favourites are:

L’Anglais: Earl Grey tea infused milk chocolate ganache
L’Oriental: rose & litchi white chocolate ganache
Le Provençal: lavender & honey white chocolate ganache
Le Praliné: hazelnut & almond praliné buttercream
Pistache: roasted pistachio white chocolate ganache

Sometimes they make limited edition macarons for special events. I remember one when they made totoro macarons.

They also have larger macaron cakes.

They also sell 11 kinds of Kusmi Tea, a tea company which has been around for 140 years. Delicious high quality tea.

Classes

What to learn how to make macarons, croissants, or choux pastry? They offer hands-on classes with David at their “Atelier” kitchen on Kent Avenue.

A fun way to learn how to make French pastries the correct way while having fun with friends or coworkers.

Go for a visit

French Made Baking is one of many amazing local businesses in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. When you come for a visit, say “hello” or “bonjour” to their amazing staff as they serve their customers in both English and French.

Local businesses are neighbourhood-oriented. Business owners and staff share the community’s interests, and are personally invested in the welfare and future of the neighbourhood.
If you want to learn more about Shop The Neighbourhood, follow Yellow Pages on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Address:
81 Kingsway, Vancouver

Website:
http://frenchmadebaking.com/

In Brunch

Bao Down: Hawaiian Brunch

September 27, 2016

Bao Down has a Hawaiian Brunch every weekend at their Olympic Village location. Since Hawaiian cuisine is all the rage this year, I thought it would be great to check it out with a few friends.

One thing I’ve always adored was their amazing painting on the wall. So bright and vibrant with the rustic decor.

Drinks

Coffee is a must at brunch since we are all still waking up. They have drip coffee with milk and sugar.

They even have espresso-based coffees too if you want something a bit more fancy.

Thai Iced Tea was a cool item on the menu so my friend ordered it. When it came to the table, the drink was super sweet, so she asked if they could do it half sweet, but unfortunately it’s pre-mixed, so they can’t adjust the sweetness. They were nice enough to take this off the bill.

Island Brunch

The Swartz has crispy corned beef and potato hash with 2 eggs, garlic fried rice with tomato and onions.

Under Pressure has panko fried spam, 2 eggs, garlic rice, hash browns, sweet shoyu, tomato and onions.

I found this dish to be quite heavy for brunch. It was pretty hard starting the day off with fried foods and rice. I thought there would be a few lighter items on the menu, but most of them were meaty and heavy.

Overall, I didn’t really take a liking the brunch items we ordered. I prefer their lunch menu with poke as it is more light and fresh.

We rate Bao Down:

Address:
115 West 2nd Ave. Vancouver

Website:
http://baodown.net/

In Brewery

Faculty Brewing Co: Tasting Room in Mount Pleasant

August 24, 2016

Faculty Brewing Co is the newest brewery to pop up in the Mount Pleasant area. The craft beer scene is growing quickly in the area and I love seeing all the little hidden places where they pop up. They took over a former bike shop.

Tasting Room

The tasting room has 28-seats and can be quite busy during peak hour. Their rotation of beer changes weekly and you can have them as a growler, sampler, or in other sizes.

They have a selection of snacks for sale, like, charcuterie, cheese, hummus, salsa and olives. They also allow you to bring outside food here.

If you’re not into beer, they also have kombucha.

Sampler

They only have 4 available on tap, so we were able to try them all.

Blonde Ale
Minzewizen
Chinook Pale Ale
Oaked Stout

Blonde Ale is super easy to drink with crisp and fruity with citrus notes. A great summer beer.

Minzeweizen was an interesting beer as it is a milky wheat beer with peppermint team. The peppermint definitely threw me off.

Chinook is a singe hopped pale ale with a bit of zest and spice.

Oaked Stout is the darkest beer with a creamy oatmeal head. It definitely tastes like coffee, which I enjoyed.

Overall, a great selection of beers and it’s a tasting room that you need to check out in the Mount Pleasant area.

We Rate Faculty Brewing Co:

Address:
1830 Ontario St, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.facultybrewing.com/

In Brewery

33 Acres Brewing Co: Tasting Room in Mount Pleasant

August 22, 2016

33 Acres Brewing Co is another brewery in the Mount Pleasant area. We went in the afternoon to their tasting room and it was packed.

We wanted to grab some waffles, but we just missed their brunch menu. Since we were here anyway, we wanted to try a few of their beers.

Tasting Room

The tasting room has a limit of 60 people at one time, so when you see this, you gotta wait a little bit. The line up wasn’t long and we were seated quite quickly. If you’re only doing a growler fill, you don’t have to wait.

With 60 people, this place is packed. We ordered at the counter, grabbed our beer and heading to an open seat to wait for our food.

They give you a little number so they know where to deliver the food.

Beer Flight

I didn’t know what to include in my flight, so I asked them to recommend some light fruity beers that have less hoppy taste.

33 Acres of Life
33 Acres of Sunshine
33 Acres of Euphoria
33 Acres of Cider

All of them were pretty good beers for the Summer. It was a pretty hot day, so having these paired nicely.

Snacks

I wanted something to munch on, so I got the Pistachios. It’s not overly salted, so it was great to crack open the shells and have it with the beer.

Overall, a good place to hang out with friends over some beer and bites.

We Rate 33 Acres Brewery Co:

Address:
15 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://33acresbrewing.com/

In Kid Friendly

Tractor Foods: Healthy Options in Mount Pleasant

August 17, 2016

Tractor Foods is finally open in Mount Pleasant close on 2nd and Quebec. They serve up healthy food for everyday. I’ve been waiting for this location to open for a very long time.

I work close to this area and there aren’t too many healthy food options around. There a few other places, but fast food still dominate.

Interior

The interior isn’t too large. A decent amount of seats, but since it’s so popular, you will have a lard time finding a seat at noon.

I did see some people doing take out and going back to the office. I came here with a large group, so we got here at 11:30 and got a table for 8 people.

Ordering

The menu is the same as the other locations. You go up to the counter, put in your order, and pay for it at the other end.

It’s like a nicer cafeteria style line.

Food

Wild mushrooms, ditalini pasta, truffled ricotta cheese, and fresh herbs was a nice pasta salad. A good amount of mushrooms.

Grilled avocado is something you gotta add to your meal. Something about a grilled avocado with salt and pepper is so good.

Half Turkey Sandwich has turkey thigh, smoked gouda, alfalfa sprouts, arugula, pesto aioli, and house pickled cucumbers, on a sourdough bread. Nicely grilled on both sides and its a bit crunchy. A good sandwich.

Watermelon salad has cucumber, pumpkin seeds, and goat’s milk feta.

Arugula salad has grilled pears, candied walnuts, blue cheese, and a champagne vinaigrette.

Also, a Grilled Avocado!

Overall, the food is super healthy and has a good taste. I would come back for more salads and sandwiches during lunch.

We rate Tractor Foods:

Address:
1751 Quebec Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://tractorfoods.com

In Delivery

Crumb Sandwich Shop: Lunch near Main Street

August 16, 2016

Crumb Sandwich Shop is a small shop serving sandwiches, focaccia, soups, and salads during lunch or for large corporate orders.

You can order through Food.ee in Vancouver or straight from their website. Best to make the order ahead of time if you can.

I was invited by Crumb Sandwich Shop to give a few of their sandwiches a try.

They don’t have a branded storefront, so they are in a commissary kitchen near Beta 5 Chocolates. There’s a row of stores, so head down to the very last one to find Crumb Sandwich Shop. If you see Commissary Connect, you’re in the right place.

Curried Pork & Grape has roasted pork loin, black currant, pea tendrils, caramelized grape, fennel, curry aioli on the organic multigrain. What made this sandwich unique is that curry aioli, it was very nice and added a lot of flavour to the sandwich.

Fried Chicken has buttermilk fried chicken, pea sprouts, radicchio, apple, cilantro, lime, chili, and honey. Nice crunchy chicken with a good amount of breading.

Prosciutto & Pear has caramelized pear, prosciutto, onion jam, arugula, triple cream blue brie with a fig and walnut bread. Reminds me of another restaurant that has a similar sandwich. This is still a good sandwich, but the onion jam threw me off a little bit.

Chicken & Bacon has roasted chicken, avocado, double smoked bacon, butter lettuce, cherry tomatoes, onion jam, five spice aioli on the milk & honey bun. It was like a super good BLT, but with chicken and all the good stuff.

We also tried the Beef Brisket sandwich, but the Szechuan braised brisket tasted so strong of the Szechuan peppercorns, I really didn’t like it.

Overall, it’s a nice option for lunch in the Main/Terminal area as there really isn’t too many lunch options around. Majority of the sandwiches are good, but prices are a tad high. Sandwiches are around $12, but there isn’t any seating here.

We rate Crumb Sandwich Shop:

Address:
401 Industrial Ave, Vancouver BC

Website: http://www.crumbvancouver.com/

In Hot Pot

Nabebugyo Hot Pot: Individual Hot Pot in Vancouver

August 14, 2016

Nabebugyo is a Japanese-style hot pot restaurant where you will get your own individual hot pot instead of sharing a big hot pot. My friends and I decided to come here after work to just give it a try.

Interior

There is a large bar looking seating, but its hard sitting there as a group. They have a few tables on the side, so we opted to sit there. Each seat, there are the individual stoves for you to cook your meal.

Individual Hot Pot

All hot pot orders come with rice, seaweed salad and ice cream for dinner. If you are here for lunch, you just won’t get the ice cream.

The seaweed salad arrived first and it was a nice start to the meal. It is cold and has bits of sesame seeds in it.

I went with the Soy Milk broth. It comes with sliced pork, assorted veggies, shimeji mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, tofu, cup of soy milk and udon. The pot first comes with the kombu broth.

They have other flavours of hot pots, but I didn’t feel like anything too salty, so the soy milk was a good option.

I had the choice of beef or pork, but I went with pork. Look at all that delicious pork.

First, we waited for the pot to come to a boil before putting some of the veggies inside.

They told me to put in some veggies and meat in first or else the soy milk will boil over.

Once you pour in the soy milk, it becomes the delicious milky broth.

After it cooked, I left it on a simmer so I could enjoy it with my rice. The broth was very delicious.

You can add more ingredients on the side if it’s not enough. I found that what we received was a good portion. It hit the right spot, but I can see that some people may want more.

You can choose from vanilla, strawberry, banana fudge or green tea ice cream. Of course I gravitated towards green tea ice cream. How would I say no? It was a nice cold treat to end the hot pot meal.

Tipping isn’t required here as per Japanese customs, but since they were so nice, we decided to tip them.

Overall, the food was good and I liked their version of individual hot pot. The taste was clean the ingredients they use are pretty good. They also have a kids hot pot, so its good if you are with kids.

We rate Nabebugyo Hot Pot:

Address:
3190 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://nabebugyo.com/

In Chinese

Kwong Chow: Chinese Food in Mount Pleasant

July 8, 2016

A few foodies were in the area and needed a good cheap place to eat with plenty of seats, so we decided to head to Kwong Chow Congee & Noodle House for some Chinese food. It’s a neighbourhood favourite in Mount Pleasant. A lot of people have talked about this place, but it was my first time dining here.

Preserved Egg and Lean Pork Congee is what we started off with. All scooped up into their individual bowls.

I love congee, it’s like my comfort food. If I had to only have one dish for the rest of my life, it would be congee.

House Special Wonton Soup with tons of wontons and they were able to customize the dish so each people would get at least one wonton.

Sliced Beef and Gai Lan is a solid dish but we did feel it was pretty oily. Even in the picture, it glisten in the lights.

Chicken with ginger and green onion oil on the side. We got half a chicken and it was pretty good as well.

Sweet and Sour Boneless Pork with Pineapples was ok, not my favourite type of dish at a Chinese restaurant. Just a personal preference since I don’t like mixing sweet and savoury items together. Kinda like how I don’t prefer Hawaiian pizza.

Sauteed Pea Shoots with garlic is one of my favourite vegetables. Cooked well.

Yang Chow Fried Rice is a pretty classic fried rice with shrimp, BBQ Pork, and other items.

Rice noodles with sliced beef and scrambled egg was an interesting dish. I think it needed a bit more salt and perhaps it would have been better with rice instead of rice noodle.

Deep Fried Silver Fish was super crisp and I loved the texture and crunch of them. The pepper flakes and garlic really accompany this dish well by giving it a little kick of spice.

Overall, the meal was pretty good, split among all of us, it was a pretty good price. The food isn’t anything fancy, but they have good tasting dishes.

We Rate Kwong Chow Congee & Noodle House:

Address:
3163 Main Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.kwongchowrestaurant.com/

In Dessert

Kul Cup: Soft Serve Ice Cream in Mount Pleasant

June 26, 2016

Kul Cup is a new organic soft serve shop in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. When you’re on Main and 12th, you’ll see their bright blue awning from the intersection.

They use Avalon dairy in their soft serve and try to source their other ingredients locally where possible.

All of the organic soft serve ice cream have the same base, but it is dressed up with a variety of different toppings.

Matcha Slim has organic ice cream with organic premium match powder, condensed milk and raisins. It was ok, but those raisins didn’t make much sense to us.

Swiss Bliss has organic ice cream, swiss chocolate milk, chocolate sauce, and a crispy wafer stick.

Honey Comb has organic ice cream with natural honeycomb, liquid honey and corn flakes. A good classic combination that you will see at other soft serve ice cream places around the world.

Magic Cookies has organic ice cream, crunchy oreos, and chocolate sauce. Good for those chocolate lovers.

Fancy Macarons has organic ice cream with macaron, toasted almonds and chocolate sauce. The macaron is cute and it’s made by French Made Baking a few blocks away.

Summer Love has organic ice cream with pistachios, macadamia nuts, cashews and caramel sauce. All the nuts for ground up into small pieces.

Caramel Popcorn has organic ice cream, Kernels Popcorn and caramel sauce. One of the favourites among the group as the flavours pair really well.

Raspberry has organic ice cream, fresh raspberries, organic quinoa granola, and a raspberry sauce.

Tropical Dream has organic ice cream, fresh pineapple, mango, organic aloha granola and either strawberry or raspberry sauce.

Avocado has organic ice cream, fresh avocado, toasted coconut and condense milk. It was a surprising favourite of the group as all our mind were blown that avocado would go well with ice cream.

Green Island has the organic ice cream with almonds, caramel sauce and served in a cantaloupe. An interesting combination, but could have been presented a little bit different.

Out of all the items we tried, they all kinda seemed similar after a while since the base flavour is the same. The ones that I really liked were Avocado and their Caramel Popcorn.

We Rate Kul Cup:

Address:
2751 Main Street, Vancouver BC

In Japanese

Jean Talon: Japanese Style Poutine in Vancouver

May 19, 2016

Jean Talon Poutinerie is a Japanese-style Poutine Bar located in Vancouver. They are the sister restaurant of Cafe de L’Orangerie near Marine Drive, which serves awesome Japanese-style pasta.

Since I love Cafe de L’Orangerie, I wanted to go to Jean Talon for the longest time. It wasn’t until Sherman and I were looking for a restaurant that we both haven’t been to so I suggested going to Jean Talon. We’ve been to several thousand restaurants since we started blogging, but there are still so many restaurants to check out in the city.

The decor is simple and they have a bunch of draft beers and wines to go with their food. Great for a late night snack since they close at 10/11pm depending on the day of the week. They are closed on Tuesday.

Poutine with beef stew sauce had some super crispy fries topped with their beef stew. The fries were so crispy that it didn’t go limp until the next day. Even with the hot beef stew on top, the fries stayed crisp. This is great since I hate when fries go limp and mushy.

I loved the texture of the fries since it added a nice crunch to it.

Katsu Sandwich with a side of poutine. A good item to order if you want to try more than just poutine.

The pork inside was a bit dry as you can see. The taste of it was fine, but the bun was a bit too bready.

We got the classic poutine sauce and it has onions, mushrooms and curds. I did enjoy it. The curds were squeaky when it rubs against your molars.

Japanese Curry with Hamburger had a good amount of curry that coats every grain of rice on that plate. The sauce was nice, but I didn’t enjoy the hamburger, which was a beef/pork combo as it had a lot of onions in it. Seemed a bit overpowering.

Overall, the style is different than other poutineries, but if you love Japanese food, you might like this place. I would come back for a poutine and beer late at night.

We Rate Jean Talon:

Address:
670 East Broadway, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://jeantalon.cafedelorangerie.ca/

In Japanese

Carp: Sushi and Bento Boxes

April 18, 2016

Carp Sushi and Bento is a little Japanese take out restaurant located near Kingsgate Mall. A friend of ours highly recommended this place for their sashimi and rolls.

M and I decided to come here after work for a quick dinner, it would have been quicker, but I ended up wanting to try so many items off the menu. Sometimes I can be such a pig.

Once you walk inside this small space, you will see a few things for take out in the fridge, a counter, and 3 tables.

I think they can fit about 10 people in here. Maybe less?

We put in our order at the counter, paid and found a seat. They also have a kids combo too.

You can find other items on their chalk board.

They gave us hot tea as we waited for our meal to be prepared.

I couldn’t stop staring at this moo-cow creamer as their soy sauce dispenser. Super cute.

Salmon and Tuna Sashimi were very good quality. That tuna was so fatty, that it might as well just be toro. 10 pieces of $12 isn’t bad considering the quality of it.

Moo-cow creamer in action with the soy sauce coming out of its nose.

Tuna Tataki Salad has the tuna tataki on the bottom topped with greens and a light dressing.

Truffled Mashed Potato was surprisingly good. The truffle is subtle, but it works well together as a side item to your meal. It is served cold.

Mini Japanese Curry comes in a small bowl, think of it as a little taster.

Sea Eel Candied Salmon Roll comes with 8 pieces. avocado, cucumber and candied salmon on the inside topped with the eel.

OMG Roll has 8 pieces as well. It is topped with spicy salmon and these crunchy ball bits. Good rolls as well.

Inari is a tofu pocket with rice, seasoning and these tiny crunchy balls. Good and simple.

Cone trio comes with California cone, crunchy prawn cone and a spicy tuna cone. All three were tasty and put together well.

Sesame Ice Cream and Green Tea Ice Cream was a nice sweet treat to end the meal.

Overall, all the items were really good. If you want to try a bit of everything and not want to spend too much, the bento boxes are a great option for under $10.

I would come here again. Awesome hidden gem.

We Rate Carp Sushi +Bento:

Address:
2516 Prince Edward st
Vancouver, BC

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

In lunch

Bao Down: Poke Bowls, Bao, and Fries

March 14, 2016

Bao Down has a new location in Olympic Village and it’s their Gastropub and Raw Bar. Their menu is slightly different than the one in Gastown and offers more than just bao.

I came with my coworkers the first time and had horrible service as we were not informed about an automatic service charge for groups of 6 or more. Also at the end of the meal, they didn’t show us the itemized bill before paying. So, we tipped about 15% on top of 18%. As one of my coworkers thought the meal was oddly expensive, she requested the itemized bill before leaving to go back to the office. We later found out there was the service charge.

After a few of us posted our frustration on Instagram, they invited us back for lunch on them. It was a nice gesture and they were able to change their service charge policy from 6 people to 8 people. Plus, they reassured us they have trained their staff a bit more so there is no more confusion for future customers.

The restaurant seats about 65 people and they do lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. I love the art piece on the left wall.

They have a wide variety of alcohol, but since it was a daytime lunch, we had to skip the alcohol.

The lunch time menu has poke bowls, salad, bao, curry, soup, and fries. Their menu seems to have been changing after hearing feedback from customers.

When they first opened, they didn’t have bao, which was shocking.

Poke Bowls comes with either ahi tuna, albacore tuna or tofu. You can choose the below sauces to go with it:

Sweet shoyu-sesame
Gochujang miso-mayo
Calamansabi

Of the 3 sauces, the table liked the sweet shoyu-sesame as well as the gochujang miso-mayo. You can also choose from brown rice or white rice.

It’s a pretty good portion for lunch. In the bowl is also a lot of vegetables. Definitely very healthy lunch option.

The second time we went, we noticed they added pineapples to it and had less fried noodles on top.

Consistency of what goes into the bowls did change, but they are probably trying to test the dishes to find a good combination or perhaps they were trying to use fresher ingredients.

Bao Chicka Bao Bao has garlic, lemongrass fried chicken, daikon, crisp garlic, fish sauce glaze, carrot and garlic scape mayo. A lot of people seem to order this one. My coworkers liked it.

Phrench Dip comes with a pho broth dip so you can dunk the whole bao into it. It is an interesting concept but it was quite pricey. It was almost double the price of their other baos.

YVR Bao has sesame seared albacore tuna, pea shoots, double smoked bacon, avocado, wasabi mayo and sweet soy.

Japayoki Fries has fried chicken, curry cheese sauce, seaweed, jalapeño, bean sprouts, pea shoots, white and black sesame, sweet soy, scallions, and togarashi. We ordered the small to share and it was pretty good.

Kimchi Fries has kennebec potato fries, crispy pork belly, sweet soy, crispy garlic, bean sprouts, garlic scape mayo and scallions.

Another good combination. With both fries, I wish the fries were more crispy, but I can see how it would be difficult since there are a lot of sauce and toppings that go on top.

Overall, the food was good for a lunch stop. You have the classic baos and fries that you would find at their Gastown location. The dinner and brunch menus do vary, so you might not find these items at other times.

I personally find the baos ok, but I would prefer getting their poke bowls.

We Rate Bao Down:

Address:
115 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://baodown.net/

In Canadian

The Flying Pig: Olympic Village Appy Hour

February 25, 2016

The Flying Pig located on 2nd Ave near Olympic Village has appy hour between 4pm and 6pm every day. It’s great that they open a location closer to my workplace since my coworkers and I love a good appy hour. The items on the menu are all $6 and there are $5 drink specials too. What better way to rejoice after a long day at work?

We came right at 5:45pm before appy hour ended and put in our order. I actually prefer this location over the Gastown location since the staff here seen nicer.

We even spotted a flying pig on the wall. Oink. Oink.

Crimini Mushroom Gratin isn’t an appy hour item, but it’s a side item off their regular menu. It’s only $6.50 but it’s so worth it. Delicious mushrooms covered in parmesan and herbs. Whats not to love?

Beef Carpaccio comes with dijon aioli, olive oil, and crostini. I liked it since the fried capers give it a nice salty taste.

Truffled Jumbo Macaroni comes with a 4 cheese cream sauce but I thought this dish could have been a bit more cheesy.

Their House Terrine comes with a salad, 4 pieces of terrine and and toasted bread. The terrine was a bit stiff and not easily spreadable, but that was ok. We liked the flavour of it as it has a slight smokey taste.

Beef Short Rib Croquette comes with a spicy dipping sauce. It comes with 4 pieces in an order. The croquettes were crispy on the outside and had the short rib mixture on the inside. It tasted alright.

Crispy Brussel Sprouts are a must. Drizzled with lemon, parmesan and capers. Always a favourite among the table.

Overall, I love coming here for appy hour. The food and drinks are a good price, plus its a great time to hang out with friends. All the dishes are filling and you can’t go wrong. We didn’t even need dinner after coming here.

We Rate Flying Pig:

Address:
127 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver

Website:
http://theflyingpigvan.com/