Four Beakers Archives - Page 19 of 24

Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen: Great Addition to The Drive

August 22, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words of Wisdom:

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

We Rate Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen:

Address:

2054 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

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

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Vancouver

In Downtown

Fresh Local Wild: Awesome Sandwiches and Fish & Chips

August 9, 2011

Fresh Local Wild is a food truck brought to us by Chef Wolfe. The truck is located on Hastings and Burrard. They are open for weekday lunch serving up different types of fish and chips as well as sandwiches.

Even though there are long lines, Chef Wolfe always finds a way to entertain the crowds.

Their menu is located on a chalkboard on the side of the truck. A lot of their items run out quickly, so be sure to not come too late. When I was there the Cod Fish and Chips was all sold out by 1pm.

Near the tires of the truck are utensils, napkins, ketchup and I think it’s balsamic vinegar. You can add this to your fries/ fish & chips / whatever you want.

Since the patio seating only fits 4, it’s always full. The few times I went, I spent it sitting on these stairs along with the many other strangers.

Albacore Tuna Melt ($8.50) comes on whole grain bread with cookied albacore tuna and smoked cheddar cheese. It was really good and it was like a well cooked grilled cheese with tuna. Ooey gooey yumminess!

The best part was the crispy cheese the oozes outside of the sandwich and gets grilled! The sandwich is toasted on the outside, so bits of it are dark and burnt. Nonetheless, it’s still very good.

Grain Fed Chicken Club ($8) it has grilled chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, bacon on toasted whole grain bread. The smokiness of the bacon can be tasted throughout the sandwich and it makes it so delicious! The chicken isn’t too dry and the bacon blends so well with the chicken. The bread is toasted on the outside as well, so you get a nice crunch every time you sink your teeth into this.

This item is one of the most popular items at the truck. Highly recommended.

Sockeye Salmon Fish and Chip ($12 – 1 piece) comes with tartar sauce and a bed of rustic fries. The fries are one of the best fries I have ever eaten!! Really crispy and full of flavour. Some may not like it since it can taste burnt… but I lurve burnt crispy fries!

The salmon was good, you can really taste the natural flavour of the salmon and it is not over powered by the batter. The most popular fish was the Cod and the Halibut during the times that I was there.

Overall, pretty good selection of fresh items from Fresh Local Wild.

Words of Wisdom:

Best Fries!
Grain Fed Chicken Club is a must!
Small Patio seating

We Rate Fresh Local Wild:

Location:

Burrard St & W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://www.freshlocalwild.com/

Twitter:

@freshlocalwild

In Dessert

Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt: Fruits Fruits Fruits!

August 4, 2011

Pinkberry opened their first location in Canada at Park Royal in West Vancouver. They serve up frozen yogurt similar to Qoola. After a long hike at Lynn Canyon, I came here with ConsultingGirl and Monster.

When we arrived, there was a huge line going out the door. The line goes pretty fast, so you won’t be dying from the summer heat.

All you do is choose the size of yogurt, choose the flavour (you can have more than 1 flavour), and then add as much topping as you want! if you are not so into that, they also have Fresh Fruit Parfaits, Fruit bowls and smoothies.

There are so many toppings! So many to choose from! They are quite unique and they have more variety than Qoola.

Fresh fruit is honestly the way to go!! They only have the freshest ingredients. When I went, they didn’t have mango because they couldn’t get their hands on fresh ripe mangoes. It’s goo that they do not sell the frozen fruits.

I was excited when I saw the fruity pebbles!! I have search far and wide (Ok..just in Vancouver) for Fruity Pebbles. Does anyone know where I can buy a box of this stuff?

Monster ordered the mini size with toppings ($2.95). She’s not a big fan of a lot of sweetness, so she likes everything in a smaller size to have a small taste. It fits about 3 toppings comfortably. She enjoyed the original flavour as it was sweet and tart.

ConsultingGirl ordered the medium size ($5.55) with mango and original frozen yogurt. She piled quite a bit of toppings on top. She enjoyed the flavour combo since she wanted to try both.

I decided to be quite different and ordered the Fruit Parfait ($4.75) You get to choose your yogurt flavour and then 3 types of fruits. I went with the original since I really love the tart/ sour taste! I wanted mango, but no more… so I got kiwi, strawberries and pineapples. The granola was one of the best I’ve ever had.

Overall, I quite like Pinkberry but I am not very fond of their location. Since I live in Burnaby, it’s quite a long ways to go. I love their pricing of their yogurt and how you can have as many toppings that fit comfortably on top. I am a fan of Qoola, but I think Pinkberry wins on their quality and quantity of toppings, plus the large amounts of frozen yogurt flavours.

Words of Wisdom:

Large choices of toppings and more yogurt flavour choices
Fresh toppings
Unlimited combination of toppings
<3 fresh fruit and original flavour!

We Rate Pinkberry:

Address:

D2 – 860 Main Street
West Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.pinkberrycanada.com

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/PinkberryCanada

Twitter:

@PinkberryCanada

In Cafe

Sajin’s Green Tea Cafe: Best Matcha Green Tea Latte

August 3, 2011

Last week I checked out Sajin’s Green Tea Cafe. I was meaning to visit here a while ago after seeing a post by Janice of Goodeat.ca . The Green Tea Latte looked super good, so I just had to try it out! It is located pretty close to Chapters Downtown, but I was always too lazy to walk all the way there.

They serve up some really really super cheap lunch and beverages like tea and coffee.

The large latte ($3.20) was good. I think a large was way too big for my daily caffeine allowance.I think next time, I will stick with a small. I get jittery if I have too much.

Large Green Tea Latte ($3.20) was SO good! It’s not even comparable to any other cafe I’ve been to. They use quality matcha to get the bright vibrate green color and the taste is amazing. It was a mixture of milk and syrup, so it wasn’t too sweet nor overly milky. I really enjoyed this and no wonder this is their signature drink!

Also, after 2pm, the medium green tea lattes become $2! Good deal!

Overall, I enjoyed the rest of the green tea latte at my desk. It’s 5 blocks away from my office, but I totally have no problem using my entire 15 minute break to sprint there and sprint back just for the latte. After going here, I have actually abandoned Starbucks and Cafe Artigiano for hot drinks.

Words of Wisdom:

Matcha Green Tea Latte!
$2 Medium Green Tea Latte after 2pm
Cheap lunch specials

We Rate Sajin Green Tea Cafe:

Address:

110 – 840 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
sajinsgreentea.blog6.fc2.com

#tidal

In Downtown

TacoFino Cantina Food Truck: Taco, Taco, Taco

July 29, 2011

Tacofino is another new food truck hitting the streets of Downtown Vancouver. Located on Howe Street and Robson Street. Tacofino originated from Tofino, BC thus their name Taco”fino”. They have spent the past 2 years operating on the island, but has finally made their way here.

When you are strolling around the Vancouver Art Gallery, try spotting this large orange truck. There will also be a huge line up during at lunch, so you really can’t miss it.

Tacofino specializes in fresh fish baja-style tacos. All you need to do is go up to the window to order. They also have daily specials as well, which as located near the cashier.

Their usual menu features the Fish Taco, Tuna Ta Taco, Pork Gringa/Bean Gringa, Black Bean Taco, Chocolate Diablo Cookie and their Lime Mint Freshie. All for under $10.

They also have a cooler filled with water and different varieties of Jarritos Mexican Soda. These are some really really good oh so addicting sodas.

I stick with my usual Pineapple Jarritos. It has an amazing flavour that no other soda company can capture. I find it funny how the bottle says “Naturally/ Artificially Flavoured Soda”, so what is it really? or is it a combination of both?

If you are also wondering how you are going to open the cap of the drink, they have a bottle opener to the left of the cashier.

Tuna Ta Taco ($6.50 each) is my FAVORITE taco from the truck. Be warned, this is a messy messy taco to eat. If you are wearing white, beware!!

This taco has seared sesame albacore tuna with a subtle wasabi ginger mayo, cabbage, mango, salsa and seaweed salad on top. The ingredients are very flavourful and the tuna is just so fresh! All the elements blend together nicely to create the ultimate taco.

I do find this taco a bit pricey, but once you take a bite, its so addictive!

The Pork Gringa ($4.50 each) is another treat as well! It has spicy braised pork, sour cream and salsa in a quesadilla tortilla. Depending how crisp they can get the quesadilla, it can also get quite messy. Remember, white shirts be scared!!

Their pork is very flavourful and not too spicy. I would definitely order this again!

On another lunch here, I ordered the Fish Taco ($4.50 each). It has tempura cover ling cod with chipotle mayo, cabbage, and salsa. I personally did not take a liking to this taco since the pieces of fish had too much tempura batter. It was very hard to fully enjoy the flavour of the fish. Everything overpowered the fish and the main ingredient did not shine through.

Overall, I really love this food truck for their taco offerings! Such amazing quality and it’s something you need to try!

Words of Wisdom:

Tuna Ta Taco + Pork Gringa + Jarritos = Best meal!!
Really busy during lunch
Can get messy
If you get 2 tacos, you will be paying close to $10
Closest Skytrain: Granville Skytrain

We Rate Tacofino Cantina:

Website:

www.tacofino.com

Twitter: @TacoFinoCantina

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/TacoFino-Vancouver/157314964322202

Vancouver

In Bar and Grill

The Keg: Lobster Summer Menu

July 29, 2011

M and I spent an interesting day shopping and returning things at Costco in Burnaby. Seriously, sometimes you can spend forever in all the aisles. Since The Keg is super close to Costco, we were super tempted for some meat!!

I really enjoy The Keg for their prime ribs, atmosphere and more meat.

I walked in looking for prime rib, but when I saw that they had a lobster summer menu that features their fresh batch of lobsters from the east. It sounded really good, so I had to try something off the menu.

Something wrapped in a white cloth came to the tables. Can you guess what it is? TA DA! It’s the complementary sourdough bread! It was a bit crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. It’s cut up into 4 pieces for you to share between 2 people. I found that eating one piece was good enough for me since I didn’t want to fill up my stomach.

Sometimes I wonder… how much bread do they waste in a month if people don’t finish it all.

M ordered the Tender New York striploin with mashed potatoes. M was so happy! 12oz of yummy yummy meaty goodness. He ordered it medium rare and it came out perfect. It wasn’t tough and it was seasoned with peppercorn on the outside.

I had the Seafood Sirloin ($27.95) grilled sirloin steak, topped with lobster, shrimp and scallops in a chive velouté sauce. Instead of mashed potatoes I ordered the house salad for the side. The salad was alright, nothing very special. Should have gone with the mashed potatoes…

I was disappointed by the size of my sirloin and the minimal seafood. The seafood really didn’t shine in this dish and as always, I could have always used more meat. Beside the size, I really loved the sirloin! Perfectly cooked medium rare with great flavour.

Overall, we really like this place for their steaks, but some dishes can be overpriced.

Words of Wisdom:

No reservations, so go early or go late
Slightly hard to drive to, so make sure you are driving from the south
Can get a bit pricey
Amazing steak and prime ribs

We rate The Keg:

Check out their website: http://www.kegsteakhouse.com/en/locations/BC/burnaby/burnaby-keg/

In Aboriginal

Wild Salmon: Go Dine Here Before It’s Gone!

July 24, 2011

Wild Salmon is a pop up restaurant inside Vancouver Community College. It is entirely run by culinary students for the aboriginal cultural arts program. Students get hands on experience learning how to operate the front and back end of the house. They are only open from 11:30 – 12:15pm, so my coworkers and I were so lucky they still could serve us for lunch! 45 minutes for a seating is quite short, but they are quite kind and will keep on accepting guests till 12:30pm.

What really drew me into the restaurant are the low prices and the unique aboriginal cuisine! It’s not like everyday you get to eat aboriginal food.

The interior décor really reminded me of the Olympics at the aboriginal pavilion. All the art work is very interesting to look at.

Their menu is simple and short. Probably changes often as well.

As we sat down, we were served with Bannock Bread. This was the first time I have ever had this and I really liked it! It is a traditional simple bread that is fried.

We all got the Spicy Seafood Croquettes with smoked tomato jam ($4). It comes with 2 croquettes packed with seafood. All the flavors went really well together, but we noticed that it was not spicy at all. We really tried to see if it was a subtle spicy taste, but there wasn’t. It would have been good if it was a bit spicy to go with the sweet tomato jam.

Smoked trout with rhubarb, dandelion greens, and wild mushroom vinaigrette. ($4). It has 2 pieces of smoked trout and this was a refreshing appetizer.

Bora Bora virgin cocktail has pineapple juice, grenadine, lime, passion fruit juice and a few other ingredients. It comes with a plastic sword of pineapple and maraschino cherry. This drink was a bit on the sweet side, but it was all right. One thing I noticed was that the drink would separate after a bit of time, so you need to constantly stir it back together.

Traditional smoked salmon with parsnip dumplings and pumpkin sauce ($11). I really enjoyed this dish! It came with a sizable slab of smoked salmon. The skin was nicely crispy and had a nice smoky flavour. The parsnip dumplings aren’t exactly like the usual dumplings, but it was soft and chewy and went well with the pumpkin sauce. The fried vegetables were a plus as well and added more texture.

My coworker had the Crusted Sunflower seed halibut, watercress, and crispy sunchoke ($11). She enjoyed it and had a lot of fun identifying the unique flavours.

Venison meat loaf, sweet potato mash, with beat root tops ($11). The meat loaf was quite large and you can really get full off this dish.

Overall, it was a memorable lunch! It really isn’t everyday that you would get a chance to eat aboriginal food. Thinking about it, are there any aboriginal restaurants in Vancouver?

Words of Wisdom:

Under $15
Closes at the end of August
Open for lunch only
Call for reservations and to check hours

We Rate Wild Salmon:
Address:

250 West Pender Street (2nd floor)

In Four Beakers

The Dirty Apron: Baguettes and Brownies

July 19, 2011

I was planning a lonely lunch by myself until I went on Twitter and @nik_wong tweeted saying she needed someone to lunch with. We met a few days earlier at Social Media Day. Since she was a few blocks away, I thought why not. Food is best eaten with others. Since Dirty Apron is pretty good, we decided to go. We both have been here before and it’s never failed either of us.

I ordered the Montreal Smoked Meat Baguette. It has Montreal smoked meat, shaved fennel, comte cheese, champagne shallot mustard, gherkins and basil. The baguette was well flavoured but I wish there was more meat! One cool thing about Dirty Apron is how they use a few uncommon ingredients. It opens your pallet to new ingredients that you would normally never pick up at the store.

Nikki suggested I get the Chocolate Pistachio Cheesecake Brownie, so I grabbed it and headed back to the office. This is one amazing brownie. It was moist, rich and has a subtle pistachio flavour. The 2 elements worked really well together. You probably don’t want to leave it out too long either, since it might dry a bit.

Overall, it’s a solid place for lunch.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking at Tinsel Town (Supposed to be for patrons…but it’s ok)
Cheap lunch
Specialty ingredients
Lots of seating

We Rate The Dirty Apron:

Address:

540 Beatty Street
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://www.dirtyapron.com/

Twitter: @dirty_apron

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/115513438487855

In Four Beakers

G-Be Izakaya: Dragon Ball Z Inspired Sushi

July 18, 2011

The last time I was here, they were still doing a soft opening. After many many many month, they finally fully opened. Since M and I were not super hungry, we decided to grab a few dishes since we were in the area. G-Be Izakaya, as the name suggests it’s an izakaya restaurant serving up Japanese tapas.

The interior was still the same and is very very calming in here. It’s not very noisy compared to places like Guu or Hapa Izakaya. It’s a good place … for the older generation or people who want a quiet place to dine.

The menu has dramatically changed since last time. There are way more choices and includes pictures.

Tea still isn’t free, so you have to pay for it. I got the genmaicha green tea ($1.25). You get refills of your pot so it’s not too too bad.

Ebi Mayo ($7.50) was ok, but not the best I’ve had. I really don’t like how it was drenched in mayo. It really overpowers the delicate taste and texture of the shrimp.

Tori Kara ($6.00) is deep fried chicken covered in a rice crisp. The chicken is incredibly moist as usual. I really did not like the salty seasoning that comes with the dish. It was much better with a miso/sesame sauce like last time.

Salmon and Multi-grain Rice Croquette ($7.00). It’s a deep fried salmon and rice ball with a tonkatsu sauce. It’s actually pretty good and tastes super healthy with the multi-grain rice. Unlike the usual potato croquette, the rice does capture a lot of flavour from the salmon.

Dragon Ball “G” ($12) has eel inside the purple rice, covered in avocado and the signature soy-milk croquette on top. It also has a ceasar sauce on the side too. We really enjoyed this roll because it was named after the popular Japanese anime – Dragon Ball Z.

The sushi itself is not that incredible, but it’s really about the croquette on top. It kinda has a texture like mozzarella inside. The roll is quite expensive for what you get, but at least you can eat this and reminisce about the TV show.

Overall, it was good unique food as usual, but it did cost us a bunch for 2 drinks and 4 dishes. Since it’s located at the Grand Villa Casino, maybe thats why the prices are so high. Made me want to gamble a bit before eating dinner, but I know I always lose.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Parking
Most dishes under $10
Healthy ingredients
Expensive compared to Guu
Unique dishes

We Rate G-Be Izakaya :

Address:

4331 Dominion St
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.g-beizakaya.ca

In BBQ

The Red Wagon: Pulled Pork and More Pulled Pork

July 18, 2011

M and I were craving some pulled pork, but going all the way downtown to ReUp was out of the question since we were in Burnaby. M looked around everywhere to find somewhere close by, but no luck for him. I started digging around and I looked at my “To Eat” list and discovered The Red Wagon doesn’t just sell breakfast, they sell dinner too! AND they sell pulled pork!

The inside is very rustic and looked outdated, but I guess thats the look they were going for. It was very simple and quite relaxing on a hot day.

They have a few strange things to look at! I think I was blind because I couldn’t find the red wagon anywhere.

Since Pulled Pork was on our minds, M ordered the Pulled Pork Pancakes ($12.50). It is layered with 3 buttermilk pancakes and pulled pork, topped with Jack Daniels maple syrup. Ya, you heard it right! JACK DANIELS MAPLE SYRUP, something Epic Meal Time would be proud of.

M thought the pancakes were amazingly fluffy, perhaps even the best he’s ever had. The pulled pork was very tender and matched beautifully with the pancakes. The syrup did not taste super potent at all. The only negative thing he had to say was that it was a tad expensive for pancakes.

There was a special deal going on – Pulled Pork Burger with a PBR Beer ( $14.00). I really wanted a beer on a lovely Friday, so I got the special.

Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer arrived with it and I did not like the beer at all. It was a bit too bitter for my liking. I am really used to Japanese Beer.

When the Pulled Pork Burger arrived, I was drooling. I had to take 2 pictures of it so you would really see how delicious this burger looked. When I ordered it, I thought it would just be a pulled pork sandwich, but no, it was a burger!

This had mayo, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, pulled pork and a beef patty. It came with a side of fries too. The patty had a very nice taste and the pulled pork was also tender and juicy like the ones on the pancakes. YUM!

The fries were quite extraordinary too! They were very crunchy! I love crunchy fries!

The bill arrived and that was the damage for dinner. It was definitely a pulled pork day. You also get this peach candy with the bill. Take that mints….peach candy > mints.

Words of Wisdom:

Good food
Anything pulled pork is amazing
A tad expensive
Free parking on adjacent streets

We Rate The Red Wagon:

Address:

2296 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.redwagoncafe.com

Twitter: @redwagoncafe

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

In Four Beakers

Guu Kobachi: No Regular Menu, but great concept!

July 16, 2011

@floyvr organized an impromptu EatUp with @wongers, @kcclaveria, @alexglee and @crazyut . Since I am a Guu fanatic, I really really wanted to see their “No Regular Menu” concept. We arrived quite early since the @GuuIzakaya account told us to show up early. Since all openings are not perfect, there were a bit behind on opening at 5:30pm. We just chilled outside till we got in at 6pm.

Guu Kobachi is located at the old Toratatsu near Denman and Robson. They serve up fresh sheets, so the menu will change quite often depending on what ingredients are in season.

The interior is quite small and has the same layout as the old restaurant. It is very simple and wooden. The staff are energetic like the other Guu locations. They don’t have a lot of seating, so going at 7pm with a large group will not be best for you. They won’t be taking reservations till August, but they do have a large table that seats a lot of people if you wanted to have a b-day party dinner here. Just something to note in the future.

This is the setting you will get. They even have the chopstick thing that you see at Chinese restaurant.

Marinated Red Tuna Sashimi ($6.80) was the first dish that arrived at our table and we thought it has the cutest presentation ever! @crazyut enjoyed it and said the tuna had a good flavour and was very fresh.

Marinated Red Tuna Marinated ($6.80) is similar to the one above, but it is marinated to soy sauce or ponzu sauce. We found it was not too bad, but the sauce realy over powered the delicate texture of the tuna.

The first kobashi dish to arrive was the Miso Kakuni ($3.80). It is a slowly stewed pork belly pieces with quail egg in miso and soy sauce soup. This was an amazing dish! The pork belly was very tender and just full of flavour. They are in small pieces, so you will not feel guilty consuming so much fat. ** Must get dish**

Long Green Pepper ($3.80). It is boiled long green pepper marinated in a sweet sesame sauce, topped with bonito flakes. It is like a gomae but with green peppers. The peppers were not spicy at all.

Marinated Eggplant ($3.80). It has rectangular chopped cubes of eggplant with peppers, chili oil and bonito flakes. I liked eggplants, so I liked the pairing of the spicy chili oil and egg plant. I know some people at the table were not keen about eggplant.

Cold Tomato Curry ($3.80). Yes, this is a tomato! I didn’t get a lot of curry taste, it just tasted like a cold salted tomato.

Whole Onion ($3.80). Yes strange right? A whole onion. The onion was stewed in chicken stock and I really enjoyed the taste. Since it has been cooking for a long time, there is no sharp stinging taste.

Vege Chips ($3.80). These are assorted vegetable deep fried. Imagine super healthy chips. There were green peppers, potato skins, lotus roots, and other unidentifiable vegetables. Pretty unique dish and it would go great with beer.

Pork Ginger Spring Roll ($3.80). It has pan-fried pork ginger and cabbage inside. You can really taste the ginger in the pork filling. I didn’t really love this dish, but it was alright.

Chicken Gizzard ($3.80). This is chicken gizzard marinated in cili oil. This is an digestive organ of chickens. I’ve never had gizzard before and it had a very strange texture. When you bite into it, it is tough and hard.

Sweet and sour pork ($3.80). One of THE BEST I have ever had in my life! Very minimal breading so you can really taste the texture of the meat with the amazing sauce. ** Highly recommended**

Rolled Chinese Cabbage ($3.80). It is a stewed meat mixture wrapped in nappa cabbage in a tomatoey fish broth. This was a very unique dish and the meat they used for the dish was pretty good quality.

Marinated Conchi ($3.80). This is the meat from conch shells. It is marinated in garlic soy sauce. We found as we kept chewing on the conch that, it was quite salty. Very interesting to try.

Saba in Curry Sauce ($3.80). This is saba (mackerel) in a a curry sauce with potatoes. The saba tasted really good especially with the combination with the curry.

Beef tenderloin Tataki ($8.90). This is mid-well broiled beef tenderloin tataki style. SO GOOD! THis is the most tender beef I have ever had! ** Highly Recommended**

Kara-age-regular ($6.00). Its a simple japanese deep-fried chicken. It has no bones and comes with a side of mayo for dipping. Meat was very moist and had a light coating.

Squid ink calamari ($6.80) was quite different! It’s purple/black! We found that the deep fried calamari with squid ink just tasted like normal calamari. If you really focus on the taste of it, it has a very subtle taste, but it hard to pick up the flavour.

Ebi Mayo’s sister ($6.00) has ebi mayo coated in shredded potato batter. They add a whole new level to crunchiness! I really liked it since it looks like a sea urchin, but hidden inside is a very tasty piece of shrimp! **highly recommended**

Oyster Chazuke ($6.80). This has seared oyster on rice in fish broth soup. The oyster flavour is quite prominent and infused nicely with the fish broth. If you are an oyster lover, you will enjoy this dish.

Sockeye Salmon Carpaccio ($6.80). Was very good!! You can really taste the freshness of their salmon and their light sauces allow for the fresh taste to really since throught! ** highly recommended**

This came near the end of our meal. I think the chef gave it to us because we waiting outside for them to open. I think this was the Assorted Vege Salad ($4.80). It has long strands of carrots, radish, bonito flakes, greens in a ponzu sauce (i think). The stands of the radish were very very long!! It’s like those times when you are trying to split a bowl of noodles but it’s difficult because its just so long.

This isn’t a regular salad. It still has a good refreshing taste and it’s quite large.

Sapporo (Pint-$5.50). This is definitely needed every time you go to Guu!

Overall, we all had a great time and then menu items are quite unique compared to the other Guu chains. Since it just opened, they do have a few issues such as leaky pipes and missing orders. Do give the waitress patience as well since their english is not very good. They are trying their best, but none of us got mad or anything. Do check your bill before you pay because sometimes they might get an order wrong or something hasn’t arrived yet.

I am sure in a few weeks they will improve on a few of their flaws. For an opening day, it went pretty well and the place was packed. We racked up quite a bill of $130, but we did order a lot! It was well worth it.

Words of Wisdom:

Recommended: Miso Kakuni, Sweet + Sour Pork, Beef tenderloin Tataki, Ebi Mayo Sister, and Sockeye Salmon Carpaccio
Well priced items
Good atmosphere
Free parking after 6 at rear ( best not to drive, very limited parking)
Best to get off Burrard and take the bus down Robson
Super busy at peak hours

We Rate Guu Kobashi:

Address:

735 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.guu-izakaya.com/kobachi/

Twitter: @GuuIzakaya

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

Vancouver

In Four Beakers

Kadoya Japanese Restaurant on Denman Street

July 13, 2011

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

In Four Beakers

Guu with Garlic: Great Place to Eat + Drink

July 5, 2011

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

In Downtown

Re-Up BBQ Foodcart 1 + 2: Same Sandwich, Different Meat

July 4, 2011

M finally decided to come Downtown to eat lunch with me. Since it was a nice sunny day, a stroll for some good street food came to mind. M loves meat, so it just seemed fitting to take him to Re-up BBQ 1 and 2.

Yes, they finally expanded into 2 carts selling different things!

Lets start off with the original cart – Re-Up (Addictive) BBQ AKA Re-Up 1. They sell Pulled Pork Sandwiches ($7) and 3 different sodas.

The pulled pork sandwich has a mound of very very tender pork doused in an amazing smokey BBQ sauce with some coleslaw to add an extra crunch to the sandwich. All of this is housed in a Portuguese style bun. It is very fluffy and works well with the pulled pork.

M just fell in love with it as he walked down the street.

I did come here last year and there are a few changes. The sandwich is much easier to eat, probably since it’s not as packed full of meat as before. The price increased for $1, but it’s probably due to increasing costs of keeping the cart running.

Pretty spot on pulled pork sandwich. Definitely!

The next stop was Re-up BBQ 2, which is located less than a block away near the large protest stairs of the Art Gallery.

They specialize in Beef Brisket Sandwiches ($9) and they sell the same drinks as Re-Up BBQ 1.

M was surprised by the amount of meat in the sandwich. The make this by grabbing a slab of beef brisket and slicing it up nice and thinly. The coleslaw and bun are all the same as the pulled pork sandwich. The sauce was a little bit different, but I really could not put my finger on what it was. It tasted really really good.

It is quite a treat for lunch and you can’t really go wrong by going to either Re-Up BBQ 1 or 2. The only difference is the meat, so you just gotta figure out if you like beef or pork.

Both of these were super good! If you have the stomach, you could probably eat 2 sandwiches for lunch. hahaha.

Words of Wisdom:

Bring cash!
A bit of a wait during lunch hour
Grab your sandwich with also a Southern Sweet tea!

We Rate Re-Up BBQ Foodcart 1 & 2:

Website:

http://www.reupbbq.com/

Twitter:

@reupbbq

Vancouver

In Culinary School

JJ’s Restaurant: No Words to Express How Amazing it was!

July 3, 2011

Mandu and I were out at lunch again and well, we were both on a budget since the end of the month calls for a tighter budget. Being a student is not fun, plus working downtown can kinda suck the money out of your pockets since there are so many good places to eat!

I thought I would take her to JJ’s Restaurant in Vancouver Community College. It’s very close to both our offices and I never came here for lunch.

She first glanced at the menu and was so surprised by the very very affordable prices!

You start off with some bread and butter!

I started off with the Shrimp & Avocado Salad ($4). It was just amazing! All the items tasted very fresh and the avocado just blended so nicely with the little shrimp. The presentation looked very nice! I expected something totally different, but this just blew my mind. It seemed quite popular too since I kept seeing this fly out the kitchen.

Mandu had the Soup of the Day ($2.50), which is a roasted tomato soup with herb crème fraiche with a piece of bruschetta on the side. Unfortunately, she had to run back to her office for an emergency call, so she didn’t touch it until later. The server was very nice when she came back and offered her a new soup, but she insisted that they just heat it up since no food should ever be wasted.

The soup came back nice and hot like nothing ever changed. She loved the texture and the deep flavour of the roasted tomato soup. She even fell in love with crème fraiche. She even googled it and started saying the words a few times.

For her main, she had the Mild fragrant green Thai curry with chicken, fresh mango chutney, papadam and basmati rice ($9).

She enjoyed the taste but in particularly, she loved the papadam cracker. Super thin and was just the perfect amount of alt added to the top. You could probably sit at your desk eating papadam all day!

I had the Grilled steak cooked Medium, focaccia Bread, horse radish cream, grilled peppers, mushrooms, crisp onions and au jus ($8.50). For that price, it was really good!

The grilled steal was cut up into very thin slices covered in the delicious au just accompanied by the amazing ingredient. Worked really well together and the horseradish cream just added the extra kick that this dish needed.

Overall, great lunch experience at a very affordable price! I would go weekly if I could. Just amazing food! It’s a culinary school so you know that your money and your tips go back into the program to help the students. I really didn’t mind tipping more since the menu is already a steal! I love this place, so take my recommendation and GO!!

Words of Wisdom:

Lunch is also super affordable!
Closest Skytrain – Stadium
Under $10
AMAZING Service
You’re missing out if you don’t visit this place!
Check out their dinner

We rate JJ’s Restaurant:

Address:

250 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

In Downtown

Good Late Night Eats at “The Refinery”

June 24, 2011

Hello Internet! It’s Roman J here with another food post. Today I explore a hidden gem in downtown Vancouver. After attending the Bruno Mars concert with Abbytizer, we were on the hunt for quality food. Not just fast food or restaurant chain food but late night quality food. Walking down Granville street at 12am with several restaurants closed and only fast-food joints open, Abbytizer and I stumbled across this restaurant called the “The Refinery”.

This restaurant is hidden beside Sip Lounge. Abbytizer and I mistook it to be the upstairs of Sip Lounge, little did we know it was another restaurant. The Refinery has an upscale feel with hardwood floors, modern decor and a large bar. They also had a dj pumping electro music. The music wasn’t too loud, you could still have a conversation with the person next to you. With a name called “The Refinery” they have a large selection of wines and drinks. We ordered the beef salad, sopressata and arrancini balls.

The Sopressata ($14.00) is composed of Sicilian spicy salami, taleggio, roasted red pepper on flat bread. This is literally a rectangular mini pizza. The spicy salami was not that spicy. Both Abbytizer and I enjoyed this flat bread.

The Beef Salad ($12.00) is composed of beef tenderloin, arugula, tomatos and croutons with candied horseradish. The salad although small in size, was delicious. The beef with the dressing along with the leaves blended well together.

Arrrancini Balls ($12.00) is deep fried truffled risotto with tomato relish on top. They came in a set of 3. Abbytizer enjoyed every bite of this meal. The deep fried truffled risotto was hot and had a crunchy outside with a smooth texture inside.

For dessert we had Profiteroles ($8.00) with amaretto cream and chocolate sauce. Profilteroles are good in general, but what added that extra sweetness was the fresh chocolate sauce.

Abbytizer and I loved the food here. The service was good too! The server/bartender made abbytizer a personal drink off the menu which consisted of pineapple juice, vodka and other ingredient.

Overall, we would come back even the though the portions are a bit small. We recommend this place to anyone looking for a quality late night food.

Words of Advice:

Quality food, open late till 2am
Service is good
Small portions

We rate The Refinery:

Address:

1115 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.therefineryvancouver.com

In Four Beakers

Sanpachi Ramen: Offers up Vegetarian Ramen

June 21, 2011

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

In Fast Food

M’s Food Court Corner: The Return of the KFC Double Down

June 15, 2011

Welcome to another M’s Food Court Corner! Today I tried the Double Down from KFC at Brentwood Mall. Yep, they just had to bring this heart attack in a box back for a limited time. For those who never heard of this infamous creation of gluttony, the Double Down is 2 chicken breasts put together with Swiss Cheese, a sort of an aioli sauce, and bacon in the middle. No bread; the chicken is the bread!

I tried taking down the Double Down when it came to Canada late last year. However, the three attempts I tried it, I couldn’t finish more than half of it. The reason was that the 2 chicken breasts were unbearably salty. Like literally eating rock salt with bacon and cheese. I asked the KFC workers on the third attempt to make the chicken breasts less salty, but they said they couldn’t change anything! I should’ve said, “Screw you guys, I’m going home” but nope, had to bite a block of salt that is the Double Down again.

I wouldn’t have taken the Double Down ever again, even if it came back, but a recent commercial on TV from KFC said that the chicken breasts were the Colonel’s Original Recipe. I decided to do another plunge of faith and I’m happy to announce I was not disappointed. First the price is of course ridiculous, $6.99 for the Double Down by itself and $8.99 for the combo. Might as well get the combo. I guess if it was any less expensive, Canadians might get as fat as Americans. They said it would take 5 minutes to prepare so we just sipped on the Pepsi for 10 minutes. 15 minutes later, our Double Down’s were done! I actually saw them dunk breaded chicken breasts in the deep fryer so I was pleasantly surprised KFC’s commercials wasn’t all lies.

The return of Double Down comes with less salty original recipe chicken breasts, so I enjoyed it quite a bit. Still a little bit salty, but what do you expect with bacon, cheese, and fried chicken? The chicken was delicious, and the cheese was plentiful. The bacon was not that great however. Definitely worth shaving a few minutes from your life span to try.

M’s Words of Food Court Wisdom:

Paying $6.99 for just the Double Down isn’t worth it, just get the combo for the drink.
Double Down is very hot! No bread to save your fingers from hot meats!
If you tried the Double Down last year and didn’t like it, give this new one a try.

M’s Food Court Corner Rating: (Not to be compared with Design Girl’s “real” restaurant rating.)