Noodles Archives - Page 6 of 6

In Chinese

Taesan Chinese Restaurant: Fusion in Pohang, South Korea

October 24, 2013

Our first few days staying in Pohang were spent eating at home and enjoying homemade food from M’s mom. As we were out during the afternoon one day, we headed to Taesan Chinese Restaurant for some Chinese Korean fusion food. They swear it’s one of the best Chinese restaurants in the area.

Chinese restaurants run by Koreans aren’t very authentic. They always have some fusion component to it. You won’t find your normal dishes here. The food is pretty darn good and I highly encourage you to try some when you can. It’s quite unique.

In Vancouver, there are 2 good Korean x Chinese restaurants – Heeraedeung and Tai Wan. Other parts of the world I have no idea, but I’m sure there is.

Banchan are complimentary side dishes that come with every korean meal. It’s nice to have something to pick at while you wait for the meal.

Black Bean paste, pickled radish, onions, and some sort of other pickled vegetable. These banchan were pretty average and not very addictive.

Deep Fried Dumplings (goon mandu) comes with 10 pieces and has a sauce on the side. These were really good. Crispy crunchy skin with the succulent meat on the inside.

Noodles with Black bean Sauce (Jajangmyeon) is what M ordered. He loves this dish and thought it tasted great. Don’t let the dark look of the sauce scare you, its very savory and flavourful. Its packed with vegetables like onions.

You would eat this dish by mixing them together until they are well combined, then enjoy!

Fried Rice with Seafood comes with a bit of black bean sauce on the side. It was a good size for lunch and was quite good when mixing in the sauce. The black bean sauce is what made this dish incredible, without it, the fried rice wouldn’t be as good.

The fried rice also comes with a Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup (Jjambbong) it was very flavourful and was indeed spicy.

Overall the food was good and it’s a nice change from the usual Chinese food. When looking for food in Pohang, the internet doesn’t really help as most restaurants don’t have a website. For the large chain restaurants, they will, but the good stuff that locals like would be hard to fine.

If you know someone in the area, definitely ask them for recommendations!

We Rate Taesan Chinese Restaurant:

Address (Approx)
20 Hyojadong-gil 1beon-gil, Nam-gu,
Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea (253-106 Hyoja-dong)

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?daddr=20+Hyojadong-gil+1beon-gil,+Nam-gu,+Pohang,+Gyeongsangbuk-do,+South+Korea+(253-106+Hyoja-dong)&sll=36.00728061772533,129.32860218785672&sspn=0.0018731321429394233,0.004853779315719831&t=m&z=17&start=0&geocode=FeBsJQIdoGS1BynrDs4q0wFnNTHfU_AmfIKVCw”]

In Downtown

Ramen Jinya: Ramen and Green Tea

October 18, 2013

Ramen Jinya is a chain ramen joint from Los Angeles. It was pretty packed during peak hours and it’s not a surprise since people want to escape the mucky weather outside to enjoy a nice big bowl of ramen. Seeing it is the only ramen restaurant on Robson street (close to BC Place),

A bunch of us came here for dinner for a table of 5 and it took a little while. There were at least 3 or 4 other groups ahead of us. We waited since we really wanted their Jinya Tonkotsu Black Ramen.

JINYA Tonkotsu Black ($11.25) is made from their pork broth with pork belly char-siu, kikurage, bamboo shoots, green onions, flavoured boiled egg, seaweed, black garlic oil, and garlic chips. This is their top selling ramen and the broth is rich and full of flavour. Highly recommended.

Tonkotsu Spicy Ramen ($10.25) you can choose from mild, spicy or hot. I went with spicy because why order the spicy as a mild if you don’t want the extra kick to your ramen. This ramen also has pork belly char-siu, kikurage, spicy bean sprouts, green onion, and japanese leek. Very nice broth and enjoyable. I’ve ordered this a few times and its pretty good.

You can also turn your ramen into a combo with a drink and a side item of your choice for an additional $3.75.

All of us went with the Cold Green Tea. It’s unlimited and can either be sweetened or unsweetened. I went with the unsweetened and everyone else ordered sweetened. Either way, it’s pretty good.

Curry Bowl comes in a small size and M thought it was awesome.

Chicken Karrage was what I ordered and it was pretty good as well. The batter is a bit different that other places, but it was super juicy and flavourful.

Takoyaki comes with 4 pieces with sauce. It’s pretty average and nothing spectacular.

Overall, it’s great to see they added a few more items to their menu and the combos are pretty great if you are a large eater. The prices are fair and you don’t have to travel to the other side of Robson Street for ramen.

We Rate Ramen Jinya:

Address:
270 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC V6B

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=270+Robson+Street+Vancouver,+BC+V6B&t=m&hnear=270+Robson+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+0E7&z=16″]

In Hastings-Sunrise

Pho Don: New Vietnamese Restaurant on Hastings

October 15, 2013

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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

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″]

In BBQ

Urban Belly: Pork Belly, Ramen, and Communal Tables

September 21, 2013

When I was vacationing in Chicago, I went to visit Urbanbelly near Logan Square. They are also recipients of a Michelin Bib Gourmands Chicago award in 2010. It basically means they are a quality restaurant with affordable price.

They don’t take reservations, but on a weekday lunch hour, there was no wait.

The counter is at the back, so you just line up and order. They have daily specials written on the wall.

You can find the rest of the regular items on their menu. The prices are quite decent with nothing over $13.

The interior is one large room with 4 communal tables. Better get cozy and meet some new friends.

Asian Squash and Bacon Dumplings ($7) comes with 4 pieces of the steamed dumplings. It has a predominantly squash filling. It is topped with bacon bits, orange slices and other things. It was pretty good and has a nice balance between the sweet oranges and the savoury dumpling.

Urbanbelly Ramen ($13) is made with a pho broth and has pork belly and shitake mushrooms. Its deep rich broth with layers of savoury flavours is quite delicious.

Phat Rice ($9) is a fried rice dish that combined all the other rice dishes into one. There was short rib, pork belly, pineapple, scallions, pea shoots, and Thai basil. I chose this dish because I was pretty indecisive of what to order….so this was the best option. It was pretty good.

Chinese Eggplant with Thai Basil came complimentary because we waited a long time for the Phat Rice. I loved the sauce that came with it.

At the end of the meal, they give you some Ginger Candy to round out the experience.

Overall, the food was pretty good and I would come again. The food is a bit only and rich, but that means its extra delicious.

We Rate Urban Belly:

Address:
3053 N California Ave
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://www.urbanbellychicago.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=3053+N+California+Ave,+Chicago,+IL+60618,+USA&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&hnear=3053+N+California+Ave,+Chicago,+Illinois+60618,+United+States&z=16 “]

In Cafe

Beefy Beef Noodle House: Beef Beef Beef

August 17, 2013

M and I tried going to Zakkushi without a reservation, but we would have to wait over an hour for a table. So, we opted to eating at Beefy Beef Noodle House as we’ve heard they had good Taiwanese food. Seeing that it was Summer, the interior was quite cold and it didn’t help that they were playing a winter-themed thriller movie on their TVs.

We saw they had a Top 8 Food list, so we relied on that to order the best items.

House Special Beef Noodle in Soup ($9.50) had some pretty fresh ingredients. M was quite pleased with the quality of the veggies. The beef was tender and the broth was decent. The bowl was pretty big, so he couldn’t finish it.

Curry Beef Brisket with Rice ($9.50) it comes with 2 small side dishes . It was marinated bamboo shoots and cauliflower. The beef brisket was decent it had lots of beef brisket chunks in it.

I still prefer to get my beef brisket curry dish from Mui Garden. If you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about.

Overall, the dishes that we had were decent. It’s a good place for a lot of young people to chill and have some bubble tea to catch up.

We Rate Beefy Beef Noodle House:

Address:
4063 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.jynoodle.com/index1.html

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=4063+Main+St,+Vancouver,+BC+V5V+5C8&sll=49.891235,-97.15369000000001&sspn=45.72347923378347,88.1395350118194&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=4063+Main+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5V+5C8&z=16″]

In Noodles

Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle: Noodles in Richmond

July 28, 2013

Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle is located on the 2nd floor of Aberdeen Mall in Richmond. They are an award winning noodle chain around the world.

We walked all around the mall trying to find a place to eat, but we settled on this place since we found it was cool that they made their own noodles. I think we were more mesmerized by the moving mechanized noodles by the front entrance. But, Taiwanese Beef Noodles are usually pretty good.

When you walk inside, there are tons of seats. Great for large parties too. A private room is available too.

Instead of ordering food the normal way, you must fill out this form with your order and then give it to the waitress. It’s not a bad thing because you can get your order done accurately.

They serve Chatime bubble tea and Frappe Bliss flavoured shaved ice here too.

Pan-Fried Ground Beef Cake ($5.20) comes with 2 pieces and you can cut them in half to share it with people at your table. The inside is quite meaty and oily. Best to share since it’s a lot for one person to consume.

Champion Braised Beef with thin noodle in tomato soup ($10.95).

The braised beef was tough and wasn’t very tender at all. It was ok, but it wasn’t very crazy amazing. The noodles were firm and it made it a good bowl of noodles, but that beef needs to improve.

Champion Beef Brisket with thin noodle in clear soup ($11.95).

The meat was VERY tender. THe broth was a bit bland, but when you add in the chili oil, it makes it taste so much better.

Overall, the food was ok, but not crazy amazing. There definitely needs to be some improvements here.

We Rate Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle:

Address:
2800-4151 Hazelbridge Way
(Aberdeen Centre)

Website:
http://www.chefhungnoodle.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=4151+Hazelbridge+Way,+Richmond,+BC+V6X&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=4151+Hazelbridge+Way,+Richmond,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6X&z=16″]

In Canadian

Dishcrawl Vancouver: Exploring the West End

July 1, 2013

Dishcrawl Vancouver invited me to their event focused on West End restaurants. We went to 4 different restaurants in one night, but the catch is that we only knew the first location but the other 3 are a mystery. They try to showcase the best restaurants in this area within walking distance of each other.

There was about 25 people on this particular tour and we headed to Ap Gu Jung, Hida Takayama Ramen, Forage and Capstone Tea & Fondue.

Ap Gu Jung

AP Gu Jung was our first stop. It’s a Korean restaurant located on Robson Street. This place has been here forever. I remember coming here in high school.

The interior has 2 floors and kinda looks like a western pub rather than a korean restaurant because of the playoffs playing on the big screen, jerseys, and a drum kit.

We started off with 4 dishes of banchan, which are complimentary side dishes. There is seaweed, kimchi, broccoli, and potatoes.

On the plate they sampled:

Seafood Pancake
Kimchi Pancake
Chicken Skewers
Pork on Fire
Traditional Beef BBQ
Rice

For people with dietary restrictions, they got some different items. The portions here were pretty good since there were 3 more restaurants to go to. A lot of people couldn’t finish in time, so they did have to pack it to go. We definitely needed more than 40 minutes here.

Hida Takayama Ramen

Hida Takayama Ramen is located inside the Robson Public Market on the 2nd floor. I thought I went to all the ramen places in town, but I was wrong. This ramen joint is very hidden. The prices seem quite fair as it is all under $10.

The owner – Mike Asaoka is very charismatic about the ramen he makes and uses the best ingredients.

Hida Chuka Ramen was one of my favorites. It was simple and representative of some ramen you would find in Japan. The broth is chicken based and flavoured with soy sauce.

White Sesame Ramen was very rich and thick . We ate everything else, but it was hard to drink the broth.

Sweet and Spicy Ramen was ok, but not one of my favorites.

I didn’t fall in love with any of the particular ramen, but I found it very interesting how if you come here on a normal day, the price of the small and the large are EXACTLY the SAME prices. You can get huge bowl of noodles for about $7.

Forage

Our third stop of the night is Forage. I was quite excited about this place because they do have some killer food.

We were welcomed by Chef Wittaker who took us through the farm-to-table concept at forage and let us know what we would be eating.

Nettle gnocchi and brown butter is served in a cast iron pan. The texture of the gnocchi were like little pillows of mashed potatoes.

Foraged and cultivated mushrooms is topped with Okanagan goat cheese and comes with grilled caraway rye bread. I have an addiction for mushrooms, so I polished this dish. Yum Yum!

The Flatbread has pancetta, morel mushrooms, onion béchamel, and Jersey blue cheese. It was thin, crispy and very enjoyable.

Capstone Tea & Fondue

I haven’t been back to Captone in a few years after a bad experience. It’s been a few years and that experience has always stuck in my mind. It was good to see that they rebranded and hopefully this dining experience would be good.

We were given small personal pots of Dark Chocolate Fondue and some assorted items for dipping.

In the bowl were fruit, banana bread, cheesecake, cookies, macrons, and ice cream balls. Don’t leave the ice cream balls till the very end since they will melt. With the hot weather in Vancouver, its best to just gobble them up right away.

It was a nice end of the meal.

By the end of the night, we were all full and ready to have food coma. This is my second Dishcrawl and I still have the same thoughts about these types of events. It’s not an event for everyone. $60 is a little bit steep if you’re a picky eater. Even though they do accomodate dietary restrictions, you may not like certain types of cuisines.

On the bright side, you do get to explore 4 restaurants in one night and are great for indecisive people. Do look out for coupon codes since there are a few floating around for each Dishcrawl tour.

To check out DishCrawl Vancouver: www.dishcrawl.com/vancouver/

In Four Beakers

Marutama Ramen: Ramen with Chicken Broth

June 19, 2013

It’s been a few weeks since Marutama Ramen opened and I’ve been there at least 4 or 5 times. Some may think I’m a little bit addicted, but I am just in love with the yummy seaweed and their gooey eggs. I mostly came with friends to introduce them to this new place. With so many ramen places on Robson street, it’s sometimes hard to decipher whats good and whats not.

The differentiator for Marutama Ramen is that they make their noodles in-house, they use chicken broth for their soup, the yummy gooey egg, and the seaweed.

Hot Green Tea isn’t free, but I can’t recall what the price was. It’s just a pre-purchased green tea packet that comes in hot water in this pot. Nothing fancy.

Kakuni ($5.75) is braised pork belly. It comes with 3 pieces.

From the 2 different visits here, I found the consistency of their kakuni to be very different. The first time I ordered it, it was super fatty and melt in your mouth, but the second time, it was more lean. Perhaps you can ask them for lean of fatty kakuni.

Marutama Tamago Ramen ($10.50) is the top seller. This time I ordered it with a spicy broth. The spicy broth is indeed spicy, so do watch out. If you love spicy food, then you must get it spicy. The ramen contains the soft-boiled flavored egg, aosa seaweed, green onions, 2 pieces of chashu, and handmade noodles in a rich chicken broth.

Marutama Aosa Ramen ($13.25) comes with 2 pieces of chashu, green onions and lots of the seaweed. Their seaweed is really good.

Marutama Zenbu Ramen ($18) has the works. It has slices of chashu, kakuni, aosa seaweed, and the egg. M ordered this since it had everything. He did enjoy it but it was quite expensive.

It’s all about that yummy egg. Their chicken broth ramen doesn’t particularly appeal to some people, but I really like it since it makes the broth more light and not so rich compared to pork based broths.

We rate Marutama Ramen:

Address:
780 Bidwell
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.japanesenoodle.com/

In Dim Sum

Long’s Noodle House: Long Story Short, It’s Awesome

May 20, 2013

Long’s Noodle House is located on Main street right beside Au Petit Cafe. Both of these places are very busy and there are line ups during peak hours. I came here for a family lunch as we heard it has some pretty darn good xiao long bao. We made a reservation since it was for a large party. As the traffic was very busy, we called ahead to let them know we would be 15 minutes late. They were very accommodating and the table was still there as we arrived.

There is paid parking in the front and free parking in the street behind the restaurant.

The interior is basic and there aren’t too many seats. Always make a reservation.

Wine Chicken comes in a little cute jar. Inside is a bunch of chicken pieces marinated in wine and is slightly warm. Its one of the popular items on the menu. The pieces were tender and deliciously soaks up the wine flavour. Kids usually don’t like this dish, but its more for older people. My little sister refused to eat it since there’s alcohol.

Yellow Fish with Seaweed is pretty awesome. It has the yellow fish covered in a seaweed batter. The seaweed has a prominent taste and I was surprised it went so well together. Mmmmmm highly recommended.

Crispy rice with salty egg sauce was another strange dish, but it was surprisingly good too. The fried crispy rice is on top and the salty egg sauce is on the bottom. It’s salty, its fatty, its crunchy, and it’s quite addictive.

Xiao Long Bao comes with 6 pieces. It is packed full of soup and really delicious. One of the good XLB in town.

Eel noodle in soup was an interesting dish. I never would have thought of ordering this. It was good and definitely a good items share among the table.

Beef Roll has the five spiced meat, cilantro and cucumber inside. I found it different from other places as the wrap is much softer.

Hot and Sour soup came last and tasted good. This probably should have been ordered early in the meal, but we didn’t mind that we had this last.

Overall, Long’s Noodle House is a great place for some good Shanghainese food. The prices are fair and the food is just great.

We Rate Long’s Noodle House:

Address:
4853 Main St
Vancouver, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=4853+Main+St+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=4853+Main+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5V+3R8&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]