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Robson Street/West End

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Hello Internet! RomanJ here! Today we explore one of my favorite restaurants – Kadoya. Kadoya is a chain Japanese restaurant in the downtown core specializing in sushi rolls. One branch is located on Davie Street right beside the St. Paul’s hospital, which is always filled with hospital employees. The other one is Kadoya on Denman Street, right beside English Bay.

Right off the bat, Kadoya on Denman street is way bigger than the one on Davie Street and less busy. They also have the same menu! If you want to try new roles, this is the place to be. On their menu they have a section called Chef’s recommendations and there are over 15 rolls in the menu to choose from.

Abbytizer and I hit up Kadoya, so, as always we order a ton of food – King’s Roll, Maple Roll, Salmon Takai and the Roll Combo G.

Off the Chef’s Recommendation menu, I ordered the King’s Roll ($9.95) . What’s intriguing about this roll is that its comprised of prawn, wild salmon, onion, garlic, tobiko, and topped off with honey mustard. Who would have ever thought honey mustard would go so well with this roll. The honey mustard blended well with everything! Truly a roll to try! It’s out of ordinary and could say fit for a king.

 

Maple Roll ($8.95) is composed of salmon, cream cheese ( we love that cream cheese), smoked salmon. Anything cream cheese just melts so well with the salmon.

 

Salmon Taki ($12.00) has green salad, ponzu sauce, sprinkled with dried up garlic and green onion are so good. This dish is also pretty huge. The best value for your money! I could just order this meal, have a drink and I would be set.

Roll Combo G ($10.50) consists of spicy salmon, spicy tuna and california roll. This combo is worth the price and the spicy salmon is good.

The quality of food at Kadoya’s is good, anything off the chef’s recommendation menu has not disappointed me at all. My goal is to try all of the chef’s rolls.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Order a roll from the Chefs Recommendation Section
  • Kadoya’s on Denman is less busy that it’s sister restaurant on Davie Street
  • Near the beach, for a nice stroll after eating all that sushi

We Rate Kadoya Japanese Restaurant: 

Address:

202 – 1184 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.kadoya.ca
Kadoya Japanese (Denman) on Urbanspoon

I was hanging out with a bunch of people downtown and we were craving dessert. Since it was late at night, only a handful of places could seat tables of 10+. We called up a few places and Capstone Tea House said they had space for us.

I came here about a year or 2 ago and I remember it being decent and not bad at all.

When we arrived, they already set up the table for us. The water came quickly out for everyone as well. It was weird how water was served in bbt cups.

 

One thing we noticed was the change in menu. This was really different than the one before. They raised their prices and removed some of the items we wanted to order. The prices had a dramatic increase and a few people at our table did decide to go elsewhere. I don’t blame them at all since it is quite expensive even for drinks.

Once everyone opened up the menu, we all wanted to leave. Out of courtesy, some of us felt guilty for leaving since they set up the tables for us already. Some items didn’t look too bad and since it is a fondue place, it was a logical choice to get the fondue.

When the cheese fondue for 2 ($22.95) arrived, we were a bit confused because the menu stated, “comes with 2 personal sized fondue pots”. This was not what was depicted on the menu. When we asked the waitress, she said it is only available in Richmond and not at this location. She said she could not do anything.

At this point we were wondering why they did not tell us this before placing the order. It is not acceptable to mislead your customers.

We did order 3 sets of the ‘cheese fondue for 2’  and expected it to be enough for 6 people. The cheese ran out fairly quickly, so we had to ration the cheese so we could use up all the vegetables and items that came with it. We wanted to order more cheese but, it would have cost us an additional $8.99 for a refill of cheese.

The cheese fondue is made of Swiss cheese and comes with endless assorted French bread cubes, tomatoes, grapes, apples, carrots and these mini garlic crackers. It also came with the unlimited bread. However, no one came to refill the bread and there wasn’t enough cheese to keep on eating unlimited bread.

The taste was all right and we did have fun, but $22.95 per pot was not worth it.

The other group at our table ordered the Chocolate Fondue for 2 ($22.95). It came with 6 ice cream balls, grapes, strawberries, apples, pineapples, bananas, biscotti, and 2 nutty toppings.

They use to offer gummy bears and pretzels too, but they don’t include them anymore. Their experience was better, but still expensive!

We were all pretty mad since why would you have a new menu and items that your location does not carry. It was ridiculous and the waitress did not say anything at all. No personal sized fondue pots were seen here.

The prices were not worth it. The website menu is also not updated to reflect the new changes. They no longer offer the $7 sampler items and the all you can eat fondue option on the menu increased by $2.

Just for the sake of complaining, I had to sit beside their really weird vase filled with dirty water and weird particles inside. It looked gross.

When the bill came, we were very surprised! There was an automatic 20% gratuity for tables of 8 or more. 20% is a bit steep and we were not informed before hand. Looking back at the menu, their clause was on the last page in small font. I would gladly pay it only if they provided us with excellent service, but sadly, the service was quite below par. At least they help us split the bill, but looking at the gratuity per item, its quite a lot.

Even for other restaurants, they would charge 17% or 18% gratuity, but 20% is a bit too high in my opinion.

I am not a very confrontational person, so I would have just let it slide. PRgirl was really furious and told the manager about how upset she was over the whole experience. The manager kindly explained that their shipment of dishware and would not arrive till a few weeks later, thus there was only one larger fondue pot instead of 2 personal sized pots. He was not trying to rip us off and kindly removed the 20% gratuity and gave us a 10% discount. It was good of him to do what he did to amend the issues.

If you are ever unsatisfied at any restaurant, don’t be afraid to speak up. No restaurant ever wants to make their customers angry. So, tell them your thoughts and hopefully they can fix any issues. I am glad PRgirl said something because I would be way to shy to say anything.

Overall, we did have a bad impression of the restaurant. As a dessert, this place is great to take a date or a small group of friends.

Words of Wisdom:

  • 20% gratuity for 8+ group
  • New menu with increased prices
  • Slow service
  • Expensive for what you get
  • Delicious cheese fondue
  • No individual cheese fondue
  • Nice interior decor

We Rate Capstone Tea House:

Address:

1429 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Address:
www.capstonetea.com
Capstone Tea & Fondue on Urbanspoon

KoreanGirl and I just finished our intersession course at SFU, so we decided to meet up Mandu and head over to Guu with Garlic. We had a great girls night at Guu Garden last time, so we headed to my other favorite Guu – Guu with Garlic.

This Guu is cool because it has the usual dining area, a patio and also a Japanese style upper area. Since it was a very busy day, we were put in the Japanese style area. It was super cool but I had the hardest time sitting down. My pants proved to be a bit problematic as well as the part where my legs kept getting numb. I totally prefer real chairs.

They have a regular menu and a fresh sheet.

We started off with a pitcher of Asahi ($21). It’s something that KoreanGirl and I must have! Japanese beer is the perfect thing to order when you are going to dig into a lot of izakaya dishes. What we noticed about this pitcher was how bad the pour job was… there was way too much head.

Mandu decided she didn’t want to pack on the pounds so she got a large bottle of cold sake ($7.80) and a diet coke ($2). She just mixed those two slowly together throughout the night.

Mandu loves her Saba Grill ($7.80). I was a bit skeptical about it since last time but I am really starting to like the dish. The Saba meat is flaky and goes perfectly with the garlic chips and lemon. It is grilled very nicely and the soy sauce works hand in hand with the garlic chip taste.

No meal can be done without Ebi Mayo ($7.80) at Guu. It comes with 6 pieces in a chili mayo dip. It’s still not the best Ebi Mayo I have ever had, but it’s not too bad.

I actually love enjoy eating the crunchy tail! A lot of people find it weird and just leave the shell, but it is edible if it is fried.

I am a huge fan of Sashimi salad ($6.80). The salad is mixed greens with a plum dressing and wasabi mayo. The sashimi was part of this dish was prawns, and some other types of fish that I couldn’t identify. It was pretty good and was a nice refreshing dish that did not have a heavy taste. The wasabi mayo adds a little kick to the dish as well!

By now, the Assorted oden ($6.50) is a must have! You can choose six items in it and we chose daikon, deep fried tofu, mocha tofu bag, puffed fish cake, beef tendon and fish cake.

The broth is very amazing and light. The addition of the yellow type of wasabi added a lot of strong sharp spicy taste to it. We accidentally added it into the broth and it was SO good!

The Maguro steak ($8.50) is a slab of ahi tuna sashimi steak marinated in garlic, soy sauce and sake. We felt that it was really just a slab of ahi tuna, which needed more flavor. We thought there would be a more unique taste, but it wasn’t there.

2 kinds of chicken cartilage ($5.50) was something quite interesting and very different! They batter and deep-fry the different parts of cartilage from the chicken. The have lemon and salt + pepper to add for more taste.  Clearly, they don’t waste any parts of the chicken.

From the fresh sheet, we got the Curry croquette ($4.00). Golden brown and crispy on the outside, but the inside was just very smooth and had a good balance of curry taste.

We then ventured into trying the Gyu Tan/Beef tongue ($4.80). This is grilled beef tongue with an awesome salt green onion mixture.  The beef tongue was tender and was seasoned very nicely and the onion mixture accompanied it well.

The Yaki Udon ($7.80) is something more standard. It I span fried udon, beef, mushrooms, green onion, and then seasoned with soy sauce and butter.

It was all right, but nothing special.

The Okonomiyaki ($5.80) is a deep fried squid & cabbage pancake with tonkatsu sauce and a mustard mayo sauce. I thought this was all right and kinda reminded me of the Korean seafood pancake but smaller and with more sauce.

I love Ramune ($2.50). It is just a Japanese soda, which has a marble, as it’s “lid”.

At this point of the night, we need more beer, so we ordered a Mega Sapporo ($9.00). It’s a huge glass and it has about a liter.

We then had the Ochazuke ($4.30). It’s rice in a dashi broth with tuna. It was light and subtle and ended the meal very nicely.

Lastly, we had the Tako Wasa ($3.50). It is marinated octopus and wasabi sauce with seaweed. You take the seaweed and put some taco wasa onto the seaweed, roll it up and eat.

I liked it because of the sharp wasabi sting.

Overall, we all had a great time! We ordered way too much and drank too much. Eventually we racked up the bill and it came to $150 after tips. I like the atmosphere and it’s a good place to unwind at the end of the day.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Hard to find parking
  • All tapas below $10 and well priced
  • Great place to casually eat and drink

We Rate Guu with Garlic:  

Address:

1698 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.guu-izakaya.com
Guu With Garlic on Urbanspoon

I love ramen places that have combos. I really just can’t stand eating just a huge bowl of ramen. I am the type of person that just wants a little bit of everything.

One thing I noticed about their menu was how it changed. It used to be much bigger and straightforward. This time, the menu was a bit flimsy and slightly confusing.

KoreanGirl, VeggieGirl and I came back from a long meeting and really wanted to eat! Since we wanted ramen, the closest place to get some was at Sanpachi.

KoreanGirl got the Mini Cha-syu combo with Spicy Ramen ($11.95). She really liked it for the price. She was even pretty full and had to pack the rice.

She’s been to the other ramen place – Santouka Ramen and she felt that the broth at Santouka Ramen was better for the spicy broth. For Sanpachi Ramen, the broth was decent and she didn’t have to pay way more.

I ordered the Mini Cha-syu combo with tonkatsu ramen ($11.95). I really really like their tonkatasu ramen. The broths is quite rich, so not everyone like it.

I enjoy having the mini cha-syu rice because it breaks up the taste from the ramen.

Since VeggieGirl is a vegetarian, the only option for her was the Sai Sai Ramen ($9.95).  She really wanted a miso ramen without meat, but they could not make it for some reason. It’s really just taking out the meat…so she was confused.

The Sai Sai ramen is made of vegetable soup stock with bamboo shoots, seaweed, tomatoes, carrots, snow peas, corn, onions, bean sprouts and ramen noodles. The ramen was not bad at all; it is quite large so you will get full. One thing she did notice was that there were a lot of bean sprouts. A LOT!

Overall, we had a good time. Decently priced ramen that didn’t break our student budget.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Decent ramen at decent price
  • Around $10
  • Combos are my favorite

We rate Sanpachi Ramen: 

They are located at:

770 Bute Street
Vancouver, BC

Sanpachi on Urbanspoon

 

 

WE Coffee opened up a few months ago and I have always wanted to try it out. I love waffles, so I am always on the look out!

It doesn’t look like there is a lot of seats inside when you first walk in, but you just need to walk further in and you can find seats for up to 6 or 8 people.

Their menu has coffee, tea, sandwiches, and desserts.

I ordered the London Fog (Medium – $3.59). It’s not on the menu, but I just asked if they could make it and they did! It tasted like a normal London fog, but on two occasions I found it to be very inconsistent. The first time I had it, I uncovered a huge tea bag underneath the foam…then the second time there was no tea bag inside. Not a bad thing at all, but I thought it was interesting.

The Al’ Opera Special Blend Tea ($5.99) is a special type of green tea but enhanced with red berries and spices. The tea was ok, but it was quite steep in price (no pun intended :P) at $6 a pot. You really need to be a tea expert to really appreciate it.

One cool thing about their teapot is that there is a metal shield that covers the pot. Not really sure what it’s purpose but we assume it was either to prevent the lid from falling off or to give the pot a sleek look.

KoreanGirl ordered the Iced Americano (Large -$2.75). It looks super cool and tall!

KoreanGirl ordered the one topping Waffle Sandwich with strawberry ice cream ($5.29). This was not very impressive at all. This was hardly a sandwich at all. Nothing sandwiched in the middle. Not worth the price.

I ordered the Strawberry Trifle ($7.99) and it had custard, cake, strawberries, whipped cream and almonds on top. The image on the menu was slightly misleading since there are no Pocky sticks in it.  It still tasted pretty good.

CanuckGirl ordered the Waffle with Banana and Ice cream (Half-$6.99). It comes with a scoop of chocolate ice cream, custard, 3 pieces of banana, 2 quarters of a waffle and whipped cream. She thought it was alright but yet its not super impressive for the price.

I came back on another occasion and ate some more. This time, I ordered the Brownie and Ice Cream ($7.99).  This looked so delicious! It is a very rich brownie with walnuts inside. It has vanilla ice cream on top and it topped with chocolate sauce, caramel, almonds and a few blueberries.

The brownie was very very good! One of the better brownies I have had.

AuditGirl and Eevaa both ordered the Strawberries and ice cream (Half- $7.99). It has the 2 quarters of a waffle, fresh cut strawberries. Custard and strawberry ice cream.  They both thought that it was just average and yet again nothing special.

Overall, both groups that I came here with said it was just ok and nothing special. The items are a bit overpriced for what you get. Hands down, Michi Waffle house is still better. Even though this is so…I would still return just to chill and grab a coffee.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Strawberry Trifle and Brownie
  • A bit overpriced
  • Everyone must order an item
  • Free wifi

We Rate WE. Coffee:

Address:

1696 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.wecoffee.ca
WE. Coffee on Urbanspoon

Milestones was having Date Night on April 27 where it is basically buy 1 get 1 free. Since I had no date, I would do what any normal asian would probably do…bring their army of women just to get the deal. InsecureGirl, KoreanGirl, CanuckGirl and I headed over after work to be there to get the deal.

We went to the Milestones on Robson since we didn’t want to walk too far to any other Milestones. It’s not a bad location, but we knew it would be more busy than the one near English Bay.

When we arrived, there was already a 15 minute line up. Clearly everyone wanted a piece of this deal. Since the wait was not too long, we stayed and just made fun of each other till a spot freed up.

When we got to our table, they had a suggested menu with their most popular items. You weren’t limited to this list, so you can choose anything off their usual menu.

I ordered a Honey Lager ($5.49) and some hot water.

InsecureGirl ordered the Milestones’ Original Bellini ($6.49). It has run, peach liqeur, sparkling wine and boone’s sangria. This is a very popular drink and you can’t go wrong with this.

We started off with Milestones’ famous hot spinach & artichoke dip ($10.99).  The dip is made from creamy spinach dip with artichoke hearts and various Italian cheese. On the plate were also sour cream, salsa and red tortilla chips. I found that the sour cream and salsa didn’t add much to this dish since the main feature is the dip.

Another appetizer that we ordered was the Calamari Steak Strips with Andouille Sausage Ragu ($10.99). The calamari are cut up into strips rather than the usual calamari rings. It is lightly dressed and fried. You get 2 dips, one with the ragu sauce and the other was the preserved lemon aioli, this reminded me more like mayo. Most of the people at the table preferred the ragu sauce.

For the main, CanuckGirl and I both ordered the Certified Angus Beef Top Sirloin with Trio of Signature Steak sauces ($21.99). We both chose to have ours medium rare. The 3 sauces that come with the dish are – Worcestershire, spiced mustard and gaucho sauce. There is also asparagus and cherry tomatoes on the side. I thought this dish was quite average. Not the best.

InsecureGIrl and KoreanGirl both ordered the Regular Cut of the Slow Roasted AAA Prime Rib ($22.99). It was done medium rare and had very savory au jus sauce with asparagus, tomatoes and mashed potatoes. The cut of meat was particularly fatty for both of them. So, as they were being girls, they would cut out the chunks of fat and there was a large amount. The other parts were ok, but it was not the best quality.

Overall, if you are to getting steak, it is not the best place to get a good quality steak unless you pay a bit extra for the more expensive choices. For myself, if I were a guy, I would not take my date here. Maybe I’m wrong, but it screams ‘cheap’ if a guy takes me here for Date Night… or at least for a first date. You gotta impress the girl. I do like the concept and it does seem to be working since there were couples there.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Monday – Girls Night (4 Bellini, 4 Appies = $40)
  • Wednesday – Date Night (2 for $50)
  • Milestones’ famous hot spinach & artichoke dip + Calamari are both good!

We Rate Milestones:

Address:

1145 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.milestonesrestaurants.com

Milestones Grill and Bar (Robson) on Urbanspoon

Guu on Thurlow is open for lunch. I heard from PinappleBun that they have great deals under $10. Since I’ve been to Guu for dinner and loved it, I thought lunch would be exciting too.

There are a good amount of tables for lunch and there’s a bar..if you are eating alone. I sat at the bar because it was just me. Don’t be afraid if you suddenly hear your waitress yelling to the chefs, it’s totally normal! They are just communicating your order in a fun way!

The menu on the walls, are dinner specials, so you can’t order them till dinner time. I was eyeing the Beef Carpaccio but I couldn’t get it.

Their menu is quite small, so you only have the main options of Bento box, Don, and curry. They have a few specials too

I ordered the assorted fry Bento Box ($8). I wanted a little bit of everything, so that was the best option.

There was chicken karrage, pork tenderloin cutlet, creamy croquette, bamboo shoots, daikon and a bit of noodles. This bento box also came with Miso soup and rice.

The chicken karrage and the pork tender loin was ok, but I really loved the creamy croquette! Nicely fried on the outside and rich/ creamy on the inside. Yum!

Words of Wisdom:

  • No waits during lunch
  • Under $10
  • Creamy Croquettes!
  • Small menu selection
  • No sushi

We rate Guu:  

Address:

838 Thurlow St
Vancouver, BC

Website: www.guu-izakaya.com

Guu on Urbanspoon

My last Dineout of 2011 was at Ciao Bella was with FinananceGirl, SFUPretender, EnvyGirl and LGirl.

Ciao Bella is an Italian restaurant on Denman Street which has a lot of traditional italian dishes.

When we walked inside, the interior was very homely and they even had a piano player.  This is seriously a perfect location for an intimate romantic dinner. Someone even get engaged while we were there. So crazy!

They have the DineOut menu and their regular menu. We stick to the DineOut since thats the purpose why we are going. It was $28 for 3 courses.

Before we got our appetizer, we got bread. You can drizzle oil and balsamic vinegar all over it! It’s so delicious. I even accidentally poured too much balsamic….so my bread looked all black. BUT it was still delicious because I love balsamic!

For my appetizer I got the Grameroni Della Casa, which is cold poached prawn cocktail with horseradish dip. This was a small appetizer since it only had 4 prawn. Since I love prawns I gobbled them down like they were potato chips. The prawns and the horseradish dip was just quite average and nothing too special.

Everyone else had the Zuppa Al Aragosta , which is the chef’s lobster bisque. They all liked the soup and loved how there were bits of lobster in it!

LGirl, SFU Pretender and I got the Pollo Pavorotti, which is a breast of free rangec chicken stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach. It is topped off with a Porcini mushroom demi glaze. You can choose either vegetables or pasta. But I chose vegetables because of my diet of no pasta or rice.

One thing that was a pain was cutting into the breast and the filling would just pour out. The chicken was a little on the dry side, but it you smother it in the sauce, it’s tastes just fine.

FinanceGirl and EnvyGirl ordered the Agnello E Gamberoni , which is grilled Lamb Chops and tiger prawns. Both of them got it with the pasta option.

LGirl ordered the Tiramisu. It has layers of lady fingers, marscarpone cream cheese, and chocolate.

SFUPretender and FinanceGirl ordered the Creme Carramelo, which isa custard dessert with a layer of caramel on top.

EnvyGirl and I had the Torta Chocolate, which is their house special chocolate italian cake. I think this was by far the best dessert, you have some rich chocolate cake and very nice chocolate mousse in the middle. Yum!

Words of Advice:

  • Parking in rear
  • Amazing live piano music
  • Amazing weekly deal and evening dinner specials (50% off pasta on weekday lunches)

We Rate Ciao Bella:

Website: www.ciaobellavancouver.ca

Address:

703 Denman St
Vancouver, BC

Ciao Bella Italian Restaurant & Piano Bar on Urbanspoon

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I went to Michi Waffle with a few friends but I was a bit too full for dinner to enjoy their amazing waffles. So, I got some tea instead.

I ordered the Premium Macha . I like to buy things blindly, what can’t be exciting about something that starts with premium. This tea is made with real macha, even though it does look a bit milky at the top, it’s just the foam from mixing it. Like most teas that come without sugar, it was quite bitter and strong, which is usual for green teas. They even give you a bit of red bean jelly thing. It works well to counter act the bitterness of the tea.

I always come here with friends just to chill when theres nothing else to do on Robson, plus we are pretty asian, so we enjoy our teas and dessert. We prefer this place over the other places like Capstone Tea House.

The ambiance of Michi Waffle and Espresso Bar is the perfect place to have a conversation. If you go there on a date or a meeting, it will leave a lasting impression.

We rate Michi Waffle and Espresso Bar: 

Visit their website: http://michicafe.com/

Michi Waffle & Espresso Bar on Urbanspoon

NotFauna, Mandu, BusanGirl and KoreanGirl were out at Tunnel for Girls Night to get free cover and free bottle of champaign. We were aso craving Jang Mo Jib, so we left early to get some soju and hot pot. When we arrive, we found out they close at 5am…..5AM! Intense!

The inside is quite big as it has another room in the back. It’s good for large groups of people as well.

They give you tea, but apparently, they have hot and/or cold tea! If you get cold tea, it’s not a mistake.

Since it was nearing 1am, we wanted to order all our alcohol before then. We got 2 bottles of soju ($15 each). It was a bit expensive since you can get it at the alcohol store for less.

They also have deals on Soju on Thursdays for cheaper.

Since I drove, I opted for a less potent drink. Blueberry Soju Cocktail. One part blueberry juice, one part sprite, one part soju.

It came in a tea pot which seemed a bit odd at first. The others wanted it to be strong, so they did half soju and half cocktail.

With anything you order, you get complementary sweet potatoes, seaweed, kimchi and kimchi radishes. Free refills too. Apparently, these dishes are suppose to be eaten with the meal…but since half of us were Chinese…we just ate the like pigs!

Our main item was Gam Ja Tahng + extra 1 person ($27.65 +$15). This is a great meal! My favorite! This has pork back, pork neck, green onion, various vegetables, potatoes in a traditional korean broth. You can have it mild, little spicy, or spicy.

I find it can fill 4 girls pretty well without adding the extra $15.

Since we left the table a mess, it was a good night.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Amazing korean hot pot
  • Open SUPER late – 2am and 5am

We rate Jang Mo Jib:

Website: www.jangmojib.ca

Address:

1719 Robson St
Vancouver, B

Jang Mo Jib (Robson) on Urbanspoon

Sanpachi Ramen is a new ramen joint that opened up downtown.  I’ve been to several ramen places, and none of them really satisfied me. Until now. Thanks to KimHo for her amazing post about this place. Sanpachi Ramen is on Bute and Robson. This place is now my favorite ramen place in Vancouver.

Sanpachi has really nice interior decor and can accomodate more people than some ramen places downtown.

When you walk into the door, you are able to see the workers in the kitchen preparing the noodles. It’s usually quite common for ramen places to openly display their kitchens.

Their menu looked good, lots of pictures to see what exactly you will be getting.

They even have combos, a few side dishes and half order options. One thing that I rather did not like was how a majority of the menu items were “coming soon”. I really wanted the gyoza 🙁

M ordered the Spicy Ramen ($8.95) with a tasty egg ($1).  The broth was delicious! It was spicy and miso base. The dish came with the usual bamboo shoots, chashu, green onions and a slice of fish cake completed the dish.

The additional “yummy egg” was cooked perfectly so the yolk is slightly gooey. I wish I took more pictures of this, but I was preoccupied ogling my own dish 😉

TaiwaneseGirl had the Tonkatsu Ramen ($8.95). When it first arrived at the table, it really didn’t look like what was on the menu. When I think back, I don’t think TaiwaneseGirl ordered seaweed with this.  Despite the look, the tonkatsu base was the best out of the 3 ramens. The broth was nice and rich. If Inception was a bowl of noodles, this would be it. It had so much depth! This also had bamboo shoots, green onions and a slice of fish cake.

TaiwaneseGirl finished her dish leaving no broth behind. Every last drop was gone!

I ordered the Nori Mayo and miso ramen (half order) combo ($8.95). It’s hard for me to finish a full bowl of noodles…or even one pack of instant noodles. So, the combo was the best solution for me.

The nori mayo had mayo/pork mixture on top of rice and wrapped in seaweed. At first I was a bit skeptical because of the look, but it was pretty good. It also came with 3 pieces of pickled radishes.

The miso mayo was good as well. Probably one of the best miso broths I’ve ever had. It also had bamboo shoots, chashu, green onions and a slice of fish cake completed the dish! Even though it was half an order, I was good and full. I have a small appetite but love try a little bit of everything. So this combo worked out well for me.

The hours are usually 11 – midnight, which is not bad at all.

Overall, I loved this place! I know some people may disagree, but Sanpachi Ramen works for me!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Amazing broth
  • Half orders (great for kids, or women with small stomachs)
  • Combo options
  • Street meter parking or Pay parking in the back near London Drugs

We rate Sanpachi Ramen:

They are located at:

770 Bute Street
Vancouver, BC

Sanpachi on Urbanspoon

Stepho’s Greek Taverna on Davie Street has been a really popular restaurant in Vancouver for their affordable greek food.

I have always had the misconception that greek food in Vancouver is fairly expensive. When I eat Greek food in Burnaby, an entree would cost anywhere from $15 – $20. BUT, at Stepho’s, you can have large portions for under $10. This is the reason why Stepho’s is always packed with customers during lunch and dinner time.

When we arrived at 5pm, we thought it shouldn’t be very busy, but there there was already a line up and most of the tables were full. Since it was just M and I, we quickly found a table for 2. Despite the large size of the interior and several tables, it was all full.

The menu comprises of the usual greek dishes you would find any other restaurant, but for way cheaper.

I enjoy playing with candles….so if you are a waitress or a waiter and you see the candles are messed up….ya…it was me. Stepho’s does not use traditional candles, like many other restaurants, they have adopted to use the electronic candles to simulate the same feeling. It took me a while to figure out why the candle did not feel hot.

We ordered the Saganaki ($4.95) for an appetizer. Saganaki is essentially fried cheese. I know it sounds grotesquely fatty….very fatty, but something about melted cheese just makes your heart melt every single time. Maybe it’s just me…but I would kill for melted cheese on any type of bread.

For the Saganaki, it came with a pita bread cut in half. We divided up the cheese and put it on our half of the pita bread. Since it is fried, you get a bit of “ooey gooey” and crispiness to the cheese.

If you are watching your weight, this is probably not a good appetizer.

M ordered the Roast Lamb Platter ($9.95). It came with a Roast Lamb, Greek Salad, Vegetable stew, Roast Potato, Rice Pilaf, Pickled Jalapeno, and a lemon. M devoured the greek salad, it was loaded with Feta cheese. The roast lamb was very flavourful, tender and succulent. It was not dry at all. The meat fell off the bone easily. He also enjoyed the rice since it was flavourful.

I ordered the Small Chicken Slouvaki ($7.95). It came with tzatziki sauce, greek salad, roast potatoes, Rice Pilaf, Pickled Jalapeno, lemon wedge, and a skewer of chicken.

This was a small…I can’t imagine how large, the large size would be. I enjoyed the rice pilaf, greek salad, tzatziki sauce, and the roasted potatoes. One thing I didn’t like was how dry and burnt tasting the chicken skewer was.

We also got more pita bread with our entrees.

Overall, we both had a good experience. The portions were large and at an affordable price. Don’t expect to have the best tasting greek food at Stepho’s, but one thing is for sure…you will be full.  The service on the other hand was not great, we often felt rushed with our meal. We spent a total of 35 minutes at Stepho’s. It’s either we eat fast, or they were trying to get us out as fast as possible.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Limited Parking in the rear
  • Street Meter parking in the front
  • Long line ups during peak hours
  • Large portions for under $10

We rate Stepho’s :

They are located at:

1124 Davie St
Vancouver, BC
Stepho's Souvlaki Greek Taverna on Urbanspoon

Kintaro Ramen is one of the more popular ramen shops in Downtown. They are known for their large bowls of ramen, with customizable ingredients that go inside. People always complain about their long line ups… but today I thought of a very ingenious way to beat the line up.

Since it was the Santa Clause parade, TaiwaneseGirl and I spent a few hours waiting in the cold watching all the floats go by. Since we were grown cold, we thought a big bowl of ramen would make the day complete! We stood right by where the parade started, so we could watch every float and dash to Kintaro while everyone is still at the parade.

Sadly, others had that in mind too, so there was about 4 people in front of us, good thing the turn over is quite fast, so we got a table in about 10 minutes.

Kintaro is quite small and most seating is shared with strangers. They only have 3 tables that seat 2…while the other is bar seating or a large table. There isn’t much else you can do, but it does force you to meet strangers.

After we sat down, there was a rush of people wanting to get a taste of the Kintaro Ramen. When you walk in, you wil be able to see their open kitchen where the chefs prepare the meal. Some say it’s fun eating at the bar because you can see exactly what they chefs are doing to each meal.

We started off with the Gyoza ($5), it was nice and crispy on one side and it had a citrus soy sauce. It was good, but it wasn’t the best ones I’ve had. Especially, if you are paying $1 per piece, totally not worth it. When you bite into them, a bunch of juice would start leaking out.

TaiwaneseGirl had the Miso Ramen ($7.95). She asked for the lean pork rather than the fatty pork. It also had bean sprouts, corn, bamboo shoots and green onion.

I had the Shio ramen with medium soup and lean pork ($7.25).  One thing that puzzled me was how much fat there was in the broth. It had eggs, bean sprouts, green onion, and bamboo shoots as well.

After hearing all the hype over Kintaro, the noodles were just average. It’s decent for it’s price and large , but this is not the best. After thinking about another Japanese Ramen place – Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, I prefer their overall taste.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Good prices, large portions
  • Long waits during peak hours
  • Limited seating, you may be sharing tables

We rate Kintaro Ramen:

They are located at:

788 Denman St
Vancouver, BC

Kintaro Ramen on Urbanspoon

It was a lovely dinner with the SFU Student Marketing Association. We had dinner, raffles and played “white elephant”, which is an evil version of secret santa. All proceeds went to the BC Children’s Hospital, which is an amazing plus!

I’ve been to Moxies a few times on many special occasions. I even met David Choi here too!

Moxie has their special Winter Features on their menu, which is available November 4 to December 30th.

They even have big Bad Boy sized beers such as Heineken for $7 special. This was big! I was about a glass and a half worth of beer. We decided to put it side by side with a regular sized bottle…and you can tell…it’s quite massive.

InsecureGirl had a bellini.

We started off sharing the moxie’s combo platter ($25), which had calamari, chicken tenders, avocado spring rolls, med bread, chicken wings + three great dips. It was supposed to come with 3 dips….but for some reason 2 only came with the platter.

The platter overall was pretty big, but for some reason it came at the same time as our entree….so we had to tell them to hold back the entrees.

There could have been more calamari since it was so little compared to everything else.

TaiwaneseGirl had the coconut curry rice bowl, which had apples, ginger + curry-buttered naan bread, and chicken.

InsecureGirl had the beef dip, which has house-roasted beef, sautéed mushrooms & swiss cheese on baguette with au jus. She even got a daily soup as well.

Even though this is on the lunch menu, you can order it at dinner time too.

KoreanGirl and I both had the winter stew with puff pastry ($15), it has turkey, mushrooms & vegetables simmered with shallots & creamy white wine sauce, topped with puff pastry. The first few bites were delicious and the creamy taste of the stew blended nicely with the puff pastry.
As time went on, the taste got very boring and we got full fast because the stew was very rich. We felt really “fat” after eating this because we know it was just cream.

We rate Moxie’s:

Located at:

808 Bute St
Vancouver, BC

Website: www.moxies.ca

Moxie's Classic Grill (Robson) on Urbanspoon

CinCIn Restaurant + Bar is a high end restaurant where many locals and celebrities like to dine. I came here a few years ago for Dine Out and I was not in love with this place. I heard it tends to happen during dine out.

Today, the Finance Club execs headed over to CinCin for a nice social dinner.

The interior has a very nice italian feel to the decor. Nice soft dim light are used to simulate  romantic atmosphere.

In the main dining room, you can see their chefs cooking. Yet again you can see more of the warm italian looking decor.

Bread with olive spread

CFAGirl and I both had the Osso Buco Milanese ($34.00) which is milk fed veal shank with saffron risotto, hazelnut gremolata, and parmigiano reggiano. The meal fell off the bone very nicely. The hazelnut topping gave the meat a very nice crunch to the bite.

They even give you a small spoon to eat the bone marrow.

It was highly recommended by the waiter!

FinanceGirl got the Branzio ($36.50). It is a whole mediterranean sea bass, citrus and fennel salad with salsa verde. She accidentally ordered this and was so amused that she had a fish on the table when everyone else had meat or pasta.

She really enjoyed it even though it was just a piece of sea bass and a small salad, she really enjoyed dissecting her meal. There are bones, so this is not good for those people who hate working on their meal.

To end off the meal, I had a latte.

CFAGirl and FinanceGirl had the Dorian Grey tea.

I got the dark chocolate + lemon semi-freddo ($12.50), which has hazelnut nougatine and cherry sauce and caramelized winter fruits. The nougatine encrusted semi-freddo gave this dessert more body and texture.

I had this all to myself, but I soon realized it was meant to be shared. After eating such a large entree, your stomach may not have enough space.

FinanceBoy had the rhum baba ($12.50), which is fresh fruit salad with whipping cream and rhum raisin gelato. This dessert tastes quite alcoholic, so if you don’t like the strong rum taste, this dessert will not be for you.

FinanceQueen, Finance Girl and CFAGirl all got the tiramisu ($11.50). It has house made lady fingers soaked in espresso and kahlua and mascarpone cream.

At the end of our meal, we were given our bill of $280 (ouch) and 3 hazelnut butter cookies, and 2 banana bread tasting mini muffin things.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Expensive, good for special occasions
  • Oven fired pizzas are popular
  • They are open for Lunch in December, if you don’t want to go for dinner
  • Osso Buco Milanese is good

We rate CinCin:

Website: http://www.cincin.net/

They are located at:

1154 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

CinCin Ristorante + Bar on Urbanspoon

Toratstau is slowly becoming my favorite Izakaya restaurant. They are located near Robson and Denman. They have a good variety of choices to choose from. The downside about this place is that it’s quite small, so reservations are a must on busy days like Friday and Saturday.

In their menu, if you are indecisive, they have a set course for 2. It basically gives you a taste test of everything on the menu. I had this a few months ago. M and I basically fell in love with Toratasu after having the set course. It did cost us a total of $60…but for that amount of items, it was decently priced compared to the other Izakaya restaurants.  Today we didn’t order this, so sorry no pics.

M and the men has the bamboo sake ($9.50). It comes in a really cool bamboo container. Even the little cups are made of bamboo. The sake does come cold rather than the traditional hot sake. The guys said hot sake tastes better than cold ones. But we all try things for the experience, so now they can always tell people the story of when they had sake from a bamboo shoot.

FragileBoy and InsecureGirl ordered the Sashimi Platter($15.80). It’s really cool that they give you a little “show” to your meal. They bring over a blowtorch to sear the top of the makerel.

The Ebi Mayo  ($8.00) is THE BEST ebi mayo we have ever had! The battered prawns give the sense that these prawn are bigger than they really are. Its not a bad thing, but the batter does give it more body and more of the mayo sauce covers the shrimp. Each Ebi Mayo even comes with a fried wonton skin. For about $2 a piece, it does seem very pricy, but it is the best ebi mayo ever and I would pay for this every time!

I got the SukiYaki Hot Pot ($14.00ish). Apparently it serves 2, but I just ate it all myself. I know, it may seem piggish but there really wasn’t that much to eat. It had barley fed pork, tofu, enoki mushrooms, napa cabbage, and 2 organic eggs. I thought it would be different than Posh, but it tasted quite similar. But, without the “all you can eat” aspect to the dish.

Everything up to this point was fantastic! Dun Dun Dun. It took them about 45 minutes to get the Ishiyaki Risotto ($8.30). It really made us wonder why it was taking so long. Everyone else was maybe 80% done their meal, till their risotto finally arrived. Not really sure what the reasons were, but maybe it was a super busy night and we did order 5 of these.

Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable risotto. It was a bit different than what you would normally expect. This Risotto had seared scallops, mushrooms, Iwanori seaweed served in a hot stone bowl. Yes, in a hot stone bowl. Imagine korean bi bim bap but with risotto.

All in all it was a good experience at Toratasu. For some reason the service started decreasing after half way through our meal. It took us a long time to flag down a waitress for the bill. It took even more time trying to get them to bring the debit/credit machine over. In that whole time of flagging down a waitress,  another table wanted to leave but no waitresses in sight. Very puzzled by the odd service since last time we came here, it was great service.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Best Ebi Mayo in town!
  • Parking at back of restaurant, but is usually full
  • Get reservations on busy nights
  • Hot Pot is not worth it
  • Set course menu is good for dates

We rate Toratatsu:

Check out their website: http://www.toratatsutapas.com/

Toratatsu on Urbanspoon

It was another late night and M, InsecureGirl, FragileBoy and I were scrambling to find a place to eat after class. Tuesdays are double date night for us… and since class ends late…not that may places are open past 10pm.

One place which we wanted to go to was Nor Boo…M was excited because there is actually a restaurant in Korea called Nor Boo with the exact same logo. He wanted to see if it was the same as back home.

You can’t go to a Korean restaurant without some type of Soju. We ordered 2 bottles of lemon soju ($9.95). The soju cocktails taste so much better than plain soju. It’s nice an fizzy and doesn’t taste like alcohol. It’s made out of lemon juice, soju and sprite.

Rabokki ( Hot and Spicy sauce on ramen noodles and rice cake).

Egg roll..as it states on the menu. I think what they tried to say was omelet. I know… it still does not look like an omelet, you are thinking it’s a salad. Well, buried deep inside this mixture of cabbage, mayo and ketchup lays an omelet inside. This was a bit bland and the egg didn’t have much taste.

Bi Bim Bap (Stone Rice)

M got the Pork Cutlet Katsu, he thought it was good and he kept saying how it’s been a while since he had pork cutlet before. Compared to the other dishes, it has a nicer presentation.

I got the Dumpling soup, which has a very awful appearance.  It took me a while to figure out what the weird things floating in the soup and it turned out it was just egg. There were about 10 dumplings,

In Nor Boo, you will see this strip of writing across the restaurant. Can you guess what it means? You are probably trying to make out a few symbols..but did you just realize that a few of those are chinese characters? Some are even Japanese. I kept pointing at this and asking M what it meant…but I guess it was one of those moments where he thought I was slightly stupid.

The food is reasonably priced and has way more selection that some other korean restaurants. One thing that sucked was the service, it was has to get refills of tea…our drinks did not come…when asked for our drinks..they came way way later. The presentation of their dishes could have been a bit nicer. The food was pretty average. Usually most Korean restaurants give free side dishes of kimchi, sweet potatoes, and other dishes…but today they didn’t give us any.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Closing hours do vary depending on how many customers are there that night. If you plan to go here in the night, call ahead of time to see when their last order and when they close
  • Large variety in menu
  • Service is bad!

We rate Nor Boo :

They are located at:

1536 Robson St
Vancouver, BC V6G

Nor Boo Korean on Urbanspoon

After hearing a lot of buzz about Santouka Ramen on Robson, it was time to see why everyone loves this place. M, InsecureGirl, FragileBoy and I were heading Downtown anyways…so we decided to go here.

We were really bummed about the line up, but looking at their display case and gossiping made the time go by fast. I am sure everyone who goes to this place has the “line up” problem. Surprisingly, it only took about 10 – 15 mins to get a table since they have a fast turnover rate. One bad thing is that if you are super hungry, the images of the display will make you more hungry.

The inside of the restaurant is not that large, but you get a really nice view of the kitchen. If you ever wonder how they make ramen, the mystery is now over!

This is their menu, they have different types of ramen with different options, but it still not as diverse as the other ramen places a few blocks away.

We started off with Asahi beers ($5.25) and I thought it was funny how it was served in a Sapporo glass.

M had the Karamiso Cha Shu Ramen ($10.95) and the Ikura Gohan ($5.45). The broth of the Karamiso Cha Shu is made of pork broth, hot spices and miso. It came with double amount of Cha Shu, which M loves! The other ingredients inside were noodles, bamboo shoots, jelly ears, and green onions. M thought it was good, but it could have been more spicy. The Ikura gohan has Ikura (Salmon roe), which are like little balloons filled with a salty mixture. When you eat the Ikura with rice, it complements nicely to dull down the salty taste of ikura.

M and I shared the Chef Special Gyoza. For $5, I found this expensive for 5 pieces of dumplings. He was so excited that when I took the picture he just had to reach for a gyoza with his chopsticks. Overall, the gyozas were good, nice and crispy on the outside and nice and juicy meat on the inside.

I had the Toroniku Ramen ($12.95), which is their signature ramen and the toppings served separately. Toroniku Cha-shu is simmered pork cheek meat. According to their website, pork cheek meat is very rare and only 200-300g can be taken from each pig. It has a very rich flavour and it is tender like fatty tuna. It was really good and I liked their thin noodles because that meant you could taste the flavour of the broth!

InsecureGirl and FragileBoy got combos ($11.90)….both of them were shoyu ramen and came with a gohan. She got the grilled salmon gohan and he got the Ikura Gohan.

On the plus side, your spoon will never fall into the bowl! Good invention…I wonder where they got it.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Long line ups, wear a jacket or go really early or really late in the evening
  • Having the comfort of knowing your spoon will never fall into the soup
  • Hard to find parking, mostly street parking.
  • Small portions
  • Cash and Debit ( No credit cards)

The overall experience at Santouka Ramen was pretty good….and expensive. This whole meal totaled about $90 after tax and tip. The quality of their ingredients is good, but you may not get full on the size of the dish. This place does beat other ramen places like Benkei Ramen, Kawawa Ramen….but can never beat Kintaro Ramen on Denman.

We rate Santouka Ramen:

Check out their website: http://www.santouka.co.jp/en/

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka on Urbanspoon