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On the way to Blaine to pick up some parcel (Yes I’m Canadian and Im cheap). TaiwaneseGirl, CanuckGirl and I stopped at Bellis Fair Mall to look around. This mall is about 1 hour away from Vancouver and you know it’s Bellis Fair Mall when half the parking lot is filled with people from BC.

We were just passing by and the shop Yogu san caught my eye. They have a cute little yogurt character as their logo and it just looked so cute.

They even have other items in the store to sell besides frozen yogurt.

They sell frozen yogurt, smoothies and other drinks. All items are under $6.

I got the small green tea with kiwis and strawberries ($3.50 + $1.25 = $4.75). I found the size of small like a medium. They do say “everything is bigger in America”. Perhaps it is. Even though this was green tea flavour,it really didn’t taste too much like green tea. No green color either. I guess that is fine because it still tasted good.

We Rate Yogu San:

Website: www.yogu-san.com

Address:

1 Bellis Fair Parkway
Bellingham, WA

Yogu-San on Urbanspoon

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

Kimura on Urbanspoon

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 6pcsSashimi or Ginger PorkMiso 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

Kimura on Urbanspoon

Since I go to SFU, this is essentially a few steps away from the Downtown campus. It’s cheap, it’s fast, it’s Korean.

This restaurants has mostly students that come to eat since SFU, BCIT, and a lot of international schools are less than a block away. Most of the tables are in 2’s and 4’s.

FYI, the store is self serve, so you must go up and order, grab utensils and get water yourself.

When I first came here a few years and at first…..I was like …what the hell is written on the board.

Translations:

  • Ramyun = Ramen
  • Kimbob = Korean Sushi
  • O Deng = Fish Cake in Soup
  • dukbokki = Spicy Rice cake
  • Rapbokki = Spicy Rice Cake with noodles
  • udong = udon
  • bibimbob = white rice topped with various vegetables

I had the Kimbob and Ramen combo ($6.45). You get a bowl of spicy ramen noodles, it’s essentially instant noodles, they use shin brand ramen noodles to make it. You also get 2 rolls of their Kimbob and a small dish of kimchi.

You don’t need soy sauce for the kimbob since it’s not supposed to be eaten with it.

Did you know, it is debated where the origins of sushi came from. Koreans believe it originated from Korea, and Japanese believed it originated there. With their history, it seems like they both have beef with each other. Plus, the war didn’t help it either.

Words of Wisdom:

  • quick and cheap food
  • authentic korean street food

We Rate Kimbob E Ramyun:

Address:

423 Seymour St
Vancouver, BC

Kimbob E Ramyun on Urbanspoon

My parents wanted to go out to eat with my grandfather, so they looked at a Chinese newspaper to see where they should go. They found Grand Dynasty and wanted to try it out. They have never been to a Chinese restaurant in casino before, so they seemed excited to go.

Grand Dynasty is located at the Grand Villa Casino in Burnaby.

The interior was really nice and they had these really cool chandlers.

For lunch they have a dim sum menu, and for larger dishes they have the regular menu.

What my mother loved were the super asian place settings. They also charge for their tea…which I suppose is a bit strange…but some restaurants do do that. One tea pot is $1.25.

Shredded Bitter Melon ($6.75) was on the dim sum menu and my parents ordered it. I really don’t like bitter melon but I usually try a piece or 2 in hope that maybe it won’t be so gross.  Older asians tend to like it, younger people not so much.

This is the Beef Ball in Soup ($4.95). There were 3 beef balls cut in half, the soup was watercress soup I think. It also came with sauce to dip the beef into. This dish was pretty good.

Bean Curd w/ Crab Meat ($4.95) was probably my favorite, it usually is. I love the texture because it’s nice and soft on the outside and the inside has lots of ingredients. Plus, the sauce makes it really good. I’d probably get this again.

Veggie wrap with bean curd sheet ( $4.95). There’s actually 3 pieces, but my father ate one before I could take a picture. I didn’t eat this dish so I am not sure if it was good.

Steam Stick Rice ($5.25) is not serves wrapped up in a leaf! It was in a bowl with a leaf on top. I am not sure if that matters…anyways, the dish was layered, so on the bottom is rice, then meat, then rice again on top.

According to the server, you have to mix the ingredients together and not just eat it as is.

Shark Fin Dumpling in Soup ($6.50) was really good according to the family. It had more than just whatever you see in the photo.

steamed ribs with blackbean sauce ($4.95) tasted like any normal spare ribs.

House Special Chow Mein ($14.85) looked really good and tasted good! On the bottom you have the crunchy noodles, and on top you have squid, prawns, mushrooms, scallops, meat, and vegetables.

Sweet Osmanthus Cake ($4.50). I have never had this before, but apparently its made out of flowers. Very well made!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Good food!
  • A little bit on the pricy side, but still decent
  • Weekday afternoon you usually get good service since it’s not packed.
  • After food adventure to the ….CASINO
  • Free parking

We Rate Grand Dynasty:

Address:

4331 Dominion Street
Burnaby, BC


Grand Dynasty Seafood Restaurant on Urbanspoon

The family went to Red Star Seafood Restaurant in Richmond. They are another large Chinese restaurant specializing in Dim Sum for Lunch and large dinners at night.

When we asked if Red Star was affiliated with the Red Star in Tsimshatsui, HK…they said they are not related at all. Apparently, lots of patrons come in asking the same question since the name is the same.

Red Star is located in Presidents Plaza, which is on top of T&T. They are not as elegant as Fortune House in Metrotown, but it’s normal. They have high ceilings, draped curtains and a chandelier in the middle.

We first ordered the watercress soup. This came delivered in a pot and made about 8 bowls. The waiter will soup it out into bowls for you.

They remove all the watercress, meat, dates, and other ingredients into a separate dish for you. They also give you sauce to dip the meat.

This soup was refreshing, but it’s something you can make at home yourself. When the meat came out of the pot, it started drying up really quickly.

The next dish we got was geoduck. At The geoduck was cooked and slices into very thin slices. When the dish arrived, we thought the whole dish was geoduck, but turns out it was bean sprouts in the bottom and that the geoduck was laying on top. This dish also came with a special soy sauce for dipping the geoduck in. It was a pretty good dish. My grandfather said it was good how it was cut so thinly.

Next, we had 2 lobsters. I think we had the lobster sauteed. I’m not exactly sure because I was not paying attention. They prepare the lobster well, so you don’t need to use your hands to crack it open. Tasted good.

For $5 more, you can add noodles to the dish. As you can tell from the picture, there is a layer of noodles under it.

We also ordered 3 bowls of rice.

We also ordered steamed broccoli with crab and egg sauce. We didn’t know what type of vegetable to have with this dish, so the waiter suggested this and it was really really good.

We ordered half a crispy BBQ duck. The duck was really crispy and most on the inside. This is probably one of the best ducks I have had so far. The duck also came with prawn crackers. They also give you soy sauce and salt to add more taste to the duck.

What I love about chinese restaurants is that you get complementary dessert to go with your meal. =)

The Red bean soup had barley and red beans. This was alright, not my favorite dessert since I am not into beans…or anything starchy tasting.

They also give you sesame balls and cookies. These were good, so I ate most of it.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Park in the parkade instead of near T&T. You will get towed at T&T after the time limit…the parkade is not as strict
  • Servers are really friendly and can offer advice on what to order

We rate Red Star Seafood:

Address:

#2200 – 8181 Cambie Road
Richmond, BC

Red Star Seafood on Urbanspoon

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

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

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

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

They also have deals on Soju on Thursdays for cheaper.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words of Wisdom:

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

We rate Jang Mo Jib:

Website: www.jangmojib.ca

Address:

1719 Robson St
Vancouver, B

Jang Mo Jib (Robson) on Urbanspoon

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

Cafe Medina on Urbanspoon


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

Havana Cafe on Urbanspoon

Since I go to Bubble Word often at Night, I always pass by Kura and it is always closed. Their ornate Japanese doors have always made me curious about this place. This curiosity made me look up every single Urbanspoon review about Kura – Chow Times, Parker Pages, The Friday Lunch, and Deeeelish.

This place seemed legit and has a long history. They have this location in Burnaby for about 14 years and another one in Japan for 25 years. They even have specials to celebrate their long legacies with both locations.

M and I decided to head over here after class for a night afternoon lunch.

The interior had very high ceilings and tables that are sectioned off with high walls. You and your friends really reel like you have lots of privacy. They also have a bar were you can sit and watch the chefs prepare your dishes.

They really emphasize their dedication to fresh daily sashimi by having a Chef feature on all their special sashimi for the day. Certain types of sashimi sell really fast.

At first glace of this picture, is this kimchi?

This is certainly not! This is Spicy Tuna Sashimi ($6.95). No kimchi ever made its way to this dish, even though it does look like kimchi.

You get a lot of sashimi for the price. The special Kura spicy sauce they have in this dish is sesame oil and hot sauce I think. It was really well made and we would get this again.

The next dish we ordered was a Small Beef Sashimi ($5.95). It came with ponzu sauce, green onions and radish. The biggest problem we had with this dish was that it was still frozen. They didn’t give it enough time to defrost, so the first piece we had were crunchy and icy.

We did wait till we finished the rest of our dishes to finish off this dish. Once the beef fully defrosted, it was really good.

M didn’t have a big stomach for the day, so he ordered Unagi ($7.95). You get 2 slabs of unagi. It came in a nice sweet glaze to flavour the eel.

M and I are still on the search for the best Ebi Mayo, so we always have to order it at a Japanese Restaurant. Kura’s Ebi Mayo ($7.95), was nicely prepared and perfectly butterflied to remove the “vein” and it made enough surface area for the mayo to adhere to the ebi.

Nothing was wrong with this dish, but Toratatsu’s Ebi Mayo is still superior.

I generally like to try a bit of everything, so I ordered the Combo D ($8.95).

This combo included:

  • Assorted sushi
  • Salad
  • Udon
  • Tempura

The assorted sushi was quite average. I really did not like how the california roll had so much rice surrounding the ingredients.

The salad had citrus sauce on top of the salad which gave it a really nice bite to the salad. I find that most japanese people like to either add ponzu sauce or citrus sauce over salad.

The tempura that came with the combo was very crisp on the outside and still remained quite firm when dipped in the tempura sauce. The vegetables are sweet potato, yam and zucchini. You get a prawn too.

The last part of the Combo D was the udon. I’m not a fan of udon, but the udon was quite normal and nothing was bad about it.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Meter parking on street or free parking near residential area close to Waves.
  • Large assortment of sashimi
  • Large menu (really! The menu was like a book)
  • Great prices, most items under $10

We rate Kura Japanese Restaurant:

Address:

4300 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Kura Japanese on Urbanspoon

Last time I visited here for just tea. This time I went with InsecureGirl and  KoreanGirl to revist this place to check out more of what they had to offer.

We got one of the Oriental Style Combo for 2 ( $21.95). We got to choose from 1 coffee, 1 tea, 2 desserts, and a fry combo. We weren’t in a coffee mood, so we paid an additional $1 for another tea.

For our first tea, we got Jasmine Green Tea.

We got their Leisure Fruit Tea. It was really sour for our first cup. All 3 of us were not use to fruity teas since we only have the usual chinese teas at home. If you like fruity teas, you will probably like it because it has real fruits inside – kiwis, pineapples, apples, etc.

What we did after the tea was done, was eat the fruit!

We got the fruit crepe. It had canned peaches,whipped cream and maple syrup. all this was wrapped up in a nice thin crepe.

The crepe was pretty good but one thing we all didn’t like about it was the additional maple syrup. This made it really sweet and didn’t really mesh well with the whipped cream.

The fry combo we got had tofu, fish cake, and chicken. THere is also some spicy sauce on the side to dip. This was an average dish.

Lastly, we had the blueberry pie. This was a very disappointing dessert. It was in a little pie tart with cooked and sugared blueberries and a bit of whipped cream. I use to bake a lot and I can tell this tart shell was from the store frozen. If you look carefully, the tart is even burned.

Overall, this was a bad dessert, everything pre-made and slapped together. It looked nothing like the image on the menu.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Lots of variety of teas
  • Dessert are a hit or a miss
  • Parking in the back

We rate Leisure Tea & Coffee:

Address:

1110-8391 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC
Leisure Tea & Coffee on Urbanspoon

After eating massive amounts with FinanceGirl and SFUPretender, we decided we needed a break from all the food to have some tea. The first place in mind to just chill and have tea was Leisure Cafe on Alexandra Road.

The interior is very awkward. The walls are covered in old photographs of European landmarks.

They mainly sell drinks, snacks and desserts.

SFUPretender ordered the Jasmine Tea.

I ordered Oolong Tea.

FinanceGirl ordered the Earl Grey Tea.

The teas taste like normal teas, so there not much to explain. Each drink was about $4 or $5. I can’t remember exactly. You could probably get it for way cheaper if you were just at home.

Another review will be put up soon about their desserts.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Free Parking in back (usually full)
  • Large variety of sweet and chinese tea

We rate Leisure Cafe:

Address:

1110-8391 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC

Leisure Tea & Coffee on Urbanspoon

Cattle Cafe may sound familiar if you have been to Cattle Hot Pot in Richmond on Alexandra Road. Same company, different style of food.

Cattle Cafe is a Hk style cafe serving up delicious meal…and are famous for their noodles.

They are usually packed during peak hours, they have limited seating, so big groups may have to wait.

Tea comes in this cute cup.

I ordered a cold milk tea ($2.50) to be simple. It tasted fine as usual.

M ordered the Banana Chocolate Milkshake ($4.95). You can really taste the banana and chocolate in it. It was good.

M got the Curry Deep Fried Pork Chop on Rice ($8.75). Comes with 2 pieces of pork chop, rice, curry sauce and a few bits of vegetables. he liked it.

I ordered the Unagi (eel) sandwich with fries ($5.75).The presentation looked normal for an HK Cafe. What puzzeled me was how could they offere an unagi sandwich for only $5. So, I opened up the sandwich and the eel does not cover 1/3 of the sandwich. I was sad because always like eating every bite with all the ingredients…especially the part with protein.

It is quite obvious their unagi was frozen and just heated up…the fries probably were too. But, this is a cafe, so we can’t expect everything to be fresh or else prices would be higher.

The overall tast was fine. Simple sandwich and it had taste.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Parking Underground, street parking
  • Decently priced food
  • Noodles are their specialty and items on rice.
  • Limited seating, best to come in 2 or 4

We Rate Cattle Cafe:

Address:

4885 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC
Cattle Cafe (Burnaby) on Urbanspoon

M and I couldn’t decide where to go to for a quick late lunch. He had an idea and wouldn’t tell me…I thought it would be an exciting place…but it turns out it was just Knight & Day. Sad date, but I didn’t mind because I haven’t been here since 2005.

Knight and Day serves a variety of different food items from breakfast to greek to burgers to pasta.  They are open 24 hours, so you can be a kid again and have breakfast for dinner. Muhahaha….

The interior is quite dated and have booth style seatings. Nothing has really changed in many years. The waitresses are really nice.

I good the green tea. Nothing fancy, just a tea bag in a pot.

M got the Truckers Breakfast Platter ($10.79). It has three eggs, two strips of bacon, two sausage links, three buttermilk pancakes and pan fries with thick-cut toast. M loved it because it has so much meat and made fairly well compared to places like Denny’s. ( Denny’s is good too).

They also give you ketchup for your eggs and hash. You get a selection of 4 types of jam for your toast. Lastly, syrup for your pancakes.

I was not really hungry, so instead of getting a calamari dinner, I got the Klassic Kalamari appetizer ($8.99). It has their marinated kalamari rings served with tzatziki, fresh pita bread and lemon. The size of the kalamari rings were massive. It looked like onion rings rather than kalamari. These were pretty average. I was pretty full eating the kalamari that I didn’t even bother eating the pita bread.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Lots of parking outside
  • Open 24 hours

We rate Knight & Day:

Website: http://www.knightandday.com/

Address:

3684 Lougheed Hwy
Vancouver, BC
Knight & Day (Boundary) on Urbanspoon

Since M, InsecureGirl, FragileBoy and I wanted to get some Bubble tea and quick snacks… we decided to go to No 1 Beef Noodle House.

As usual, we always get the Salt and Peppery Chicken. This time we asked for spicy sauce to go along with it. It makes it 10x better (only if you enjoy spicy). We also noticed we got less Salt and Peppery Chicken compared to the last time we came here. Click here to read our past review.

InsecureGirl ordered the Guava Red Tea. I don’t think she really enjoyed it.

FragileBoy ordered the Red Bean Slush.

I ordered the Apple Milk Tea. I had this strange fascination with flavoured Milk Teas after getting some at T&T. It was good and was not overly sweet.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Shanghai Dumplings are a major disappointment
  • Good late night hangout
  • Cash Only
  • Parking is hard to find
  • If you get bored, you can spot all the typos in their menu

We rate No. 1 Beef Noodle House

They are located at:

4741 Willingdon Ave
Burnaby, BC
No. 1 Beef Noodle House on Urbanspoon

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

Bubble Fruity on Urbanspoon

Golden Oscars has been around since as long as I could remember. My parents would always take my sisters here for some lunch on the weekends. Golden Oscars is HK style Cafe serving up dishes from pork cutlet to baked seafood. They have been around for well over  2 decades.

The theme of the restaurant is “The Oscars”. All the walls are decorated with Oscar winning movies.

The interior of the restaurant is very typical for a chinese restaurant. Mostly booth style seating that fits about 4 or 5 people.

I usually order anything from their Set Dinner or Set Lunch Menu. Comes with choice of dish + soup and a hot drink (+$0.50 for cold drinks).

M and I both <3 milk tea, so we both got cold milk tea in our set dinner. They give you your own canister of liquid syrup to adjust the sweetness of your drink. I would not advise pouring it all into your drink because it’ll just become the nastiest thing you have ever tasted. Pour it gradually and taste it till you get the right amount.

Our set menu came with the daily soup which was a cream corn soup.

M ordered the Grilled Chicken Steak and Pork Chop on Rice ($8.99). We order this dish quite often and it never disappoints. You get one chicken steak and pork chop which is still tender and delicious. It is topped off with a gravy and garlic sauce. You also get rice to go with the dish. You get a wee bit of vegetables – corn, carrots, broccoli.

Since I am a big lover of seafood, I decided to get the Prawn with Egg Swirl on Rice ($8.99). This is massive…especially for dinner. It seemed like it was supposed to be shared amongst a few people (But I ate most of it). On the bottom, you have white rice and it is topped with eggs, green onions, and prawns. I’m sure there is more to this dish, but I am not smart enough to know what exactly is in it.

What I like about this is how the ration between sauce and rice were perfect, so you don’t end up with a section of bland rice. Also, the prawns are HUGE. Very big and plump.  If you do decide to get this dish, you probably want to share with someone.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Free parking in parking lot or residential areas
  • Large Portions at decent prices
  • Very busy during peak hours

We rate Golden Oscar Cafe & Restaurant:

Address:

3868 Rupert St
Vancouver, BC

Golden Oscar Cafe & Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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

Man Ri Sung on Urbanspoon