Category

Late Night

Category

La-Mezcaleria-bench

La Mezcaleria was created by the same people as La Taqueria. They are the first mexican restaurant offering the finest small batch mezcal, tequila and cocktails from different regions of Mexico. You will find it as a good drinking place with some Mexican cuisine.

La-Mezcaleria-inner

It definitely has a different atmosphere than La Taqueria. It gets darker at night and louder. Not a bad thing as its more of a fun atmosphere at night.

La-Mezcaleria-flight

Espadin Mezcal Flight ($26) They have their customized flights served with sangrita and lime. These are strong drinks! The flight I got had Fidencio Unico, Scorpion Silver and Rey Zapoteco mezcal. You’re supposed to be sipping these drinks throughout your meal and chase it down with the sangrita and lime.

La-Mezcaleria-horchata

Horchata is a traditional non-alcoholic drink made out of almonds, sesame seeds, rice and barley.  It’s white, so it totally looks like milk. Tasted great!

La-Mezcaleria-cheesy

Queso Fundido ($16 + Chorizo $2.50) is Mezcaleria’s molten cheese fondue served in a volcanic rock molcajete. You have your choice of either salsa verde or Mexican chorizo.

The dish is very rich and oily. You scoop this onto a corn tortilla and enjoy. I found that it didn’t hold very well in the tortilla because the oil would just be dripping out. The best part of the dish is the cheese on the sides of the bowl. It’s crispy!!

La-Mezcaleria-guac

Guacamole ($7) is made to order with fresh avocado, cilantro, lime, onion, jalapeño and tomato. This is a staple dish to have at any Mexican restaurant. Good as an appetizer to nibble on with some drinks.

La-Mezcaleria-s

Enchiladas Clasicas ($14) is filled with spicy chicken, cheese or beans. Topped with green tomatillo or red tomato salsa, onion, cream and Mexican cheese. M went with the green tomatillo sauce. It was a bit spicy but he loved the sauce and the complex flavours.

La-Mezcaleria-taco

Tostadas De Pato has Fraser Valley duck confit, guava, fruit mole sauce (manchamanteles), chayote squash and radish. The tortilla on the bottom is fried, so its hard to eat with your hands. I liked eating it with a fork and knife.

La-Mezcaleria-t

They have other taco selections too similar to La Taqueria. They’re all pretty darn good!

La-Mezcaleria-sauce

You have 4 sauces to choose from at the table – Chipotle, salsa verde, chile de arbol and habanero. My favourite is always the salsa verde.

Overall, if you are familiar with La Taqueria’s tacos and that’s all you want, you are best to probably stick with La Taqueria. The prices are a bit higher but you do have more variety of dishes. I know I keep comparing it to La Taqueria, but that’s what a lot of people are familiar with. People like coming here for the drinks and ambiance.

We Rate La Mezcaleria

Address:
1622 Commercial Dr
Vancouver, BC

Websitehttp://www.lamezcaleria.ca/

La Mezcaleria on Urbanspoon

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tap-barrel-sign

Tap and Barrel has a new location in Coal Harbour. After an event, Foodobyte, Eating with Kirby, Gastrofork, FoodQueen and I headed over to grab some dinner. It was close by and there is always room food some beer and burgers.

They have lots of local craft beer on tap and comfort food.

It was a very busy night for them, so we got seated in their cafe rather than their main dining room. It’s not connected to the restaurant, so all the food is made in their other area and brought over. You even have to go outside to their main area to find the washroom.

tap-barrel-sample

Beer Sampler you can choose from any 3 beers from the menu. I asked the waitress for 3 of the lightest beers of the menu because I don’t trust myself in picking my own beer unless its asian beer.

tap-barrel-burger-a

PB&J Burger ($15) is their signature burger with chipotle peanut butter and bacon jam. It is topped with a deep fried pickle and side of fries.

tap-barrel-burger

Chicken Clubhouse ($15) has blackened breast of chicken, pulled pork belly, and fresh avocado. It has the fried pickle on top with the fries on the side.

tap-barrel-salad-tuna

Tap Greens with added albacore tuna ($9 + $6) is topped with hazelnuts, dried blueberries, crumbled goat cheese,  and red wine maple vinaigrette. It was an ok salad. I added the tuna since I needed some more protein in the dish. It’s a good alternative to burgers on the menu.

tap-barrel-salad

The Original Cobb ($17) has blackened Fraser Valley chicken breast, bacon, fresh sliced avocado, tomato, egg, blue claire cheese, creamy draught craft beer dressing.

The food was decent and the price was fair for this area. It is still pricey but at least you have a great view of the Olympic Cauldron and the Burrard inlet. The downside is that when we were dining here, the service took a very long time. Even getting beer took a while. We were all hungry and antsy to eat, but it’s not quick here.

We Rate Tap and Barrel:

Address:
1055 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC

Websitehttp://www.tapandbarrel.com/

Tap & Barrel on Urbanspoon

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chicha

Chicha is a fun and casual restaurant serving up Peruvian inspired cuisine. They opened up in May 2013 and located on Broadway near Main.

My coworkers have said amazing things about this eatery and I was very excited to come here for Dine Out Vancouver, Their menu is $28 and you get to choose, 1 entree, 2 mains, and a desserts. I love the tapa style dishes and great for sharing. It gives you an opportunity to try more dishes.

Their menu had lots of options and to be honest, I was very overwhelmed because I didn’t know what to order. Plus, a lot of the names of the dishes sounded very unfamiliar. These are times I wish I had one of those menus with pictures.

chicha

Chicha Morada ($3.50) is a traditional Peruvian beverage made of purple corn, spices, pineapple, and citrus. It’s a non-alcoholic drink and its very delicious. It comes with a cute paper straw and beautifully decorated with lime and pineapple.

chicha

Fresh Local Seafood Chowder has aji amarillo chili pepper, red nugget, sweet potatoes, corn and cilantro oil. Magz and FierceFeathers both got this as their appetizer and adored the unique combination of flavours.

chicha

Palitas de Yuca has cassava root and a huancaina sauce. The yuca was very crunchy and quite different from your usual fries. It’s a good dish but it really doesn’t compare to the seafood chowder.

chicha

Rocoto Braised Lamb and Wine Cured Chorizo Fettuccini has black olives, tomato and parmesan cheese, and cilantro oil.

chicha

Pollo anticuchos has aji chili marinated chicken breast skewers with brown butter fingerling potato, choclo corn, and trio of aji chili sauces. The chicken was moist and have great flavours that balanced out the aji trio sauces.

chicha

Yarrow Meadows Duck Spring Rolls has wild mushroom, five spice duck confit spring rolls served with a peashoot and pickled daikon salad and ginger and Japanese plum wine sauce. There’s a good amount of duck in the spring roll.

chicha

Lomo Saltado has flat iron steak, kennebec fries, red onion, peppers, tomato wok fried with soy sauce, garlic, and aji amarillo chili. Image it as like a Peruvian poutine. I actually imagined this dish quite differently. It tasted like an asian stir-fry with fries. We didn’t like this dish.

chicha

Spiced Aji Chili Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding with Peruvian dulce de leche, and pisco raspberry sauce.

chicha

Lucuma, white chocolate, and lime frozen torte with passion fruit and raspberry sauce. This was a very unique dessert and it really cleanses your palate.

We definitely felt there were dishes that were a hit and some a miss. You really have to read all the ingredients carefully or ask how the dish is presented. The food was ok, but I wasn’t very impressed by the choices of the dishes I chose.

We Rate Chicha

Address:
136 East Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://www.chicharestaurant.com/

Chicha on Urbanspoon

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Earlier last month a few of my friends and I were dining at the Hapa Izakaya in Coal Harbour. I’ve been to Hapa several times and had no issues, but that particular dining experience was horrible and I felt bad for my friends. I won’t delve into it, but you can read it all on thefoodqueen.ca. We were invited back to any Hapa Izakaya location to have a re-do of our meal.

Hapa Izakaya has a reputation for delicious Japanese food with pretty waitresses according to some of my Toronto friends. I spend more time staring at food than at people. Thats why I spend more time snapping pictures of food than of my friends. Horrible habit, but hopefully that will change one day.

Hapa-inner

The Robson location is quite large, so there is tons of room to accommodate large groups. We came on a snowy day, so that’s why this place wasn’t packed. No one wants to brave though the snow for some eats. Vancouverites fear snow, no matter how much there is.

Hapa Izakaya

Pint of Sapporo is my drink of choice at a Japanese restaurant. It’s light, crisp and refreshing.

Hapa Izakaya

Hello Kitty ($7.50) is a cocktail drink made of strawberry puree, calpis, absolut vodka, and soda. It was a fun drink and it did not taste too alcoholic.

Hapa Izakaya

Shigoku Oysters ($2.99) was recommended by our waitress and is OceanWise. It is from Washington and flavour profile is salty, mildly sweet with a water chestnut finish. It tasted pretty darn good.

Hapa has a large selection of fresh oysters with 17 different varieties. Very impressed.

Hapa Izakaya

Ahi Tuna ($11.99) is OceanWise and is beautifully cut. Yumm.

Hapa Izakaya

Sockeye Salmon ($10.99) is also OceanWise and are good cuts.

Hapa Izakaya

Beef Tataki ($9.99) is a very popular dish. It is made of lightly seared AAA beef with a sesame-chili sauce. I didn’t like it because of the sauce, I much prefer it with garlic chips and ponzu sauce. Just a personal preference.

Hapa Izakaya

Bintoro ($9.99) is made of OceanWise albacore tuna sashimi that is lightly seared. It also has Ponzu Sauce and fried garlic chips. Delicious!

Hapa Izakaya

Cho Wagyu ($12.49) is a fun dish. You get a super hot stone and you get to cool your own kobe beef. It comes with garlic ships, green onion and ponzu sauce.

Hapa Izakaya

Beef Short Ribs ($12.99) has grilled AAA beef short ribs with an apple-soy marinade. Its really good! The meat is quite tender and very flavourful.

Hapa Izakaya

Karaage ($8.99) has fried boneless chicken, and a soy ginger sauce.

Hapa Izakaya

Teriyaki Mochi Gnochi ($5.49) comes with 2 pieces on a stick. It’s a deep fried potato gnocchi with a teriyaki glaze.

Hapa Izakaya

Spicy Pork Ishi-Yaki ($9.99) has rice, minced pork, garlic sprouts, egg, tomato, lettuce, and spicy miso in a hot stone bowl.

Hapa Izakaya

Ebi Mayo ($8.99) has tempura prawns with a spicy mayo sauce. It was ok, but needs more mayo.

Hapa Izakaya

Kaki Fry ($9.99) comes with 6 pieces. It is pan-fried sawmill bay oyster, and panko breaded. It comes with tartar sauce.

Hapa Izakaya

Gindara ($11.49) has baked OceanWise sablefish in a sake-miso marinade with some veggies on the side. The skin of the sable fish was crispy.

Hapa Izakaya

Polenta Fries ($7.99) has polenta tempura, soy-balsamic reduction and arugula gel. All the fries are piles up in a stack like Jenga. It’s a fun dish to share.

Hapa Izakaya

Oyster Risotto ($13.99) is a new item on their menu and it is served in a hot stone bowl. It contains rice, oysters, mozzarella, onion, carrot, mushroom, green beans, and a cream miso broth. It was a filling dish and it really good. I love mushrooms and oysters.

Hapa Izakaya

Chocolate Parfait ($5.99) is a mishmash of different ingredients. Blueberries, corn flakes, brownies, cake, and chocolate ice cream.

Hapa Izakaya

Creme Brulee ($4.99) is topped with fruits and cookies.

Hapa Izakaya

Matcha Roll Cake ($5.49) has matcha cream with the match cake. Good for those green tea lovers out there.

The desserts were all pretty comparable.

Overall, if you are looking for some delicious Japanese tapas and some drinks for a girls night out or a date, this is the place to go. But it can get pricey compared to some of the other izakaya restaurants in town.

We rate Hapa Izakaya: 

Address:
1479 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://hapaizakaya.com/

Hapa Izakaya (Robson) on Urbanspoon

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Les Faux Bourgeois

Les Faux Bourgeois has been on my list of places to eat for a long time. I just never had the right group or occasion to come here. MedicalGiraffe brought together a few of my friends for an intimate engagement party. Just the right occasion right? We made a reservation for 9 and was just 1 person shy of trying their prix fixe menu for 10. This worked out fine since not everyone was very hungry. The only time available was 5pm, so that explains why we were not hankering for lots of food.

Les Faux Bourgeois is a French restaurant, I suppose you can guess that by their name. They have had rave reviews and have won many awards over the past few years.

Les Faux Bourgeois

We were not seated in the bistro area, but we were seated in their cafe area. It was definitely intimate and we took up most of the space except for the bar seating and a table for 2.

Les Faux Bourgeois

Complimentary Bread arrived at the table with some butter. It wasn’t heated up, so it was cold and boring.

Les Faux Bourgeois

I enjoyed my dinner with a beer. Their wine menu has a good selection, but their beers are quite limited.

Les Faux Bourgeois

Escargots de Bourgogne ($9) are snails. Thats right, SNAILS. They aren’t that scary, but they have a chewy texture and drowned in the garlic butter/parsley combo.

Les Faux Bourgeois

Ris de Veau ($12) has seared sweetbreads, rémoulade, watercress and pickles. Just so you know, sweetbreads are glands of a lamb. No carbs here.

Les Faux Bourgeois

Soupe a l’oignon grantinee ($9) has caramelized onions, smoked bacon, Gruyère, and Mozzarella. I think I was anticipating this dish way too much and it just tasted ok. M said it was ok too, but he still prefers the french onion soup at Chez Meme Baguette Bistro.

Les Faux Bourgeois

Pleurotes ($17) has grilled oyster mushrooms, parsnip purée, brussels sprouts, squash, kale, hazelnuts, and brown butter. MedicalGiraffe likes this dish and it was sure yummy.

It was a perfect mesh of winter vegetables. Squash was soft and sweet, brussel sprouts crispy, kale still had their crunch and mushrooms were delectable.

All the flavours blended together well while still maintaining their own texture and taste

Les Faux Bourgeois

Moules Marinieres ($17) or best known as mussels and fries. The mussels are cooked in a white wine, garlic and parsley sauce. The pommes frites are on the side and you can dip them into the aioli sauce or into the broth.

The mussels were quite large and absorbed the delicious sauce but Chambar still knocks the socks off mussels and fries.

Les Faux Bourgeois

Queue de Boeuf ($19) has braised oxtail ragout, king oyster mushrooms, kale, carrot, pommes purée, and crispy leeks.

Les Faux Bourgeois

Le Steak Frites ($19) has Hanger steak served with fries. M chose to have his rare and it came out perfect. He chose to have the  green peppercorn cream sauce and he likes it. You get half a plate of meat and other other half of the plate is piled with fries. If you aren’t into fries, you can swap it out for salad.

Les Faux Bourgeois

Filet De Boeuf Grille ($23) has tenderloin with potato gratin and glazed vegetables. You can have your choice of sauce – red wine shallot jus, herb butter or green peppercorn cream sauce.

Overall, we had a good time at Les Faux Bourgeois some of the food was a hit or a miss, but most were average. French food isn’t my favourite cuisine, but it takes a certain type of person to appreciate French cuisine.

We Rate Les Faux Bourgeois

Address:
663 E 15th Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.lesfauxbourgeois.com/

Les Faux Bourgeois on Urbanspoon

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Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

It was the holidays and the family gathered for some yummy dinner. My sister chose to go to Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant on Marine Drive. We made many jokes about their name since what if it doesn’t “taste good”.

There is ample parking right outside, but if all the spots are taken, there are some spots on the street. The interior has space for large groups and ideal for hosting. We went on a Saturday and there wasn’t too many people, but we still made reservations ahead of time.

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

Deep Fried Tofu is always a delight to devour. The smooth soft tofu inside is piping hot and the outside is very crisp and crunchy. A lovely combination of textures that match perfectly. Highly Recommended.

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

Sauteed Prawns with a satay sauce and green onions. Another ok dish. What I didn’t like about these types of dishes is how you had to peel off the shell before eating. Sometimes I get lazy and eat it with the shells. The shells are edible but some people don’t prefer it.

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

Fresh daily fish with seasonal vegetables. When we were ordering, they basically up sold us since we wanted some other fish dish, but they informed us the other dish is made from frozen fish.

The dish tasted fine and fresh. Nothing amazing or anything.

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

Deep Fried Crispy Chicken with Sticky Rice

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

It  was a very interesting dish with layers of sticky rice and crispy chicken on top. I thought it was alright, but was a unique dish. Even the chicken wing is boneless and stuffed with the rice.

You need to order this dish ahead of time when you make a reservation. You won’t be able to get it if you don’t reserve.

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

The way my family described this dish was like chicken and rice nigiri. It does have the resemblance, but no Japanese influence at all.

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

Beef Brisket Hot Pot has lots of large chunks of the beef brisket. It wasn’t like the usual hot pot I was expecting, but it was a nice addition to the meal. I didn’t really drink the soup since it was a but salty.

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

This was some fish dish with tofu and vegetables. I can’t remember the name of this dish, but it tasted alright.

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

Red Bean Soup is always the classic item that ends off any Chinese meal. It had a thick consistency with hints of orange.

Overall, the place was alright and had a wide variety of dishes to chose from. My parents liked this place and the prices aren’t bad at all.

We Rate Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓

Address:
620 SE Marine Drive
Vancouver, BC

Taste Good Wonton Seafood Restaurant 豐澤樓 on Urbanspoon

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rumpus
Photo Credit: Rumpus Room

My coworkers wanted a place to grab a drink and enjoy some nibbles. We settled on the Rumpus Room as it was close by the office and seemed like a great after work place to chill. The space is a bit small, but it makes up for it if you were a 80s kid. The menu is in a duotang and theres some cool memorabilia on the walls. Plus, in the Summer their patio is open and there’s a bunch of plastic pink flamingos.

As it was a Monday, we were surprised to hear they had a special! I love specials! A burger and beer for $10. A pretty awesome deal considering the price of a burger is $7 to $15.

Rumpus Room

Red Racer IPA is a local beer brewed right in BC at Central CIty Brewing. It has a strong taste of hops that lingers till the after taste. It’s not my type of beer because I don’t really like the hops flavour.

Rumpus Room

Peanut Butter Burger is made with a hormone-free 6oz beef burger patty, bacon, cheddar, lettuce, apple cranberry chutney, tomato, and creamy peanut butter on a brioche bun. I found that the ingredients went well together, but the beef patty was a bit overcooked so it because quite dry.

You also get a side to choose from. The options are fries, yam fries, veggie chili, soup, coleslaw, salad, side wedge salad, mashed potatoes, a waffle or ants on a long. I went with the salad. It was pretty decent as it had beets and sunflower seeds.

Overall, the price of the food is great for large portions. The quality of the food is alright but not too impressive. The servers are nice, but with only 2 people serving, they can tend to forget things…like… our bill. We had to ask twice for our bill, but we weren’t in a rush so we didn’t really bug them.

We Rate Rumpus Room:  

Address:
2689 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.rumpusroom.ca/

Rumpus Room on Urbanspoon

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Craft-Beer-Market-Vancouver

My coworkers and I have been keeping an eye on the Craft Beer Market opening up in the Olympic Village near Science World. What I love about this area is it’s amazing views and how this neighbourhood is transforming. It was supposed to be open during the Summer of 2013, but due to some delays, it is going to officially open on November 7th, 2013.

Word has spread around the office that they are currently having a soft opening and are open for business. We were bidding a coworker goodbye, so it seemed like the perfect place to have an office lunch.

Craft-Beer-Market-Vancouver

This place is HUGE! There are even 2 elevated private seating areas. Also, the beautiful bar in the centre with so many different types of Craft Beer.

Craft-Beer-Market-Vancouver

Wall of beer kegs.

Craft-Beer-Market-Vancouver

More beer!

Below are images of their food and drink menus.

Menu

Fast Food Sushi?! Red Racer IPA Infused Taquitos?!

Their menus are labeled with healthy, vegetarian, ocean-wise and  gluten-free options. It really help taking the guess work if you have dietary restrictions. Nice touch!

P1070402

Dark beer braised beef brisket?! Phillips Beer Can Chicken?!

P1070404

20 Napkin Burger?! Earnest Ice Cream!!

Looks like there are some amazing sounding items on the menu.

Beer Menu

SO much beer!

P1070407

Too many to choose from.

CRAFT Beer Market Poke

 Hawaiian Ahi Poke ($14) has chopped sashimi-grade tuna, cucumber, fresh ginger, garlic, and a sesame soy vinaigrette with crispy wonton skins. Magz said it tasted alright, but is lacking a few ingredients. Perhaps avocados.

CRAFT Beer Market soup

Craft House Soup (Bowl – $8) has cheddar, jalapeno, and their Village House Ale.

CRAFT Beer Market Wings Canadian

 Wings ($13) 1lb of crispy Rossdown Farms chicken wings tossed in Canadian sauce (bacon and maple syrup). The Canadian flavour was surprisingly good. It was subtle, but it just worked so well. For some reason we imagined it to be a thick sauce, but we were glad it wasn’t like that.

CRAFT Beer Market Fast Food Sushi

Fast Food Sushi ($12) cheeseburger and fries wrapped in bacon. It is dressed with jalapeño cream cheese and BBQ sauce. This was a very interesting item on the menu that JP just had to order. It was sinfully delicious and would be a great combination with some beer.

CRAFT Beer Market Thai Wraps

 Thai Lettuce Wraps ($12 + Chicken $5) has crispy noodles and veggies sautéed with sweet ginger and lemongrass served with julienne vegetables, rice and a trio of house made sauces. It’s a great interactive dish where you can build your lettuce wraps yourself. One thing my coworkers said was that they wished the lettuce would be larger so it could hold more of the filling.

CRAFT Beer Market waldorf salad

Waldorf chicken salad ($16) has parmesan and walnut crusted Rossdown Farms chicken, sun-dried cranberries, mixed greens, grapes, blue cheese, celery, and honey mustard vinaigrette. It was a big salad with a lot of ingredients.

CRAFT Beer Market Brewmaster Chicken Sandwich

Brewmaster’s Chicken Sandwich ($15) has Rossdown Farms chicken breast, avocado, bacon, aged cheddar, tomato lettuce, and red onion in a ciabatta bun. You have your choice of either Kennebec fries, mixed greens, caesar salad, spinach salad or soup. My coworker went with the spinach salad.

CRAFT Beer Market mac and cheese

Craft Mac & Cheese ($16) has a blend of cheddar, gouda, mozzarella and fontina cheese tossed with bacon and poblano peppers topped with parsley and garlic breadcrumbs. It is also served with grilled garlic bread. The portion was huge, but I really wish the mac and cheese was a bit more gooier.

Overall, the food was pretty good, but there are a few kinks to work out. Prices are a tad high, but its ok considering the area that it’s located in. Their menu is large and you can always find something to eat and plus, their beverage menu is massive. I can see it as a great place to come after work to chill with coworkers or friends. It’s a great addition to the Olympic Village area and definitely adds some competition in the area.

We Rate Craft Beer Market

Address:
85 West 1st Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.craftbeermarket.ca/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/CRAFT-Beer-Market-Vancouver/306941952714764

CRAFT Beer Market on Urbanspoon

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Sometimes in Korea, you want food to come to you instead of you going out for food. Or perhaps cooking is too hard. For a lot of university students, ordering in is quite common and you can almost get every single type of food to be delivered.

We were craving different types of chicken, so we ordered from BHC and BBQ Chicken for some of their specialty chicken. They have locations all over Korea, so you’re bound to run into one.

As we knew the original fried chicken would be amazing, we ordered other items off their menu to get a taste of what else is popular in Korea.

BBQ

BBQ Chicken Korea

From BBQ Chicken, we ordered grilled chicken and it came with sauce, a can of pepsi, and pickled radish cubes.

BBQ Chicken Korea

Korean traditional Charbroiled Chicken is quite juicy and is marinated ahead of time and comes straight off the grill to seal in those juicy flavours. It was pretty good, but you can’t really beat an experience eating inside the restaurant.

Website: http://www.bbqbarbecue.co.kr/


BHC Chicken

BHC Chicken Korea

Another popular place is BHC which stands for Big Hit Chicken. They usually advertise heavily with the use of celebrities. M wanted boneless chicken so we ordered from here.

BHC Chicken Korea

Boneless Chicken with shredded leek is another popular item. It reminded me of chicken nuggets with green onions. It was ok, but nothing very special.

Websitehttp://www.bhc.co.kr/

There were all good alternatives for chicken but I think the one that still steals my heart is original fried chicken. Can’t beat that stuff. I must continue the hunt for the best chicken.

Pho Don

M dragged me to a new Vietnamese Restaurant he found near the PNE. There’s so many Vietnamese restaurants on this block that there are so many options. We usually go to Bao Chau and their spring rolls are addictive.

Pho Don is a family run business and you can see the owners children helping out at the restaurant. It’s quite cute.

Pho Don

The interior is clean compared to the other Vietnamese restaurants in town. There are lots of seats if you want to come in a group. As its new, it’s not too busy, so great place to go during the day or night. They are also open till 2am!

Pho Don

Ice Vietnamese Coffee is a must. M and I always seem to order this to keep us awake.

Pho Don

Complimentary Spring Rolls came with the order of meals. It’s one of their current promotions. We were delightfully surprised since we were going to order them anyways. They were good but I had a feeling they might be frozen beforehand. It was crispy but a bit soft.

Pho Don

Rare beef and beef brisket slices was good but by the time it got to the table, most of the meat was cooked. Not a big problem, but I hate when its not like the pictures on the menu.

The broth was great and tasted super clean and full of flavour.

Pho Don

Bean Sprouts, Bail, lime and jalapeno on the side. I added it all to the pho and it was gooood.

Pho Don

Lemongrass Chicken on Vermicelli Noodles is what M ordered. He thought it was ok but would rather go to Bao Chau to order this.

They definitely have great pho and is open for long hours. There is also free parking in front and lots of buses close by.

We rate Pho Don: 

Address:
2838 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=2838+East+Hastings+Street+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=2838+E+Hastings+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5K+1Z9&z=16″]

John Hancock Center

The best advice I got during my trip to Chicago was from my aunt who told me to grab a drink at the restaurant on top of the John Hancock Center and enjoy the summer fireworks. It’s great because you get a good view without paying the outrageous prices to be at their observation deck (which is on a lower level).

The Signature Lounge is located on the 95th floor (vs Oberservation Deck – 94th floor). To get up there, you go in through the south entrance. If you see people lining up for the observation deck, you’re in the wrong place. As it was a busy night, we waited about 20 minutes to get up to the restaurant. Other people were smart to go early to grab a seat and wait for the fireworks.

The Signature Room

The interior was the restaurant was nice and cozy. They have tons of seats, but as you can imagine, it is quite packed.

The Signature Room

Isn’t that just a stunning view?

white & dArk ChoCoLAte Mousse CAke 8.00 chocolate bark, pistachio Gianduja

As we waited for the fireworks, we had to order something. So we got drinks and shared a cake.

White & Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake ($8) also comes with chocolate bark and pistachio gianduja.

Stella Artois ($8.25) is light, crisp and declicious.

The Signature Room

We found that our seats didn’t have the best view of Navy Pier for the fireworks, so we went to the womens washroom to watch the fireworks. It sounds weird, but it has one of the best views! You get a clear view of the loop and Navy Pier.

The Signature Room

It was quite a night. Great views with great company. The items on the lounge menu were quite expensive, so just grab a drink and sip it slowly.

We Rate Signature Lounge

Address:
875 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://www.signatureroom.com/

Signature Room at the 95th on Urbanspoon

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Shameful Tiki Room

During a group outing with my coworkers, we came to the Shameful Tiki Room . It’s on Main and 28th. What we found strange about this place is that you go through the door, then you have to go through the heavy curtains into pitch darkness.

It’s not actually that dark, but when you come from the bright sun outside, it takes your eyes some time to adjust.

Shameful Tiki Room

The interior had the right mood for a tiki bar. From top to bottom, you can see everything decorated to fit the theme. There’s so much decoration, that there is always something to stare at.

Shameful Tiki Room

Near the entrance, there is a stage and there are usually performances during the evening. We came here after work, so there wasn’t anything playing.

Shameful Tiki Room

Complimentary chips and salsa were good to munch on before the meal, but the chips were a tad stale.

Shameful Tiki Room

Their menu is pretty interesting, they have lots of descriptions but it doesn’t go into detail of what items contain. When I was just browsing the menu, one item caught my eye, the mystery bowl. With a description like that, who could resist? Especially if there is a gong involved.

Shameful Tiki Room

Mystery Bowl is meant for 2 people or 1 heavy drinker. hahaha. The bowl is lit on fire via the limes floating on both ends of the bowl. As we aren’t allowed to know what is inside, we had a hunch there is a little rum inside. The mystery bowl came up to be about $18 I think.

Shameful Tiki Room

Large Share Plate ($40) feeds up to 4 people, but with 5 of us, we were ok with this amount. There were ribs, sliders, pineapple rice, skewers, nuts, grilled vegetables, and spam balls. The food was alright, but wasn’t crazy amazing.

Overall, the atmosphere is great and they have a very unique menu with cool food and drinks. It’s a nice place for drinks and some nibbles, but the food didn’t really stand out.

We Rate Shameful Tiki Room:

Address:
4362 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Shameful Tiki Room on Urbanspoon

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Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

Nero Belgian Waffle Bar has been on my list of places to eat for a while. I even got 4 emails from readers telling me about this amazing place. If you wrote me an email, trust me, I have never forgotten! Nero is located on Robson street across from the Safeway. It’s a small little place and doesn’t have too many tables to accommodate large parties. The two times that I have went, it was very hard to find a seat.

They serve 2 types of waffles, the Belgium waffle (light and crispy) and the Liege Waffle (Soft, sweet and chewy). You can then choose to have them sweet or savory. I always seem to get sweet since I usually come here after dinner.

Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

Banella ($6.95) with a liege waffle. Banana on top of the waffle with a dish of nutella. It’s a classic combination that anyone would love. FoodQueen ordered this, so check out her blog post soon.

Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

Rudolph ($9) on a brussels waffle. It is topped with whipped cream, fresh raspberries, vanilla ice cream, Belgium chocolate mousse and drizzle of chocolate. This was AMAZING. My absolute favorite. The brussels waffle was so light and crispy like the description. SO good! After this, I will always have a brussels waffle. MMMMmmmmmm.

Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

Mocha ($8.90) on a Brussels waffle. It is topped with vanilla ice cream, 60% dark chocolate, and espresso infused whipped cream. GastroFork ordered this, so you can see it on her blog.

Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

Razz ($7.50) is on a Brussels waffle. It is topped with fresh raspberries and dark chocolate. It was really good as well. After having a taste of their brussels waffle, I’m hooked. Now I can see why they have lineups out the door.

Overall the waffles are great, but the service can be a bit atrocious during peak hours. When I came with Amy and Dee, we were told we were not supposed to save a table before we ordered our food. I totally understand the logic, but there wasn’t a line up in front of us. We just wanted to secure a spot so we didn’t have to get our order and stand up. Putting that aside, I really do love their waffles. I haven’t been able to find such a delicious brussels waffle in Vancouver until I came here.

We Rate Nero Beligian Waffle Bar

Address:
1703 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.nerowaffles.ca/

Nero Belgian Waffle Bar on Urbanspoon

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The Hastings Warehouse has ALL their food for $4.95. Drink are of course more costly than $4.95. This place is always packed and you will always see groups of people drinking. Even though it is on Hastings, it’s not sketchy at all.

They have 9 different draft beers on tap.

Bottle of Sapporo was about $6 or $7 so that was way more expensive than the food here.

Potato Skins have marbled cheese and bacon on top with a side of sour cream. I expected the size to be small since the prices are so low. It’s nothing amazing.

Poutine has cheese curds and gravy on top of fries. It’s very small as well and not super impressive.

Quinoa Salad was surprisingly pretty good here. There are lots of greens, avocados, apple slices, cranberries, and other items in it. If you’re health conscious, definitely order this since it might be one of the healthier items on the menu.

Mac and Cheese is very small and not that substantial if you want to be full.

Baja Fish Tacos comes with 2 tacos. The pieces of fish were very tiny! Go to Kirby’s review to see what she thought.

Spaghetti in tomato sauce was not a bad option. It has a good amount of spaghetti for $4.95.

Beef Dip comes with au jus and a small bucket of fries. This is one of the more filling dishes that’s on the menu. The au jus has a very asian flavour to it since they added ginger to it.

The filling is a mixture of fried onions and shredded beef.

The Works Burger is a simple burger made of a beef patty, maple bacon, cheddar cheese, fried onions, lettuce, and tomato in a brioche bun. There is also fries on the side too. This item is probably the best item on the menu. Highly recommended.

Pulled Chicken Sandwich was so disappointing! There was barely any chicken inside, so it was pretty bad.

Mushroom Swiss Burger has a beef patty, sautéed mushrooms, gravy, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes in a brioche bun. A decent burger as well.

Overall, the food is a hit or a miss. As you are only paying $4.95 per dish, you know you can’t be too picky. Most people come here for the drinks and have a bit of food.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Quinoa Salad, the Works Burger, Spaghetti, Mushroom Swiss Burger, and Beef Dip recommended.
  • No reservations
  • Usually packed at night and lunch
  • Long waits for your food

We Rate The Hastings Warehouse:

Address:
156 W Hastings
Vancouver, BC

The Hastings Warehouse on Urbanspoon

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Guu Otokomae is located in Gastown and is very close to Waterfront Skytrain. M and I came here very late at night, so we were able to get a table effortlessly. It’s usually best to have reservations, but we just thought about coming here last-minute.

When we came here, we ordered most of the items off their special menu.

Ramune is a Japanese carbonated soda, which Guu has worked with to have it specially branded for the restaurant. it’s a fun drink and M gets one every time he is at Guu.

Tea

Guu Tataki ($6.20) is seared beef sashimi with ponzu sauce, garlic chips and green onions. There’s really nothing I can say about this dish since its so delicious!

Chicken Karaage is a must have item here! So good!

Crab Shrimp Cream Gratin Croquette comes in 2 pieces with a sweet chilli mayo sauce. Really delicious too.

Guutine is their special poutine – Japanese style. This is made of deep-fried yam fries with a miso gravy topped with cheese. M and I both didn’t like it. It was quite heavy tasting and was a very strange creation.

Tempura Banana with Coconut Ice cream was something that M ordered. It was a wonderful combination of banana and the coconut.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Very busy during the evenings
  • Best to get reservations
  • Closest Skytrain: Waterfront

We Rate Guu Gastown:
Address:

375 Water St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

www.guu-izakaya.com/gastown.html

Guu With Otokomae on Urbanspoon

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To celebrate the release of The Hobbit on December 14th, Dennys and Warner Brothers teamed up to create this amazing new menu. All of the items in the menu makes a reference to characters or items in the movie.

M, Scarface, and I came for some late dinner and we were super delighted that we saw their special menu. If you’re a big fan of the Lord of the Ring Franchise, you’ll go crazy over these cool items on this menu.

Gandalf’s Gobble Melt has sliced turkey breast, savoury stuffing,melted Swiss cheese in a grilled potato bread with a cranberry honey mustard spread. It also came with a side of gravy and seasoned fries.

It was like a turkey dinner in a sandwich! The turkey was a tad dry, but dipping the whole sandwich is gravy made up for the dry meal. Holding the sandwich was quite oily, so make sure you have some napkins.

Shire Sausage Skillet comes on a super hot sizzling skillet. The skillet has a long sausage, red-skinned potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, fire-roasted peppers, onions, cheddar cheese, and your choice of 2 eggs. M ordered his eggs poached, so it came on a separate dish. It’s a very hearty meal, which isn’t the most healthy item to order, but it will fill you up.

Frodo’s Pot Roast Skillet has slow-cooked pot roast, herb-roasted carrots, celery, mushrooms,onions,broccoli, seasoned red-skinned potatoes with cheddar cheese and a side of toasted bread. It’s another hearty meal, but Scarface did enjoy the pot roast meat.

With every entrée you order off the special menu, you get a pack of trading cards. There are 12 cards that you can collect.

Inside the pack of cards are 2 cards and a coupon for your next meal. It was super cool since I haven’t opened a pack of trading cards in over 10 years. The last pack of cards I’ve opened were Pokemon cards.

The coupons are not bad deals at all if you are a regular customer. We were not able to use it during this visit since we were only about to use it for future visits.

Overall, the food was cool, but as usual, it’s not the most healthiest item to consume…but we all love to indulge a little!

Have you tried the new Hobbit menu in Denny’s Canada yet?

We rate Dennys Canada:

Address:

500 Austin Ave
Coquitlam, BC

Website:
http://www.dennys.ca/west/index.php

Denny's (Coquitlam) on Urbanspoon

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On Sunday nights, Oakwood Canadian Bistro has $15 Growlers! It’s 64oz of any local craft beer on tap. Janice, Andy and I came here to try it out. I am not exactly sure if we were attracted by the amount of beer or just the cool bottle. If you remember the time when Vancouver had a basketball team…you’ll definitely go crazy over these bottles.

On the back of the bottle it says “Get your grizzly on”. Unfortunately, they don’t sell them and it’s quite hard to steal it and hide it in your purse. I’m still trying to find ways to acquire these bottles.

All Canadian Poutine ($11) has fries, curds, gravy, and smoked meat. It was a pile of deliciousness especially when pair with beer. The poutine isn’t very large, so sharing it with lots of people might be an issue if you’re really hungry.

Overall, I still love this restaurant for late night drinks or even brunch. Can’t go wrong with either!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Parking on street or in residential area
  • Great late night eats and specials

We Rate The Oakwood Canadian Bistro:

Address:
2741 West 4th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6K

Website:
http://www.theoakwood.ca/

The Oakwood Canadian Bistro on Urbanspoon

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Ajuker Fried Chicken (AFC) is located on North Road in Coquitlam and serves up delicious Korean fried chicken. Their name was taken from a Korean chain restaurant. BusanGirl always frequents this restaurant with a bunch of her friends, so I made her take me to try their fried chicken.

Lots of Koreans and university students like to frequent this place at night for drinks, fried chicken, and hanging out with friends. The interior isn’t too big, but if you have a large group, they can accommodate them.

Hite Beer is a Korean beer that has a light flavour profile. It’s great with fried chicken.

Makgeolli is a Korean rice wine. It has about 7% alcohol and is made of fermented wheat and rice.

BusanGirl has a trick of adding a can of Sprite into the Makgeolli to make it taste better.

It a very popular drink in Korean culture, but I didn’t particularly love it. I’m not used to it. Everyone else at the table did enjoy it.

Complementary peanuts came to the table. It’s great to accompany the wine and beer as we wait for the food to arrive.

Complementary spicy tofu soup came to the table. We had no idea how to split this between the 4 of us, so we just stuck our spoon into it and drank it slowly. It didn’t look spicy at all, but it had a kick of spicy red peppers.

Complementary pickled radishes goes very well with the fried chicken.

Small Original Fried Chicken was really crispy on the outside and moist inside. I really like it a lot.

Sauced Fried chicken wasn’t spicy, but it was kinda like honey garlic with a kick. It’s the same as the original fried chicken and then they throw the sauce on it.

Korean Pancake was HUGE! It was so big that the plate couldn’t even contain it. The taste was OK, but not great. They definitely needed a bit more filling. The sauce that comes in it is a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and sesame seeds.

Korean Fried Rice with Slices of Rice Cake was good!

Complementary Spicy Rice Cake (tteobokki) came at the end of the meal, we were quite surprised that so many complementary dishes arrived. It’s a normal occurrence at Korean restaurants since it’s part of their culture to have “service” come with the meal.

Overall, we did like this restaurant. Great to hang out with friend with some late night food and drinks. You get a lot of complementary dishes that come with your meal.

We Rate Ajuker Fried Chicken:

Address:
101-508 Clarke Road
Coquitlam, BC V3J7V6

Ajuker Fried Chicken‎ on Urbanspoon

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