Japanese Archives - Page 14 of 20

In BBQ

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ: $7.95 Lunch Combo and Happy Hour

March 11, 2012

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ is a new Japanese restaurant that opened up Downtown. It’s located beside Relish Gastopub and below Guu Garden.

They have a lot of good lunch combos and even a Happy Hour special. They sell Japanese BBQ grill dishes, noodles, rice and other dishes. You can have a good lunch for under $10 after tax.

The interior is really quite nice and there’s lots of space. Perfect for games too since they have a projector.

Fried Chicken Karrage (Reg. $5.50 | Happy Hr. $3.50) this was really delicious! I’ve had a lot of chicken karrage in the past and this is my favorite Karrage at the moment. The chicken meat is very moist and the fried exterior is crispy and perfectly flavoured. There is also mayo and lemon if you need extra taste.

Spicy Tuna Volcano (Reg. $6.95 | Happy hr. $3.95) comes with 4 pieces. The rice is deep fried with tuna and a wasabi sauce on top.

The rice inside was actually moist looking normal rice. The tuna was tender and had a good texture. The thing that some of us didn’t like was the wasabi sauce. If you aren’t a wasabi person, ask for the sauce to be removed.

BiBimBap (Reg. $7.95 | Happy Hr. $5.95) was not very good. Unlike typical Korean BiBimBap, there wasn’t much oil in the stone bowl, so a lot of the items just burned. MeatLover really didn’t like this dish.

If you order some lunch combos, you will get an additional salad or miso soup.

The salad was good and refreshing with egg, cucumbers, greens, pepper, radish and a mild sauce.

The miso soup was quite standard. Nothing too special

Chicken Karaage Bowl Combo ($7.95) comes with miso soup and salad. The chicken karaage is similar to the appetizer but with seaweed, mayo and green onions over rice.

Kuppa ($7.95) comes with salad. Don’t get this confused with Koopa from Mario. It has a rich broth soup with rice, beef, egg, and some other items. I liked it because I have this weird fascination for soup and rice.

Overall, price-wise was good and affordable for lunch. The Happy Hour deals were a bit confusing since it says you need a minimum of $15 spent per person. For all of our appetizers, we expected to pay the regular price, but to our surprise the happy hour price was applied even though we did not spend $15 per person.

Words of Wisdom:

$9.99 pitchers of beer of Canucks game day
Some items are a hit and miss
Under $10 lunch specials
Happy Hour Lunch deals

We Rate Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ:

Address:

888 Nelson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://www.gyu-kaku.com/

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In Downtown

Hapa Izakaya Coal Harbour: New Beginnings

March 8, 2012

Hapa Umi was the higher-end restaurant of the Hapa Izakaya chain. From hearing much feedback from the customers, they decided to change Hapa Umi into Hapa Izakaya Coal Harbour. The prices are much lower and you will be having similar items to the other Hapa Izakaya restaurants.

Flo heard about the Grand Opening and how the first 40 people to make a reservation gets 30% off through Twitter. Since we like deals we quickly made a reservation online and came here after work. I also forgot my memory card at home, so I’m sorry the pictures aren’t as good.

The interior is the same and has a nice modern vibe. The hostess and the service was really good.

Kakuni ($10.99) is braised pork belly green pepper sauce and grilled garlic bread. This was my favorite dish. The pork belly literally just melts in your mouth and the green pepper sauce accompanies it very well. Definitely something you need to try!

Just look at that pork belly! If you are afraid of fat, just eat it! Sometimes fat is good for you. Flo and I just gobbled this whole dish quite quickly. YUMMM.

Seafood Rissotto Ishiyaki ($11.49) has scallops, squid, halibut, mushrooms, parmesan, shiso leaves and yuzu zest. It’s like a soupy rice in a stone bowl. It was good, but we both didn’t like the addition of the shiso leaves. It just has a minty taste to it. Just a personal preference.

Trout carpaccio ($10.99) has salmon style steel head trout with potato wedges, grainy mustard, vinaigrette and wasabi sour cream. This dish was quite different from any other carpaccio dish I’ve seen. The trout really looked like salmon, but was very delicious. At times I found that the potatoes were a weird pairing with the salmon. But… that’s just me since I’m not a potato person. Regardless, it was something new that no other izakaya place has created.

Ebi mayo ($8.99) is tempura wild shrimp and spicy mayo sauce. This was a disappointing dish since we both felt the tempura of the shrimp became very mushy because of the sauce. Flo said she preferred the mayo on the side.

A good thing about this dish is that the shrimp is quite large!

Banana Chocolate Cake was good, but different for a place like Hapa Izakaya. The banana bread has lots of chocolate chips inside but I felt like the cake could be much warmer. This dessert was just so-so.

Overall, it was great to see the change in their menu be similar to their other locations. If you like the other Hapa Izakaya locations, you’ll like this one too.

Words of Wisdom:

Great taste
Order their Fresh Sheet items
Can get a bit expensive
More higher end compared to other Japanese Izakaya Restaurants
Great place for special occasions

We Rate Hapa Izakaya Coal Harbour:
Address:
909 W Cordova St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://hapaizakaya.com/

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In Four Beakers

Yutaka: New Sushi Restaurant on Main Street

February 15, 2012

Hello Internet! Today Abbytizer and I checked out a new restaurant on Main Street called Yutaka. This restaurant opened late of last year and it hasn’t had a grand opening yet, just a “soft” opening. This restaurant is slowly becoming a neighborhood favorite. Abbytizer saw this restaurant on the bus and we decided to try it.

The inside of the restaurant has a simple modern touch to it.

Miso Soup ($1.25)– A standard miso that’s at a reasonable price.

Ebi sunomono ($3.25)– A standard small ebi sunomono but with a lot of baby shrimp which made it quite enjoyable.

Oysters ($2.50) We ordered two fresh oysters. The oysters we’re fine and nothing spectacular, Abbytizer and I have had better at other seafood restaurants.

Salmon Carpaccio ($8.50) – The salmon was fresh. The balsamic vinegar just blends perfectly with the salmon, making the salmon melt in your mouth. Abbytizer and I enjoyed this dish.

Age King Oyster Mushroom ($4.00) – Lightly breaded mushrooms seasoned with Tograhi, making the mushrooms have a delicious crispy crunchy taste. Also there is a slight kick of spice to each bite. Abbytizer and I devoured this dish. It’s totally worth its value and the size of portion is enough for two people.

Negitoro ($3.50) and Fire Roll ($10.50) – First of all the Negitoro was extremely fresh and melted in your mouth. This is probably one of the best negitoro rolls I’ve had in a while. Also this roll wasn’t on the menu, due to the soft opening the menu is not completely finished.

Fire Roll ($10.50)– The fire roll consist of 10 pieces loaded with scallops, salmon and tiny bitts of deep-fried bread with cream cheese in the middle. The fire roll is not spicy, but still delicious.

Ebi Filo ($5.00) – Filo is usually on Greek pastries but this restaurant has a modern take on spicy ebi mayo. This dish has the 3 pieces of deep-fried shrimp and covered in filo making this dish very flakey and crispy. This dish is delicious and the mayo sauce on the side compliments it perfectly.

Beef Tatakai ($8.00)– This dish was a big disappointment after already having some delicious dishes. The beef tataki was extreme cold, and not completely thawed out. Abbytizer’s first bite of this was literally ice-cold meat. We sent the dish back and the waitress took the dish off our bill.

Tropical Delight Lime ($5.50 -large, $3.50 -small) consisting of, guava, lychee, passion fruit and mango. The drink is very tangy and refreshing, the only thing is missing is rum or vodka.

Overall, despite the disappointing beef takaki, Abbytizer and I enjoyed every dish we had here. For a soft opening restaurant, that doesn’t have a completed menu, it has a lot to offer at a very reasonable price. I’ll definitely come back for the Age King Oyster Mushroom.

Words of Wisdom:

Friendly Staff
Weekly Specials
Lunch Special
Pick Up is available

We Rate Yutaka:

Address:

4148 Main Street
(Main & King Edward),
Vancouver, BC, Canada V5V 3P7

Website:
www.yutakacuisine.com

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In Four Beakers

Motomachi Shokudo: Another Great Ramen Shop

February 12, 2012

Motomachi Shokudo is another ramen restaurant on Denman Street. It’s related to Kintaro, but they do offer a different style of ramen….plus the wait is much much shorter. I love how the restaurant sign has french “Nouilles du ramen japonaises”. I am sure you can tell what that means. Japanese Ramen Noodles! M and I came with PikachuGirl since it was one of her favorite ramen places.

Even with a bit of a wait, we got seated in about 10 minutes.

The interior is very rustic with lots of wood and concrete textures. It’s quite small, but the turnover rate of each table is quite fast. The food comes out quite fast too and the staff seemed very efficient! I was impressed.

Green Tea ($1). It was not free unlike most Japanese Restaurants and it was just a tea bag. I would have expected something nicer, but it didn’t bother me too much since I just wanted green tea to accompany the meal. You know me, I need tea!

Butchigiri Gyoza ($3.75) was longer than usual gyozas, but it was packed with pork and chives. Delicious!

Petit BBQ Pork Rice Bowl ($2.95) it was small, but it was very good. It was a good size before the ramen comes. It doesn’t get you full but if you are in a super hungry mood, it’ll keep you occupied before the ramen comes.

Shio Ramen ($8.95) comes with an egg, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, green onions, and large slice of pork. What is great about their ramen is that you get all those toppings without paying extra.

Extra BBQ Pork Ramen with Extra noodles ($10.95 + $1) has bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, egg, greens, seaweed and lots of pork! M really liked it because there really was a lot of meat and so much food. He was so full he couldn’t finish all the noodles. Perhaps the extra serving of noodles wasn’t necessary.

If you look at the pork, it was bit fatty, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Its up to personal preference.

Bamboo Charcoal Dark Miso Ramen ($9.75) is one of their specialties and it was an interesting experience since I’ve never had such dark broth before. The broth has a nice flavour to it, but was a tad salty and rich. The slice of pork was very tender and not super fatty, which I liked. I wish they had one more extra slice of pork. The noodles have a good texture too.

It was a good experience, but try not to eat too messy because the bamboo charcoal may ruin your clothes.

If you want to tweak the taste of your ramen, there are a few spices you can put in.

Overall, the prices are decent and you get lots to eat without paying extra. We all got super full and walked out happy.

Words of Wisdom:

Good broth and noodles
No much parking around
Under $10

We Rate Motomachi Shokudo:

Address:
740 Denman St
Vancouver, BC

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Vancouver

In Japanese

Ebisu Flair Dining Package Review

February 7, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Ebisu flair” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and I brought along Flo (she’s a picky eater) to keep the review as unbiased as I could. This review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant.

I’ve been to Ebisu several times and I see it more as a place for large birthday parties since I only come here for that. For Flo, she sees it more as a place to drink and have appetizers. Essentially its a restaurant lounge.

With the VANEATS Ebisu Flair Dining package, it can either make 1 person really full or for 2 people. The package doesn’t say how many it can feed. Flo and I just shared a package and then ordered an item off the menu. It worked out pretty well.

The Ebisu Flair Dining Package comes with 5 items:

Aigamo Duck Salad
Salmon Carpaccio
Tiger Mayo
Crunch & Munch Roll
Mars Attack

The interior is a good size, but some seating is a bit tight if you’re not sitting in a booth. The package doesn’t seem like its meant for a large group type of setting, but more for a date type of thing.

Tiger Mayo has deep fried Black Tiger prawns with a sweet chilli mayonnaise sauce.

The tiger mayo did not have very much flavour on it’s own. The batter and chilli mayo adds a little bit of a kick since there are bit of spice in it. The batter is coated quite thin, so you can tell the tiger prawns are a nice plump size.

Salmon Carpaccio has Atlantic salmon marinated in olive oil topped with citrus white wine mayo & garlic chips

This dish was good, but I felt that with the mayo and the bundle of sprouts covered up the salmon carpaccio. You kinda have to dig to find the salmon. It’s just a personal preference of mine.

Aigamo Duck Salad is made of roasted duck and sauteed button mushrooms served on greens and peppers in a citrus infused ginger dressing.

The salad was quite good and the duck was nice and tender. I thought the orange slices added a dash of color to the dish. The dressing went well with the salad.

Crunch & Munch Roll is made of prawn tempura, cucumber, tobiko wrapped with unagi & avocado. Its served with unagi & wasabi cream sauce on top.

It’s good to eat this when it arrives before the tempura gets a bit soggy. You wouldn’t want the crunch to disappear. This roll was alright, but it wasn’t too amazing or anything.

Mars Attack is made with a deep fried Mars Bar served with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream on corn flakes.

When this arrived at the table, the atmosphere got way too romantic between Flo and I hahaha. This dessert is perfect for dates since its a fun kind of dessert. I really liked the deep fried mars bar since the chocolate and caramel is a bit melted. The ice cream does cut a bit of the fried taste.

Stamina Beef Don ($10.50) has slices of medium rare beef on rice with yakiniku sauce. Flo and I didn’t like this dish at all. The meat was cut quite large and it was very tough to eat. It was very hard to eat.

Overall, we found the the dining package was worth the $20, if you split it between 2 people all you need to do is add an extra dish to get full. The service can be a hit or a miss. In the past I’ve had good and bad service here. The only thing that I really didn’t like was how they charge $3 for tea when most places don’t charge, plus the waitress never said anything.

You can purchase the Ebisu flair Dining Package at VANEATS.ca for $20 beginning on February 9th. Its a good way to see their variety of dishes that they offer without breaking your wallet.

All the items are on their regular menu too! Seeing the Crunch & Munch roll on its own is already about $11, you definitely are getting a good deal.

Words of Wisdom:

$3 charge on tea 🙁
Some dishes are a hit or a miss
Pay parking in the rear
Reservations highly recommended!

We Rate Ebisu:

Address:

827 Bute St.
Vancouver, BC

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In Coquitlam

I Love Sushi: No Love Was Found Here

February 1, 2012

I Love Sushi is located on Schoolhouse near the Coquitlam Silvercity Theatre. This restaurant has a really cute name and thats why I initially wanted to go here. The first time we went, we arrived 30 minutes before they closed, but they would not serve us since they were only doing take-out orders. Understandable, but we were still not happy. M and I came back weeks later since I’m running out of places to try in Coquitlam.

I Love Sushi sells the usual items you would find in a Japanese restaurant.

The menu is here!

Edamame Beans (Complementary) everyone gets these at their table. They were alright, but its on the small side.

Philadelphia Roll B ($7.88) has fresh salmon, cream cheese, avocado, and cucumber. It was pretty good. I always love the creamy texture with the avocado and salmon. Yum.

Caterpillar Roll ($7.88) has unagi, cucumber, and topped with whole avocado. The avocado seemed a bit unripe and stiff, so it would fall off the roll when you pick it up. It still tasted alright, but it was missing something.

Soft Shell Crab Karaage ($6.95) is deep fried soft shell crab. It also tasted a bit average since the fried batter was not as crisp as it could be. It also tasted a bit bland, but thats why the sauce works well with this dish.

Overall, the sushi rolls were alright, but nothing amazing. M was quite disappointed as well by the price and quality of the food. I probably would not return since there are a few other sushi places that opened up in the area. Nonetheless, it is still a neighbourhood favorite for people who live in the area. You may have had a different experience than me.

Words of Wisdom:

A tad expensive for what you get
Not a lot of variety in their combos
Mediocre Service
Good before or after the movies
Free parking in front

We Rate I Love Sushi:

Address:
#3, 228 Schoolhouse Street
Coquitlam, BC
Website:
http://www.ilovesushi2009.com/

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In Coquitlam

Narita Sushi: The Usual Suspects

January 25, 2012

Coming down from SFU, a few of us wanted to get some sushi, but the place we wanted to go to wouldn’t let us order even though they were open. So, we drove to Narita Sushi as an alternative.

They are located close to the SilverCity Theatres in Coquitlam. They have all the usual sushi and typical items.

Tea!

Edamame (Complementary). It tasted quite normal, which is good! No complaints here

Negitoro Roll and Alaska Roll

Negitoro Roll has pieces of tuna with green onions. Its a bit different than other places where they just mash them all together.

Alaska roll has crab, avocado, cream cheese, cucumber, and topped with smoked salmon.

Ebi Sunomono ($3.75) has tons of little shrimp! Look at all of that!

Takoyaki

Sushi Box Combo ($13.50) has ebi nigiri, tuna nigiri, salmon nigiri, dynamite roll, tempura, green salad, gyoza, ebi sunomono, and miso soup.

The box was huge! I barely finished it since the dynamite roll was quite large. The tempura was really good, but I found the other items decent. I wasn’t a fan of the sauce on the dynamite roll since I like the rolls to be dipped in soy sauce instead.

Miso Soup that comes with the combo is the usual stuff.

Sunomono (the one the comes with combo) is a tad bit smaller with a bit less ebi, but it still tasted good. It was nice and refreshing.

Here are size comparisons between the sizes of the sunomono dishes. The larger one is the ala carte version and the one on the right, its the one that comes with the combo.

Rolls with spicy salmon, crab meat and avocado (Complementary). We aren’t too sure why this came to our table, but the chef just gave this to us. It tasted alright.

Overall, the food was pretty average. Nothing really “wow-ed” me, but its a good place in the neighbourhood to get some rolls and bento boxes that will fill you up!

Words of Wisdom:

Very large bento boxes
Tons of Parking
Good Service
Bring movie ticket from Silvercity for 5% off (Dine-in with minimum order of $25)

We Rate Narita Sushi:

Address:

#408-100 Schoolhouse Street
Coquitlam, BC V3K

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In Downtown

Japadog: Yakisoba Japadog

January 22, 2012

By now, almost everyone in Vancouver has probably heard of Japadog. They are famous for having Japanese inspired hotdogs.

They have even attracted may celebrities visiting Vancouver.

They have even expanded into New York!

Everything is prepared at the cart and you can see them hard at work!

Yakisoba Japadog ($7) has a pork sausage topped with yakisoba noodles and pickled ginger on a toasted bun. It tasted really good, but it was kinda messy to eat.

They also have super unique types of japadogs such as the edamame one where the sausage has beans. They do have regular hotdogs too, but why have that when you can have a Japadog!

Words of Wisdom:

Better than the usual hotdog stands
Under $10
Can be a bit expensive
Good place to take tourists since it’s world-famous
Terimayo, Oroshi and Okonomi is most popular

We rate Japadog:

Location:

Burrard and Smith

Website:

http://www.japadog.com/

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In Japanese

Sushi Izumi: Food Court Sushi

January 15, 2012

Hello Internet! RomanJ here with another review. Today we check out the Sushi Izumi in the Metrotown food court. During the holidays I spent a lot of time in the mall shopping for gifts. To satisfy my sushi craving without having to leave the mall, I tried Sushi Izumi, which is right besides Nando’s Chicken. Sushi Izumi has a big selection of combos, rolls and dons to choose from.

I ordered the Maki Combo ($7.75), which consists of a Salmon Roll, a California Roll and a Tuna Roll with avocado. In addition to the combo, I also ordered a Salmon Sashimi ($6.95).

The Maki Combo: Salmon Roll, California roll and the Tuna roll we’re okay to begin when I started eating. As I started to devour the rolls, I notice that the sushi rice has a slight pale taste to it, affecting each roll with every bit leaving me not to enjoy my rolls.

The Salmon Sashimi was surprisingly adequate, it was not too cold or too warm and it wasn’t thawed out. I enjoyed the Salmon Sashimi over the rolls.

Overall, I would probably not go here for the sushi rolls and the best item on the menu from what I have tasted is the Sashimi.

Words of Advice

Don’t get the rolls
Always ask for more soy sauce (2 packs isn’t enough)
Busy during peak hours

We Rate Sushi Izumi:

Address:

4820 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC V5H

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In Japanese

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House: A Little Dash of Korean

January 7, 2012

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House is located in South Burnaby and I’ve always heard great things about their noodles. Since there was nothing else to do, I decided to go have a bowl of ramen with M to waste some time.

There are large booths and smaller tables inside the restaurant. When we walked in, we knew right away that this place was Korean owned. They even have buzzers on the table to signal the servers, so you don’t need to wave them down.

We found that even with the buzzers, the service was still mediocre.

No surprise, I love tea. The tea tastes like the Korean tea that you get at Korean restaurants.

Gyoza ($5.95) it comes in 6 pieces with ponzu sauce and it was pretty good. Good amount of pork inside.

Ji Su Men ($8.95) is ramen with sliced chicken. M hated this so much. It barely had any chicken and it tasted like a bowl of Korean noodles. Since he’s Korean, he didn’t expect the ramen to taste so Korean.

Don Ko Chi ($7.95) is made with pork bone soup with slices of pork. It was a decent size and the broth was very very good. I’m not sure why they named this dish – Don Ko Chi, but I think a better name is Tonkatsu.

The pork was slightly tough but still had a good amount of flavour.

Overall, I think a few dishes are a hit and a miss. Do remember that most of the dishes here have a bit of a Korean influence. You aren’t getting 100% authentic Japanese Ramen.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Parking in front
Mediocre Service
Korean influenced Japanese food
Don Ko Chi is the only good ramen

We Rate Kenzo Japanese Noodle House:

Address:
6907 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

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In Four Beakers

Sushiyama: Amazing Japanese Food!

January 6, 2012

Sushiyama is a very popular Japanese restaurant in Vancouver. It’s good for their cheap eats and quality food. No wonder during peak hours, there can be a lot of people lining up.

Luckily, it was after the lunch hour rush when I took MedicalGiraffe and BaguetteGirl here. They wanted something different and super delicious. They’ve passed by a dozen times, and thought this place was a bit sketchy, to their surprise, it would be some of the best Japanese food they would have.

They have a few killer items on their menu. If you come here, sushi is a must….or at least a few key rolls.

Negitoro Roll ($2.75) has chopped tuna belly and green onions. It comes with 6 pieces. Very good price, plus it tasted really really good.

Caterpillar Roll ($6.95) contains cucumber, avocado, mayo, crab meat, eel and BBQ sauce. It is probably the best thing to get! It is covered in a lot of thin slices of avocado. I can’t remember what was inside but it tasted really good! Highly recommended!

Crunch Roll ($4.25) has yam, sweet potatoes, shrimp tempura, and avocados. This was pretty horrible. After we ordered, it came like a minute after We were really confused why it came so fast and why it didn’t look as cool as the caterpillar roll.

Salmon Sashimi ($7.25) has come amazing thick pieces of salmon. Really delicious too!

Seaweed Salad was alright. If you love seaweed, you’d probably like it.

Grilled Black Cod was really good! One of my favorite items. Yummm.

Overall, really good food here for good prices. I would come her again and again!

Words of Wisdom:

Very cheap and affordable
Mediocre service
Long Lines
Best to go in 2′s if you hate to wait. the larger the group, the long it will take ..during peak hours
Caterpillar roll and sashimi!!!!
Bento boxes are of great value if you want to try a bit of everything

We Rate Sushiyama:

Address:
371 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

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In Cafe

Miura Waffle Milk Bar: Waffle Sandwiches are Epic

January 5, 2012

Miura Waffle Milk Bar is located on Davie and Howe St. they are best known for the waffle sandwiches in sweet and savory flavours. This has been on my “To Eat” list for a long long time, but I seldom visit this area.

Since a few of us from my High School were meeting up again, I wanted to take them somewhere unique so I thought to myself, waffle sandwiches are unique!

The interior is not too large, but it fits a few parties of 2s and 4s. Sometimes more if you are able to put chairs together.

You can watch them create your waffles as you wait. They don’t have a ventilation machine, so, if they accidentally burn something, the whole place smells like burnt waffles.

Latte (12oz – $3.29) was not very good. It was very milky and could have had a stronger coffee taste.

Strawberry Flavoured Milk ($3.29)

Blueberry Yoggy Milk ($3.29) it’s a thin textured yogurt-like drink that’s slightly tangy.

HEC Savory Waffle Sandwich ($5.99) has ham, omelette and mozzarella cheese between 2 waffles. Sunny really liked it and it was quite cute.

BELT Savory Waffle Sandwich ($4.99 Tuesday Special) has bacon, egg, lettuce and tomatoes. What is awesome about this is that the bacon is cooked right into the waffles. You know no one is gonna steal your bacon cause it’s hidden in the waffle.

Wasabi Salmon Savory Waffle Sandwich ($7.99) has soy cured salmon, lettuce, wasabi ranch sauce and some herbs. Look at how flakey the salmon is inside the waffle. It complemented the wasabi sauce nicely and I would definitely eat it again!

Tiramisu Sweet Waffle Sandwich ($5.29) has cream cheese custard cream, coffee jelly and chocolate sauce. It clearly has no resemblance to a tiramisu, but it tastes good. It’s the same size as the sandwich, but they can split it into 2 so it’s easier to share. Tasted delicious!!

Overall, one sandwich was good enough for lunch! The prices are decent and you will leave with a smile on your face. Then, you can go on Facebook and brag to your friends you had a cool waffle sandwich. hahaha.

Words of Wisdom:

Weekday specials
Very unique and memorable sandwiches
Under $10

We Rate Miura Waffle Milk Bar:

Address:

829 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://miurawafflemilkbar.webs.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miura-Waffle-Milk-Bar/115874321771418

Twitter: @MiuraWaffle

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In Japanese

Gaya Sushi: New Japanese Restaurant in North Burnaby

January 1, 2012

To ring in the New Year, how about doing a review on a newly opened restaurant? Gaya Sushi just opened up on Christmas Eve on Lougheed and Brainbridge. I live super close to this place, so I’ve been stalking to see when they open. I’m always a sucker for Japanese food, so I really wanted to see if it was any good.

Walking inside, I was surprised! It looked nice! Way better than any of the other restaurants in the area.

Spicy Tuna ($8.50) was on par with other restaurants that serve this. The tuna chunks were nice and thick with the typical korean hot sauce. It also has cucumbers.

Chilly Ebi ($5.95) has deep fried prawns with chilli sauce. This was alright, but wasn’t the best I’ve had. I think they could of had better batter.

Soft Shelled Crab ($6.95) is lightly breaded deep fried soft shelled crab with tonkatsu sauce on top. This was really good and tasted much better than the Chilly Ebi. I would definitely order this again.

Tako Salad came to our table as a mistake. It has a lot of pieces of octopus slices up on top of ponzu sauce and greens. They just gave it to us complementary and it tasted alright. If you like octopus, you’d probably like it.

Fire Cracker Roll ($4.99) has scallops, avocados, smoked salmon and spicy tuna on top. It was alright, but it wasn’t the best specialty roll I’ve had.

Philadelphia Roll ($4.50) has cream cheese, asparagus, avocado, cucumber and smoked salmon on top. The roll was also alright, but the texture of the asparagus didn’t blend too well with the roll.

Osaka Combo ($7.95) has dynamite roll, 1 pieces of salmon nigiri, 1 tuna nigiri and ebi nigiri. BusanGirl liked it and thought it was a good deal since it did some with a large roll and nigiri.

Tuna Tataki Salad came from the chef since I assume he was trying to experiment with new dishes.

The bottom has a tartar of chopped up tuna thats scorched on the exterior and topped with greens and daikon. On the bottom is a sweet type of ponzu sauce. It was also alright, but I didn’t take a liking to the sweet ponzu sauce. On the other hand, BusanGirl quite liked it.

Overall, the dishes are all quite affordable and have lots of choices. Their sushi needs a little bit of work, but should get a better overtime. It’s a good addition to the neighbourhood.

Words of Wisdom:

Good prices
A few unique dishes
Cheaps Combos
Free parking in front
Close to Sperling Skytrain

We Rate Gaya Sushi:

Address:

#105-2900 Bainbridge Ave
Burnaby BC

Website:

http://gayasushi.com/

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In Downtown

Shizen Ya: Organic Japanese Food

December 30, 2011

Back to Shizen Ya to try out their dinner combo. I liked their lunch combo and it’s great that they use only organic fresh ingredients. For the health conscious people, it’s good to know there is nothing chemically hidden in your food.

The dinner combo is $14.95 and you get miso soup, sashimi, sunomono and a choice of a main dish. You can choose from beef teriyaki, chicken breast miso teriyaki or their curry.

Prawn Sunomono has boiled tiger prawn, seaweed, cucumber, carrots, brown rice vermicelli with the sweet vinegar sauce. It was unique since it used the brown vermicelli instead of the usual clear ones. It tasted good.

Organic Tofu Miso Soup has organic tofu and vegetables in the organic miso broth. It tasted a bit similar to the other miso soups from other restaurants, but it was a tad less salty.

Assorted Sashimi has 2 pieces each of the wild sockeye salmon and albacore tuna. The sashimi looked fresh and had a good taste.

Japanese Kheema Curry has shredded chicken breast with five kinds of beans curry. It also has brown rice. The curry was bit spicy, but it isn’t too overwhelming. It tasted good as well, but I am not a bean person, so I disliked the taste of beans.

Overall, I thought it was a good combo for dinner since I was super super filled.

Words of Wisdom:

Great lunch and dinner combos
All brown rice and no white rice
Vegetarian and vegan options
Limited desserts

We Rate Shizen Ya:

Twitter:

@shizenya_van

Website:

http://shizenya.ca/

In Izakaya

Sushimoto: Hidden Sushi Place in North Burnaby

December 28, 2011

Sushimoto is a hidden Japanese restaurant in Burnaby near Holdom Skytrain. It’s a nice hidden find since nothing else is really around that area.

They are quite busy during peak hours and are growing to be quite popular since they are known to give away complementary dishes! M, Jojocake, NotFauna, and KoreanGirl decided to head over for some sushi since it’s very close to where we all live.

Ya, as usual I need my tea!

Complementary Salad comes with the meal. I was surprised and super confused because they never use to do this. It had a bit of everything in the salad – vegetables, cranberries, almonds, croutons…etc. It tasted alright. You need to mix it up in order to have the dressing cover all the ingredients.

Awesome cream cheese roll ($11) has avocado, crabmeat, cream cheese, baked salom, nnegi, masago, bonito spicy mayo and unagi sauce. M really liked it, but it can be a bit expensive for just a roll. It’s one of their specialty rolls, so thats why its more expensive.

Red hot chili roll ($8) has chopped scallop with spicy tuna on top and green onion, spicy mayo and spicy sauce.

Spicy Tuna Roll ($3.90) tasted alright. The usual stuff and it wasn’t spicy at all.

Spicy Chopped Scallop Roll ($3.90) has the spicy sauce on top of the chopped scallop roll. It was also alright, nothing too special about it.

Takoyaki ($4.50) comes with 6 pieces. It’s an octopus ball with bonito, mayo and dontatsu sauce.

Tako Wasabi ($3.5) is octopus marinated with wasabi. It also comes with a few sheets of seaweed to eat it with. It doesn’t have a strong taste of wasabi, which is disappointing because I wanted it to sting me. Kinda weird, but I found the ones at Guu and Kingyo much better.

Ika Wasabi comes complementary too. It’s squid marinated with wasabi sauce. It also didn’t have a strong wasabi taste.

Overall, the food was good and the decor was great. Certain items can be a bit over priced, but the addition of the complementary dishes made up for that. It’s a nice little place to go to if you are sick of places like Sushi Garden or Sushi Town.

Words of Wisdom:

Street Parking
Large variety in menu
Sashimi = good!
Make reservations to avoid waits.

We rate Sushimoto:

They are located at:

2221 Holdom Ave S
Burnaby, BC

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In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Volcano Sushi & Grill: Explosive Taste

December 26, 2011

I always pass by Hastings and I see this relatively new sushi place called Volcano Sushi & Grill. It has quite a strong name, but I was wanting to cure my curiosity of this place, so M and I decided to head here for some Linner (Lunch/Dinner). It’s not owned by Japanese or Koreans….but Chinese. Certain dishes can have a bit of a Chinese twist to them.

I gotta have tea with everything, I’m a bit of an addict. As I write this review, I’m drinking tea.

Deep Fried Cheese Wonton ($3.50) was crispy of the outside and on the inside, it didn’t taste like deep fried cheese. The mixture reminded me of clam chowder for some reason… but thicker. I didn’t like it, but M did.

Spicy Tuna and Salmon Sashimi ($10.50) was different from the usual places. As you look at the color and the sauce they used, it is different. It tasted spicier and had a good kick!

Volcano Roll ($3.95) has tuna, imitation crab, cucumber with mayo and spicy sauce then it’s deep fried. The roll was quite cute and tasted good.

American Roll ($8.95) has crab meat, Eel, Avocado, Cheese with Spicy Tuna on top. Not very american, but it was also really good. You wouldn’t think cheese would go well with this, but it really wasn’t bad at all.

Overall, they have a good selection of rolls with decent prices. I felt that some items were a hit and miss.

Words of Wisdom:

Mediocre service
Lots of Booth Seating
Free parking in front
Good lunch and Dinner combos

We Rate Volcano Sushi & Grill:
Address:
1991 E Hastings St
Vancouver, BC V5L

Website:
http://www.just-eat.ca/restaurants-volcano-sushi-grill

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In Dessert

La Chocolaterie: The Best Chocolates In The Lower Mainland

December 21, 2011

La Chocolaterie is the best chocolate store in the Lower Mainland. I really mean that because I have never been so excited and addicted to chocolates until now. Ever since my first bite at the Bakers Market, I have not been able to stop myself. They are my version of Willy Wonka. The owners – Taka & Kayoko have really dedicated themselves on making quality chocolates!

Their store is inside Izumi-Ya Japanese Marketplace. Its a small space, but thats where all the magic happens.

They are best known for their Ganache Chocolates. Really smooth chocolatey texture with amazing balance of flavour. I’m pretty sure they have over 30 flavours. Really unique flavours like blueberry, mango, green tea, black sesame, sake, red bean and even wasabi.

They also have chocolate bars too! These may look normal, but they are truly amazing. Earl Grey and the matcha bars are really good!

These ganache chocolates part of their coconama collection are really the gem of it all!

Favorite Pack ($5) contains 6 of the most popular flavours. You can’t go wrong with this since these are tried and tested flavours.

The green tea is quite strong, so if you aren’t familiar with the taste of green tea, it will be quite bitter.

Adventurers Pack ($5) is not for all. Judging by the flavours, it won’t appeal to everyone. The flavour is very subtle and acts as a secondary flavour to accompany the chocolaty ganache taste. The wasabi is not spicy at all, but you do get the faint flavour of wasabi.

I know some people may be scared of it, but it’s not bad at all.

6 pack of Tarts ($8.80) is assorted and you can choose what flavours you want inside. I initially thought the the tarts were a bit weird, but the tart make the ganache not as sweet. It makes for great presents…but in this case….I ate them all.

I also got Gift Basket A for $30 and it had a good assortment of everything in their store, so my coworkers really enjoyed it.

My all time favorite flavours:

Blueberry, mango, earl grey, coffee, black sesame, strong matcha and lemon basil.

Words of Wisdom:

Great Unforgettable Gifts (especially for the office)…step aside Ferrero Rocher!
Get a gift basket if you want to try a little bit of everything but can’t decide
Can be found at the Vancouver Bakers Market

We Rate La Chocolaterie:
Address:
7971 Alderbridge Way (Inside Izumi-Ya Japanese Marketplace)
Richmond, BC
Website:
http://www.lachocolaterie-vancouver.com/
Twitter:
@TKChocolate

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Vancouver

In Downtown

Guu Garden: Rice Burger Bento Lunch Is Awesome

December 20, 2011

Guu Garden is probably my favorite place to have lunch downtown. It’s cheap and you are guaranteed a fabulous lunch. Plus, I love Japanese food to death. For AvocadoGirl’s last day of work, I took her here since she really needed to see their amazing lunch.

You get super full for about $10.

The lunch menu is above, but they do change once in a while.

We grabbed some tea and waited for our order to arrive. Unfortunately, it was busy at lunch so it did take quite a while for our meal to arrive. I think it took about 30 minutes for our order to arrive. This was quite a bit long since lunch is supposed to be a fast meal. Eventually it did arrive, which is good.

Kobe Beef Hamburg Steak Rice Burger Bento ($10) it comes with green bean fries, prawn & avocado wasabi salad, side dish and miso soup. You can also double the patty for an extra $2.50.

Kobe Beef Hamburg Steak Rice Burger look really good and flavourful. It’s a bit hard to eat with your hands, so I used a knife and fork.

The Kobachi served when I went here was bean sprouts with a little bit of chili sauce. Overall pretty good, but it was small.

Prawn & Avocado Wasabi Salad is another one of my favorite dishes. It doesn’t have a strong overwhelming wasabi taste, so its good for people with varying spicy tolerance.

Green bean fries complimented all the other items nicely since it had a nice crunch. Not oily at all.

Grapes came as the finishing dessert. It was just normal grapes, so can’t really say much about that. They use to have this almond pudding instead and that was so much better than grapes.

Okara & Veggies Korokke Rice Burger Bento ($10) it comes with green bean fries, prawn& avocado wasabi salad, side dish and miso soup. Everything is the same except for the burger.

AvocadoGirl had this and I don’t think she had any complaints.

Pasta of the Day ($10) has their daily pasta, side of avocado shrimp salad and a miso soup.

They warned me that the pasta would be spicy, but it really wasn’t. It had a light tomato sauce with peppers, tomatoes, herbs and bacon. It was alright, but nothing too spectacular.

The miso soup was pretty good! It even has bean curd in it.

It’s the same avocado and shrimp salad that comes with the other combos. YUM!

Avocado Cheesecake surprised me at first! How can you put those two together? It tasted really good, the avocado is subtle but you can still taste it!

Overall, really good lunch deals especially in the downtown area. Highly recommended!

Words of Wisdom: