Mount Pleasant/Main Street Archives - Page 8 of 8

In Brunch

8 1/2 Restaurant + Lounge

March 7, 2011

M and I had no clue where to eat brunch on a lovely Sunday morning. I’m sure there are plenty of places to go, but my brain was not working that day. I recall KoreanGirl saying something about 8 1/2, so we went there without her (oops). I’m sure she doesn’t mind. =)

They serve west coast dishes and really pride themselves by making everything fresh and made to order. All their ingredients are local too. On the weekends the have brunch!

Their interior is really nice and modern. They also have a bar if you want to drink up!

This is their menu, if you came here during brunch time, but felt like something else, you can order that too. For brunch they serve the usual items.

They started off giving us cucumber water, if you haven’t had this before, it’s really unique when you add cucumber to water!

We ordered the Orange Juice ($ 2.50). Their juices are freshly squeezed as well.

I ordered the Wild Salmon Benedict ($9.50). It hasWild BC smoked salmon, dill cream cheese, 2 poached eggs, capers and hollandaise sauce served with rosemary potatoes and fruit. The hollandaise sauce was a bit different than what I am usually use to. It just tasted like mayonnaise. The poached eggs were done very nicely and were super gooey and yummy.

I wished there was a bit more wild salmon because the hollandaise sauce really drowned out the flavour. The rosemary potatoes and fruit on the side were good as well.

M ordered the Feature Hash ($ 11.50). The hash contained steak and cherry tomates, with rosemary potatoes, 2 slices of toast, and topped with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.

M liked the dish but really felt like the hollandaise sauce really ruined the taste of the dish.

The bill came out to be $30. Which, I guess if you go to a lounge for brunch, it’s an ok price. M really would not come here again for brunch since right across the road is Nice Cafe, which serves brunch as well for super cheap. Over all, the food was decent, but I think it was the hollandaise sauce that killed it for us.

Words of Wisdom:

Fresh local ingredients
Weekend/ Holiday Brunch
Daily specials

We rate 8 1/2 Restaurant + Lounge:

Address:

151 East 8th Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.eightandahalf.ca

In Japanese

Zipang Sushi

January 17, 2011

ConsultingGirl was craving for some Japanese food, so I suggested we try this place out. PinappleBun is always talking about it too, raving how amazing this little Japanese Restaurant.

The interior is really cozy. Not the best place for big groups, unless you call ahead of time.

Tea in cool cup!

We started off with the Spicy Agedashi Tofu ($3.95). It has 4 pieces of deep fried tofu with green onions and spicy sauce.

Next we ordered the Assorted Deep Panko Fry ($7.95). This is essentially tempura, but instead of tempura batter, it has japanese bread crumbs coating the items to give them a crunchier texture. In the assorted dish were 2 prawns, 2 oysters and one croquette.

As in most our Japanese restaurant reviews, we always order the Ebi Mayo ($5.95). When it arrived at our table, we really had no idea what we were looking at. It was greens with mayo slop. Presentation quite horrible. When you stick your chop sticks and pull and ebi out, the delicious fried ebi is revealed. The ebi was quite average and it was not extraordinary but still well made despite it’s appearance.

In the future, you can ask for the mayo to be on the side to avoid mass amounts of mayo.

Up next in our food adventures was Beef tataki ($7.95). It has a sweet citrus soy sauce with green onions, and other little items to eat the tataki with. The beef tataki was a little bit thick for what we usually enjoyed eating, so it didn’t really hold too much of the sauce.

We also ordered the Zipang Roll ($5.95). Rolls that are named after the restaurant is usually really good and popular. In the cause with the Zipang Roll, yet it was! The zipang roll has scallop, salmon, radish sprouts and has tofu skin around the rice.

We also ordered the negitoro roll ($2.95). It is a mixture of tuna belly and green onions. Pretty standard amongst Japanese restaurants. it was good, but who doesn’t like tuna belly right? Delicious!

ConsultantGirl ordered the scallop nigiri ($1.25) and I had the Toro Nigiri ($2).

We next ordered the six piece sockeye salmon sashimi ($8.50). This was a different than the usual orange salmon you get at other places. If you want the orange ones, you won’t find it here.

The flavour of the sockeye salmon tasted fresh and yummy. I never usually eat this with soy sauce. I find that the soy sauce over powers the natural taste of the salmon. Personal preference I suppose.

The second to last item we got was Spider Roll ($7.25). No spiders were harmed in the making of the roll, but I can tell you a soft shell crab did die.

Man, we ordered a lot of food! This is the Kairan Roll ($6.25). It is a scallop roll with avacado and salmon on the top. Very enjoyable!

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking near residential areas
Low prices, great quality
Large Variety in menu

We Rate Zipang:

Address:

3710 Main St
Vancouver, BC

In Dessert

Sweet Revenge

December 4, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words of Wisdom:

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

We rate Sweet Revenge:

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

They are located at:

4160 Main Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada

In Brunch

Nice Cafe

November 23, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

Word of Wisdom:

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

We rate Nice Cafe:

They are located at:

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

In Mexican

Chronic Tacos

October 26, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words of Wisdom:

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

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

We rate Chronic Tacos:

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

In Brunch

Locus

October 23, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words of Wisdom

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

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

We rate Locus:

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

In Cafe

Marulilu Cafe

October 19, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words of Wisdom:

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

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

We rate Marulilu Cafe:

Marulilu Cafe is located at:

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

In Chinese

Sun Sui Wah

October 2, 2010

When the whole family gets together, what is the first thing you want to do? If the answer is going out for FOOD, that is RIGHT!

My relatives and I headed out to Sun Sui Wah on Main Street to have some awesome afternoon tea. They have free parking underground so finding a parking spot was not problem at all. Taking the elevator up from the parking lot, we walked into the restaurant and saw the pretty décor. On one of the walls was a traditional dragon and bird panel. On the ceiling, there was a long white fabric draping down. It was neat to look at and it opened up the space for more light.

We sat down and our place setting consisted on Chopsticks, teacup, bowl, and saucers. All normal. Looking at the vast menu, I had no idea what I was doing, so I sat there and waited for the oldies to order food. They ordered off a Chinese menu with no English, so I have no idea what something’s are called, but I hope you enjoy the photos.

The first dish that came was roasted squab. This is one of their signature dishes for Sun Sui Wah.

The second dish was a cold cut platter. It contained 7 spice beef, tofu curds, red clam, jelly fish, and fried imitation crab.

The third was Fresh lobster and crab sauteed with superior stock.

The fourth dish was Shark’s fin soup with fish maw and crab meat.

The fifth dish was Pan fried e-fu noodles. This came in a bigger bowl but the server split it up amongst the people at the table.

The sixth dish was Sauteed prawns and scallops with vegetables.

The seventh dish was fish in a sweet and sour sauce. I was not a big fan of the dish because I have never seen fish with sweet and sour sauce.

For dessert, we ordered baked tapioca.

The next dessert we have is mango pudding. This mango pudding has bits of real mango inside and topped with evaporated milk.

The mango pillows were really unique. I have never seen them at any other restaurant before. It is basically a piece of mango and whipping cream wrapped in a crepe skin.

Overall Sun Sui Wah is a really nice Chinese restaurant for Dim Sum or a large family dinner. Being a bit more expensive than normal chinese restaurants, Sun Sui Wah does offer nice decor and better quality food.

We rate Sun Sui Wah:

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

In Mount Pleasant/Main Street

Splitz Grill

September 26, 2010

M here, is it just me or am I the one who’s reviewing all the really really junky foods? This time me and DesignGirl went to Splitz Grill on Main. The outside of the place is nothing to write home about. Inside however, it is very spacious compared to other burger places I’ve been in.

Ordering in Splitz Grill is like a school cafeteria. You order then move down the line and pick the toppings and sauce you want for your burger. It was really nice to get to choose your veggies for your burger like Subway. They even had Alfalfas! DesignGirl got their normal burger and I got the double stacked one. (I was hungry!)

We ordered it with onion rings and poutine for sides. They gave us plastic cups for the fountain drinks, and it was sort of lame that refills cost 25 cents extra. Vera’s has free refills, and so does any non-greedy food place with self serve fountain drinks. And even McDonalds now that I think of it! The onion rings were subpar. At least they were better than Burger King onion rings, (no onions in those). The fries in the poutine were very greasy and tasteless. Very disappointing.

The burgers themselves were great! They were about the same as Burger’s Etc. burgers but not as good as Vera’s. One thing better than Vera’s were the buns. The buns were very strong, so the meal wasn’t as messy as it could’ve been. I’m still curious why every burger place doesn’t use buns as strong as Splitz.

The bill came to be about $35. Very pricey considering the bill racked up more for the sides that were not worth it.

There are a lot of burger places out there that are better than this place. Why would you pay the same price or more for less quality? Would recommend going once, just to try alfalfas in a burger and marvel at the strong bun. If you are ever on Main Street, check it out!

Rate:

In Mount Pleasant/Main Street

Burgoo ( Main)

September 18, 2010

I always pass by Burgoo on Main and seeing their bright blue sign, so on Tuesday, M, FragileBoy, InsecureGirl and I decided to go here after classes.

We heard good reviews of this place so we were excited! The interior décor was nice and mostly wooden, so it reminded me of a barn. But maybe that ties in with their theme of comfort food cause a lot of comfort food comes from the south.

On the table, there was nice candlelight and fresh flowers too!

We started off the meal with our drinks. Fragile boy ordered the Burgoo Pale Ale, he said the beer was not bad but it was a bit sweet compared to the types of beers he drinks. I tried a bit of it and I did not understand what he was saying cause I always think all beers taste the same.

I got the Caipirinha which is a Brazilian drink made out of sugar cane rum, sugar, ice and lime. I first heard about this drink when I was in Europe 2 years ago during an exchange to Vienna, Austria. The drink is pretty strong, so I turn into Rudolph.

M had the Homemade Strawberry Lemonade, which reminded me of freckled lemonade from Red Robins. There were the strawberries and syrup on the bottom and the lemonade on the top. When you looked at the glass, it has a gradient to it.

Before all our dishes came, they gave us bread!

M ordered the crab bisque, which contained a smooth crab and red pepper cream bisque with tarragon, and chopped parsley. M liked the soup but too bad it did not have bits of crab in it.

We all shared the Gooey Cheese Grillers. It was golden brown and extra crispy on the outside. On the inside the gooey gooey deliciousness was composed of melted Mozzarella, Gruyere, Emmenthal and white Cheddar! I have never had a sandwich with so many different cheeses. Emmenthal is used in cheese fondue…fyi. So it tastes like a cheese fondue in a sandwich. We didn’t order the salad with it, so instead of $12, it was $8!!

FragileBoy got the Beef Bourguignon! One of Julia Child’s dishes from her cookbook! If you saw the movie “Julia and Julia”, you would know the dish is made of red wine braised beef with caramelized pearl onions, carrots and mushrooms. This was served over mashed potatoes. FragileBoy liked it.

M’s main dish came which was the Kentucky Burgoo, which is basically like a stew. It contained slow cooked meats with lima beans, corn, tomatoes, cabbage and okra served over Burgoo biscuits. Burgoo Biscuits were essentially scones. He chose the Burgoo biscuits and he regretted it because he felt the mashed potatoes would complement this better. FragileBoy and I commented the stew was slightly sweet.

IndecisiveGirl ordered the tasty chicken sandwich with the pacific chowder. The Pacific Chowder had smoked salmon, seafood and potato, finished with green peas and fresh herbs. Her tasty chicken sandwich came in a multigrain bun with roasted chicken, apple, cucumber and greens with house Dijonnaise. She seemed satisfied with her meal, but for some reason she had a lot of trouble holding on to her sandwich.

I had the Ratatouille Provençale. For some reason, I thought of the ratatouille movie. I expected something completely different that what arrived at the table. The ratatouille had oven-roasted vegetables in savory tomato and garlic baked with parsley, breadcrumbs and Chevre, finished with extra virgin olive oil. It came in a bowl type of thing and was predominantly tomato sauce…so it felt like eating pasta with red sauce without the spaghetti. The pieces of vegetable were small and not like the images I see on Google. I was fairly disappointed with the dish. I could only eat about 1/4^th of it because it was fairly bland. This could have used some hot sauce if they had any.

I would not come again for dinner or eat from the comfort section of the menu. It was a bit too heavy for me and way too “comfortable” for my pallet. I would consider coming for lunch and having more gooey cheese grillers!

When the bill came, it was in a very cute dim sum container. It was bit a bit random, but I assume it complemented the international aspect of the menu.

Dinner came out to be about $20ish per person.

If you love grilled cheese sandwiches and comfort food, go to Burgoo! Their menu showcases comfort food from various places of the world. For about $15 – $20, you can enjoy a delicious dinner. Just watch out for what you choose on the menu because comfort food does not mean it’s healthy for you.

We rate Burgoo: