Four Beakers Archives - Page 21 of 24

Havanas: Latin Burgers & Sangria

March 31, 2011

Another late night at SFU and a bunch of us were growing super super hungry after our meeting. Thinking about what is still open, we just headed off to The Drive. We first headed to the Libra Room, but they didnt have enough room for us. We were also all starving and didn’t want to wait. So, what to do… we called up Havanas to see if there was room for all of us.

Success! They did have enough room for us, so we ran down to Havanas. We had 30 mins till last call, so we ordered quickly.

No university student can go without some alcohol, so we started off with the Rojo Sangria. It has red wine, cherry and apricot brandy, fresh fruit, strawberries, and fruit juice.

We all liked the Rojo Sangria! It was sweet and yummy!

After we drank the Rojo Sangria, we got the Tropical Sangria. This has white wine, Malibu, mango, fresh fruit, and citrus juice. This was not as good as the Rojo Sangria. The Malibu Rum gave this sangria a more alcoholic taste.

All 6 of us decided to get the Latino Burger ($18). This huge burger has a grilled beef patty, grilled chorizo, bacon, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, spicy mayo, avocado, and onions all on a toasted ciabatta bun.This is a man’s burger! It is pretty large. It is quite hard to wrap your mouth around this sandwich. This burger is quite expensive, but you do get 2 types of meat in this burger. You also get your choice of fries, salad or both.

All the girl had to pack up half their burgers since they could not finish it. The men ate it all with ease. In the end we were all satisfied with the food!

At the end of the night, our waitress handed out a ballot form for Dining Out For Life. Participating restaurants such as Havanas donated 25% of their sales towards a great cause for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Havana’s is best known for their Sangria!

We rate Havana’s:

Visit Havana’s Website: www.havanarestaurant.ca

Address:

1212 Commercial Dr
Vancouver, BC

In Coquitlam

House of Tofu Soup: Authentic Korean Cuisine

March 30, 2011

Another night out at Korean Town with my Korean Homies – M, BusanGirl and Fabo! I always rely on them when I we go to any Korean Restaurant. They make the order process 100000x easier for me. What can I say, having Korean friends are handy when I want to check out hidden Korean restaurants around town.

House of Tofu Soup is supposedly has the best tofu soup in the Lower Mainland. Fabo has said that it is even better than the tofu soups in Korea! House of Tofu Soup is located on North Road. It is very hidden and their popularity has spread mainly by word of mouth.

The menu is quite limited but what is awesome about their menu is that they have 3 different translations on their menu – English, Korean and Chinese. If you bring your parents or Grand Parents, they won’t be grumpy that they don’t understand the menu.

The meal starts off with the Korean side dishes – mashed potatoes, seaweed, kimchi, marinated daikon, and pickled daikon with daikon juice. All the side dishes were pretty good and no complaints.

We ordered the Goon Mandu (Fried Dumplings) for $4.99. It comes with 8 pieces. Extra crispy on the outside and has pork and green onion inside. They also give you a light soy sauce to dip our dumplings into.

BusanGirl and M both got the Spicy Dumpling Tofu Soup ($9.99). Even though it look very red and its labeled spicy, this tofu soup will not burn the taste buds off your tongue. The dumplings inside is basically the same ones that we had for a starter but it was not friend.

I ordered the Spicy Seafood Tofu Soup ($9.99). It came bubbling and steaming like it came from the depths of hell. JK. It was just boiling really hard. There was very small bits of mussels and about 8 tiny shrimp in it. There is TONS of tofu in the soup so you are getting your moneys worth.

Also like the other tofu soup, it was not too spicy at all.

They also give you eggs for your tofu soup, no matter what flavour it is. You crack it, dump it in and swirl it around. If you are thinking that I am so cool for cracking an egg with one hand…I actually used two hands but I had to pose with one hand since the other one had to take the picture.

You also get rice to go with your soup. You can dump some into your soup to eat together…or eat it separately.

When they scoop the rice in to the metal bowls, you are left with hot stone bowls with the rice sticking to the side. They pour tea into the stone bowl to soften it up. At the end of your meal, you can scoop this rice/tea into your bowl and eat it.

It’s pretty bland and it’s like eating tea with rice. Some people like it and some people don’t.

Words of Wisdom:

Best Tofu Soup in Vancouver
Under $10
Free Parking in lot or in parkade

We Rate House of Tofu Soup:

Address:

4563 North Rd
Burnaby, BC

In Cafe

Meat & Bread: The Power of Twitter

March 28, 2011

When I’m in Downtown in the office, I love looking for places to eat for lunch. I do rely on twitter for deals or even new cool items a restaurant has for that day. I was looking up and down my twitter feed and Meat & Bread had some new items on the menu, even secret ones too…so I just had to go!

They had 2 specials that day – the Chicken Hot Wing and the goat sandwich. When do you ever get to go to a restaurant and give them a secret code to get a secret sandwich that only tweeters know. (GASP!)

I took Mandu with me to try these sandwiches! It was close to both our offices so we didn’t trek too much out of the way.

Mandu ordered the Chicken Hot Wing ($8). It has chicken, hot sauce, celery, carrots and blue cheese. Mandu really liked the taste of it! The only issue she had with it was that the sauce was a bit watery, so when she ate it, the sauce would leak out.

I went up and told one of the staff “Gimme the Goat“. He was surprised that the tweet actually worked! They had enough ingredients to make 10 sandwiches and I was the first one to sink my teeth into it! When I took my sandwich to the table, the table beside us kept looking at our food and tried to identify what they were. Clearly, they could not identify the goat sandwich. It was super awkward attempting to eat the sandwich when people are clearly staring at you. I had to intrude on their conversation and tell them about what we ordered so it would give them a clear idea of what to order and give them recommendations. After a few giggles here and there, they totally ordered the same thing as us. (The power of influence!)

If you are into the whole internet ‘meme’ thing, you will understand what I’m trying to say. I had to remove the inappropriate words just in case there were children reading this.

OK, anyways, back to the sandwich! The taste was super amazing! I had no idea what was in it. If I tried to guess the ingredients, I will probably trick you into thinking things….honestly I have no idea what I ate. I probably should have asked but I was too hungry. (Having no allergies is awesome FYI). The goat was really nice, tender, and super flavourful. There was also some type of greens and this purple spread. Trust me it was good!

I also got a soda! They have several types of sodas but I chose the Dandelion & Burdock Soda. Apparently it is the most popular soda they have. You will not find any Coke or 7up at Meat & Bread. The soda did not taste too strange or earthy.

It is infused with Dandelion leaves and Burdock root, sweetened with pear juice and spiced with a touch of ginger and anise. Apparently its a popular British type of soda. It may sound gross since dandelion are weeds….but delicious!

Words of Wisdom:

Best to go early to ensure nothing is sold out
Porchetta is the most popular but the other sandwiches are also delicious
The sauces are a must try

We rate Meat & Bread:

Check out their website: http://meatandbread.ca/

In Cafe

Finch’s Tea & Coffee House

March 27, 2011

On the last lunch with MedicalGiraffe, she took me to Finch’s Tea & Coffee House. She always finds the coolest places to go to. Sometimes I have no idea how she finds these places.

Finch’s is famous for the amazing baguette sandwiches.

My first impressions of this place is that it is a very hipster place. The ceilings and the walls are quite rustic. Their entire menu is written on the black chalk boards. There are not a lot of seats, so you may need to share a table or take out.

I ordered Green Tea and MedicalGiraffe ordered a type of Riboos Tea. The teas around about $2.50 and you can always ask them for more hot water if you finish your tea.

MedicalGiraffe had the pear baguette ($8.95). It contains blue brie, prosciutto, roasted walnuts, oil, vingar, salt & pepper and also pears! These are made of high quality ingredients and they don’t skimp on any of the ingredients.

I had a bit of this and I never knew how good pears and prosciutto could be! YUM!

I ordered the prosciutto Baguette ($7.95). It contains edam cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, oil, vinegar, salt, papper and of course prosciutto. I also loved it. The baguette was nice and fluffy with amazing ingredients inside. All the ingredients work well together and you will leave Finch’s satisfied!

Even a week after since having this sandwich, its always on my mind. If any type of food has left such an impression on you, you know it was amazing.

After the sandwiches, we wanted to try other items on the menu. I looked at the cheese plates and I spotted the Applewood Smoked Cheddar Cheese Plate ($9.25) . This was a simple cheese plate that included wheat crackers, fresh whole apple, cerignola olives, roasted walnuts, grapes and applewood smoked cheddar cheese.

The apple was indeed prepared on the spot! You can tell this by the color of the apple. If it was left out for a bit, it would have oxidized and turning brown.

The plate was a bit expensive and it was not too amazing.

Words of Wisdom:

Pay Parking on streets
Amazing baguettes!
Under $10

We Rate Finch’s Tea & Coffee House:

Address:

353 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.finchteahouse.com

In Chinatown

Phnom Penh: Visit #2

March 14, 2011

When DesignGirl told me that we were meeting up with MadamMilton, BaguetteGirl, and DermaMan for Vietnamese food, I thought we were just going to get pho. Boy, was I mistaken! We headed to Phnom Penh, where the menu items are as diverse as our pronunciations for the restaurant name.

Phnom Penh is tucked away in Chinatown, and its tasty treasures are masked behind its ordinary exterior and red and white sign board. But inside the restaurant, things were hustlin’ and bustlin’. DesignGirl had dined here previously, so she knew all the right things to order.

With most meals, you get complementary soup, sprouts and hot sauce.

We started off with the Rice Special A – a Vietnamese hodpodge of rice, grilled chicken, Vietnamese ham, egg, and sides of lettuce. This reminded me a bit of Korean bibimbap, as you have to get a little bit of everything and mix the rice all up in it. I drizzled a bit of their mild vinegar over my bowl, and it sure was delish! DermaMan said that this was his favorite dish of the day.

We then ventured onwards to try the phnom papaya salad, which BaguetteGirl ordered since she loves papayas. I couldn’t quite taste the papaya here, as it felt more like radish. It consisted of ‘papaya’, peanuts, hot peppers, shrimp, and mint. It was definitely refreshing and crispy, but because it was so rainy and cold outside, it was more difficult for me to appreciate a cold dish.

Up next was the phnom 2 noodle. The “2” in the name is for the two types of noodles in this bowl. Upon a first glance, you would think this was another ordinary bowl of pho, but it sure wasn’t! The broth was not msg-ridden compared to other pho places, and the noodles were delicate and cooked perfectly. There was also shrimp and other Vietnamese hams and meats in it. You can eat this with the side of bean sprouts they brought. I liked this dish so much, I had two bowls.

What’s a trip to Phnom Penh without ordering their famous wings? Each table in the restaurant had an order of their wings, which were tossed in chilli pepper flakes and came with a side dipping sauce that was slightly tart and peppery. Wow! I was so surprised when I bit into this chicken – it was moist, and juicy, but incredibly flavorful, especially with the dip. I will definitely order this again.

Finally, the moment we were all waiting for arrived: the butter beef. The butter beef is akin to a beef carpaccio in that it features raw beef (slightly cooked around the edges) in a mild soy like sauce, overlaid with ample cilantro and peanuts. This was an incredible mélange of flavors and textures. MadamMilton was very skeptical about eating raw beef and kept telling us she was waiting for “20 minutes to pass” to see if any one of us would rush to the bathroom. None of us did and she gobbled down the butter beef happily.

By then, we were stuffed. DermaMan had ordered a moomooshake, which was a strawberry iced milk shake. It looked very…cold, so I didn’t not sample it. But everyone else that tried it liked it quite a bit.

DesignGirl also ordered an iced Vietnamese coffee, while I got a hot Vietnamese coffee. The Vietnamese coffee came in an espress drip tin, and a cup with condensed milk (your creamer + sugar, essentially). It was so delicious and rich! However, the caffeine concentration in this drink really messed me up and I was dizzy and had heart arrhythmia for the rest of the day.

Phnom Penh is located in Chinatown. We left around 2pm, and the restaurant was still packed and had line ups for lunch diners.

Words of Wisdom:

Very busy during peak hours…line up for sure!
Marinated Butter beef, Chicken Wings, Deep fried squid!!! Order it now!
Metered parking on street
Kinda sketch looking area….near chinatown

We Rate Phnom Penh:

Address:

244 E Georgia St
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

G-Be Izakaya

March 9, 2011

Last time I went to the Grandvilla Casino, my parents and I went next door to Grand Dynasty for dim sum. Today M and I were thinking of a place to eat. After begging him to take me here, we decided to go to G-Be Izakaya rather than Fat Burger. Seriously, he would think by now that I have some decent suggestions for places to eat.

G-Be Izakaya is a new restaurant that opened up near Grandvilla casino in Burnaby. They are owned by the same people who run Gyoza King. You wouldn’t know it when you sit down, but when you look at their dishes, their logo is on all the dishes.

I was so amazed at their interior decor. It was hot! Communal tables in the middle, tables and booth on the side. There is also a large party room.

When we looked at the menu, the first page it really explained a lot about their restaurant and how they dont serve alcohol due to a pending liquor license, being patient with waitresses as well as it being their soft opening.

Tea isn’t free, so you have to pay for it. You pay per head for tea and you can choose from 7 specialty teas.

I got the genmaicha green tea ($1.50). You get refills of your pot so it’s not too too bad.

Ebi Nira Gyoza ($4.50) comes in 4 pieces and contains porks, prawns and chives. The prawn is not just a paste, you taste a whole shrimp in the gyoza. The gyoza was not super amazing and spectacular, just normal.

GomaMiso Chicken Karrage ($6) is flash fried rice crisp battered fresh chicken breast with sesame miso sauce. I actually love the crispy rice/ cereal batter since it make it super crunchy and the chicken breast is still very succulent and moist.

Fried Goat Cheese Stick ($6) is crispy fried goat cheese served with balsamic teriyaki sauce. Yet again it is covered in something like corn flakes. The inner was very gooey and i think it had some bacon too. Yummy!

Uni Steamed sushi mini Hot Pot ($6.50), it has steamed 7 grained rice with egg, seaweed and fresh uni. It was really a mini pot, it tasted really good if you are a fan of Uni.

You can probably get 6 or 7 spoonfuls of this.

King California Roll ($7) is a roll with snow crab meat, avocado, sprouts wrapped with soy paper and topped with mango and more avocado. Tasted ok, but not awesome. One thing that does make it stand out is how they use healthy ingredients to put this together.

Triple salmon roll ($6) sockeye salmon tempura, avocado, and sprouts wrapped in smoked salmon topped with spicy salmon. Very creative roll but not super amazing. It did seem very healthy and have fresh ingredients.

M ordered the Mushi Choco Man ($3.50). It is a steamed chocolate lava bun. You have to wait a bit before you eat it, the chocolate on the inside was hot. Good thing the waitor warned us because M wanted to dig in.

You have to be careful about this bun because when you bite into it, the chocolate will squirt out. The chocolate on the inside was very nice, warm and rich.

I ordered the Creme Brulee ($4.95), it comes with 3 mini creme brulees – Jasmine, green tea, and earl grey.

This is probably the best creme brulee I have ever had, it was unique and you got to try a bit of everything. The jasmine creme brulee was very subtle. The earl grey creme brulee was very flavourful with a strong taste, so you could definitely tell it was earl grey. The green tea was amazing as well!

Words of wisdom:

Free Parking
Most dishes under $10
Unique dishes
Creme Brulee is a must!
No alcohol served yet (One day in the future they will!)

We Rate G-Be Izakaya :

Address:

4331 Dominion St
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.g-beizakaya.ca

In Cafe

Giovane Cafe

March 6, 2011

FloYVR keeps telling me about Giovane Cafe, so we just had to head there for lunch. For those people who pass by the Pacific Rim Fairmont, it’s the restaurant will the cool looking “g”. Don’t deny that you have taken pictures beside it. (I’ve seen your display pictures..and it’s quite cute).

I pass by this place a lot too, but I was amazing at how large it was inside. Lots of seating! Giovane Cafe specializes in italian inspired foods such as pizzas, soups, and panini’s. They also have fresh coffee, cakes, pastries, breads and cookies.

To order, you need to go to the back of the restaurant to look at the menu and see what you want to order. They even have a large variety of specialty drinks and the usual drinks like pop and water.

Like I said, all of their food is italian inspired, thus the abundance of different panini’s, pizzas, and salads. They also have calzones but I didn’t take a picture of that.

After thinking for a long time, I ordered the Funghi Misto Bosco pizza ($10). I had truffled mushrooms, tellegio, leeks, and thyme. It really did take me a long time to decide to choose this. The staff told me the Funghi had a lot of flavour and tasted really good. Since I do like mushrooms, I got it.

After sinking my teeth into this pizza, the flavour from the leeks and the truffled mushrooms made it a very savory pizza. The dough was nice and thin and crunchy on the edges. The only thing I wish could have been better would be having the center of the dough be more crispy because I felt when i picked up each slice, it would flop around.

FloYVR had the special pizza ($10). I am not sure if this has a name but it was the special of the day.

Most of the pizza’s are reheated in their ovens before serving, and her pizza was not very warm, so she had to go back to get it to a better temperature to fully enjoy the pizza.

If you can’t finish your whole pizza, they give you a small cute pizza box for it. Imagine bringing this back to your office and making your coworkers jealous. haahaha.

Giovane Cafe also has a coffee/pastry bar area in the front where you can grab something quick to go. Since FloYVR had a 2 for 1 coupon for a drink from their tweet up, we used it!

Since we had to try their desserts, we chose to share the Mini Emerald Green Apple, Caramel Almond ($7). This was a very unique dessert, we really had no idea what to expect. In between the green apple mousse were layers of green apple pieces and a caramel almond layer. It may seem like a very odd combination but it worked really well together. It was not very sweet either, so if you fear sweet things, you should be ok with this dessert.

Words of Wisdom:

Busiest days: Thurs & Fri
Amazing desserts
A bit on the pricey side since it’s located in the Fairmont

We Rate Giovane Cafe:

Address:

1038 Canada Pl
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.giovanecafe.com

In Four Beakers

Kimura (Visit #5)

March 2, 2011

My 5th visit at Kimura would have to be epic.

I know i’ve said great things about Kimura in the past, but reading all my posts will probably hype Kimura’s up a bit too much. So, your best best is to have a seat near the bar so you can actually talk to him and get to know him. I personally never sit at the bar so I’ve never had a deep deep conversation with him…nor does he really remember my face even though I’ve been there many times. FragileBoy and Insecuregirl always go there and take a conscious effort to talk to him every single time they go. I, on the other hand am super shy and awkward so … I am a ghost.

FragileBoy decided to have his birthday party at Kimura’s and talked to him a few days before so Kimura could set up a special Omakase set. There were 15 people, so he needed to prep before hand…plus we took up half the restaurant.

We started off with 5 big bottles of Kirin ($8.95 each), and a large sake ($12) to share between everyone. I didn’t take a picture of the sake, but in my previous posts you can see what it looks like.

Since Kimura was very generous, he offered fragileboy a special Omakase set for his birthday and all the guests. Usually the Omakase is 7 dishes, but today…there was way more!

We started off the first course with Gomae which is just cooked spinach. As usual his appetizers are very clean and simple tasting.

The second dish was the Salmon Carpaccio, but it was a bit smaller than usual, but it was expected since Kimura increased the amount of dishes and provided a cheaper rate for the omakase set. This was delicious as usual! It’s one of my favorite dishes because of the sesame oil, salt, and pepper he adds to the ponzu sauce.

The third dish was yaki tori skewers. Each person had 2 each. The yakitori had chicken, onions and peppers. The chicken was very moist and was not dry. They have this on the regular menu as well.

The forth dish was Tonkatsu (Fried Pork Cutlet). There were 2 pieces drizzled with plum sauce. I found there was not enough sauce since some pieces did not have any sauce. You should also ask for a slice of lemon to go with it because it actually goes really well with it.

The fifth dish was tempura. You are probably thinking, “oh it’s normal, nothings great about it”. I thought the same thing until I ate the shrimp tempura. The batter on the outside was not crunchy, but really soft. When you bite into it, the shrimp is already seasoned with a bit of salt which really brings out the taste. I usually avoid tempura, but because of the taste of salt and the texture of the batter it did not taste oily.

The sixth dish has approached and it is the miso soup. The reason why I like this miso soup compared to other places is because of the addition of the tofu skin. It adds texture and body to the soup. The rest is pretty much the same.

The seventh dish arrived, at this point we were like…how many dishes are there? All the girls were pretty much getting full.

There was 4 california rolls, 1 wild salmon nigiri, 1 tuna nigiri, 1 salmon nigiri, and one shrimp nigiri. It was nothing too fancy.

Hey, look it’s the 8th dish. >.<” (Asian face emoticon thing indicating I was full). Each person got 1 of the Spicy tuna on crispy rice. Smaller than usual but it was alright because we were all getting full. Some people were a but scared of this dish because the tuna is spicy.

If you have a SUPER low tolerance for heat, you probably won’t like this. But, it’s a really cool concept for a dish. I can stand heat so it wasn’t a problem for me.

Dish number nine. Yes, NINE! This was the spicy toro cone. This was not very spicy, so if you are a spicy hater, you would actually like this. Melt in your mouth toro!

The tenth and final dish was mango ice cream. This ice cream is pretty good, not like the artificial mango ice cream.

Since it was FragileBoy’s birthday, Kimura was kind enough to make him a plate of Frog Legs. On the plate were 8 frog legs, which meant 4 frogs had to die for this dish, but as someone said at the table “they are over populated anyways, so might as well eat them”. So, we did just that… we ate them all! haha. It was my first time trying out frog legs, so I jumped at the chance of trying it. It has a very interesting taste, it was like a cross between chicken and fish.

I spent most the the time comparing the frog leg to an olympic speed skater. The Frog legs are not on the usual menu, but you can call in ahead of time to order them.

When they were speaking on the phone prior to the dinner, FragileBoy insisted that Kimura should not go out of his way to get cake…but guess what happened? Kimura went to T&T to buy him 2 little cakes anyways. Really amazing chef that truly has a passion for food.

Words of Wisdom:

For best experience sit at the bar and talk to Kimura (the best advice you will ever get!)
Parking in front or in residential areas
Most items under $10
Lots of combos and specials
Customizable dishes
Amazing service! (Like actually!)
Fresh Ingredients
Be adventurous and don’t try the usual japanese items, thats how you will love this place
Omakase set and Spicy tuna with crispy rice and items you need to order!!

We rate Kimura Japanese Restaurant:

Website: http://www.sushikimura.com/

Address:

3883 Rupert Street
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Sushiholic

March 2, 2011

I pass by Sushiholic quite often and at first I didn’t have high expectations for Sushiholic because they are in a location where there has been several failed restaurants. They did have a lot of reviews from anonymous users on Urbanspoon and some other website, good reviews too.

So, I went to see if it lived up to their reviews.

The exterior is quite an eye sore and looks quite ghetto.

When you enter through the door, it look every clean and modern inside. Nothing like the outside at all.

The Fire Dragon Roll ($9.95) looks super cool since they make it look somewhat like a “fire dragon”. The sushi was composed of spicy tuna, prawns and cucumber with mayo and spicy sauce. This was really really delicious!

The Spider Roll ($7.95) is similar to the other spider rolls you find. It has soft-shell crab inside. It was still delicious and the sauce in the shape of a spider web is a nice touch.

Volcano Roll ($11.95) is a sushi with asparagus and shrimp. It is then deep fried and chopped up. Having the roll deep fried give it a very crunchy texture, the addition of spicy tuna in the middle is really ingenious because it’s supposed to be set up like a “volcano”. The spicy tuna is coated with a sauce that has a combination of sesame oil and spicy sauce.

Overall it was a great dish!

Las Vegas Roll ($9.95) was another deep fried roll. It is chopped up and laid on its side and topped up with more crab meat and tobiko. The best way to eat this is to smush the crab meat down so you can fit it into your mouth.

We also ordered the Sushiholic Tray ($21.95). For this price, you get 54 pieces of sushi. These rolls include California Roll (8pcs), Dynamite Roll (6pcs), BC Roll (6pcs), Tuna Roll (6pcs), Salmon Roll (6pcs), Spicy Tuna Roll (8pcs),Kappa Roll (6pcs), and Chopped Scallop Roll (8pcs). It’s really good for the price if you are hungry.

The rolls aren’t anything special but they were made well.

At the end of our meal, the chef made us a complementary salmon belly sashimi. It was my first time having salmon belly and I did not take too much of a liking. I think I prefer toro instead. The presentation of it was really nice, it was made into a rose shape.

Our bill came out to be $69.16 for 5 people. The price of the sushi tray was an incredible deal. The specialty rolls were alright, you are essentially paying for the presentation of the rolls. Some rolls are worth it and some other aren’t.

Overall, my friends and I had a great experience. Well made sushi roll with quality. One thing we did notice was that this restaurant was owned by Koreans, which seems to be a trend in most sushi places in Vancouver. Either way, they know how to make sushi.

Words of Wisdom:

Parking on the right of the restaurant (small alley)
Decent prices
They have a ghetto exterior, but the interior is really nice
Amazing Specialty rolls
Volcano Roll is really really good!

We Rate SushiHolic:

Address:

3311 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
sushiholic.ca

In Downtown

Guu Garden

February 25, 2011

Since I found out the other Guu location – Guu Garden offered lunch, I really had to try it out to see how it compared.

After walking aimlessly around the building, I stumbled upon this sign near some stairs in the rear. If I missed the sight of this sign, I’d probably have no idea where to find Guu. I thought Google maps tricked me into going to this deserted place. (Most of the building was under construction besides Guu Garden & Relish.

When I made my way to the restaurant I was greeted with a welcoming “irrashaimase”, which means Welcome in Japanese.

Since it was me, myself and I…I just decided to sit on the bar. Ya… the awesomeness of being a loner! Woot.

Their menu definitely had more choices than Guu on Thurlow. From bento boxes to the favorite izakaya dishes!

I first ordered the Tuna Tataki ($6.50). For lunch they served it with 4 pieces of tuna. It is lightly seared on the outside and garnishes with garlic chips, green onions and ponzu sauce. The quality of the tuna was delicious and had a good texture.

It was a tad expensive for lunch compared to what I had next…

Guu Garden has some amazing bento boxes for lunch! $10 Rice Burger bento Box!

The bento box came with a choice of 3 burger – Kobe Beef, tuna fillet, and pork tenderloin. Each bento box comes with miso soup and 4 sides to accompany the dish.

I got my combo with the Tuna Fillet Cutlet with tartar sauce. It is a good take on the traditional burger. The fillet was nice and golden brown on the outside. Once you take a bite of the sandwich, you can hear the *crunch* when you bit into the fillet.

I wasn’t particularly fond of this, after I saw this, I really wish I ordered the Kobe Beef version on the sandwich. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a good burger but it didn’t suit my taste. I’m not a big fan of deep fried items.

The miso soup was delicious like most places, but it was a different since they added puff tofu into the miso soup. It added texture into the soup.

This was a cold potato type of thing. I usually dont like potatoes but this was not too starchy tasting.

Next side dish were tempura green beans. It was not too oily and seasoned with salt and pepper.

This shrimp salad was very very good. It had greens, avocado, shrimp, and a few other ingredients. The sauce that they had on it was very interesting and tasted like wasabi but it was not too overwhelming. It did not give you the weird nose stingy sensation

Almond tofu pudding with lychee was by far the best part of the meal and the perfect ending. I love tofu dessert so, I am really biased towards it because I could eat a whole tub full of this.

Words of Wisdom:

Amazing $10 bento lunch
Hard to locate the restaurant

We Rate Guu Garden:

Address:

M101-888 Nelson Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.guu-izakaya.com

In Four Beakers

Kimura (Visit #4)

February 17, 2011

Visit #1 Visit #2 Visit #3

As you probably know now, I am a huge fan of Kimura’s and is kinda my “go to” place to have some great food with friends.

Since it was Vday, I made reservations ahead of time just in case they became very busy. Indeed they were, but I was smart to make they a week in advance. You should be ok, if you make it a day ahead of time.

M and I had a big bottle of Kirin ($8.95). It was a Large size and it could fill up about 8 small cups.

M and I love their Spicy tuna on Crispy rice ($4.50). It has pureed spicy tuna sit on top of a piece of lettuce and on a circle of fried crunchy flavoured rice. It is garnished with jalapenos, and various sauces. Eat with your hands because eating with chopsticks are a bit hard. Plus, it is meant to be eaten with hands.

M wasn’t so keen on the Omakase set this time, so when he heard there was kobe beef steak for $25, he jumped at the chance to order it. You don’t only get the steak, but you get miso soup, rice, and a salad.

The kobe beef was made medium rare and it was very nice and juicy. Did you know kobe beef is quite sought after due to their distinct rich flavour? Because of the really nice marbling of the fat, it gives this steak it’s great flavour.

The salad was quite simple and had no dressing. It is made mostly out of cabbage, radish, carrots, cucumber and a tomato. Still quite refreshing.

I couldn’t help but order Kimura’s Omakase set ($30). This is the only place I find that I can’t get bored of their food, plus the set always changes up a little bit. It’s a good way to range the skills and strengths of the restaurant.

The first dish the came was the appetizer and it contained pieces of chicken, taro, gelatin, fried sardines and kabocha Japanese squash.

I like their appetizer because they are simple and not heavy.

I always feel awesome when the salmon carpaccio arrives with the omakase! Thinly sliced salmon in sesame oil, citrus sauce, peppercorn, salt, and garnished with sprouts and onions. This is my favorite dish! Never gets old!

Second dish was the baked oyster with a miso may sauce. This was a bit different than the ones they had before. They added mayo into it so it tasted more like a motoyaki. Still pretty good.

The third dish was another Spicy tuna on Crispy rice. I totally didn’t know this would came as well….so as you can imagine the rice get me a bit too full.

The fourth dish was the miso soup.This is always good to drink because it is refreshing and is not like the usual miso soups. It tastes a bit cleaner and has tofu skin in it!

The fifth dish was the shrimp pasta salad. There’s actually not pasta in this, he makes the noodles out of shrimp. You can see the shrimp in the noodles. Good light and refreshing dish and yummy sauce.

They changed this up a bit, this time the noodles were a bit more uniform like fettucini.

The sixth dish was nigiri. Shrimp, tuna and salmon. The tops of a few of the sushi already has a thin layer of soy sauce, so you may not need to add more. Personal preference perhaps.

The seventh and final dish was green tea ice cream! It was really good green tea ice cream! You can choose from a whole bunch of ice cream options – mango, black sesame, and red bean…but this can change due to what they have available.

Words of Wisdom:

For best experience sit at the bar and talk to Kimura
Parking in front or in residential areas
Most items under $10
Lots of combos and specials
Customizable dishes
Amazing service! (Like actually!)
Fresh Ingredients
Be adventurous and don’t try the usual japanese items, thats how you will love this place
Omakase set and Spicy tuna with crispy rice and items you need to order!!

We rate Kimura Japanese Restaurant:

Website: http://www.sushikimura.com/

Address:

3883 Rupert Street
Vancouver, BC

In Cafe

The Dirty Apron

February 14, 2011

The Dirty Apron is many things….a cooking school, delicatessen, grocer, and a lunch/dinner hot spot. They are owned by the creators of Cafe Medina and Chambar. They are actually located on the same block as well.

Mandu and I passed by a few weeks ago and noticed this new place. It wasn’t until today that we decided to try it out.

Walking inside, you can see there are 2 aisles of packaged products. Most of these are packaged products, so you can find canned items, pre-made pasta sauces, and specialty ingredients.

They have a variety of meats if you want to grab some for home or create your own sandwich.

They have about 5 of their grilled sandwiches on display. You can look at them and decide which one you want. Then they will grill it up for you!

They also have daily hot food such as roasted chicken, soups, rice, lentils, pasta, and stews. While you are there, you should try out some of their cheese samples. You may discover a new cheese which you will LOVE.

They have one main menu for baguettes and grilled sandwiches. They range from $7 – $9.

Mandu first wanted a sandwich but then when she saw a huge plate of lasagna ($6.99), she had to have it. First of all, this is some steller lasagna. It has lots of meat and vegetables. Perfectly cooked and had an amazing flavour. Highly recommended if you come here!

While we were there, 3 other people in the dining area had this as well. On any rainy day, this lasagna will turn your whole day around!

I ordered the prosciutto Grilled sandwich ($8.99). Inside this sandwich are figs, prosciutto, watercress, cheese, balsamic and onions.

The bread was really nice, it has inside nuts and cranberries. the outside was nicely grilled so it had a bit of a crunch to it. The balsamic and onions made this a very savory sandwich. I wish this sandwich had a but more prosciutto because at times I felt I could taste more of the figs than prosciutto. Still, the sandwich was amazing.

Oh, they also have cooking classes! Seriously, such an amazing looking set up. Who wouldn’t want to cook here?!

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/

In Downtown

Italian Kitchen

February 13, 2011

Italian Kitchen is part of the Glowbal Group which bring Vancouver amazing restaurants such as Coast, Sanifir, Trattoria, and Society. They take pride in all of their restaurants, so visitors will not leave unsatisfied.

FinanceGirl and I were looking for a place to go for lunch and since Ramen was a bit too far to walk to from our offices, we chose Italian Kitchen.

It was my first time in any of the Glowbal Restaurants, so I was super excited to hear what all the hype was about.

The interior is really nice and chique. THe waitresses were really nice as well.

Their kitchen is open and near the dining area, so you can see the chefs whip up your meals.

Like any italian restaurant, they had the usual pasta, pizza, panini’s, and cheeses and meats.

Since we both wanted to try everything, we just decided to split everything.

We first ordered the Lamb Sausage Pizza ($15.50). It has peppered goat’s cheese, wild mushrooms, with a free range egg .

I loved this pizza because it was thin, crispy and had so much flavour. The pizza was cut up into 4 slices and had even toppings on each piece.

Next we had the Lobster and Crab Monte Cristo Sandwich ($14.50). It also contained egg and parmesan battered bread. It was a delicious sandwich but you could tell it was quite oily. Best eaten with a knife and fork if you don’t want oily hands.

It also came with a daily soup which was a potato and bacon soup. It really tasted like a baked potato

Overall, I really enjoyed the food at Italian Kitchen, it was a bit pricy for what we ordered at lunch, but I would consider coming back to either try out the To Go option or try out their other lunch specials.

Words of Wisdom:

Amazing decor and ambiance
Pricey
They have cheaper To Go options
Pizza is AMAZING

We Rate Italian Kitchen:

Website: www.theitaliankitchen.ca

Address:

1037 Alberni St
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Gohan Japanese Sushi (Visit #4)

February 13, 2011

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Previous Posts about Gohan : Visit #1 Visit #2 Visit #3

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M and I decided to go here since we really do love this place. It’s not a chain restaurant and the quality is always good.

As per usual we ordered the Toro Sashimi ($9.95). It’s really thin and just melts in your mouth! There is about 8 or 9 pieces.

Next we ordered a full order of Spicy Tuna ($9.95). There was about 8 or 9 pieces as well. Very nice tuna with an amazing spicy sauce on top. The sauce is probably a mix of mayo and spicy sauce? I’m actually not 100% sure but it’s different from other places.

Next we ordered the Garlic Chicken Karaage ($5.95). They are deep fried breaded chicken meat served with a light honey cream sauce.

This was a pretty average dish.

Next is the Spicy Garlic Calimari ($7.50). The calimari was pretty bland. Not as flavourful as the Chicken Karaage. Even though it was stated it was spicy garlic, I did not taste any hint of garlic at all. It should have been seasoned with a bit more salt and pepper.

It’s probably because I am so use to the calimari at other places and its a bit different.

Next I had the Deep Fried Ice Cream. This was the size of a baseball. I was very surprised the that Deep Fried Ice Cream was covered in so much breading and left with not too too much ice cream. I guess it’s a bit unique. It still tasted really good, the breading tasted more like tapioca pudding or some types of sweet bread. Worked really well together!

We really enjoyed Gohan and it has become our favorite place to go to in Burnaby to get sushi!

We rate Gohan:

They are located at:

Burnaby
1815 Rosser Ave S
Burnaby, BC

In Dineout

DineOut: L’Abattoir

February 8, 2011

DineOut #2 was at L’Abattoir! I have actually never heard of this place until PhotographyGirl took me here with a bunch of people. This was all on the $38 menu category. Expensive, but we still saved a lot.

The name ‘L’Abattoir’ mean Slaughterhouse in english. It’s kinda funny because it’s nothing you would expect from such a nice sounding name. When we figured this out, we were enjoying out meatly entrees. hahaha.

L’Abattoir is located in the building which use to be Vancouver’s first jail. Even thought it use to be a jail, they really made this place look super amazing. I wish I took pictures but I didn’t for some reason. You can even feel a bit of eeriness when you see the bricked walls.

I LOVE THE BREAD. It came with 3 types – Anchovy cheese twists, bread buns with bacon bits, and this flat cracker type thing.

One of their appetizers were the Dungeness crab and chickpea toast ($13), it has toasted brioche, light crab custard, and carrot pickles. Everyone who had it loved it.

I had the Raw pacific oysters ($15). It has Mushroom and marrow croquettes. It was SO GOOD! Very light and delicate and has so much flavour! The bone marrow croquettes were also very flavourful.

For the entree a few of us had the Pan fried filet of steelhead ($24) It has Squash puree, olive gnocchi, and anchovy butter. The people that had it loved it and the foam was a really cool touch.

I had the Slow cooked loin of pork. It has Cassoulet, brussels sprouts, and mushroom. The pork was cooked perfectly and was not tough at all. Unlike some people, loved the brussel sprouts! Everything blended nicely.

Another entree was the Lamb loin and sausage ($26). It is served with grilled endive lettuce and cleriac (root-like vegetable).

Everyone had the Dark chocolate and coffee layer cake ($10). It is served with cherry apricot compote, whipped vanilla crème fraiche. It is nut free and rich! Everyone loved it and i envied them because i got something else.

I was different and got the Fizzy lemonade ($9) It has Blood orange sorbet, tapioca pearls, and earl grey granita. This I found was very sour. It was still a really cool dessert.

Words of Wisdom:

Dineout menu items are also on regular menu
Amazing food
On the expensive side…
Cool looking interior
Pay Parking on adjacent streets
Great place to just get drink…good for intimate date

We Rate L’Abattoir:

Address:

217 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.labattoir.ca

In Four Beakers

Gohan Japanese Sushi (Visit #3)

February 6, 2011

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Continuation of :

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It was NotFauna’s goodbye dinner, so she decided that we go to Gohan Japanese

Since I am still on my no rice diet, I got the Age Chicken ($6.95). there are 4 chicken strips and a side of salad. The strips were deep fried and drizzled with teriyaki sause. The side salad had a citrus orange sauce.

Overall, it was pretty good, not too oily tasting. I would probably get this again.

Next I ordered half an order of spicy tuna sashimi ($5) and half an order of toro sashimi ($5). The spicy tuna had a really nice spicy sauce to it, it wasn’t like the other japanese restaurant where they just have korean hot sauce over it. They take time to make their own spicy sauce.

The toro sashimi was nicely cut and really fresh.

Words of Wisdom:

Great fast service
Food came very fast
High quality ingredients
The best toro you will ever eat!
Reasonably priced.
Closed on Sundays

We really enjoyed Gohan and it has become our favorite place to go to in Burnaby to get sushi!

We rate Gohan:

They are located at:

Burnaby
1815 Rosser Ave S
Burnaby, BC V5C

In Cafe

Cumpari’s Gelato & Caffe (Visit #2)

February 4, 2011

Since Cumpari’s is close to where I usually hang out, so here we are again! Check out my review from Visit #1

Since CanuckGirl and I wandered off from a party, we decided to take a quick trip to Cumpari’s for a late night snack.

CanuckGirl grabbed a small gelato with 2 flavours – pistachio and white chocolate.

I got this Tubular cookie with nutella and nuts ($3). I really wanted a churro but they ran out….so I had to settle with this..I thought it was some sort of profiterole, but it was hard. I’m not sure if it has a name (the staff didn’t even have a name for it). It’s basically a cookie with filling inside.

Craving italian pastries during the night but too lazy to drive to Vancouver or Richmond? Get your fix here, but it is slightly pricey.

We rated Cumpari:

Cumpari Gelato & Caffe is located at 535 North Road in Coquitlam, BC

In Chinatown

Phnom Penh

February 2, 2011

I was really excited to finally check out Phnom Penh because it is Vancouver’s most famous vietnamese food. They have won countless awards….. year after year…after year!

When InsecureGirl, M and I came at 6:30, this place was packed! The line up was almost out the door!

The inside has tons of chairs and tables, but most of the time they were occupied. The interior is not anything special…usual asian restaurant.

Tea!

We ordered 3 of the Condensed milk vietnamese coffees. I’d rather have this than a regular latte! It’s really strong and tastes great with the addition of the condensed milk! When you were a kid, i’m sure you had a can at home…so you would take a spoon and just eat it from the can.

These additional sides came to our table along with out meal. Bean sprouts, chilli sauce, lime, and then this really delicious broth. I don’t know what is in it, but it was very nice and refreshing.

Dry Noodle ($6) looked really good, it was loaded with different types of seafood and meats. Underneath the meat and the cilantro and green onions were the dry noodles and this dark sauce. To eat this dish, you should mix everything together so all the noodles get a good coating of the sauce.

After having it all together, it was alright, but not the best.

Marinated Butter Beef ($12.85) was TO DIE FOR! It is essentially a plate of thinly sliced beef that is almost rare. It is loaded with cilantro, garlic chips, ginger, and an amazing sauce. This also one of their famous dishes.

Deep Fried Squid ($8.95) were also amazing! Battered, fried, seasoned with garlic, onion and other ingredients. You also get side dipping sauce that has a lemony taste to it.

Very good and highly recommend!

Deep Fried Chicken wings ($12.50) was really good! It’s one of their most popular dishes on their menu. Very well made and super delicious! One thing I started to notice was how the squid and the chicken seemed so familiar….but maybe it was just me.

There was also the same dipping sauce as the squid. Worked well since it was a nice accompaniment with acidic sauce matching with fried taste.