Rating Archives - Page 91 of 99

In Downtown

Italian Kitchen

February 13, 2011

Italian Kitchen is part of the Glowbal Group which bring Vancouver amazing restaurants such as Coast, Sanifir, Trattoria, and Society. They take pride in all of their restaurants, so visitors will not leave unsatisfied.

FinanceGirl and I were looking for a place to go for lunch and since Ramen was a bit too far to walk to from our offices, we chose Italian Kitchen.

It was my first time in any of the Glowbal Restaurants, so I was super excited to hear what all the hype was about.

The interior is really nice and chique. THe waitresses were really nice as well.

Their kitchen is open and near the dining area, so you can see the chefs whip up your meals.

Like any italian restaurant, they had the usual pasta, pizza, panini’s, and cheeses and meats.

Since we both wanted to try everything, we just decided to split everything.

We first ordered the Lamb Sausage Pizza ($15.50). It has peppered goat’s cheese, wild mushrooms, with a free range egg .

I loved this pizza because it was thin, crispy and had so much flavour. The pizza was cut up into 4 slices and had even toppings on each piece.

Next we had the Lobster and Crab Monte Cristo Sandwich ($14.50). It also contained egg and parmesan battered bread. It was a delicious sandwich but you could tell it was quite oily. Best eaten with a knife and fork if you don’t want oily hands.

It also came with a daily soup which was a potato and bacon soup. It really tasted like a baked potato

Overall, I really enjoyed the food at Italian Kitchen, it was a bit pricy for what we ordered at lunch, but I would consider coming back to either try out the To Go option or try out their other lunch specials.

Words of Wisdom:

Amazing decor and ambiance
Pricey
They have cheaper To Go options
Pizza is AMAZING

We Rate Italian Kitchen:

Website: www.theitaliankitchen.ca

Address:

1037 Alberni St
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Gohan Japanese Sushi (Visit #4)

February 13, 2011

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Previous Posts about Gohan : Visit #1 Visit #2 Visit #3

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M and I decided to go here since we really do love this place. It’s not a chain restaurant and the quality is always good.

As per usual we ordered the Toro Sashimi ($9.95). It’s really thin and just melts in your mouth! There is about 8 or 9 pieces.

Next we ordered a full order of Spicy Tuna ($9.95). There was about 8 or 9 pieces as well. Very nice tuna with an amazing spicy sauce on top. The sauce is probably a mix of mayo and spicy sauce? I’m actually not 100% sure but it’s different from other places.

Next we ordered the Garlic Chicken Karaage ($5.95). They are deep fried breaded chicken meat served with a light honey cream sauce.

This was a pretty average dish.

Next is the Spicy Garlic Calimari ($7.50). The calimari was pretty bland. Not as flavourful as the Chicken Karaage. Even though it was stated it was spicy garlic, I did not taste any hint of garlic at all. It should have been seasoned with a bit more salt and pepper.

It’s probably because I am so use to the calimari at other places and its a bit different.

Next I had the Deep Fried Ice Cream. This was the size of a baseball. I was very surprised the that Deep Fried Ice Cream was covered in so much breading and left with not too too much ice cream. I guess it’s a bit unique. It still tasted really good, the breading tasted more like tapioca pudding or some types of sweet bread. Worked really well together!

We really enjoyed Gohan and it has become our favorite place to go to in Burnaby to get sushi!

We rate Gohan:

They are located at:

Burnaby
1815 Rosser Ave S
Burnaby, BC

In Bar and Grill

Bon Chaz 1 Year Anniversary

February 13, 2011

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Previous BonChaz Posts: Visit #1

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BonChaz was celebrating their one year anniversary last week by giving away free BonChaz to all their customers. They decked out the restaurant by putting up lots of balloons.

Since I work pretty close by, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to stop by for lunch.

You can choose from any BonChaz for free. I ordered the Banana Walnut BonChaz. I know some people hate banana but I love them in desserts and pastries. The inner of the BonChaz has the banana fillings and its SO Good!

If you don’t know what a BonChaz is, it’s a coffee bun type of pastry. Crunchy on the top and filled in the center with a nice sweet filling.

Since I didn’t want to take the BonChaz and go back to work. I ordered their Avacado and Brie Sandwich with a Curry Chicken soup (About $8). It is served on very soft bread and stuffed with tomatoes, cucumber, mayo, brie and avocados.

At first glance, you would expect you would taste more bread than filling, but this was not the case! They were quite generous with the brie and avocados, so it was nicely distributed throughout the sandwich and not cut too thin.

It was just perfect!

They had 2 types of daily soups but I chose the curry chicken. Had good sizable pieces of chicken and very good consistency.

And that was my fantastic lunch! Happy 1 Year BonChaz and I expect many great things from your team in the upcoming years!

BonChaz is a nice little cafe to do a bit of work and have a snack. They have pastries, sandwiches, tarts, soups, coffee, and tea. I don’t think you can find such pastries anywhere else.

We rate BonChaz:

Check out their Facebook page: http://www.bonchaz.ca/

In Dineout

DineOut: Ciao Bella Italian Restaurant & Piano Bar

February 12, 2011

My last Dineout of 2011 was at Ciao Bella was with FinananceGirl, SFUPretender, EnvyGirl and LGirl.

Ciao Bella is an Italian restaurant on Denman Street which has a lot of traditional italian dishes.

When we walked inside, the interior was very homely and they even had a piano player. This is seriously a perfect location for an intimate romantic dinner. Someone even get engaged while we were there. So crazy!

They have the DineOut menu and their regular menu. We stick to the DineOut since thats the purpose why we are going. It was $28 for 3 courses.

Before we got our appetizer, we got bread. You can drizzle oil and balsamic vinegar all over it! It’s so delicious. I even accidentally poured too much balsamic….so my bread looked all black. BUT it was still delicious because I love balsamic!

For my appetizer I got the Grameroni Della Casa, which is cold poached prawn cocktail with horseradish dip. This was a small appetizer since it only had 4 prawn. Since I love prawns I gobbled them down like they were potato chips. The prawns and the horseradish dip was just quite average and nothing too special.

Everyone else had the Zuppa Al Aragosta , which is the chef’s lobster bisque. They all liked the soup and loved how there were bits of lobster in it!

LGirl, SFU Pretender and I got the Pollo Pavorotti, which is a breast of free rangec chicken stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach. It is topped off with a Porcini mushroom demi glaze. You can choose either vegetables or pasta. But I chose vegetables because of my diet of no pasta or rice.

One thing that was a pain was cutting into the breast and the filling would just pour out. The chicken was a little on the dry side, but it you smother it in the sauce, it’s tastes just fine.

FinanceGirl and EnvyGirl ordered the Agnello E Gamberoni , which is grilled Lamb Chops and tiger prawns. Both of them got it with the pasta option.

LGirl ordered the Tiramisu. It has layers of lady fingers, marscarpone cream cheese, and chocolate.

SFUPretender and FinanceGirl ordered the Creme Carramelo, which isa custard dessert with a layer of caramel on top.

EnvyGirl and I had the Torta Chocolate, which is their house special chocolate italian cake. I think this was by far the best dessert, you have some rich chocolate cake and very nice chocolate mousse in the middle. Yum!

Words of Advice:

Parking in rear
Amazing live piano music
Amazing weekly deal and evening dinner specials (50% off pasta on weekday lunches)

We Rate Ciao Bella:

Website: www.ciaobellavancouver.ca

Address:

703 Denman St
Vancouver, BC

In Dineout

DineOut: L’Abattoir

February 8, 2011

DineOut #2 was at L’Abattoir! I have actually never heard of this place until PhotographyGirl took me here with a bunch of people. This was all on the $38 menu category. Expensive, but we still saved a lot.

The name ‘L’Abattoir’ mean Slaughterhouse in english. It’s kinda funny because it’s nothing you would expect from such a nice sounding name. When we figured this out, we were enjoying out meatly entrees. hahaha.

L’Abattoir is located in the building which use to be Vancouver’s first jail. Even thought it use to be a jail, they really made this place look super amazing. I wish I took pictures but I didn’t for some reason. You can even feel a bit of eeriness when you see the bricked walls.

I LOVE THE BREAD. It came with 3 types – Anchovy cheese twists, bread buns with bacon bits, and this flat cracker type thing.

One of their appetizers were the Dungeness crab and chickpea toast ($13), it has toasted brioche, light crab custard, and carrot pickles. Everyone who had it loved it.

I had the Raw pacific oysters ($15). It has Mushroom and marrow croquettes. It was SO GOOD! Very light and delicate and has so much flavour! The bone marrow croquettes were also very flavourful.

For the entree a few of us had the Pan fried filet of steelhead ($24) It has Squash puree, olive gnocchi, and anchovy butter. The people that had it loved it and the foam was a really cool touch.

I had the Slow cooked loin of pork. It has Cassoulet, brussels sprouts, and mushroom. The pork was cooked perfectly and was not tough at all. Unlike some people, loved the brussel sprouts! Everything blended nicely.

Another entree was the Lamb loin and sausage ($26). It is served with grilled endive lettuce and cleriac (root-like vegetable).

Everyone had the Dark chocolate and coffee layer cake ($10). It is served with cherry apricot compote, whipped vanilla crème fraiche. It is nut free and rich! Everyone loved it and i envied them because i got something else.

I was different and got the Fizzy lemonade ($9) It has Blood orange sorbet, tapioca pearls, and earl grey granita. This I found was very sour. It was still a really cool dessert.

Words of Wisdom:

Dineout menu items are also on regular menu
Amazing food
On the expensive side…
Cool looking interior
Pay Parking on adjacent streets
Great place to just get drink…good for intimate date

We Rate L’Abattoir:

Address:

217 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.labattoir.ca

In Downtown

Dae Ji

February 8, 2011

I went to Dae Ji during lunch and the hamburg steaks just looked pretty good. Dae Ji, serves up korean Pork cutlet and many other dishes. It is very popular amongst international students. BCIT, SFU, and a bunch of language school are only a few blocks away.

The interior is very orange and not too bad looking inside. The kitchen is an open kitchen, so you can watch the cooks cook up your meal.

THe menu isn’t too large, but there’s everything you need to be happy for a lunch.

I ordered the hamburg Steak ($8.50). Hamburg Steak is basically hamburger patties without the bread and fillings.

The dish came with 2 patties smothered in gravy and ketchup. There is also rice, macaroni, coleslaw and pickled radish.

The steaks were very moist and delicious, but the ketchup was a bit too sweet to go with the steak. it’s just a personal opinion, some people love it with ketchup.

As for the sides…the coleslaw and macaroni were really bland.

Words of Wisdom:

A block away from Granville Skytrain
Pay Parking on street
All items are under $10, very cheap

We Rate Dae Ji:

Address:

519 Dunsmuir Street
Vancouver, BC

In Cafe

Michi Waffle House (Visit #2)

February 8, 2011

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Continuation of :

Visit #1

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I went to Michi Waffle with a few friends but I was a bit too full for dinner to enjoy their amazing waffles. So, I got some tea instead.

I ordered the Premium Macha . I like to buy things blindly, what can’t be exciting about something that starts with premium. This tea is made with real macha, even though it does look a bit milky at the top, it’s just the foam from mixing it. Like most teas that come without sugar, it was quite bitter and strong, which is usual for green teas. They even give you a bit of red bean jelly thing. It works well to counter act the bitterness of the tea.

I always come here with friends just to chill when theres nothing else to do on Robson, plus we are pretty asian, so we enjoy our teas and dessert. We prefer this place over the other places like Capstone Tea House.

The ambiance of Michi Waffle and Espresso Bar is the perfect place to have a conversation. If you go there on a date or a meeting, it will leave a lasting impression.

We rate Michi Waffle and Espresso Bar:

Visit their website: http://michicafe.com/

In Four Beakers

Gohan Japanese Sushi (Visit #3)

February 6, 2011

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Continuation of :

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It was NotFauna’s goodbye dinner, so she decided that we go to Gohan Japanese

Since I am still on my no rice diet, I got the Age Chicken ($6.95). there are 4 chicken strips and a side of salad. The strips were deep fried and drizzled with teriyaki sause. The side salad had a citrus orange sauce.

Overall, it was pretty good, not too oily tasting. I would probably get this again.

Next I ordered half an order of spicy tuna sashimi ($5) and half an order of toro sashimi ($5). The spicy tuna had a really nice spicy sauce to it, it wasn’t like the other japanese restaurant where they just have korean hot sauce over it. They take time to make their own spicy sauce.

The toro sashimi was nicely cut and really fresh.

Words of Wisdom:

Great fast service
Food came very fast
High quality ingredients
The best toro you will ever eat!
Reasonably priced.
Closed on Sundays

We really enjoyed Gohan and it has become our favorite place to go to in Burnaby to get sushi!

We rate Gohan:

They are located at:

Burnaby
1815 Rosser Ave S
Burnaby, BC V5C

In Pub/Bar

SportsTown Taverna

February 5, 2011

Last week, I did a 3 hour lesson on Archery. Boy…was it ever fun. I’m not a Robin Hood yet, nor can i shoot an apple off your head…but I can ensure you that I can hit one of your organs. Be afraid..those arrows go fast!

Since the Archery Association has their facilities in SportsTown in Richmond, a bunch of us headed over to the taverna to get a quick bite.

I ordered the chicken strips ($10) and it came with a salad. There were 2 sauces..dijon mustard with the chicken strips and balsamic vinegar for the salad.

The chicken strips were pretty average. When it came down to having the salad, the balsamic vinegar sauce was fairly warm and tasted more like oil than balsamic. Some of their salad leaves seems a bit wilted and not too fresh.

The worst part was the service, I swear…there must have been one person working there. This woman was manning both the bar and the dinning area. It took her about 10 mins to acknowledge we were here…so we sat ourselves down. The menus took a while to get to our table too. Ordering was totally fine, but when we asked for the bill, she said she would bring it right away because we were in a rush….5 mins later we saw her at the bar chatting up with a customer.

You may think I am probably just crazy, but I am not. The dinning room had only one group of people seated…and this was us.

Words of Wisdom:

Tons of parking
Convenient when you are playing sports at SportsTown, many soccer teams eat here
Most items are $10 and under
Horrible service

We Rate SportsTown Tavern:

Address:

4991 #5 Rd
Richmond, BC

Website:
www.sportstownbc.com/tavern/

In Cafe

Cumpari’s Gelato & Caffe (Visit #2)

February 4, 2011

Since Cumpari’s is close to where I usually hang out, so here we are again! Check out my review from Visit #1

Since CanuckGirl and I wandered off from a party, we decided to take a quick trip to Cumpari’s for a late night snack.

CanuckGirl grabbed a small gelato with 2 flavours – pistachio and white chocolate.

I got this Tubular cookie with nutella and nuts ($3). I really wanted a churro but they ran out….so I had to settle with this..I thought it was some sort of profiterole, but it was hard. I’m not sure if it has a name (the staff didn’t even have a name for it). It’s basically a cookie with filling inside.

Craving italian pastries during the night but too lazy to drive to Vancouver or Richmond? Get your fix here, but it is slightly pricey.

We rated Cumpari:

Cumpari Gelato & Caffe is located at 535 North Road in Coquitlam, BC

In Bar and Grill

Yew Restaurant + Bar

February 4, 2011

A Year ago, PhotographyGirl and I went here for Dineout and loved it. Since I never came here for lunch, I wanted to try it out.

Yew is located at the Four Seasons Hotel in Downtown Vancouver. It has really gorgeous interior. I would say it would be pretty good for a business lunch or a nice date.

The lunch menu is pretty straight forward, you have your appies, mains, and then dessert. Most people are pressed for time during lunch…so you probably don’t want to order all 3 if you have a 1 hour lunch. There’s a lot to choose from on the menu, but since I was on my diet, I was limited in choices…. 🙁

I started off with a coke. Even comes with refills!

The bread came and it was a sour dough? I think and some crunchy bread sticks.

I ordered the Ahi Tuna Wrap ($18) which came with a salad and I added on the daily soup ($6).

Inside the Ahi Tuna Wraps were Daikon, Asian Pear, Cilantro, on Vietnamese Rice Paper. Really nice and had sizable chunks of tuna. For $18 for 3 pieces of wrap and a salad … I didn’t think it was worth the price…but at least it was healthy.

I also added on a side soup since the waitress described it so exquisitely. I can remember what was in it, but it had real crab in it too!

PhotographyGirl ordered the starter version on the daily soup ($8) and the Pear Salad ($10).

The salad has Grilled Bosc Pear, Baby Spinach & Frisee Salad, Blue Cheese. She found the presentation not as well as it could have been.

Words of Wisdom:

Great for DineOut Vancouver option or any regular meal
Reservations are recommended
Have good breakfast
Free Coffee in the morning!
Outstanding soups

We Rate Yew:

Website: http://www.yewrestaurant.com/

Address:

791 W Georgia St
Vancouver, BC

In Dineout

DineOut: Aqua Riva

February 3, 2011

Since the old gang was back together in Vancouver, going out to Dineout seemed right. We left all the planning to ConsultingGirl and she brought everyone together.

We chose to go check out Aqua Riva. Aqua Riva is located beside the Waterfront convention centre. The dine out was $28 for 3 courses.

We just had water since we got reservations for 5 people at 8:30pm. Since we all had to work or go to school the next morning, we just didn’t get any additional drinks.

2 types of bread came to our table, Focaccia bread and french bread? It also came with salsa and butter. Salsa was my choice of topping on bread…..yum!

LabRat and I started off with the Baby green salad with Smoked Wild Salmon. On top of the greens, there is white and green asparagus. THe sauce used was a sherry Dijon Vinaigrette. I liked it and the salmon was really really good!

PharmacyBoy got the Manhattan Seafood Chowder. In addition to the seafood was chorizo and saffron. He was quite disappointed by the chowder because it was a tomato sauce rather than the traditional white cream sauce in chowders.

ConsultantGirl and SpongeBobGirl ordered the Sesame Crusted Scallops. The scallops are served with spinach and couscous salad. Around it is a orange and sesame vinaigrette.

SpongebobGirl and I both ordered the Wood Grilled Rib Eye. The steak was done medium rare. It comes with Cajun jumbo fries, Salsa verde and a peppercorn sauce.

PharmacyBoy and LabRat ordered the Orachiette pasta with grilled prawns. Shittake Mushrooms, spinach, chilies, and pesto cream sauce.

ConsultingGirl ordered the GInger potato crusted wild salmon. There is a grilled asparagus risotto, corn + blackbean salsa and basil butter sauce.

For dessert there was Apple and cranberry crisp.

There was also the Banana Chocolate Mousse Cake.

No one could really decide which one was the better dessert since we all had different tastes. Since it was only limited to 2 choices of dessert, we didn’t feel that Aqua Riva had any extraordinary desserts.

Words of Wisdom:

Parking at Convention Centre for $9 all night
Decent dineout but not the best for the $28 range

We Rate Aqua Riva:

Website: www.aquariva.com

Address:

200 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

In Chinatown

Phnom Penh

February 2, 2011

I was really excited to finally check out Phnom Penh because it is Vancouver’s most famous vietnamese food. They have won countless awards….. year after year…after year!

When InsecureGirl, M and I came at 6:30, this place was packed! The line up was almost out the door!

The inside has tons of chairs and tables, but most of the time they were occupied. The interior is not anything special…usual asian restaurant.

Tea!

We ordered 3 of the Condensed milk vietnamese coffees. I’d rather have this than a regular latte! It’s really strong and tastes great with the addition of the condensed milk! When you were a kid, i’m sure you had a can at home…so you would take a spoon and just eat it from the can.

These additional sides came to our table along with out meal. Bean sprouts, chilli sauce, lime, and then this really delicious broth. I don’t know what is in it, but it was very nice and refreshing.

Dry Noodle ($6) looked really good, it was loaded with different types of seafood and meats. Underneath the meat and the cilantro and green onions were the dry noodles and this dark sauce. To eat this dish, you should mix everything together so all the noodles get a good coating of the sauce.

After having it all together, it was alright, but not the best.

Marinated Butter Beef ($12.85) was TO DIE FOR! It is essentially a plate of thinly sliced beef that is almost rare. It is loaded with cilantro, garlic chips, ginger, and an amazing sauce. This also one of their famous dishes.

Deep Fried Squid ($8.95) were also amazing! Battered, fried, seasoned with garlic, onion and other ingredients. You also get side dipping sauce that has a lemony taste to it.

Very good and highly recommend!

Deep Fried Chicken wings ($12.50) was really good! It’s one of their most popular dishes on their menu. Very well made and super delicious! One thing I started to notice was how the squid and the chicken seemed so familiar….but maybe it was just me.

There was also the same dipping sauce as the squid. Worked well since it was a nice accompaniment with acidic sauce matching with fried taste.

Here was the bill, $73 for 3 people.

A shout out to @KoKoNutso and @GourmetFury for letting me know what to order! Thanks guys, you totally made picking what to eat super easy!

Words of Wisdom:

Very busy during peak hours…line up for sure!
Marinated Butter beef, Chicken Wings, Deep fried squid!!! Order it now!
Metered parking on street
Kinda sketch looking area….near chinatown

We Rate Phnom Penh:

Address:

244 E Georgia St
Vancouver, BC

In Culinary School

JJ’s Restaurant

January 30, 2011

After looking at There’s Always Room Food Blog, it looked like a great place to go for dinner. It’s cheap affordable and best of all it’s a restaurant run by VCC culinary students.

I’ve always heard great things about dining in culinary schools, so it was time to go!

It was pretty hard navigating our way into the restaurant, we walked around the whole building until we realized it wasn’t on the main floor, it’s was on the 2nd floor.

The location of the dinning room was quite random, but when you walk inside, you enter this very homey elegant dining setting.

For dinner, a 3 course set menu is $24. You get your choice of appetizer, entree and dessert. The choices were SO delicious sounding that it took us a while to figure out what we wanted. Our plan of attack was to share everything so we get a sense of a majority of the menu.

We started off with a coke for myself and a pina colada for CandiedZen. Her Pina Colada could have use a bit more pineapple, but over all still decent.

Before our items came to the table, the gave us a small tasting of bruchetta , cream cheese, smoked salmon and balsamic.

This was so delicious! Anything with cream cheese and smoked salmon are mouth watering.

Next was the bread and butter!

For one of our appetizers, we got the Buttermilk Fried Chicken. On the sides, it came with a shallot cabbage coleslaw and mango.

This was a very interesting take on fried chicken. We both kinda expected there to be a drumstick in there. Everything tasted delicious. No complaints.

Next appetizer was the Wild Mushroom Risotto, with saffron butter, balsamico and a parmesan crisp. This was well made and one of the best risottos I have ever had. CandiedZen agreed as well because she usually hates risotto…but she loved this dish!

On to our mains… We got the Duck breast with confit, truffle gnocchi, root vegetables and bell pepper essence. THe duck was prepared nicely and the outside was crispy and salt to complement the oily meaty inners.

Next main was the roasted lamb sirloin with bacon fond potatoes, grilled asparagus and other vegetables. We liked how the lamb was rolled up and in the center was some nice aromatic herbs.

Before our desserts came, they have us another small tasting. it had walnuts, Chestnut, cream fraiche, cranberries and raisins. The chestnut we found didn’t work out too well with this.

For dessert we got the Orange Creme Brulee, with pistachio biscotti, grand marnier soaked orange.

Very good Brulee and it was more of a custard, which was nice!

Our last dessert was the Hazelnut chocolate cake with caramel ice cream, chocolate dacquoise. It was also good, but at the point we were STUFFED! All the components of this dish worked together really well.

All the waiters, bartenders, and cooks are part of the culinary school. It is required for their program to work at JJ’s Restaurant. In order for the program to prepare them for the restaurant environment, they must do this. Our waiter was very friendly and super nice!

Words of Wisdom:

Should get reservations for dinner since it’s a small place and can get busy
Good 3 course meal for $24
Lunch is also super affordable

We rate JJ’s Restaurant:

Address:

250 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

In Cafe

Well Tea House

January 28, 2011

Since I am on co-op, I’m basically using any lunch time that I have to go out to eat food downtown. Since I am usually in Burnaby during regular semesters…I obviously had to go eat as much as I could.

What better way to enjoy a lunch by going to a bubble tea place!

The interior in Well Tea house is very hip and colorful. This place really attracts international students and the universities near by.

FinanceGirl had the Sweet and Sour Pork ($7.95). She swears by it that it’s the best that she’s had. Since it’s a set lunch thing, it comes with a bowl of rice and 3 little side dishes.

I had the peppery beef slices ($7.95) for my lunch. It was very peppery and I liked it. Some people may not like it. It also came with a bowl of rice and the three side dishes. I also got a Milk Tea ($4.75).

Theres a lot of food, so it’s pretty filling. I was really stuffed!

We Rate Well Tea House:

Website: www.welltea.ca

Address:

551 Seymour St
Vancouver, BC

In Downtown

Yume Japanese Restaurant

January 27, 2011

I work close to Yume Japanese Restaurant, so I decided to give it a try for lunch. It was one of the better looking Japanese Restaurants on the block.

The interior had lots of tables and a very high ceiling which made the restaurant look big. Most the of the tables are in 2’s and 4’s. So it’s best to go in groups no larger than 4 during peak hours. I was just by myself during lunch and finding a seat for 1 was super easy.

They have lots of specials that are under $10, so it’s quite affordable.

They even have little pots of tea too. Since I drink a lot of tea, it’s perfect. Did you know this pot is from Daiso? Now you know!

I started off with the Negitoro and Tofu Salad ($4.99). I love Negitoro rolls, so I thought this would not be bad at all.

Since the tofu is hot and the negitoro was directly on top, I really didn’t enjoy the hot temperate of it since it is raw toro. The salad dressing was just a citrus sauce but it didn’t really do much for this dish.

Since I wanted some meat in my meal, I got the Salmon and tuna sashimi ($9.99). It had 3 pieces of salmon and 3 pieces of tuna. I thought the salmon sashimi was really good, but I found the tuna sashimi to be more disappointing. The tuna was a little bit icy, so it didn’t thaw all the was through, also there was strange connective tissue inside.

This was the damage to my wallet. Totally shouldn’t have gotten sashimi. Specials should have been the way to go.

Words of Wisdom:

Steps away from Granville Skytrain
Street Pay Parking
Most items under $10

We Rate Yume Japanese Restaurant:

Website: www.yumejp.com

Address:

602 Seymour St
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Kimura Japanese Restaurant (Visit #3)

January 25, 2011

Clearly I go to the restaurant a bit too often.

Check out our past posts : Visit #1 & Visit #2.

This time I brought PinappleBun and ConsultingGirl to visit Kimura Japanese Restaurant.

PinappleBun ordered the saba and amaebi nigiri. They don’t like to waste any ingredients, so they also give you the rest of the amaebi shell fired. It may seem not edible, but be rest-assured, it is. Add a bit of the lemon and it’s quite delicious.

Next was the Miso Eggplant, it is grilled eggplant topped with miso sauce.

No visit to Kimura can go without the Crispy Rice with Spicy tuna ($4.50 / order). We got 2 orders of this for 3 people. It has pureed spicy tuna sit on top of a piece of lettuce and on a circle of fried crunchy flavoured rice. It is garnished with jalapenos, and various sauces.

I really recommend this dish and remember, eat with your hands!

I always order the omakase set ($30) since it gives you a variety of what Kimura has to offer, and it always changes because they don’t follow a recipe. I like to share one order of the set with the whole table because it’s way too but for 1 person.

The first dish of the Omakase is the pig ear appetizer. It comes with kabocha Japanese squash, fried sardines, and 3 pieces of pig ear in gelatin with peanut sauce.

Our second dish of the Omakase set is Salmon Carpaccio. It has thinly slices salmon in sesame sauce and citrus sauce. On top, there are a variety of garnishes.

Our third dish of the Omakase set is the baked oyster with miso sauce. Comes with 3 pieces.

Our forth dish of the Omakase set is shrimp pasta salad. There’s actually not pasta in this, he makes the noodles out of shrimp. You can see the shrimp in the noodles. Good light and refreshing dish and yummy sauce.

Our fifth dish of the Omakase set is sushi . There is a variety of nigiri to this dish and it’s not the usual ones you see.

We also got a miso soup but I drank it all before taking a picture.

Lastly, we go mango ice cream as our last dish. Very good mango ice cream!

The omakase set is almost the same as when I had my previous visit because I went the day after. (I am just that crazy to go 2 days in a row…but hey it’s good food).

Words of Wisdom:

Parking in front or in residential areas
Most items under $10
Lots of combos and specials
Customizable dishes
Amazing service! (Like actually!)
Fresh Ingredients
Be adventurous and don’t try the usual japanese items, thats how you will love this place
Omakase set and Spicy tuna with crispy rice and items you need to order!!

We rate Kimura Japanese Restaurant:

Website: http://www.sushikimura.com/

Address:

3883 Rupert Street
Vancouver, BC

In Bellingham

Olive Garden (Bellingham)

January 24, 2011

On our way to Bellis Fair Mall in Bellingham, we got quite hungry and decided to find some American food. CanuckGIrl, TaiwaneseGirl and I wanted to check it out, so on our way we went.

One thing I couldn’t help noticing was their chairs on wheels. In my head I thought “Only in America would they have rolley chairs for their people”. I’m sure it’s convenient to get in and out of the eat but…looking around the room, I only saw people of large sizes in the room where we were seated. I know…I shouldn’t think or judge.

They had their regular menu and they also has 9 seasonal dishes.

Since the Sampler Italiano ($11.25) looked very good in their menu, we decided to get it with 3 different choices. We could choose from calamari, stuffed mushrooms, fried zucchini, chicken fingers, fried mozzarella or toasted beef and pork ravioli.

We chose the fried mozzarella, toasted beef + pork ravioli and calamari. There was a mix up with the kitchen and they gave us mushrooms instead of mozzarella, they just gave us both! This dish also came with tomato sauce and ranch.

At first sight, you know these were frozen and just fried/heated up. We still enjoyed it.

With our main courses, we got bread.

We also got our choice of soup or salad. TaiwaneseGirl got the soup which I think was some cream soup. You can also add cheese to the soup too. Instead of the waiters offering salt and pepper, it’s cheese!

CancuckGirl and I got the salad. I came in a huge communal bowl. The salad had lettuce, onions , tomatoes, olives, jalapeno peppers, parmesan , and croutons.

CancuckGirl got the Chicken Alfredo ($11.95), it has grilled chicken tossed with fettuccine and fresh alfredo sauce.

TaiwaneseGirl got the Seafood Alfredo ($12.95), it has sautéed shrimp and scallops tossed with creamy fettuccine alfredo.

I ordered out of their seasonal menu and got the Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo ($17.25). It has balsamic glazed beef medallions served over fettucini in spinach and gorgonzola alfredo sauce.

I was already full by the time it got to the entrees. This dish is certainly super fatty and oily! I asked for the beef to be medium rare, but it came up done. It’s quite expensive too.