Four Beakers Archives - Page 20 of 24

In BBQ

M’s Food Court Corner: Gourmet Barbeque

June 10, 2011

Hello to another Mark’s Food Court Corner! Today I will be reviewing Gourmet Barbeque in Lougheed Mall Food Court. Guess which mall I live close to? No not Lougheed, but I do find myself there quite a lot.

Gourmet Barbeque isn’t a chain as far as I know, it has a similar looking food court restaurant right next to it, so I figure its owned by the same person. Gourmet Barbeque when I first saw it looked sketch; I think the sign and menus threw me off a bit. Don’t let the appearance fool you, this place is awesome!

Gourmet Barbeque serves everything from Greek to Chinese food. I sometimes get their Lamb Pita, because their lamb has a nice unique smoky taste. However, today I decided to get, what I always get, the Chicken Curry on Rice ($5.49). Awesome value for a plate of rice with generous serving of chicken curry. The curry itself is unique. It’s not straight up Chinese curry but close to it. Chicken is boneless, which is a bonus, and it also has carrot and potatoes. Not spicy at all, but pretty flavourful. $5.50 for a big plate of rice and curry from a food court? Definitely a must get!

To switch things up, I got their Spring Rolls ($2.99). Nothing special here, but has a nice chewy/crunchy texture. Eating both dishes I was stuffed out my mind!

So if you are at Lougheed Mall, don’t go straight to a chain food court restaurant try out the Gourmet Barbeque!

M’s Words of Food Court Wisdom:

Curry Chicken a must!
Great value, good food.
Get a medium Coke from the fountain with the Curry, matches perfectly!

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

Gourmet Barbeque Locations:

Lougheed Mall

In Four Beakers

Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant: Amazing Hole in the Wall

June 8, 2011

M has discovered that Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant has one of the best Mexican foods in Vancouver. A few months ago, M wanted to take me here, but then as the girl I am, I scolded him for taking me to a crappy looking place. We made it to the parking lot, but went elsewhere. It’s my human nature to deter away from scary looking places. After actually trying this place out, I think we have fell in love with their food.

A small family owns Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant and they cook all their foods in house. They don’t make a large amount of their items, so when it’s gone… you won’t be able to get it till the next day. I tried ordering the Camaron Burrito and the Horchata, but nope… sold out.

Looking at their menu, there were lots of mouth-watering items. Most of the items are between $8 and $10, which can be seen as slightly expensive, but their portions are really large!

We started our meal off with Jarritos Soda ($2.50). This is a popular soft drink in Mexico. This was my first time trying it and man….if American pop can taste like this…I would be one fat girl right now. It’s so good and makes you want more!

We tried the Pineapple Jarritos and Grapefruit Jarritos. Both are great choices!

M ordered the Carnitas Burrito ($10.99). It has pork, rice, beans, onions and cilantro wrapped in a flour tortilla. It is covered in cheese and red sauce. This is not your small taco from Taco Time. Taco Time cannot even compare to the amazing taste of this burrito. It is large and you will be full. The pork is beautifully roasted and is very flavorful and tender. Totally worth the price!!

I ordered the Cheese Quesadilla ($8.99). I really was not expecting much since Cheese Quesadilla sounded very small. When it arrived, it was pretty large! They even had a lot of cheese inside the tortilla! Adding the sour cream and the salsa made this SO good! Never knew such a thing could taste so good.

They also have hot sauce if you want to add a kick to your meal.

Overall, great place for Mexican food. If all Mexican food tasted like this, it would be my next favorite cuisine. Too bad I have a hatred for beans. Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant has a good deal for what you get. Try not to be like me and judge this place based on their décor.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking in front
Large portions of yummy food
Suggested – Caritas Burrito, Chicken Fajita Burrito
Decent prices

We Rate Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant:

Address:

2891 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

In Downtown

Guu Garden: Amazing Dinner with the Girls

June 5, 2011

Nothing says fun like heading to dinner after a long day of work and school.

Mandu, KoreanGirl and I decided to head over to Guu Garden to check out their dinner menu.

The interior is nice!

We started with a huge Sapporo Pitcher ($18).

Mandu likes mixing her beer and sake, so we ordered the Large Cold Sake ($6.50). I don’t like the taste of sake, so I just stuck to the beer…until they sneakily poured some sake into my beer.

We started off with the Tuna Tataku ($6.50). It has lightly seared tuna sashimi on sliced onions dressed with ponzu sauce, topped with scallion and garlic chips. The garlic chips and the sliced onion make this dish so much better! I usually eat this by putting a bit of everything on top of the tuna, roll it up and eat it.

Mandy loves her saba, so we got the Saba Grill ($6.50). It is a Grilled mackerel on sliced onions, herbs and garlic. I’ve never had this before, but I found it to be a alright. The sauce on the bottom was a bit too salty for me.

Not trip to any Izakaya restaurant can be with out ebi, so we ordered His Ebi Mayo ($7.80). It is Deep-fried prawns served w/ chili mayo and cilantro. Not really sure why it was called His Ebi Mayo, but I wonder if they ever have Her Ebi Mayo. (Ok, sorry lame joke).

I love fried chicken, so we ordered the Chicken Karrage (5.80), which is deep fried chicken thigh with garlic mayo. It was really good since it was boneless! Very moist inside and well seasoned!

We then had the Cream Korokke ($6.50). This is deep-fried panko breaded cream korokke topped with bisque mousse and tonkatsu sauce. This was SO good! SO GOOD!

At this point, the beer was getting to me, so we ordered the Green Tea ($1.50). Ya, tea isn’t free. Since we still had more sake, we ordered a Mega Sapporo ($9.00). It’s just a HUGE cup of beer.

To be a bit healthy from all the fried food, we got the Prawn & Avocado Salad with Wasabi Dressing ($6.80). This was really good as well! The wasabi dressing added a little kick to the salad which we all loved.

We got the Sea Salt Grilled Pork Cheek with Yuzu Ponzu($5.80). Very delicious tender meat with amazing flavour!

Mandu loves oden, so we first had the Assorted Oden ($6.80). It came with daikon radish, fried tofu, mocha tofu bag, taro jelly and chikuwa fish cake. The broth that we chose with this is Kanto -daki oden soup base. Mandu dubbed this the BEST oden she has ever eaten in her life. The wasabi-like paste that comes with it is SPICY. Adding it to the oden is a must, just make sure you don’t add too much.

Since we carved way more oden, we got an extra on with Fried tofu ($1.50) and Mochi Tofu Bag ($2). The mocha tofu bag has a really cool texture…similar to the gluten balls for hot pot. So addictive!

Overall, we had an amazing time at Guu Garden. This is probably my favorite branch of their chain. We ate and drank so much but after looking at the bill, it was a bit steep, but we thought it was worth it.

Words of Wisdom:

Great place to go with friends for small bites and drinks
Amazing Oden
Decent prices

We Rate Guu Garden:

Address:

M101-888 Nelson Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.guu-izakaya.com

In Downtown

Nuba: Amazing for Lunch

May 31, 2011

Since another one of my coworkers was leaving, it was another lunch outing at the office. We chose Nuba since it was a decent walk from the office and has a reputation for delicious food. They did not take reservations, so we needed to come up with a plan to steal a table for 8. One of my coworkers and I just hopped down there 30 mins. earlier to wait for a table, to our surprise there was an empty 8 person table. This was PERFECT! All the tables were packed…. Except for the large table.

Nuba has a pretty good selection for the lunch menu. I stuck by choosing one of the plate options rather than the Pita options are because you get hummus, tabouleh, and tzatziki. Those were the 3 things I really wanted to taste since it’s been a while since I visited Nuba.

My Coworker ordered the pita and even though it was quite large, she was a bit disappointed because it did not look as impressive as the plate.

I ordered the Lamb Kibbeh Sainish ($12). It has 2 halal lamb patties, lots of vegetables, pine nuts, burghul (kinda like rice). Of course it did include the hummas, tabouleh, and tzatziki. A lot of the flavours are very strong and does takes your taste buds to the middle east, but they work so well together that you will not be overwhelmed.

The halal lamb patties were similar to the meat you would find at the donair/ shawarma places. (But of course better!). You really need to smother the patties with the tzatziki sauce.

Overall, great lunch at an affordable price! I would totally come here again for lunch. (Dinner is good too).

Words of Wisdom:

Go for the plate options and you will not be disappointed
Under $15
Hummas + tabouleh is so good!
Vegetarian friendly

We Rate Nuba:

Address:

207 W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
nuba.ca

In Four Beakers

Toshi Sushi: Amazing Sushi

May 20, 2011

I ventured out to eat since the Canucks were playing. This is prime opportunity to go to the popular restaurants without waiting! I always wanted to try Toshi Sushi but was always turned off by the long long waits. ScienceNerd and I went to catch up on good ol times and of course take the insults that he throws at me.

Vancouver

ScienceNerd is not one to make many choices, so he just got the Dinner Box ($16.95). This huge box includes fried oysters, tempura, sunomono, 6 pieces of sashimi, 2 pieces of nigiri, miso soup, and 6 pieces of their specialty rolls. The items in the dinner box do change often, so it is best to ask them what is in it. ScienceNerd really enjoyed it! It has a bit of everything from Toshi Sushi, so you can’t really be too disappointed in it. Great quality, fresh ingredients!

I on the other had decided to go with the individual rolls. I started off with the dragon roll. What makes this roll so appealing is the amount of beautifully cut slices of avocado with the trail of tobiko on top. Inside the roll are cucumbers, shrimp and eel. This was a really good roll and I would definitely recommend this!

Next up was the famous Box Roll. It has a very unique look that resembles a box. On top, there are salmon, prawns, scallops, and a lemon. In the center of the rice, there is avocado. I really liked the taste of this roll except the lemon was cut a little bit too thick, so I got the taste of the bitter rind. This is still pretty good and unique.

Next I got a piece of Ikura with quail egg. I am use to ordering the tobiko with quail egg but when I saw ikura with quail egg, I thought it would be cool to try something different. Chewing on this for a bit, it has a very liquid-like texture as the little ikura burst. It was a bit strange at first, but it was good. This nigiri is not for everyone, so you might hate it.

At this point, we were quite stuffed, but it felt like the waitress was pressuring us to get dessert, so ScienceNerd got the apple crumble. As you can tell, this is a very filling dessert! It has some good pieces of apple inside. The apple crumble is topped with a caramel sauce.

I ordered their strawberry cheesecake. I wanted their green tea cheesecake instead, but the waitress kept on telling me to order this one. I was not disappointed! The strawberry cheesecake was very very fresh and you can really taste the essence of the strawberries!

Overall, it was a great dinner. Not too expensive and we got some quality food. I would come again and wait in line just for their sushi.

Words of Wisdom:

Decently priced
Free parking on streets
All the sushi is pretty good!

We Rate Toshi Sushi:

Address:

181 E 16th Ave
Vancouver, BC

In Downtown

Aki Japanese Restaurant: Hidden Gem

May 13, 2011

TaiwaneseGirl and I were hunting for a place right in the middle of where I work and where she lives. Aki Japanese Restaurant on Thurlow sounded pretty good.

Aki Japanese Restaurant is hard to locate if you just pass by. You have to go down a flight of stairs to get there. TaiwaneseGirl was super late to lunch. She first somehow wrote down the wrong address and ended up at Canada Place. She eventually came close to the restaurant but couldn’t find it at all even though I was trying to guide her while talking on the phone. She passes by this block often and she swears there is no Japanese Restaurant…guess who proved her wrong. Hahaha.

Apparently I remember going here 3 years ago but I don’t remember a thing at all. I even have a business card from them, but yet again I don’t remember anything. There are days when having a food blog is handy, clearly it is true that I have a short memory. I don’t remember eating either… I must have been drugged! JK I think I was a birthday party but didn’t eat since I came late.

It was lunch time and I heard they had decent priced lunch. Sure enough the lunches are cheap and decent quality.

TaiwaneseGirl started off with the Tuna Nigiri ($1.95) and Sockeye Salmon Nigiri ($2.25). She was impressed by the thickness of the sashimi as well as the quality. The pieces are not as big as Sushitown in Burnaby, but the quality is there!

She then got the Katsu Donburi ($7.75). It comes with miso soup and pickled vegetables. It is a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, and sauce. She got really full after this.

I ordered the Lunch Box A ($10.75). This combo has miso soup, sunomono, short ribs, tuna and salmon sashimi, chicken karrage, pickled vegetables and rice. This was amazing! Cheap and good quality! I would totally have this again and again! You get a little bit of everything and you are not spending a fortune on this.

Overall, we really enjoyed our experience! For a lunch, everything did some quickly so I was not late going back to the office.

Words of Wisdom:

Closest Skytrain: Burrard
Decent pricing
Good quality
Lunch Boxes best for lunch

We Rate Aki Japanese Restaurant:

Address:

745 Thurlow St
Vancouver, BC

In Food Carts

Fasttrac Fusion Meals on Wheels: Skewers, Skewers, Skewers

May 13, 2011

Hello Internet! Roman J. We checked out one of the new food trucks called Fasttrac Fusion Meals on Wheels on 49^th and Cambie. It is literally right outside Langara’s Canada Line station. This food truck serves skewers, asian subs, and rice bowls.

It was like a mini night market, but you don’t have to travel to Richmond to get a taste of delectable street food.

Abbytizer, BactadThingUp, and I went to try out this food truck. We ordered a few skewers such as the fish ball skewer, curry skewer, beef skewer, lamb skewer, and the teriyaki chicken sub.

The Fish Ball Skewers (3 for $5) are extremely good and well priced. We had sauté skewers and curry fish balls. When we received our fish ball skewers they were fresh out of the pot, and very hot. The fish balls were soft and juicy when you bite into them. They just melt in your mouth!

The 2 Beef Skewers were tender and seasoned with sesame seeds. The lamb skewer was also tender. Abbytizer, BactadThingUp and I agree that the skewers were delicious.

Teriyaki Chicken Sub ($4.50) was ok. The bread was really thick, making it hard to taste the flavor of the lettuce, purple onions, and the chicken teriyaki. If the bread was less thick, I believe the sub would have tasted better.

Fast Track Fusion Meals on Wheels, is an excellent place to get Fish ball and skewers on the go. Plus, this is a meal that will not break the bank! Great for students, great for cheap people, great for anyone. I highly recommend getting any of the Skewers.

Words of Wisdom:

Best deal are the skewers, 3 for $5
Near Canada Line Station
Cheap and quick

We rate Fasttrac Fusion Meals on Wheels:

Address:

6450 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC

In Coquitlam

Hee Rae Deung Korean Chinese Restaurant: Jajangmyun

April 30, 2011

It was another Korean Night with Fabo, TanGuy, M and InsecureGirl. We ventured off to try a new restaurant on North Road that specializes in Jajangmyun, which is Korean black bean noodles. M and Fabo both really wanted some good Korean black bean noodles!

Hee Rae Deung Korean Chinese Restaurant has Korean Style Chinese food, so you won’t find the traditional tasting chinese dishes.

Apparently, this new restaurant has gained quite a popularity in the Korean community and there are actually line ups for dinner time. All the seating is booth style, so it can accomodate large groups.

If you are Chinese and you walk in here thinking the menu will be easy to understand since you are an expert at Chinese food, think again…everything is in Koreanized english. You will need to know a few basic Korean food words to get by.

The menu is quite large but good thing it has pictures, so you can just point at it and order.

Tea and cold water arrives at your table when you are seated.

The side dishes that come a pickled Daikon, black bean paste and onions. You can eat the pickled daikon alone, but to eat the onion, eating it alone would be torture! What is so amazing is that if you dip the onion into the black bean sauce, it will cancel out the potent onion taste. It’s quite interesting!

You also get a small side of radish kimchi as well.

We all decided to share the Kan Poong Ki ($15.90). This is the Korean version of Kung Pow Chicken. It is evenly battered and covered with a sweet and spicy sauce. The chicken is very moist and is probably the best Kan Poong Ki we have ever had in the lower Mainland.

There are condiments on the side – soy sauce, vingar, and red pepper spice. You mix them together and use that as a dipping sauce for the Kan Poong Ki.

M and TanGuy both ordered the Gan Jajangmyun ($6.50). It has vegetables, pork and black bean sauce on noodles.

This is probably the most traditional Korean dish there is. You are presented with the noodles and black bean sauce mixture seperately. What you do is to mix them together in the larger bowl. The best way to enjoy this is to mix is very very well together. It does taste way better if you take the time and effort into mixing it throughly.

Their sauce is very amazing and is the best we have ever had. Dou Gau Bee has nothing on this restaurant.

Fabo and InsecureGirl both ordered the Jjam Ja Myun ($7.90). If you are a person who likes a bit of everything, this dish might be for you! You get half Jajang Myun (Black bean noodles) and Spicy Seafood with noodle soup.

The black bean noodles are just perfect and the spicy noodle soup was also well done. If you are new to eating the spicy seafood noodle soup, it IS spicy! Most of the heat is located near the top, so do be sure to stir around the soup to disperse the heat.

If you cant handle your heat, it is best to not order the spicy seafood with noodle soup.

I wanted to see what Korean Style Chinese food is like, so i ordered the Stir Fried Rice ($9.50).

It has a bit of the black bean sauce, cabbage salad, and fried rice with egg on top. Ok, this was the best fried rice I have ever had. The fried rice was moist and rich in flavour! It has sizable seafood in the rice and just amazing flavour!

You also get some of the spicy seafood soup on the side as well. Yet again, it is quite spicy.

Overall, very good food and Korean style chinese food is really good!

Words of Wisdom:

Jajangmyun and Stir Fried Rice are highly recommended
Lots of Parking at the plaza
Under $10
There may be line ups during peak hours.

We Rate Hee Rae Deung Korean Chinese Restaurant:

Address:

#24 435 North Road
Coquitlam, BC

In Brunch

Beth’s Cafe: 12 Egg Omelettes

April 27, 2011

Beths Cafe is most famous for their 12 egg omelets! They have been featured on Man v. Food when Adam takes the 12 omelet challenge. After watching that episode, it was on my ‘to-do’ list for Seattle. Who wouldn’t want to tell the tale of having eaten a 12 egg omelet?

We arrived around noon, which is probably the worst time to go to any popular restaurant. Can you guess why? Line ups. There were people lining up. There were probably a good dozen people or so infront of us, but the time passed by pretty quickly. They have chairs set up outside and the sun was shining! We basically spent most of the time looking at the menu contemplating which 12 egg omelettes to order.

What is super cool about Beths Cafe is that all the walls are covered in customers art work. This is the ultimate hole in the wall restaurant. Old outdated furniture, tons of tape and paper on the walls. It’s actually quite interesting to see a few of the drawings on the wall. I even found a cool Charlie Sheen reference! I also found Angry Birds too!

M was so happy he sat in the exact same seat where Adam Richman of Man V. Food was sitting in! I think it made his day.

Their covers of their menu even has artwork. When flipping through the menu, the only thing we were interested in was the omelettes. 6 different types or you can even customize your own.

TanGuy needed his caffeine fix since we clearly walk around too much. M ordered Mr. Pibb, the Pepsi version of Dr. Pepper. He went nuts when he could order it here. It was his childhood drink that he has long forgotten. They don’t sell it in Canada, so he wanted to get his hands on this drink.

As we waited for our meals, we began doodling! Fabo drew a scary version of the Deuce Panda and the rest of us collaborated to draw a picture of the Nyan Nyan Cat. The Nyan Cat is this viral website featuring a cat non-stop singing. Similar to badger badger badger. No worries there are no viruses in the above links.

M and TanGuy shared the Triple Bypass 12 Egg Omlette ($20.75 + $1.50). You need to add on an additional $1.50 per person sharing the dish. This dish is so huge that it needs to be served on a pizza tray. Inside the triple Bypass are bacon , sausage, ham, double swiss and double american cheese. The egg is folded up and placed onto a bed of bottomless hash browns. Then you also get 2 pieces of toast on top. You also have ketchup, tabasco sauce, salt and pepper to season your omelette if needed.

The girls wanted in on this 12 egg omelette, so the 3 of us ordered the Makin’ Bacon 12 egg omelette ($17.25 +$1.50 +$1.50). this was also massive! It had mass amounts of bacon, sour cream, tomatoes and swiss cheese.

Eating this was quite interesting, I started off with 1/4 of the omelette was a piece of cake, then I ate the hash browns and I started feeling the barrier. The hardest and most filling item is not the omelette, but the hash browns! If you really want to finish the whole 12 egg omelette, your best bet would be to finish the eggs first and then dig into the hash browns.

Just be warned, there is no reward for finishing the entire omelette. It says specifically on the menu to stop people to attempt the hard challenge. The only reward you will get is self satisfaction and bloating. As all women know, feeling bloated is not a good feeling. If you plan to attempt this, make sure you walk around for a few hours to burn it all off.

Overall, it was a great experience and the omelette was actually tasty! I would eat this again if I was in Seattle!

Words of Wisdom:

Try their famous 6 or 12 egg omelettes
Best HashBrowns EVER (Never Frozen)
Psych yourself up by watching Man v. Food (episode about Seattle)
Open 24 hours

We Rate Beth’s Cafe:

Address:

7311 Aurora Ave N
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.bethscafe.com

In Four Beakers

Pike Place Chowder: Award Winning Chowder

April 26, 2011

As we were around Pike Place, there was one place I had to check out – Pike Place Chowder. Nicolb highly recommended this place, so we were basically anticipating their Clam Chowder all day.

Pike Place Chowder is in Post Alley – perpendicular to Pike St. On a nice sunny Friday, this place was packed for lunch. All the tables were taken up and there was a long line up. Pike Place Chowder was voted to have the best Clam Chowder in Seattle, so there really wasn’t any surprise.

They sell more than just Chowder. They also sell sandwiches and salads. Since it is called Pike Place Chowder, can you guess which item is most popular? Of course, Chowders! Since it was their specialty, we all ordered their famous chowders.

You can have their chowder in a cup or add $3 to have it served in a sourdough bowl.

Since the area where they sell their chowder is quite small, they make their chowder elsewhere. If you walk a few more steps into the building, you can find their kitchen. You can see them in action making their delicious chowder.

M ordered the Clam Chowder ($10). He got it in the Sourdough bowl. The Clam Chowder was very delicious and the only words that came out of M’s mouth was “Epic”. Thats how he would describe this soup. There was lots of clams in this! The sour dough bread definitely accentuated the deliciousness of the creamy chowder. M loved dipping the top bread and when there was only a bit of soup left, M made a Chowder mini sandwich.

I ordered the Seafood Bisque ($7). I also got it in a bowl since you really can’t enjoy this without the bowl. It had a lot of shrimp, cod and salmon. The soup is made up of their creamy tomato basil broth. It was very good and flavourful! One of the best I have ever had! I even devoured most of the bowl since it worked really well together. If you ate the bread by itself, it really would not be as good. The combination of the sourdough and the chowder makes this dish amazing. I highly recommend getting the bread bowl with this dish!

Words of Wisdom:

Get the Bread Bowl, best extra 3 dollars spent!
Go there in unorthodox times such as 2-4 for lunch/dinner to avoid standing!
Buy to go, if possible.

We Rate Pike Place Chowder:

Address:

1530 Post Alley
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.pikeplacechowder.com

In Bakery

Le Panier: Very French Bakery

April 26, 2011

Every time I’m in Seattle at Pike Place, I must have my dose of Le Panier! They are most famous for their macarons and croissants. I also have a crazy obsession for their cookies. Since we were in the area, we decided to take a look and buy a few goodies.

It is usually quite busy with lines close to the door.

They have a lot of bread and different types of croissants.

Lots of cookies and pies!

Of course, there are macarons! Fabo ordered one of each macaron ($1.50 USD). They come in many flavors – Chocolate, raspberry, coffee, vanilla, lemon, pistachio and orange. I had these in the past and they were so good! Probably one of my all time favorite places for macarons.

There are also other pies and cookies that are packaged. It’s great for gifts and to bring back home. I got a package of mini hazelnut cookies to bring back for my parents (~$5 USD). These were all finished within a day! It had large chunks of hazelnuts and I really just love their texture and the satisfying way they crumble with every bite.

I also ordered all of their cookies they had that day.

Sable Chocolat ($1.75 USD)

Sable Noisette ($1.75 USD)

Sable Duo Chocolat ($1.75 USD)

Sable is the french term for their Butter Cookies. They all have a nice crumbly texture and is by far the best cookie I have ever had. My favorite is still the Sable Chocolat because it has both chocolate chips and hazelnuts integrated into a butter cookie.

Overall, all the items at Le Panier are really good! Their Danishs were also very good!

Words of Wisdom:

Macarons and cookies are a must!
Long Lines
No parking

We Rate Le Panier:

Address:

1902 Pike Pl
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.lepanier.com

In Brunch

Toulouse Petit: $7 Breakfast Happy Hour

April 25, 2011

I love watching the “Best Thing I Ever Ate” on the Food Network. The first thing we did in Seattle was visit Toulouse Petit for their cheap Happy Hour breakfast. Melissa d’Arabian, the host of Food Network’s Ten Dollar Dinners said her favorite “bang for the buck” meal was at Toulouse Petit for their Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash.

Arriving 5 minutes before they opened, there was already a line up. We quickly parked across the street and I was amused at how the parking receipts had to be stuck on the inside of the windows.

It is quite easy to pass by Toulouse Petit without noticing it, but when you see the green building and this board, you are at the right place.

The max capacity is 176 people, but it fills up fairly quickly when everyone want to devour their Happy Hour Breakfast. After 5 minutes of opening, every table was filled and there were people waiting for tables! The interior is very old and outdated. The lamps are quite eerie as they hang off the ceilings.

The menu is quite large and everything is $7 USD unless noted on the menu. A lot of the items are quite different from what you would find at usual brunch places in Vancouver. It took us a while to figure out what to get, because of all the choices.

I got the green tea ($3.50 USD) and everyone else needed a caffeine fix so they got the press coffee ($~3 USD)

Fabo and TanGuy both ordered the Creme Caramel French Toast ($7 USD). It has nice thick slices of toast drizzled with caramel with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar. You can also add a side of meat or eggs for an additional $3.00. Fabo and TanGuy both thought the eggs and the meat were for free since the waitress asked so casually if they wanted it, so they said yes. Fabo asked if it came with the meal and she heard the waitress say yes, but later when the bill came, the waitress seemed a bit annoyed and said very firmly that she did indeed say no.

M loves his meatloaf so he ordered the Cajun Meatloaf and eggs with Tasso Gravy ($7). It comes with hashbrowns, eggs, gravy and 2 large pieces of meatloaf.

Even though it says Cajun, it wasn’t spicy at all. M really loved it and he dubbed this the best breakfast he has ever had. The meatloaf had a nice texture, and the potatoes were finely covered in cajun powder.

BusanGirl and I shared the Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash ($7 USD). The pork cheek had a nice smokey flavour and it is very flavourful when you start chewing on it. There is also some potatoes in it as well. It is topped off with an egg.

It’s a very simple dish but the flavours were really incredible.

BusanGirl and I also shared the Rustic Duck and Pistachio Terrine ($7 USD). It comes with hash and 2 poached eggs. I’ve never had a terrine before, but it’s basically a meatloaf. It was wrapped in bacon and you can clearly see the pistachio inside. The bacon added a nice salty texture and the pistachio nuts added some nutty flavour to the meatloaf. I really like it because it was different and was incorporated together very nicely.

Overall, we all had a great time. We were all so surprised how cheap the meal was! Great price, great meal! One thing that could be improved was the service.

As our meal ended, we headed off to more food adventures, as well as sightseeing!

Words of Wisdom:

Arrive Early
Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash Featured on Food Network
$7 Breakfast Happy hour (Weekday 9am – 11am)

We Rate Toulouse Petit:

Address:

601 Queen Anne Ave. N.
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.toulousepetit.com

In Dessert

Bella Gelateria: Old-World Handcrafted Gelato

April 21, 2011

CandiedZen and I were on a search for some mochi after our day of eating, but it was nowhere to be found…plus we didn’t want to scarf down a whole box of mochi from Konbinya.

We decided to satisfy our sweet tooth cravings by heading to Bella Gelateria. As usual they have some amazing gelato flavours packed with a lot of flavour. What makes Bella Gelateria awesome is how all their gelato is made with care and in small batches so to ensure its quality.

Since I love London Fogs, I got the Earl Grey gelato. The taste was very amazing and you could clearly see the earl grey tea was perfectly infused. Lots of great rich flavour and it’s really great after dinner.

CandiedZen ordered the Yuzu Sorbetto. It doesn’t really look like much except for snow, but the yuzu sorbetto was also very amazing. Yuzu is the small little oranges on the small asian trees. They are usually made into teas, jams or the famous yuzu soy sauce. The yuzu does not taste like an orange, but more close to a lemon. It has a very nice crisp taste.

If you are looking for some amazing high quality gelato, be sure to check out Bella Gelateria. It will knock your socks off.

Words of Wisdom:

Amazing quality
Close to Waterfront or Burrard Skytrain
Expensive parking on the street

Address:

1001 W Cordova St
Vancouver, BC

We rate Bella Gelateria:

Website:

http://www.bellagelateria.com/

In Fairview

Suika: Japanese Snack Bar

April 19, 2011

I’ve wanted to try Suika out after my coworker highly recommended this place. Since M, ConsultingGirl, and LabRat wanted to have dinner, I decided to make a reservation and drive down.

We originally wanted to get here by 6pm to get a seat at the tables rather than the bar, but ConsultingGirl’s phone went crazy and did not wake her up. As we waited for her to put on her face, I called the restaurant to see if they could still hold our table, but since it was fully booked, they would only offer us seats at the bar at 6:30pm.

We were not very happy since sitting at the bar for 4 people is quite hard to converse. Since our belly’s were rumbling, we still went ahead with the plan and made our way there.

Suika is a Japanese Snack Bar on Broadway. They are similar to the other Izakaya restaurants in Vancouver. What we found super cool about Suika was their open kitchen. You can look into their whole kitchen and see the chefs busy at work.

The interior decor is super super cool as well. Their main chandelier is made out of sake bottles. At their bar, you can see they made use of industrial materials like pipes and cement blocks to give it a nice asian flair.

2 things which we enjoyed looking at were the cool handles for their Sapporo on tap; it’s a samurai sword! Also above the bar, they show old episodes of Kamen Rider. Since there is no sound, you get to read the most outrageous subtitles. We didn’t exactly understand the show, but it was hilarious watching the weird costumes.

We started off the night getting a pot of Genmai Cha ($1.80). This is one of their more popular teas.

ConsultingGirl and I both shared the Deluxe “Suika” Box ($10). It comes with 9 little appetizers served in little sake cups. It is very cute and has nice presentation. I’ll try to explain them row by row. Tomatoes, lotus root, pickled vegetables, chicken, tuna tataki, chawan mushi, spicy tofu, crackers with spread, and beef tongue. If you intend to share this box, it is best with 2 people.

We both found the tastes pretty average, some really good, some ok, but overall great concept and you do get a chance to try a bit of everything.

M, ConsultingGirl and I got 2 orders of the Ebi Mayo ($7.80). It comes with about 6 pieces of battered tiger prawns with chilli mayo sauce. These were ok, but it still does not beat the ones we had at Toratatsu. When you first take a bite of it, there is a bit too much mayo near the head of the ebi.

LabRat ordered the Sockeye Salmon Carpaccio. Raw pieces of sockeye salmon garnished with garlic chips, scallions, onions and lemon.

We got the Gyu Yukke Don ($8.80), this has marinated beef sashimi, garlic, and sesame seeds on steamed rice. It is also topped off with sweet pea shoots and a raw egg.

A cool thing about this dish is that you get to grind up your own sesame seeds with a rod and a textured bowl. ConsultingGirl had a fun time grinding it all up. As she did that, I proceeded to mix up the ingredients with the rice. Fun!

I thought this dish was just ok since it felt very strange eating the beef sashimi warm. ConsultingGirl on the other hand loved it. The flavours nonetheless were very well combined!

M ordered the Tuna and Miso Pizza. This is a thin pizza with tuna, miso, tomato and cheese. M couldn’t make up his mind about what he thought about the pizza. The pizza was well prepared, but he felt the cooked tuna was super weird on pizza. It was just something he was not use to.

LabRat ordered the Tokyo Oxtail Ramen ($9.80). This has braised oxtail in a soy sauce broth. It is topped with fish flakes and scallions. She did not take a particular liking to the ramen. It was ok, but I think the ramen at the ramen shops are way better.

Next, ConsultingGirl and I shared the Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki ($6.00). It had a semi mild chili sauce sauce covering the tuna tataki. The tuna tataki rested on top of onions and scallions. Very good twist to the usual tuna tataki.

Then ConsultingGirl and I had the Sashimi “Shake” Salad ($7.80).

The reason why it has the word “shake” because they come up to your tables with this jar full of salad and start shaking it infront of you, then pour it all into a large bowl. It makes for a little show. The salad is composed of mixed greens, sashimi, tobiko and shrimp +sesame oil dressing.

It was a large salad for a good price. Very fresh and clean salad to end the meal.

At the end of the meal, you are given frozen grapes. They are perfect at the end of the meal since they also act as pallet cleansers to rid your mouth of the old tastes.

Overall, good experience, good ambiance, and great food. What I found interesting was how all 4 of us had different thoughts on Suika. ConsultingGirl loved it, LabRat thought it was ok and M was indifferent.

I would probably go again! Next time, we will probably make reservations a few days before to get a table rather than sit at the bar.

Words of Wisdom:

Pay parking on Street
Reservations highly recommended

We Rate Suika:

Address:

1626 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC

In Cafe

Chez Meme Baguette Bistro: When French meets Burnaby

April 16, 2011

When I heard there was a French Baguette Restaurant in Burnaby, I had to go here. It has been on my “To Do” list for a long time, but I just never had the chance to go because of school and work. See, they close at 3pm, so I never get there on time.

Today, I was working at home and could stray off to finally grab lunch at Chez Meme Baguette Bistro! M was working on his essay at my house, so we took a little break/ adventure.

They serve up breakfast and lunch, but they specialize in baguettes.

I ordered the Cordon Bleu Baguette ($9.25). Inside this baguette is chicken and emmenthal cheese wrapped in blackforest ham. You get a side of dijon mustard to accompany your sandwich. You get your choice of soup salad or fries, but I stuck with the green salad with balsamic dressing.

The Cordon Bleu had a decent taste, but when you add the dijon into it, it adds a really nice flavour. The baguette was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Fresh! The salad was fresh as well with a little bit of tomato. The Balsamic dressing is not the usual black sauce, but more of a creamy dressing. It still have a good acidic taste but I felt like there was a bit too much dressing on the salad. Hurt my lips a tiny bit. If you are picky about the amount of dressing on your salad, perhaps ask for the dressing on the side.

M ordered the Bourguignon Baguette ($10.25). It has a bunch of beef short rib, carmelized onions and horseradish. He loved this sandwich! Full of great tasting meat and no vegetable fillers. Why do men dislike vegetables?

The Bourguignon sandwich has considerably more filling than the Cordon Bleu. The meat was very tender and packed a bot of savory juices. The horseradish added a really nice kick to the sandwich! Perfect accompaniment,

M substituted his Soup Du Jour for the French Onion soup for an additional $3. He’s always been on the hunt for some amazing French Onion Soup. Clearly, the Tim Hortons version does not cut it for him.

The top of the soup has a thick layer of melted cheese, so you need to break through it in order to get to the center. Breaking the cheese layer gives you a exciting feeling as all the onion soup gushes out. M had a great time digging around it trying to see what was inside. Under the cheese layer, there’s the savory soup, onions and mushy croutons. He gobbled the soup right up and said “Now I know why the french love to smoke”. In my head I was like, WTH… Something I will never understand. Men….

Some people cannot finish both their baguettes, so you can take it to go! They wrap it up nicely for you as well.

Overall, good food but the hours of operations are quite limited.

Words of Wisdom:

Amazing French Onion Soup
Free Parking on adjacent streets
Busy during lunch hours
Slow service
Under $10

We Rate Chez Meme Baguette Bistro:

Address:

4016 Hastings Street
Burnaby, BC

In Four Beakers

Clubhouse Sushi: Japanese Food

April 14, 2011

Hello Internet! RomanJ here.This time I went to one of my favorite restaurants in Vancouver with Abbytizer. Clubhouse Sushi is a family owned restaurant located in an industrial area close to the Olympic Village.

Abbytizer and I were hungry so we ordered a lot of food.

We ordered the Holy Dynamite Roll. The holy dynamite roll is a deep-fried roll with their house special sauce on the side. The house special sauce is a spicy, sweet, peanut looking sauce which adds that extra kick to the roll. The roll is extremely good and fresh.

Next on the list is the Club House Cream Cheese Roll, the roll consists of cream cheese, tempura, red pepper and cucumber. These ingredients give the roll a fresh crunch when you eat it.

Tuna Steak Ponzu was perfectly seared and it contrasted well with the lettuce, which provides that nice crunch to go along with the sour ponzu taste. This dish is delicious. The tuna just melts with the ponzu sauce in your mouth.

Marinate Salmon sashimi is marinated nicely with the spices. I can’t put the name of the spices, however both Abbytizer and I enjoyed this dish.

Abbytizer ordered a medium size Seafood Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki dish took a long time for it to come our table but it is definitely worth the wait. The Seafood Okonomiyaki is composed of bite size pieces of salmon, tuna, prawn, squid; all mixed together in the cooked batter with Okonomi sauce on top. Each bite you can taste the distinct seafood blend with the Okonomi sauce.

To top off the night, we ordered the mango slushy drinks. The drinks were a good with that distinctive mango taste, a good way to end the feast.

Abyytizer and I come often to this restaurant. The owner and waitresses are really nice and friendly. We both love the flavors that each dish has and the portions are really satisfying.

Words of the Advice

Seafood Okonomiyaki takes a while for it to come out
Open late on weekdays till 11pm, and closes at 12am on Friday & Saturday
Walking distance to Canada Line

We Rate Clubhouse Sushi:

Address:

255 W 2nd Ave
Vancouver, BC V5Y

Website:
www.clubhouserestaurant.com

In Brunch

Fraser Park Restaurant: Truly Hole in the Wall

April 14, 2011

After reading Food For Buddha food blog, they seem to have fallen in love with Fraser Park Restaurant. Since Fraser Park Restaurant is basically in the middle of nowhere, its always hard to find the time to make the trek there. Google Map tells me it would take 30 minutes from my house. Always was a turn off. Since M and I planned to watch Source Code at Metro, I thought it would be perfect to take a trip here.

M drove to Fraser Park in record time, made it there in 15 mins ( beat that google maps! boooya!). On the drive down there, M did not believe there would be any restaurant down in this area. Mostly construction companies and huge warehouses. We got a little bit lost and M got frustrated with me. Once we did arrive, we were super turned off by the exterior….restaurant in the middle of nowhere with lost of construction items everywhere. M had the pissed off Korean look and that basically ruined the mood.

Walking in grumpily, we quickly decided on what to order – beef dip and the deluxe German breakfast.

As we waited patiently waited for our food to arrive, we looked at the decor and was surprised at the amount of people in the restaurant for a weekday lunch. I can’t imagine the weekend, must be super busy.

M’s Deluxe German Breakfast ($9.95) arrived and his eyes lit up by the large portions and piles of meat. As you can tell there are A LOT of items in this meal. His mood immediately lit up once he devoured all the meat.

Tis meal contains:

Cured Ham
3 egg omelet
breakfast sausages
Potato fritter
Potato wedges
Bacon
Schnitzel
Toast
Gravy

Such a long list of items, but M was very very happy. $9.95 for this massive breakfast. No wonder the Germans are so tall and handsome. 😉

I ordered the Beef Dip. I ordered it with salad on the side with italian dressing. The italian dressing comes in little kraft packages, so it is not house made. The salad was nice and fresh and no sign of wilted leaves.

The beef in the beef dip sandwiches were a bit dry, but since you are dunking it into the Gravy anyways, the dryness did not impact the overall taste. The bun is quite soft, so it does clench onto the sauce very well.

M and I both loved the food here. It fulfills al the requirements of being a “hole in the wall” restaurant. a) Crappy exterior b) amazing food c) cheap prices.

I will definitely be visiting again! Anyone want to join me?

Words of Wisdom:

Lots of construction around, so be careful
Do not let the exterior to deter you from going inside
Free Parking
Under $10
Large portions

We Rate Fraser Park Restaurant:

Address:

4663 Byrne Road,
Burnaby, BC

Vancouver

In Downtown

La Brasserie Street Food Truck: Nom Nom

April 13, 2011

Since Ursu Food Truck was not open yet, I thought I would take a stroll down to La Brasserie Street (Food Truck, not an actual “street”. They are in the location where Kimono Koi Crepes use to be.

The cart is brought to you by none other than La Brasserie. The name says it all doesn’t it? I’ve actually never been to the restaurant before but I’ve heard good things. The picture of the sandwich does look amazing!

When you arrive, you are greeted by 2 friendly men. Wait a minute one of those guys look familiar (looks through old photos). Hey! He use to run the Kimono Koi Crepes truck! Interesting yes?

Their menu is super simple with one item – their Brass Chicken Sandwich ($6.25). You basically have no choice, which is not necessarily a bad thing! That means the quality should be good!

At first glace, I was disappointed by what I saw. Large bun, little meat and fried onion things. Seriously it does not look like the advertised picture.

Inside this Brass Chicken Sandwich is beer brined rotisserie chicken in gravy, with fried onions on a buttermilk bun. I didn’t have high hopes for this sandwich until I took the first bite out of the sandwich. Wow. This reminded me of thanksgiving dinner in a sandwich, without the cranberry and the stuffing.

Tender chicken meat doused in savory delicious gravy complemented with crispy sweet taste of the onions. Oh! I’m in love describing it again. The bun is quite soft and squishy, it was perfect with the delicate meat.

One thing to be aware of is that there is a bit of flour still on the top and bottom of the bun, so if you are wearing black clothes, check your chest if you left any crumbs there. ( You never know!). Also, remember to grab a napkin too because if you are just digging into the sandwich, you may get gravy on your face. (I did and it was delicious!).

Overall, great sandwich for $6.25. Definitely worth it in my opinion.

Words of wisdom: