Seafood Archives - Page 5 of 14

In Chinese

To Hot Pot: Chongqing Style Hot Pot in Richmond

August 10, 2016

To Hot Pot is the newest hot pot restaurant to open up in Central Richmond. It is located in the same plaza as Dinesty. They specialize in Chongqing style hot pot.

We were invited by Chopstick Fest to have a sneak preview of what To Hot Pot offers to their customers.

It’s very new, so nothing exists online when we were searching this place up.

Interior

This space is huge! This is the main dining area with tons of hot pots. They even have other areas as well for larger groups for more private dining.

We love the table that we sat at since it has hooks for your purses. Love it.

Tracking Card

This little electronic card tracks what you order for your hot pot.

The instructions on the card say:

Pick your soup, bring your card to the counter
Pick your dishes freely
Choose your drink, billed automatically
Pay bill with card

Not the best explanation, but there are staff to help guide you through the process.

Ordering

There is a digital screen where you can make your selection of drinks, soup base and other options. It’s a fairly strange process to me to have servers around, the digital screen to order with the electronic card, then you also have to go pick up what you want from the fridges.

At the far end of the room are these small fridges were you can pick and choose what you want for your meal. Each dish costs money, but you have no idea how much until you tap your card at the end for the total.

You’ll find vegetables, meat, tofu, noodles, and other items that you would typically add to the hot pot. Each dish has an RFID chip, so they can track what items you grabbed.

You place your tray of items on this electronic table, it tabulates and you tap your card.

Mix your own sauce

I love the sauce bar since they have so many options for you to make the perfect sauce thats tailored to your taste buds.

With so many options, there are lots to choose from, but there are only Chinese descriptions for the ingredients, so for only English speakers like me, we accidentally got black vinegar instead of soy sauce.

They also had a small area for fruits and picked vegetables. You can grab as much as you want.

Drinks

Tea is free of charge, but they do have a good range of drinks to accompany the hot pot meal.

Plum Juice is a classic item, but it’s not for everyone. For me it’s something that I’ve grew up drinking, so it don’t notice the flavours too much. To others it can taste like a light BBQ sauce.

Winter melon juice was another item that our group loved.

Hot Pot

We got the two soup bases – Pork Rib Soup and the spicy Chong Qing Style. They also have a special nine combo soup base option that looks pretty cool too.

The spicy Chong Qing broth was very hot for our standards. According to the restaurant, some customers don’t have an issue with it. I usually find the spicy broth is great for cooking meat.

The Pork Rib broth was very nice and flavourful. Great for vegetables, noodles, seafood and tofu.

Veggies

Veggie platter comes with an array of veggies that go well in the hot pot.

Mushroom platter comes with a variety of mushrooms from enoki to oyster mushrooms.

Meat

Pork Belly is always a delicious meat to choose.

Meatball Platter has 4 types of meat balls with 3 each. Beef, lamb and fish I think.

The premium meats will arrive at the tables on nicer dishes, but there are a few cheaper meat options in the fridge like the pork jowl.

All the other dishes may not fit on the table, for us, we ordered so much that it started to overflow the table, so they have these special racks for the extra dishes.

VIP Guests

Apparently, VIP guests get a few special items with their meal. Since we were blogging about the meal, they brought these items over to us.

Deep Fried Pork with Sichuan peppercorn embedded into the batter. The Sichuan peppercorns are pretty intense and numbs your tongue.

The deep-fried buns with condensed milk is always a treat.

Overall

Overall, the quality of the meats, vegetables and broth were good. I’m really use to having all you can eat at other places around town.

The ordering a la carte system was confusing at first since you don’t really know what the prices are until its charged.

We Rate To Hot Pot:

Address:
130- 8171 Ackroyd Road, Richmond, BC

Phone:
604-284-1555 or 604-285-7738

In Chinese

21 Nautical Miles: Seafood Boil and Beer

August 9, 2016

21 Nautical Miles is a new seafood restaurant in Yaletown. They are best know for their Chinese-style seafood boil, drinks and different types of appetizers.

They are right across from other popular seafood restaurant – Rodney’s. Their menu is quite different.

I was invited by Chinesebites to try a few of their signature items. I was pretty excited since I was going to come visit soon. I love a good seafood boil and the Chinese-style of it really intrigued me.

Interior

The interior is pretty neat. Mostly white with access of colours. I kinda liked it and there are a lot of seats inside for small to large groups.

They also have a second floor

Drinks

They have large beer dispensers and we were surprised they had Innis & Gunn on tap. A good drink to have with their seafood boil.

Seafood Party

To get ready for the Seafood Party, you are give a bib, gloves, chopping board, mallet, utensils and gloves. A good way to stay clean when devouring all the seafood in front of you.

There are 3 sauces to choose from:

black pepper
spicy
garlic butter

These 3 sauces put a twist to the traditional seafood boil most commonly found in the states.

It costs $38.95 per person, but you need a minimum order of 2 people.

The seafood is thrown on the tables, so it is a free for all for those sitting at the table.

Inside the seafood party is crab, prawns,clams, mussels, corn, and potatoes.

The garlic butter was my favourite sauce as it wasn’t too messy to hold the seafood and didn’t overpower the natural sweet taste of the food.

The black pepper was more saucy that the other ones so, you’ll definitely get this all over your hands. Half way through, I had to ditch my gloves so I could get a better handle of the seafood.

The spicy sauce wasn’t bad but it did have spicy Szechuan notes to it.

You really get down and dirty with the meal, good thing there are bigs to shield you from the debris.

You definitely don’t want to be eating this and wearing something expensive.

Appetizers

Golden Fried Calamari with pepper and salt. It has a nice crunch and a good portion to share among friends. I liked it.

House Spicy Spot Prawns had a nice look to it and presentation. When I peeled off the shell, the prawns were overcooked and bland inside. A shame since spot prawns are super delicious and sweet when just boiled.

Chinese Pork Burgers was filled with flavourful pork inside the crisp bun. It was toasted well and tasted good.

Grilled Oysters with cheese is half cooked, so it was a very odd experience eating this. I think I would have preferred raw or cooked, but not half way.

Herbal Coconut Mussels was ok, but I prefer the mussels from the seafood party.The herbal coconut sauce can be soaked up with the bread to enjoy it more.

Garlic Steamed Lobster Tails was very pungent with the strong garlic taste that overpowers the lobster tail.

Abalone is cooked with a house special sauce, which reminds me of sweet prunes. I would have liked the sauce to be lighter so we could taste of the abalone.

Skewers

Lamb skewers were smother in cumin and had a fragrant flavour. It is served on metal skewers, so don’t poke your eye out.

Beef skewers were spiced with cumin too, so it was a bit hard to differentiate from the lamb.

Chicken Satay was moist and not dry at all compared to other places in town.

Pork Skewers are braised for 48 hours. Look at the delicious fatty layers, its basically pork belly.

Dessert

Mango Thousand Layer Cake is flown in from Taiwan and has the layers of crepe, whipped cream and then the mangoes in the centre. It is served with ice cream and topped with more whipped cream. It was good and a good ending to the meal.

Overall, the seafood party is a very popular and fun item to order. The other dishes were a hit and miss. They have a few kinks to work out but can’t go wrong with the seafood party.

We Rate 21 Nautical Miles:

Address:
1257 Hamilton Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://21nauticalmiles.com/

In Downtown

Glowbal: Happy Hour

August 3, 2016

Glowbal under the TELUS Garden has happy hour from 2:30pm to 5:30pm everyday. The entire cocktail menu is 50% off and they have a few $5 cocktail, wine, highballs and beer specials.

I love a good happy hour, so my coworkers and I dashed out the door to make it before last call.

The space is stunning and you can sit outside on the patio or inside the dining room. We made sure we got reservations before coming since it would be busy.

Sitting at the bar is pretty fun as you can watch the staff put together your dishes.

My coworkers all got cocktails and I got beer. All $5 each, which is awesome.

Crispy Calamari come in a cute little bamboo container. The calamari was ok, but we found that the batter would fall off easily and could have used a pinch of extra salt. It felt a bit bland.

Sashimi Trio has:

Halibut with yuzu kosho ponzu
Ahi Tuna with sesame miso,
Wild Salmon with jalapeño gochujang vinaigrette

So good! Fresh sashimi and the sauces compliment it very well.

Short Rib Poutine has maple gravy, truffle aioli, and cheese curds. This item is filling and its a good item to eat and snack on.

Mussels are super delicious. It has fennel cream, smoked bacon, and served with kennebec fries on the side. The mussels were juicy and plump

Fries were ok, but I wish it was a little bit more crisp.

Beef Tongue robata with a sesame-garlic aioli was really good. So tender and has lot of flavour.

Tsukune robata is chicken meatball served with a cured organic egg and soy sauce. Not as good as the beef tongue.

Kusshi Oysters arrived at the table and they told us it was compliments of the chef. A nice surprise but we think it was because we had to wait so long for our items that we ordered. We didn’t notice too much that we were waiting long since we were having a fun time chatting.

Kusshi Oysters are one of my favourite oysters for their clean and salty flavours. They are known for their small size, but the flavour is just amazing.

Chef’s Selection of Dozen Oysters came with 3 varieties of oysters. 4 were Kusshi, but I can’t remember what the other 2 types were called.

Overall, great selection of food for happy hour for an affordable price. When the drinks are flowing and there is food in front of you, you can’t help but chow down.

We Rate Glowbal:

Address:
590 West Georgia Street,
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.glowbalgroup.com/

In Four Beakers

Maruyama: Handmade Udon in Vancouver

July 28, 2016

My coworkers and I are obsessed with Maruyama and their delicious Japanese food. A week after coming to have the omakase, we decided to come back to try some cheaper items off them menu since we can’t have another omakase. We would be broke.

Homemade Udon has assorted mushroom, wakame seaweed, and their delicious dashi broth. There is also pea shoots, green onions and tempura bits. It was a good size and I loved the handmade udon. The quality is definitely there.

Jumbo Prawn Tempura was an extra item. Very large and plump. It also comes with a tiny green bean tempura, which was interesting. Perhaps it was there to add a bit of colour.

Salmon nigiri was added just so I can a be a little bit more full. He automatically adds wasabi to this, so if you don’t like wasabi, make sure to let the server know. I totally forgot about it and the wasabi really punched me in the face.

Overall, a good 2nd visit and trying more of their cooked items.

We Rate Maruyama:

Address:
3883 Rupert Street, Vancouver

In Four Beakers

Maruyama: Omakase Nigiri Tasting

July 3, 2016

Maruyama has taken over the old Kimura location on Rupert Street. Chef Yoshiya Maruyama was the previous raw bar chef at Blue Water Cafe and has finally opened his own restaurant in East Vancouver.

When my friend told me about it, I got super excited because I love sushi. A few of us went to try their omakase nigiri tasting.

Interior

The space isn’t very large, there are 4 seats at the bar and a few tables on either side of the restaurant. Always best to make reservations.

Omakase Nigiri Tasting

We made reservations to sit at the bar so we could get a full experience and have a chat with the Chef.

They have 2 options for omakase nigiri tasting – $25 and $60 option. After consulting with the Chef, we decided to take the plunge and order the $60 tasting as it has more premium fish used in the set.

When the tasting begins, they ask you if you want wasabi on it or not. Half of the group went with wasabi and the other half went without. The omakase tasting isn’t for everyone as it only has a minimum of 7 pieces. Those with a large stomach might not get full.

Sanma is very soft and has lots of fat. It is brushed with a bit of sauce and covered in a shiso leaf.

This nigiri, I have no idea what it was. In my notes I wrote down “asa”, but I couldn’t find this type of fish online. Either way, it tasted really good.

Akaji was what I wrote down, but I think I miss heard so I have no idea what this is. It is encrusted in the chef’s secret kombu topping, which is kelp.

Isaki nigiri has a slightly chewy taste. Isaki is a grunt fish.

Tobiuo is a flying fish with a soft texture perfect for nigiri.

Tai also has a slight chewy texture but it is rich in flavour.

Scallop Nigiri has a few drop of yuzu and then sprinkled with a bit of sea salt.

Chutoro is a delicious tuna with higher fat content. Very delicious too.

Otoro is the most expensive cut of tuna taken from the lowest part of the belly next to the head. It’s high in fat and super flavourful.

Other Nigiri on the menu

Hokkaido Uni is an additional menu item and when the chef was telling us about it, we didn’t realize it was $19 each. He did warn us that it was expensive and no normal customer would order this and he makes little to no profit off this item.

He adds a speck of wasabi to the top and its ready to eat. The flavour of the uni was amazing, but it was really expensive. It’s an expensive ingredient, so it’s not for all.

Anago is sea eel and he torches it before it gets served. For $5.50, this nigiri was more easy on the wallet compared to the uni.

The flavour and look is unlike what you would find at most Japanese restaurants. It’s fresh and has an amazing taste. He uses his own secret sauce to add on top.

Matcha ice cream with red bean is how we ended out meal. This was part of the omakase, I think because we weren’t charged for it. or maybe it was because we spent so much.

Overall, it was a pretty expensive meal, but its nice to splurge once in a while. I find that the nigiri are his works of art and should really be enjoyed. You need a high level of appreciation for sushi to fully enjoy this experience.

We Rate Maruyama:

Address:
3883 Rupert Street, Vancouver

In Chinese

Chen’s Shanghai Kitchen: Shanghainese Food in Richmond

May 21, 2016

Chen’s Shanghai Restaurant has been around for quite some time now. My last visit was back in 2013 with a few foodie friends to chow down on their XLBs. This time, I’ve returned with the ChineseBites crew to try out a lot more items off their menu.

The restaurant decor isn’t fancy, but people just come here for the Shanghainese food. There are lots of large round tables for large groups.

We started off with the Deluxe Appetizer Platter, which was Jelly Pork, Smoked Pomfret in Sweet Brown Sauce, Mixed Malantou with Sliced Dried Bean Curd, Jellyfish with Green Onion Oil, and the Shanghai Style Marinated Bran Dough.

All typical items that appear in these grand platters. The Mixed Malantou with Sliced Dried Bean Curd needed a bit more salt or sesame oil to bring out more flavour.

Their famous Xiao Long Bao (XLB) are steam pork buns. They were large, had a nice thin skin, but could have used a bit more soup inside.

Shanghai Style Spring Rolls, Radish Pastry and Baked Pastry with Beef all came on one platter. All of the items were nice and crisp. Of the 3, my favourite was the radish pastry.

Sticky Rice Roll with Pork Floss and Pan Fried Pork Dumplings also came together on one plate, but I’m sure normally it’s not.

The pan-fried pork dumpling has a thick skin, so it takes away from the enjoyment of the dumpling.

The Sticky Rice Roll with Pork Floss was very one dimensional. it would be better if there was something else to go with this.

House Special Wonton and Chicken Hotpot was really good and you can see the whole chicken right in the pot. I thought it was well balanced and delicious.

Crab with Edamame and Rice Cake in House Special Sauce had a delicious sauce covering all those rice cakes. The rice cakes were gobbled up very quickly, but getting at those crab legs were difficult since the sauce makes holding on to the legs slippery.

House Special Spicy Lobster was easier to get at the meat inside. I liked the amount of spice and it worked very well.

Pork Spareribs with Brown Vinegar Sauce was very tough. I had a hard time biting off the meat around the bones. The sauce was also very sticky and sweet.

Tea Smoked Chicken was good. Lots of smoky flavour seeped into the skin and meat. I liked it.

Deep Fried Breaded Fish with Grounded Seaweed was ok, I have found that other restaurant prepare this dish a bit better. It seemed limp and soggy. The batter could have used a bit more salt too.

Tiger Prawns and Eggplant in Hot Garlic Sauce Hot Pot was a good dish, but I think we needed some rice on the side to go with it as it had a good amount of sauce. If you do order this dish, grab some rice.

House Special Spicy Beef had a good amount of kick to this dish. The beef was tender, but a bit oily.

Beijing Style Pork Slices with Wraps was a fun dish to have. You put a little bit of everything in the wrap and eat it. The pork had a nice flavour and balanced with the cucumber slice.

House Special Crispy Noodle was very crispy. They really weren’t kidding. There wasn’t enough sauce to soften up the noodles. It was like eating a stir fry with a brick of ramen underneath.

Egg White Puff Stuffed with Red Bean Paste was ok, but I didn’t really take a liking to it. I just don’t really like sweet and savoury things mixing together like this.

Overall, some dishes were hits and some were misses. You definitely need to know what their specialties are before coming to dine here. The XLBs, Beijing Style Pork Slices with Wraps, Salty Soy Milk, and Deep Fried Man Tou.

We Rate Chen’s Shanghai Restaurant:

Address:
8095 Park Rd
Richmond, BC

Website: http://www.chensshanghaikitchen.com/

In Japanese

Green Leaf Sushi: Aburi Sushi and Sashimi

April 23, 2016

Green Leaf Sushi in Kitsilano has been generating quite a buzz lately for their Aburi Sushi Platter. They have their version of Miku’s Salmon Oshi Sushi, which is driving people crazy on instagram.

We came here for dinner with the family and waited about an hour and a bit for their large table that fits 8 people. We tried making a reservation in the morning, but they need at least 24 hours notice, so we went a bit early to put our name down since we knew it would be a wait. Even for groups for 4 or 5, they also seem to wait a while.

Always best to make reservations to avoid any waiting.

Complimentary tea arrives on the table or you can ask for water. They weren’t as diligent filling up the tea, but since the restaurant was so busy, it was ok. You just need to flag down a server.

Kabocha Korokke comes with 3 pieces. There is a quail egg inside covered in winter squash. It was pretty good, but we wished there were even pieces instead of just 3 pieces.

Prawn Tempura comes with 6 pieces. Crispy golden and light batter that surrounds the prawn. You’ll need to dunk it in the sauce or else it feels a bit heavy and oily.

For the family, we shared the Aburi Sushi Platter that comes with 6 pieces of each aburi and the roll that has 8. 6 different varieties with 38 pieces in total. it takes about 30 minutes to prepare, so make sure you order this right away when you sit down.

Salmon Oshi Sushi
Basil Ebi oshi sushi
Yukke Tuna Oshi Sushi
Sime Saba Oshi Sushi
Hotate Oshi Sushi
Aburi Tobibo roll

All the rolls were really good. Fresh ingredients and lots of favour. It’s a great item to share with the table, but it is about $60 something dollars.

Salmon Sashimi uses wild salmon, so the quality is really good.

Tuna sashimi was stellar! Some pieces were basically toro. Melt in your mouth!

Saba Miso Yaki is grilled mackerel with miso sauce on top. It also have grilled onions and a side of rice.

Tuna tataki salad was good and lightly dressed with lots of greens on top.

The udon that my dad got was ok, but it reminded us of kimchi stew.

Kimchi bacon Ishiyaki was so poorly put together, whoever made it does not know how to cook rice. The rice was so mushy that you know they added too much water to the rice. Since there was so much moisture, it could barely crisp up in the hot bowl.

Chopped scallop roll, House Roll and Negitoro roll were all well put together, fresh ingredients and super tasty.

Overall, the sushi and the sashimi were very good and fresh. The quality was great, but we didn’t like the cooked items like their udon and their rice bowl. Stick with the aburi sushi and some of their rolls and you’ll have a good time.

We Rate Green Leaf Sushi:

Address:
3416 West Broadway, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.facebook.com/GreenLeafSushi/

In Canadian

Matterson House: Cozy Dinner in Ucluelet

April 14, 2016

Matterson House Restaurant is a cozy eatery in the village of Ucluelet. The house was built in 1931, so you will see a lot of rustic charm dining here. It was originally known as Glendale, built by Basil and Mary Matterson. Back then, Ucluelet was only accessible by sea. Most roads that we see today were dirt roads.

In 1996, Sandy and Jennifer Clark took ownership and turned it into the restaurant we know today.

Since it was a busy long weekend, we were scrambling for dinner plans for our large group at the very last second, luckily Matterson House was able to hold us a table till we got there.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure about this place as it had visible age in the interior. As a foodie, I can’t really make judgements until I see the food in front of me.

Every single table was set up before the dinner rush. When we arrive around 6, there was plenty of space, but as it got closer to 7, it was pretty much full.

Homemade whole wheat bread with whipped butter arrived at the table. These loaves were huge.

Matterson Seafood Chowder has shrimp, scallops, white fish, spinach, cream and corn. It is served with crackers on the side.

Oyster Burger is dressed with mustard, relish, mayo, lettuce, tomato and onion. It is also served with your choice of mixed greens or potato salad. My friend chose it with mixed greens.

They give you a wedge of lemon, so you can squeeze it over the crisp creamy oyster.

My other friend got the same oyster burger, but with the potato salad.

They both said they enjoyed the oyster burger.

Verdi’s Verde Pesche has smoked salmon and pine nuts in a pesto cream sauce with spinach and fettuccine. I really enjoyed this pasta. It was very creamy and the salmon had a nice delicate taste to it. The added texture of the pine nuts was a good touch.

Straw and Hay Pasta has veal and mushrooms in a garlic and cream sauce. M liked it and there was a lot of veal in it, which is great. The sauce was very thick and creamy too.

Pollo Loco Pasta has chicken with chipotle cream cheese sauce and penne.

All the pastas come with a salad. You can choose between ranch blue cheese, Italian, French, 1000 island or Sandy’s blackberry vinaigrette.

Overall, the food was executed well and we all had a positive experience. The dining experience was pretty neat. Even with a busy floor, they were able to keep the food flowing. Nice little gem in Ucluelet. It’s very casual and relaxing.

We Rate Matterson House:

Address:
1682 Peninsula Road, Ucluelet, BC

In Food Carts

Jiggers: Fish & Chips Truck in Ucluelet

April 12, 2016

The first thing we did in Ucluelet was to pay a visit to Jiggers Fish and Chips for lunch. They are known for their Fish and Chips with locally caught fish. With the ocean so close and great produce nearby, it’s a no brainer to use the freshest ingredients possible.

Do note they are cash only. My friends went to the closest Co-op grocery store and grabbed some gum and requested cash back. A good trick to avoid ATM fees.

Their Fish and Chips truck has a permanent spot on Peninsula Road near Bay Street. There are picnic tables inside and outside, so if it’s windy/rainy, you can head inside where there are rest rooms too.

There is also a large parking lot, so plenty of room for vehicles.

The catch of the day was cod. In addition to fish and chips, they have burgers, hot dogs, corn dogs, and chicken fingers.

My friends got the one piece fish and chips, it is also served with homecut fries, coleslaw, tartar sauce and a wedge of lemon.

The one piece is quite large and it looks more like 2 pieces.

My other friend got the one piece and it seriously looks like 2 pieces too.

This is the 2 piece Fish and Chips. M and I shared this since we weren’t too hungry. The 2 pieces look like 3 pieces. The tempura batter was nice and crisp with a tender and fluffy cod underneath. It was enough for M and I to share. The tartar sauce had a good taste too.

Make sure you spritz some of the malt or white vinegar on the fish and chips.

Big Jig Burger is their loaded burger with cheese, mushrooms, fried onions, bacon, all the veggies, and all the sauces. It is also served with fries. A big burger with all the fixings.

The homecut fries are crisp and I couldn’t stop eating them. I liked to spray some of the vinegar on them to add more flavour.

Overall, the prices are a tad high, but when you do get the food, the portions are large. Plus, where else are you going to get amazing fish and chips in Ukee? I will be back for my next trip to the Island. it definitely rivals even some places in Vancouver.

We Rate Jiggers:

Address:
1685 Peninsula Road, Ucluelet

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Jiggers-Fish-Chips-178163522220314/

In Japanese

Sushi By Yuji: Nigiri and Gukan Sushi

March 7, 2016

Sushi By Yuji is on Kingsway is best known for their fresh nigri and gunkan types of sushi. After seeing lots of people commenting about my last post about Masayoshi, people told me to check out Sushi by Yuji.

The space is small and it’s best to make reservations here to guarantee a spot. On the night that we went, they had no more spots for walk ins.

Surprisingly, the menu is pretty vast with a lot of nigiris, rolls, sashimi, and a few hot items. For their freshest items, look at their board of specials.

Tea was complimentary. The server was really nice and filled it up often.

The first set of Gunkan sushi arrived. Eggs on eggs! It’s beautiful not to get.

Ikura with Quail egg was an explosive sensation in your mouth. Once you start chewing the saltiness of the ikura blends well with the quail egg.

Tokibo with quail egg was similar but with the flying fish roe. Equally as good but some people don’t like the raw quail eggs. M and I both enjoyed it.

Chopped Scallop was fresh and delicious.

Next plate arrived full of negitoro. The plain Negitoro Gunkan was good. Chopped of toro with green onions.

Because everything looks better with a quail egg, we got the negitoro with quail egg. Delicious as well.

Salmon toro nigiri was one of the special fresh items. They use wild sockeye salmon, so you will notice the warm red colours rather than the orange stripes at regular Japanese restaurants.

Salmon Carpaccio gunkan was an interesting item to see. It has green onion, salt and pepper on top. It would have been nice if there was a sauce to go with it.

Very clean flavours and different than most places.

Yuji Roll has tuna, prawn and salmon with cucumber. It has the rice wrapped on the outside. It was a good roll with fresh ingredients. The flavours didn’t stand out too much.

Tuna Toro Nigiri was cut thin and was fatty.

Overall, the quality is there but it can get a bit expensive if you are a big eater. The taste is very clean and doesn’t have any additional sauces to them.

At the end of the meal, they give you a packet of Pocky for each person. Very nice touch.

I feel like a kid again. hahaha.

We Rate Sushi by Yuji:

Address:
2252 Kingsway, Vancouver

In Japanese

Masayoshi Sushi Bar: Omakase Set

February 29, 2016

For Valentines Day, M took me to Masayoshi sushi bar to indulge in their Omakase set for $120 per person. Usually its $100, so not sure why it was a bite more expensive than normal. Even on their regular menu, it states $100. Perhaps it was because it was Valentines Day. Either way, we were excited to give it a try since it’s been on my ‘to-eat list’ for a while now.

When we made the reservations, we had no idea what would be in the set. Even when we arrived at the restaurant, the whole meal was a mystery. It was ok for us, but it seemed to bother the table beside us as they were not very keen on raw seafood…and it made me wonder why they would dine here for the omakase.

The restaurant is pretty small and seats around 20 people, perhaps a bit less. When making reservations, make sure to request to sit at the bar. We didn’t so we sat further away watching the chef do his magic.

The other tables still have the view of the chef but it’s definitely not as engaging.

Orion Beer ($12) is a larger 633 ml beer and its imported so that why its more expensive than the other beers on the menu. Nice, light, and goes well with Japanese food.

Green Tea ($3) comes in a small pot and they pour a bit of it at your table, they come by when its empty. I thought it was pretty inefficient as I am a tea guzzler, so after a while we asked them to place the pot at our table so we could pour it ourselves. Usually tea is complimentary at other restaurants, but it kinda sucks that they charge for it here and don’t say anything about it.

Skewers of avocado, tuna and mangoes came in wine glasses on a bed of shredded radish. Very simple and refreshing dish to start off the meal. I like how you can taste the freshness of each item without transforming it too much.

Shooter of baby eels and quails eggs is a mind boggling item to process as the eyes stare back at you. The way the instruct you to eat it is to just shoot it. I was excited to try it because I am a pretty adventurous eater. M looked at it for a while and shot it down with no problem. It tasted ok and it was a slimey mixture of ingredients inside.

Our neighbouring table just couldn’t eat it.

Next item is the seafood chawanmushi with a prawn, uni, eel, clam, fish, and other things. Very delicious! So much flavour in this warm egg custard.

Smoked Salmon Salad is filled with a nose tingling smoke, so when the bowl is lifted, you get a pleasant smell and a slight smoke show.

On the plate, there is papaya, apple, shio herbs, and nuts. The items didn’t seem very cohesive on the plate, but there were varying types of texture but fell a bit flat in taste.

Torched Gindara stuffed with mushroom was one of my favourite items here. It really cooked well and infused with a lot of flavour. Plus, the presentation was nice.

The most entertaining dish was the clear soup boiled in a coffee siphon machine. You have the water in the bottom chamber and the shitake, kelp, bonito and sardines in the top chamber.

As you wait for the water to boil, it slowly pushes the water up.

Once they take the fire away, the clear broth comes down. When the soup cools down a bit, they pour it into your bowls.

After waiting a few minutes, we dug in. Definitely a clean clear broth, but pretty basic.

Red rockfish nigiri, scallop nigiri, o-toro bluefin tuna nigiri and isaki nigiri was the next plate.

Of these 4, I liked the scallop and o-toro nigiri.

Tamago, needle fish nigiri, sardine nigiri, and eel nigiri. These were ok. The tamago was an interesting texture, slightly sweet and with a spongey texture. I thought there would be more layers to it.

To end the meal, matcha jelly with creme fraiche, gooseberry, blueberry and strawberry. Simple dessert to end the night.

Overall, having the omakase was a good way to taste a variety of items on the menu. They were able to create some fun unique items on their menu, but it is a bit pricey for what you get. I definitely understand they use quality ingredients and the chef has 10+ years experience coming from Tojo’s. I found they try to keep the dishes simple but some execution and flavour combinations didn’t work. It was nice to come here for the first time, but there wasn’t anything else that would draw me to come back over and over again. For the 2 of us, after tax and tip, we spent just over $300, which really hurt our wallets, but on the plus side it lasted 3 hours.

We Rate Masayoshi Sushi Bar:

Address:
4376 Fraser Street, Vancouver

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/masayoshisushi

In Granville Island

The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant: Dining on Granville Island

September 27, 2015

The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant is located on Granville Island right by the public market. They are best known for their selection of fresh Oceanwise seafood, which is sustainable and ethically caught.

They can seat up to 300 people in their space and you can see the Granville Street Bridge and False Creek.

Zomato hosted an intimate meetup in their private room for a few of their foodies and bloggers that use their site. It was a good chance to meet new foodies and of course enjoy some delicious eats.

Everyone else had a nice looking cocktail but I was a rebel and asked for a beer. I quite enjoyed the beer with the different arrays of seafood and fried items.

Raw Oysters were the first to arrive. It came with a vinaigrette sauce, horseradish, hot sauce and lemons. The oysters were shucked well so there were so bits of debris in it. They also do testing on their oysters to make sure they are free from any illness.

Ahi Poke has scallions, sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy, and a garlic chili sauce. This dish was quite heavy on the sesame oil and was quite salty from the soy sauce.

Seafood Croquette comes with a chili lime aoili sauce. There’s a lot of seafood packed inside and it was cooked well so the outside is super crunchy.

Wok Squid has garlic, chilis, onions, cilantro and ginger. It was ok, but could have used a but more chili.

California Roll and Special Scallop Roll both had very fresh ingredients but taste ok as well. It was odd how it was served with ginger and wasabi but no soy sauce. Maybe they forgot to bring it.

Sandbar Tower has jumbo prawns, oysters, clams, mussels, crab, lobster, with housemade cocktail sauce. It’s a delicious tower with plenty of seafood. A real west coast feast.

Dragonboat Platter has bbq ribs, fried oysters, spicy green beans, and wok squid.

Chocolate truffle cake, white chocolate cheesecake, lemon pie, Belgian chocolate pudding, and creme brulee.

It was all pretty darn awesome! We loved every bite of the dessert platter. My favourites were the Chocolate truffle cake and the Belgian Chocolate Pudding.

Assorted Cheese Plate 4 different types of cheese to end the meal.

Overall, the food was delicious and fresh. For the dishes that had more asian influences, those dishes fell a bit flat and needed some more refinement to them. My favourite part was the seafood tower and the Belgian chocolate pudding.

We Rate Sandbar Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
1535 Johnston St, Creekhouse #102
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.vancouverdine.com/sandbar

In All You Can Eat

Cockney Kings Fish & Chips: All You Can Eat

August 16, 2015

Cockney Kings Fish & Chips in North Burnaby has been here forever! They also have another location in New Westminster. I remember in High School, everyone would come here for cheap all you can eat from Monday to Wednesday and stuff their faces. It never really appealed to me.

M wanted to give it a try since he heard it was good from his friends, so after 14 years of avoiding this place, I saw what Cockney Kings is all about.

We came on a Tuesday, so this place was packed for dinner.

You can also get take-out to avoid the line up inside. We did see a lot of people ordering take out.

All You Can Eat Pollock Fish and Chips ($9.99) is only available Monday to Wednesday. They use pollock, which is a cheaper variety of fish, thus the great price. You can only order this if you dine in.

My plate came with 3 pieces and I found with all them was that the pollock was quite small and its encrusted with so much batter that all you taste is the batter. The pollock is quite bland and not juicy at all.

The all you can eat also comes with pop. A good way to wash down all that batter and chips.

M on the other hand opted to get the regular fish and chips items off the menu. 1 piece halibut and 1 piece salmon. It comes with coleslaw and a soft bun.

It’s part of the combo dinner and it was $16.25 as M wanted to upgrade a piece to halibut. It comes with a bun and coleslaw on the side.

The bun was quite large and has 2 pieces of butter on the side.

The halibut was flakey and juicy. 1000x better than the pollock! The batter is quite thin so you can really taste the fish.

The salmon is also very nice! Cooked well so its still juicy. The batter is also thin.

Having had both all you can eat and the regular menu, I would stick with the regular menu and pay a bit more.

We Rate Cockney Kings Fish & Chips:

Address:
Kensington Square
6574 Hastings Street, Burnaby

Website:
http://cockneykings.ca/

In Chinese

Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant: Dinner Feast

August 5, 2015

Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant opened up in 2009 and serves up dim sum, dinner and can cater to large events like weddings. They can hold up to 500 people. We came here for a ChineseBites dinner with other bloggers during the weekday.

The atmosphere was definitely interesting as they partitioned a section of the restaurant for karaoke and dancing. We weren’t sure if this was a normal night here or just a special event.

We had our own little area to enjoy dinner.

Fraser Court Deluxe Appetizer Platter 紅日大拼盤 has marinated jelly fish, honey garlic spareribs, jellied pork hock and five spice beef shank. All of the items were good but I wish the pork hock and beef were sliced a tad thicker.

Everyone seemed to like the honey garlic spareribs as it has a crunch exterior and the sweet sauce.

Whole Winter Melon with Seafood 八寶冬瓜盅 is always a treat to look at when its brought to the table. You can’t help but take a picture of the beautiful container that it’s in.

The soup basically had everything – duck, scallop, fish maw, crab and so many other ingredients. I enjoyed the soup, but there was a lot of items in it.

For the rest of the soup, they set it aside in a bowl. You can see that there a re a lot of items that go into making this soup.

Lobster in Supreme Soy Sauce 頭抽龍蝦 had a delicious taste, but when getting into the meat, I felt like it was a bit tough and chewy.

Chef’s Secret Recipe Jumbo Crab 招牌秘製大蟹 the crab and the lobster had a similar taste. You will need to add extra effort getting the meat out of the lobster limbs.

Sauteed Three Kinds of Seafoods with Black Fungus & Greens 金瓜雲耳炒三鮮 was great. The peas were cooked perfectly so it retained a nice crunch when biting into them.

Roasted House Specialty Chicken 秘製生焗走地雞 was my favourite dish because the chicken was still moist but the skin was nice and crispy. I would order this again.

Clams & Whole Tilapia Fish Chiu Chow Style 潮式大蜆鰂魚煲 was very delicate. When we grabbed some meat off the fish, it would fall into the broth never to be seen again. It would have been nice if it was just served on a plate and the bowl created issues.

Scallops & Egg Tofu with Eggplants in Spicy Garlic Hot Pot 漁香三子煲 was smother in a sort of chili sauce. I kinda enjoyed the silky egg tofu and eggplants.

Sliced Tender Beef with Mushrooms 醬燒肥牛粒 was ok, but the beef was not as tender as I had from other restaurant. Maybe the meat needed to be marinated for longer.

Halibut Belly with Shallots & Green Onions 京蔥頭抽哈利拔頭腩 reminded me slightly of the sauce used for the crab and lobster. Nonetheless, yummy flavour.

Baked Tapioca Pudding 西米焗布甸 is always the best option at a Chinese restaurant. Step aside red bean soup because the baked tapioca pudding is awesome.

They portion it up amongst the table and it was consumed instantly…but after taking picture of course.

Overall the food was good but some dishes started to taste similar after a while like the crab and lobster.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to dine at Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
3489 Fraser Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.frasercourt.ca/

In Chinese

Prince Seafood Restaurant: Chinese Dinner

July 23, 2015

Prince Seafood Restaurant is located right by Renfrew Skytrain and is one of the top Chinese Restaurants in Vancouver. They always draw a crowd for dinner and dim sum. Make sure you have reservations or else you may be out of luck.

Crab Meat with Fish Maw Thick Soup 金湯鮮蟹肉魚肚羹 ($20.80) it’s always good to start with soup for a Chinese dinner. My family usually orders this type of soup and it’s very delicious. If you don’t know what fish maw is, it’s the air bladder of a fish that controls its buoyancy. The taste and texture isn’t weird at all.

Diced Beef Tenderloin & Mixed Mushrooms with Black Pepper 野山菌黑椒神戶牛柳粒 ($22.80) is another favourite item of mine. I found the beef to be quite tender and had great flavour with the right amount of pepper.

Tofu Skin with Ginkgo & Pea Shoots 銀杏鮮腐皮浸豆苗 ($19.80) is one of my favourite dishes. The pea shoots were cooked perfectly and still retained it sweet taste that paired nicely with the tofu skin. I also love the milky broth.

Sizzling Oyster with Supreme Soy Sauce 鐵板頭抽生煎蠔 ($22.80) was a weird dish we ordered since my dad wanted to try it. The oyster was plump was was cooked quite well. There is a bit of caramelization on the outside of the oyster which has this amazing smokey flavour but its slightly sweet.

Scallops and Snowpeas Medley was cooked well. The snowpeas still had a nice snap to them and the scallops were very delicious.

Whole Tea Smoked Chicken was the last item that arrived at the table. There was a large gap in the service when the last dish arrived. We had to ask the waiter if this dish was on its way.

For dessert, they gave us an assortment of little treats. The almond cookie and mango rice roll things were a nice touch.

Then there is the red bean dessert with tapioca. Better than most places I would say, but I still don’t particularly like this dessert.

Overall, always a solid place for a Chinese dinner.

We rate Prince Chinese Seafood:

Address:
2881 Grandview Hwy
Vancouver, BC V5M

Website:
http://princeseafoodrestaurant.com/

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In Chinese

Nu Chinese Bistro: New Owners, New Menu

July 18, 2015

Nu Chinese Bistro is located on McKim Way inside Cosmo Plaza on the 2nd floor. They were formally known as Nu Shanghainese Bistro, but after a change in ownership the name only slightly changed. The restaurant is quite hard to find and with the group of 11 of us, a majority of us took a while to find the restaurant.

As it is on the 2nd floor, it’s not easily seen on the street either.

The interior is quite nice and spacious. They take reservations for large groups, so it’s perfect for large families to dine here.

They also have private rooms that are slightly dolled up.

So, if you have a special occasion with a large amount of people, they really can accommodate. Just be warned that the service is quite sparse and not very attentive. We always had to nudge them to change our plates and refill our tea and water. Pretty typical with some Chinese restaurants, but lets see whats on their menu.

Sautéed Black Fungus 涼拌木耳 is a cold appetizer that we started off with. It was tender, crunchy and had a subtle hint of wasabi taste. It was odd, but I strangely liked it. I was a tad sick this week, so the wasabi cleared my sinuses a little bit.

Traditional Shanghai Smoked Fish 老上海熏魚 is another cold appetizer to start off the dinner. Nicely smoked but it was a tad on the dry side. The sweet soy sauce covering each piece went well with it.

Soy-Braised Kaofu Bran with Assorted Mushrooms 四喜烤麩 was the third cold appetizer that we had. I always had a strange curiosity about the gluten, which are the porous cubes in this dish. Since it’s so porous, it soaks up the sauce nicely.

Xiao Long Bao 南翔小籠包 was the first hot item for the meal. Each bamboo container has 6 dumpling and has a sauce on the side. The dumpling was thin and had ample amount of soup inside. Pretty good.

Clay Pot Wonton Chicken Soup 砂鍋竹笙餛飩雞 is a light soup to kick off the larger heavier dishes for the evening. The pea shoots are nice and sweet and I love pea shoots.

The staff will help portion the soup so you get a little bit of everything. ConstantCravings got a little bit extra in her soup in the form of a hair. Ick.

Special Beef Wrap 撈餅牛肉卷 comes with 6 pieces. it was good but the wrap itself was a tad dense for my liking.

BC Dungeness Crab with Fried Shanghai Rice Cake BC肉蟹炒年糕 was large and has 2 crabs that make up the dish when we were here. The price varies.

We had our silver shell crackers to break open the hard exo skeleton. The crab took us a long time to crack the shell to get into it’s sweet succulent meat. Quite a messy dish but we did have wet napkins to clean the delicious sauce off our fingers. As for the rice cakes, it was ok, but I would have preferred noodles or rice to accompany this dish.

Stone Pot Braised Pork Belly Shanghainese Style 石鍋紅燒肉 was my favourite dish of the evening. The pork belly was nicely braised and full of flavour. There were also knots of tofu in the dish.

Fried Green Beans with Minced Pork 幹煸四季豆（攬菜肉鬆）was ok, but I found it to be tad limp and oily.

Braised Tofu with Seafood 瓊山海鮮豆腐 was a nice break from the heavy and oily items we ordered. The tofu was very silky.

Xiang Jiang Tea Smoked Duck 湘江樟茶鴨 comes with little buns as well. The skin of the dusk was crispy but some pieces of meat were quite dry and use more smokey flavour.

I made a mini sandwich was the meat and the bun.

Beef tenderloin and eggplant with black pepper sauce 黑椒茄子牛柳粒 was good but also quite oily.

Sichuan Style Boiled Fish 蜀香水煮魚 is a typical item I enjoy in restaurants as I love spicy. This particular dish was spicy but enjoyable since it doesn’t scald your tongue with heat for a long time.

The fish was flakey and tender.

Zhenjiang Style Ribs 鎮江骨 was good, tender and had a yummy sauce.

Eight Jewel Sweet Rice 八寶飯 was quite bright in colour with the different ingredients in it. Inside the rice, you can find red bean paste. I didn’t particularly like this dessert.

Overall, their menu selection is quite large and diverse, but I didn’t find a lot of items that I particularly loved or stood out. The braised pork belly was great but thats because I love pork belly in any shape or form.

Since they are still new, they have some kinks to work out from their dishes and service.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to dine at Nu Chinese Bistro and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Nu Chinese Bistro:

Address:
Cosmo Plaza,
2170-8788 McKim Way,
Richmond

Website:
http://www.nushanghainesebistro.com/

In Gluten Free Options

Aqua Sushi: Sashimi Brown Rice Bowls

July 6, 2015

Making a revisit to a restaurant is always great as I always discover new things on the menu. The food at Aqua Sushi has always been of great quality and I’ve been making a lot of trips there recently for lunch. My office is close by, so it’s a great alternative to the other restaurants close by.

I recently noticed their Sashimi Brown Rice Bowls that were pretty substantial for a lunch hour meal.

Spicy Tuna and Negitoro Brown Rice Bowl ($11.50) has all the sashimi mashed up with pickled ginger, veggies, wasabi on a bed of brown rice. What I liked about this rice bowl is that you can mix up the rice, tuna and negitoro all together so every bite tastes delicious. The brown rice by itself is also very delicious.

It’s a good gluten-free alternative, but don’t forget to ask them for gluten-free soy sauce! They also have less-salt soy sauce.

Wild Salmon and Tuna Brown Rice Bowl ($11.50) has 3 pieces of tuna and 3 pieces of salmon with the wasabi, pickled ginger, greens and on top of the brown rice. A beautiful and healthy lunch. I always take a wasabi lump out as I find its too much.

Overall, great spot for lunch with super healthy options.

We Rate Aqua Sushi + Juice Bar:

Address:
1764 Manitoba Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://aquajuicebar.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1764+Manitoba+Street+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=1764+Manitoba+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5Y+1H9&z=15 “]

In Chinese

Hakkasan Bistro: Modern Chinese Bistro in Richmond

July 4, 2015

Hakkasan Bistro Cafe is located in a very obscure area in East Richmond close to Ikea and the International Summer Night Market. They are a family-run establishment opened in 2007 by a mother and her two daughters. Renowned for their tasting menus, Hakkasan aspired to refine and elevate the Chinese dining experience. After 6 rewarding years, Hakkasan underwent a big renovation in 2013 and recently relaunched with the re-opening of what is a now a trendy bistro cafe that offers a new diverse menu selection in addition to tasting menus.

I wouldn’t have thought this restaurant would be located here. There’s nothing but warehouses and furniture stores nearby. Since there is no other food alternatives close by, they do draw a crowd during lunch from the stores around it. They even have grab-n-go meals for those in a rush. A taste of home without cooking anything.

I came here to dinner with the Chinesebites crew to indulge on a customized tasting menu for us. You can find these items on their regular menu.

They can cater to large groups and smaller groups. It’s always good to make a reservation since you never know if they will be very busy or not.

Honey Roasted Pork Cheeks were so good! The sweet honey sauce enrobes the tender and fatty pork cheeks. This is probably one of my favourite places to get pork cheeks now.

Chef’s Signature Whole Coconut Pork and Snow Fungus Soup is doubled boiled for over 3 hours in a the beautiful young coconut. It comes steaming hot and stay hot for a while. It serves one person or you can split with someone else but why do that when it’s so good. You need to reserve this soup a day in advanced.

The reason it needs advanced preparation is that the slow cooking method allows the coconut meat flavour to infuse into the soup creating the unique aroma and taste.

Inside you will find pieces of pork and snow fungus in the delectable chicken broth infused with coconut. It was one of my favourite dishes here. It is pricey at $22 per soup, but if it was a special occasion, I would get it. You also need to reserve this a day in advanced.

Ancient Style Salt Baked Chicken is a specialty item that needs to be reserved in advance since they need to take time to prepare this item.

The chicken is marinated with a blend of 10 different Chinese herbs and spices, then the free-range chicken is wrapped in parchment paper, place in the clay pot with a mound of coarse salt.

Once it’s open, you will see the delicious chicken hiding inside the parchment paper. It’s like Christmas, but all you get is a chicken. This slow baking technique ensures the chicken stays tender, moist, and flavourful when its done.

They prepare the chicken and portion for everyone at the table. Because of the baking process, the chicken is tender and flavourful. Of course I loved the dark meat.

Steamed Specialty Odorless Garlic Lobster is served on a bed of jasmine rice. Our table agreed that there needed to be a bit more flavour in the rice. The rice was more oily than flavourful. Perhaps if it was fried rice instead of jasmine rice, it would be a bit more enjoyable.

Braised Pork Hock is pretty massive and I drooled over this. It was nice and fatty and so much flavour. Mmmm Mmm Mmmm. Everything just really melts in your mouth.

This is another item that needs advanced ordering.

To balance out the flavour are bao/bun that is served with it. You can make some mini braised pork hock sandwiches or just dunk it into the sauce.

Hakka Homestyle Steam Egg with pork with duck yolk is a very smooth like custard. The salty duck yolk balanced out the steamed egg.

Stirfry fish with pickled cabbage was ok, I didn’t really love this dish as I felt the star of the dish was masked.

Mui Choy Stirfry was ok. I found it was quite oily and hard. I would have preferred some other steamed vegetables.

Steamed Milk Egg White Custard was the dish to end the evening. It was an ok dessert, but it didn’t wow me. I thought their dessert would be a little bit more elaborate like some of the dishes we saw tonight.

With their renovations and a revamped menu, they have some pretty good food but it is pricey. Lunch here is definitely more affordable, but dinner is a whole other experience.

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to dine at Hakkasan Bistro and my meal was comped. All thoughts are my own.

We Rate Hakkasan Bistro: