Two Beakers Archives - Page 6 of 12

In Downtown

Go Go Thai Food: Lunch Specials and Take Out

January 25, 2013

Go Go Thai Food is located on Seymour Street across from Granville Skytrain and the Bay. Is a small little restaurant, but its popular with the lunch crowd for either Take Out or their good lunch specials. I met up with TaiwaneseGirl during our lunch break and decided to have their lunch special which contained a soup, appetizer and a curry for about $10.

Tom Yum Soup was very basic and there were only mushrooms in it. The taste is spicy and sour, thus giving the soup its distinctive taste.

Chicken Skewer was dry and didn’t really resemble fresh chicken. It tasted OK, but not great.

Spicy Green Curry with lamb was very very spicy. The menu had 3 hot peppers on it, but I ignored it since I thought I could handle it. It also comes with rice. The portion was a good size for lunch and you definitely get full.

Overall, the food was ok and had a good price. They have a lot of different curries, so you don’t have to get anything super spicy like what I accidentally did. The service was quick and we were able to get back to our offices in under 1 hour.

We Rate Go Go Thai Food:

Address:
682 Seymour Street
Vancouver, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=682+Seymour+Street+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=682+Seymour+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+3K6&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In All You Can Eat

Point Zero Four Fusion: Mediocre Hot Pot

January 23, 2013

Flo and I bought a voucher from SocialShopper to use at Point Zero Four Fusion. The voucher would entitle us to all you can eat hot pot for 2 people, plus a soup base of our choice, 2 drinks and 2 sauces. For $25 it wasn’t a bad deal at all.

After we bought it, our friends warned us about this place. We looked online and saw horrid reviews. I know it’s probably not good to read reviews before going to a restaurant. We tried to keep an open mind when we visited.

The interior is very large and has tons of seating!

We both had Sour Plum juice to go with the hot pot. It’s not a drink for everyone, but pairs nicely.

We added a few dollars to upgrade the drink to unlimited. The server wasn’t very keen on refilling our drinks and we ended up only drinking our 2 cups and the jug. We felt kinda ripped off since they said it was unlimited.

Satay Soup + Spicy soup wasn’t included in the voucher, so we added a few dollars to upgrade. There is definitely a few upgrades you need to do on top of the voucher to get a good experience.

Our frog legs, pork collar, sirloin beef, and grade beef.

Siu choy, tong ho, spinach, and baby bok choy.

Mushrooms, bean curd, tofu, fish, chicken, shrimp balls, beef ball, and cuttlefish balls.

black fungus, frozen tofu. pork blood, tofu puffs, and glutenous balls.

An incorrect amount of items arrived at our table. We only ordered 2 pieces of pork blood, but there was 6 pieces. We were not that thrilled about eating that much pork blood. The quality of most of the items on their all you can eat menu were OK, but not very amazing.

A few items we ordered did not arrive. We were missing some meat, oysters, noodles and some cooked items. We didn’t realize till the end but decided not to bother the waitress since she seemed very rude. The experience here was ok, but there are so many other hot pot restaurants around.

We Rate Point Zero Four Fusion:

Address:
8500 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=8500+Alexandra+Rd+Richmond,+BC&hnear=8500+Alexandra+Rd,+Richmond,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Japanese

Temaki Sushi: Sushi Restaurant in Kitsilano

January 11, 2013

Temaki is a sushi restaurant in Kitsilano. I had a few recommendations from readers to dine here, so I decided to come here for dinner with KoreanGirl, M and TractorDean.

It was pretty busy on a Friday night. Decent interior and you can get a nice view of the sushi bar.

Spicy Sashimi with Avocado ($6.99) Tuna & salmon pieces topped with cucumber, avocado & house spicy sauce. The sashimi was good, but it was a tad expensive for the amount of sashimi you get.

Chicken Karrage ($6.99) has deep-fried boneless chicken pieces. It tasted ok, but it wasn’t crazy amazing.

Banzai Roll ($8.99) has tuna, salmon, & masago roll deep-fried in tempura batter drizzled with spicy mayo.

Chef’s Roll ($9.99) has fresh mango, crispy tempura bits, cucumber & mayo inside topped with tuna & masago. The roll was very disappointing and everyone at the table hated the mango inside. The roll was expensive

Alaska Roll ($5.99) is a California roll with salmon on top.

Kamakaze Roll ($8.99) has smoke salmon on top with cream cheese, cucumber, avocado and crispy tempura bits inside.

Overall, the sushi rolls were carefully put together but in the end it was nothing amazing. There are tons of sushi restaurants in Vancouver, but this place was pretty average. None of my friends liked this place and felt dissatisfied coming here.

We Rate Temaki Sushi:

Address:
2156 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://temakisushi.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2156+W+Broadway+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=2156+W+Broadway,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6K+2E4&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Filipino

Max’s Restaurant: Filipino Food on Kingsway

November 24, 2012

Max’s Restaurant is a Filipino chain restaurant that has recently opened on Kingsway. M, Scarface and I were curious about the food, so we decided to check it out. There are a ton of seats inside, so its great for large families. Private rooms are also available for birthdays or large gatherings. When we went at night, there were tons of families here. There was a wait for a table, which I was surprised.

Calamansi juice was really good and tasted fresh. Much better than the canned one from stores.

Tapsilog Breakfast comes with garlic rice, 2 eggs, pickled peppers and the meat. Breakfast is served all day and is one of the cheaper items on the menu. It’s simple but its way cheaper than the other items on the menu.

Milk Fish was a good item and you must dip it in the vinegar sauce. M and Scarface enjoyed it.

Lechon Kawali is deep-fried pork belly served with atchara and lechon sauce. Its meant for 2 -3 people since it is quite fatty. The quality of this wasn’t very good at Max’s Restaurant, I’ve had better at other restaurants.

Pork Binagoongan are pork cubes sauteed in a rich, mildly sweet and salty shrimp paste sauce. There is also a bed of fried eggplant. It is garnished with tomatoes and chopped spring onion. It’s not a dish for everyone, but I thought it was good.

Garlic Rice is a must order item if you are ordering meaty dishes.

Buko Pandan is made of buko strips, green gulaman and cooked tapioca. It is then flavored with sugar & pandan. M got this and he loved it.

Overall, Max’s Restaurant is a good place if you have a large group of friends or family. In terms of quality, it really isn’t that good compared to Kulinarya. I would just come for the breakfast items, but if you want quality meat dishes, you can find that elsewhere. It’s not worth the price for what you pay here

We Rate Max’s Restaurant:

Address:
3546 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.maxschicken.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=3546+Kingsway+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=3546+Kingsway,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V5R+5L7&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Gastown

The Hastings Warehouse: $4.95 for All Food on the Menu

November 21, 2012

The Hastings Warehouse has ALL their food for $4.95. Drink are of course more costly than $4.95. This place is always packed and you will always see groups of people drinking. Even though it is on Hastings, it’s not sketchy at all.

They have 9 different draft beers on tap.

Bottle of Sapporo was about $6 or $7 so that was way more expensive than the food here.

Potato Skins have marbled cheese and bacon on top with a side of sour cream. I expected the size to be small since the prices are so low. It’s nothing amazing.

Poutine has cheese curds and gravy on top of fries. It’s very small as well and not super impressive.

Quinoa Salad was surprisingly pretty good here. There are lots of greens, avocados, apple slices, cranberries, and other items in it. If you’re health conscious, definitely order this since it might be one of the healthier items on the menu.

Mac and Cheese is very small and not that substantial if you want to be full.

Baja Fish Tacos comes with 2 tacos. The pieces of fish were very tiny! Go to Kirby’s review to see what she thought.

Spaghetti in tomato sauce was not a bad option. It has a good amount of spaghetti for $4.95.

Beef Dip comes with au jus and a small bucket of fries. This is one of the more filling dishes that’s on the menu. The au jus has a very asian flavour to it since they added ginger to it.

The filling is a mixture of fried onions and shredded beef.

The Works Burger is a simple burger made of a beef patty, maple bacon, cheddar cheese, fried onions, lettuce, and tomato in a brioche bun. There is also fries on the side too. This item is probably the best item on the menu. Highly recommended.

Pulled Chicken Sandwich was so disappointing! There was barely any chicken inside, so it was pretty bad.

Mushroom Swiss Burger has a beef patty, sautéed mushrooms, gravy, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes in a brioche bun. A decent burger as well.

Overall, the food is a hit or a miss. As you are only paying $4.95 per dish, you know you can’t be too picky. Most people come here for the drinks and have a bit of food.

Words of Wisdom:

Quinoa Salad, the Works Burger, Spaghetti, Mushroom Swiss Burger, and Beef Dip recommended.
No reservations
Usually packed at night and lunch
Long waits for your food

We Rate The Hastings Warehouse:

Address:
156 W Hastings
Vancouver, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=156+W+Hastings+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=156+W+Hastings+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+1G8&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Causeway Bay

Super Star Seafood Restaurant 鴻星海鮮酒家: Eating Air, Land and Sea Animals

November 12, 2012

Super Star Seafood Restaurant was founded in 1989 and have since expanded numerous locations in Hong Kong, Japan and China. We came here with my parents family friends.

It’s popular place to dine and serves up seafood Cantonese style.

It was really packed at night and reservations are definitely needed. The service was really poor for our table since we sat right under an air conditioner. We asked several times for the management to try to turn down the A/C or find an alternative table. After a few servers said they would check on it, no one did. Our food went cold fast and we got so cold too. It wasn’t until the end of our meal when the manager believed that there was something wrong.

Crispy Whitebait and Peanuts came complementary to the table. They are super crispy and its a great snack to munch on as the rest of the meal arrives.

Stir Fried Zucchini and Prawns

The soup that arrived was a clear broth made of chicken and other items.

The separate contents of the soup, so you can eat the other ingredients that make up the soup.

This platter contains cold jelly fish, tofu, crispy pork, BBQ pork and cold pork hock.

Vegetables and seafood in a savory egg sauce

Fried Rice

Steamed Fish

Braised duck stuffed with meat and soy beans

Braised mushrooms and bok choy

Deep Fried Seafood mayo cake

Longevity Buns is a Chinese steamed bun in the shape of a peach.

Red bean dessert

Overall, the food was OK, but the service was terrible. I prefer the original Nathan road location.

We Rate Super Star Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
10/F, Food Forum, Times Square
1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay

Website:
http://www.superstargroup.com.hk/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Food+Forum,+Times+Square+1+Matheson+Street,+Causeway+Bay&hl=en&hq=Food+Forum,+Times+Square+1+Matheson+Street,+Causeway+Bay&radius=15000&t=m&z=16″]

In Bakery

The Baker & The Chef: A Sandwich Cafe

November 7, 2012

A few month ago a heard much hype from The Baker & The Chef that opened near Hastings and Cambie. They have items like sandwiches, soups, and of course baked goods.

The interior isn’t too large, but has lots of seating for singles or pairs of customers.

The Capilano Panini(Full- $8) has foccacia bread, grilled chicken breast, brie, mixed greens, and pesto. There are sticks of carrots and celery on the side, which is a nice touch. The sandwich was just average and nothing too impressive. It was just disappointing how little chicken there was in the sandwich. As you can see from the picture, it’s all in the center, so when you take your first bite, you won’t get chicken.

Overall, my friend and I thought this place was ok, but with a lot of other sandwich shops in close proximity, it’s hard to compete. It’s cool to get sandwiches named after cool Vancouver streets. Quite creative.

We Rate The Baker & The Chef:

Address:
320 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thebakerandthechef.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=320+Cambie+St+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=320+Cambie+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+2N3&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Causeway Bay

Perfume River Restaurant 香河越南餐廳: Vietnamese Food In Hong Kong

October 10, 2012

Hong Kong at night is very breath-taking! The architecture of the buildings always impress me. Staying out late makes people hungry, so we went on the search for some food.

My grandpa took us to Perfume River Restaurant in Causeway Bay. Perfume River Restaurant is a 2-storey restaurant that sells Vietnamese food. The restaurant was pretty full, so we thought it would be a good place to eat at.

This is the first floor. When you walk to the back, there are stairs that will lead you to the 2nd floor.

Rare Beef Noodle with Soup

Cooked Beef Noodle with Soup

Lime, chilli peppers, and fish sauce is given with pho.

Pork Skewers

Beef Skewers

Vegetable and beef medley

Steamed Mushroom Rice Squares

Since the restaurant is close to Times Square, we decided to walk around. Plus, some shops were still open too!

Overall, Perfume River Restaurant service was very horrible. We had to pour our own tea since the waitress was busy talking to the other servers. The food quality is pretty poor as well. I would probably avoid this place next time.

We Rate Perfume River Restaurant:

Address:
89 Percival Street, Causeway Bay

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=89+Percival+Street,+Causeway+Bay&hnear=89+Percival+St,+Hong+Kong&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Causeway Bay

Yo Mama: Froyo in Hong Kong

October 8, 2012

Yo Mama is a chain of frozen yogurt shops all around town. I was attracted to this place because of it’s hilarious name. I am sure you’ve heard the hundreds of jokes that are like “Yo Mama so fat…..she weights 90210 on the scale”. I haven’t had froyo in Hong Kong yet, so I decided to give it a shot!

You have 3 steps to the Yo Mama experience. Choose the size, flavour, and then the toppings. You get 1 free topping and the others are an additional $5 HKD.

They have some cool toppings like macarons and palmiers.

They also have fruit and a few typical toppings. I wasn’t too impressed by the selection of toppings.

Once you have your yogurt, you can sit down. There not too many seats available.

Small Original Yogurt with strawberries ($29 HKD) looked pretty depressing. The cup is way too big for what you get, so it seems like you get so little yogurt. I didn’t really like the taste of it compared to Pinkberry in North America.

Overall, I wasn’t impressed by it. The limited choices of toppings and the taste didn’t cut it for me.

We Rate Yo Mama:

Address:
Shop 404, 4/F Windsor House,
311 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay

Website:
http://www.yomama.com.hk/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=311+Gloucester+Road,+Causeway+Bay&hnear=311+Gloucester+Rd,+Hong+Kong&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Cafe

Cat Store Cafe: Cat Friendly Dining in Hong Kong

October 7, 2012

Cat Store is a very unique cafe that caters to cat lovers. You can dine with your friends and play with their cats. This cafe is great for people who love cats, but can’t have a cat at home. Especially in Hong Kong since apartments can be a bit small to raise pets.

The Cat Store is located inside the Po Ming Building on the 3rd floor. It took me a long time to figure out how to get inside.

Once you are inside the building, head up the elevator to the 3rd floor.

Then, you will take a left and follow the signs

Once you find this door, you know you have arrived!

Don’t be scared by the “members only” sign. You can sign up for a card inside. It’s also best to call ahead for reservations because this place can get busy!

The inside is very cluttered with a lot of cat items.

Cats are seen everywhere! Even in shelves.

You can even sit with them at your table.

There are also catnip toys, so you can make the cats go crazy!

A few cats can be seen roaming around the floors….or sleeping on the floor, so watch out and don’t step on them.

Lychee Soda ($30 HKD) was good! I love lychee!

Snowy Peach Soda with Peach ($32 HKD) was good according to my sister.

Penne with Chicken in Tomato Sauce ($48 HKD) was very poor. The sauce was thin and lacked flavour.

Smoked Duck Breast Pizza ($54 HKD) was average too. My little sister loved it because of all the cheese.

Cat Cookies with Ice Cream ($42 HKD – 2pcs) was really cute and great for kids. It’s fun to eat! Unfortunately, the taste was just OK. Nothing too special.

Overall, the food and service was pretty poor. The only attraction is the cats. All the items are pretty expensive according to Hong Kong standards for this type of food. You can easily get a meal for $25 HKD elsewhere. The service was very disorganized and they forgot a few items in our order.

Words of Wisdom:

Slow Service
Expensive for the quality of food.
It’s a good place to go if you just want to have a drink and play with cats
Membership required
Make reservations

We Rate Cate Store Cafe:

Address:
Flat D-E, 3/F Po Ming Building, Fu Ming Street
Causeway Bay

Website:
http://www.ahmeow.com/mainpage.html

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Cat+stor,+Causeway+Bay,+Hong+Kong&hl=en&sll=22.282743,114.188976&sspn=0.089428,0.15398&oq=cat+stor&hq=Cat+stor,&hnear=Causeway+Bay,+Hong+Kong&t=m&z=16″]

In Chinatown

Foo’s Ho Ho: Eerie Dining Experience

October 6, 2012

Foo’s Ho Ho is known to be the oldest Chinese restaurant in Vancouver. Since it has such a funny name, I decided to bring M and S here for lunch. When we arrived at 12pm, all the signs said the restaurant was closed. The door was open, so we walked inside and there was one customer but no staff to be seen. We decided to leave and walk around the block but didn’t find anything else cool enough to eat. So, we called the restaurant back because we knew it was open. We called twice and they told us they were open.

We went back but the signs said it was still closed. The chef had to seat us down as there was only one server. We were very confused by how disorganized this restaurant is. This restaurant has been on magazines an attract lots of tourist, so it was strange how they were not prepared.

The interior is very outdated, but some people like it because it gives them nostalgia of when this place use to be the “it” place to go for Chinese food.

Hot and Sour Soup was alright. It could of been more spicy in my opinion.

Curry Chicken had lots of onions, peppers, and celery. It tasted ok as well.

Beef chow fun has a nice char on the noodles and the meat.

Overall, our experience was quite poor and the food was also mediocre. I had high hopes for this restaurant since it has been around for lots of years and has a rich history. The organization is poorly executed and they didn’t even have fried rice.

Words of Wisdom:

Long rich history since the 50’s and 60’s
Village-style type of Chinese food

We Rate Foos Ho Ho:

Address:
102 E Pender St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.fooshoho.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=102+E+Pender+St+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=102+E+Pender+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6A+2V2&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Cafe

Florinda Cafe: Specializing in Macau Cuisine

September 30, 2012

Macau Restaurant, also known as Florinda Cafe is very popular amongst tourist visiting Macau and Hong Kong. This location was at the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal and was very busy during the peak hours.

They are best known for their Portugese egg tarts and Macanese Crispy Buns with pork chop. We decided to have lunch here before our ferry to Cheung Chau arrived.

It was very early in the morning around 10am, so no line ups.

They even have a cart for their tarts if people just want it to-go.

There are a lot of tables inside and most can fit 4 or 5 people.

They have a special “Yummy Tea Set” from 2:30pm to 6pm. They all come with drinks.

Portugese Egg Tart with Egg White. They didn’t have any with the egg yolks left, so we had to settle for egg whites only.

The egg mixture is a bit sweet, but it was very delicious! The tart was very flaky and housed the egg mixture perfectly. I could eat a bunch of these! Yum.

Macanese Crispy Buns with pork chop and scrambled eggs (Set A)

The set came with a drink so I got Ying Yeung (Coffee and Tea mix). It tasted average.

Scrambled Eggs were average too. You definitely want to add some salt and pepper to it.

Macanese Crispy Buns with pork chop was good. It has some grilled onion in there too. The meat was a bit chewy, but the whole sandwich did have a good flavour.

With our bellies full, we hopped onto the ferry to head to Cheung Chau Island. We had a good view of the Harbour and the other surrounding Islands.

Overall, the food at Florinda Cafe was average, but it was fun to get a taste of Macau food and how it differs from Hong Kong.

We Rate Florinda Cafe:

Address:
Shun Tak Centre, 200 Connaught Rd.,
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Shun+Tak+Centre,+200+Connaught+Rd.,Sheung+Wan,+Hong+Kong&hl=en&hq=Shun+Tak+Centre,+200+Connaught+Rd.,Sheung+Wan,+Hong+Kong&t=m&z=15″]

In Cafe

Tokachi Gyuu Japanese Restaurant: Gross Japanese Restaurant

September 27, 2012

Tokachi Gyuu Japanese Restaurant has several restaurants all over Hong Kong. We wanted to try something different for lunch, so we thought about coming to this restaurant.

Outside the restaurant, there is a huge menu. If you are waiting, you can figure out what you want before being seated. Or if you are passing by, you can see what they serve.

During lunch time, this place was packed. It was hard getting a table of 5.

Your lunch meal sets come with drinks. You can add a few bucks for them to make it an ice drink instead of a hot drink. We ordered chrysanthemum tea and milk tea. The milk tea was good, but the chrysanthemum tea was way too sweet! It was very hard to drink.

Ramen was nowhere near authentic. It wasn’t very good either.

Baked Seafood on rice wasn’t very large and had an ok amount of seafood. None of the seafood was very fresh, probably pre-frozen.

Kimchi noodle soup with dumplings was pretty spicy and hot. I was feeling like having something spicy so I chose this. It’s not exactly Japanese as it was Korean…but it wasn’t authentic Korean either. All the items here have a Chinese twist to it.

Spicy beef brisket with rice was what my grandpa had. It was probably the only decent dish that we all ordered. The meat was tender and had a good amount of spice.

My moms combo came with noodles and fried fish.

Noodles with fried dumplings was very mediocre.

Fried fish with salad was ok as well. Not too impressive.

Overall, if you are looking for Japanese food, don’t come here. It is nowhere close to authentic or even decent. Most of the items here have a Chinese twist to the dishes. I would not come here again. It was expensive and the service was atrocious!

We Rate Tokachi Gyuu Japanese Restaurant:

Address:
Shop L047, G/F, Tin Yiu Plaza, Tin Shui Wai

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Tin+Yiu+Plaza,+Tin+Yiu+Road,+Tin+Shui+Wai,+Hong+Kong&hl=en&hq=Tin+Yiu+Plaza,+Tin+Yiu+Road,+Tin+Shui+Wai,+Hong+Kong&t=m&z=15 “]

In Downtown

Michael Angelos Mega Slice Pizza & Donair: Pizza with Personality

September 25, 2012

Mega Slice Pizza & Donair is located below The Network Hub and very close to SFU Harbour Centre. From 11am to 2pm on weekdays, they have slices of pizza for 99 cents. As we obviously didn’t come at that time, we had to pay regular price.

The pricing is a little bit strange, but for 2 slices of pizza and a complementary pop, it came out to be under $5.

The star of the restaurant isn’t the food, it is the man behind the food. Michael Angelo or so he calls himself has an awesome flamboyant personality. He is able to speak Korean, Cantonese and Mandarin. He’s not fluent, but he is able to get a few giggles from his customers. A lot of international students come here for lunch.

You can see the different pizza that they offer. We came here very late so, there wasn’t a lot of variety. He can create some special for you, if you are able to wait.

I settled with a can of coke, donair pizza, and a pepperoni mega slice. I threw some ranch sauce on top. The pizza was surprisingly very filling. I could only finish one and a half slices. It probably has something to do with the crust. I prefer my crusts a bit thinner.

Overall, the pizza is quite mediocre since it isn’t as fresh as it could be. My friend ordered the donair and it was huge! One thing is for sure, you won’t leave here hungry since the portions are big.

We Rate Michael Angelos Mega Slice Pizza & Donair:

Address:
420 Richards Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://megaslicepizza.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=420+Richards+Street+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=420+Richards+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V6B+2Z3&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Jung-Gu

Changing of Royal Guards at Deoksugung Palace and BiBimBap in Seoul

August 9, 2012

I made it a goal to try to explore a lot of the cultural sites in Seoul. I went to Deoksugung Palace to have a tour at 10:30am, but there was no tour, so I assumed their schedule changed.. or I had an incorrect time. Fortunately, at 11am, 2pm and 3:30pm, they have the changing of guards ceremony in front of Daehanmun Gate at the Palace.

The ceremony lasts for about 30 minutes and is the same. The ceremony is a tradition similar to the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace in London and gives you the opportunity to experience the past.

Around the corner from the palace was a restaurant called Sanookeeya. It serves traditional Korean food and I was drawn to eat lunch here because of their display of bibimbap (stone rice). It wasn’t empty and I did see police officers eating inside, so I thought it can’t be too bad if local police officers were eating here.

I ordered the bibimbap and it came in a hot stone bowl with rice, pickled vegetables, kimchi, seaweed, and fish roe. I was disappointed because they bowl wasn’t hot enough to make the rice crispy, plus they didn’t give me hot sauce to make it spicier.

In addition to the bibimbap, they also provided a few side dishes.

Soup or some kind of broth came with the meal. It has a bit of green onions on top.

Cabbage with mayo is something I kept encountering but I can never seem to like it. I strongly believe mayo shouldn’t belong in a salad, but maybe that’s because I dislike mayo.

Kimchi and pickled daikon came as well. I love anything pickled, so this was delicious.

Overall, the food at Sanookeeya was ok, but not as yummy as I expected. I definitely enjoyed the changing of the guards way more than the food nearby. I took it as a lesson to never eat near super touristy locations

We Rate Sanookeeya:

Location: To the left of the Deoksugung Palace

View Larger Map

In Chinese

Moon Ting Fong Seafood & Hotpot Restaurant: Horrible Service in Hong Kong

August 4, 2012

Moon Ting Fong Seafood and Hotpot restaurant has a location in Tin Shui Wai. We want to cook dinner during this day, so we decided to just eat out for dinner. My grandpa said they have very good dim sum during lunch and at reasonable prices. He’s never tried dinner here, so we gave it a shot.

For dinner, the room was half full and some people were indulging on hot pots. We decided to go for a set dinner instead.

Pickled onions arrived at the table. We thought it was complementary, but at the end of the meal the did charge us for this. It tasted alright and I think we could have lived without it if we knew we would be charged for this. Also, they charge for tea too!

Daily Soup came with our set meal. It came in a huge pot to our table and what usually happens is the server will bring your bowls and pour it out for you. The server just left the pot there on the table and had no intention of serving us. This was the first thing that ticked us off.

The other ingredients in the soup get put into a separate dish for you to eat with your meal. It’s like two dishes in one! Eventually, we got the server to pour our soup.

Boiled Shrimp was good, but it did get quite messy after a while. The prawns were cooked well and were sweet.

We also got hand wipes to cleanse our hands after peeling all those shrimp shells.

Braised vegetables in fish broth tasted good as the choy absorbed the flavour from the fish sauce.

Steamed Fish in Fish Sauce was ok. The meat was soft and had good flavour. It had a few bones, but it wasn’t too bad.

Roasted BBQ Chicken was very dry and the only delicious part of this was the skin.

Overall, the food was ok, but the service was very horrible. Plus, there were a lot of extra charges that racked up to $100HK more than the price of the set meal. I wouldn’t return, not even for dim sum. A few weeks later, my grandpa wanted to go for some good cheap dim sum after 2pm and I just refused to go. Perhaps other people have had other better experiences, but I won’t return to a restaurant that treats their customers badly.

We rate Moon Ting Fong Seafood & Hotpot restaurant:

Address:
1/F, Block 1, Habour Plaza Resort City, 12 Tin Yan Road
Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong

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In Chinese

Choi Fook Restaurant: Dinner After HK 15 Fireworks

August 2, 2012

On July 1st in Hong Kong, they were celebrating the 15th anniversary of the handover of British rule to the Chinese. Every year they celebrate by having fireworks at Victoria Harbour. I find it amazing how July 1st is also Canada Day on the other side of the world. No matter where my little sister is on her birthday, she can always see fireworks!

After the fireworks, we headed to Choi Fook Restaurant. They were having a busy nights with large celebrations, so at 9pm, we still had to wait for a table of 5. This restaurant is owned by the U-Banquet group and has various restaurant all across Hong Kong.

The interior space was reduced since they had to close off sections of the restaurant for a few events happening at the same place.

They have a huge tank with all the different seafood.

You have an option of washing your utensil here. Some people do it, some people don’t. Sometimes their dishwashers don’t clean everything off the utensils and dishes, so do look carefully.

Sauteed shrimp in green onion and peppers was a good dish, but nothing too special.

Steamed Chicken was good. It’s a classic dish to order and you can’t go wrong with it.

Braised Duck Feet and mushrooms in a pot was delicious and is recommended to have rice to accompany it. Don’t let those juices go to waste. To some people, eating duck feet is weird, but it’s not disgusting. It tastes very savory and kinda like noodles.

Steamed Fish in Fish Sauce took forever to come out of the kitchen. There was a banquet next door, so I assume they just prepared all the fish at one time.

Longevity Bun is a Chinese steamed bun in the shape of a peach. It was my sister’s Birthday and this was the only option they had off the menu. The reason why it’s shaped like a peach is because it’s a symbol of long life. There is an old story of a lady who has a magical peach tree that bears special peaches that grant immortality to all those who eat them.

The inside egg yolk is very oily and it’s a good things that the yolks flavour in the oil seeps into the bun. Very delicious, but yet again, probably high in calories.

Overall, the food was ok and not anything amazing. The service wasn’t that great because some servers seemed a bit rude.

Words of Wisdom:

Fortress Hill MTR Exit B
Busy at peak hours
Decent food

We Rate Choi Fook Restaurant:

Address:
3/F, Olympia Plaza, 255 King’s Road,
North Point, Hong Kong

Website:
http://www.choifook.com/

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In Cafe

Maxim’s Hong Kong Day: Wontons, Sandwiches and Pineapple Buns

July 30, 2012

Maxim’s Hong Kong Day is a quick-service restaurant. We were in Olympic City shopping mall, so we decided to get a quick bite to eat. They sell the usual Hong Kong Style cafe food.

There are a lot of seats inside and nice interior.

You are able to see through into the kitchen to see the food and drinks being prepared.

Hot Chocolate was made with powder and it wasn’t stirred very well. After mixing it up more on our own, it tasted ok according to my sister.

Hot coffee and tea mix was good and it’s a perfect drink for people who love tea and coffee.

Wonton Noodle in Soup was alright but nothing impressive.

Maxim’s Hong Kong Day BBQ Pork Club Sandwiches were pretty awesome. It comes with layers of egg, pork, tomatoes and lettuce. The gooey egg definitely adds character to this sandwich.

Pineapple Crispy Bun with Butter

The slice of butter was quite large and too much for this bun. I took half of the butter out and it was still enough to cover a lot of the surface area on the inside. The bun was good, but there could have had more topping and be more crispy.

Overall the food was alright, but nothing to rave about. The service was ok as well, but we did notice another table had an issue with a fly in their drink and got the managers and security involved.

We Rate Maxim’s Hong Kong Day: