Three Beakers Archives - Page 61 of 63

In Dessert

Sweet Revenge

December 4, 2010

Sweet Revenge is always the place to be when you want to be transported into a victorian setting. At Sweet Revenge you will be spoiled by the different types of desserts and beverages.

This place is pretty dark from the outside, so I always manage to accidentally walk past without noticing.

Once you walk inside, you know what type of Victorian setting I am talking about. It is covered in ornate paintings, red walls, fireplace and lighting. It is a very small space, so big groups are a no no unless you can get a reservation.

MedicalGiraffe and I shared a Medium London Fog ( Earl Grey Tea and Vanilla Syrup). You can customize your London Fog with any type of tea and syrup they have. We thought it would be best to stick with the original London Fog.

You get to enjoy their teas in nice little cup and saucers.

I got the apple pie ($6.35). It can be served hot or cold. On the side you will also get sliced strawberries and whipped cream. I really didn’t like the apple pie. It was a bit sweet and didn’t taste as good as it should of. Perhaps more cinnamon? I usually can finish a whole dessert but I left about 1/4 of it.

MedicalGiraffe has the chocolat pudding cake ($6.35). This I believe is the best thing on the menu. It was rich and chocolaty, but not too too sweet. Perfect!

We also added sides of ice cream with our desserts. I think it was either $1.00 or $1.50 more. I don’t think it was worth getting a side of ice cream, but it really depends which dessert you get. We thought sometimes it was good to have a taste of ice cream to break the constant taste of the cakes.

Words of Wisdom:

Best for small groups
Chocolate Pudding Cake is a must
Parking is hard to find
A lot of the dessert choices are a hit or miss

We rate Sweet Revenge:

Website: http://www.sweet-revenge.ca/

They are located at:

4160 Main Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada

In Chinese

No. 1 Beef Noodle House

November 27, 2010

No. 1 Beef Noodle House is located near Moscrop Secondary School. I really love going to this place with friends for some snacks or late night chit chat/ gossip sessions. Once, we actually spent about 4 hours there just eating and chatting.

On another late night after school, M, InsecureGIrl and I went to No. 1 Beef Noodle House for a quick bite.

There are lots of seats here. Most of the time I have no problem getting a seat. On the other hand…parking is a different story…it’s very hard to get a parking spot during peak hours. You may have to park a few blocks away.

I started off with the Salt and Peppery Chicken. It was nice and crunchy and well seasoned.

M was in a meaty mode and had the taiwanese sausage. It was basically BBQ Pork sausage. You can get this at any asian butcher shop. Yummy…….

M then had the Curry. It came with 2 sides. He said the curry was well made and spicy. I can’t remember what type of curry he had but it looks like salt and peppery chicken covered in curry.

InsucureGirl and I both chose the Wonton soup. I was not particularly really super hungry, so this was a good option. I have had this about 6 times now. I know, it’s a lot but i really enjoy it. The broth is really good and the added vegetables and seaweed is a plus. The wontons were pretty average and could have been a bit better.

Words of Wisdom:

Good late night hangout
Cash Only
Parking is hard to find
If you get bored, you can spot all the typos in the menu

We rate No. 1 Beef Noodle House:

They are located at:

4741 Willingdon Ave
Burnaby, BC

In Japanese

Hapa Izakaya (Kitsilano)

November 26, 2010

Hapa Izakaya in Kitsilano is a great late night place to go for tapas. M, FragileBoy, InsecureGirl and I wanted something light and not too heavy to end the day. After contemplating many choices, we chose Hapa on Kits!

The interior is really intimate with candles and it’s dark appearance. As the rumour goes, yes, Hapa has some pretty girl servers. To think about it…I don’t think I saw any waiters…only waitresses. Imagine going on a date and the guy keeps staring at the waitresses…that wouldn’t be cool.

There were a lot of menu’s on our table. I guess they have a lot of specials and seasonal dishes.

When asked what we wanted to start off with, we asked if they had Asahi Black ($6.50). Indeed they did! So we ordered 4.

We started off with Beef Tataki ($7.95). This was a bit different that what I usually imagine. It had hot sauce on it instead of the usual ponzu sauce. I didn’t particularly like this dish. If you are into hot sauce, you may enjoy this dish.

We next had the Negitoro ($7.95). It is blended toro and onion. It also has i think either ponzu sauce or soy sauce. You would first mix up the ingredients so you get an even coating of sauce when you divide up the dish. This was soooo good! We have to order 2 places cause we all wanted more!

Spicy Scallop Roll ($7.95) was just average. Nothing exceptional about this roll. I could have been more spicy. Inside the roll there was spicy scallops and cucumber. If you call it “spicy”, you gotta make it SPICY!

Next we had the Salmon Risotto croquette ($6.95). It had 5 balls and they contained shitake mushrooms, salmon+ Dashi Risotto and drizzled with mayo. This as surprisingly filling. The risotto didn’t taste like risotto since it was in a different form.

The Wild Prawn Ebi Mayo ($8.95). Tempura prawns with spicy mayo sauce. The prawns were a bit small for my liking. I still believe you can’t beat the ebi mayo at Toratatsu and Guu.

Smoked Gindara ($11.00) smoked sable fish. The sable fish was perfectly done! It was nice, moist and the skin was nice and crunchy.

King Crab Roll ($11.95) I thought was expensive and overrated. You can’t really taste the full flavour of the king crab with all the other ingredients in the way.

We also got the Sashi Mori ($19.95) which is basically assorted sushi. It had 4 pieces of scallops, salmon, tuna, and some other type of fish. The quality was pretty good, but for that price, it was so not worth it.

The damage on the bill was $138.38 for 4 people. Ouch.

Overall, I was satisfied with Hapa Izakaya.

Words of Wisdom:

Negitoro!

We rate Hapa Izakaya:

Check out their website: www.hapaizakaya.com

In Brunch

Nice Cafe

November 23, 2010

Nice Cafe is located near Main in the Mount Pleasant area. They serve up all day breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, entrees, soups, salads and desserts. On a Sunday morning, MercerLady and I went to check out their breakfast. We were originally supposed to go to The Twisted Fork Bistro, but I woke up a bit too late and we were afraid their line up would be long.

Getting into Nice Cafe, it took about a 10 minute wait. We arrived around 10:30am. The interior does look sketchy, but the food surely does not.

I started off with a pot of Red Tea ($1.60). What is very interesting about this table is that is has a lot of holes. When pouring the tea, into the cup…it fell through the table onto the floor. Good thing i didn’t stretch my legs.

MercerLady ordered the all day ($4.60). This included 2 eggs, hash brown, toast, and bacon. In addition, she ordered grilled mushrooms on the side ($0.75). This looked good! I was expecting less than this for the price. I tried a bit of the mushroom and it is the best darn mushroom I have ever had.

I ordered the Florentine Eggs Benny ($6.85) which came with hash browns. For that price, the eggs benny was worth it. Compared to other places like Subeez and Locus, it was not as good. The hash brown was really good.

Word of Wisdom:

Line up early to avoid line ups
All Day Breakfast is the most popular item
Free parking along adjacent streets

We rate Nice Cafe:

They are located at:

Mount Pleasant/Main Street
154 E 8th Ave
Vancouver, BC

In Downtown

Chau Kitchen & Bar

November 22, 2010

I have always seen Chau Kitchen & Bar while passing by Robson. I thought it was probably an expensive Chinese restaurant from the look of the exterior. In reality, it is an inexpensive Pho place! After hearing an earful from TaiwaneseGirl ranting about the cheap food at Chau…she had to take me for a really late lunch. Like many University students, we like to forget to eat until dinner time.

The water came and I was delighted to see my fellow friend cucumber in the cup! Cucumber water tastes really good.

Their menu is simple, but since I didn’t really know what was on the menu.. nor have a favorite vietnamese dish…I had to ask the waitress.

TaiwaneseGirl knew right away what she wanted, she go the Fraser Valley Pho Bo ($ 10). it has rare beef slices, meat balls, and brisket. The soup stock is clear and the ingredients look fresh! Even thought, $10 for a bowl of pho is a few dollars more than the usual places, but you are paying for quality over quantity. The bean sprouts and basil even look really nice.

I got the 17 spice beef short ribs and beef la lot rolls ($10.50) with vermicelli, bean sprouts, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, daikon, and peanuts. This is was really good and simple tasting! The beef rolls were wrapped in seaweed and hidden inside in a piece of daikon. The textures of that roll worked together so the beed did not over power the roll.

There’s not too many higher end pho places in Vancouver, but its starting to be a trend. Other pho places, you don’t really now how dirty or how long your food has been sitting around….or if they reuse the garnishes for other dishes. WIth Chau Kitchen, you can expect the freshest ingredients

We rate Chau Kitchen & Bar:

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

In Downtown

Gyoza King

November 21, 2010

It was a super cold Wednesday evening when InsecureGirl and I were SUPER HUNGRY after long classes and meetings at SFU. I told her to decide where we should go. After she did a lot of stalking on Urbanspoon, she stumbled upon Go Haggis’s Review on Gyoza King. Looking at the pictures, it made her super excited and more hungry than ever.

Gyoza King is located on Robson Street specializing in Gyoza’s and traditional Japanese dishes.

From the outside, it looks like a large restaurant, but it is pretty small from the inside. It seats I would says about 50 people. When we went, it was about 11pm and it was not empty at all. People would come in for the gyoza’s, tapas and drinks. InsecureGirl really liked the interior decor and said it was pretty clean. I really had no idea what she was saying because the floor looked dirty.

I have this thing about hand drawn daily specials. I think it’s super cool and you don’t need to hire any designers! Reminded me of other Japanese places like Hapa Izakaya and Guu. Gyoza King also had a list of top 5 items on their menu this week. If you are super indecisive like we are, it’s a good guide to see whats good for the week.

Mmmmm Tea.

Gyu Tataki ($6.50) is seared beef slices in ponzu sauce. It is topped off with green onions, and radish. It was really delicious and the acidity of the ponzu sauce made it very enjoyable.

Ebi Mayo ($6.50) has tiger prawns with a type of mayo sauce. Compared to places like Guu…Gyoza King’s version has smaller shrimp. The taste of the mayo went well with the tiger prawns.

Pork and Vegetables Gyoza (6 for $4.95) was a must because this place is called Gyoza King. I found them to be quite average. Maybe I am use to the flavours of dumplings because I eat so much at home. When you add the ponzu sauce (in the small black tea pot on the table) to the dumplings, it makes them so much better!

This udon was quite interesting. It had pureed radishes, beef slices, and seaweed in ponzu sauce. InsecureGirl was really skeptical about the pureed radishes and now it all fit with the dish. After mixing it around, it added more texture and soaked up the ponzu sauce.

Japanese-style duck breast with sweet soy ($9.50) came with a small salad, lemon and some fried onions. The duck was #1 on the top 5 things to have at the restaurant. The duck was well cut and thin.

It seemed like InsecureGirl and I had a lot of ponzu sauce in our meal. If you don’t know what ponzu sauce is, it’s a citrus soy sauce. It’s probably one of my favorite soy sauce for all foods. With all the Izakaya restaurants on Robson, they are all starting to seem very similar to them all. What you can say about Gyoza King is that if you have late night cravings at 1am….you can get your fix!

Words of Wisdom:

They serve Asahi Black – Black Lager
Open till late – 2am
Call ahead of time to see if the restaurant is busy
Look at the specials and the Top 5 items of the week
Looking for sushi? They don’t serve sushi

We Rate Gyoza King:

Check out their website: http://www.jpcanada.com/info/gyoza_k/

In Cafe

Meat & Bread

November 13, 2010

Meat & Bread is a new lunch spot that opened up on Hastings right across the road from Nuba. When I first heard the name, I thought to myself, Meat & Bread…how good can it really be? As they say, its the simple things in life that makes you happy. They open only for lunch from 11am to 5pm.

Meat & Bread has a very small menu. 4 types of sandwiches. Just to note, MeatPaper is a magazine…not a food item. I really thought it was chunks of meat on paper. Mustard, Salt and Sambal are jars of their homemade sauces. When I took this picture it was about 2pm…after that everything but the porchetta was sold out.

What I love about Meat & Bread is their long table where it can be very interactive with other customers…. peering over your shoulder to see what someone else is eating or saying about the food.

CanuckGirl and I got the Porchetta sandwich ($8). You are probably wondering what porchetta is….well it’s a savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast. The body of the pig is gutted, deboned, arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin, then rolled, spitted, and roasted. It’s so delicious. The fatty layers and skin gave this sandwich a nice texture.

A negative comment about this sandwich was that i found cartilage amongst the meat. CanuckGirl didn’t have that problem at all. I must have just been unlucky.

The two sauces on the parchment paper are Sambal and mustard sauce. They are house made and can be bought for $7. Luckily, you can use as much as you want on your sandwich! Sambal is a chilli sauce…and well i’m sure you know what mustard is. FYI, this mustard is better than any mustard made by Heinz!

TaiwaneseGirl got the Maple Bacon Ice Cream Sandwich ($3). This is not any normal ice cream sandwich. I really couldn’t help watch TaiwaneseGirl eat this because she thought it was a normal ice cream sandwich…until she could taste something salty and made this really weird face. She initially thought it was ham. I thought this was very creative, but didn’t particularly wow me.

There was no more soda left, so all I got was a beer ($6). At 2pm, this was probably not a great idea since I glow like a light bulb. The Thirsty Beaver was alright, but not an outstanding beer. I prefer my asian beers.

After finishing up at Meat & Bread, we were still not full. I wanted to go back to get another sandwich, but everything else was sold out. Pretty disappointed because I wanted to try the grilled cheese. I guess I will have to wait another day.

Words of Wisdom:

Best to go early to ensure nothing is sold out
The sauces are a must try

We rate Meat & Bread:

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

In Downtown

La Taqueria Taco Shop

November 12, 2010

La Taqueria is located near Vancouver Film School and Simon Fraser University Vancouver Campus. La Taqueria Taco Shop offers up authentic Mexican tacos from authentic traditional recipes. All the ingredients used in the tacos are local, organic, and sustainable.

TaiwaneseGirl, CanuckGirl and I were in Downtown and decided we should try it out since we wanted a small snack.

The restaurant is fairly small and can seat about 16 or so people at one time. Most of the items are small snack items, so you won’t really get too full unless you decided to eat everything from the menu…which will cost you a fair bit.

The menu has 12 different types of tacos. The menu had 2 categories : meat or veggies.

The meat ones are $2.50 or 4 for $9.50.

The Veggie ones are $2.00 or 4 for $7.00.

The first taco was the Carnitas. It has pork confit, onions, parsley, and pickled onions.

The next one was the Asada Taco. It has grilled AAA flank beef with onions and parsley.

This is the La Cachete Taco. It has braised beef cheeks with the onions and parsley.

Say hello to De Lengua! It has braised beef tongue.

They also have several sauces you can add to your tacos! The red Habanero sauce is HOT! If TaiwaneseGirl says its hot..probably best to listen to her. I thought I could handle it, but i took so much sauce my mouth started burning. I didn’t have a drink..so the only thing I could think of was to bite into the lime. It was probably a bad idea…since it made the pain more intense. Luckily, La Taqueria had jugs of water on the side!

Overall, the ingredients they used were good, but what we didn’t like the most was how messy it was to eat the tacos. The juices from the tacos keep running, so we would have to wrap the tacos in napkins to prevent the oil from getting on our phones or pants.

Words of Wisdom:

Tacos are small, very drippy
Staff is very nice and willing to help
Limited amounts of seats, hard for large groups

We rate La Taqueria:

Check out their website: www.lataqueria.ca

In Korean

Nor Boo Korean Restaurant

November 10, 2010

It was another late night and M, InsecureGirl, FragileBoy and I were scrambling to find a place to eat after class. Tuesdays are double date night for us… and since class ends late…not that may places are open past 10pm.

One place which we wanted to go to was Nor Boo…M was excited because there is actually a restaurant in Korea called Nor Boo with the exact same logo. He wanted to see if it was the same as back home.

You can’t go to a Korean restaurant without some type of Soju. We ordered 2 bottles of lemon soju ($9.95). The soju cocktails taste so much better than plain soju. It’s nice an fizzy and doesn’t taste like alcohol. It’s made out of lemon juice, soju and sprite.

Rabokki ( Hot and Spicy sauce on ramen noodles and rice cake).

Egg roll..as it states on the menu. I think what they tried to say was omelet. I know… it still does not look like an omelet, you are thinking it’s a salad. Well, buried deep inside this mixture of cabbage, mayo and ketchup lays an omelet inside. This was a bit bland and the egg didn’t have much taste.

Bi Bim Bap (Stone Rice)

M got the Pork Cutlet Katsu, he thought it was good and he kept saying how it’s been a while since he had pork cutlet before. Compared to the other dishes, it has a nicer presentation.

I got the Dumpling soup, which has a very awful appearance. It took me a while to figure out what the weird things floating in the soup and it turned out it was just egg. There were about 10 dumplings,

In Nor Boo, you will see this strip of writing across the restaurant. Can you guess what it means? You are probably trying to make out a few symbols..but did you just realize that a few of those are chinese characters? Some are even Japanese. I kept pointing at this and asking M what it meant…but I guess it was one of those moments where he thought I was slightly stupid.

The food is reasonably priced and has way more selection that some other korean restaurants. One thing that sucked was the service, it was has to get refills of tea…our drinks did not come…when asked for our drinks..they came way way later. The presentation of their dishes could have been a bit nicer. The food was pretty average. Usually most Korean restaurants give free side dishes of kimchi, sweet potatoes, and other dishes…but today they didn’t give us any.

Words of Wisdom:

Closing hours do vary depending on how many customers are there that night. If you plan to go here in the night, call ahead of time to see when their last order and when they close
Large variety in menu
Service is bad!

We rate Nor Boo :

They are located at:

1536 Robson St
Vancouver, BC V6G

In Dessert

Kimono Koi Crepes

November 8, 2010

Kimono Koi Crepes is not hard to find at all. It is the bright pink street cart located outside of City Centre Skytrain. They serve up savory and sweet crepes.

Here is their menu separated by cold, savory, and sweet. The prices range from $5 – $6.75.

Look at them make crepes.

I ordered the strawberry delight ($5.75), which is categorized as a sweet crepe. It contains strawberry, nutella, strawberry syrup, whipped cream and almond flakes. The presentation of the crepe was well executed and looked m.ore appealing than the other crepe places. It was kinda hard to eat without some of the whipped cream ending up on my face. Since I didn’t have a mirror with me, I had to reply on the reflections of buildings to make sure I didn’t end up sporting a whipped creme mustache for Movember.

The almond flakes really worked well for this crepe. I didn’t really think much of it, but as I kept eating, I wanted more of the almond flakes. It added more texture to the crepe.

Words of Wisdom:

Follow the on twitter @kimonokoicrepes if there are changes to menu or times
You can’t go wrong with a sweet crepe

We rate Kimono Koi Crepes:

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

In Downtown

Fresh Local Wild

November 7, 2010

Fresh Local Wild is a new food cart that opened up a few months ago in Downtown on Granville and Robson. I am a big fan of seafood and if it is Ocean Wise, that is a big plus! Their name basically sums up the types of seafood that they serve….fresh….local…and wild.

The men of Fresh Local Wild are really amazing guys and very approachable. Since it was raining, I didn’t want to walk elsewhere to eat, so I stood there like a loner eating, but these guys were very talkative and kept me company!

Their menu is simple and has the freshest and sustainable ingredients in their menu items. The items are quite expensive, but that the price you pay for sustainable ingredients…it doesn’t come cheap.

I ordered the Fried Oyster Po Boy ($10) sandwich with a soda ($2) and poutine ($3). They have a small selection of soda at the store, Lemon Lime and another flavour that changes daily. I decided to have the Lemon Lime soda and it was very flavorful and reminded me of sprite but with more lime flavour. This is something you should try.

The fried oyster Po Boy was very fresh and the oysters had so much flavour! One thing I really didn’t like about the sandwich was how it fell apart very easily. The tartar sauce and coleslaw filling inside was spewing out every time I took a bite. Maybe next time they should have less sauce. I really really enjoyed the taste of the fried oysters…perhaps one day they will make skewers of fried oysters (drools…)

The Quadra Isle Chanterelle Mushroom Poutine was overall pretty well executed. The fries were firm and slightly crunchy. Topped off with the Chanterelle mushrooms, cheese, green onions, and gravy.

To get customers to leave a mark at Fresh Local Wild, they have several markers for you to draw all over their cart. I was looking around for a spot to leave my mark and I found fellow blogger and SFU alumni Nicolb! It seemed right to leave my mark beside hers.

My experience at Fresh Local Wild was positive. After looking at a few other blogs, there seems to be a few negative reviews when they first started up their business. It seems like Josh, Andy and their crew have made improvements to their menu to keep their customers satisfied. It can only get better from here.

Words of Wisdom:

Follow them on twitter @freshlocalwild to see if their hours change
If you are an oyster lover like myself, get the Fried Oyster Po Boy
Don’t forget to chat with the guys because they are super friendly

We rate Fresh Local Wild:

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

In Japanese

Santouka Ramen

November 6, 2010

After hearing a lot of buzz about Santouka Ramen on Robson, it was time to see why everyone loves this place. M, InsecureGirl, FragileBoy and I were heading Downtown anyways…so we decided to go here.

We were really bummed about the line up, but looking at their display case and gossiping made the time go by fast. I am sure everyone who goes to this place has the “line up” problem. Surprisingly, it only took about 10 – 15 mins to get a table since they have a fast turnover rate. One bad thing is that if you are super hungry, the images of the display will make you more hungry.

The inside of the restaurant is not that large, but you get a really nice view of the kitchen. If you ever wonder how they make ramen, the mystery is now over!

This is their menu, they have different types of ramen with different options, but it still not as diverse as the other ramen places a few blocks away.

We started off with Asahi beers ($5.25) and I thought it was funny how it was served in a Sapporo glass.

M had the Karamiso Cha Shu Ramen ($10.95) and the Ikura Gohan ($5.45). The broth of the Karamiso Cha Shu is made of pork broth, hot spices and miso. It came with double amount of Cha Shu, which M loves! The other ingredients inside were noodles, bamboo shoots, jelly ears, and green onions. M thought it was good, but it could have been more spicy. The Ikura gohan has Ikura (Salmon roe), which are like little balloons filled with a salty mixture. When you eat the Ikura with rice, it complements nicely to dull down the salty taste of ikura.

M and I shared the Chef Special Gyoza. For $5, I found this expensive for 5 pieces of dumplings. He was so excited that when I took the picture he just had to reach for a gyoza with his chopsticks. Overall, the gyozas were good, nice and crispy on the outside and nice and juicy meat on the inside.

I had the Toroniku Ramen ($12.95), which is their signature ramen and the toppings served separately. Toroniku Cha-shu is simmered pork cheek meat. According to their website, pork cheek meat is very rare and only 200-300g can be taken from each pig. It has a very rich flavour and it is tender like fatty tuna. It was really good and I liked their thin noodles because that meant you could taste the flavour of the broth!

InsecureGirl and FragileBoy got combos ($11.90)….both of them were shoyu ramen and came with a gohan. She got the grilled salmon gohan and he got the Ikura Gohan.

On the plus side, your spoon will never fall into the bowl! Good invention…I wonder where they got it.

Words of Wisdom:

Long line ups, wear a jacket or go really early or really late in the evening
Having the comfort of knowing your spoon will never fall into the soup
Hard to find parking, mostly street parking.
Small portions
Cash and Debit ( No credit cards)

The overall experience at Santouka Ramen was pretty good….and expensive. This whole meal totaled about $90 after tax and tip. The quality of their ingredients is good, but you may not get full on the size of the dish. This place does beat other ramen places like Benkei Ramen, Kawawa Ramen….but can never beat Kintaro Ramen on Denman.

We rate Santouka Ramen:

Check out their website: http://www.santouka.co.jp/en/

In Cafe

Cafe Kaldi

November 5, 2010

Cafe Kaldi is located in Coquitlam a few blocks away from Ikea. I am a big fan of privately owned cafes compared to large chains such as Starbucks. They pride themselves for having sandwiches and drinks made out the the freshest ingredients rather than just heating things up.

Inside Cafe Kaldi are nice big lounge chairs, which are great for meetings or a nice get together. Free wireless is a plus as well! The staff are really nice and are willing to take critiques from customers to make sure their future visits are enjoyable.

I got a latte as usual! You can’t take me away from my lattes! The latte has a strong bold flavour which I love. I totally needed one today after a long stressful day at school. Latte art is always a plus.

They also have amazing english muffins! I know my photos don’t do it justice, but they are very simple and well made. I can’t remember what this version was called, but it had brie, egg, and this amazing hot sauce! Brie is just amazing FYI. This was only $3.75 and makes are a great snack.

We rate Cafe Kaldi:

Fid them at:

Coquitlam
930 Brunette Avenue
Coquitlam, BC V3K

In Japanese

The Eatery

November 3, 2010

The Eatery features a twist on the traditional japanese food. All their rolls are super creative and features rolls you probably have never heard of. Try eating a Captain Crunch roll, or and Ichi Roll. You have probably heard of the traditional Alaska rolls or california roll, but why try that when there are so many types of rolls.

Looking at the inside of the restaurant, there are so many items hanging off the walls to glance and stare. The inner decor is very hip and funky. Located a few minutes away from the UBC campus, it is a perfect place to have a date or a nice hangout and try some unique rolls. After the Advanced Screening of Due Date, FratBoy, JojoCake, Canuckgirl, M, Bebe Yeoville, KoreanGirl, BigBaby, DJMikxter, and MathBoy headed over to The Eatery.

At each table, there are candles stuck into beer bottles. The Eatery is very dark and are lit by candles and red lights. I was tempted several times to drink the candle.

I had the virgin mango margarita ($4.95), it was very sweet and not what I expected. Very concentrated and strong.

I ordered the Jalapeno popper roll ($6.75) and the Italian Stallion roll ($5.95). The Jalapeno popper has smoked salmon, jalapeno, cream cheese, and deep fried with a tempura batter. It was alright, but it did not have the Jalapeno popper feel to it. The italian Stallion has prosciutto, papaya, eel and cream cheese, with hot pesto sauce. This roll tasted really nice and the papaya is a real surprise when you eat it.

M, CanuckGirl, and DJMikxter had the CHICKEN KATSU CURRY ($11.95) which is breaded deep fried chicken on rice. You can have a choice of mild, medium, or hot curry. The Katsu was very meaty and breaded nicely. M said he would have it again.

Words of Wisdom:

Sunomono is really poor quality compared to other japanese restaurants
Have daily specials for different days of the week
Good Curries
Some rolls are of poor quality
Good athmosphere

I do like the concept of The Eatery, but the execution of some of their rolls are of low quality. Maybe I am not use to the flavours since I’m a huge fan of traditional japanese food and flavours. If you go here, I think you are paying more for the atmosphere more than the food.

We rate The Eatery:

Check out their website: www.theeatery.ca

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 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: