Rating Archives - Page 96 of 99

In Bar and Grill

The Keg (Burnaby)

October 30, 2010

The Keg has always been a favorite place for M and I. Today we were suppose to go to Gothams, but after paying for parking and walking one block to the restaurant, we decided to go back to Burnaby. SO close! Damn the little fights that couples have…. long story short, we ended up at The Keg to celebrate my birthday.

Since we went so late to the Keg, we were seated right away. In the past we would have to wait a while to get a seat. The Keg has the usual items that you think a steak house would have. I always love the combos! More variety means more types of things to eat! Since I love shrimp, I had to get some type of means with shrimp!!

To start the dinner off, M ordered both of us some Brut champagne ($9.95)! We didn’t want a big bottle, so we got 2 of the mini ones. As it was my Champagne Birthday, we had to have it. You only have a champagne birthday once in your life! I enjoyed this champagne but I am not a drink expert so I really can’t tell the difference between champagne of any kind.

They also gave us a basket of bread with whipped butter. For 2 people to share, we could not finish it. We probably had half since we wanted to save room for the steaks!

M has the Peppercorn New York Steak ($28.95). It is a New York striploin with black peppercorns and Keg peppercorn sauce. It comes with baked potato and peas on the side. M has it medium rare and LOVED IT! I had a taste of it and it tasted like peppery goodness. A bit too peppery for my taste, but I guess thats why they call it Peppercorn New York Steak.

I had the Prime Rib and Tiger Shrimp ($28.95). I think I get this every time because I get to have meat and shrimp at the same time. This dish came with 3 sauces – horseradish, gravy and some fruity type of sauce. I loved it. I think im just a sucker for anything that is medium rare. Thinking about it makes me want to eat it again!

I really love the Keg, it has some well priced steaks and the quality is fairly consistant every time we go for food. It is way cheaper than some high end restaurants. Our bill after tax and tip was about $100.

Words of Wisdom:

No reservations, so go early or go late
Slightly hard to drive to, so make sure you are driving from the south

We rate The Keg:

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

In Bar and Grill

Montanas

October 29, 2010

Montana’s is your go to place when you want ALL YOU CAN EAT RIBS on Wednesdays. Imagine pigging out on rack, after rack, after rack…you will feel super stuffed and probably get meat sweats. Sadly, today was Monday so M and I had to settle for some normal steaks and burgers for a very late lunch. When you walk inside, everything is wooden, wooden walls, wooden chairs, wooden pillars, wooden floors,….everything is wooden!! Wood fest.

Look at that all you can eat section of the menu. Makes me scared already (once I had 3.5 racks..for a women thats A LOT)

Looking at the menu, I like visuals so I know what to expect. M was in a meaty mood and I was in a “lunchtime burger” mood.

To start off our meal, we had a coke ($3)…not much to say there. Coke is coke and it came in a cup.

M got the Grilled Rib Eye ($25.99). It came with coleslaw, mashed potatoes and cajun onions. M got his steak medium rare as usual. He thought the cajun onions were good and the steak was well made. In my opinion, for the price of $25.99, you could get a better steak at The Keg…

i had the Chipotle Firecracker Sirloin Burger ($11.99) and it had chipotle honey BBQ sauce topped with bacon, cajun onions, melted colby cheese, and fried jalapenos. The burger was huge! I wouldn’t fit it in my mouth (Thats what she said). It also came with a choice of side salad or fries. It was a decent burger.

This was the damage of the bill, $49 for 2 people on a lunch, thats a bit steep. i blame M’s Rib Eye.

Words of Wisdom:

If you go for all you can eat ribs, the service is slow so you may not get your $$ worth. Order multiple racks at a time
Burgers are decent, can go wrong with that

I enjoy Montanas for a good lunch, but they are not the best at steaks or ribs. If you want better meats, probably should go to The Keg, or Gothams, or where ever else they specialize in meats.

We rate Montanas:

Check out their website: http://www.montanas.ca/

** Sorry to those that have commented previously…I have written this post probably 3 times…and WordPress has been wonky and deleting things**

In South Burnaby

Thai House Royale

October 26, 2010

Thai House Royale has been around for a long time. My parents come here all the time because they have a large variety in their menu and it is not all traditional Thai cuisines. For some dishes they add a Chinese twist to the dish. I am not a big fan of Thai dishes because of their sour characteristics of their dishes. So, usually I have to choose carefully.

Near the entrance of the restaurant, you are greeted with really nice decor, but as you walk deeper into the restaurant, the decor starts to get very depressing. It’s probably because all the tables didn’t have table clothes.

While waiting for our food, my dad suggested ordering Singha, a Thai beer. Apparently he tried it a long long time ago. I was clearly a skeptic of this choice, but nonetheless we got it anyways. The beer was nice and light. It reminded me of Sing Tao…but perhaps even better.

My little sister had the virgin Royal Thai Special. According to the image on the menu, it looks really appealing in the tall glass. When you look at the menu at C and compare it to what came to the table…it doesn’t look so appetizing anymore….looks more like frothy milk. I know you shouldn’t judge by appearances, but you gotta admit…it’s ugly. Yes, it was delicious and my sister orders it every time we go to Thai House.

The skewers are really good. We ordered 3 kinds – beef ($8.95), lamb ($8.95), and ostrich ($9.95). Yes, somehow they have ostrich meat. Satay Skewers seems like this is our family’s favorite dish because we order it every single time. Each order comes with 4 skewers and you can also do half orders as well.

All the skewers come with this curry type of sauce. Rule of thumb, don’t eat the carrot rose because you never know if they reuse it for other people’s dishes.

We ordered the curry crab, it doesn’t have a specified price to it, but when we went, it was about $33 per crab. They do it by piece rather than pound. It is best to order rice with this dish since the sauce is really really good!! Remember to ask for lots of napkins because your fingers will be really saucy! they do give you wet napkins as well.

Pinapple fried rice ($13.50) was alright, it wasn’t amazing. Compared to Tropkia’s pineapple fried rice, this does not even compare. Don’t get me wrong, this is a popular dish! 3 other tables around us had the same thing too. Inside this fried rice, there were fresh pineapples, peanuts, raisins, pork floss, egg, and chicken.

Chicken Curry ($14.95) was not my favorite dish. It had the strong sour characteristics of Thai food. I don’t think the rest of my family liked it either. We packed it to go and tweaked the flavours at home.

I have a feeling that I should stop going to Thai places if I don’t like their types of food. I’ve been here about 5 times, so there must be something the restaurant is doing right.

Words of Wisdom:

Tons of FREE parking in the parkade near Save On Foods
Good for large groups (Make reservations if its a large group)
Depending on the dish, it can be pricey
Satay Skewers are delicious

We rate Thai House:

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

In Mexican

Chronic Tacos

October 26, 2010

Chronic Tacos popped up a few months ago on Broadway near Cambie. Passing by very often, I always glance at it while waiting for a red light. You really can’t help but stare at the logo because the red and black star give it a grunge look to it. While I was in the area, I decided to try what they had to offer. Plus, tacos are really generally just a cool type of food.

From the outside, you wouldn’t image such modern/bar decor inside. I was surprised. They have lots of seating, so it’s no problem finding a seat.

In order for you to order some delicious tacos, walk to the back of the restaurant and you will see this ordering station. I can tell you right now, I had no idea what I was ordering. I didn’t know where to look to make a decision. In the end, I had to ask the staff what they recommended. They are really nice and loves to crack jokes with customers.

I really wanted to try all the best that they had to offer, so I got the Carnitas Taco, Shrimp Taco, chips, salsa and a drink. This was based 100% off the recommendations of the staff. I was not disappointed.

Looking at the beer battered shrimp, I love shrimp but I am not keen on it being fried. Surprisingly, this was SO GOOD! The staff recommended adding a cajun sauce to it with cabbage. I would get this again! It was like fish & chips…but in this case shrimp and chips. Super unique!

The next taco was the carnitas taco, or in plain english it is pulled pork taco. You can whatever toppings you want on it. Imagine Subway, but 1000% more fresh, real and not processed. I wish I had a better close up shot of this, but I accidentally deleted it.

If you like an extra kick…or several kicks into your taco, they have so many choices of hot sauce. I didn’t try it because I get weirded out by almost empty bottles.They have salt in Corona bottles, but I just found that weird.

I am so glad there were no side of fries. Why have a side of fries when you can have tortilla chips and salsa. The chips were well made, but i felt the salsa could have been better. It was very wet and it could have tasted more fresh.

Words of Wisdom:

Cheap! You can get a decent combo for about $11 or less
Unique flavors… must try beer battered shrimp!
Staff are all super friendly and always helpful

I really enjoyed Chronic Tacos. I felt a bit weird eating all lone, but the staff were really helpful to choose a good meal. Even when I was sitting alone, they asked me how my meal was and we chatted a bit about the business. These tacos are not huge, you could probably eat it in 4 or 5 bites. I was super full with 2 tacos!

We rate Chronic Tacos:

Check out their website: http://www.chronictacos.ca/

In Brunch

Locus

October 23, 2010

After hearing Locus is a sweet place to have brunch, CanuckGirl and I went to check out Locus. InsecureGirl recommended to check this out too. Apparently, BaguetteGirl’s sister works here too.

The interior was quite neat too, they had these fake trees coming in and out of the walls. If you have been to a Kettle of Fish, this can never beat their REAL tree.

They seated us and gave us the specials and the regular menu. Even though the specials were very tempting, our goal was to try out the brunch! Egg Bennys all the way!

Bread arrived at our table and there were 2 kinds of bread. I think one was sour dough and the other one was raisin bread and it came with a nice sweet cinnamon spread.

I got the latte, as usual. Lattes are my friend! This latter required a bit of mix to get started.

CanuckGirl ordered the traditional benny ($12), it contained smoked ham, tomato, poached egg and hollandaise sauce. It also comes with a side salad and potatoes.

I got the Seafood Benny ($13), it had scallop and prawn cake, tomato, dill, lemon zest, pepper and hollandaise sauce. Yet again, there was the side salad and potatoes. I’ve never had a eggs benny with a seafood cake. It was ok, but not super great.

Locus has various sauces that you can use on your food to add an extra KICK to your meal. There’s habanero sauce, Tabasco, HP and of course ketchup! I tried using the habanero sauce on my potatoes since it seemed cool at the time cause it was green.

Words of Wisdom

Do not consume too much hot sauce because eventually it comes out the other end
Eat the bread! It’s fantastic
Not a lot of street parking, so best to try to find some place in the residential area a few blocks down and they won’t have residence only signs

Overall, I did enjoy Locus, they had very good service. The brunch did live up to expectations and I think CanuckGirl and I will be back for more brunch!

We rate Locus:

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

In Food Carts

PanDa Fresh Bakery

October 23, 2010

PanDa Fresh Bakery, is one of the new street carts that have opened up downtown. What makes this street cart super unique is that it’s on a bus! They specialize in croissants. Who doesn’t love croissants?

One day, I was driving on Pacific Blvd. and spotted PanDa Fresh Bakery! I was so excited that I had to tell M to stop the car and make a very sharp turn to turn on the street where PanDa Fresh Bakery is located. I am sure I was so excited that it really scared him. I’ve spent months wanting to try PanDa Fresh Bakery, but never had the time to pass by. Today was the day where I would be able to try the croissants that people were raving about!

Looking at their menu, I have never ever seen such unique croissants! They have savory croissants, dessert croissants and ICE CREAM croissants! I wanted to try everything! I felt like a kid in a candy store, but in this case, I suppose it looked like 2 grown-ups staring at a bus.

This is the window where you can order your croissants. They even have a little panda there. Reminds me of a toy I got at Ocean Park in Hong Kong. Don’t forget to keep your stamps!

After looking at the menu, I got the LAST Mac & Cheese ($6) of the day! You would think these 2 combinations would not work out very well, but it was AMAZING! I would highly recommend this to everyone. M loved it so much that he ate about 60% of it. I was a bit bitter about it because I wanted more.

M had the Turkey Dinner ($6), which had cranberry sauce, slice of turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. We were both not keen on the cranberry because even though it is a Thanksgiving tradition, it was a bit drippy and sour. I thought the stuffing was really good. I could just sit at a table all day and eat the mashed potatoes. I wonder what his secret is…

On to dessert! I had the Cheese Cake Croissant ($4). In the first picture, it does look like a stick of butter. I’m sure Paula Deen would LOVE a Croissant filled with butter. Anyways, the Cheesecake croissant has a slice of New York cheese cake and then a lady finger. At first it seemed weird how there was the lady finger in the croissant but it added a very nice crunchy texture to it. The cheese cake was not overly sweet.

M had the Banana Chocolate Croissant ($4), it had a banana cut in half and melted chocolate. He enjoyed it and I was happy he chose something that had fruit for once.

They also had a message board on their bus… so in my sneaky fashion, i stuck the business card on the board while his back was turned. Yeah! I’m a ninja.

Words of wisdom:

Arrive early to avoid disappointment
Keep track of new batches or flavours on their twitter
Mac and Cheese is a must!

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the meal. It was the perfect size so I was not hungry or super stuffed. What I admire most about this street cart is their unique idea and imagination when it comes to making the fillings for the croissants. They made me think that a croissant could be so much more than just a very oily piece of bread. Kudos to Panda Fresh Bakery!

We rate Panda Fresh Bakery:

Find them on Pacific and Drake in Yaletown

In Japanese

Oyama Sushi

October 22, 2010

Oyama Sushi is located on Kingsway in a large house near Metrotown. Inside Oyama, there have really cool interior decor such as paintings and this water fall wall. I got really confused walking to the washroom because there were so many walls. After listening to the waitresses chit chat, we determined this restaurant is Korean owned. I find it interesting how most sushi places are owned by Koreans.

After looking at the menu, we decided to have the party tray “D” ($49.99), which contains assorted sashimi, assorted sushi, california roll, alaska roll, and chopped scallop roll.

The sashimi and nigiri were good and they had a large selection with the combo. What we really didn’t like were the rolls. They fell apart easily and had way too much rice. For the price of $49.99, it was not worth it.

In addition to the combo, we added spicy tuna sashimi. Similar to most places, it has the korean hot sauce mixed with sugar.

We also had a large warm sake and a large bottle of Asahi.

Words of Wisdom:

Nigiri is not worth it, too much rice

Overall, I thought Oyama Sushi was pretty average compared to most sushi places. For the price you pay, you might as well go to better places in Burnaby like Sushi Garden, Sushi Town and California Sushi. They didn’t have any distinguishable dishes on their menu.

We rate Oyama Sushi:

Oyama Sushi is located at:

Burnaby South
5152 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC V5H

In North Burnaby

100 Days

October 21, 2010

After hearing much news about this unique restaurant called 100 Days, I had to try it out. When do you usually see food and art mixed together? When you reach the door, you know this is going to be a super cool funky place. Apparently, this place is ONLY open for 100 days and then it’s gone! Also, the artist – Vince Dumoulin comes in once in a while to add some more art pieces to the wall.

There are so many unique paintings on the walls and a really cool TV that plays popular internet clips! M and I were so zoned out because the clips were mesmerizing. This left poor InsecureGirl and FragileBoy trying to snap us out of our trance.

We started off with a few drinks because our table was not ready yet. I got the 100 Days ($7), which reminded me of a sangria. I don’t remember what was in it, but it was really good.

InsecureGirl had the Tequila Sunrise, I assume it has tequila and orange Juice

Looking at the menu, there were many choice to choose from. Their menu is also located on several of the chalk walls. Click on the image to enlarge.

We started off with the Whole Fried Mozzarella for Two ($19). It was really nice and gooey and the fried coating really gave it a lot of texture. The green sauce is basil and the red sauce is a tomato fondue. It was pricey!!

Prosciutto Brushetta ($8) had thinly slice prosciutto , cheese, basil puree and herb oil. I enjoyed it.

Calamari & Popcorn Shrimp ($14) came in a neat asian take out box. Comes with salt and pepper AIoli sauce and a grilled lime. I’m not exactly sure what the lime was for. The breading for the calamari felt like it fell apart easily. Also, the bottom of the container has shrimp crackers, so it is not really full at the botom.

Crispy Boar Bacon Grill Cheese Sandwich ($15) had emmental cheese, wild boar bacon, mornay cheese sauce and truffles. It also came with a salad on the side. This grilled cheese did not impress me at all. The bread could have been more sturdy and solid. The boar bacon was very tough to chew on. When I took a bite, it would drag the whole piece of bacon out.

The Lobster and Dungeness Crab Mac and Cheese ($22) was really nice. It was not just flavoured crab, it had real chunks of crab in it. The lobster bisque that gets poured on top of the mac and cheese was very flavourful. Overall, nice twist on the traditional Mac and Cheese.

Braised Lamb pappardelle pasta ($19) had the most amazing braised lamb! Kinda reminded me of asian stir fry noodles.

After eating all of that, our bill came to $189. We were totally broke after we came here. I wouldn’t say we regret it or anything like that. It was like eating in an art gallery. If you eat here, you are essentially paying for the atmosphere. I would come in again and probably just have a few drinks and appies.

Words of Wisdom:

Go! They won’t be here for very long
Someone at your table must have the Mac and Cheese!
Art in there is just amazing.

If you are an art lover…and food lover. Come check out 100 Days at Opus Hotel. With only 100 days to check them out, don’t forget to catch it before it’s gone. It’s quite expensive, so remember to choose wisely.

We rate 100 Days:

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

In Bar and Grill

Milestones: Girls’ Night Out

October 20, 2010

Girls’ Night Out @ Milestones

4 bellinis and 4 appetizers went for $40(before taxes) at Milestones on Robson. A great night with four of my best-ests however, was priceless. After hearing about the Girls’ Night Out deal at Milestones, we’ve been dying to get together and try this out. That night, I went with CreepyGirl, SkullsAndStuds, and EndlessLegs.

The night started off with bellinis and who can complain about a good bellini? I have to admit that I don’t drink very much, and didn’t remember about brain freeze… so, remember folks, sipping too quickly on your frosty drink will leave you with a case of bad brain freeze!

While the Girls’ Night Out menu had 6 items (2 of them being salads), CreepyGirl decided for us that salad wasn’t food. She seemed really insistent on it and even exclaimed at one point, “No salad! SkullsAndStuds, you aren’t going to ruin this for the rest of us!” We ended up getting the Milestones’ Famous Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Yam Frites, Baked Goat Cheese & Slow Roasted Garlic Flatbread Plate, and the Crispy Honey Phyllo Shrimp.

The artichoke dip also came with sour cream and salsa on the side and I had no complaints about it. I find that sometimes at other places, the dip cools off too quickly and the cheese makes it too thick, but in this case, it was quite consistent and was good to the end.

The Yam Frites I thought were average. They came with Chipotle sauce, which is typically standard with yam frites.

I don’t know my cheeses very well yet, but the goat cheese that came with this dish was awesome! It came baked, so it was easily spreadable. Don’t leave the cheese untouched for too long though because it starts getting harder to work with and clumpy. It also came with spiced cranberry relish, and fig jam. I found that the fig jam was a bit on the sweet side but still good.

Yum! Hello deep-fried morsels! The shrimp were perfectly fried and as you bit through the crunchy outer parts, it was moist and had the perfect bounce on your teeth. Yes! I’m describing it as having a good bounce. It wasn’t over cooked and tasted really fresh. The honey chipotle glaze was a bit too sweet for our liking though. We sort of hoped that it would have a bit more kick to it.

Overall, I thought that the food was solid. It didn’t blow me away, but for $40, I thought that it was a good deal. More importantly, what mattered most to me was the time spent with the people around the table. =)

Here’s to a good night! Guess what we did after dinner? We went shoe shopping.

We rate Milestones:

In Cafe

Marulilu Cafe

October 19, 2010

Cafe Marulilu has been on my wish list of places to go after WorkingGirl kept pushing me to try it out. One day after work, DJSpock and I spotted the Cafe just across the street from the Town Hall Skytrain on Broadway and Cambie. It was this small tiny white restaurant beside these 2 large stores. If you can read japanese, you can tell a letter fell off the sign. It reads “maru__lu . Cafe”. Took me a while to figure out why there was a weird spacing until I actually read it. Overall, it is super cute and it is japanese owned as well!

Looking at their vast menu on cool chalk boards, there were so many things to choose from. They have sandwiches and wraps, ALL DAY BREAKFAST, dessert and different types of dons.

And then there were more menus. No pressure walking inside to see the menu when it’s right outside! I think I counted that hey had 9 chalk board menus. Click on the photos to see large images because I doubt your eyes will be able to see the items and prices.

Of course there has to be a drink menu too! COFFEE!!!!

After DJSpock and I spent a while looking at the various menus, we came to a decision on Corn Soup, Tuna Melt Sandwich, latte and Japanese style breakfast.

DJSpock had a side of soup ($2.25) and the Tuna Melt sandwich ($5.99), which was highly recommended by the cashier. DJSpock said the Tuna Melt was fantastic! It was not a “lazy” tuna melt, you could see there was nice fresh tuna inside mixed with a bunch of spices and ingredients. The daily soup was a type of corn soup, she liked it but felt it went cold fast.

I got the Japanese style breakfast ($6.99), it is apparently one of the best selling items at the cafe. It comes with a bowl of rice, miso soup, Japanese Natto beans, green onion, cheesy egg, and grilled salmon. It is very unique and I was glad I tried it. I never usually have rice for breakfast, so it was a new experience. The salmon was a bit dry and it went cold pretty quickly as well, maybe I was talking too much. This dish was simple but very healthy!

The Japanese Natto beans, is probably equivalent to Chinese people are their Durian. These natto beans can be loved or hated! It has a very slimy texture and it tastes like coffee. When you put a few in your mouth, it leaves like a spider web- like string from the bowl to your mouth. By the time I finished it, I felt like i had a beard. My japanese teacher once told me, this is very healthy for you.

To finish the meal off, I had the latte ($3.05)! It was a good latte and came on a very cute cup. The lovely owner was very very very cute and gave us 2 cookies! I had the double chocolate chip! Mmmm Yum yum!

Words of Wisdom:

Great atmosphere to get a cup of coffee or tea to chat
Japanese Breakfast and breakfast plate are the 2 most popular item on the menu
Breakfast served ALL DAY
Cheap
Japanese style sandwiches and don’s

If you are craving for breakfast and don’t want the traditional eggs, bacon, sausages, and hashbrowns…try Marulilu Cafe for a different kind of breakfast – Japanese breakfast! Their prices are fairly cheap and you get to sit in a very nice and intimate atmosphere.

We rate Marulilu Cafe:

Marulilu Cafe is located at:

Mount Pleasant/Main Street
451 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC V5Y

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Fujiya

October 11, 2010

Fujiya is a japanese grocery store located on Clark. This little store is basically in the middle of nowhere but they have different types of Japanese cooking ingredients, sushi, bento boxes, and snacks in the store.

When you walk in theres so many things to take a look at aisles and aisles of yummy food.

Looking at the back of the store, they have tons of sushi and bento boxes! They are ready to go and really cheap and delicious. For about $5 per box, thats not bad at all.

If you are a big fan of tataki, they have tuna tataki! For just $5,its a steal!

They also have fresh seafood for sale!

They also have really nice marbled beef.

They have everything from dashi, bonito, and loads of green tea!

You can’t get anymore Japanese than Natto beans….Chinese people have their Durian and Japanese have their Natto beans.

Noodles! I love noodles! They had TONS of noodles!!!

Fujiya also had a bunch of sauces and dressings.

They have a variety of foreign chips!

SO MANY MORE AWESOME ITEMS!

Words of Wisdom:

Sushi and bento boxes are cheap! ~$5
They have almost every Japanese items you many need
Some snacks are over priced

Looking for the Japanese Superstore filled with Japanese foods? Go to Fujiya and you will just die of excitement!

We rate Fujiya:

Check out their website: www.fujiya.ca

In Cafe

Cafe Artigiano

October 11, 2010

Cafe Artigiano is a great place in North Burnaby to just chill and have a coffee. You can even steal wireless from Safeway, which is across the street. With so many seats, you could even have a mini study session.

Besides having coffee and drinks, Cafe Artigiano offers a variety of backed goods and sandwiches.

Looking at the menu, we decided on a Happy Planet, san pellegrino and a Mocha Misto.

My little sister and I were not in the coffee and tea mood so we chose these instead.

As for the older sister, she got the Mocha Misto…it’s essentially a mocha but with more steamed milk.

You can also customize your drink after you get them by adding syrup and spices to your drink.

if you are in North Burnaby near Hastings and Willingdon, take a break and have a drink at Cafe Artigiano. They do latte art on al their drinks. I’ve been here several times and their coffees and tea are great!

We rate Cafe Artigiano:

Check out their website: www.caffeartigiano.com

In Chinese

Prince Chinese Seafood

October 9, 2010

After watching the SFU Business Convocation Ceremony, it was off to the Prince Chinese Seafood for some Dim Sum with parents and grandfather.

I always get nervous going to this place because there is never parking available. Luckly, today I found a spot in the back.

For a Thursday afternoon, this place was super packed! I had to weave through a whole bunch of tables before I got to my table.

As usual, I left the ordering of the items to the parents and requested some tofu curd and shrimp dumplings.

Deep Fried Tofu in Peppery Salt ($4.95) is the best fried tofu I have ever had. It was fried really nicely and the inside was soft. The peppery salt with Jalapenos added an extra kick to the dish.

Pan Fried Leather Jacket in Maggie Sauce ($6.75) blew all our minds. Along with the nice crunchy flavour of the fish, the sweet soy sauce work really well with the dish. My dad loved it so much he ate half the plate.

Steamed Spareribs in garlic sauce ($3.75) did not impress me very much. it was quite boring and the garlic sauce wasn’t strong at all.

Steamed Eel with Black bean Sauce ($4.25) was the strangest dish I have ever had. I don’t think I enjoyed the texture of the eel. It tasted like eating fat.

Rice Rolls with beef and chinese parsley ($3.95), it was not as good as other chinese restaurants.

Steamed Beef Tripe with 5 spices ($3.75), I usually avoid this dish because i chew it so much it starts to taste like chemicals. Surprisingly, I just ate it for fun and I didn’t have the same experience with this dish. The 5 spices worked well!

Steamed prawns with spinach dumpling ($3.95), this was just average, nothing special. I expected something different

Stuffed Bean curd in superior broths ($3.75) was my favorite dish. I just really love bean curd in sauce.

After we ate all that food, we waited for our last dish to come but for the longest time it didn’t, so we asked one of the managers to check up on it and she told us it takes 30 minutes to prepare steamed rice with spareribs and chicken. She said it would be coming out shortly. We waited and waited but nothing came. So we asked one of the other waiters to check up on the order but apparently it was never inputted in the machine in the first place. At that point we were just pissed off cause they made us wait for food that was never coming. During the time we waited, another table ordered and finished their meal. Thats pretty bad service that they gave us.

I’ve had decent experiences here before, but this time it was just very bad.

Words of Wisdom

No pushing carts, so you can’t really see what you are ordering. Perhaps look up pictures of food they have before ordering if you do not know chinese food very well
Service is pretty bad, so be prepare to be flagging down servers
Best to arrive around 10am or 10:30am for a good spot without waiting too long in line

The Prince Chinese Seafood has a lot of good sides and bad sides to them. I found that a lot of the food was a hit or a miss. Some items can be quite bland while other dishes are AMAZING.

We rate Prince Chinese Seafood:

They are located at:

2881 Grandview Hwy
Vancouver, BC V5M

In Chinese

Poke’m

October 8, 2010

Poke’m Food Cart is spelled like Pokemon but with no “o” or “n”. Without all the hotdog carts in Downtown Vancouver, it’s time to forget sausages and go for the balls!

Poke’m has a very vibrant green cart on the corner of Robson and Hornby street. Serving up all types of balls, one would surely be amazed by their exotic sauces.

Drinks!

I got the combo ($7) so I chose the cuttlefish balls with Japanese sauce and chicken balls with Korean sauce.

I really didn’t like the Korean sauce because it had pork floss and it’s more Chinese than Korean. If they wanted it to be more Korean, they would have had Kimchi sauce or some type of Kimchi in it.

Overall, it is a smart concept to have a ball place but you can make it at home for way way cheaper! For $7 for 8 pieces of balls…. That’s almost $1 per ball!

We rate Poke’m:

In Chinese

Copa Cafe

October 8, 2010

Copa Café has several locations in Vancouver. I love Chinese café food, and I could probably eat it everyday if given the chance.

Wandering to the Best Buy on Cambie, M and I really wanted some good food. Using my trusty UrbanSpoon App on my Iphone, I searched up Copa Café on South Cambie.

What is great about this location is that there is parking at the back of the restaurant! No worries about parallel parking or paying for meters! Who doesn’t love FREE parking?

As we walked in from the back entrance, M was very creeped out because the back of the restaurant never looks good. AS we walked into the restaurant we were surprised about the interior it was really nice and modern!

Looking at the menu, there were so many choices for lunch! There were SO many…just look at the pictures… pretty decent price too.

After looking over the menu over …and over and over again…M decided to get the baked pork chop on rice ($7.95) and a jumbo coffee/tea mix (ying yeung)(+$1.50). M liked the baked pork chop because the pork cutlet had no bone and was already cut! Inside there were also mushrooms incorporated into this dish, which he thought it was unique because other places don’t include mushrooms. Clearly, he has had a lot of baked pork chops in his lifetime. The jumbo ying yeung was HUGE! If you look at the image, it towers over the little cup of tea.

I got the BBQ duck in noodle soup ($7.95). I was really craving meat and BBQ duck is to DIE FOR. They put in some good duck parts into the dish. I wish I asked for some hot sauce to go along with this because the noodles were a bit bland. The vegetables in the dish was really fresh and perfectly cooked. I also followed M and got the jumbo coffee/tea mix.

Head over to Copa Cafe if you are looking for Hong Kong style cafe food. Most items are under $10 for a lunch set meal.

We rate Copa Cafe:

Visit Copa Cafe at:

South Cambie Street
4030 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC V5Z

In SFU

Donair Town

October 6, 2010

As a student, there are not many good places to eat on campus. Donair Town is considered one of the better places to eat. Something about their taste of donairs and platters make my taste buds salivate.

For lunch, JojoCake and I went to Donair Town after our class to grab a bite during our 3 hour break. Since we are not carnivorous beasts, we chose to have the Mini Platter.

The mini platter consists of rice, a green salad with cucumber and tomatoes, and chicken meat. You can customize it with different sauces you want on top such as garlic sauce, tzatziki, or hot sauce.

Of course there are way more items on the menu than just platters. They have donairs, falafaels, and platters. You can choose from Beef, Chicken or lamb as your meat.

As for the service, I find that they hire a lot of international students so their English is not great. I remember seeing one girl in front of me in the line and she wanted to add an extra topping to her donair and well, they both confused each other a lot.

Words of advice:

Morning does not mean fresh, sometimes their tomatoes look a bit soggy because they have been left overnight

Overall, the food is decent, but it can be a bit expensive. About $6 for a mini platter, $9 for a full platter and $5/6 for a falafel or donair. If you want a quick bite and you don’t want to wait in line for Tim Hortons, go here instead.

We rate DonairTown:

They are located at SFU Burnaby Campus.

In Downtown

Bonchaz Bakery Cafe

October 4, 2010

Going to school right beside BonChaz, it was obvious I had to try it out! Going to school at 8:30am and then going to work right after makes DesignGirl a very grumpy girl. To kick off a long day, I went off to BonChaz to try a few treats.

They are open pretty early, so I was really happy!! Walking in, it was obviously empty, but there were a lot of people popping in to grab a bun and hopping on the bus. I sat there for a while going on the internet and just chilling because they have free wifi.

Their menu is pretty small.

To start my day, I had a London Fog ($2.95) (Early Grey Tea Latte) and an Original BonChaz ($1.25)(Sea Salt and Butter). At first I didn’t know there was a filling to the BonChaz until I was wondering why there was a salty butter taste to it. Then I looked up at the menu and figured it out.

The next day, I took M after his class to grab a Chocolate Truffle BonChaz. ($1.75) He said it was very good and not too sweet but satisfied his sweet tooth. It came fresh from the over so it looked very pretty.

If you need to take it to go, you can find instructions to reheat AND where the origins of Bonchaz came from.

I have tried 3/5 flavours, Original, Chocolate and Green Tea. I think my favorite is the Chocolate Truffle!

BonChaz is a nice little cafe to do a bit of work and have a snack. They have pastries, sandwiches, tarts, soups, coffee, and tea. I don’t think you can find such pastries anywhere else.

We rate BonChaz:

Check out their Facebook page: http://www.bonchaz.ca/

In Chinese

Fortune House Seafood

October 3, 2010

Fortune House Seafood restaurant always has long line-ups during the weekends during the afternoon. Even if you have a reservation, you have to wait a bit. I guess this is typical of popular dim sum locations.

The interior décor is really nice but it can get a bit noisy with all the people in the restaurant. Flagging down servers is a bit hard too, so most of the time we had to refill our own teapots since we sat right by the area where they keep the hot water.

The setting was ok, but just make sure all your items are clean. Sometimes they are not.

Steamed shrimp and pea tip dumplings were good since I really love shrimp.

Chilled mango pudding is the cutest dish! it comes in a shape of a fish. Even though it looks good, the taste was just alright.

Chilled sweetened black sesame flour rolls brings me back to the days when me and my sister would call them “film” because it resembled film rolls your put in the camera. The days before digital cameras. One thing we really didn’t like from this was that when you unravel the film, it was a bit thick.

Egg tarts were every flakey, you can tell they used a lot of butter.

Steamed Prawn Rice Rolls. Hey it’s shrimp again! Yummy! The beef rice roll is pretty good too.

Steamed BBQ pork Buns

Steamed pork, shrimp and mushroom dumping also known as Sui Mai. I didn’t like this one compared to other places because it seemed very oily.

Steamed Chinese doughnut rice rolls are always my favorite! it comes with peanut sauce and Sweet Soy Sauce.

BBQ Pork Pinapple Buns are always so cool to eat. It looks like a normal pineapple bun but hidden inside is pork.

Radish cake

Steamed cake (Ma lai go)

Sticky Rice

Pot Noodle of Yong Chow ( I think…at least thats what my mother tells me). This dish was unique, I like the texture of the noodles.

Stir Fry Beef Rice Noodle. It was good but i felt the slices of beef were very uneven. I got this HUGE piece and my sister got a small piece.

Overall, 12 of us were satisfied with the meal. I am not exactly sure how much each item is or what the total bill came out to be because as asians we like to fight over the bill. I know for sure it was more than $100. From past experience it was about 5 or 7 per dish depending if they count it as a small dim sum dish, or Medium or large. It usually says it on the menu.

Words of Wisdom:

Make reservations if going for Dim Sum
If you can’t read Chinese, there is an english menu
Lots of parking, closest parking is to park near Urban Behaviour/Zara area.

Fortune House Seafood is a very popular Dim Sum restaurant to go to but it can get really really busy. Make reservations ahead of time.

The price is a bit expensive compared to other chinese restaurants in Vancouver. I think it’s really popular due to the location since it is in Metrotown.

We rate Fortune Seafood House: