Four Beakers Archives - Page 22 of 24

In Culinary School

JJ’s Restaurant

January 30, 2011

After looking at There’s Always Room Food Blog, it looked like a great place to go for dinner. It’s cheap affordable and best of all it’s a restaurant run by VCC culinary students.

I’ve always heard great things about dining in culinary schools, so it was time to go!

It was pretty hard navigating our way into the restaurant, we walked around the whole building until we realized it wasn’t on the main floor, it’s was on the 2nd floor.

The location of the dinning room was quite random, but when you walk inside, you enter this very homey elegant dining setting.

For dinner, a 3 course set menu is $24. You get your choice of appetizer, entree and dessert. The choices were SO delicious sounding that it took us a while to figure out what we wanted. Our plan of attack was to share everything so we get a sense of a majority of the menu.

We started off with a coke for myself and a pina colada for CandiedZen. Her Pina Colada could have use a bit more pineapple, but over all still decent.

Before our items came to the table, the gave us a small tasting of bruchetta , cream cheese, smoked salmon and balsamic.

This was so delicious! Anything with cream cheese and smoked salmon are mouth watering.

Next was the bread and butter!

For one of our appetizers, we got the Buttermilk Fried Chicken. On the sides, it came with a shallot cabbage coleslaw and mango.

This was a very interesting take on fried chicken. We both kinda expected there to be a drumstick in there. Everything tasted delicious. No complaints.

Next appetizer was the Wild Mushroom Risotto, with saffron butter, balsamico and a parmesan crisp. This was well made and one of the best risottos I have ever had. CandiedZen agreed as well because she usually hates risotto…but she loved this dish!

On to our mains… We got the Duck breast with confit, truffle gnocchi, root vegetables and bell pepper essence. THe duck was prepared nicely and the outside was crispy and salt to complement the oily meaty inners.

Next main was the roasted lamb sirloin with bacon fond potatoes, grilled asparagus and other vegetables. We liked how the lamb was rolled up and in the center was some nice aromatic herbs.

Before our desserts came, they have us another small tasting. it had walnuts, Chestnut, cream fraiche, cranberries and raisins. The chestnut we found didn’t work out too well with this.

For dessert we got the Orange Creme Brulee, with pistachio biscotti, grand marnier soaked orange.

Very good Brulee and it was more of a custard, which was nice!

Our last dessert was the Hazelnut chocolate cake with caramel ice cream, chocolate dacquoise. It was also good, but at the point we were STUFFED! All the components of this dish worked together really well.

All the waiters, bartenders, and cooks are part of the culinary school. It is required for their program to work at JJ’s Restaurant. In order for the program to prepare them for the restaurant environment, they must do this. Our waiter was very friendly and super nice!

Words of Wisdom:

Should get reservations for dinner since it’s a small place and can get busy
Good 3 course meal for $24
Lunch is also super affordable

We rate JJ’s Restaurant:

Address:

250 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Kimura Japanese Restaurant (Visit #3)

January 25, 2011

Clearly I go to the restaurant a bit too often.

Check out our past posts : Visit #1 & Visit #2.

This time I brought PinappleBun and ConsultingGirl to visit Kimura Japanese Restaurant.

PinappleBun ordered the saba and amaebi nigiri. They don’t like to waste any ingredients, so they also give you the rest of the amaebi shell fired. It may seem not edible, but be rest-assured, it is. Add a bit of the lemon and it’s quite delicious.

Next was the Miso Eggplant, it is grilled eggplant topped with miso sauce.

No visit to Kimura can go without the Crispy Rice with Spicy tuna ($4.50 / order). We got 2 orders of this for 3 people. 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.

I really recommend this dish and remember, eat with your hands!

I always order the omakase set ($30) since it gives you a variety of what Kimura has to offer, and it always changes because they don’t follow a recipe. I like to share one order of the set with the whole table because it’s way too but for 1 person.

The first dish of the Omakase is the pig ear appetizer. It comes with kabocha Japanese squash, fried sardines, and 3 pieces of pig ear in gelatin with peanut sauce.

Our second dish of the Omakase set is Salmon Carpaccio. It has thinly slices salmon in sesame sauce and citrus sauce. On top, there are a variety of garnishes.

Our third dish of the Omakase set is the baked oyster with miso sauce. Comes with 3 pieces.

Our forth dish of the Omakase set is 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.

Our fifth dish of the Omakase set is sushi . There is a variety of nigiri to this dish and it’s not the usual ones you see.

We also got a miso soup but I drank it all before taking a picture.

Lastly, we go mango ice cream as our last dish. Very good mango ice cream!

The omakase set is almost the same as when I had my previous visit because I went the day after. (I am just that crazy to go 2 days in a row…but hey it’s good food).

Words of Wisdom:

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

Kimura Japanese Restaurant (Visit #2)

January 23, 2011

Back at KImura’s again one week after the first post. I know the timelines of the posts don’t match up, but I’m behind on posting since I eat so much and school/work gets in the way sometimes.

I fell in love with Kimura Japanese restaurant, so please check out the previous post. This time M and I took Fabo to eat here.

Like usual M likes to start off his meals here with a beer and sake. They are the 2 things that make him relax…without throwing up.
He first got a small sapporo ($5) and the Small hot sake ($6.50).

Like last time, we got the dango skewers ($2) again. Really delicious, most and flavourful.

We also got the Tofu Steak III ($5). FYI, there is no steak in this dish. The tofu steak is a layer of eggs and tofu topped with sauce, bonito flakes and green onions. It’s a very simple dish, but I found it was a bit bland sometimes.

Next we ordered 3 plates of the Spicy Tuna with Crispy rice ($4.50 per 2). This was everyones favorite dish. Crunchy on the outside and so delicious on the inside. This is like a Japanese taco!

No meal is complete without ordering the omakase set ($30).

Our first dish of the Omakase set is the pig ear appetizer. On the left we have Japanese squash – Kabocha. The middle there is gomae and a prawn. On the right is the pig ear in gelatin. This pig ear is a it different that what I usually see in Chinese restaurants. Kimura San makes the pig ear gelatin himself and he seemed very proud of it. It was different and I liked it.

Our second dish of the Omakase set is 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!

Our third dish of the Omakase set is the baked oyster with miso sauce. Comes with 3 pieces. I did not particularly like this dish because since it was baked, i didnt get to taste the full flavour of the oyster,

Our fourth dish of the Omakase set is sushi – ebi, tuna, saba, uni, scallop, and ikura. 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.

Our fifth dish of the Omakase set is Salmon Carpaccio. SO happy it came in the combo this time. YUMMMM! This is THE place to get this. No where else compares!

Our sixth dish of the Omakase set is 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.

Our last dish of the Omakase set is mango ice cream with whipped cream and corn flakes. Delicious mango ice cream, I really wonder who his supplier is…

Our bill came out to be $70.56 for 3 people. Not bad considering we ate too much and splurged again.

I also gave them my new business card. It’s square!

Words of Wisdom:

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

Kimura Japanese Restaurant

January 22, 2011

InsecureGirl and FragileBoy visited this place before and told M and I we must try it. So, one day after class, they dragged us here. I think this was the best idea yet. M and I were kinda skeptical about a Japanese Restuarant on Rupert street. It’s located across the street from Golden Oscars.

The interior is really nice and modern and has a lot of jazz elements on the walls.

The owner and chef of Kimura is named Itsuroku Kimura. He has had an impressive legacy in the restaurant business. He has open up places in Mexico City, Shanghai, and various place in Los Angeles. For his retirement, he settled down in Vancouver and opened Kimura to keep his passion of food alive. He always experiments with his food and can make custom items for his customers.

His love of jazz can be heard through out the room as he only play relaxing jazz music.

He is always seem at the counter preparing all the sushi items. If you want an amazing experience, sit by the bar and talk to him.

M started our with have a large Kirin beer ($8.95). You can’t go to a Japanese restaurant and not have Japanese Beer.

M and Fragile Boy then had a large hot sake ($12). What is great about Kimura is how they arn’t trying to cheat you! You can see they fill the container all the way to the top unlike other restaurants. M and Fragile Boy dubbed this the “never ending sake” because there is so much.

They have a variety of different skewers that you can order. We started off with the 2 orders of Quali Egg Skewer ($3 each)and 2 orders of Dango skewer ($3 each).

The quail egg skewers are just boiled quail eggs, if you love eggs this is for you. I personally wasn’t a big fan because i dont like yolk.

The dango skewer was pretty damn good. I think it was just seasoned pork on skewers. Nothing like what a dango is supposed to be.

We ordered the Deep Fried Oysters ($7.95). You get a lot for that price. They are crispy golden on the outside and has a nice deep oyster flavour on the inside. The oysters were big as well and not small little dinky ones.

I still find the deep fried oysters at Rodneys better, but for the price of $7.95 its’ not bad at all.

Since we heard their Fresh Uni ($15)was the best in town, we tried it. Uni is sea urchin. You can was Kimura prepare the uni. Some pieces can still be seen moving if you look carefully.

I’ve had some pretty bad defrosted uni at other sushi restaurants..at Kimura, you can’t get any better if it’s straight from the shell.

The uni had a very interesting texture and you are basically eating the uni’s ovaries. It is best if you squeeze the lemon on top and add a bit of salt.

We ordered 2 orderes of Crispy Rice with Spicy tuna ($4.50 each). The 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.

The correct was to eat this is by using your hands to eat them … kinda like a taco. This is probably THE BEST dish on their menu. It’s unique and the flavours work so well with each other.

FragileBoy and InsecureGirl also ordered baked mussels.

They also ordered the Salmon Carpaccio , which M and I accidentally ate. Best mistake ever! This has thin slice of salmon sashimi in sesame oil and ponzu sauce, It is the best salmon carpaccio ever. It’s probably due to the sauce.

Insecure and FragileBoy also ordered the Take Combo ($15.95), which comes with Assorted Tempura, Sushi 6pcs, Sashimi or Ginger Pork, Miso Soup and dessert.

This is the Assorted Tempura.

This is the 6 piece sushi .

This is the sashimi.

This is the miso soup.

M and I got the special Omakase Set ($30). This is what you need to order to get a full feel of the restaurant. The items change on it everyday depending on what they have fresh at the restaurant. You may luck out and have a super fantastic set. Even though it says $30 per person, not everyone at your table needs to get one. It’s a lot of food, so i would suggest 1 per 3 people and add a dish or 2 extra.

The first dish of the Omakase was the appetizer, it has braised beef with radishes, cold shrimp, and marinated lotus root.

2nd dish of the Omakase is the Agedashi tofu. Various tofu are in this pot with varying sizes in the traditional sauce you would normally have in agedashi tofu.

3rd dish of the Omakase set was fried soft shell crab. At this point, we were tripping out because this is a WHOLE soft shell crab. Very delicious and I’ve never had it outside the “spider roll” before.

The third dish of the Omakase was Chawan mushi. It is an egg custard with dashi broth, mushroom, and seafood. Delicious!!!

The forth dish in the Omakase Set was the Braised Kobe beef with curry. M and FragileBoy was shocked to find out this was Kobe Beef. This made the entire $30 worth it! The curry was spot on and the braised kobe beef was very tender and fell apart nicely.

The fifth dish of the Omakase Set was some unknown dish, I will just call it sashimi. When it arrived, this looked so nice, it had fried shrimp heads (Totally edible and delicious), amaebi with tomato, lime and ikura, geoduck, and scallops. This was heavenly!!!!!

Since 2/4 of us ordered different set menus…in additon to the other items we ordered, Kimura was kind enough to give us all dessert. Plus, we did rack up a large bill.

We chose to have red bean mochi with mango ice cream for our dessert. At this point, we were stuffed but the dessert still tasted amazing.

This was our bill. $127.51 / 4 = $31.88 per person. It was a bit expensive, but we did eat A LOT.

After this experience, I fell in love with this restaurant. I even went again two more times. I will post those up a bit later. I love Kimura Japanese Restaurant because getting the Omakase set is like a grab bag, you don’t really know what to expect when you go there.

Even if you don’t get any set, most dishes are under $10. It can be quite affordable, but this time we just decided to splurge.

Words of Wisdom:

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 Brunch

Cafe Medina (Visit #2)

January 16, 2011

To celebrate a bunch of us working in Downtown, Mandu, NotFauna and I went to Cafe Medina. We went in the middle of the day at 1pm to get some lunch. Since we had 3 people, it was hard to sit us down because of the busy lunch rush. After 40 minutes of waiting, a table cleared up. If you have a lunch time limit of 1 hour, it’s probably best to come alone or in 2s.Caf Much much faster.

Cafe Medina has drinks (right side of menu) and Breakfast/Lunch (right side of menu).

I had a pot of green tea ($3.00). It came in a kettle and a cute little cup and saucer. The tea was very light and refreshing, so it was a perfect pick-me-up for the middle of the day. I’m trying to stray off of coffee because having too much coffee doesn’t work well for my digestive system.

Mandu ordered the Cappuccino.

NotFauna saw that Lavender Lattes ($3.60) were popular, so she decided to get one as well. The Lavender taste is very subtle in the latte. It took her a while to figure out if it was a regular latte or a lavender latte.

Mandu ordered the Fricasse ($16), which has 2 fried eggs, braised short ribs, roasted potatoes, caramelized onions, arugula, applewood cheddar and a side of grilled foccacia. If you are looking for a light lunch/breakfast, this may not be the dish for you. Under the arugula and eggs lie the heavy potatoes and short ribs. Mandu was very satisfied with this dish because she was really hungry and wanted a dish that had a lot of food.

NotFauna ordered the Les Merguez ($15), which is flat bread wrapped roasted merguez sausage, baba ganoush, haloumi cheese, grilled eggplant, and tabbouleh. We tried asking the waiter how to pronounce this dish, but we epically failed and looked like fools.

I ordered the La Salade de Crevette ($14). This salad has Crisp romaine lettuce, wild shrimp, aji parmesan dressing, croutons and lime. I was looking for a light lunch, so the salad was perfect. I really liked the parmesan dressing, it gave a little bit of saltiness to the dish which was yummy.

I also ordered the Waffle ($3.15) + Milk Chocolate Lavender Topping (+$1). The waffles are well made and they come with a variety of topping to choose from.

Words of Wisdom:

2 hour free parking at Tinsel Town (I know its for patrons…but FREE parking! I break rules)
Waffles and lavender lattes are popular
Best to go in 2s for quick seating

We rated Cafe Media:

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

Address:

556 Beatty St
Vancouver, BC

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Havanas (Visit #3)

January 15, 2011

Did you know, I really love Havana’s? My go to place for days when I can’t decide where to eat. My goal is to eat through their menu.

Check out my past posts on Havana’s: Visit #1, Visit #2

I came here hungry and ready to eat their AMAZING Tuna Burger, but alas they discontinued it 2 months ago since they could not get fresh tuna from their suppliers. They didn’t want to serve their customers a dish that is not fantastic.

Since I was craving Tuna, I ordered the Tuna Ceviche ($12). This is a fresh tuna crudo house cured ceviche with warm corn tortilla chips. The tuna is amazingly seasoned and the tortilla chips were really crispy yet warm.

One thing I felt was very off about this dish was how largely the green onions were cut p to be sprinkled on top. If i ate it with the Tuna, it would have overpowered the dish. So, I scraped off the onion from the top.

I am and always will be a fan of their burgers, so I ordered The Burger ($14). It contains a beef patty, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, mayo, mustard, all on a toasted ciabatta bread. The burger was quite good and had a lot of fixings on the inside. Well made burger, but if you need something meaty and to DIE FOR, try out the Latin Burger because its MASSIVE!

For my sides, I ordered half salad and half fries. Best of both words! Their fries are thin cut and seasoned with salt and pepper. I really like their fries because of the cut.

M decided to make it a healthy day, so he ordered the Jerk Chicken Wrap ($15). It has grilled chicken breast, spicy mayo, salsa, lettuce, fetta cheese, and jalapenos wrapped in a cheese tortilla. I think this was M’s most favorite chicken wrap ever. All the ingredients blended well and is worth the $15 you pay!

Instead of fries and a salad, M got the daily soup for a few bucks more. The soup was a vegetable based soup.

We rate Havana’s:

Visit Havana’s Website: www.havanarestaurant.ca

Address:

1212 Commercial Dr
Vancouver, BC

In Chinese

Bubble Fruity

January 12, 2011

Bubble Fruity is an authentic HK dessert shop in Richmond. I have always been craving for good Mango sago cream, but I could never find it in BC… until now.

They are quite popular. We asked the owners if they would ever consider opening a shop in Burnaby or in Vancouver, they said they were way too busy. Bubble Fruity is a mom and pop store, so only the owners run this place.

They serve snack and are most famous for their authentic Sago cream desserts.

PinappleBun ordered the Durian Sago Cream ($4). This had basil seeds and sago. The black bacteria looking things are te basil seeds, they may seem scary, but it’s delicious.

PinappleBun said it has a very fresh durian taste and smell. She loved it!

If you are not a durian fan, I suggest you stay away from this. If you ARE a durian fan, you MUST get this.

VWboy and I both had the Mango Flavour Sago Cream ($4). It has a really strong favour of mango, which is <3 ! It is also served with sago and basil seed.

When I visited Hong Kong a few years ago, I would love to go out to have dessert just like this. It’s amazing that a place in Richmond can have such authentic HK Desserts!

Of course this was SO good that we had to bring it back home for our parents to try.

We ordered:

Green Bean Soup
Sago Cream with coconut milk
Black Sesame Paste
Red Bean Soup
Durian Sago Cream
Mango Sago Cream
Papaya almond soup

Glutinous Purple Rice Soup

Mango Sago Cream

Papaya Almond Soup

Green Bean Soup

When we took out the items, they were not as good as having it in the store. You get much less and the temperature changes as well. We live in Burnaby and the restaurant is in Richmond. So, we basically left it in the car for about 45 mins.

Overall, the desserts were amazing and very cheap!

Words of Wisdom:

Mango Sago Cream and Durian Sago Cream are highly popular
Limited free street parking, mostly pay parking
Cheap

We Rate Bubble Fruity:

Address:

180-8188 Saba Road
Richmond, BC

In Coquitlam

Man Ri Sung Korean Restaurant

January 11, 2011

Man Ri Sung is an amazing Korean Restaurant located on North Road. I always went here with my sister and they have the most amazing BBQ duck special. It seems like thats the only item we ever order.

Today, PinappleBun, MandaPanda, and Officialmaglee decided we should go for the oh so yummy duck!

THe interior has many wooden tables and chairs. Sometimes the decor is very mismatched…like the chairs we had. Don’t expect too much from the decor since it’s all about the taste of the food here.

They have lunch specials and other traditional korean dishes.

For their duck special, for $49.99 you get side dishes, Crispy duck wings, DIY duck wraps, hot pot, and your choice of Japchae or dumplings. This set feed about 4 – 5 people. We had a group of 4 girls eat this and we were all full!

They first start off by giving you a few korean side dishes – bean sprouts, kimchi, sweet potato and cucumber/tofu.

This time the chef did not come out into the dining room to slice the duck infront of us. They gave us the wings of the duck first and they were very crispy. Some parts of it was really good, but we did not have the teeth to eat through it.

The main feature of the set menu is the tofu duck wrap. You are presented with various slices of duck meat.

You also get tofu skins, green onions and sauce to wrap it all together.

I like to put the sauce on first, and then the green onions and then the duck. Fold it over, and BAM you put it in your mouth and enjoy.

The next dish we had was the JapChae. JapChae is a traditional korean dish made out of sweet potato noodles. It is stir fried with sesame oil and various vegetables and beef. It was good.

The last dish made out of the duck remains were a hot pot. The soup and the noodles in this soup made this a very hearty dish. It is not spicy like other types of korean hot pots. Very delicious, but by the time we got to this dish… all 4 of us wished we had stretchy pants.

FYI, we all gathered enough strength and stomach space to finish it off!

One thing I found super creepy was how the washroom was located in the basement…you must walk down these creepy stairs to get there.

Words of Wisdom:

Parking in back
Lunch Specials
Call ahead to order BBQ Duck special. PS it’s AMAZING!

We rate Man Ri Sung:

Website: www.manrisung.com

Address:

609 Clarke Road
Coquitlam, BC

In Four Beakers

Gohan Japanese Sushi (Visit #2)

January 11, 2011

M and I spent our last meal of 2010 at Gohan Sushi. Gohan is close to our hood and we love their food, so we like to go here often. This is probably our 2nd favorite sushi place to eat at. Quality is good, and decently priced!

You can take a look at our previous post by clicking this.

Without hesitation, we dove into the menu to try some more items that we have no tried yet. they always have specials!

I ordered the Garlic Tuna Tataki ($6.95). The tuna is pan seared on the outside and then topped off with a vinagarette and garlic chips.

The tuna and garlic by itself were delicious but I did not like the vinaigrette sauce. It tasted a bit salty and heavy for such a clean tasting fish.

I also ordered 2 pieces of toro nigiri ($1.85 each). This will always be my favorite place for toro because it is very fatty and just melts in your mouth.

I also ordered the spicy scallop cone ($3.75). Inside is cucumber, scallops, spicy sauce, lettuce, rice and wrapped in seaweed. Delicious cone!

M and I both shared the Garlic Chicken Karaage ($5.95). The chicken in marinated in sake and garlic, then it is deep fried. TO accompany this dish is a side of light honey cream sauce.

It was probably one of the most unique sauces I have ever tasted. It wasn’t super good or super bad but ok.

M got a plate of toro Sashimi ($9.95). After a disappointing time at Sushi Mori, he really craved the toro at Gohan Sushi. Bigger pieces and more quantity! This dish always makes his day better!

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 Fairview

SAWA Tea Lounge & Gallery

January 11, 2011

CandiedZen is now my weekly eating buddy! She suggested we go here since she heard it was unique and very good.

Sawa Tea Lounge & Gallery is located right outside Granville Island close to the Afkghan Horsemen. Sawa sells a variety of specialty teas, and green healthy lunches.

The top floor of the restaurant is where you order and pay, but as you walk further into the restaurant, you can walk down into the gallery AKA seating area. There are a few art pieces you can buy off the wall. This area can fit about 20 people. The main table is really cool and has a tea pot in the middle.

CandiedZen started off with a pot of Kyoto Cherry Tea ($2.90). This flavour was Chinese Sencha with rose petal. The tea tasted very relaxing and had an after tast of rose. It was not overly sweet, it was almost subtle.

I just ordered the Salmon SAWA Donburi ($7.50). This is SAWA’s special rice bowl, topped with green mix salad and meat or tofu. Seasoned with SAWA’s original dressing and you get to choose from salmon, beef, chicken or tofu.

It may seem weird to have salad with rice and some type of protein topping. Surprisingly it was REALLY GOOD! I think it is the secret SAWA salad dressing that is really tasty.

How I ate this was just mixing all the ingredients together.

CandiedZen also ordered the Onigiri Set ($7). You can choose from two onigiri (rice balls) filled with plum, salmon or seaweed. Comes with miso soup and salad.

She ordered the plum and salmon. She commented saying the dish was very simple and delicious. She would come again because the food was great and the atmosphere is really nice and calming. The nice tea was a plus as well.

Here are close ups of the salad and onigiri. The salad has the special SAWA dressing (YUM). The onigiri were made in a mould and thats why it is shaped so perfectly.

Overall it was a great experience. Come here for nice light lunch and some relaxing tea. If you arn’t into heavy meals, this is your place!!

Words of Wisdom:

Paid Parking Lot – $4 / hr
Large variety of teas
Lots of light organic meals
Relaxing atmosphere

We Rate Sawa Tea Lounge & Gallery:

Website: http://www.sawatea.com/

Address:

1538 W 2nd Ave
Vancouver, BC

In Downtown

Market By Jean-Georges (Visit #2)

January 6, 2011

MedicalGiraffe and I had our first meal of 2010 at Market By Jean-Georges. They have amazing set lunch/brunch sets for $32. You get 2 dishes and a dessert!

I went here in August and I loved it, so it wasn’t too difficult making a choice to revisit.

We sat in a different area of the restaurant and it looked super nice! Very modern.

We got our fix of bread and butter and awaited our dishes to arrive!

MedicalGiraffe ordered the Beef Carpaccio Pizza ($16). It has mushrooms, arugula, parmesan, and beef carpaccio on top of crispy pizza dough. I had this last time too and it’s a great appetizer especially for sharing.

I had the Dungeness Crab Cake ($16) as the appetizer. It comes with pink grapefruit, avocados and ginger. The different ingredients may seem very strange at first, but they worked well together. WHen you try the sauce on it own… it is sour…super sour, but when you grab a bit of the crab cake, avocados, and grapefruit IT IS AMAZING.

MedicalGiraffe ordered the Slowly Cooked Atlantic Char ($25) and it comes with mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and truffle vinaigrette. the arctic char was perfectly cooked and full of flavour. All the items on the plate meshed well together.

I ordered the Alberta AAA Hanger Steak ($21) and it came with gingered Mushrooms, sauteed broccoli Rabe and a soy – Caramel Sauce.

I had it medium rare and when it arrive at the table, you know its medium rare by looking at it. I really liked the presentation of the steak sliced up because the color from the inside really pops up and makes your super hungry. The steak was cooked perfectly and the cut of meat looked really good.

The only problem I found with the dish was that the mushrooms underneath the steak was a tad bit salty of my liking.

Lastly, we both had the Chocolate Pudding, which is composed of whipped cream, crystallized violets, chocolate pudding and chocolate cake. This is my all time favorite dessert…and I will probably always order this. The light whipped cream on top really balances out the heavy rich pudding beneath. The hidden chocolate cake in the middle is a plus!

MedicalGiraffe enjoyed this dessert for the first few bites and then found it a bit bland afterwards.

The total of the bill came out to be $71.68. Not bad considering we could have paid way more if it was not a set meal. This is why I love coming here for Brunch and Lunch times!

Words of Wisdom:

Parking on the streets
Having the bunch or lunch set menu and really save $$$ if you want to try out Market
Great for dates or a get together

We Rate The Market:

Check out The Market’s Website: http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/vancouver/shangrila/dining/restaurant/market

Address:

1128 W Georgia St
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Rodney’s Oysters House (Visit #2)

January 5, 2011

MedicalGiraffe just LOVES Rodney’s Oyster House and just needed to go there before going back to Yale. As per our first visit, we had a blast, so here we are again.

It was a busy day during the holidays, so going for the Low Tide Oysters meant a bit of waiting. By 3:30pm, the place was packed!

We got our bread, but we did notice something interesting this time. I think they ran out of bread, so one of the workers went out to grab some more bread from the grocery store.

We ordered the Pan Fried Oysters ($10), which are freshly shucked oysters, breaded and fried. They also some with tartar sauce and lemons for taste. Delicious as always and the oysters are a good size.

We next had the Garlic Prawns (about $10). They are sauteed in lemon, butter, garlic and chilli peppers. The sauce was really good, we even ate all the sauce with our bread. One thing I wish they had were bigger and plumped pieces of shrimp.

We ordered 6 low tide oysters ($1.50 each). It was a very busy day, so it took us a long long time to get our oysters. It took probably 40 minutes to get these…and we devoured them in about 3 mins.

Overall, the food experience was great. The service was quite poor this time around. Our food took way too long to come, and our server added a few extra things that we did not order onto our bill. Good thing MedicalGiraffe looks at the bill because I would usually not notice.

Words of Wisdom:

Meter Parking on Street
Low Tide Oysters between 3pm and 6pm
Pan fried oysters are popular
Always check your bill because waiters may make mistakes
Go early and sit at the counter

We rate Rodneys Oyster House:

Visit their website: http://www.rodneysoysterhouse.com/

Address:

1228 Hamilton St
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Sanpachi Ramen

December 27, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words of Wisdom:

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

We rate Sanpachi Ramen:

They are located at:

770 Bute Street
Vancouver, BC

In Chinese

Excellent Tofu & Snack Ltd

December 19, 2010

Excellent Tofu and Snack LTD. looks pretty sketchy from the outside but they make some amazing tofu dessert. Perfect for a snack or after dinner dessert….or if you are a tofu fanatic…you would just come here anytime.

The inside looks like a typically crappy asian place. Plain decor, but if you can put that all aside, you should have an amazing tofu experience.

Their menu has pictures so you know what you are going to get.

They also have another menu with english and chinese, but I avoided it because I was afraid I would order the wrong thing. Sometimes I wish I could read Chinese.

SFUPretender and FinanceGirl both got the Soy Pudding with pearls ($3.50). It was basically tofu pudding topped with a good amount of pearls. You can sweeten up with their syrups – liquid sugar or liquid ginger sugar. If you are unsure which one you prefer, try it before you pour it all over your tofu dessert.

The syrups can be found in these tubes around the restaurant.

I ordered the tofu pudding with mixed fruit with light milk ($4). The fruits are the typical fruit that come from cans and are preserved in syrup.

I love this place because they make all their tofu from scratch and it smells heavenly! When I was walking to the washroom, you can really smell the soy beans.

Words of Wisdom:

Parking in the parking lot, but it’s usually full during peak hours. Alternative parking at Aberdeen Mall or Parker Place.
Tofu dessert is a must!
Really inexpensive, should cost you less than $5
They also sell a variety of soy drinks and soy desserts to go.

We rate Excellent Tofu & Snack LTD. :

They are located at:

160-4231 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, BC

In Four Beakers

Shoryumen, Fumisen and Bakudanyaki Foodcarts

December 12, 2010

SFUPretender highly recommended we visit the 3 foodcarts in Richmond near River Rock Casino, so we decided to take a trip! I’ve heard people talk about the foodcarts, but never really had an urge to go until now.

The famous 3 foodcarts – Shoryumen, Fumisen and Bakudanyaki sell sushi cones, ramen, and giant takoyaki.

We drove and there was tons of parking! If you don’t have a car, they are located right across the street from the Canada Line.

Bakudanyaki sells giant Takoyaki the size of baseballs. Their filling the the takoyaki does vary once in a while, but today they had the Seafood Bakudan for $5.

You can choose what type of mayo you would like your bakudanyaki.

For my Bakudanyaki, I chose the wasabi mayo.

When you begin eating the bakudanyaki, you are greeted with the various ingredients – egg, shrimp, calamari, corn, onion, carrot and potatoes. You might be wondering when you have so many ingredients packed inside, but if the ball was just made like a normal takoyaki, it would be fragile and fall apart easily.

The bakudanyaki was well made and it really did taste like a big takoyaki.

Clearly a great idea and I would get this again.

We rate Tenku Bakudanyaki:

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Shoryumen is the ramen food cart. You can choose from ramen noodles or udon noodles. you can choose miso, curry or shoyu (Soy sause) soup stock. You can add extra toppings for 50 cents.

For my ramen, I got the curry ramen with corn and garlic chips ($7.75). The egg was cooked perfectly and was not over or under cooked. The garlic chips were not a crunchy as I would have liked. They ended up just sticking to my teeth.

FinanceGirl got the Miso Udon ($6.75).

SFUPretender got the Shoyu Udon ($6.75).

In the end we finished it right up. Instead of just disposing the bowl with soup in the trash, you can give it back to them to properly dispose of the soup.

We rate Shoryumen:

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Fumisen sells sushi cones in 3 sizes – small ($3.75), medium ($5) and JUMBO ($8.50).

There are 4 steps into making your sushi cone:

pick a type of rice
pick a protein filling
pick 2 vegetable fillings
pick a sauce

I got a medium cone with salmon rice, scallop chop chop, salmon sashimi, avacado, tobiko, and wasabi mayo. I wanted to try both the scallop chop chop and salmon sashimi, so they were nice enough to give me both! What I LOVE about the cones was how fresh the seafood is.

If you don’t know what toppings to add into your cone, you can always ask the staff because they are the experts.

Apparently, they buy their sashimi and seafood in small batches to ensure quality and freshness.

FinanceGirl got the Medium cone with salmon sashimi, lettuce, tobiko and mayo.

SFUPretender got a small cone with chicken teriyaki, mango…and I am not 100% what else was in there. It looks good and it tasted good so I guess whats what matters!

We rate Fumisen:

All the carts are located at:

8740 Charles St
Richmond, BC

In Dessert

Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates & Patisserie (Kitsilano)

December 7, 2010

Thomas Haas is famous for his amazing chocolate creations. From cakes, to pastries, to chocolates…they are just amazing. I’ve got the chance to try the North Vancouver location, but not Kits until now.

FinanceGirl and SFUPretender got bored and decided to come here to just chill and talk.

Walking inside, you feel this little place is very very cozy. The ceiling reminded my of a honey comb. Even Thomas Haas was in the restaurant as well!

Many different types of cakes.

Lots of little chocolates.

A variety of pastries.

They even serve sandwiches!

Since it is te holiday season, there are new creations for Christmas!

FinanceGirl got the Milk Chocolate Passionfruit ($5.50), it contained light milk chocolate mousse, refreshing passionfruit cream, soft almond cake and crispy hazelnut wafer. I think this was everyones’ favorite pick since it had chocolate mousse.

I got a latte ($3.50)and Fresh Fruit Galette ($5.50). What I liked about the Galette was how easy it could be cut without falling apart. None of the toppings fell off or was too hard to cut off. I found this to be a healthier alternative to the rich chocolate cakes!

Crispy Chocolate Raspberry ($5.50), it contained dark Manjari chocolate-raspberry mousse, light vanilla Bavarian, chocolate sacher cake, and crispy hazelnut wafer.

And so with our drinks and cakes, we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon!

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking in the back
Best in smaller groups
Limited seating

We rate Thomas Haas:

Visit Thomas Haas website: http://www.thomashaas.com/

They are located at:

2539 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC

In Brunch

Brioche

December 6, 2010

Brioche has great food and atmosphere. They are known for their amazing daily specials. Located in Gastown, Broche offers up amazing items from pastas, soups and sandwiches.

Their daily specials are located on a chalkboard. The door leads to the washroom, so its not a good idea to stand in front of it just incase someone is inside and they happen to open the door. What is bad about the specials is that they do not specify the price. On their larger, there are prices.

The little cafe is a good place to have a nice little chat. Most of the tables either eat 2 or 4 people. Not good for large groups.

I got a latte. I didn’t think their lattes were extraordinary or anything. It was not as strong as other places.

I got the Grilled NY Steak Panini. It came with wild mushroom sauce. The bread was very fresh, it was very light and fluffy on the inside and nice and crispy on the outside. I was kinda skeptical about this sandwich, but the cut of the NY Steak was very tender and very easy to chew. This was a really really good sandwich and you will get full. The mushroom sauce worked well with all the ingredients.

It came with a greek salad. It was yet again very fresh and I did enjoy it. The latte, NY Steak Panini and the side of greek salad came out to be $18. I don’t remember the breakdown of this, but I was surprised how expensive it was for a lunch. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the panini and salad.

MedicalGiraffe had the Cioppino Mix Seafood Stew ($18), it had Sauteed Seafood, Penne Noodles, Veggies, and simmered in a Garlic Tomato Broth. She thought it was pricey, but she did enjoy the stew. It came wit 2 pieces of bread, but she wish there was more to eat with the stew.

Words of Wisdom:

Food is a bit pricey
Best in small groups
Panini’s are really good
Parking garage across the street. Discounted parking for SFU students after 6pm.

We rate Broioche:

Website: http://www.brioche.ca/

They are located at:

401 West Cordova Street

Vancouver BC

In Brunch

Two Chefs and A Table

December 2, 2010

When MedicalGiraffe was back in town, she told me that we should try Two Chefs and A Table. I have never heard of this place before and decided why not! They are known for the simple food with AMAZING flavours! Looking around the neighbourhood of where Two Chefs and A Table are located, you would never expect such a popular restaurant would be hidden!

When you look inside, you can see the chefs hard at work preparing the meal. The open kitchen really shows customers that they have nothing to hide!

The interior decor is nicely decorated and modern. The waiters are really nice and helpful! Hey look it’s a garlic painting.

I started off with a green tea ($2). It even came with a little tray of honey.

I ordered the Tomato, Feta, Ham Frittata ($9), which also had spinach and basil pesto. It also came with potatoes and 4 pieces of whole wheat bread. The frittata was superbly made, the only thing i wished they had were more feta cheese.

The bread was very simple and was spread with butter. Nothing fancy, but it’s the way toast is supposed to be like.

MedicalGiraffe was in a dilemma about her meal. She couldn’t decide between the Monsieur Andres brunch or the scrambled benedict. Mark, our waiter took away our menu and left it up to a surprise. You could tell MedicalGiraffe was really excited. When does a waiter ever do that and make the choice for you?! I was excited too because i didn’t know what to expect.

After waiting for the mysterious dish to come out, Mark brought MedicalGiraffe the Monsieur Andres Brunch ($9). He said “Anyone who comes here must try the Monsieur Andres”. The Monsieur Andres has chacuterie meats and cheese within grilled sour dough. On top there is an over-easy egg and Parmesan Hollandaise. On the side there are potatoes as well.

This was an amazing take on the Traditional French Croque Monsieur (Twisted Fork Bistro). The Monsieur Andres was much smaller and had a better rich bold taste. The ingredients worked really well together!

And thus, we enjoyed our last meal together in November until MedicalGiraffe comes back for Winter Vacation.

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Since I had a positive experience, this could not stop me from visiting again with FinanceGirl. We needed to catch up on SFU Finance Club matters, so I suggested we go here.

In a few days since the last visit, they decked out the restaurant in christmas decorations. Take note of the art piece on the left in the black. They replaced the garlic with 2 Christmas StarWars figurines. Darth Vader and Yoda! FTW!

I always have a habit of always ordering the first thing on the menu. Today for Lunch, I got the Mac and Cheese. It had a 4 cheese sauce and topped with a layer of cheddar cheese. I chose to have the salad as the side. this Mac and Cheese was so good and cheesey. It may have looked small, but I was satisfied with the size. I looked around and 4 other people at different tables had it too. The salad was quite bland and too drenched with mango sauce that the leaves just ended up being very soggy.

FinanceGirl had the Grilled Chimichurri Wrap ($9). Inside this grilled wrap was Argentinean green sauce, grilled chicken, chipotle mayo, cheddar, tomato and rice. She seemed to enjoy this wrap. It’s pretty filling too if you want to be full. Yet again, the ingredients did go together really nicely. SO jealous of her fries too.

I was surprised by Two Chefs and A Table. It is true when they say it’s a hidden gem! I will return for dinner someday and I hope it meets my expectations!

Words of Wisdom: