South Burnaby Archives - Page 6 of 6

In Japanese

Kura Japanese Restaurant

January 15, 2011

Since I go to Bubble Word often at Night, I always pass by Kura and it is always closed. Their ornate Japanese doors have always made me curious about this place. This curiosity made me look up every single Urbanspoon review about Kura – Chow Times, Parker Pages, The Friday Lunch, and Deeeelish.

This place seemed legit and has a long history. They have this location in Burnaby for about 14 years and another one in Japan for 25 years. They even have specials to celebrate their long legacies with both locations.

M and I decided to head over here after class for a night afternoon lunch.

The interior had very high ceilings and tables that are sectioned off with high walls. You and your friends really reel like you have lots of privacy. They also have a bar were you can sit and watch the chefs prepare your dishes.

They really emphasize their dedication to fresh daily sashimi by having a Chef feature on all their special sashimi for the day. Certain types of sashimi sell really fast.

At first glace of this picture, is this kimchi?

This is certainly not! This is Spicy Tuna Sashimi ($6.95). No kimchi ever made its way to this dish, even though it does look like kimchi.

You get a lot of sashimi for the price. The special Kura spicy sauce they have in this dish is sesame oil and hot sauce I think. It was really well made and we would get this again.

The next dish we ordered was a Small Beef Sashimi ($5.95). It came with ponzu sauce, green onions and radish. The biggest problem we had with this dish was that it was still frozen. They didn’t give it enough time to defrost, so the first piece we had were crunchy and icy.

We did wait till we finished the rest of our dishes to finish off this dish. Once the beef fully defrosted, it was really good.

M didn’t have a big stomach for the day, so he ordered Unagi ($7.95). You get 2 slabs of unagi. It came in a nice sweet glaze to flavour the eel.

M and I are still on the search for the best Ebi Mayo, so we always have to order it at a Japanese Restaurant. Kura’s Ebi Mayo ($7.95), was nicely prepared and perfectly butterflied to remove the “vein” and it made enough surface area for the mayo to adhere to the ebi.

Nothing was wrong with this dish, but Toratatsu’s Ebi Mayo is still superior.

I generally like to try a bit of everything, so I ordered the Combo D ($8.95).

This combo included:

Assorted sushi
Salad
Udon
Tempura

The assorted sushi was quite average. I really did not like how the california roll had so much rice surrounding the ingredients.

The salad had citrus sauce on top of the salad which gave it a really nice bite to the salad. I find that most japanese people like to either add ponzu sauce or citrus sauce over salad.

The tempura that came with the combo was very crisp on the outside and still remained quite firm when dipped in the tempura sauce. The vegetables are sweet potato, yam and zucchini. You get a prawn too.

The last part of the Combo D was the udon. I’m not a fan of udon, but the udon was quite normal and nothing was bad about it.

Words of Wisdom:

Meter parking on street or free parking near residential area close to Waves.
Large assortment of sashimi
Large menu (really! The menu was like a book)
Great prices, most items under $10

We rate Kura Japanese Restaurant:

Address:

4300 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

In Cafe

Cattle Cafe

January 14, 2011

Cattle Cafe may sound familiar if you have been to Cattle Hot Pot in Richmond on Alexandra Road. Same company, different style of food.

Cattle Cafe is a Hk style cafe serving up delicious meal…and are famous for their noodles.

They are usually packed during peak hours, they have limited seating, so big groups may have to wait.

Tea comes in this cute cup.

I ordered a cold milk tea ($2.50) to be simple. It tasted fine as usual.

M ordered the Banana Chocolate Milkshake ($4.95). You can really taste the banana and chocolate in it. It was good.

M got the Curry Deep Fried Pork Chop on Rice ($8.75). Comes with 2 pieces of pork chop, rice, curry sauce and a few bits of vegetables. he liked it.

I ordered the Unagi (eel) sandwich with fries ($5.75).The presentation looked normal for an HK Cafe. What puzzeled me was how could they offere an unagi sandwich for only $5. So, I opened up the sandwich and the eel does not cover 1/3 of the sandwich. I was sad because always like eating every bite with all the ingredients…especially the part with protein.

It is quite obvious their unagi was frozen and just heated up…the fries probably were too. But, this is a cafe, so we can’t expect everything to be fresh or else prices would be higher.

The overall tast was fine. Simple sandwich and it had taste.

Words of Wisdom:

Parking Underground, street parking
Decently priced food
Noodles are their specialty and items on rice.
Limited seating, best to come in 2 or 4

We Rate Cattle Cafe:

Address:

4885 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

In Cafe

Bubble World

January 13, 2011

Bubble World on Kingsway is a popular location for tons of university students to hang out and have a BBT or a light meal.

I know I come here when I am bored and have nothing to do for the night. Occasionally, I come here after clubbing when the night really sucks. It is usually fairly busy at night.

I was hanging out with the Nocturnal Vancouver crew having some bubble teas discussing food and social media.

I got the Jasmine Green Tea ($3.50). I really don’t like anything overly sweet or slushy … so i opted for this option. It tasted like the bottled teas you would find at a grocery store. Not bad at all, but sometimes I wish they could serve straight up tea in tea pots.

We ordered Salt and Peppery Chicken ($4.95).

I ordered the wonton soup (Around $5). I didn’t particularly like the wonton soup, it was a bit salty and the wontons did not taste fresh. I much prefer No 1 Beef Noodle House‘s Wonton Soup.

Words of Wisdom:

Parking on side streets
Salt and Peppery chicken is good
If you don’t like sweet drinks, ask for less sweet option

We Rate Bubble World:

Address:

4300 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

In Chinese

No 1 Beef Noodle House (Visit #2)

January 13, 2011

Since M, InsecureGirl, FragileBoy and I wanted to get some Bubble tea and quick snacks… we decided to go to No 1 Beef Noodle House.

As usual, we always get the Salt and Peppery Chicken. This time we asked for spicy sauce to go along with it. It makes it 10x better (only if you enjoy spicy). We also noticed we got less Salt and Peppery Chicken compared to the last time we came here. Click here to read our past review.

InsecureGirl ordered the Guava Red Tea. I don’t think she really enjoyed it.

FragileBoy ordered the Red Bean Slush.

I ordered the Apple Milk Tea. I had this strange fascination with flavoured Milk Teas after getting some at T&T. It was good and was not overly sweet.

Words of Wisdom:

Shanghai Dumplings are a major disappointment
Good late night hangout
Cash Only
Parking is hard to find
If you get bored, you can spot all the typos in their menu

We rate No. 1 Beef Noodle House:

They are located at:

4741 Willingdon Ave
Burnaby, BC

In Chinese

No. 1 Beef Noodle House

November 27, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words of Wisdom:

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

We rate No. 1 Beef Noodle House:

They are located at:

4741 Willingdon Ave
Burnaby, BC

In South Burnaby

Thai House Royale

October 26, 2010

Thai House Royale has been around for a long time. My parents come here all the time because they have a large variety in their menu and it is not all traditional Thai cuisines. For some dishes they add a Chinese twist to the dish. I am not a big fan of Thai dishes because of their sour characteristics of their dishes. So, usually I have to choose carefully.

Near the entrance of the restaurant, you are greeted with really nice decor, but as you walk deeper into the restaurant, the decor starts to get very depressing. It’s probably because all the tables didn’t have table clothes.

While waiting for our food, my dad suggested ordering Singha, a Thai beer. Apparently he tried it a long long time ago. I was clearly a skeptic of this choice, but nonetheless we got it anyways. The beer was nice and light. It reminded me of Sing Tao…but perhaps even better.

My little sister had the virgin Royal Thai Special. According to the image on the menu, it looks really appealing in the tall glass. When you look at the menu at C and compare it to what came to the table…it doesn’t look so appetizing anymore….looks more like frothy milk. I know you shouldn’t judge by appearances, but you gotta admit…it’s ugly. Yes, it was delicious and my sister orders it every time we go to Thai House.

The skewers are really good. We ordered 3 kinds – beef ($8.95), lamb ($8.95), and ostrich ($9.95). Yes, somehow they have ostrich meat. Satay Skewers seems like this is our family’s favorite dish because we order it every single time. Each order comes with 4 skewers and you can also do half orders as well.

All the skewers come with this curry type of sauce. Rule of thumb, don’t eat the carrot rose because you never know if they reuse it for other people’s dishes.

We ordered the curry crab, it doesn’t have a specified price to it, but when we went, it was about $33 per crab. They do it by piece rather than pound. It is best to order rice with this dish since the sauce is really really good!! Remember to ask for lots of napkins because your fingers will be really saucy! they do give you wet napkins as well.

Pinapple fried rice ($13.50) was alright, it wasn’t amazing. Compared to Tropkia’s pineapple fried rice, this does not even compare. Don’t get me wrong, this is a popular dish! 3 other tables around us had the same thing too. Inside this fried rice, there were fresh pineapples, peanuts, raisins, pork floss, egg, and chicken.

Chicken Curry ($14.95) was not my favorite dish. It had the strong sour characteristics of Thai food. I don’t think the rest of my family liked it either. We packed it to go and tweaked the flavours at home.

I have a feeling that I should stop going to Thai places if I don’t like their types of food. I’ve been here about 5 times, so there must be something the restaurant is doing right.

Words of Wisdom:

Tons of FREE parking in the parkade near Save On Foods
Good for large groups (Make reservations if its a large group)
Depending on the dish, it can be pricey
Satay Skewers are delicious

We rate Thai House:

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

In One Beaker

Nando’s Flame Grill Chicken

August 28, 2010

Hey all, M here with my first review on foodology.ca! The restaurant DesignGirl went to this fateful day was Nando’s on Kingsway near Metrotown. Now I met Nando’s for the first time while living in London, England for a year and I can tell you my expectations were high. Nando’s in London were middle to high end type restaurants with great interior design and great quality food. I was surprised when I saw Nando’s present itself as a fast food place in Metropolis, Metrotown but I had hopes for the restaurant location.

First impressions of this Nando’s restaurant was pretty bad. Bad location, and poor outside and inside presentation. Terrible doors that are found in the worst of KFC’s and when we went inside, there was duct tape holding cushions together in one booth. There was no improvement in the cashier booth either. Seriously ordering counters from McDonalds looked better. There were no fountain soft drinks, only bottles! We ordered and waited patiently for our food in our booth with a wooden number stand.

DesignGirl got the standard Nando’s order of chicken breast and a side of coleslaw. I ordered Nando’s chicken sandwich with a side of spiced rice. The food came relatively quickly, but as you can see from the pictures , they did not look that appetizing on the plates. DesignGirl’s chicken breast was on the dry side but tasty. Her side of coleslaw was awful though. It just tasted like bad lettuce and nothing else.

My chicken sandwich was delicious but small in portion. The rice was dry and not that delicious. It was so bad that we spent a total of 10 minutes there and left. I guess the only positive way to look at this Nando’s experience was that the coke bottle was cold and refreshing.

Perhaps I am looking at Nando’s the wrong way. In London it’s an actual restaurant like Earl’s and Cactus Club here in Vancouver, but maybe the Nando’s in Canada just presents itself as a fast food slash restaurant hybrid. If so, who can explain the bill coming to $28.99 with mandatory tips? Tips??? There was no waiter or waitress, only a cashier and cook! You don’t see people tipping in KFC do you?

You can easily find better chicken sandwiches anywhere else and Church’s Chicken spiced rice tastes so much better with actual chicken bits in it too! The price was too high, you can eat great food at a real restaurant with that money.

Nando’s is great for their Peri-Peri sauce, and London Nando’s makes a great deal about it. However, the Nando’s here seemed to have stopped trying. Just buy their Peri-Peri sauce and make your own chicken at home!

If you are looking to pay a lot of money for a nice seat in chicken restaurant to eat… Buy an airplane ticket to London, England’s Nando’s Chicken! If not, do not go to Nando’s in Vancouver and head over to KFC or Church’s!

We rate Vancouver Nando’s Chicken: